ABSTRACT
Usability has been characterized as a requirement in the development of product design. Besides the physical aspects, the subjects’ perception and their relationship with objects of daily use have been the focus of research in usability. In this sense, the rejection of a product by the user is not necessarily related to being complex or inefficient, but may be associated with factors and aesthetic significance. The objective of this study was to do a perceptual evaluation with objects of daily use, seeking to identify the relationship between product usage factors and factors related to the aesthetic and symbolic values that can be assigned to it. The procedures were based on ethical recommendations. Twelve subjects participated (average age 20,62, s.d. 1,66), that evaluated six different models of lemon manual through Semantic Differential Test composed of ten descriptors related to subjective aspects of the product (modern / classic, beautiful / ugly, common / unusual, essential / dispensable, elegant / inelegant, repulsive / attractive, funny / serious, known / unknown, rational / emotional, humble / sophisticated). The results were analyzed statistically using the nonparametric Wilcoxon test. This analysis demonstrated higher sensitivity (p ≤ 0,05) to the descriptors related to subjective aspects of the product (51,33% of cases) when compared to the descriptors of product use (20,66% of cases). However, significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) with
noted that such tool is related to one of the usability metrics reported by Tullis and Albert (2008), denominated as “auto-reported”, that is, methods that seek to comprehend the product usability through questions realized directly to the user after use, obtaining subjective data.
