ABSTRACT
Kansei engineering is defined as translating consumers’ affective responses to new products into ergonomic design specifications (Nagamachi, 1988, 2002). Similarly, kansei engineering can be used to translate workers’ affective responses to proposed changes to a work system into macro-and microergonomic design specifications. The term kansei is Japanese and implies feelings and emotions that the customer has in his or her mind. When buying something, or “buying into” a new or modified work design, customers (including employees in a work system) have some kind of preconceived image. This is the kansei. Kansei engineering implements the human’s kansei in the design fields to produce a product matching the customers’ feelings in an effort to maximize customer satisfaction. The customers’ psychological responses (the kansei) are more general qualitative characteristics. To transfer kansei to the design field, the qualitative data must be quantified. In other words, the qualitative psychological phenomena should be changed to quantified characteristics. To design a new product, relational rules are needed between the kansei and design specifications. This procedure requires kansei engineering technology to link kansei to design specifications.
