Systematic study on impressions of shapes

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24603026
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Design science
• Research Institution: Tokyo Polytechnic University
• Principal Investigator: Muta Atsushi 東京工芸大学, 芸術学部, 准教授 (20341969)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 黄金比 / キャラクタ― / 顔印象 / 白銀比

Outline of Final Research Achievements

I researched relations among people's impressions of mainly the aspect ratios and shapes of forms. My research utilized the results of a questionnaire survey with about 1,000 people each in Japan, and the United States and the United Kingdom. The types of forms included quadrangles, characters, and faces. In the case of quadrangles, the survey found a significant preference for golden rectangles among the U.S. and U.K. respondents, but one for squares among the Japanese respondents. In the case of characters, it found that, while the Japanese respondents tended to favor characters that were not long and thin, the U.S. and U.K. respondents preferred characters that were long and thin. As for faces, it found that the Japanese respondents favored faces that were somewhat oblong, with the hair worn in bangs parted in the middle. These and other findings of the survey indicated that rates of preference are not uniform but instead vary with factors such as nationality and the type of form.

Free Research Field

デザイン学