Aesthetics and Contradiction in Product Semantics

We examined the relationship between product aesthetics and contradictory semantics in the Typical—Novel dimension. We conducted two experiments where participants evaluated pictures of chairs using the bivariate method and the four-quadrant method for measuring semantic contradiction in products. Analysis of experiment results showed that semantic contradiction (or being both typical and unique) is positively correlated with aesthetic preferences, and that semantic vagueness (or being neither typical nor unique) is negatively correlated with aesthetic preferences. Both typicality and uniqueness have inverted-U relationships with aesthetic preferences. In addition, we found asymmetric influence by typicality and uniqueness of products. A chair that is perceived to be semantically vague tend to be typical, rather than unique, while a chair that is perceived to be semantically contradictory tend to be slightly more unique than typical. Finally, we propose that the four-quadrant method is a better way for measuring contradiction in product semantics than the bivariate method.