본 연구는 제품이 갖는 쾌락적-실용적 속성의 정도에 따라, 제품 디자인이 친근한 디자인에서 독특한 디자인으로 변화할 때 소비자의 디자인 선호와 제품 구매 의도에 어떠한 변화가 발생하는지 살펴보았다. 자료의 수집을 위해, 쾌락적 속성이 강한 패션 제품 중 하나인 T셔츠와 실용적 속성이 강한 주방 제품 중 하나인 토스터기를 자극물로 하는 설문을 시행하였고, 제품 디자인의 친근하고 독특한 정도에 따라 소비자의 디자인 선호와 구매 의도에 어떠한 차이가 있는지 단일 요인이 반복 측정된 이요인 분산 분석을 통해 비교 검증 하였다. 그 결과, T셔츠와 토스터기 모두에서 제품 디자인의 친근한-독특한 정도에 따라 소비자의 디자인 선호와 구매 의도에 유의미한 변화가 있었으나, 제품의 종류에 따라 그 양상에 차이가 있었다. T셔츠의 경우, 제품 디자인이 독특해질수록 소비자의 디자인 선호가 증가하였으나, 제품 구매 의도는 감소하였다. 이러한 결과는 패션 제품과 같이 쾌락적 속성이 강한 제품에서 독특한 제품 디자인이 소비자의 디자인 선호를 증대시킬 수는 있으나, 항상 소비자의 구매로 연결되는 것이 아님을 반증하는 것이다. 이와는 반대로 토스터기의 경우, 소비자는 독특한 디자인보다 친근한 디자인에 대해 보다 높은 디자인 선호와 구매 의도를 보였다. 이러한 결과는 제품의 기능적 특성이 중요한 실용적 제품의 경우 친근한 디자인에 대한 소비자의 디자인 선호가 높으며 이러한 선호가 구매로 연결될 수 있음을 나타낸다. 본 연구는 소비재 제품의 특징을 제품의 속성에 따라 쾌락적-실용적 제품으로 구분하고, 제품 속성에 따라 어떠한 디자인 전략이 필요한지 살펴보았다. 본 연구 결과를 통해, 소비재 기업의 제품 디자인 전략의 방향 제시 및 매출 증대를 위한 전략 도출이 가능하리라 생각한다.

This study investigated the influence of product design (familiarity vs. novelty) and product type (utilitarian product vs. hodonic product) on consumers’ design preference and purchase intention. Basically, both familiar and novel design attributes improve consumers’ design preference by inducing their aesthetic pleasure. However, this study anticipated that this influence would vary depending on the hedonic-utilitarian attributes of the product. On the basis of this assumption, this study collected data through a questionnaire with T-shirts, which is a fashion product with strong hedonic attributes, and toasters, which is a kitchen appliance with strong utilitarian attributes, as its stimuli. Through the collected data, we examined how consumers’ design preference and purchase intention differ according to familiarity and novelty in product design. Prior to the main investigation, a pre-test was conducted to develop research stimuli for T-shirts and toasters. The pre-test consisted of a total of four stages, and as a result, five-step stimuli with familiar design-ordinary design-novel design were developed. In order to investigate the design preference and purchase intention of the stimuli, an online survey was administered to 117 people in their 20s. The collected data was analyzed applying SPSS for Windows. We conducted two two-factor ANOVAs with repeated measurement on one factor with product type as an independent variable (utilitarian product vs. hedonic product), and design preference and purchase intention according to the change of the design attribute (from very familiar design to very novel design) as a repeated measurement variable, respectively. The LSD test was added to confirm the statistical significance of the repeated measured values according to the change of the design attribute. The results of the ANOVA analyses are as follows. In both the stimuli of T-shirts and toasters, consumers’ design preference and purchase intention significantly changed depending on familiarity and novelty of product design. However, the pattern of change varied according to the type of product. In the case of T-shirts (hedonic product), consumers’ design preference increased as the product design became more novel, but their purchase intention decreased. These results imply that a novel product design can improve consumers’ preference for a design, but a novel product design is not always connected to their purchase in the case of products having strong hedonic attributes such as fashion products. In the case of toasters, consumers’ design preference was the highest for ordinary design compared to a familiar or novel design, and the pattern of purchase intention was similar to that of design preference. These results illustrate that consumers’ preference for an ordinary design is the highest compared to familiar or novel designs for utilitarian products where the functional characteristics of products are important like kitchen appliances, and such preferences can lead to their purchase. In consumer goods markets where the differentiation of product quality is difficult due to recent technological improvements, design competitiveness is a crucial factor for determining companies’ survival. However, previous studies on which designs are desirable to consumers have not been sufficiently executed. This study identified what kinds of design strategies are effective for hedonic and utilitarian products. The results of this study could contribute to deriving the direction of product design strategies in consumer goods companies.