8th European Academy Of Design Conference - 1st, 2nd & 3rd April 2009, The Robert Gordon University,

Aberdeen, Scotland

DESIGN FOR DESIRABILITY: FUNCTIONAL USAGE, PSYCHOLOGICAL

BENEFITS AND EXPERIENTIAL PLEASURE

Osmud RAHMAN
School of Fashion, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada

ABSTRACT
In order to understand what constitutes a desirable fashion product in consumer’s mind, denim jeans was
selected as a vehicle to explore and illuminate the salient impact of various design features encompassing
pockets, silhouette, form, colour, and fabric. In this study, the functional, psychological and experiential
aspects of desirable denim jeans were examined. According to the present study, fit (silhouette/cut),
style (design features), and fabric (colour and characteristics) played a significant role on denim jeans
design and consumption. In most cases, these three elements were interrelated and affected the levels
of desirability. For instance, consumers prefer the fit of a pair of stretch low-rise jeans because of both
experiential pleasure (i.e., aesthetic and tactile pleasure) and functional benefits (i.e., ease of movement
and comfort). Therefore, it is important for fashion designers to understand today’s consumer needs and
aspirations.

Keywords: fashion, aesthetic design, functional usage, psychological benefits, experiential pleasure

1 INTRODUCTION
Today’s fashion consumers are more sophisticated, demanding and assertive. They are generally not
satisfied, nor content, with a product consisting of a monolithic feature. They often seek multidimensional
values that include functional, psychological benefits, symbolic meaning (Elliott and Wattanasuwan 1998)
and/or experiential pleasure (Holbrook and Hirschman 1982) within a product. In order to understand
what constitutes a desirable fashion product, prior researchers (Bloch 1995; Chattaraman and Rudd
2006) have extensively examined this topic from different perspectives such as design features, aesthetic
elements, product forms, and brand names. However, the functional, psychological and experiential
aspects of desirable fashion products have not yet been widely investigated on a quantitative basis.
Therefore, the present study was undertaken to explore the desirability of a fashion product – denim jeans.

The objectives of this study has two-fold: (1) to explore which design elements play a major role on
determining the desirability for a pair of denim jeans, and (2) to identify what type of benefits might be
generated through the aesthetic design features of denim jeans.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Aesthetic appeal/product appearance
It is evident that design has the ability and facility to increase the desirability of a product. According to a
study by Bruce and Whitehead (1988), 60 percent of their respondents expressed that design was the most
important determinant of new product performance. In recent years, numerous studies have also been
devoted to this particular topic - aesthetic design (Bloch et al., 2003; Charters, 2006; Morganosky and
Postlewait, 1989; Veryzer and Hutchinson, 1998; Workman and Caldwell, 2007), product design attributes
(Miller et al., 2005) and product shape/form (Berkowitz, 1987; Bloch, 1995).

Aesthetic sensibilities are important and relevant to all consumer products regardless their function and
usage (Holbrook and Anand, 1992; Holbrook and Zirlin, 1985). Product aesthetic is given the ability
to communicate specific values, which, in turn, instills strong impressions for both the wearer and the
viewer. These values could possibly convey ideas (e.g., classic, childish, or preppy) within the garment
in order to reach out to an audience who values these senses. Modern consumers increasingly base their
brand selection on aesthetic values, which can evoke positive (and negative) experiences to the consumers
and beholders.

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It is evident that the aesthetic and desirable products can generate experiential pleasures and evoke
sensorial responses to consumers more so than ordinary and undesirable products. In a similar vein, the
aesthetic appearance of a consumer product may lose its appeal and desirability if it becomes too popular
or overexposed. In today’s consumer market, many innovative and desirable fashion products or brands
may only stay popular and strong for a few years, and in some cases, for only a few months. It is not
uncommon to see many fashion products being copied, modified, or translated into the mainstream mass
market. In order to avoid any negative responses from the consumer, the innovativeness of a product (i.e.,
product form and design features) becomes an important factor to sustain its competitiveness. This has
been an ongoing challenge for many fashion designers to cope with rapidly changing tastes and aesthetic
responses.

2.2 Utilitarian/functional values

Many consumers do not seek for higher levels of aesthetic, experiential, and enjoyment-related benefits
unless their “basic” or “necessary” level of needs are met (Chitturi et al., 2008). As Chitturi et al. (2008)
proposed, “… failing to meet a utilitarian expectation evokes anger, failing to meet a hedonic expectation
evokes dissatisfaction.” Utilitarian values can be defined as functional, practical, instrumental, and
concrete benefits which offered by the consumer products. It has been proven that many consumers
do seek the concrete attributes, and utilitarian values of a product before they search for a higher level
of attributes such as abstract attributes, and psychological/symbolic values. For example, if a pair of
denim jeans has problems with zipper malfunction or improper fit, no matter how attractive it is, many
consumers will not consider buying them unless the essential attributes have been met.

However, the functional needs of a product are considered fairly low-level motivators because many
consumers have difficulty in distinguishing between the functional attributes among similar types of
garments. Evaluations of symbolic or fashion products are usually based on high-level motivators or
subjective factors such as personal taste, preference, product impression, and emotional arousal.

3 QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN AND RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect demographic data, to understand consumer
purchasing behaviour, to identify major preferences, and to measure the salient impact of various product
features. In order to understand consumer’s desirability toward the design features of a pair of denim
jeans, visual stimuli were incorporated in the present survey (see Table 1) and open-ended questions were
also employed to uncover the underlying reasons and motives.

Table 1: Description of visual stimuli and number of variations

Design Features / Visual Stimuli Number of Description

Physical Attributes Variations
Silhouette ü 4 Loose, straight, slim, Stretch (form fitting)
Leg Opening ü 4 Boot-cut, flared leg, tapered leg, wide leg
Waistline/Rise ü 4 Ultra low-rise, low-rise, regular, high rise
Pocket: Back Pocket û 2 Important, not important
Coin Pocket û 2 Important, not important
Back Pocket ü 6 6 different designs from various current brands
Embellishment (2006)
Fabric û 3 Stretch, non-stretch, doesn’t matter
Colour û 5 Dark blue, blue, light blue, black, other

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4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

4.1 Demographics and consumer behaviour characteristics
Female subjects were solicited in Toronto with a total of 386 questionnaires collected. Six questionnaires
were discarded due to incomplete or improper responses, leaving a total of 380 usable questionnaires.
The respondents ranged in age from 11 to 55, and the mean age was 22.77. A significant majority of the
respondents were students (73.7 percent, n=280), and a large majority of this group fell in the age range
of 18 to 24 (n=249). The vast majority (N=365, 96.1%) liked wearing denim jeans, and over fifty percent
wore denim jeans on a daily basis, or almost every other day. On average, they owned about 9 to 10 pairs
of denim jeans (N=370, X=9.7). More than 60 percent of the respondents wore them four days or more
per week, and the mean score was 5.13 (N=198, median=5).

4.2 Specific design features

In the design features section of our questionnaire survey, respondents were asked to view the visual
stimuli and rate their favorite waistline, fit, leg opening, and colour (each item with four variations) on
a 4-point Likert scale ranging from the most favourite to the least favorite; and to briefly explain their
reasons for these preferences.
The majority of the respondents preferred low-rise, form fitting and boot-cut because of the functional
usage, psychological benefits, and experiential pleasure.
(1) Functional usage: utilitarian benefits (e.g., comfort, ease of movement)
(2) Psychological benefits: social and self image (e.g., feel more sexy and feminine)
(3) Experiential pleasure: sensorial pleasure and aesthetic experience (e.g., aesthetic pleasure)

According to the results, low-rise was the most preferred waistline whereas high-rise was the most
undesirable waistline. In regard to product style, respondents frequently described low-rise jeans as
‘stylish’, ‘trendy’ and ‘most flattering.’ Body image also played an important part with many respondents,
who expressed that low-rise jeans could accentuate or enhance their body figure to ‘look slimmer’, ‘make
the legs look longer’, ‘elongate the torso’ and ‘show the body silhouette better.’ Other than the aesthetic
experiences of low-rise jeans, respondents also mentioned product functional usage and psychological
benefits. Many respondents preferred low-rise because of its functional values that include ‘comfort’
(N=83); and ten respondents found low-rise jeans to be psychologically ‘sexy.’ As such, they may feel
physically desirable and seductive if they wear low-rise jeans.
Moreover, respondents preferred form fitting also for the same or similar reasons. They found form fitting
was fashionable, practical (i.e., ease of movement, retain body shape), aesthetically pleasing (i.e., enhance
body shape), comfortable, feminine and sexy. However, some respondents expressed that they didn’t have
the body to wear form-fitting jeans because they are not too slim.
In terms of pocket features, 84.5 percent (N=321) and 22.4 percent (N=85) of the respondents indicated
that back pocket and coin pocket are important respectively (as shown in Table 2). In other words, many
young people preferred denim jeans with back pockets but not as necessarily with the coin pocket.
Additionally, respondents also asked to view and select their favourite back pocket embellishment from
six variations. All the embellishments were chosen from current denim jeans brands with different design
ranged from ‘simple’ (pocket ‘a’ and ‘d’), moderate (‘b’ and ‘c’), and ‘fancy’ (‘d’ and ‘e’). Respondents
were allowed to choose more than one design. However, if a person knows the brand name from the
design of pocket embellishment, it may affect their perceptions and choices. In order to find out how
many respondents may recognize the brand, we asked them to write down the brand name prior their
choices. According to the results, the majority of the respondents did not recognize the brand name.
Thus, we believed most of them chose their favourite design were based on the aesthetic and personal
preferences. The results of this study indicated that our respondents were more likely to choose simple or
moderate embellishment over fancy/intricate one.
Other than the pocket feature, respondents were also asked to choose their favourite fabric and colour.
According to the findings, 56.6 percent preferred stretch denim, 13.4 percent preferred non-stretch, and
28.4 percent (N=108) did not care one way or the other about stretch fabric. Thus, it is evident that the
stretch quality of the fabric could play a critical role on purchase intentions. Furthermore, dark blue was
the most preferred colour, followed by blue and light blue.

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Table 2: Preferences of specific design features

Design Variations
Elements
Waistline Low rise Ultra low rise Regular High rise
Frequency 346 284 287 270
Mean 1.33 2.60 2.40 3.65
S.D. 0.66 1.07 0.89 0.75

Fit/Silhouette Form fitting (Stretch) Straight Slim Loose

Frequency 339 327 334 339
Mean 1.96 2.41 2.04 1.96
S.D. 1.09 1.03 0.98 1.09

Leg opening Boot cut Flared Tapered Wide

Frequency 367 361 354 356
Mean 1.63 2.18 2.71 3.40
S.D. 0.88 0.98 1.16 0.81

Back Pocket a. True Religion b. Citizen c. Rock & Republic d. Antik e. Paige f. Seven
Embellishment

Respondent’s
Preference
N=380
24.5% 20% 19.7% 18.4% 9.1% 7.6%
Back Pocket Important: N=321, 84.5% Not Important: N=51, 13.4%
Coin Pocket Important: N=85, 22.4% Not Important: N=74.2, 76.8%
Colour Dark Blue Blue Light Blue Black
Frequency 365 363 358 359
Mean 1.55 2.14 2.80 3.18
S.D. 0.84 0.97 1.02 0.98
Fabric Stretch Stretch Non-stretch Don’t Care
N=215, 56.6% N=51, 13.4% N=108, 28.4%

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5. CONCLUSION
According to the present study, it is evident that consumers evaluated and perceived a product based on its
physical appearance or aesthetic appeal. The acceptance or rejection of an apparel product is significantly
depended on or related to the visual elements such as silhouette, design features, fabric, and colour.
Consumers are more likely to choose a fashion product to depict and construct their self-identity as well
as to create a desirable image to the others. For example, among the choices of waistline, the majority
of the respondents preferred low-rise jeans because they perceived them to be ‘fashionable’, ‘stylish’,
‘modern’ and ‘sexy’. In fact, they are not only visually attractive but also comfortable and easy to
coordinate with many clothes in the wardrobe. However, ultra low-rise jeans were seen as ‘revealing’, and
even ‘seductive’, while high-rise jeans were viewed as ‘old fashioned’, conservative’ and ‘unappealing’.

In order to create the desirability of a product among this particular demographic group, fashion designers
should pay attention to the visual design (experiential experience), and behaviourial design (functional
usage and psychological benefits) of denim jeans. Our results show that visual design and behavioural
design were closely related to the physical compositions or features of a product. Young people may
use low-rise skinny jeans or a specific style to construct their image, to impress and attract others, to
camouflage perceived figure faults and bring their bodies closer to the ideal norm.

In addition, consumers often view or evaluate fashion clothing as a whole rather than atomistically
(Durgee, 1988). Thus, clothing consumption is a holistic process rather than linear process. The unity of
all the design features within a pair of denim jeans can create a salient impact on the holistic experience.
As Csíkszentmihályi (1975) asserted, “the holistic experience that people feel when they act with total
involvement”. With this perspective, designers should also focus on the total look or overall appearance
of a person rather than merely on the innovativeness of a garment.

Our findings show that our respondents were more inclined to simple or moderate embellishments on
the back pockets rather than more complicated designs. A few respondents expressed that fancy or
complicated embellishment would draw attention to undesired hip areas. Likewise, some preferred denim
jeans without back pockets at all for the exact same reason. Simply, they were not satisfied with their
body figure and wanted to underplay their undesired body parts rather than accentuate them. However,
we should point out that this particular finding was only expressed by a small number of respondents and
may not apply to everyone. If a person has a slim or more ideal body type, she may not necessarily feel
the same way.

To summarize, for a product to be successful in today’s marketplace, fashion practitioners must pay
attention to the consumer’s needs and aspirations; focus on both intrinsic and extrinsic cues; monitor and
identify the shifting paradigm of taste and habit; and discover what design elements that could trigger
particular cognitive and affective responses among young adult consumers.

Although this research provides important insights to fashion practitioners on product design, further
research covering a larger sample, choosing different products, including other age groups or all genders
in the survey would strengthen the external validity of future studies.

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Corresponding Author Contact Information

Author Name: Osmud Rahman
Ryerson University
Address: 350 Victoria Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5B 2K3
email: orahman@ryerson.ca
Tel: 416-979-5000, ext. 6911

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