The Jaya Suteja and Stephany Tedjohartoko

The Jaya Suteja and Stephany Tedjohartoko

candy bar mobile phones and their relation to form design Abstract— Not all types of mobile phone are successful in element [3]. entering the market because some types of the mobile phone have a

However, research related to user perception that is done in negative perception of user. Therefore, it is important to understand

a certain country may not give the same result as in other the influence of mobile phone’s characteristics in the local user

perception. This research investigates the influence of QWERTY countries because user perception is influenced by local

mobile phone’s forms in the perception of Indonesian user. First, culture. Therefore, it is important to understand the influence some alternatives of mobile phone’s form are developed based on a

of mobile phone’s characteristics in the local user perception certain number of mobile phone’s models. At the second stage, some

before entering a local market. This research investigates the word pairs as design attributes of the mobile phone are chosen to

influence of QWERTY mobile phone’s forms in the represent the user perception of mobile phone. At the final stage, a

perception of Indonesian user.

survey is conducted to investigate the influence of the developed form alternatives to the user perception. Based on the research, users perceive mobile phone’s form with curved top and straight bottom

ESEARCH II. R M ETHODOLOGY shapes and mobile phone’s form with slider and antenna as the most

This research is performed in three stages. First, some negative form. Meanwhile, mobile phone’s form with curved top and

alternatives of mobile phone’s forms are developed based on a bottom shapes and mobile phone’s form without slider and antenna

certain number of mobile phone’s models. At the second are perceived by the user as the most positive form. stage, some word pairs as design attributes of the mobile

Keywords— Influence, Mobile phone, Form, User Perception. phone are determined to represent the user perception of the mobile phone. At the final stage, a survey is conducted to

I. INTRODUCTION

investigate the influence of the developed mobile phone’s forms in the user perception.

OWADAYS N , various types of mobile phone have been

A. Developing Alternatives of Mobile Phone’s Form phone are successful in entering the market because some

launched to the market. Though, not all types of mobile

At the first stage, a data collection is conducted to get types of the mobile phone have a negative perception of user.

information related to various design elements of the User perception is an important factor that influences the will

QWERTY mobile phone that are widely available. 110 mobile of the user to buy a product. Instead of the product image as a

phone’s models that are released in 2010 and before are used result of promotion effort, user perception is related to some

in this stage. Then, design elements of the mobile phone and characteristics of the product, in example colors, forms, their types are identified and classified from the received dimensions.

information. At this research, the identified design elements Semantic Differential Method (SMD) is a widely used are limited to the mobile phone’s body. Finally, the design method in investigating the relation between product’s elements are analyzed and synthesized to develop various characteristics and the perception of user. This method is first

alternatives of mobile phone’s form.

introduced by Osgood, C.E. and Suci, C.J. in 1957 [1]. This

B. Determining Design Attributes

method is mostly combined with likert scale to quantify the perception of the user related to the product characteristics. As

At this stage, design attributes of mobile phone that described by Hsu, S. H., Chuang, M. C., Chang, C. C, many

represent the user perception of mobile phone are chosen. researchers have used this method in the field of product Design attributes consist of some pairs of word that are

antonym. The chosen design attributes adopt the image word International Science Index, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Vol:5, No:3, 2011 waset.org/Publication/8597

design [2]. Hsu, S. H., Chuang, M. C., Chang, C. C, themselves investigate the differences between the designer pairs developed by Hsu, S. H., Chuang, M. C., Chang, C. C, perception and the user perception related to the design of and Chuang, M. C., Chang, C. C., Hsu, S. H., [2, 3]. The telephone [2]. Chuang, M. C., Chang, C. C., Hsu, S. H., also

chosen design attributes also adopt the image words that are

use this method to examined user preference perception of used by mobile phone vendor to build their product image.

C. Investigating the Influence of Forms Alternatives to the

J. S. The is with the Faculty of Engineering, University of Surabaya,

User Perception

Surabaya, Surabaya – 60293 Indonesia (phone: 62-31-2981397; fax: 62-31- 2981151; e-mail: jayasuteja@ ubaya.ac.id).

At the final stage, questionnaire is spread to 30 (15 males

S. Tedjohartoko is with the Faculty of Engineering, University of

and 15 females) users of QWERTY mobile phone as

Surabaya, Surabaya, Surabaya – 60293 Indonesia (phone: 62-31-2981397;

respondent. Most of the respondents are college student in

fax: 62-31-2981151; e-mail: chellovehim@yahoo.com).