Quantification of scene appearance—A valid design tool?

Awareness of the science of appearance could help the designer to create and construct a more effective space—whether that consists of interiors, packaging, cityscapes or a plate of food. This article examines the current status of appearance science having direct application to the work of the practical designer using a vocabulary common to both disciplines. The way has been paved by the work of Shigenobu Kobayashi, of the Nippon Color and Design Research Institute, Paul Green-Armytage, a design teacher, and studies on food products and food consumption environments as well as on colour semantics studies of psychologists such as, for example, Lars Sivik and Charles Taft. The article is in two parts, appearance properties and expectations of the design and impact of the design. First, there is a brief account of the application of bipolar scales to quantify both the physical properties of the scene as well as our expectations of the scene and second, the quantification and understanding of scene impact. These techniques detail how individual elements of a designed space, such as materials, design and illumination contribute to specific desired aspects of the space. The robust model proposed provides a firm platform for active collaboration between designer and scientist in the production of comfortable and effective living and working spaces. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 2012