The Influence of Product Exposure on Trendiness and Aesthetic Appraisal

People often use the product attribute ‘trendiness’ to describe product designs (Blijlevens, Creusen, & Schoormans, 2009; Creusen & Schoormans, 2005). More importantly, when people perceive a product as trendy, they will aesthetically appraise it more positively (Creusen & Schoormans, 2005; Hsu, Chuang, & Chang, 2000). Thus, in order to create product designs that are positively aesthetically appraised, designers need to know what trendiness means in the eyes of the consumers and what combination of physical properties can be used to make a product design look trendy. Although trendiness is conceptually well defined, it is difficult to define in terms of physical design properties (Hung & Chen, 2012). This research contributes to the literature by investigating why trendiness is difficult to translate into physical properties of product designs. We argue and show that a product design’s trendiness is based on people’s previous exposure to product designs in the market. Designers should therefore take into account the physical properties of the products on the market within a specific product category and market to design products that are perceived as trendy and thus aesthetically appealing.