EFFECTS OF FRAGRANT NATURAL ORGANIC MATERIALS AND HARDNESS OF BASE RESINS ON PEN GRIP IMPRESSION

抄録

To identify the effect among appropriate odor, hardness, and visual features, for making resin products that are preferable and more extensively used, we compare the change of impressions in resins of different hardness kneaded with nine fragrant natural organic materials into products. Samples were molded into pen grips and surveyed in a writing test to determine the impression changes in odor and hardness and then evaluated by two groups (with and without odor) of ten people. The addition of appropriate materials to resin products changed their hardness and made them be perceived as more acceptable or organic. After application of the characteristics with odor into product design, the results of ten paired samples indicated that all soft samples were perceived to be more tender and warm, and almost all hard samples were more accepted and organic. To explore the effect of hardness, the samples with the highest score in each of three factors (Japan hinoki in the tactility factor, cinnamon in the acceptability factor, and Taiwan hinoki in the organicity factor) were assessed for six hardness levels (controlled by varying the resin proportions). Participants had impressions that soft Japan hinoki samples were warm and non-slip; female participants felt hard cinnamon samples were more acceptable, and hard Taiwan hinoki samples were more organic, although male participants had opposite tendencies. Such findings will be applied to enhance customer preference and will be important for product design.