Novelty value through the aesthetics of car design / Muhamad Aiman Afiq Mohd Noor

'Aesthetics' derives from the Greek term aesthesis, which refers to awareness and sensory experience or sensual knowledge. The philosopher Baumgarten took up the word in the eighteenth century and modified its definition into stimulation of the senses or sensuous joy (Goldman, 2001). Since then, the term has been extended to every type of artistic experience, such as aesthetic judgement, aesthetic mood, aesthetic understanding, aesthetic feeling, and aesthetic meaning. Both are considered part of the artistic experience, and while we can also aesthetically experience nature or humans and products (car design), the term is most applied in reference to the arts, especially visual art. A recent study showed that more affective responses were triggered by items with high levels of product novelty (Radford & Bloch, 2011). The opposite effect is seen in some instances, however, and designs with a more novel, distinctive appearance appear to be more effective (Bianchi, 1998; Simonson & Nowlis, 2000). This suggests that a simple linear gradient from novel to typical does not suffice to explain these effects.