Facial Expressions in Car Design: A method to compare relative importance of design attributes

People often associate human facial features with automotive front-end designs. This study reveals which combination of facial feature attributes best communicates the personality of human and car brands and which of these combinations evoke the strongest and favorable emotional attachments. The study also identified differences in emotional reactions between different cultural groups (in this case, Japanese and American consumers) to given facial images. The author developed a method of decomposing facial features into individual attributes and created variables associated with each. The author applied Conjoint Analysis to identify the relative importance of each facial attributes from which consumers perceived personalities. The study was intended to support preliminary design directions for a car manufacturer who aims to communicate and differentiate personality association of their different car brands