Emotions traditionally play an important role in the marketing of a wide variety of products. The new trend is that design also purposefully is used to give a wide range of products very distinct emotional profiles: e.g. the I-Mac with transparent, coloured, rounded look, telephones (e.g. Nokia’s 3210 phone with changeable front and back covers), kitchen-appliances (e.g. Philip’s Alessi-line). Emotional design is also becoming an important success-factor in electronic marketing and communication, as can be recognised in e-commerce. Companies and institutions using the Internet as the main information platform are giving priority in designing a Web-appearance showing their intentions, because it is a place where new customers potential can be acquired and also the place where customer relationships are being maintained. Typical such institutions are bancs and insurance companies who increasingly try to make their customers to use their Internet home page as the primary consultant point for information as well as platform for basic consumer services. The Internet presentation potentially also should support the acquisition of new customers.

Due to flexible production and development techniques, product designers and Web-designers have an unprecedented freedom when designing. Hence, "emotions-in-products" are making their way from being one of many marketing factors to becoming a pressing factor in product design and marketing. Consumers increasingly express their demands for differentiated design. People like to have and show products, which express their individuality. Products that feature a highly styled-look sell well. With focused Web-design, service providers and companies must express their uniqueness and emotional appeal to their customers (like trust and competence).

Consequently, also in contemporary ergonomics quality awareness related to the impact of design is increasing. Design is a part of good ergonomics because it is undistinguishable from use aspects. Then also ergonomics researchers must start to focus on hedonistic qualities of products next to the usability aspects. The issue that good design is a part of a product is well established among product designers. It is time that this notion also really enters the software ergonomics-scene.

This project reports on the development and validation of the first prototype of a tool, which was designed to measure the perceived emotional content of design, i.e. the PEC-Tool. The feasibility study was designed to evaluate methodological and theoretical aims of measuring the PEC of design. A central aim of the measurement aspects was to develop a PEC-tool offering real support for product designers. The PEC-tool should support:

• the measurement of PEC in existing products.
• the measurement of PEC in ongoing design based on sketches and prototypes.
• designers in developing a focused emotional content in their products.

We regard these measurement aspects as very important, for how can you otherwise manipulate, form, and react to something you cannot describe exactly? The PEC-tool also gives researchers a method for the investigation of various factors related to product design that influence human emotions. When the PEC of design can be described with clear features, product design can also be optimised for various demands and expectations.