Toward an optimal quantitative design method integrating user-centered qualitative attributes

The determination of product features, which can be seen as design specifications, is a crucial problem that must be carried out upstream to quickly validate the product configuration according to some attributes in relation to the user perception. To this end, the design methods must evolve toward an analysis compatible with various kind of data that can be qualitative or quantitative. In this paper, a new approach is introduced able to take into account various kind of information in order to determine some quantitative design specifications in accordance with the users perception. This is done through a mathematical formulation that exploit different types of data coming from sensory analysis and physical quantities. This mathematical formulation is then used in an optimization procedure that takes into account a preference order over the sensory attributes. The solution of this optimization problem gives thus the best user-centered specifications that must be used for the conception of the final product.