A Study on Emotional Affordance and User Experience of Generative Design-Based Chairs : Focusing on Cognitive Comfort and Self-Fulfillment

This study aims to explore how emotional affordances impact user experience in AI-based generative design. Specifically, we investigate the correlation between emotional affordances, cognitive comfort, and self-fulfillment, and based on this, propose guidelines for emotion-centered generative design. We collected approximately 1,500 chair design cases through web crawling. After a screening process with experts, five representative cases were selected for analysis. The analysis involved qualitative case analysis, an online survey of 101 respondents, and statistical analysis (independent-samples t-test, one-way ANOVA, and regression analysis). The results revealed that emotional affordances across cases significantly impacted cognitive comfort and self-fulfillment. The Betula Chair and Elbo Chair received positive evaluations on both factors. In contrast, the Solid C2 Chair received significantly negative evaluations due to its structural complexity. Furthermore, we identified some differences in the perception of emotional affordances across age and gender. These results suggest that emotional affordances in generative design go beyond simple visual preferences and are a key factor in explaining user identity formation and emotional stability. Future research should expand the scope of analysis to encompass diverse industrial designs and explore the potential of developing emotion-centered AI design systems by utilizing objective indicators, such as biosignal-based measurements.