Development of a design support system for office chairs using 3-D graphics

Abstract

This paper describes the research and development work done on a design support system intended for use as a support tool in designing office chairs. Subjective evaluations were conducted using the semantic differential (SD) method to examine the relationship between users' personal assessments of office chairs and design elements. The results obtained were then quantified by means of multivariate analysis and incorporated in a database. As a result, this system can indicate the design elements needed to create a given chair design. A chair design is output in a graphical representation in response to an adjective input. Because the graphical representation is composed of 3-D data, it is possible to display the design from any desired perspective and also perform shading and other operations. Relevance to industry Having access to quantified data on the relationship between chair designs and user evaluations is useful to office chair manufacturers in formulating design strategies. Because this design support system is based on such quantified data, it can also be a valuable tool in designing actual chairs. In addition, the graphic display capabilities using 3-D data and the design manipulation functions make it possible to conduct model simulations on a computer screen.