The effect of color and shape on aesthetic evaluation of colored shape

Abstract

When we perceive a colored shape, how the aesthetic evaluation is affected by the color or the shape. This study investigates the effect of color and shape on the aesthetic evaluation of colored shape. We used 16 shapes and 12 colors. 16 shapes were varied the magnitude of shape parameters that correspond to the three dimensions of curvedness, regularity, and complexity. 12 colors were selected from Munsell color system. In the experiment, different two groups of participants were assigned the task of rating 8 shapes, 6 colors, and 48 colored shapes on three scales with seven-points, according to the semantic differential method. These scales were constructed of three adjectives regarding the aesthetic evaluation, which are like-unlike, pleasant-unpleasant, and beautiful-ugly. First, we examined the one factor structure, which is the aesthetic evaluation, by the factor analysis. Next, the multiple regression analysis was used to predict that of colored shape from the aesthetic evaluation of color and shape which had been obtained separately. This prediction was successful as indicated by high R2 values to multiple correlation coefficient. The analysis indicated that the aesthetic evaluation of colored shape was influenced on both of the color and shape component, however, the shape component had stronger influnce on that of the colored shape than the color component. The analysis for each scale; beauty, pleasantness, and liking also showed the similar results. Moreover, we analyzed the effect of color and shape on the aesthetic evaluation of colored shape considering shape psychophysical features. As the results, in the case of regular shape stimulus set, the effect of color component was higher than that of shape component.