Exploring User’s Preference on the Color of Cavity and Lighting of an Oven Product

Abstract

Background Although lighting and the color of the space are intuitively related on user’s emotional response, there has been little investigation about the combination of both in the context of home appliances. This study tries to figure out user’s preference on the interplay of lighting and oven interior color. Methods A series of workshops were conducted to develop metrics for an empirical experiment. We performed a survey about user’s preference on a combination of six oven cavity colors and six light colors that vary in correlated color temperature (CCT) with the developed metrics. The assessments were analyzed through a series of repeated measure two-way ANOVA to statistically examine the main effects of cavity colors and light colors and the interaction effect of both. Results User’s preference of light color depended on the color of the oven cavity. Interestingly,a blue cavity was the most favored by users and a navy color cavity in regard to food was the most appetizing by users. Conclusions The results contradict the conventional belief that people prefer low CCT or warm lighting on oven usage. Manufacturers may benefit by searching for a proper cavity color and lighting that can best suit their products for building their brand image.