TIRE EXPO CONFERENCE 2008, Kòlnmesse,GERMANY

TIRE AND HUMAN EMOTION

A new piece of research will be introduced to the industry at the Tire Technology Expo 2008 conference, promising greater sales and safety. Enter emotional designThe ambivalence of consumers towards tires could soon be a thing of the past thanks to work being undertaken by Apollo Tyres in India. “We are focusing on the tire related to human emotions, creating emotional design,” states Raghuraj Ananthoj, senior executive, design and development, Apollo Tyres. “We use emotional design as a base to improve tire aesthetics, focusing on different aspects such as the graphics on the tire.”“Emotion is a physical or psychological recognition, and it needs to be addressed. People perceive something by sight, it is then calculated through the brain, and it becomes an emotion – but how can we create good emotions for a tire? There are three facets of emotional levels – the visceral level, the behavioral level, and the reflective level. Every design and product has these three levels of design, but the aesthetic response depends on the individual,” Ananthoj continues.This is an unusual piece of research, so at the Tire Technology Expo 2008 conference, Ananthoj will be illustrating his work with two case studies of how human emotion can be harnessed to optimize tire design and benefit the tire industry. “I will first take a look at asymmetric tire, and discuss how emotion design can create a different impact on how consumers perceive emotion in such a tire. The second example will discuss where form follows function – where graphics can play an important role in the case of an emergency. A safety factor such as reflective material could help, with the tire design having different aesthetics on the inside and outside walls, so people will know which is which when changing tire.“This is a very unusual piece of research for the tire industry, and I want to enhance this aspect of design, which has not been investigated before,” he enthuses. “We will be backing up our findings with statistics from the marketing department of a major US tire seller, with which we have been working closely. We have found that there are many factors that affect tire buyers. Some people are brand loyal while some look for performance. Some SUV drivers are more concerned about the subjective visceral level such as the tire tread, styling, and graphics, and we found that 90% of people who buy SUVs want a tire that reflects their character. Whether a tire can really make a styling statement in line with the character of the car is a question we will ask.”Tires created using this research are in the pipeline and will be presented at the Tire Technology Expo 2008 conference. To find out more, and to get a sneak preview of an emotional tire, attend Ananthoj’s discussion on 20 February, 2008.

interview published in TIRE TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE 2008