Exploring Consumer Aesthetic Response: From Textual Data Analysis to Quantum-Theoretical Models[Explorer la réponse esthétique du consommateur : de l’analyse des données textuelles aux modèles quantiques]

This exploratory research seeks to better understand consumers' aesthetic responses to product design stimuli. It questions whether product design can be dissociated from its aesthetic dimension and how such responses can be modeled. Based on a 2.5-hour qualitative roundtable with ten diverse consumers, the verbatim data are analyzed through thematic analysis, semiotic square interpretation, and correspondence factor analysis using textual data software. The findings are compared with established design perception models, particularly Bloch (1995), and then examined through the lens of quantum models borrowed from physics to capture more nuanced aesthetic states. The study contributes to decomposing the aesthetic dimension of product design, advancing methodological reflections, and identifying new managerial implications in digital marketing and digital design.