레트로 제품 디자인이 노스탤지어와 소비자-디자인 관계에 미치는 영향

Corporate retro marketing leverages the past to enhance the promotion of contemporary products and services, gaining increasing significance across various domains. Thus, this study examined how retro product design influences the formation of relationships between consumers and product design which are self-design connection, design attachment, and design authenticity through the consumer nostalgia. We developed retro and modern designs for audios and headphones to validate the proposed model. We conducted a survey exposing 230 participants to design stimuli. We measured nostalgia toward product design and consumer-design relationship, and examined the relationships between these variables. As a result of the study, firstly, retro designs were found to evoke higher perceived nostalgia (past imagery, physiological reaction, positive emotions) among consumers compared to modern designs. Secondly, the consumer-design relationship (self-design connections, design attachment) perceived by consumers was found to be stronger for retro designs than for modern designs. Thirdly, consumers' nostalgia (past imagery, physiological reaction, positive emotions) have positive effects on consumer-design relationships (self-design connections, design attachment, design authenticity). The research results imply the importance of understanding not only consumers' emotional responses to retro design but also their multi-dimensional reactions. Additionally, utilizing design strategies with nostalgia can be highly effective in establishing the consumer-design relationship.