AI mimics human visual attention to improve artistic design evaluation accuracy and help designers create visually appealing products while preserving cultural identity.
Researchers have developed a new artificial intelligence (AI) system that evaluates the visual appeal of literary and artistic product designs by modelling how people naturally focus on different areas of an image. Published in the International Journal of Engineering Systems Modelling and Simulation, the research introduces a more effective way to assess product aesthetics and support creative design decisions.
Unlike conventional image-aesthetics systems that rely mainly on isolated visual features, the new approach incorporates visual saliency, which represents the regions of an image that naturally attract human attention. The researchers explain that earlier methods often overlooked composition, including the arrangement of lines, shapes and backgrounds, leading to less accurate aesthetic evaluations.
The proposed algorithm combines edge-pattern analysis with weakly supervised learning and an attention mechanism. This enables the AI model to understand both the structural composition of a design and the visual elements that are most likely to capture a viewer’s attention. By fusing these features, the system delivers a more comprehensive assessment of artistic quality.
Built on the EfficientNet architecture, the AI model was tested using two widely recognised image-aesthetics datasets. The researchers report that it outperformed existing deep-learning methods while maintaining an effective balance between accuracy, processing speed and computational efficiency.
Beyond improving automated design evaluation, the researchers believe the technology could provide designers with measurable insights into how composition and focal points influence perceived quality. They also suggest the approach could help preserve cultural identity in product design by encouraging the incorporation of aesthetic principles from diverse artistic traditions rather than relying solely on dominant international design styles.
