Tactile Texture Design Strategies for SLA 3D-Printed Packaging: A Visual-Tactile Dual-Dimension Study

Abstract

 Digital manufacturing technologies have unlocked new possibilities for tactile texture design in packaging. However, designers utilizing SLA 3D-printing currently lack evidence-based guidelines for selecting textures that effectively communicate specific brand semantics. This exploratory study presents visual-tactile dual-dimensional evaluations of five SLA 3D-printed textures, which differ in density logic, protrusion height (0.3 mm vs. 0.6 mm), and morphological characteristics. Evaluations were conducted with 10 participants with formal design training. Graduated density arrangements achieved the highest score for tactile playfulness (M=4.3, SD=0.8), and 0.6 mm protrusion height consistently improved visual salience across all texture types. A practical selection framework that maps texture parameters to brand tonalities is developed for three common packaging application scenarios.