The use of shading and texture can add details to an image and provide an overall surface quality. When designers attempt to enhance viewers' impressions of graphics, it is based on an understanding of their emotions. Indeed, facial expressions are considered effective tools for understanding human emotional reactions. We conducted an emotion recognition experiment based on facial expressions to understand the emotional responses to two sets of sample images: (1) without, and (2) with shading and texture. FaceReader, an automatic facial expression recognition software program, was used to measure participants' emotions, and the sample images were categorized by a focus group using the Kawakita Jiro method. The emotion data were imported into SPSS, and a t-test was performed. The results revealed some differences in the participants' emotional responses for neutral, happiness, anger, and disgust. Emotional differences between two sets of the sample images and the feasibility of applying facial expression recognition to understand emotions were confirmed; i.e., physiological signals reflect feelings and correspond to people's verbal representations. This study can guide designers in establishing emotional connections with viewers by using design elements to reflect consumer interests.