Zhou, Chen, and Liconducted intriguing shape-related research; studies replicating their findings in other than the tested contexts will be useful. The researchers report that “Despite being a fundamental food feature, the effect of food shapes has been underexplored. This study demonstrates that giving hedonic [pleasure-related] foods a round shape increases their desirability, choice probability, and consumption. However, this effect does not apply to utilitarian foods.
Recycling stations are designed into many spaces, both public and private. Van Doorn and Kurz have identified interesting repercussions of recycling; designers who are aware of their findings may devise ways to counter the effects noted. Van Doorn and Kurz found that “when presented with [recycling] options people may come to psychologically frame their waste creation as a contribution to the collective good that makes them feel good about themselves. . . .
Eichinger, Schreier, and van Osselaer studied how place links influence consumption decisions. They report that “Consumption can provide a feeling of groundedness or being emotionally rooted. This can occur when products connect consumers to their physical (place), social (people), and historic (past) environment. . . . groundedness . . . increases consumer choice, increases happiness, and increases feelings of safety, strength, and stability. . . . marketers can provide consumers with a feeling of groundedness through product designs, distribution channels, and marketing communications. .
Cummings and colleagues link design with thoughts/behaviors in particular areas. As they report, they “tested whether a fast-food restaurant affects food expectancies, or the emotions one expects to feel while eating highly processed foods (e.g., pizza) and minimally processed foods (e.g., carrots). Participants . . . entered a simulated fast-food restaurant or a neutral space, completed questionnaires, and engaged in a bogus taste test. The simulated fast-food restaurant increased positive highly processed food expectancies [expectations].”
De Sousa and colleagues studied associations to shapes and colors, finding that consistency among them in packaging elements is important. They report that “participants expected the coffee associated with the pink label to taste sweeter than the green labeled coffee, whereas the coffee associated with the green label was expected to be more acidic than the pink labeled coffee. . . . consumers’ expectations did not carry over to influence the actual tasting experience. . . .previous literature show[ed] . . .
Jeon, Han, and Namstudied how preferences for particular color vary. They report that “designers and marketers often use a mix of colors whose harmony must be taken into consideration, which includes choosing whether to use colors placed next to each other on the color wheel (analogous combination) or to combine colors that are opposite each other (complementary combination). . . .
Rohrer, Keller, and Elwert found that where students sit influences relationships formed with classmates. They report that they “randomized the seating charts of 182 3rd through 8th grade classrooms (N = 2,966 students) for the duration of one semester. We found that being seated next to each other increased the probability of a mutual friendship from 15% to 22% on average. Furthermore, induced proximity increased the latent propensity toward friendship equally for all students, regardless of students' . . . similarity with respect to educational achievement, gender, and ethnicity.
Researchers have linked living in greener neighborhoods to better cardiovascular health. Atiken determined that “People who live in green neighbourhoods are less likely to develop cardiovascular disease. . . . The researchers analysed the odds of developing any new cardiovascular disease, and the number of new cardiovascular conditions, based on block-level greenness.
Wang, Yu, and Li evaluated typeface - product preference links. Their work “identifies the effect of an important design characteristic of typefaces—curvature on consumers’ preferences toward hedonic [pleasure-related] products. . . . when consumers are exposed to hedonic products whose advertisements or packaging use round typefaces (high curvature), they show greater preferences toward them.”
Corradi and colleagues studied responses to specific design elements. They report that “results reveal that people differ remarkably in the extent to which visual features influence their liking, highlighting the crucial role of individual variation when modeling aesthetic preferences. . . . overall, participants liked the curved images . . . more than the sharp-angled images. . . . The model of liking for symmetry and complexity revealed that participants liked the symmetrical images . . . more than the asymmetrical images. . . .
