Predictive packaging design: Tasting shapes, typefaces, names, and sounds
Open accessAbstract
Many studies have documented that people match a variety of tastes, aromas, and flavours crossmodally to other sensory features, such as abstract shapes, names, and speech sounds. These findings have had a significant impact on how the sensory attributes of product packaging are understood and how they can contribute to product communication and hence enhance brand value. Here, we report on a study designed to assess how rounded vs. angular shapes, typefaces, and names, and high vs. low pitched sounds, can be combined in order to convey information about the taste (sweetness and sourness) of a product. Our results support the view that “sweet” tastes are better expressed by means of rounded shapes, typefaces, and names, and low-pitched sounds, whereas “sour tastes” are better conveyed by means of angular shapes, typefaces, and names, and high-pitched sounds. These results are discussed in light of the literature on crossmodal correspondences and predictive packaging design.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Food-extrinsic shape can evoke taste similar associations when it comes to plate shape, packaging shape, and typeface/font.
“Like food shape, food-extrinsic shape can also evoke taste similar associations when it comes to plate shape [31,57] (though see Reference [8]) and even packaging shape [68] and typeface / font [69]”
From The Role of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Sensory Factors in Sweetness Perception of Food and Beverages: A Review (2019) · cites this paper as [68]
Cites
Hapeman, D. E., & Agresti, A. (1991) · Technometrics · doi:10.1080/00401706.1991.10484817 · Cited by 9,406 · see citing works
An effect size primer: A guide for clinicians and researchers.
Ferguson, C. J. (2009) · Professional Psychology: Research and Practice · doi:10.1037/a0015808 · Cited by 3,467 · see citing works
Crossmodal correspondences: A tutorial review
Spence, C. (2011) · Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics · doi:10.3758/s13414-010-0073-7 · Cited by 1,618 · see citing works
Self-citation(2003) · Technometrics · doi:10.1198/tech.2003.s28 · Cited by 1,580 · see citing works
Consumer Dissatisfaction: The Effect of Disconfirmed Expectancy on Perceived Product Performance
Anderson, R. E. (1973) · Journal of Marketing Research · doi:10.1177/002224377301000106 · Cited by 1,068 · see citing works
A study in phonetic symbolism.
Sapir, E. (1929) · Journal of Experimental Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0070931 · Cited by 1,013 · see citing works
Underwood, R. L. (2003) · The Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice · doi:10.1080/10696679.2003.11501933 · Cited by 508 · see citing works
Becker, L., van Rompay, T. J. L., Schifferstein, H. N. J., & Galetzka, M. (2010) · Food Quality and Preference · doi:10.1016/j.foodqual.2010.06.007 · Cited by 457 · see citing works
Consumer Dissatisfaction: The Effect of Disconfirmed Expectancy on Perceived Product Performance
Anderson, R. E. (1973) · Journal of Marketing Research · doi:10.2307/3149407 · Cited by 456 · see citing works
Creating Brand Names With Meaning: The Use of Sound Symbolism
Klink, R. R. (2000) · Marketing Letters · doi:10.1023/a:1008184423824 · Cited by 453 · see citing works
Spence, C. J. (2011) · Journal of Consumer Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jcps.2011.09.004 · Cited by 413 · see citing works
Self-citationBremner, A. J., Caparos, S., Davidoff, J. B., de Fockert, J. W., Linnell, K. J., & Spence, C. J. (2012) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2012.09.007 · Cited by 381 · see citing works
Self-citationMosaic Displays for Multi-Way Contingency Tables
Friendly, M. L. (1994) · Journal of the American Statistical Association · doi:10.1080/01621459.1994.10476460 · Cited by 366 · see citing works
The multi‐faceted dimension of packaging
Rundh, B. (2005) · British Food Journal · doi:10.1108/00070700510615053 · Cited by 326 · see citing works
Packaging design: creating competitive advantage with product packaging
Rundh, B. (2009) · British Food Journal · doi:10.1108/00070700910992880 · Cited by 280 · see citing works
(2012) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 238 · see citing works
Childers, T. L., & Jass, J. (2002) · Journal of Consumer Psychology · doi:10.1207/s15327663jcp1202_03 · Cited by 236 · see citing works
Crossmodal correspondences between sounds and tastes
Knöferle, K., & Spence, C. J. (2012) · Psychonomic Bulletin & Review · doi:10.3758/s13423-012-0321-z · Cited by 209 · see citing works
Self-citationPackaging design: general framework and research agenda
Azzi, A., Battini, D., Persona, A., & Sgarbossa, F. (2012) · Packaging Technology and Science · doi:10.1002/pts.993 · Cited by 195 · see citing works
Crisinel, A.-S., & Spence, C. (2010) · Attention, Perception & Psychophysics · doi:10.3758/app.72.7.1994 · Cited by 184 · see citing works
Self-citationCreating Meaningful New Brand Names: A Study of Semantics and Sound Symbolism
Klink, R. R. (2001) · The Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice · doi:10.1080/10696679.2001.11501889 · Cited by 181 · see citing works
What sound does that taste? Cross-modal mappings across gustation and audition
Simner, J., Cuskley, C., & Kirby, S. (2010) · Perception · doi:10.1068/p6591 · Cited by 174 · see citing works
Piqueras‐Fiszman, B., & Spence, C. J. (2011) · Appetite · doi:10.1016/j.appet.2011.07.012 · Cited by 167 · see citing works
Self-citationDarke, P. R., Ashworth, L., & Main, K. (2009) · Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science · doi:10.1007/s11747-009-0168-7 · Cited by 164 · see citing works
Weight concerns in individuals with body dysmorphic disorder
Kittler, J. E., Menard, W. E., & Phillips, K. A. (2006) · Eating Behaviors · doi:10.1016/j.eatbeh.2006.02.006 · Cited by 160 · see citing works
Creating Meaningful Brands: The Relationship Between Brand Name and Brand Mark
Klink, R. R. (2003) · Marketing Letters · doi:10.1023/a:1027476132607 · Cited by 154 · see citing works
Product Design: Preference for Rounded versus Angular Design Elements
Westerman, S. J., Gardner, P. H., Sutherland, E., White, T., Jordan, K., Watts, D., & Wells, S. (2012) · Psychology and Marketing · doi:10.1002/mar.20546 · Cited by 153 · see citing works
Gallace, A., Boschin, E. A., & Spence, C. J. (2010) · Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1080/17588928.2010.516820 · Cited by 148 · see citing works
Self-citationAuditory contributions to flavour perception and feeding behaviour
Spence, C. J. (2012) · Physiology & Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2012.04.022 · Cited by 144 · see citing works
Self-citationImplicit association between basic tastes and pitch
Crisinel, A.-S., & Spence, C. (2009) · Neuroscience Letters · doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2009.08.016 · Cited by 141 · see citing works
Self-citationSpence, C. J., & Gallace, A. (2010) · Food Quality and Preference · doi:10.1016/j.foodqual.2010.11.005 · Cited by 125 · see citing works
Self-citationDressed for the Occasion: Font‐Product Congruity in the Perception of Logotype
Doyle, J. R., & Bottomley, P. A. (2006) · Journal of Consumer Psychology · doi:10.1207/s15327663jcp1602_2 · Cited by 122 · see citing works
Assessing the shape symbolism of the taste, flavour, and texture of foods and beverages
Spence, C., & Ngo, M. K. (2012) · Flavour · doi:10.1186/2044-7248-1-12 · Cited by 119 · see citing works
Self-citationHine, T. J. (1997) · Little, Brown eBooks · Cited by 116 · see citing works
A sweet sound? Food names reveal implicit associations between taste and pitch
Crisinel, A.-S., & Spence, C. (2010) · Perception · doi:10.1068/p6574 · Cited by 108 · see citing works
Self-citationA Mosaic of Television Ratings
Hartigan, J. A., & Kleiner, B. (1984) · The American Statistician · doi:10.1080/00031305.1984.10482869 · Cited by 97 · see citing works
Walker, P. (2012) · Attention Perception & Psychophysics · doi:10.3758/s13414-012-0341-9 · Cited by 90 · see citing works
Tasting Liquid Shapes: Investigating the Sensory Basis of Cross-modal Correspondences
Deroy, O. D., & Valentin, D. (2011) · Chemosensory Perception · doi:10.1007/s12078-011-9097-1 · Cited by 85 · see citing works
Exploring implicit and explicit crossmodal colour–flavour correspondences in product packaging
Piqueras‐Fiszman, B., Velasco, C., & Spence, C. J. (2012) · Food Quality and Preference · doi:10.1016/j.foodqual.2012.02.010 · Cited by 84 · see citing works
Self-citationAssessing crossmodal correspondences in exotic fruit juices: The case of shape and sound symbolism
Ngo, M. K., Velasco, C., Montejo, A. S., Boehm, E., O’Neill, D., & Spence, C. J. (2012) · Food Quality and Preference · doi:10.1016/j.foodqual.2012.10.004 · Cited by 83 · see citing works
Self-citationVisual influence of shapes and semantic familiarity on human sweet sensitivity
Liang, P., Roy, S., Chen, M., & Zhang, G. (2013) · Behavioural Brain Research · doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2013.07.001 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
Ein experimenteller Beitrag zum Problem der psychologischen Grundlagen der Namengebung
Usnadze, D. (1924) · Psychological Research · doi:10.1007/bf00402395 · Cited by 74 · see citing works
Ngo, M. K., Piqueras‐Fiszman, B., & Spence, C. J. (2011) · Food Quality and Preference · doi:10.1016/j.foodqual.2011.11.004 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
Self-citationChemotherapy as language: Sound symbolism in cancer medication names
Abel, G. A., & Glinert, L. (2008) · Social Science & Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2007.12.016 · Cited by 66 · see citing works
Smets, G. J., & Overbeeke, C. J. (1995) · Design Studies · doi:10.1016/0142-694x(94)00003-v · Cited by 62 · see citing works
Some consonants sound curvy: Effects of sound symbolism on object recognition
Aveyard, M. E. (2011) · Memory & Cognition · doi:10.3758/s13421-011-0139-3 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
Mixed messages in brand names: Separating the impacts of letter shape from sound symbolism
Doyle, J. R., & Bottomley, P. A. (2011) · Psychology and Marketing · doi:10.1002/mar.20410 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
Woods, A. T., Spence, C. J., Butcher, N. L., & Deroy, O. D. (2013) · i-Perception · doi:10.1068/i0586 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
Self-citationThe Taste of Desserts' Packages
Overbeeke, C. J., & Peters, M. E. (1991) · Perceptual and Motor Skills · doi:10.2466/pms.1991.73.2.575 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Hearing Mouth Shapes: Sound Symbolism and the Reverse McGurk Effect
Spence, C. J., & Deroy, O. D. (2012) · i-Perception · doi:10.1068/i0558ic · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Self-citationCalder, B. J., & DuPuis, S. (2010) · Wiley International Encyclopedia of Marketing · doi:10.1002/9781444316568.wiem04024 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Velasco, C., Woods, A. T., Petit, O., Cheok, A. D., & Spence, C. (2016) · Food Quality and Preference · doi:10.1016/j.foodqual.2016.03.005 · Cited by 200 · see citing works
Wang, Q. J., Mielby, L. A., Junge, J. Y., Bertelsen, A. S., Kidmose, U., Spence, C., & Byrne, D. V. (2019) · Foods · doi:10.3390/foods8060211 · Cited by 168 · see citing works
“Like food shape, food-extrinsic shape can also evoke taste similar associations when it comes to plate shape [30,56] (though see Reference [8]) and even packaging shape [67] and typeface/font [68] (see Reference [11] for a review of the typeface of taste).”
BackgroundSelf-citationVelasco, C., Woods, A. T., Hyndman, S., & Spence, C. (2015) · i-Perception · doi:10.1177/2041669515593040 · Cited by 85 · see citing works
Self-citation“See me, feel me”: Effects of 3D-printed surface patterns on beverage evaluation
van Rompay, T. J. L., Finger, F., Saakes, D., & Fenko, A. (2017) · Food Quality and Preference · doi:10.1016/j.foodqual.2016.12.002 · Cited by 70 · see citing works
Pramudya, R. C., & Seo, H.-S. (2018) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02264 · Cited by 64 · see citing works
Assessing the effect of shape on the evaluation of expected and actual chocolate flavour
Wang, Q. J., Reinoso Carvalho, F., Persoone, D., & Spence, C. (2017) · Flavour · doi:10.1186/s13411-017-0052-1 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
Self-citation
- Authors
- Velasco, C., Salgado-Montejo, A., Marmolejo-Ramos, F., & Spence, C.
- Affiliations
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Velasco, Carlos
- Venue
- Food Quality and Preference
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2014-06
- Volume
- 34
- Pages
- 88-95
- ISSN
- 0950-3293 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2058946030
- Cited by
- 216
- References
- 51
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 20 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 25 · 2019: 27 · 2018: 22 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 22 · 2015: 16 · 2014: 4
- FWCI
- 41.53
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- hdl.handle.net
- Licence
- cc-by-nc-nd
- Locations
- Food Quality and Preference (publishedVersion)
- Intellectum (Universidad de La Sabana) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Consumer Packaging Perceptions and Trends
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Multisensory perception and integration
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Food Science › Sensory Analysis and Statistical Methods
- Keywords
- cross-modal correspondence, taste perception, sweet taste, sour taste, typefaces, product names, pitch, sound, sensory communication, brand value
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
