Simple is Eco-Friendly but Complex is Effective: Inferences from Visual Complexity in Package Design
研究发现，当消费者关注产品功效时偏好复杂包装，关注环保时偏好简单包装，因为包装复杂性被联想为资源投入量，影响对环保性和功效性的推断。
Package design is an important form of point-of-purchase advertising that often conveys information about product characteristics. But can the mere level of its visual complexity produce specific inferences? We suggest that consumers prefer products with visually complex package designs when product efficacy considerations are salient but prefer products with visually simple designs when eco-friendliness considerations are salient. This effect happens because package design complexity connotes the amount of tangible resources used to produce the product, and consumers associate a low (vs. high) amount of tangible resources with eco-friendliness (vs. efficacy). Our findings extend recent research on design perception and have important practical implications for marketers and product designers. Advertising practitioners can benefit from our findings by understanding when minimalism is valuable and when it is not valuable, and how to strategically use different levels of visual complexity to influence consumer perceptions.