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Dressed for the Occasion: Font‐Product Congruity in the Perception of Logotype
Author(s) -
Doyle John R.,
Bottomley Paul A.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of consumer psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.433
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1532-7663
pISSN - 1057-7408
DOI - 10.1207/s15327663jcp1602_2
Subject(s) - font , meaning (existential) , psychology , product (mathematics) , perception , lettering , social psychology , consistency (knowledge bases) , advertising , mathematics , computer science , artificial intelligence , art , geometry , neuroscience , visual arts , psychotherapist , business
Styles of lettering (i.e., fonts) can differ in their appropriateness for describing certain types of brands and products. We use the Osgood dimensions of evaluation, potency, and activity to measure the connotative meaning of fonts and product categories. Judgments of the appropriateness of a font for a product partly depend on the consistency between the connotative meaning of the font and that of the product along dimensions of potency and activity. However, its perceived appropriateness also depends on the connotative meaning of the font per se, indeendent of the type of product being described. These differences are also evident when participants choose a company to call on the basis of ads similar to those found in the Yellow Pages. Finally, the effect of the meaning that people assign to a font is similar to the effect of the meaning they assign to the product's name itself.