Design and the Big Five: Linking Visual Product Aesthetics to Product Personality

While there have been some important advances in understanding how consumers evaluate specific aspects of visual product aesthetics, there is a lack of a systematic understanding of the processes that link product design aesthetics to broader consumer perceptions. In this research, we show that consumers’ assessment of visual product aesthetics are linked to perceptions of product personality. Across several real products, selected for their aesthetics variations, this research conceptually and empirically links perceptions of seven aesthetic dimensions (simplicity/complexity, harmony, balance, unity, dynamics, novelty and timeliness/fashion) to perceptions of five product personality characteristics (sincerity, excitement competence, sophistication and ruggedness).