Aligning tastes with the right packaging design

As packaging design has quickly evolved this century, it is becoming increasingly part of brand design. Just like a brand, packaging communicates messages to its target audience through various senses. That's why designers and product managers must examine how packaging is perceived by consumers. Here's a look at how tastes and packaging design need to be consistent.

Shapes and Sounds

People use their eyes and ears to help predict how a certain food tastes. Studies show that different shapes of the food and sounds of the food and packaging create impressions. Sweet tastes and low-pitched sounds are associated with rounded shapes, typefaces and names. Sour tastes and high-pitched sounds correspond more with angular shapes, typefaces and names. The sound of the product name is another factor in which hearing contributes to perception of the product.

Tests further showed that certain combinations of sensory factors could increase or decrease sweetness or sourness. Here is the combination that likely yields a more sour than sweet taste:

• angular shape
• angular typeface
• angular name
• high-pitched sound

That combination is seven times more likely to create the impression of a sour taste. Compare that with the inverted combination that is five times more likely to produce a sweeter taste:

• rounded shape
• rounded typeface
• rounded name
• low-pitched sound

When angular shapes are paired with rounded names, people do not respond as quickly then when rounded shapes are matched with rounded names.

Meanings of Typefaces

Rounded typefaces can lead to a quick assumption of a sweet taste, whereas angular typefaces are more readily associated with a sour taste. Letters with points and angles such as A, V and W are natural examples of angular typefaces. Certain rounded letters, though, such as G can be made to have an angular appearance.

Designers may wonder how these associations came to be. One assumption may be that people have become accustomed to certain visual and aural stimuli that's somehow been "baked in" to marketing all along. In other words, the link between rounded shapes and sweet taste may stem from years of seeing candy packaged in heart-shaped boxes on Valentine's Day. Christmas and Halloween are big days for sweets and are associated with more creative than conventional packaging.

Science of the Senses

The connection between taste and other senses is gaining attention among some of the top food manufacturers in the world. Texture plays a role in influencing flavour perception, as does size. Many times people judge food with their eyes and nose before they taste the food. Another factor is memory, as people expect food to taste a certain way based on experience and associations with other foods.

If a piece of chocolate fits into the mouth, for example, it will likely melt quicker than a bigger sized piece. As a result, it may be perceived to have a more oily taste. The faster it melts, the faster the food is sensed by the taste buds. Shape determines how molecules are released in the mouth, which affects taste.

Colour is a very influential factor in affecting flavour intensity and edibility, although researchers believe that this perception is related to prior experiences. Scientists know relatively little about why these associations exist, other than memory is a crucial component. Packaging design experts still must do more research while sharpening their focus on multisensory perception as part of what determines taste.

Conclusion

Sight and hearing are important senses that affect taste. Tests show that people's sense of sweet and sour tastes are directly influenced by shapes and sounds associated with food. Not only does typeface of a product name influence taste, so does the sound of the name. In general, people perceive a sour taste to be associated with angular imagery and high frequencies while sweetness relates to rounded imagery and low frequencies.

Disclaimer:
The postings in this blog section do not necessarily represent Desjardin's positions, strategies or opinions.