Short answer
Incorporate shape psychology into design decisions to guide user taste perception and enhance product appeal.
- Field
- Classic Design
- Source
- Multisensory Research (2023)
- Method
- Experimental research review
- Evidence
- Strong effect
The visual shape of objects, from product packaging to tableware, can significantly influence our expectations and even our experience of taste. This classic design research insight is drawn from a 2023 study published in Multisensory Research. Using Experimental research review, researchers explored how this design variable affects real-world outcomes. The key design takeaway: Incorporate shape psychology into design decisions to guide user taste perception and enhance product appeal.
Curved forms evoke sweeter tastes, sharp forms evoke bitter tastes
The visual shape of objects, from product packaging to tableware, can significantly influence our expectations and even our experience of taste.
Multisensory Research · 2023
Key Findings
- 01Neurologically normal individuals associate different taste qualities with design features such as curvature, symmetry, orientation, texture, and movement.
- 02The form of food, plateware, glassware, typefaces, and packaging can influence taste expectations and experiences.
- 03Shape-taste correspondences may arise from direct perception, metaphorical translation of taste qualities into spatial analogues, emotional mediation, or associative learning.
Application
Design takeaway
Incorporate shape psychology into design decisions to guide user taste perception and enhance product appeal.
How to apply
When designing food packaging, use rounded shapes for sweet products and angular shapes for bitter or sour products. For restaurant design, consider the shapes of plates and cutlery to complement the food served.
Project actions
- 01When designing a product, think about the shapes you are using and what tastes or feelings they might evoke.
- 02Consider how the shape of your product's packaging might influence a customer's expectation of its flavor.
Method & Evidence
Variables
Strengths & Limitations
Strengths
- +Synthesizes a broad range of experimental findings.
- +Highlights the complex interplay of factors influencing crossmodal correspondences.
Limitations
It can be difficult to isolate the effect of shape alone from other design elements like color or texture. Individual taste preferences and cultural associations can also vary.
Reliability & validity
The reliability and validity of these findings are supported by the consistency across multiple experimental studies, though individual variability and context-dependent effects may influence results.
Think critically
To what extent can designers reliably control taste perception through shape alone, given the multitude of other sensory and cognitive factors involved?
Design Principles
"Visual form influences gustatory perception; leverage shape to evoke desired taste associations."
Understanding how visual elements like shape and curvature influence taste perception allows designers to intentionally craft multisensory experiences. This can be leveraged in product design, food presentation, and branding to evoke specific flavor profiles and enhance consumer satisfaction.
What This Means for Your Design
The shapes you see can change how things taste to you. For example, round shapes might make food seem sweeter, while pointy shapes might make it seem more bitter.
How to use in your project
- 1.Reference this research when discussing how the form of your product or its packaging might influence user perception of taste or flavor.
Add to My Project
Quick Cite
Paragraph starter
Research indicates a strong crossmodal correspondence between visual shape and taste perception. For instance, curved shapes are frequently associated with sweetness, while angular forms tend to evoke bitterness or sourness. This suggests that the visual design of products, particularly in the food and beverage sector, can significantly influence consumer expectations and experiences of flavor, a factor that should be considered during the design process.
Source
Multisensory Research
Explaining Visual Shape–Taste Crossmodal Correspondences
journal · 2023
View sourceQuestions About This Research
- What does the research say about curved forms evoke sweeter tastes, sharp forms evoke bitter tastes?
- Incorporate shape psychology into design decisions to guide user taste perception and enhance product appeal. Evidence: Multisensory Research (2023).
- Why does "Curved forms evoke sweeter tastes, sharp forms evoke bitter tastes" matter for design?
- Understanding how visual elements like shape and curvature influence taste perception allows designers to intentionally craft multisensory experiences. This can be leveraged in product design, food presentation, and branding to evoke specific flavor profiles and enhance consumer satisfaction.
- How can designers apply this research?
- Incorporate shape psychology into design decisions to guide user taste perception and enhance product appeal.
- What were the main findings?
- Neurologically normal individuals associate different taste qualities with design features such as curvature, symmetry, orientation, texture, and movement.. The form of food, plateware, glassware, typefaces, and packaging can influence taste expectations and experiences.. Shape-taste correspondences may arise from direct perception, metaphorical translation of taste qualities into spatial analogues, emotional mediation, or associative learning.
- What research method was used?
- Experimental research review.
- How strong is the evidence?
- Evidence strength is rated Strong effect, based on a 2023 journal from Multisensory Research.
- What should I do differently in my next project?
- When designing food packaging, use rounded shapes for sweet products and angular shapes for bitter or sour products. For restaurant design, consider the shapes of plates and cutlery to complement the food served.
- What are the limitations?
- Shape properties are associated with multiple qualities beyond taste, making direct manipulation challenging. The origins of these correspondences are not fully understood.