Research by Sunaga, Park and Spence confirms that, all else being equal, things that are painted lighter colors are perceived to weigh less than items painted darker colors. The team described their study :âThe present study examines how the lightness of packaging colors, and the location of products on a display shelf interact to affect consumersâ purchase decisionâmaking via perceived visual heaviness. As predicted, a display with light (dark) colored products positioned in the upper (lower) shelf positions increases shoppersâ perceptual fluency and facilitates their visual search, thus leading to the suggestion that âlightâ (heavy) locations are most appropriate for light (dark) colored productsâŠThis research also demonstrates that when consumers consider the lightness (in terms of their weight) of the products, they are more likely to choose light (vs. dark) colored products located in the upper shelf positionsâŠconsumersâ purchase decisionâmaking may be promoted by inâstore environments designed to be congruent with their sensory correspondences.â
This research also indicates, for example, that people will be more comfortable when darker colored objects and surfaces are closer to the floor/ground than lighter colored ones.
Tsutomu Sunaga, Jaewoo Park, and Charles Spence. 2016. âEffects of Lightness-Location Congruency on Consumersâ Purchase Decision-Making.â Psychology and Marketing, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 934-950.
Sally Augustin, PhD, a cognitive scientist, is the editor of Research Design Connections (www.researchdesignconnections.com), a monthly subscription newsletter and free daily blog, where recent and classic research in the social, design, and physical sciences that can inform designersâ work are presented in straightforward language. Readers learn about the latest research findings immediately, before theyâre available elsewhere. Sally, who is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, is also the author of Place Advantage: Applied Psychology for Interior Architecture (Wiley, 2009) and, with Cindy Coleman, The Designerâs Guide to Doing Research: Applying Knowledge to Inform Design (Wiley, 2012). She is a principal at Design With Science (www.designwithscience.com) and can be reached at sallyaugustin@designwithscience.com.