Influence of packaging design on the quality perception of chocolate products

Abstract

It is well established that the consumers can often judge the qualities of enclosed products solely based on the information obtained from the packaging. The shape, size and weight of the container, materials, visual design, and information influence the consumer’s perception of the product and purchasing decisions. In the context of consumer’s browsing through store shelves, the appearance of the packaging container can be the crucial factor for selecting a specific product for closer inspection and, therefore, can have the major role in purchasing process and consumers’ decisions. The majority of chocolate bar packaging feature rectangular physical shape of the container. Therefore, using materials, finishing and, most importantly, visual design elements, the designers strive to differentiate the product from the competition on the store shelves while also communicating desired qualities of the product. The research in this paper is focused on the influence of colour and basic shape elements applied on packaging on the perception of quality attributes of chocolate products. In the first part of the research semantic differential questionnaire was used to evaluate perception of colours and basic shape elements in regard to pragmatic and hedonic quality aspects of confectionery products. For this part of the research, the stimuli were displayed outside of the context of packaging. For the main part of the research, both physical prototypes and digital simulations of the packaging were developed, with variations in dominant colours and basic shapes used for visual design of the packaging. AttrakDiff questionnaire was used for subjective evaluation of physical stimuli. Digital simulations, combined with eye-tracking equipment, were used to assess the visual inspection of stimuli when the participants were asked to search for a specific taste related property of the product. Fixation count and fixation duration were measured to establish which packaging designs gathered the most attention during the visual search for specific product traits.