Conveying personality traits through product design for a symbolic product

Abstract

International audienceProduct design, through its sensory attributes, plays a major role in product perceptions and its understanding by consumers. It conveys rich symbolic associations and contributes to shape brand image and its personality traits. A flower is a singular product, expressive and particularly evocative through its design. We postulate that flowers can be considered as brands possessing human-like traits. An experiment being run on two flowers’ varieties (tulips and roses) with 509 French participants shows how shape (pointed or rounded petals) and brightness (pink for the light color or purple for the dark color) influence the perceived flower’s personality, with gender as a moderating variable. The findings confirm the power of design to shape consumers’ perceptions, especially for symbolic products such as flowers