Table 1.
A review of the effects of position on packaging design for different design elements on commonly-reported behavioural and evaluative measures.
| Position | Basic Shape | Imagery | Logo | Transparent Window |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top-left | - | He (A), OL (A); He (D), PI(0.60) (D) | - | - |
| Top-centre | - | He (A), OL (A); PI (E), In (E) | Po (C), PI (C), Po(0.35) (F) | - |
| Top-right | - | He (D), PI (D) | - | - |
| Middle-left | OL (B) | He (A), OL (A) | - | - |
| Middle-centre | - | - | - | - |
| Middle-right | OL(0.17) (B) | He (A), OL (A) | - | - |
| Bottom-left | - | He (D), PI (D) | - | - |
| Bottom-centre | - | He (A), OL (A); PI(0.65) (E), In(0.40) (E) | Po (C), PI (C), Po (F) | - |
| Bottom-right | - | He (A), OL (A); He(0.50) (D), PI (D) | - | - |
Key: Each cell in this table shows measures used (see ‘Measures’ below; measures are grouped by reference) for a specific design element (see columns) and position on the packaging design (see rows) across the extant literature (see ‘References’ below). Where a significant main effect of a measure was reported between different positions, the measure is shown in bold for position(s) where the score was highest, with the standardised effect size (Cohen’s d) in subscript (if enough data has been presented to calculate effect size), and with the reference letter (as in ‘References’ below) in superscript. References: (A) Deng and Kahn (2009) [11]; (B) Westerman et al. (2013) [19]; (C) Sundar and Noseworthy (2014) [16]; (D) Van Rompay, Fransen and Borgelink (2014) [12]; (E) Fenko, de Vries, and Van Rompay (2018) [14]; (F) Machiels and Orth (2017) [15]. Measures: He: Perceived product heaviness; In: Expected product intensity (e.g., taste intensity, smell intensity, alcohol content); OL: Overall liking or generalised design appeal; PI: Purchase intent; Po: Perceived product or brand powerfulness; Va: Expected product valence (e.g., tastiness). Note: Measures selected for this review were reported in two or more of the publications listed; other measures (i.e., if reported in only one publication, e.g., expected sale price) are not shown. The following null effects were identified (using the following notation: reference letter (measure 1(Cohen’s d), measure 2(Cohen’s d), …): B(PI, Ta); C(In, OL); D(OL(0.16), Ta, In); E(In(0.14), PI(0.16)). Example of how to read table: As reported in ‘Reference A’ (Deng and Khan, 2009 [11]; see any measure with a superscript ‘A’), products were perceived to be significantly heavier (see ‘He’ measures, noting that ‘heavier’ positions are presented in bold) when an image of the product was positioned in the bottom-, right-, or bottom-right positions, as compared to when positioned in the top-, left-, or top-left positions. No effect sizes could be calculated using the data presented by the authors (the table reflects this by omitting the subscript section showing effect size).