Visual brand identity plays a major role in communicating brand image in today’s cluttered marketing environment. Although studies related to brand identity elements have explored the effects of its individual elements such as logo, brand name, taglines, their holistic impact has not been fully investigated. Extending the design principles of biomorphism (which is imitating natural or nature-related attributes) from environmental psychology and architecture, we introduce a new holistic concept called biomorphic visual identity and test its influence on consumer responses, including perceived sustainability and perceived credibility, which lead to brand liking and purchase intentions. Findings from the study (a 2 × 2 mixed experimental design with visually manipulated—biomorphic vs. non-biomorphic—fictitious brand identity as stimuli and n = 420) suggest that the biomorphic visual identity of a brand influences marketing outcomes mediated by perceived sustainability and perceived credibility, both of which positively influence consumers’ brand likability and purchase intentions. The results also show that visual biomorphic elements have a higher impact than verbal ones on consumer responses. The idea of biomorphic visual identity introduced in this paper is not just novel and relevant to brand identity design, but is found to influence important marketing outcomes, as well. Furthermore, the mediating and moderating effects tested in this paper make the study conceptually robust. This research may trigger a series of studies on holistic, biomorphic design approach in brand building.

中文翻译：

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品牌的生物形态视觉识别及其效果：整体视角

在当今混乱的营销环境中，视觉品牌标识在传达品牌形象方面发挥着重要作用。尽管与品牌标识元素相关的研究已经探索了其单个元素（如徽标、品牌名称、标语）的影响，但尚未对其整体影响进行充分调查。从环境心理学和建筑学扩展生物形态（模仿自然或与自然相关的属性）的设计原则，我们引入了一个新的整体概念，称为生物形态视觉识别，并测试其对消费者反应的影响，包括感知可持续性和感知可信度，这导致品牌喜好和购买意向。研究结果（具有视觉操纵的 2 × 2 混合实验设计——生物形态 vs. 非生物形态——虚构品牌标识作为刺激物且 n = 420) 表明品牌的生物形态视觉标识会影响由感知可持续性和感知可信度介导的营销结果，这两者都对消费者的品牌好感度和购买意愿产生积极影响。结果还表明，视觉生物形态元素对消费者反应的影响比口头元素更大。本文中介绍的生物形态视觉识别的想法不仅新颖且与品牌识别设计相关，而且还被发现会影响重要的营销结果。此外，本文中测试的中介和调节作用使研究在概念上是稳健的。这项研究可能会引发一系列关于品牌建设中的整体、生物形态设计方法的研究。