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Stability or instability: the impact of brand concepts on logo design preferences

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Abstract

It is generally accepted that logo characteristics have significant effects on consumer brand preferences. However, little is known about how logo stability and instability drive consumer attitudes. To address this gap in the logo literature, the authors draw on a new perspective of brand concepts based on human values and explore why and how this logo characteristic exerts influence. Across three studies, the authors show that consumers prefer a stable logo brand when it embodies conservation concepts, while they prefer an unstable logo brand when it embodies openness concepts. The underlying mechanism for this matching effect is processing fluency. Furthermore, the matching effect is attenuated for people who are low (vs. high) in visual information processing. Overall, these findings shed light on when and how marketers should adopt stability/instability in logo design.

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Notes

  1. Hedonism is located between openness to change and self-enhancement and thus is treated as a separate dimension.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 71602111), Ministry of Education of Humanities and Social Science Project (Grant No. 20YJC630045), and Guangdong Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Science (Grant No. GD18XGL58).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Economics and Management, Wuyi University, NO.22 Dongcheng Village, Pengjiang District, Jiangmen City, Guangdong Province, China

    Haiyang Huang

  2. SILC Business School, Shanghai University, 99 Shangda Road, Baoshan District, Shanghai, China

    Yuanyuan Cai & Lisha Xu

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  1. Haiyang Huang
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  2. Yuanyuan Cai
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  3. Lisha Xu
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Correspondence to Yuanyuan Cai.

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Appendices

Appendix A: stimuli used in Study 1

figure a

Appendix B: stimuli used in pretest 2

figure b

Appendix C: stimuli used in Study 3

figure c

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Huang, H., Cai, Y. & Xu, L. Stability or instability: the impact of brand concepts on logo design preferences. J Brand Manag 28, 465–480 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41262-021-00238-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41262-021-00238-6

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