Brand logo design: Exploring consumer response to naturalness across cultures

Literature concerned with logo strategy suggests that the aesthetic appeal of brand logo significantly influences consumer reactions. The main purpose of this research is to study the influence of the different categories of natural logo designs on consumer response. Through two studies in three countries, this research sheds light on consumer logo preferences, by investigating the psychological properties of the naturalness of logo design. Results showed that naturalness is an essential design element that significantly influences affective responses. Moreover, results suggest that organic designs are clearly preferred, and that the appeal of the different categories of natural designs seems to be universal. Furthermore, our findings suggest that affect towards unknown organic logos is at the same level that affects towards known abstract logos. This is a relevant finding from a managerial point of view, since familiarity (an essential cognitive response towards the brand that has a cost for the firm) can be replaced at non-cost with the type of logo design used.