Conference article

The purpose of the present paper was to investigate the influence of various cognitions regarding package design on consumer behavior. In considering cognitions concerning product preference; we focused on commonalities between impressions of packaging components; especially typeface design and product characteristics. In Study 1; we developed a scale for evaluating the impression of Japanese fonts using the semantic differential method. Exploratory factor analysis indicated that our scale has three subscales: Activity; Aesthetic preference and Legibility. The results revealed that our factor; “Aesthetic preference;” was similar to the “Evaluating” factor in a prior sca- le. In Study 2; we conducted the principal examination using the scale developed in Study 1. Participants (N = 303) responded to a questionnaire that included 12 pairs of adjectives on a 7-point scale to determine their impressions of four kinds of Japanese fonts and four kinds of tea beverages. Structural equation modeling indicated that there was a partial scalar invariance; with two items having differential item functioning for the evaluation of impressions between Japanese fonts and tea beverages. These findings indicate that people have common cognitions of impressions regarding the shape of typeface design and product characteristics.

Typeface Design; Product Characteristics; Semantic Differential Method; Commonality; Simultaneous Analysis of Several Groups.