All dressed up with something to say: Effects of typeface semantic associations on brand perceptions and consumer memory

Childers, Terry L., and Jeffrey Jass. 2002. All dressed up with something to say: Effects of typeface semantic associations on brand perceptions and consumer memory. Journal of Consumer Psychology (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates) 12 (2): 93−106.

This article discusses a research study on marketing and typeface semantics. The authors examine the visual properties of typefaces and advertisements to see if these factors affect consumer brand perception. The authors performed two separate experiments. Both experiments provided evidence that typefaces do in fact convey meaning and influence consumers’ perceptions and memory of brands. The authors found that typefaces can emit various meanings, and the combination of these meanings is what makes up a consumer’s perception of the brand. They also discussed how the repeated exposure of the visual properties which make up a brand’s image, influences consumers as well.

I believe this article would benefit anyone studying any aspect of visual communication. The article gives comprehensive background information, as the authors define and explain terms that will help readers fully understand the basis of their research. They provide a literature review and cite sources which the reader may also find valuable to his or her own studies. The article is a bit dated, as it was published in 2002, but I believe the information still proves useful.