African Journal of
Business Management

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Bus. Manage.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1993-8233
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJBM
  • Start Year: 2007
  • Published Articles: 4194

Full Length Research Paper

The effect of the 'golden ratio' on consumer behaviour

Slavka T. Nikolic1*, Ilija Cosic1, Mladen Pecujlija1 and Ana Miletic2
1Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Serbia. 2Faculty of Design, Metropolitan University in Belgrade, Serbia.  
Email: [email protected]

  •  Accepted: 29 June 2011
  •  Published: 30 September 2013

Abstract

This paper evaluates the relationship between the "golden ratio" and consumer aesthetic preferences, and investigates its possible implementation into market offer. Due to the increasingly diverse offer to which consumers are exposed, each detail of the offer should be in the function to attract consumer’s attention. These requirements increase the importance of design. Package design should facilitate the raise of 'usual' products to the level of 'unusual' products. Different forms of frontal sides of packages were created in the proportion of the golden ratio for research purposes. By setting simplegeometric shapes, with the absence of colors and other elements which may distract consumer’s attraction, a solution was created with the aim to direct the attention to proportional ratio of both the package form and graphical solution, instead of other visual elements. The achievement of "commercial beauty" as simultaneous effect of "aesthetic beauty and economic good" is also important from the aspect of our study. It is about different effects, products, services and relationships in mass consumer culture. This research offers answers to the question of consumer preferences related to package design based on the proportion of the golden ratio.

 

Key words: Marketing, consumer behavior, the golden ratio, aesthetic preferences.