Visualizing e-brand personality: Exploratory studies on visual attributes and e-brand personalities in Korea

The brand personality of an online product and service, usually represented by a Web site, is known as its e-brand personality. In the competitive conditions of online markets, e-brand personality is agreed to be an important factor in securing distinctive identity; however, few studies have suggested how to establish e-brand personality through the visual design of Web sites. This study explores the feasibility of constructing target e-brand personalities for online services by using visual attributes. It consists of 3 consecutive studies. The 1st study identified four major dimensions of e-brand personality on diverse Web sites. The 2nd study used 52 experimental home pages to identify key visual attributes associated with those 4 personality dimensions. The 3rd study explored whether those findings from the 2nd study can be applied in constructing Web sites for online services. The results showed that 2 visual attributes-simplicity and cohesion-are closely related to a bold personality. Three attributes-contrast, density, and regularity-can be used to create a Web site that has an analytical personality. Contrast, cohesion, density, and regularity are closely related to a Web site that is perceived to have a friendly personality. Regularity and balance were expected to be related to the sophisticated personality dimension, but no such relation was identified in the 3rd study. The article concludes with a discussion of implications, limitations, and future research directions.