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Abstract
Visual designs are increasingly utilized by consumers to make determinations about offerings in the marketplace, yet, the fields understanding of the role of visual design still needs further investigation. To address this, I examine the role of visual perception of marketplace designs through three essays. Essay 1 provides a conceptual framework and a systematic overview of the piecemeal visual perceptual research conducted in marketing to date. While past work has examined holistic perception and cognitive processing related to visual stimuli, my work exposes the components that comprise what consumers see in the marketplace, synthesizing findings while exposing pertinent areas under researched in marketing. Whereas consumers make determinations based off these components, consumers also process objects holistically. To capture the influence of holistic evaluations, I develop a diagnostic product design scale in Essay 2. This scale uncovers the dimensions that consumers holistically utilize in assessing goodness of marketplace designs, generating insights that allow for greater design success and better communication between marketers and designers in design development. Finally, in Essay 3, I examine how one of these piecemeal components can impact consumers holistic perceptions. This essay demonstrates how the lighting directionality that visual marketing stimuli (e.g. ads, packaging) feature can impact consumer perception of provision and elimination claims. Collectively, these essays provide a solid foundation for continued research into a surprisingly nascent area of marketing research.