title: 'To preserve unity while almost allowing for chaos': Testing the aesthetic principle of unity-in-variety in product design.
abstract: Unity-in-variety is considered to be one of the oldest-known universal principles of beauty. However, little empirical research exists on how unity and variety together influence aesthetic appreciation. In three studies we investigated how unity and variety predict the aesthetic appreciation of a range of product designs, and further assessed whether perceived visual complexity and individual differences in regulatory focus influence this relationship. Our findings reveal that both unity and variety, while suppressing each other's effect, positively affect aesthetic appreciation. Hence, product designs that exhibit an optimum balance between unity and variety are aesthetically preferred. Furthermore, the research reveals that unity is the dominant factor in this relationship and facilitates the appreciation of variety. We discuss several theoretical and practical implications resulting from these studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Industrial Design, Delft University of Technology, Landbergstraat 15, 2628 CE Delft, The Netherlands. Electronic address: r.a.g.post@tudelft.nl.
authors.forename: R A G
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Post
authors.affiliation: Behavioural Business Lab, School of Economics, Finance & Marketing, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University, 445 Swanston Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia. Electronic address: janneke.blijlevens@rmit.edu.au.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Blijlevens
authors.affiliation: Department of Industrial Design, Delft University of Technology, Landbergstraat 15, 2628 CE Delft, The Netherlands. Electronic address: p.p.m.hekkert@tudelft.nl.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hekkert
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D004954:Esthetics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D057181:Pleasure / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Aesthetics; Beauty; Product design; Unity; Variety; Visual perception