Colour Saturation and Perceived Sensory Intensity: An Account of Psychological Proximity

Summary

This article reports five experiments showing that higher colour saturation—whether applied to products or packaging—increases consumers’ anticipated intensity of non-visual sensory attributes (smell, taste, touch, sound and texture). The authors (Ketron, Labrecque, Sohn, Yazdanparast) demonstrate the effect across multiple product categories (soap, towels, cookies, a music album, fabric) and establish psychological proximity as the mediating mechanism. They also rule out alternative accounts such as processing fluency, novelty, and nostalgia. The findings highlight colour saturation as a cross-modal cue that shapes expectations and offers actionable guidance for product and packaging design.

Key Points

Higher colour saturation on products or packaging raises anticipated sensory intensity across senses (olfactory, gustatory, tactile, auditory, and textural).
The effect was replicated in five studies spanning different product categories and stimulus types (product colouring and packaging colouring).
Psychological proximity (making a stimulus feel “closer” or more immediate) mediates the saturation → sensory intensity relationship.
Alternative explanations—processing fluency, novelty, and nostalgia—were tested and ruled out.
Results generalise across senses and contexts, indicating saturation is a robust cross-modal design cue.
Practical implication: designers and marketers can use increased saturation to signal greater potency, flavour, scent or texture, but should consider fit with brand and product category.

Context and Relevance

Colour (colour) research in marketing has long linked hue and lightness to brand meaning; this paper extends that by showing saturation specifically influences expectations beyond vision. It connects with broader cross-modal and construal-level literatures (e.g., sensory imagery, psychological distance) and recent work on saturation’s effects on perceived size, potency and healthfulness. For anyone working in packaging, product formulation, advertising or sensory marketing, the study provides experimental evidence that a simple visual tweak — saturation — systematically alters multisensory expectations.

Why should I read this?

Quick version: if you design packaging, product visuals or any consumer-facing sensory experience, this study tells you that bumping up saturation does more than prettify — it makes people expect stronger taste, smell, feel or sound. It’s short on fluff and gives tested reasons (psychological proximity) plus real examples across products. Want to nudge perceived potency or flavour without reformulating? This is the paper you skim first.

Author note (style)

Punchy take: the authors cut through the colour-noise and give designers a reliable lever. If you’re in branding or product design, the implications are immediate — saturation is not just aesthetic, it’s communicative. Read the detail if you plan to apply this in packaging or sensory positioning; the experiments show when it works and why.

Source

Source: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/mar.70021?af=R