Personality, Design and Marketing ─ Matching Design to Customer Personal Preferences

It is a marketing truism that products should be shaped around the preferences of customers, not designers, and that a design or advert that is effective with one personality type may not be effective with another. Since purchasing intent can be increased by providing products that appeal to particular types of customers, an understanding of the impact of personality on design will help maximise the effectiveness of design and advertising efforts. Gloria Moss reveals the extent to which design and advertising effectiveness can be improved through an understanding of the personalities of a range of stakeholders. While the impact of demographic factors (age, class, geographical location) is the object of considerable research, the impact of personality on production and preference aesthetics has been greatly overlooked. It is only by grouping together research conducted on diverse fields that a larger picture of the impact of personality on design production and preference aesthetics can be constructed.

Gloria Moss has a unique understanding of the impact of gender and nationality on graphic, product and web design and the steps organisations need to take to maximise design for end-users. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and currently holds the position of Professor of Marketing and Management at Buckinghamshire New University and Visiting Professor at ESG Paris. Previously, Gloria has held senior positions at Courtaulds Acetate and Eurotunnel. Clients for consultancy on marketing and unconscious bias have included M&S, BT, Bounty, Ford, 02, Bayer and Allen and Overy.