The Effect of Sign Complexity and Coherence on the Perceived Quality of Retail Scenes

Abstract This article presents three studies that examine the effects of signscape complexity and coherence on perceived visual quality of streetside commercial scenes. For these studies I asked shoppers and merchants to examine color photographs of nine simulated streetside scenes, each of which had a different level of complexity (operationalized as variety in size, shape, and color in signs and letters) and coherence (operationalized through size and contrast in signs and letters). Responses of both shoppers and merchants showed that reductions in size and contrast enhanced coherence, that excitement varied directly with complexity and inversely with coherence, and that pleasantness and calmness were highest for moderate complexity and high coherence. I conclude with recommendations for a revised sign ordinance.

[1]  S. Siegel,et al.  Nonparametric Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences , 2022, The SAGE Encyclopedia of Research Design.

[2]  C. Osgood,et al.  The Measurement of Meaning , 1958 .

[3]  B Pushkarev,et al.  Man-made America: Chaos or Control? , 1963 .

[4]  G. Hardin,et al.  The Tragedy of the Commons , 1968, Green Planet Blues.

[5]  Amos Rapoport,et al.  The Perception Of Urban Complexity , 1970 .

[6]  D. Berlyne,et al.  Aesthetics and Psychobiology , 1975 .

[7]  C. Osgood.  Exploration in Semantic Space: A Personal Diary1 , 1971 .

[8]  J. Russell,et al.  An approach to environmental psychology , 1974 .

[9]  E. Lozano,et al.  Visual Needs in the Urban Environment , 1974 .

[10]  R. Kaplan,et al.  The Prediction of Preference for Familiar Urban Places , 1976 .

[11]  J. Wohlwill.  Environmental Aesthetics: The Environment as a Source of Affect , 1976 .

[12]  Environmental Design: Research, Theory, and Application. Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Environmental Design Research Association (10th). , 1979 .

[13]  Gary W. Evans,et al.  Assessment of Environmental Aesthetics in Scenic Highway Corridors , 1980 .

[14]  Glenn R. Harris,et al.  Response to congruity or contrast for man‐made features in natural‐recreation settings , 1980 .

[15]  Joachim F. Wohlwill,et al.  The visual impact of development in coastal zone areas , 1982 .

[16]  S. Kaplan,et al.  Cognition and Environment: Function - ing in an Uncertain World , 1983 .

[17]  J. Nasar.  Adult Viewers' Preferences in Residential Scenes , 1983 .

[18]  J. Nasar.  Visual Preferences in Urban Street Scenes , 1984 .