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The study aims to explore the effects of photograph quality on visual appeal, perceived usefulness and viewers' travel intentions from rational and irrational perspectives while simultaneously providing some references for the management and marketing of tourism destinations.

The study comprises four experiments combined with structural equation modeling to explore the influence mechanism of photograph quality on travel intentions.

(1) Higher-quality photographs offer greater visual appeal and perceived usefulness to viewers, and these relationships are moderated by the photograph source. Specifically, high-quality photographs generated by other tourists have more visual appeal and perceived usefulness to viewers. However, there are no significant differences in the impact of low-quality photographs generated by other tourists and destination marketing organizations (DMOs) on visual appeal and perceived usefulness. (2) Visual appeal and perceived usefulness significantly affect viewers' travel intentions, and visual appeal positively affects perceived usefulness. (3) Travel experience positively moderates the effects of visual appeal and perceived usefulness on viewers' travel intentions.

The study explores the effects of the visual appeal (irrational factor) and perceived usefulness (rational factor) associated with photograph quality on viewers' travel intentions. Photograph source and travel experiences have moderating effects on this influence mechanism.

This study aims to analyze the visual aspects of transport tourists’ experience of mobility focusing on British cruise and coach tourists’ international travel experiences.

The qualitative data was collected using semi-structured in-depth interviews with coach and cruise tourists and analyzed using thematic analysis.

The visual experience of mobility (demonstrated in the paper by the example of cruises and coach tours) is critical in the formation of transport tourism experiences. The mobile tourist landscapes emerge from the interplay of the subjective experiences of particular modes of mobility (vehicle or vessel) and routes, whereby the two key visual elements are the changing scenery and views of everyday local life as experienced whilst traveling.

The present study focuses particularly on the visual elements of passive transport tourism experiences. It does not account for other tourist activities nor does it study the experiences associated with active transport tourism. Future research could perform a holistic analysis of tourists’ experiences of transport in all its forms.

The findings point to the centrality of the experience of mobility in transport tourism experience. The following two key aspects of the experience emerged: the importance of variation of the scenery that the tourist consumes during their tour and a desire to observe mundane, everyday life elements of the destination, which should be taken into account by the tour operators and service providers in the route design and marketing.

Coach and cruise tourism are rarely analyzed together; this study demonstrates considerable parallels between the two in considering them as transport tourism, a mode of recreational activity where mobility is the central part of the tourist experience and should, therefore, be considered a tourist attraction in and of itself.

This paper presents a questionnaire study of brand‐specific perceptions of automotive design using subjective rating methods. The purpose of the paper is to explore the multiple modalities of the visual product experience of automobile design as perceived by the general public. Furthermore, the experiences were analysed using a framework for visual product experience (VPE).

Respondents were asked to assess the design of two car models at an international car show in relation to brand perceptions and visually perceived attributes using, among other tools, visual analogue scales. Analysis was done using a qualitative technique.

Results from the study indicate that there is a correlation/relation between experiential modes, in that respondents tended to rate attributes consistently high or low across modes. This implies that if the aesthetics are not perceived as favourable, neither is the expression of the car. Furthermore, respondents' assessments of aesthetic appeal and expression are on an average strikingly similar, suggesting that the level of aesthetic appeal correlates with the level of semantic understanding of the design. The general rating of emotional response follows a similar consistent pattern for the two studied cars.

Study approach as a way to gain insights into subjective perceptions of products based on appreciation and interpretation of visual product form. VPE framework recognising, mapping and clarifying the multiple modes of the visual experience.

Electronic word of mouth (eWOM) is a considerably influential factor for consumers to search for product information. Nowadays, consumers can easily post visual information (e.g. pictures or videos) to convey product information and consumption‐related experiences. Yet, prior eWOM studies focused primarily on the verbal information of eWOM. Few studies have paid sufficient attention to the effects of visual information in eWOM communication. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to employ blogs to investigate the effects of visual information on consumers' perception of eWOM message quality, credibility, product interest, and purchase intention.

The authors conducted two empirical studies in the field of different product categories. Data were collected from subjects ranged in age from 16 to 50 (n=155 for study 1, n=309 for study 2), and analyzed using independent‐samples t test and univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA).

Results show that subjects rated eWOM articles in blogs with visual information significantly higher in four areas than identical articles without visual information. Furthermore, there is an interaction effect between product category and visual information on product interest and purchase intention. Compared with experience products, when subjects read the eWOM information of search products with pictures (versus without pictures), they would generate greater product interest and purchase intention. In addition, the effect of visual information is stronger not only for search products (no matter whether utilitarian or hedonic products) but also for experience‐hedonic products than for experience‐utilitarian products.

The findings of this study provide useful knowledge for internet marketers to develop effective eWOM marketing and thus increase consumer trust in eWOM and intention to purchase products. Although visual information is found to be important, different product categories should take advantage of visual information in different degrees.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of visual and verbal information presentations on mental imagery, perceived informativeness and purchase intention. The study assesses two types of product-related information: (1) visual information: static product images and augmented reality (AR) and (2) verbal information: abstract and concrete product reviews.

A total of 320 mobile consumers participated in the experiment. To increase external validity, this study was conducted in an existing digital shopping environment.

The results suggest that AR has a greater effect on consumers' shopping outcomes than static images. The findings further reveal that concrete product reviews are important in increasing mental imagery, perceived informativeness and purchase intention when visual information does not provide an AR function.

This study contributes to the current literature by providing empirical support for AR effects and concrete reviews on consumer responses. The results further provide an important perspective for retailers seeking ways to develop effective information presentations in digital retailing.

The paper aims to investigate how a tablet's design features, namely, its navigation design and visual appearance, influence users' enjoyment, concentration and control, when using tablets for problem-solving, and thereafter how their core flow experiences impact their perceived performance and efficiency with problem-solving.

This study uses a field survey approach to engage 87 participants in a decision sciences class to use eTextbooks and a few other associated educational apps including CourseSmart app for e-notes and highlighting, sketchbook app and a calculator app in tablets to resolve class problems at a large US university.

This study finds that the tablet's interface design features (navigation and visual appearance) make users engrossed in their problem-solving processes with perceived enjoyment, concentration and control. This, in turn, impacts their perceived performance and efficiency. Moreover, visual appearance plays the most significant role in arousing users' affective emotions (i.e. enjoyment), while interface navigation is crucial to engage users' deep concentration (i.e. cognition) and control for problem-solving.

Modern tablets are being used widely in various sectors. More in-depth user flow experience design associated with tablet use for problem-solving contexts should be further advocated in order to provide more engaging and meaningful flow experiences to users.

This study shows that the design of the tablet interface can engage users in problem-solving processes in both affective and cognitive ways. It provides valuable insights on tablet interface design for problem-solving.

Among the many studies relating to servicescapes, the emphasis has mainly been on the effect of specific environmental attributes on customer perceptions, emotions and behaviors. Many servicescape studies have not included visual servicescape aesthetics and the overall significance that visual aesthetics hold for a particular consumer in his or her relationship with the servicescape. Yet, servicescape appearance represents the central channel for the formation of consumer–product (e.g. servicescape) relationships. Limited studies have examined consumers’ visual servicescape aesthetics comprehension and appreciation (VSACA) or consumers’ relationship with a specific servicescape and how consumers evaluate a servicescape from a visual aesthetics perspective. This study aims to operationalize and measure VSACA and to examine the validity of a proposed comprehensive model that encompasses the direct effects of VSACA on perceived perceptual experience quality (PPEQ), pleasure and arousal; PPEQ, pleasure and arousal on satisfaction; satisfaction on willingness to pay more; and the mediation effects of PPEQ, pleasure and arousal on the relationship between VSACA and satisfaction.

This is an experimental design study with two treatments. Fictitious boutique hotel lobby and classic hotel lobby video clips were created with the appropriate manipulation of visual aesthetics attributes. A random sample of 600 individuals over the age of 18 was drawn from a nationwide (USA) list purchased from a third-party commercial list service. After preliminary analysis, about 12 per cent were eliminated because of unusable responses or missing data. The data from 550 participants were used in the final analyses – 218 males and 332 females. Participants were asked to view a video clip of a hotel lobby online. After viewing the video clip, subjects completed an online survey instrument. The hypothesized model was then tested using structural equation modeling.

Results of this study suggest that individuals’ VSACA directly influences their PPEQ, pleasure and arousal. PPEQ and pleasure also directly influence satisfaction and indirectly mediate the relationship between VSACA and satisfaction. Finally, satisfaction directly affects willingness to pay more. Additional new findings are also discussed in the paper.

This study is limited by focusing primarily on the individuals’ VSACA of a hotel lobby; non-visual components were not considered as part of the VSACA construct. Results should, therefore, be generalized to other similar settings with caution. Future research can integrate both visual and non-visual servicescape aesthetics comprehension and develop a new scale to measure them. Future research can also build on the support of the current proposed theoretical model by testing it in different service contexts and across different groups of participants.

This research provides evidence to hotel service providers that VSACA plays an important role in influencing consumers’ emotions, satisfaction and behavioral intentions. The results imply that understanding customers’ simultaneous cognitive-emotional processing of servicescape aesthetics is crucial. Hotel developers and managers can engage potential customers in the designing and planning of a servicescape by conducting focus group research prior to the actual implementation of the servicescape attributes and construction.

This study represents the first research to extend and investigate the concept of visual aesthetics comprehension in the context of the hotel lobby servicescape beyond just product goods. This study contributes to the services marketing literature by confirming the importance and powerful direct effects of VSACA on individuals’ PPEQ, pleasure, arousal and willingness to pay more. Moreover, PPEQ and pleasure mediate the relationship between VSACA and overall satisfaction.

The purpose of this study is to analyse online consumers' experiential responses towards visual user-generated content in social commerce fashion online shopping environments. The study develops and tests a UGC OCE framework incorporating aesthetic and relational experiential paths in the OCE.

This paper adopts a quantitative approach to examine fashion consumers experiential responses to UGC content. The sample comprised 555 respondents recruited via a consumer panel. SEM analysis was employed to analyse and test the framework model.

The findings illustrate that consumers are initially stimulated by an aesthetic experience, which then triggers a combination of relational, emotional and interactive experiences in fashion social commerce. The study extends the S-O-R framework by integrating it to the experiential “path” that indicates the series of experiences consumers encounter. Using S-O-R, the study presents the consumers' online experiential responses to viewing visual UGC, revealing that there are five experiential responses, all of which have an influence on online consumer behaviour. Responses towards visual UGC include visual, relational, emotional, cognitive engagement and interactive engagement, which were all identified to influence purchase intention.

This study is original in finding that, in the context of online fashion shopping, aesthetics drive relational experiences, and relational experiences drive flow and interactive behaviour and also purchase intention. Aesthetic experiences and positive emotions are powerful drivers of purchase intention and drive connectedness, flow and interactive behaviour. This study extends the literature by extending the frameworks in OCE and CE into the fashion UGC context.

This study aims to investigate the effects of two visual design principles, repetition and compositional lines, in a food image on purchase intention in the context of a mobile food delivery app and test the effect of crossmodal correspondences between vision and taste as a processing mechanism.

In this study, two experiments were conducted using burgers and iced tea as stimuli.

The results demonstrate that repetition of an identical food product increases visual appeal for both burgers and iced tea. However, the optimal level of repetition was different between the two products. The findings show that different compositional lines generate different levels of visual appeal and the effects of compositional lines vary between burgers and iced tea. The results also validate the serial mediation effects of vision and taste between design principles and purchase intention.

The findings of this study add substantially to the understanding of visual information processing in food retailing by demonstrating how design principles such as repetition and compositional lines facilitate crossmodal responses between vision and taste and influence purchase decisions in a mobile platform. Also this study provides guidance as to how food retailers use design principles (e.g. repetition and compositional lines) for different products effectively when the food retailers develop visual digital content for a mobile app.

Visual aesthetics are a vital aspect of environmental quality. The objective of this study is to demonstrate the implementation of visibility analysis and visual quality standards on a campus to enhance productivity and effectiveness.

This study has identified the most crucial and valuable metrics for evaluating the visual quality of open spaces through an analysis of theoretical foundations and relevant background information. To achieve research goal, a multi-method approach was employed, incorporating a survey, user satisfaction ratings and ISOVIST simulation techniques. Specifically, this study focused on assessing the quality of open spaces in three open areas located on the campus of the Iran University of Science and Technology.

Based on the study’s findings, the most significant factors that students considered when evaluating the visual quality of open spaces on the Iran University of Science and Technology campus were green areas, gathering spaces and architectural elements such as furniture, color and texture. Among the three open areas examined, “Open Space One” was identified as the most satisfactory location for students. According to the study, “sensory richness,” “complexity” and “mystery” were significant indicators of students' satisfaction in this area. This area also had the widest radius and field of view feasible, which gave it a feeling of openness and spaciousness.

This study explores the influence of students' experiences, behavioral patterns and visual analyses on their use of open spaces on university campuses, with a focus on the Iran University of Science and Technology. By assessing students' satisfaction levels with these spaces, this research provides valuable insights that can guide the initial analysis stage before the design process and facilitate design optimization during the development stages. The results highlight the importance of considering user experiences and visual analysis when planning and creating open spaces on university campuses.

Highlights

1. Conducting an initial analysis before developing a design plan can be very helpful in understanding how users think and behave.

2. The three criteria of visual quality that have the strongest correlation with students' satisfaction with “open space” are “mystery,” “sensory richness” and “complexity.”

3. Two factors, namely the “radius of vision” and the “area” index, significantly influence students' satisfaction with open spaces.

4. Outdoor designers should incorporate “green space” and “gathering spaces” into their designs since the presence of these is effective in attracting and satisfying students.

5. The number of people using an open space has little to do with how satisfied students are with it.

6. Half of the students use open areas between 11:00 and 14:00, so the provision of “canopy” and “shelter” in these spaces is essential.

Conducting an initial analysis before developing a design plan can be very helpful in understanding how users think and behave.

The three criteria of visual quality that have the strongest correlation with students' satisfaction with “open space” are “mystery,” “sensory richness” and “complexity.”

Two factors, namely the “radius of vision” and the “area” index, significantly influence students' satisfaction with open spaces.

Outdoor designers should incorporate “green space” and “gathering spaces” into their designs since the presence of these is effective in attracting and satisfying students.

The number of people using an open space has little to do with how satisfied students are with it.

Half of the students use open areas between 11:00 and 14:00, so the provision of “canopy” and “shelter” in these spaces is essential.