Line Orientations, Implications

Joye and Fennis studied record album covers and found that “Based on the perceptual preference for visual stimuli with cardinal (orthogonal) over oblique (tilted) line/edge orientations (a phenomenon known as the ‘oblique effect’), albums with a predominance of cardinal line/edge orientations in their artwork should perform better than albums with more oblique artwork, as indicated by the albums’ market performance and consumers’ listening behavior. Study 1, using secondary data, shows that the cardinality of album artwork is a positive predictor of the cover’s esthetic appeal and of market performance as evinced by its position in the US charts, expert ratings of the album, and the number of weeks the album remained in the US charts. Studies 2 and 3 use experiments to show that consumers listen longer to music when album artwork is relatively more cardinal than oblique.” It is likely that Joye and Fennis’ work is also applicable in other contexts.

Yannick Joye and Bob Fennis. 2023. “Set That Record Straight! Cardinal Line Orientations in Music Album Artwork Boost Market Performance and Music Consumption.”  Psychology and Marketing, https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21959