Designing in Taste

Spence reports that “people intuitively match roundness with sweetness, while picking angular forms to represent the other four basic tastes. . . . Roundness is also associated with and tends to accentuate, creaminess. . . . sourness and spiciness are both associated with angularity. . . . participants from both India and China also match sweetness with roundness. . . .  asymmetry was shown to be associated with acidity/sourness and bitterness in groups of participants from Taiwan and the West (UK, USA and Canada). . . .  triangular food forms (arrangements) are liked just that little bit less when the triangle points downward and/or toward the viewer than when the same food form is presented with the point directed upward/away from the viewer. . . . linear food elements are preferred when they ascend to the right (rather than the left) on the plate.”

2023. Spence. 2023. “Explaining Visual Shape–Taste Crossmodal Correspondences.” Multisensory Research, vol. 36, no. 4, pp. 313-345. https://doi.org/10.1163/22134808-bja10096