Healthy by design, but only when in focus: Communicating non-verbal health cues through symbolic meaning in packaging

•Colors and typefaces differ in weight perception.•'Light' and 'heavy' typeface and color function as a product's healthiness cue.•The effect of typeface weight is dependent on a consumer's health regulatory focus.•Individuals aiming at good health are susceptible to subtle health indicators.•Explicit effects were corroborated using an implicit measure (IAT).

The visual design of food packages can activate heuristic inferences which in turn shape consumer perception and judgment of salient content. Focusing on two core design elements (typeface and color), this paper demonstrates that visual cues conveying weight (or a lack thereof) influence consumers' healthiness perceptions, explicitly as well as implicitly. Study 1 reveals that package design elements that differ in weight perception evoke divergent health perceptions of a soft drink. This effect is moderated by consumers' health promotion focus for typeface, but not for color. Following up on this finding, Study 2 elaborates on the typeface manipulation using an Implicit Association Test to show that the interaction between health promotion focus and typeface weight accounts for implicit associations between sugary foods and healthiness. Together, the two studies provide initial evidence for the influence of design cues differing in heaviness on food healthiness perceptions. The findings add to the literature on health perception and attest to the importance of package design for influencing consumer responses.