Effects of Visual Brand Identity Elements on Consumer Purchase Behavior: A Systematic Literature Review

The significance of visual brand identity for consumer choice has become one of the primary influences in marketing practice. The systematic review of the literature for this particular brand identity builds on 20 years (2004-2024) of research to analyze the effects of individual components of visual brand identity, such as the logo, color, and layout, on consumer behavior. Following the PRISMA guidelines, of the 577 articles obtained from Scopus, Web of Science, PsycINFO, and Google Scholar, 42 empirical studies were selected for final integration. It has been determined that the primary effect of the cited elements on consumers of the identified brand is the processing that stimulates consumers' cognition and affect. This, in turn, has a pronounced effect on the brand attitude, the intention to purchase, and the resulting loyalty toward the brand. It has been determined that consumers prefer logo designs that are simple and symmetrical, that complex logos suggest the brand is a higher-end offering, that color influences psychology, that cultures also affect how color is perceived, and that visual hierarchy organizes layout to shape focus and lower the user's brand-associated cognitive workload. The final proposed model integrates within a stimulus- organism-response (S-O-R) model the primary findings of the review and the suggested primary influences of culture, product involvement, and channel context as moderating influences. The recommendations for practitioners elaborate upon the key components of a visual brand strategy. This research identifies critical gaps in the literature and proposes a future research agenda focused on neuromarketing methods, omnichannel coherence, and the impact of AI-driven personalization on visual branding.