2.1.2. Stimuli and apparatus
Four examples of product packaging that had a prominent central design element were chosen for use in this study. These packages included three packages of pasta – Campanelle, Pipette, and Gemelli – from the Barilla brand, along with a bottle of Izadi red wine (see Fig. 1). The central images of the pasta, as well as the triangular icon on the front of the wine bottle label, were extracted via photo editing software (the pasta elements were centred within a 105 × 194 pixel transparent image, whilst the wine element was centred at the bottom of a transparent image of 58 × 70 pixels; the wine label itself was 58 × 51 pixels; see Fig. 2A). The empty space these elements left on each package was carefully filled-in in order to match the surrounding packaging. During the study, the rotatable display element was superimposed onto the original packaging at its original location. The participant could then rotate the design element around a central point (simply by moving the cursor around this point on the screen see Fig. 2A). The degree of element rotation matched the degree of mouse rotation.