Brand visual aesthetics play an increasingly prominent role in consumer decision-making, and the proportion of visual aesthetics in corporate brand strategy is also increasing. Scholars have studied visual elements in brand aesthetics from various perspectives, but these studies are heterogeneous and fragmented, and have not yet formed a systematic framework. Therefore, based on the discussion of the origin and concept of brand aesthetics, this paper divides brand visual aesthetics into visual elements at the partial level and aesthetic expression at the holistic level, and makes a review.

This paper adopts the two analytical methods of bibliometrics and content analysis to comprehensively and deeply explore brand visual aesthetics. Firstly, drawing upon 266 articles published on the Web of Science from January 2002 to November 2021, this paper conducts high-frequency keyword analysis and keyword clustering analysis with the help of citespaces5.8.R3 to summarize the research hotspots and research characteristics of brand aesthetics in the recent 20 years. Secondly, based on the content analysis framework, the research status of brand aesthetics is explained in terms of the composition and expression of visual elements in brand aesthetics, the impact of visual elements on consumers, the expression of brand visual aesthetics features, and the style perception of consumers. And the aesthetic trigger response chain is constructed by combining the basis of visual elements influencing consumer decision-making. Finally, according to the shortcomings of existing research, future directions are proposed from three aspects: research theme, research perspective and research method.

This paper combs the origin and concept of brand aesthetics, explores the impact and mechanism of visual elements at the partial level and aesthetic expression at the holistic level on consumers, and constructs the brand visual aesthetic trigger response chain. The research on the partial level mainly includes color, shape, material and position, while the holistic level is divided into objective expression of visual features and subjective perception of visual style. The brand visual aesthetic trigger response chain starts with brand aesthetic elements and ends with consumers’ consumption intention. On the basis of physiological basis and psychological needs, consumers transform visual information into individual aesthetic experience through three stages of visual attention, visual processing and visual understanding, and the aesthetic experience ultimately affects consumers’ consumption intention.

The innovation of this paper is that: Based on the review of the research status of visual elements, it initially deconstructs the process of forming aesthetic experience and constructs a brand visual aesthetic trigger response chain, and puts forward suggestions on the future direction of brand visual aesthetics. The main contributions of this paper are that: Theoretically, it reveals the complexity of the impact of various visual elements on consumer behavior in the context of brand aesthetics. At the same time, the reaction chain also opens the black box of aesthetic experience, which helps to promote the academic research of brand aesthetic experience. Practically, understanding what brand visual aesthetics is, how it affects consumers and what the mechanism is, can provide decision-making guidance for the brand aesthetic management of enterprises.