If you’ve ever spent half an hour choosing a notebook based on the design of its cover or paid $45 for a pastel-colored water bottle, you’re not alone. In today’s economy, aesthetics matter. In the modern day, design is no longer solely about looking good—rather, it’s an economic value-add that influences the pricing, marketing, and consumption of a product.
What Makes Something Aesthetic—From an Economic Perspective?
Economics has always interlinked value and functional utility. Aesthetics doesn’t seem to fit the category of helping perform a product’s function—but it introduces a different kind of value: emotional and symbolic utility. Though this kind of value is subjective, it still affects consumer behavior, especially as the rise of visual-centric social media platforms have amplified the importance of appearance.
The Behavioral Economics of Spending on Aesthetics
Behavioral economics can help explain why people pay more for things they find more aesthetically appealing. The most simple explanation of why we attach greater value to things that look and feel nice is because we derive more pleasure for them. A clean, well-designed planner, for instance, can make you feel more organized. An appealing water bottle might encourage you to hydrate more. The emotional satisfaction—and how it manifests into tangible benefits—does indeed create real value.
The so-called “Halo Effect” also comes into play. Put simply, good design often leads us to assume a product performs better. For instance, a well-designed website is more likely to be trusted than one that looks like it hasn’t been updated since 2008, even though both may serve the exact same function. Aesthetically pleasing items are often perceived as more reliable, higher quality, or more trustworthy—even if there’s no functional difference.
Finally, the “Endowment Effect” also plays a role. When a product aligns with our taste or identity, it feels more like its “ours,” thus increasing its emotional and economic value in our eyes.
Design in Business
Companies have recognized that, especially in saturated markets, design is a differentiator—a competitive advantage. Customizable aesthetics (like Nike By You or Casetify) let consumers imprint their own identity on a product, making them more likely to buy it (see our article about the IKEA Effect article for more information). Packaging has become a silent salesman as well: unboxing videos, minimalist water bottles, or even the easily-recognizable shape of a Starbucks cup have all been representative of how a consistent and identifiable design helps draw consumers to a business.
Aesthetics as an Economic Lever
Aesthetic design operates as a form of non-price competition, increasing the perceived utility of a product without changing its functionality. When consumers derive emotional or psychological satisfaction from the appearance of a product, they gain increased total utility, often justifying a higher willingness to pay.
Most notably in a saturated market, aesthetics become a differentiator that can justify premium pricing and expand consumer surplus even when marginal cost remains unchanged. Thus, design becomes profitable: it enhances brand loyalty and drives repeated purchases—especially in image-conscious or social media-driven markets.
The economics of aesthetic consumption illustrate that value isn’t determined solely by utility in the functional sense, but also by how consumers feel and identify with their purchases. In the modern world of business, the impact of good design goes beyond just taste and plays an integral role to a business’s strategy.
Image Source: https://notebooktherapy.com/collections/bullet-journal/products/tsuki-pastel-edition-bullet-journal?variant=39355558199411