The aim of the present study is to assess whether reinforcing imagery affects the emotional valence and effectiveness of pro-environmental public service announcements (PSAs). Two experiments that utilized PSAs constructed from a combination of text-based appeal and an image were carried out. The first experiment used the following appeals; (1) highlighting injunction, (2) highlighting injunction together with a negative descriptive norm, and (3) highlighting injunction together with a positive descriptive norm. These appeals were written on a photograph that either depicted nature scenery or the same scenery with digitally added litter. The results of the first experiment demonstrated that a congruent combination of text appeals highlighting injunction together with a positive descriptive norm and positive descriptive imagery elicits the most positive emotions when compared to other appeal and image combinations. The second experiment demonstrated that appeals with positive descriptive norms and an injunctive message coupled with a congruent descriptive image affect behavioral intention more than appeals with an injunctive only message coupled with a congruent descriptive image, thus demonstrating the additive effect of descriptive imagery and appeals presented together.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the perceptions of differently worded and illustrated public service announcements (PSAs). The results of the first experiment revealed that participants were inclined to show the most preference for those PSAs that highlighted the extent of the problem if the appeals were not accompanied by an image; if the appeals were accompanied by an image, participants preferred the appeals that directly requested the change of behavior. Results of the second experiment revealed that when leaflets had no images, people preferred the appeal that highlighted the problem, however when an image was next to the appeal, people preferred the requestbased appeal.

Proportions are one of the primary components of successful image composition during the visual art creation process, which, in turn, is determinant of the variety of effects of images on the viewer, including emotional reactions, attention, and aesthetic preference. The importance of image width and height ratio is especially visible in the current trend to adopt the widest possible screens in a variety of modern creative media applications: photo, video, computer games, etc. In the present study emotional and aesthetic evaluations of the three most popular aspect ratios that are used in digital media devices were compared. This was achieved by assessing emotional arousal and valence ratings together with the interest and appeal evaluations of realistic photos presented in 4:3, 16:9, and 21:9 aspect ratios. The results demonstrated that the widest images did not have an inherent advantage – photos presented in the mid-wide aspect ratio of 16:9 could be considered as more effective, because they were rated as evoking the most positive emotional reactions and as the most liked pictures. This demonstrated that single design features can have an independent emotional effect, which needs to be considered in visual design aiming to evoke emotional reactions to the viewer.