Faces matter.  Humans know this, intuitively.  Babies process and understand faces at an almost adult level as early as four months.

We automatically process expressions taking cues and altering our behaviors accordingly.   And of course we see faces all the time.  This almost constant exposure to faces makes us prefer inanimate objects that mimic faces.  We are subliminally wired to see faces and have it influence our behavior even when there is no face.

Ever notice what time a watch is set to in a watch advertisement?   Probably not.  Since the 195os the vast majority of watch ads have the time set to 10:10.

Why?  One explanation is the hands don’t block the brand logo and other mark related visuals.  True but there are plenty of hand configurations that would do this, 8:20 for example.  In fact, that was the predominant time in watch ads in the 20’s and 30’s.

What changed?  Behavioral science and the real reason the hands are set at 10:10.

It’s subliminal.  Any guess?

Experiments show that people are more likely to buy and express positive views about the watch when it’s set at 10:10 versus 8:20 and a host of other tested hand settings.

Why?  Which face looks most like a smiling face?  Which looks more like a sad face?  Yep, 10:10 is all smiles.  We are so hard wired to prefer and look for faces that we see a smiley face on a watch face if the time is set to ever so slightly mimic the corners of our mouth shifting upwards.

And there was a significant gender effect.  In fact, the different time settings had no impact on males likelihood to buy but a significant impact on women.  This reinforces other research showing women are better able to recognize emotions in facial expressions and empathize with them.

What to do with this unless you’re a watch salesperson?   Geometry.  Wait, I was told there’d be no math…

The watch hands have a simple, geometric shape.  Simple, visual stimuli in a Facebook ad or fundraising letter or reply device are infinitely at our disposal.

• Concave lines are good – smile like.
• Convex lines are bad – these are frown like.
• Concave beats straight lines
• Avoid lines that have no facial comparison like a squiggly line that can invoke feelings of threat – it looks like a snake.
• Dial this geometry up for females as it’s more likely to subliminally register and impact behavior.

Kevin