The Relation of the Perceptions of Aesthetics and Usability

Abstract

Aesthetics and usability both play critical roles in product design. But how might measurement of these two conceptually-different features of products interfere with one another? The current research study examines the effect of differences in aesthetics on perceived usability. Participants completed three tasks on a simulated website with a low usability interface. One group of participants used an interface with high aesthetics, whereas a second group interacted with an interface with poor aesthetics. Both groups rated the usability and aesthetics of the interface after completing the tasks. The aesthetics manipulation was effective in that the high aesthetics group provided higher ratings on two aesthetics scales than did the low aesthetics group; however, differences in aesthetics had no significant effect on usability as measured by the System Usability Scale (SUS). These findings support the idea that users make independent judgments of usability and aesthetics.

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“…Many studies reported explored and reported correlation between the appearance of the websites and perceived usability (e.g. (Alharoon & Gillan, 2020;Hartmann et al, 2007;Lavie & Tractinsky, 2004;Lindgaard et al, 2011;Skulmowski et al, 2016;van Schaik & Ling, 2003) According to Chang et al, (2014) , aesthetic formality and aesthetic appeal of a shopping website have a significant and positive effect on control, which is defined in three dimensions: behavioral (direct action on the environment), cognitive (the interpretation of events), decisional (having a choice among alternative courses of action). Of these three dimensions, factor loading of cognitive control was the highest in composition of the control construct.…”

A Study on Immersion and Intention to Pay in AR Broadcasting: Validating and Expanding the Hedonic Motivation System Adoption Mode

“…The influence of aesthetics on perceived usability has been a topic of interest in various fields such as computer science, business and psychology [144][145][146][147][148]. Several studies have emphasized the significant role of aesthetics in influencing perceived usability [87][88][89].…”

“…Therefore, the type of product and national factors may be influencing factors for the impact of aesthetics on consumer intention. Another study suggests that the aesthetic appeal of website interfaces does not have a direct impact on usability [145]. However, this does not negate the impact of aesthetics on usefulness, or rather, the influence of aesthetics on consumer decision-making is conditional.…”

Scientific and Design Understandings of Aesthetics

“…The study of aesthetics in human-computer interaction has been examined as a separate entity used to display interactions between attractive qualities and usability or user experience (Tractinsky, Katz, Ikar, 2000), trust (Karvonen, Cardholm, Karlsson, 2001;Li, Yeh, 2010) and credibility (Robins & Holmes, 2008). The relations between aesthetics and these other features of human-computer interaction have been demonstrated through correlational and experimental studies (e.g., Sonderegger & Sauer, 2010;Kurosu and Kashimura 1995;Tractinsky et al 2000), but have not always been shown to influence usability (e.g., Grishin & Gillan, 2019, Alharoon & Gillan, 2020. In these research studies, displays or websites are grouped based on aesthetic quality (e.g., high or low).…”