In Stephen P. Anderson’s article, In Defense of Eye Candy, he discusses the importance of aesthetics in appealing to users:
…[A]esthetics is concerned with anything that appeals to the senses—not just what we see, but what we hear, smell, taste, and feel. In short, how we perceive and interpret the world. As user experience professionals, we must consider every stimulus that might influence interactions. …[A]esthetics is not just about the artistic merit of web buttons or other visual effects, but about how people respond to these elements. Our question becomes: how do aesthetic design choices influence understanding and emotions, and how do understanding and emotions influence behavior?
Anderson points out that aesthetics communicate function to a user, making it easier for a user to know when to push the button (because it actually looks like a button) or when they have done something wrong (because a message is shown in red). He also mentions that the more attractive something is to a user (look), the user is more likely to use that piece of functionality.
According to a 2002 study, the “appeal of the overall visual design of a site, including layout, typography, font size, and color schemes,” is the number one factor used in evaluating a website’s credibility.
Interfaces speak to our emotions. We are attracted to pretty things. So, as Anderson argues, why shouldn’t our web sites be visually “pretty” or rather, appealing, to our users?
Emotional design is not a new concept, but is apparently one that is overlooked by designers, product developers, and marketers alike. In relation to web design, Frank Spillers states:
Emotion is one of the strongest differentiators in user experience namely because it triggers unconscious responses to a product, website, environment or interface. Our feelings strongly influence our perceptions and often frame how we think about or refer to our experiences at a later date.
When we think about emotion design and usability, we typically think of it as “keeping the user happy”. This includes designing to minimize the common emotions related to poor usability such as frustration, annoyance, anger and confusion. …
A well organized website with a professional, “clean look and feel”, with intuitive navigation and task-oriented functionality influences the following emotional reactions:
- Perception of credibility
- Trust
- Perception of security
- Overall perceived ease of use
For more information on emotional design, please visit the following:
- Attitude (psychology)
- Donald Norman
- Sample chapter from Donald Norman’s book, Emotional Design: Why we love (or hate) everyday things
- Various articles on emotional design
