UX Revolving Call-To-Action Button

Why Round-cornered buttons are better than Sharp-edged buttons.

While designing interface we often stuck at the point where we cant decide “How my buttons should be like?”

Let’s start with by establishing the fact that I worked in a startup for a year which made multiple products for vernacular audiences of India. So, often i had this discussion with the team whether to make the CTAs (Call-to-Action) soft-edged or sharp-edged.
They always used to put emphasis on creating sharp buttons as a lot of existing products has, but they often missed out on the fact that there’s a big psychological behaviour hidden behind these buttons.

What if i tell you, these sharp-edged or soft-edged buttons involves directly with the click rate.

LET ME EXPLAIN YOU HOW

Sharp edged vs Soft edged objects

Which object from above picture is easier for you to scan? If your answer is the second one i.e., the soft edged object then you and me are already on the same page (LOL).
Let me explain you why the soft edged object was easier to see, According to a research it is concluded that,

The sharper the corner, the brighter it appears. And the brighter a corner appears, the harder it is to look at.

Another possible explanation is,

We are conditioned for Rounded corners.

We are more organic to how we use everyday objects in the physical world. Rounded corners are everywhere. And as children, we quickly learn that sharp corners hurt and that rounded corners are safer. That’s why when a child plays with a ball, most parents aren’t alarmed.
But if a child were to play with a fork, the parents would take the fork away for the fear of the child hurting itself. This provokes what neuroscience calls an “avoidance response” with sharp edges. Thus, we tend to “avoid sharp edges because in nature, they can present a threat”

Which object would you trust with your child?

Also, Round corners makes effective containers

because rounded corners points inwards towards the center of the rectangle. This puts the focus on the contents inside the rectangle. It also makes it easy to see which side belongs to which rectangle when two rectangles are next to each other.

Which one is easy to scan?

Sharp corners point outward putting less focus on the contents inside the rectangle. They also make it hard to tell which of the two sides belong to which rectangle when two rectangles are next to each other. This is because each rectangle side is exactly a straight line. The sides of a rounded rectangle are unique because the lines curve towards the rectangle it belongs to.

Final thoughts

There are more to rounded corners than meets the eye. Rounded corners are not only easier for our eyes to process, but they also make information easier to process.
So now, if you are having trouble convincing your client or boss about rounded corners you just need to show this (i hope this helps, else srcoll design memes and say “damn this is so relatable”).

Thank you for reading this and please clap as this is my first attempt .