Aesthetics Matter
Exploring the Aesthetic Usability Effect
Aesthetics are often discredited as a source of success in digital products. Many see aesthetics as subjective and shy away from focusing on the visual details of form. However, aesthetics are not relative and can greatly enhance product usability. Visual beauty can be constructed through design elements and principles like visual hierarchy, balance, color, space, contrast, grid usage, etc.
The focus on aesthetics in digital products has grown over the years as traditional designers (print, advertising, brand, etc.) have begun to apply their skills in an interactive medium.
In the last 5 years Apple (IOS 7,8), Google (Material Design), and Microsoft (Windows 8) have relied on visual design to gain a competitive advantage. However, there has also been many companies that superficially embraced aesthetics without the proper understanding of how to apply it. Even worse, many companies hopelessly employed great visual design in service of a failed business model.
The Aesthetic-Usability Effect
The aesthetic-usability effect is a phenomenon that occurs when users perceive a beautiful design to be more usable than an uglier one. This perception translates into a more usable product. Users will be more willing to learn a new interface if it is pleasing to the eye and will be more tolerant of poor usability.
Researchers from Hitachi conducted a study that demonstrated that users were strongly affected by the aesthetic of an interface when determining its absolute usability.
“Correlational analysis of the evaluation data of the apparent usability with the inherent usability measures revealed that the apparent usability is more strongly affected by the aesthetic aspects than the inherent usability.” -Masaaki Kurosu and Kaori Kashimura
It seems obvious that a user would prefer an aesthetically pleasing interface over an ugly design, but it is awesome that good visual design translates into a more usable product.
