Aesthetics - What Has it Got to Do With Usability

You'll come across plenty of motives are aesthetic - if it is shiny, it is color, it's contour...

How we select what to buy is a basic question which needs to be requested when designing an e-commerce site. While we all want to believe most of us make logical conclusions, thinking about the functional nature of merchandise, aesthetics obviously affects people and their decisions.

However, why are we so readily affected by aesthetics?

How aesthetics affects us

The way the product appears undoubtedly appears to affect our decision - how often have you purchased a mobile phone which you enjoyed the appearance of, just to realize upon using it for a couple of days it did not offer all of the functions that you wanted?

There has been a great deal of research demonstrating that aesthetics influences perceptions of a solution and its efficacy. When asked to evaluate the aesthetic and usability scores of a string of ATM displays, one analysis found individuals' perceived usability scores have been closely related to the perceived aesthetics scores compared to the displays' real usability. Further studies could replicate these results across civilizations.

The results suggest people are not able to differentiate usably and not as usable objects, presuming the aesthetically pleasing ones to be usable.

But does this disturbance happen? It is considered the primary reason behind this impact on individuals' judgments is what is called a 'halo effect'. This is the point where the aesthetic feature of the design right affects the perception of different facets. For instance the perception that a nicely fit suit or fashionable apparel makes the wearer look brighter.

How can usability encounter this?

Studies have discovered that endurance has a powerful impact on people's judgments after utilizing the item. But during the first phases of interaction with an item or program, aesthetics is obviously the significant influence. This 'halo effect' does not endure for long, should you wait for 15 minutes to be served at a plush restaurant your view of this restaurant goes, however great the service later.

But after usage, both aesthetics and usability had an almost equal effect.