Article

The role of visual complexity and prototypicality regarding first impression of websites: Working towards understanding aesthetic judgments

Authors:
  • Swiss Health Observatory (Obsan)
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Abstract

This paper experimentally investigates the role of visual complexity (VC) and prototypicality (PT) as design factors of websites, shaping users' first impressions by means of two studies. In the first study, 119 screenshots of real websites varying in VC (low vs. medium vs. high) and PT (low vs. high) were rated on perceived aesthetics. Screenshot presentation time was varied as a between-subject factor (50 ms vs. 500 ms vs. 1000 ms). Results reveal that VC and PT affect participants' aesthetics ratings within the first 50 ms of exposure. In the second study presentation times were shortened to 17, 33 and 50 ms. Results suggest that VC and PT affect aesthetic perception even within 17 ms, though the effect of PT is less pronounced than the one of VC. With increasing presentation time the effect of PT becomes as influential as the VC effect. This supports the reasoning of the information-processing stage model of aesthetic processing (Leder et al., 2004), where VC is processed at an earlier stage than PT. Overall, websites with low VC and high PT were perceived as highly appealing.

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... The attitude toward a system can be significantly toned by the first impression the user gets of the system. Research on the impacting factors of first impressions and how they influence further user behavior has been carried out by several researchers in the context of website design (Kim & Fesenmaier, 2008;Lindgaard et al., 2006;Thielsch et al., 2014;Tractinsky et al., 2006;Tuch et al., 2012). Thereby, several studies have identified that our first impressions can frame our attitudes through a "halo effect" which determines the further use of the website and purchase intentions in e-commerce context (Lavalley & Umapathy, 2015;Tractinsky, 2004). ...
... "There is no second chance for a good first impression" -this quote is often stated and applies to systems with graphical user interfaces (GUIs) as well. In the context of website design, the impact of first impressions on user behavior has been researched well in the past decades (Saadé & Otrakji, 2007;Lim et al., 2000;Martínez-González & Álvarez-Albelo, 2021;Tella, 2019;Tractinsky, 2004;Tractinsky et al., 2006;Tuch et al., 2012;Weiss et al., 2017). Results show that the first impression of users toward a website can lead to longer lasting effects on the perceived credibility, user satisfaction, and attitude toward the system, as well as the intention to use the website (Ye et al., 2020). ...
... The further evaluation of the system is framed by the so called "halo effect" (Minge & Thüring, 2018;Tractinsky et al., 2006). Even though most of the studies focusing on this are in the context of e-commerce (Lavalley & Umapathy, 2015;Tractinsky, 2004) and website design (Hassenzahl & Tractinsky, 2006;Kim & Fesenmaier, 2008;Lindgaard et al., 2006;Thielsch et al., 2014;Tuch et al., 2012), there are a few studies that focus on ES (F. F. Y. Hwang, 2014). ...
Conference Paper
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Technology acceptance is crucial, if newly implemented enterprise systems (ES) in a company are to succeed. This is often addressed by end-user training during the implementation project. Perceived enjoyment and positive user experience (UX) have gained significant importance as technology acceptance factors. Yet, research on the design of such trainings is scarce, and literature with focus on perceived UX of ES even more so. This is in contrast to findings from other contexts which show that perceived UX may heavily impact user attitudes and learning motivation. As a first endavour in this direction, this paper presents an exploratory pre-study on first impressions of main operating ES with regard to expected usability and UX. Results show that ES are rated low, especially when compared to a universal UX benchmark. We discuss how more positive first impressions may positively impact motivation to learn the system, which will be investigated in a follow-up study.
... likewise in product marketing, researchers have been interested in examining the stimuli than can produce positive first impression and subsequently positive marketing outcomes (kim & Fesenmaier, 2008;Moreau, 2020;Zhou et al., 2018) as well as the exposure duration of first impression formation (elsen et al., 2016;kim & Fesenmaier, 2008). interestingly, those researches focused on the peripheral dimensions of the products such as the packaging (Zhou et al., 2018), the delivery package (Moreau, 2020), brands and advertisements (elsen et al., 2016;Mutukhrishnan & chattopadyay, 2007). in the online marketing context, previous studies have focused on the first impressions related to the design aspects of the websites (lindgaard et al., 2006;kim & Fesenmaier, 2008;tuch et al., 2012) and website personalization (Martínez-gonzález & Álvarez-albelo, 2021). For instance, a study by kim and Fesenmaier (2008) found that the elements of web design influence consumers' evaluation toward a travel destination. ...
... interestingly, although marketers expect to get the benefit of having positive first impression that lasts longer and influences the subsequent evaluation (lindgaard et al., 2006;kim & Fesenmaier, 2008;tuch et al., 2012), prior first impression studies in marketing generally examine explicit first impression based on new images or appearances (kim & Fesenmaier, 2008;Moreau, 2020;Zhou et al., 2018). as literature suggests that explicit impression is less stable and changeable over time compared to implicit impression rydell & Mcconnell, 2006), it becomes less relevant to evaluate explicit first impression, especially in the case of subliminal perceptions. ...
Article
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First impression is an important concept in marketing as its effect is carried along over period of time and more stable. Research of first impressions within the marketing context tend to measure first impressions explicitly, yet literature suggests that implicit first impression is more stable and hence it is more critical for marketers to understand the formation of implicit first impression. To understand implicit first impression formation, an experiment was carried out for new cars being launched for commercial in Vietnamese markets. The results suggest that implicit first impression is formed at 10 s in response to exposure of a static car image and that the impression is stable across a prolonged exposure duration. This research contributes as it is the first to demonstrate the formation of implicit first impression within the marketing context. Consequently, marketers need to pay attention on how the product is represented visually during the launching period.
... Simple content is scientifically shown to be easier to process, but also leads to greater appreciation (Tuch, Presslaber, StöCklin, Opwis, & Bargas-Avila, 2012). Research showed that more information leads, on average, to less liking and dissimilarity (Norton et al., 2007). ...
... If processing the information is too demanding, the ing memory disengages and moves on. (Gofman, 2007;Nielsen, 2005;Norman, 2013;Norton et al., 2007;Tuch et al., 2012) Attention ...
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Does more information elicit users compliance and engagement, or the other way around? This paper explores the relationship between content strategy and user experience (UX). Specifically, we examine how the amount of information provided on marketing web pages, often called landing pages,impact users willingness to provide their e-mail address (a behavior called conversion in marketing terms). We describe the results of two large-scale online experiments (n= 535 and n= 27,900) conducted in real-world commercial settings. The observed results indicate a negative correlation between the amount of information on a web page and users decision-making and engagement.
... Berlyne's Aesthetic Theory [9,10]. Visual complexity 3 augments cognitive load [24] and diminishes visual aesthetics and usability [40,60]. The relationship between them is well established in psychology through Berlyne's aesthetic theory, an influential theory that connects the relationship between visual complexity and aesthetics. ...
... Note that aesthetics impacts the usability of an interface as it influences the way users interact with it (i.e., aesthetic-usability effect 4 ). Research in HCI and psychology reveal that the visual complexity of an interface plays a significant role as it lowers aesthetics and usability [40,60] and elevates cognitive load [24]. Although recent studies have focused on quantifying the visual complexity and aesthetics of generic visual interfaces [40][41][42], similar attention to graph query interfaces is rare. ...
... A 50 ms interval was found to be enough for users to decide whether they like a design or not (Lindgaard et al. 2006)results being highly similar to 500 ms. Tuch et al. (2012) show that the factors of visual complexity and protypicality influence perceived beauty of web pages already within 17 ms. Eye tracking research (Sheng, Lockwood, and Dahal 2013) suggests that users take from 2.66 seconds to pass over a web page with their eyes before landing the first fixation for cognitively processing the content. ...
... This difference is more significant with users who have stronger preference for simple websites, but it was unaffected by the website's perceived visual appeal. First impressions of web page attractiveness are affected by visual complexity even at exposure times as early as 17 ms (Tuch et al. 2012). ...
Article
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Five-second testing is a method commonly used by user research professionals to assess users' first impressions of user interfaces or product designs. Its rule of thumb, that five seconds is generally the right amount of time for users to report realistic and relevant first impressions, misrepresents the reality of human cognition. Users possess disparate levels of cognitive ability for processing stimuli that possess varied visual complexity. We conducted a complex experiment where participants complete an evaluation of their cognitive ability – working memory and perceptual speed. They are shown website stimuli of varied complexity over differing time periods (2/5/10 seconds) to answer a representative list of questions typical for evaluation of first impressions. We show that first impression feedback is rendered inconsistent by cognitive ability and visual complexity. Visually complex stimuli viewed for too short a time link to a problem with identifying the web page purpose. Participants with varied perceptual speed produce comparable results at 5 seconds, but at lower working memory, they provide less verbose answers and recall less information. These findings suggest that to receive relevant first impression feedback, the time for which participants are shown stimuli should be adapted to cognitive abilities and stimulus complexity.
... Furthermore, it's sometimes underrated how rapidly an initial impression takes shape, even for two or three seconds which is a short amount of time, and yet it practically takes just a fraction of a second. People can reliably determine whether they find a website appealing after only 50 milliseconds of viewing it (Lindgaard et al., 2006;Thielsch & Hirschfeld, 2012;Tuch et al., 2012). Users who find a website appealing seem to overlook its flaws and keep a favorable opinion even when they encounter bugs or poorly designed features (Lindgaard & Dudek, 2002). ...
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Objectives: This study aims to evaluate the aesthetic quality of Algerian hotel websites and their ability to create a positive first impression, which is crucial for user engagement. The research focuses on identifying design strengths and weaknesses to propose actionable improvements for enhancing user experience. Theoretical Framework: The study integrates Eye Tracking (ET) technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to analyze visual engagement and design aesthetics. Marriott Bonvoy®'s website serves as a benchmark, providing a standard for effective aesthetic design. Method: A content analysis was conducted on four Algerian hotel websites based in Constantine, utilizing ET-generated heatmaps and AI-derived visual indices, such as clarity scores, to evaluate design performance. Results and Discussion: The analysis revealed that Marriott Bonvoy® demonstrated superior aesthetic design, followed by the local three-star El Bey Hotel, which outperformed other local websites in design quality. Despite its relative success, El Bey and the other hotels exhibited areas requiring improvement, highlighting gaps in visual hierarchy, layout coherence, and clarity. Research Implications: The findings emphasize the need for Algerian hotel managers to prioritize design aesthetics as a key component of their digital strategy. Implementing the suggested improvements could enhance user experience and competitiveness in the hospitality sector. Originality/Value: This study uniquely combines ET and AI to evaluate website design in the Algerian hospitality context, providing actionable insights for improving digital engagement. It contributes to the growing body of research on user-centered web design in emerging markets.
... Given that emotions can be triggered more quickly than rational responses (Ekman, 1992;Epstein, 1994), it is not surprising that aesthetics not only influences whether people like or dislike a given website within milliseconds (Lindgaard et al., 2006;Tuch et al., 2012), but it also affects different intentional and behavioural outcomes. Before utilizing a website, aesthetics influences preference more strongly than usability (Lee & Koubek, 2010;Baek & Michael Ok, 2017). ...
Article
The present study assess Algerian hotels website design, thru its technical and aesthetic elements defined as: Content, Structure, Interaction and Representation. Thru the analysis of combined scores and ratios obtained from a content analysis and loading time user's experiment for four Algerian hotels websites located in the city of Constantine, we choose Marriott Bonvoy® website for the Marriott Constantine hotel as a benchmark for aesthetic elements, as well for the rest of technical elements. The study concludes that Marriott is the best hotel followed by a three-star hotel named El Bey Hotel, which is considered as the best designed hotel for all the elements even some serious structure element problem due to the long loading time for both Mobile Internet and Wi-Fi Internet in the first user's experience, with 39,2 and 25,15 seconds beyond the recommended 5.3 seconds. Moreover, the study suggest some managerial implications improvements to the managerial staff of these hotels.
... Despite pre-admission checks for malicious activity, uncertainty remains about developers' efforts to safeguard apps (Taylor & Martinovic, 2017). Security concerns, influenced by app requirements and practices, affect user satisfaction (Tuch et al., 2012), while poor integration and interoperability hinder adoption (Dehzad et al., 2014). Apps with lower ratings struggle to survive, whereas those with higher ratings and positive reviews tend to dominate the market (Fu et al., 2017). ...
... Despite pre-admission checks for malicious activity, uncertainty remains about developers' efforts to safeguard apps (Taylor & Martinovic, 2017). Security concerns, influenced by app requirements and practices, affect user satisfaction (Tuch et al., 2012), while poor integration and interoperability hinder adoption (Dehzad et al., 2014). Apps with lower ratings struggle to survive, whereas those with higher ratings and positive reviews tend to dominate the market (Fu et al., 2017). ...
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This study examines how perceived security and privacy influence user ratings of cryptocurrency applications, which are critical for adoption and satisfaction amid the growing popularity of blockchain technologies and rising concerns over information security in online platforms and mobile apps. The study focuses on mobile applications from the Android app market. It used text mining methods to investigate over 64 thousand text-based user reviews and star ratings of over 140 cryptocurrency-related mobile applications available in the Google Play store. Using a partially supervised machine learning approach, this study first identified reviewer sentiment related to privacy and security, then employed ordinal regression analysis to examine the data to reveal the relationship between perceived security threats, privacy concerns, and app ratings. This study found that crypto apps average 3.84 out of 55 stars, which is higher than Productivity apps (3.46) but lower than FinTech (4.29) and Banking (4.25) apps. Ordinal regression analysis revealed security and privacy threats negatively impact ratings, while robust security measures improve them, with a model Pseudo R² of 0.25. These results have implications for both cryptocurrency app developers and platform managers, offering insights for enhancing user experiences and informing future research endeavors in this domain. It contributes to the literature by integrating the Protection Motivation Theory with sentiment analysis and provides a structured framework for developing an understanding of user behavior in the context of cryp-tocurrency apps.
... According to study [21], the use of color is crucial in the design of a website. It's important to consider the diverse range of users who will access the site, including those who may be color blind HERALD OF THE KAZAKH-BRITISH TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY No. 4(71) 2024 and unable to differentiate certain colors. ...
... Considerando que os jogos digitais são apresentados aos estudantes por meio de interfaces digitais, que servem como ponto de contato entre o aluno e o conteúdo, é fundamental considerar a construção estética dessas interfaces. De acordo com Tuch et al. (2012), são necessários apenas 7 segundos para criar impressões acerca de uma tela ou interface. Nesse sentido, telas visualmente atrativas podem capturar a atenção dos estudantes, melhorando significativamente a experiência de aprendizado. ...
... According to study [21], the use of color is crucial in the design of a website. It's important to consider the diverse range of users who will access the site, including those who may be color blind and unable to differentiate certain colors. ...
Preprint
Websites form the foundation of the Internet, serving as platforms for disseminating information and accessing digital resources. They allow users to engage with a wide range of content and services, enhancing the Internet's utility for all. The aesthetics of a website play a crucial role in its overall effectiveness and can significantly impact user experience, engagement, and satisfaction. This paper examines the importance of website design aesthetics in enhancing user experience, given the increasing number of internet users worldwide. It emphasizes the significant impact of first impressions, often formed within 50 milliseconds, on users' perceptions of a website's appeal and usability. We introduce a novel method for measuring website aesthetics based on color harmony and font popularity, using fuzzy logic to predict aesthetic preferences. We collected our own dataset, consisting of nearly 200 popular and frequently used website designs, to ensure relevance and adaptability to the dynamic nature of web design trends. Dominant colors from website screenshots were extracted using k-means clustering. The findings aim to improve understanding of the relationship between aesthetics and usability in website design.
... Thus, visual aesthetics influence the perception of classical UX aspects like efficiency, learnability, or controllability. A similar effect exists also in the opposite direction, i.e., the perception of usability influences the perception of beauty [30] [31]. ...
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Questionnaires are a widely used tool for measuring the user experience (UX) of products. There exists a huge number of such questionnaires that contain different items (questions) and scales representing distinct aspects of UX, such as efficiency, learnability, fun of use, or aesthetics. These items and scales are not independent; they often have semantic overlap. However, due to the large number of available items and scales in the UX field, analyzing and understanding these semantic dependencies can be challenging. Large language models (LLM) are powerful tools to categorize texts, including UX items. We explore how ChatGPT-4 can be utilized to analyze the semantic structure of sets of UX items. This paper investigates three different use cases. In the first investigation, ChatGPT-4 is used to generate a semantic classification of UX items extracted from 40 UX questionnaires. The results demonstrate that ChatGPT-4 can effectively classify items into meaningful topics. The second investigation demonstrates ChatGPT-4's ability to filter items related to a predefined UX concept from a pool of UX items. In the third investigation, a second set of more abstract items is used to describe another classification task. The outcome of this investigation helps to determine semantic similarities between common UX concepts and enhances our understanding of the concept of UX. Overall, it is considered useful to apply GenAI in UX research.
... Another application of eye tracking in studying consumer behavior on digital devices is understanding how users process information and make decisions. A study by Tuch et al. (2012) found that gaze tracking can measure the influence of different design elements, such as colour, font, and layout, on users' perception of a website's usability. ...
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Eye-tracking technology has become increasingly popular in studying consumer behavior and decision-making as a part of the marketing research area. The paper highlights the importance of eye tracking in the study of consumer behavior including the use of eye tracking in virtual reality environments, the integration of eye tracking with other physiological measures, and the development of more sophisticated analytical techniques. By observing eye movements and fixations researchers can gain insight into the visual and cognitive processes underlying consumer choices. For this reason, a literature review of relevant studies provides a detailed synthesis of the development of eye-tracking experiments. This paper contributes to the latest findings on consumer behavior in the field of eye-tracking technology.
... Online art exhibitions, typically rich in interactivity and visual appeal, align with the interests and consumption habits of Generation Z. Their accessibility and low entry barriers make them particularly attractive to young individuals less likely to visit traditional art institutions. In digital environments, website aesthetics initially create a visually pleasing impression for viewers (Tuch et al. 2012). Empirical studies in human-computer interaction have underscored the significance of website aesthetics (Jiang et al. 2016). ...
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In the post-pandemic era, there has been a heightened global focus on the mental health challenges facing individuals, with a particular emphasis on innovative and effective therapeutic approaches. Despite the extensive body of research within the realm of art therapy addressing individual psychological healing, the potential of digital mediums in this field has been largely overlooked. This gap is especially pronounced in studies targeting the unique demographic of Generation Z, known as ‘digital natives.’ This study aims to investigate the role of engagement in online digital exhibitions as a potential restorative intervention for enhancing the mental well-being of Generation Z users. Grounded in the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) framework and the theory of restorative environments, this research examines the psychological responses of Generation Z participants to online digital art exhibitions, particularly from the perspective of website aesthetics. The impact of these responses on users’ place attachment and loyalty behaviors is also explored. Utilizing a structural equation modeling approach, an online digital art exhibition was deployed on the ZEPETO app, a platform popular among Chinese Generation Z users. Participants were subsequently invited to partake in an online survey post-exhibition, yielding a dataset of 332 valid responses. The findings reveal that: (1) the four design elements of website aesthetics (coherence, novelty, interactivity, immersion) significantly influence the perceived restoration among Generation Z users, with immersion being the most influential factor; (2) perceived restoration and place attachment are crucial predictors of loyalty behavior; (3) perceived restoration has a positive impact on the place attachment of Generation Z users towards online digital art exhibitions. This study demonstrates that online digital art exhibitions can facilitate an emotional healing journey for Generation Z, contributing to the alleviation of psychological stress and the promotion of psychological well-being. Moreover, digital technology exhibitions have the potential to transcend human creativity and imagination, offering a unique and promising pathway for future research and practices in design related to emotional healing.
... Finally, less content is scientifically shown to be easier to process but also leads to greater appreciation (Tuch et al., 2012). Research showed that more information leads, on average, to less liking and dissimilarity, while ambiguity breeds curiosity and interest (Norton et al., 2007). ...
Preprint
Full-text available
This paper describes An Empirical Investigation of the Relationship Between Amount of Digital Content and consumer behavior. Specifically, we examine how the amount of information provided on marketing web pages, often called "landing pages," impact users' willingness to provide their e-mail address (a behavior called "conversion" in marketing terms). We describe the results of two large-scale online experiments (n= 535 and n= 27,900) conducted in real-world commercial settings. The observed results indicate a negative correlation between the amount of information on a web page and users' decision-making and engagement.
... This principle is evident with visualization preferences on social media, although exemplified through high-resolution and professional images [50]. Empirical studies have supported that less complex interfaces are preferred because users can comprehend the functions and usability of less complex interfaces with greater fluency [51,52]. People tend to show an aesthetic preference for low redundancy and balanced patterns [53,54] although high redundancy in interface design is often recommended for individuals over the age of 65 [55]. ...
Article
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The current study investigates the neural correlates when processing prototypicality and simplicity—affecting the preference of product design. Despite its significance, not much is known about how our brain processes these visual qualities of design when forming design preferences. We posit that, although fluency is the perceptual judgment accounting for the positive effects of both prototypicality and simplicity on design preference, the neural substrates for the fluency judgment associated with prototypicality would differ from those associated with simplicity. To investigate these issues, we conducted an fMRI study of preference decisions for actual product designs with different levels of prototypicality and simplicity. The results show a significant functional gradient between the preference processing of simplicity and prototypicality–i.e., involvement of the early ventral stream of visual information processing for simplicity evaluation but recruitment of the late ventral stream and parietal-frontal brain regions for prototypicality evaluation. The interaction between the simplicity and prototypicality evaluations was found in the extrastriate cortex in the right hemisphere. The segregated brain involvements suggest that the fluency judgment for prototypicality and simplicity contribute to preference choice in different levels of cognitive hierarchy in the perceptual mechanism of the design preference.
... To achieve an aesthetically appealing ad, designers can opt for a visually simple or complex design. While visual complexity (VC) is relatively clearly defined for websites [9,10], the interpretations of what VC stands for in advertisement are not uniform [11]. There are different approaches to defining VC, some are based on subjective and some on objective methods of research. ...
Article
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Design plays a major role in online advertising. While specific aspects such as color or animation have been extensively studied, there is a surprising lack of comprehensive research on the overall impact of visual design and aesthetics. This study delved into the effects of varying levels of visual complexity in banner ads using the eye-tracking method. Out of 108 participants browsing test webpages with specially designed banners, data from 90 adequately measured data sets were used in the study. Notably, ads with a low level of visual complexity outperformed ads with a high level of visual complexity. While users noticed complex ads slightly faster (by 0.84%), they fixated on them significantly less (by 9.09%) and looked at them less frequently (by 4.79%). An implemented survey questionnaire examining the user perception of the banners reinforced the superiority of simple ads, as they were perceived as 4.40% more appealing in comparison. The study further delved into the correlation between objectively and subjectively evaluated data, exploring the credibility of subjective methods in the process. Considering our results and findings from other studies, it was evident that visually complex ads demanded more cognitive effort, could be more distracting, negatively impacted attention, could contribute to banner blindness and were perceived as less appealing.
... Even though apps are inspected for malicious activity before being admitted to the Google Play Store, ambiguity exists regarding whether app developers secure their apps for vulnerabilities before publishing them (Tylor & Martinovic, 2017). App requirements and practices may affect users' concerns about risking their information and, thus, might affect their satisfaction with the service provided (Tuch et al., 2012;Wu et al., 2011). In addition, the lack of secure integration and interoperability with other related information systems presents signi cant barriers to widespread mobile app usage and adoption (Dehzad et al., 2014). ...
Preprint
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Large volumes of app reviews generated by online users have strategic value for app providers. We investigate how Fin app users consider information security and privacy in their reviews and how these concerns affect the app’s performance in terms of its overall rating. We used 71,044 online reviews from multiple Fin apps in the digital market. We analyzed the unstructured data by conducting a textual analysis and developed a semi-supervised machine-learning model to extract insights regarding how users perceive security and privacy. The main results showed that perceived concerns about security and privacy negatively affect the apps' performance.
... Thus, visual aesthetics influence the perception of classical UX aspects like Efficiency, Learnability, or Controllability, and items measuring these semantically quite different aspects correlate. A similar effect exists also in the opposite direction, i.e., the perception of Usability influences the perception of beauty [26] [27]. ...
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Measuring User Experience (UX) with standardized questionnaires is a widely used method. A questionnaire is based on different scales that represent UX factors and items. However, the questionnaires have no common ground concerning naming different factors and the items used to measure them. This study aims to identify general UX factors based on the formulation of the measurement items. Items from a set of 40 established UX questionnaires were analyzed by Generative AI (GenAI) to identify semantically similar items and to cluster similar topics. We used the LLM ChatGPT-4 for this analysis. Results show that ChatGPT-4 can classify items into meaningful topics and thus help to create a deeper understanding of the structure of the UX research field. In addition, we show that ChatGPT-4 can filter items related to a predefined UX concept out of a pool of UX items.
... A brand can improve its recognition and achieve stronger impressions through simplified images [77]; the lower visual complexity is judged more favorably and increases consumers' willingness to purchase [78,79]. Furthermore, the logo's attractiveness is enhanced by a simple form and smooth style-a trend confirmed by recent packaging designs [80][81][82]. Therefore, the following hypotheses are proposed: H8. ...
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The COVID-19 pandemic started toward the end of 2019 and social distancing requirements imposed worldwide led to the rapid growth of online shopping, adversely impacted the global efforts for environmental protection. This study examines packaging and logos as stimuli to explore visual attention and attraction, arousal, and environmental awareness using eye tracking and a survey questionnaire. The results suggest that reusable packaging can enhance both attention and attraction. As a result, through the comprehensive data of the eye tracker, it was found that the reusable packaging and monotone logo can attract consumers’ attention faster than the original packaging. Post-event independent sample t-tests should prove that reusable packaging can positively impact consumers.
... Live streaming needs to attract consumers' attention, arouse their interest, and retain them with the good impression it leaves on them. As the anchor and product are the two central factors in live streaming, their attractiveness is key to forming good images at first glance for consumers and can help consumers decide whether to stay on a particular live video or switch to others [10,11]. Thus, it is important to investigate how anchor and product attractiveness affect consumers' purchase intentions in e-commerce live streaming. ...
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Many platforms and sellers have adopted e-commerce live streaming to attract consumers. However, little research has been done to understand the effects of attractiveness in e-commerce live streaming. Drawing on interpersonal attraction theory, selective attention theory, and self-image congruence theories, we focus on the two most important factors in e-commerce live streaming (anchors and products) and investigate the effects of anchors’ attractiveness and products’ attractiveness on visual attention allocation and subsequent consumers’ purchase intentions. Furthermore, we identify two key moderators that affect the relationship between attractiveness (i.e., anchor attractiveness and product attractiveness) and visual attention: anchor-self fit (ASF) and product-self fit (PSF). Using a combination of eye-tracking experiment and self-reported questionnaire methods, we find that highly attractive anchors and products induce longer fixation duration and greater fixation count. In terms of moderating effects, ASF positively moderates the effect of anchor attractiveness on fixation count on appearance area of interest (AOI), while PSF positively moderates the effect of product attractiveness on fixation duration on product AOI. Moreover, attention to the product AOI is positively related to purchase intention, whereas the fixation duration and fixation count of attention to the appearance AOI exert different effects on purchase intention.
... As the key to accessing online health information, the visual complexity of the information is interpreted through a holistic view which reflects the initial impression of the online health messages and significantly influences users' evaluation (Tuch et al., 2012;Lavie & Tractinsky, 2004). Lazard and Mackert (2014) proofed that design complexity should be regarded as an influential variable for health communicators since the first impression of the representation can effectively reach users, and it can be a persuasive design strategy. ...
Conference Paper
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Compared with traditional channels of information dissemination, social media allow users to explore, to reveal and to share all kinds of information via web, reinforcing word spreading effect with such online interactivities. Convincing health information often contains clear data, distinct hierarchies and strong visual appeal. This study investigated how the application of emoji and design complexity affects social media engagement and the level of perceived visual informativeness of health information. We conducted an online experiment with a 2 (emoji: with versus without) X 2 (information design complexity: high versus low) between-subjects research. A total of 277 subjects participated in this study. Results show that, firstly, health information with emoji leads to higher social media engagement and perceived visual informativeness. Secondly, high complexity information was more convincing in terms of increasing perceived visual informativeness. Thirdly, a significant interaction effect was found on perceived visual informativeness between emoji and the design complexity of health information. In addition, visual symbols, such as emoji, are more meaningful in health information with higher design complexity than those without visual intervention or low complexity. The evidence from this study provides strategies for making visual information in health more persuasive and engaging.
... An aesthetic impression occurs immediately at first sight, rather than being the result of a long lasting cognitive analysis [22]. This places it within the same timeframe as judgements made by users about the website as a whole, as it has been demonstrated that evaluations of online information are made quickly, with viewers judging websites within seconds or even milliseconds [23][24][25]. ...
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Digital interventions are increasingly recognised as cost-effective treatment solutions for a number of health concerns, but adoption and use of these interventions can be low, affecting outcomes. This research sought to identify how individual aesthetic facets and perceived trust may influence perceptions toward and intentions to use an online health intervention by building on the Technology Acceptance Model, where perceived attractiveness, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and perceived enjoyment are thought to predict behavioural intentions towards a website. An online questionnaire study assessed perceptions of nine stimuli varying in four aesthetic facets (simplicity, diversity, colour & craftsmanship), utilising a quasi-experimental within-subjects design with a repetition among three different groups: individuals from the general population who were shown stimuli referring to general health (GP-H) (N = 257); individuals experiencing an eating disorder and shown stimuli referring to eating disorders (ED-ED) (N = 109); and individuals from the general population who were shown stimuli referring to eating disorders (GP-ED) (N = 235). Linear mixed models demonstrated that perceptions of simplicity and craftsmanship significantly influenced perceptions of usefulness, ease of use, enjoyment and trust, which in turn influenced behavioural intentions. This study demonstrates that developing the TAM model to add a further construct of perceived trust could be beneficial for digital health intervention developers. In this study, simplicity and craftsmanship were identified as the aesthetic facets with the greatest impact on user perceptions of digital health interventions.
... This could indicate that participants were not interested in the information presented in AOI 2. In addition, red is known to be associated with negative emotions such as danger and can increase anxiety for certain individuals (Mehta and Zhu 2009;Ou et al. 2004). Additionally, Tuch et al. (2012) found that users tended to ignore visual elements that were overly complex, including red color elements. To determine whether this behavior is related to the content itself or to the background color, a similar text could be designed with a different background color and participants' eye movement data could be analyzed and compared to the data from this study. ...
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Purpose Although visual prototypicality in fashion is an observed phenomenon, empirical examinations of the link between fashion products' design prototypicality and consumer evaluations still need to be included. The present study analyzes the influence of the visual prototypicality of fashion products on consumer-perceived product values and brand preference. Design/methodology/approach An online survey adopting the fashion product images with significantly differing levels of visual prototypicality was used to collect data from 456 US consumers. The hypothesized relationships among visual prototypicality, product values and brand preference were analyzed through multi-group analysis. Findings Perceived visual typicality of fashion product designs significantly increased the hedonic and utilitarian value of the product and only indirectly increase brand preference. The hypothesized positive relationship between visual prototypicality and the product’s social value was found to be significant only in the low-price levels but became insignificant in the high-price levels. Originality/value The findings of this study contribute to the extant literature by first providing an initial analysis of the mechanism of visual prototypicality in the fashion product design field. The results confirm that visual prototypicality indirectly influences consumers' brand evaluations by the product’s perceived value. This relationship was previously assumed but not empirically proven only in non-fashion product categories. The study also presents additional new points, further enriching the understanding of visual typicality. Additionally, the results show the complex relationship between the visual prototypicality of fashion product designs and the perceived social value of the product, which varies depending on the price range.
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App providers find strategic value in the abundant reviews generated by online users. We explored how Fin app users express concerns about information security and privacy in their reviews and examined the impact of these concerns on the overall app rating. Utilizing online reviews from various Fin apps, we conducted textual analysis and employed a semi-supervised machine-learning model to understand user perceptions of security and privacy. The primary findings indicate that perceived concerns about security and privacy have a negative impact on app performance.
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Good user experience (UX) is an important signifier of users’ intention to employ music streaming services such as Spotify, YouTube Music, and Deezer. To examine an interplay among pragmatic and hedonic UX dimensions which constitute a research model for the evaluation of these services, an empirical study was carried out. The sample of study participants was composed of randomly selected regular users of music streaming services. Data was collected employing a questionnaire that was administered using Google Forms. Validity and reliability of the research model were tested using the partial least squares (PLS) structural equation modeling (SEM) method. The reported findings uncovered that, in the context of music streaming services, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness are significant determinants of satisfaction, security and user interface aesthetics significantly affect perceived usefulness, and user interface aesthetics significantly contributes to perceived ease of use.KeywordsMusic Streaming ServicesUser ExperienceEvaluationPLS-SEMQuestionnaireEmpirical Study
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The first impressions of web pages presented to users was investigated by using 13 different web pages, three types of scales and 18 participants. Multidimensional analysis of similarity and preference judgements found four important dimensions: beauty, mostly illustrations versus mostly text, overview and structure. Category scales indicated the existence of two factors related to formal aspects and to appeal of the objects, respectively. The best predictor for the overall judgement of the category scales was beauty. Property vector fitting of the multidimensional solutions with the category scales further indicated the importance of beauty for the preference space. Aspects of usability, product design and aesthetics are discussed.
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In duration, size, and form discrimination tasks, a visual noise mask was presented at variable delays after stimulus offset in order to interrupt processing and control the extent of processing time. Previous work (Thomas & Cantor, 1975) had suggested that both perceived duration and perceived nontemporal “information” might be expected to increase as processing time was extended. As predicted, accuracy in the discrimination of size of circles and form of non-sense figures was found to vary directly with stimulus duration (20, 50 msec) and mask delay interval (0, 30, 70, 110 msec). Differences in perceived duration between filled (forms or circles) and unfilled (blank) intervals were found to increase monotonically with increases in the mask delay interval, when non-sense forms, but not circles, were presented. Two hypotheses of visual masking (“integration” and “interruption”) are discussed. Within the context of the “integration” hypothesis, a model is proposed which predicts processing time as a function of stimulus duration, mask delay interval, and the interval between onset of the mask and termination of processing.
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In this study, we tested whether the visual complexity (VC) of webpages influences viewer's affective reactions. In a laboratory experiment, 48 students viewed 36 webpages varying in VC while subjective feelings, behavioral, and cardiovascular responses were recorded. Less complex webpages were associated with more positive affect, decreased eye movements (specifically in the first few seconds of viewing), a triphasic heart rate response, and increased finger pulse amplitude. Results suggest that affective responses to webpage viewing differ as a function of VC and that webpage displaying could be made adaptive to the user's emotions.
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Unlabelled: This study investigates how aesthetic website evaluations, especially those formed after very brief presentations, depend on visual information that is encoded in low- or high-spatial frequencies. A total of 92 participants took part in the experiment. The study used a 3 × 3 mixed design in which presentation time (50, 500 and 10000 ms) and spatial filtering (low-pass filtered, high-pass filtered and unfiltered stimuli) were manipulated. First, we replicate prior results from online studies of high- and low-spatial frequencies. Second, we confirm a prediction from neurocognitive models that only low-spatial frequencies are relevant to aesthetic judgements in ultra-rapid presentation modes. Third, we demonstrate that stimulus repetitions lead to an overestimation of the importance of ultra-rapid stimulus presentations. Taken together, our results highlight the utility of neurocognitive models of visual processing to explain the rapid aesthetic evaluation of websites. Practitioner summary: Using neurocognitive models we present an approach to explain how aesthetic impressions are formed. We show that ultra-rapid judgements are connected with low- but not with high-spatial frequencies, which are neurologically processed in different visual pathways. Furthermore we identify possible methodological problems in previous studies of ultra-rapid website perception.
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An important aspect of the empirical study of user experience is the process by which users form aesthetic and other judgements of interactive products. The current study extends previous research by presenting test users with a context (mode of use) in which to make their judgements, using sets of web pages from specific domains rather than unrelated pages, studying the congruence of perceptions of aesthetic value over time, including judgements after use of a web site, manipulating the aesthetic design of web pages and studying the relationship between usability and aesthetic value. The results from two experiments demonstrate that context increases the stability of judgements from perceptions after brief exposure to those after self-paced exposure and from perceptions after self-paced exposure to those of after site use. Experiment 1 shows that relatively attractive pages are preferred over relatively unattractive pages after brief exposure, but only if no context is provided. Experiment 2 shows that after brief exposure, classically aesthetic pages that are information oriented are rated as more attractive than expressively aesthetic pages. Perceptions are not correlated with measures of task performance or mental effort. We conclude that context is a pivotal factor influencing the stability of users’ perceptions, which must be explicitly addressed in the study of users’ product experience. Furthermore, the type of aesthetics that is relevant to users’ perceptions appears to depend on the application domain. The principle ‘what is beautiful is usable’ is not confirmed.
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In this study, five different sets of single-family house facades from private Suburban cooperative housing developments in Ankara, Turkey,, were analyzed; with each set comprising one example each of minimum and maximum complexity. Although the houses in each set had the same appearance when they were first built, their facades have since been altered by their owners. The main hypothesis of the study was that preference rates would be high for intermediately altered houses by showing the existence of a U-shaped relationship. On the other hand, it was hypothesized that perceived complexity and perceived impressiveness would have a linear relationship, with perceived complexity increasing and perceived impressiveness decreasing as the complexity level changed. In terms of these two basic hypotheses, it Was also assumed that there would lie a difference in the ratings of particular respondent groups with different backgrounds. Thus, a questionnaire was given to 100 undergraduate Students of the Architecture and Engineering Departments of Gazi University, Ankara (41 from architecture and 59 from engineering). These students were asked to rate a total of 15 photographs from five housing sites with the help of five-point semantic differential scales under three headings; namely; Preference: beautiful - ugly, warm - cold, pleasant - unpleasant: Complexity: unimposing - imposing, simple complex: and Impressiveness: impressive - Unimpressive. The results proved the existence of a U-shaped relationship between complexity and preference criteria. That is, facades representing an intermediate level of complexity were favored over less and more complex ones. The facades that seemed the most impressive were the most complex ones, but these, however, were not the most preferred. Amongst these results. it was also noted that the architecture Students replied fit a more critical way than the engineering students as they criticized what they saw as negative design decisions.
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The visual appearance of a Web page influences the way a user will interact with the page. Web page structural elements (such as text, tables, links, and images) and their characteristics (such as colour and size) are used to determine the visual presentation and complexity level of a Web page. We theorise that by understanding a user's visual and aesthetic perception of a Web page we can understand the cognitive effort required for interaction with that page. This paper describes an investigation into user perception of the visual complexity and aesthetic appearance of Web pages. Results show a strong and high correlation between users' perception of visual complexity, structural elements (links, images, words and sections) and aesthetic appearance (organisation, clearness, cleanliness, interestingness and beautifulness) of a Web page. We argue that the results should be used as a further understanding for keeping the balance between aesthetic appearance of a Web page and its visual complexity. Web pages will then be designed that can still be aesthetically attractive but also usable and not overloaded with information for the users.
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Three studies were conducted to ascertain how quickly people form an opinion about web page visual appeal. In the first study, participants twice rated the visual appeal of web homepages presented for 500 ms each. The second study replicated the first, but participants also rated each web page on seven specific design dimensions. Visual appeal was found to be closely related to most of these. Study 3 again replicated the 500 ms condition as well as adding a 50 ms condition using the same stimuli to determine whether the first impression may be interpreted as a 'mere exposure effect' (Zajonc 1980). Throughout, visual appeal ratings were highly correlated from one phase to the next as were the correlations between the 50 ms and 500 ms conditions. Thus, visual appeal can be assessed within 50 ms, suggesting that web designers have about 50 ms to make a good first impression.
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Which features of websites are important for users' perceptions regarding aesthetics or usability? This study investigates how evaluations of aesthetic appeal and usability depend on high vs. low spatial frequencies. High spatial frequencies convey information on fine details, whereas low spatial frequencies convey information about the global layout. Participants rated aesthetic appeal and usability of 50 website screenshots from different domains. Screenshots were presented unfiltered, low-pass filtered with blurred targets or high-pass filtered with high-pass filtered targets. The main result is that low spatial frequencies can be seen to have a unique contribution in perceived website aesthetics, thus confirming a central prediction from processing fluency theory. There was no connection between low spatial frequencies and usability evaluations, whereas strong correlations were found between ratings of high-pass filtered websites and those of unfiltered websites in aesthetics and usability. This study thus offers a new perspective on the biological basis of users' website perceptions. This research links ergonomics to neurocognitive models of visual processing. This paper investigates how high and low spatial frequencies, which are neurologically processed in different visual pathways, independently contribute to users' perceptions of websites. This is very relevant for theories of website perceptions and for practitioners of web design.
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Seven experiments with 241 undergraduates tested predictions derived from D. E. Berlyne's (1971, 1974) theory of aesthetic preference. According to this theory, preference is an inverted-U function of arousal potential; the determinants of arousal potential are summed (an increase in the amount of one determinant leads to a decrease in the maximally preferred level of other determinants); and collative properties, such as complexity, are the most important predictors of preference. The experiments did not support these predictions. Preference was related to its determinants by monotonic or U-shaped functions. The predicted trade-off among the determinants of preference was not present. Semantic factors, not collative properties, were the most important determinants of preference.
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The goal of this study was to determine the reliability of pre-conscious trust assessments of web sites. Participants in Experiment 1 (n=72) viewed 50 screenshots of popular financial and health care home pages in a random order in two separate trials. Each screenshot was presented for 50ms, followed by a mask for 150ms, followed by an assessment of trust on 9-point semantic differential scale from distrust to trust. Results from a series of Pearson Product Moment Correlations showed that approximately one-half of the participants were consistent in their trust assessments for the same web sites across trials. The correlation between trust assessments on the first and second trials, averaged across all participants was statistically significant (p<.001). Results from Experiment 2 (n=11), utilizing a different method for participant participation, showed a similar pattern of results. These findings suggest that pre-conscious mind plays a more significant role in assessing trust than previously believed.
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This research examines the persuasiveness of destination Web sites through an investigation of users' first impression. To achieve this goal, it builds on research by Fogg (2003) and by Kim and Fesenmaier (2007) to assess the effect of the design factors of destination Web sites on first impression formation. The results of this study indicate that the participants were able to make quick judgments on tourism Web sites and that inspiration and usability were the primary drivers evoking a favorable first impression. This research concludes by discussing the implications of these findings and possible directions for future study.
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The article comments on the two early stages linking categorization to aesthetics, and introduces a third and unpublished stage. It expands upon a previous attempt (Whitfield, 1983) to reconcile the opposing positions occupied by the categorical and Collative-Motivational models. It does so by recourse to Tversky's (1977) distinction between two forms of feature salience—intensive and diagnostic. Features of high intensive salience should possess high arousal potential, while features of high diagnostic salience should be most prototypic. It postulates that intensive and diagnostic salience will be major determinants of aesthetic preference, and that the contribution of each will be a function of the categorical status—or meaningfulness—of the stimuli. This theoretical reconciliation could be termed a Categorical-Motivation model. Finally, attention is given to fundamental and unresolved problems that have undermined theory construction in the field of experimental aesthetics. These concern the nature of both the stimuli and the response measures typically employed. Questions of ecological validity are raised and the possible reinterpretation of results involving meaningless stimuli.
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This report reviewed a number of measures of complexity associated with visual displays and analyzed the potential to apply these methods to assess the complexity of air traffic control (ATC) displays. Through the literature review, we identified three basic complexity factors: numeric size, variety, and rules. Essentially, all the complexity measures could be described by these factors. Through the analysis of available complexity measures, we showed that neither information complexity that focused on the system nor cognitive complexity that aimed at observers could provide a complete description for ATC application. The great variety in complexity measures reflected the fact that the contribution of each of the three factors to overall complexity depended on how information is processed by users. We generalized that complexity is the integration of the observer with the three basic factors. Therefore, to develop objective complexity measures for ATC displays, the methods presented in this report need to be integrated with the ATC display specifications.
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Proposes a theory of hedonic tone in disinterested states. It is hypothesized that the laws governing the amount of pleasure induced by fairly neutral stimuli are analogous to but not identical with laws governing recognition, memory, and a number of other cognitive phenomena. The amount of pleasure induced by such stimuli is held to be a hyperbolic function of the degree to which the cognitive units coding the stimulus are activated. Difficulties with competing hedonic theories, which led to formulation of the present theory, are noted. A number of predictions derived from the cognitive theory, dealing with simultaneous/instantaneous, serial, or repetitive effects, are discussed. In cases in which empirical data are available, it is shown that these data conform to theoretical predictions. Several counterintuitive predictions—along with supportive data—are presented. A number of untested predictions are also presented. (3 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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Recent experimental tests of the theory that aesthetic objects derive their pleasurable quality from their numerical or geometrical characteristics have been directed to Birkhoff's "aesthetic measure," i.e. that the pleasure derived equals the ratio between the order and the complexity in the object. Tests of the predictive value of the formula yield correlation coefficients from .70 to .05. Harsh and Beebe-Center, applying the factor analysis method of Thurstone, found 4 main factors. The author, however, had 70 polygons judged by 26 observers, and found that 2 factors would account for all the correlations within the limits of the standard error: a general, positive factor, which correlated significantly with the T factor, formerly reported by the author, and a bi-polar factor, distinguishing between those who preferred the simple from those preferring the complex figures. A formula was developed which could account for all the non-chance factors operating in the judgments of the observers in three different groups of polygons. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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22 students (aged 17–31 yrs) who were inexperienced observers scored 40 black-and-white slides of cubist paintings on 7-point rating scales. On the basis of the time it took Ss to identify the depicted human figure, these slides were divided into 3 subgroups of Low Categorizability (LC), Intermediate Categorizability (IC), and High Categorizability (HC). For the LC slides, beauty scores revealed an inverted U-shaped relation with complexity. Beauty ratings for the HC slides increased linearly with the degree of prototypicality. For the IC slides, beauty showed an inverted U-shaped relation to complexity, as well as a significant linear relation to prototypicality. Results suggest that, whereas complexity determines aesthetic preference for abstract paintings, prototypicality determines preference for representational works. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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How do people make decisions? How do they sift through the information without drowning in a sea of alternatives? And what are the factors that lead them in a certain direction? This book offers some tentative answers. It is a book intended for nonspecialists who would like an introduction to psychological research on judgment and decision making. The focus is on experimental findings rather than psychological theory, surprising conclusions rather than intuitions, and descriptive prose rather than mathematics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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We report two studies in which the interplay between stimulus properties and perceiver characteristics in the appreciation car interiors was investigated. In Experiment 1 three design components, complexity, curvature and innovativeness, which are all thought to affect design appreciation were combined in a fully factorial design. All dimensions were confirmed to affect ratings, and curvature and innovativeness particularly affected the attractiveness ratings. Curved and non-innovative designs were generally preferred. Moreover, participants who were particularly interested in art were more sensitive to curvature and innovativeness. In Experiment 2 two dimensions of Experiment 1 were replicated using similar stimuli. Moreover, the specific effects of a design knowledge treatment were investigated. Results replicated the preference for curved and non-innovative (rather classic) designs. The treatment had only small effects, which support a general rather than dimension-specific effects of cognitive pre-information. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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Visual aesthetics has been shown to critically affect a variety of constructs such as perceived usability, satisfaction, and pleasure. Given the importance of visual aesthetics in human-computer interaction, it is vital that it is adequately assessed. The present research aimed at providing a precise operational definition and to develop a new measure of perceived visual aesthetics of websites. Construction of the Visual Aesthetics of Website Inventory (VisAWI) was based on a comprehensive and broad definition of visual aesthetics so that the resulting instrument would completely describe the domain of interest. Four interrelated facets of perceived visual aesthetics of websites were identified and validated in a series of seven studies. Simplicity and Diversity have repeatedly been treated as formal parameters of aesthetic objects throughout the history of empirical aesthetics, Colors are a critical property of aesthetic objects, and Craftsmanship addresses the skillful and coherent integration of the relevant design dimensions. These four facets jointly represent perceived visual aesthetics, but are still distinguishable from each other and carry unique meaning. The subscales contained in the VisAWI demonstrate good internal consistencies. Evidence for the convergent, divergent, discriminative, and concurrent validity of the VisAWI is provided. Overall, the present research suggests that the VisAWI appears to be a sound measure of visual aesthetics of websites comprising facets of both practical and theoretical interest.
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In recent years the aesthetic appearance of user-interfaces has become a topic of increasing interest in the field of human–computer interaction (HCI). At the same time, it is well known that there are gender-specific effects in HCI. The present study investigates the effect of web page symmetry by taking gender differences into account. A total of 60 people (30 male, 30 female) participated in a laboratory experiment, where 20 website startpages had to be rated regarding symmetry, intuitive beauty, classical and expressive aesthetics. Results show that vertical symmetry is an important factor in aesthetic website design. It has an impact on intuitive straightforward beauty appraisals and on classical and expressive aesthetics judgments. Asymmetrically designed web pages were considered to be less beautiful and achieved lower scores on the classical and expressive dimensions. Moreover, the study indicates that the symmetry effect only occurs among male participants: only men react unfavorably to asymmetrically designed websites, whereas women’s judgments are not influenced by symmetry. These findings should be taken into consideration by website designers, especially when they aim to design for target audience consisting of a majority of a certain gender.
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This paper analyzes the relation between usability and aesthetics. In a laboratory study, 80 participants used one of four different versions of the same online shop, differing in interface-aesthetics (low vs. high) and interface-usability (low vs. high). Participants had to find specific items and rate the shop before and after usage on perceived aesthetics and perceived usability, which were assessed using four validated instruments. Results show that aesthetics does not affect perceived usability. In contrast, usability has an effect on post-use perceived aesthetics. Our findings show that the “what is beautiful is usable” notion, which assumes that aesthetics enhances the perception of usability can be reversed under certain conditions (here: strong usability manipulation combined with a medium to large aesthetics manipulation). Furthermore, our results indicate that the user’s affective experience with the usability of the shop might serve as a mediator variable within the aesthetics–usability relation: The frustration of poor usability lowers ratings on perceived aesthetics. The significance of the results is discussed in context of the existing research on the relation between aesthetics and usability.
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Two experiments were designed to replicate and extend [Lindgaard et al.'s, 2006. Attention web designers: you have 50 ms to make a good first impression! Behaviour and Information Technology 25(2), 115–126] findings that users can form immediate aesthetic impression of web pages, and that these impressions are highly stable. Using explicit (subjective evaluations) and implicit (response latency) measures, the experiments demonstrated that, averaged over users, immediate aesthetic impressions of web pages are remarkably consistent. In Experiment 1, 40 participants evaluated 50 web pages in two phases. The average attractiveness ratings of web pages after a very short exposure of 500 ms were highly correlated with average attractiveness ratings after an exposure of 10 s. Extreme attractiveness evaluations (both positive and negative) were faster than moderate evaluations, landing convergent evidence to the hypothesis of immediate impression. The findings also suggest considerable individual differences in evaluations and in the consistency of those evaluations. In Experiment 2, 24 of the 50 web pages from Experiment 1 were evaluated again for their attractiveness after 500 ms exposure. Subsequently, users evaluated the design of the web pages on the dimensions of classical and expressive aesthetics. The results showed high correlation between attractiveness ratings from Experiments 1 and 2. In addition, it appears that low attractiveness is associated mainly with very low ratings of expressive aesthetics. Overall, the results provide direct evidence in support of the premise that aesthetic impressions of web pages are formed quickly. Indirectly, these results also suggest that visual aesthetics plays an important role in users’ evaluations of the IT artifact and in their attitudes toward interactive systems.
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While many studies have considered the usability of website homepages, subjective issues such as preference have been under explored. This paper describes a pilot study that investigates subjects’ preferences for different homepages. The study applies Berlyne’s theory of experimental aesthetics to website homepages. This theory suggests that there is an inverted-U shape relationship between preference for a stimulus and its complexity. Twelve subjects evaluated 12 homepages. The study used a ranking method to measure subjects’ preferences and the relationships between complexity, pleasure and interestingness. In addition, verbal reports were collected. No support was found for an inverted-U shape relationship and the findings indicate that complexity is not a predictor of pleasure. However, the results uncovered a number of subjective factors that underlie preference. These factors include individual differences in taste and lifestyle all of which are highly personal factors that change and develop over time. In addition, the findings suggest a link between interestingness and curiosity. Lastly, the findings show an agreement on the judgements of complexity, and disagreement on aesthetic preferences. In conclusion, the paper points out the challenges faced in researching preference because of its highly subjective character.
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Visual complexity is an apparent feature in website design yet its effects on cognitive and emotional processing are not well understood. The current study examined website complexity within the framework of aesthetic theory and psychophysiological research on cognition and emotion. We hypothesized that increasing the complexity of websites would have a detrimental cognitive and emotional impact on users. In a passive viewing task (PVT) 36 website screenshots differing in their degree of complexity (operationalized by JPEG file size; correlation with complexity ratings in a preliminary study r=.80) were presented to 48 participants in randomized order. Additionally, a standardized visual search task (VST) assessing reaction times, and a one-week-delayed recognition task on these websites were conducted and participants rated all websites for arousal and valence. Psychophysiological responses were assessed during the PVT and VST. Visual complexity was related to increased experienced arousal, more negative valence appraisal, decreased heart rate, and increased facial muscle tension (musculus corrugator). Visual complexity resulted in increased reaction times in the VST and decreased recognition rates. Reaction times in the VST were related to increases in heart rate and electrodermal activity. These findings demonstrate that visual complexity of websites has multiple effects on human cognition and emotion, including experienced pleasure and arousal, facial expression, autonomic nervous system activation, task performance, and memory. It should thus be considered an important factor in website design.
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Web sites often provide the first impression of an organization. For many organizations, web sites are crucial to ensure sales or to procure services within. When a person opens a web site, the first impression is probably made in a few seconds, and the user will either stay or move on to the next site on the basis of many factors. One of the factors that may influence users to stay or go is the page aesthetics. Another reason may involve a user’s judgment about the site’s credibility. This study explores the possible link between page aesthetics and a user’s judgment of the site’s credibility. Our findings indicate that when the same content is presented using different levels of aesthetic treatment, the content with a higher aesthetic treatment was judged as having higher credibility. We call this the amelioration effect of visual design and aesthetics on content credibility. Our study suggests that this effect is operational within the first few seconds in which a user views a web page. Given the same content, a higher aesthetic treatment will increase perceived credibility.
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Despite its centrality to human thought and practice, aesthetics has for the most part played a petty role in human–computer interaction research. Increasingly, however, researchers attempt to strike a balance between the traditional concerns of human–computer interaction and considerations of aesthetics. Thus, recent research suggests that the visual aesthetics of computer interfaces is a strong determinant of users’ satisfaction and pleasure. However, the lack of appropriate concepts and measures of aesthetics may severely constraint future research in this area. To address this issue, we conducted four studies in order to develop a measurement instrument of perceived web site aesthetics. Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses we found that users’ perceptions consist of two main dimensions, which we termed “classical aesthetics” and “expressive aesthetics”. The classical aesthetics dimension pertains to aesthetic notions that presided from antiquity until the 18th century. These notions emphasize orderly and clear design and are closely related to many of the design rules advocated by usability experts. The expressive aesthetics dimension is manifested by the designers’ creativity and originality and by the ability to break design conventions. While both dimensions of perceived aesthetic are drawn from a pool of aesthetic judgments, they are clearly distinguishable from each other. Each of the aesthetic dimensions is measured by a five-item scale. The reliabilities, factor structure and validity tests indicate that these items reflect the two perceived aesthetics dimensions adequately.
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Today, technology users are faced with a multitude of different interfaces for computer applications, web sites, vehicle navigation, and cellular phones. In most cases, training to use these technologies is minimal or none and is left up to the user to learn the use of the technology at hand. Subsequently, their initial impression, which is dependent on how successful they can achieve simple tasks during their self-directed learning process, plays an important role in their intention to adopt the technology. Many users have trouble learning and remembering information presented on the screen. Disorientation and cognitive loading are two primary cognitive conditions that may be used to learn more about human behavior while using different type of interfaces. This paper presents the results of an experiment on computer user’s behavior while using one of two types of software interfaces: a menu-driven and an icon-based interfaces. Disorientation and cognitive loading theories are used to explain observations. A research model based on the technology acceptance model is used. Results show a strong relationship between performance and perceptions. The mediating effects on the different interfaces on perceptions are evident and significant considering that perceptions have been shown to predict computer user’s attitudes towards their intentions to use a technology. The experiment demonstrated the need to consider standard consistent interfaces when training is not provided.
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Extremely high correlations between repeated judgments of visual appeal of homepages shown for 50 milliseconds have been interpreted as evidence for a mere exposure effect [Lindgaard et al. 2006]. Continuing that work, the present research had two objectives. First, it investigated the relationship between judgments differing in cognitive demands. Second, it began to identify specific visual attributes that appear to contribute to different judgments. Three experiments are reported. All used the stimuli and viewing time as before. Using a paradigm known to disrupt processing beyond the stimulus offset, Experiment 1 was designed to ensure that the previous findings could not be attributed to such continued processing. Adopting a within-subject design, Experiment 2 investigated the extent to which judgments differing in cognitive demands (visual appeal, perceived usability, trustworthiness) may be driven by the visual characteristics of a Web page. It also enabled analyses of visual attributes that contributed most to the different judgments. Experiment 3 replicated Experiment 2 but using a between-subject design to ensure that no practice effect could occur. The results suggest that all three types of judgments are largely driven by visual appeal, but that cognitively demanding judgments are processed in a qualitatively different manner than visual appeal, and that they rely on somewhat different visual attributes. A model accounting for the results is provided.
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In an experiment conducted to study the effects of product expectations on subjective usability ratings, participants (N = 36) read a positive or a negative product review for a novel mobile device before a usability test, while the control group read nothing. In the test, half of the users performed easy tasks, and the other half hard ones, with the device. A standard usability test procedure was utilized in which objective task performance measurements as well as subjective post-task and post-experiment usability questionnaires were deployed. The study revealed a surprisingly strong effect of positive expectations on subjective post-experiment ratings: the participants who had read the positive review gave the device significantly better post-experiment ratings than did the negative-prime and no-prime groups. This boosting effect of the positive prime held even in the hard task condition where the users failed in most of the tasks. This finding highlights the importance of understanding: (1) what kinds of product expectations participants bring with them to the test, (2) how well these expectations represent those of the intended user population, and (3) how the test situation itself influences and may bias these expectations.