Aesthetics

Tractinsky, N. (1997)
Aesthetics and Apparent Usability: Empirically Assessing Cultural and Methodological Issues,
CHI 97 Conference Proceedings, Atlanta, March 22-27, 1997), ACM, New York, pp. 115-122.
Abstract
Three experiments were conducted to validate and replicate. in a different cultural setting. the results of a study by Kurosu and Kashimura concerning the relationships between users' perceptions of interface aesthetics and usability. The results support the basic tindings by Kurosu and Kashimura. Very high correlations were found between perceived aesthetics of the interface and a priori perceived ease of use of the system. Differences of magnitude between correlations obtained in Japan and in Israel suggest the existence of cross-cultural differences, but these were not in the hypothesized direction. Paper ...

Tractinsky, N., Shoval-Katz A. and Ikar, D. (2000)
What is Beautiful is Usable
Interacting with Computers, 13(2): 127-145.
Abstract
An experiment was conducted to test the relationships between users' perceptions of a computerized system's beauty and usability. The experiment used a computerized application as a surrogate for an Automated Teller Machine (ATM). Perceptions were elicited before and after participants used the system. Pre-experimental measures indicate strong correlations between the system's perceived aesthetics and perceived usability. Post-experimental measures indicated that the strong correlation remained intact. A multivariate analysis of covariance revealed that the degree of the system's aesthetics affected post-use perceptions of both aesthetics and usability, whereas the degree of actual usability had no such effect. The results resemble those found by social psychologists regarding the effect of physical attractiveness on the valuation of other personality attributes. The findings stress the importance of studying the aesthetic aspect of HCI design and its relationships to other design dimensions. Paper ...
Lavie, T. and Tractinsky, N. (2004)
Assessing Dimensions of Perceived Visual Aesthetics of Web Sites,
International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 60(3):269-298.
Abstract
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 aestheticnotions 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. Paper ...
Tractinsky, N. (2004)
Towards the Study of Aesthetics in Information Technology,
25th Annual International Conference on Information Systems, Washington, DC, December 12-15, pp. 771-780.
Abstract
This paper argues that an increasingly important dimension of the human-computer interaction is missing from the MIS and the HCI research agenda. This dimension - aesthetics - plays a major role in our private, social and business lives. It is argued that aesthetics is relevant to information technology research and practice for three theoretical reasons. (1) For many users, other aspects of the interaction hardly matter anymore. (2) Our evaluations of the environment are primarily visual, and the environment becomes increasingly replete with information technology. (3) Aesthetics satisfies basic human needs, and human needs are increasingly supplied by information technology. Aesthetics matters for a practical reason as well: it is here to stay. We propose a general framework for the study of aesthetics in information technology and provide some examples of research questions to illustrate the viability of this topic. Paper (preprint) ...
Tractinsky, N., Cokhavi, A., and Kirschenbaum, M. (2004)
Using Ratings and Response Latencies to Evaluate the Consistency of Immediate Aesthetic Perceptions of Web Pages
Third Annual Workshop on HCI Research in MIS, Washington, D.C., December 10-11, 2004, pp. 40-44.
Abstract
Using explicit (subjective evaluations) and implicit (response latency) measures, this study replicated and extended the findings by Fernandes et al (2003), who found that immediate aesthetic impressions of web pages are remarkably consistent. Forty participants evaluated 50 web pages in two phases. The degree to which web pages were regarded, on average, as attractive after a very short exposure of 0.5 sec. was highly correlated with attractiveness ratings after an exposure of 10 seconds. Extreme attractiveness evaluations (both positive and negative) were faster than moderate evaluations, landing convergent evidence to the hypothesis of immediate impression. Overall, the results provide direct evidence in support of the premise that aesthetic impression of the IT artifacts are formed quickly. Indirectly, the results suggest that visual aesthetics can play an important role in users' evaluations of the IT artifact. Paper ...
Tractinsky, N. and Zmiri, D. (2005)
Exploring Attributes of Skins as Potential Antecedents of Emotion in HCI
in Fishwick, P. (ed.) Aesthetic Computing, , MIT Press (in press).
Abstract
Following research on the emotional effects of physical artifacts in organizational settings, we suggest that studying emotion in the context of using interactive applications can benefit from looking at how the application is evaluated by users on three distinct attributes: instrumentality, aesthetics, and symbolism. We conducted an exploratory experiment to assess the viability of a subset of this model for the field of human-computer interaction, in the context of users' personalization of PC-based entertainment applications. Users exhibited a variety of tastes when choosing an interface for their application. The results of closedformat and open-format questionnaires reveal that the dimensions of usability, aesthetics, and symbolism are distinct of each other. Each of these dimensions contributed to explaining users' satisfaction and pleasant interaction experience. In line with the premises of Aesthetic Computing, the contribution of aesthetics to users' personalization of their computing environments is particularly evident. Paper (final draft)...




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