Why does a Dodge Ram seem more durable? What makes a Mini Cooper seem zippy and fun? While there are certainly performance features to support these mental claims, we can also see these attributes expressed in the car’s form. This is something the automobile industry has known for years, as they spend money to create products that express a specific personality people might identify with. Think about how quickly we form expectations about someone simply based on how they dress or present themselves. Product personality influences our perceptions. However, when we talk about how emotions influence interactions, it’s closer to the truth to say things that are enjoyable will be easy to use and efficient. In many design conversations, there is a belief that applications are made enjoyable because we make them easy to use and efficient (interestingly, whether it’s stated or not, these conversations value the role that aesthetics plays in cognition). Somewhat surprisingly, it may play a role in the construction of consciousness.” It plays a critical role in virtually all aspects of learning, reasoning, and creativity. “…emotion is not a luxury: it is an expression of basic mechanisms of life regulation developed in evolution, and is indispensable for survival. To get an idea of where this perspective might come from, consider this comment on emotions from neurobiologist Antonio Damasio: However, research into attention, persuasion, choice, happiness, learning, and other similar topics suggests that the more attractive button is likely to be more usable by most people. Neither button is “wrong” as in our previous example. In the example below, which one of these is clearly a button? And why?Ĭognitively speaking, both of these are obviously buttons. Our question becomes: how do aesthetic design choices influence understanding and emotions, and how do understanding and emotions influence behavior? Aesthetics and cognition #section3Ĭognition is “the process of knowing.” Based on patterns and experiences, we learn how to understand the world around us: What happens if I push that? What does this color suggest? Cognitive science studies how people know things and aesthetics plays a critical role in cognitive processing. In other words, aesthetics is not just about the artistic merit of web buttons or other visual effects, but about how people respond to these elements. Perhaps more importantly, “aesthetics examines our affective domain response to an object or phenomenon” ( according to Wikipedia). As user experience professionals, we must consider every stimulus that might influence interactions. In short, how we perceive and interpret the world. Why aesthetics? #section2įor starters, aesthetics is concerned with anything that appeals to the senses-not just what we see, but what we hear, smell, taste, and feel. Yet, if we shift the conversation away from graphical elements and instead focus on aesthetics, or “the science of how things are known via the senses,” we learn that this distinction between how something looks and how it works is somewhat artificial. Our language constrains visual design to mere styling and separates aesthetics and usability, as if they are distinct considerations. Or how the term “eye candy” suggests that visual design is inessential. Brief books for people who make websites.Ĭonsider how designers “skin” an information architect’s wireframes.
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