Eye Candy IS A Critical Business Requirement

“Look & Feel”“Eye-Candy”

“Skinning”

“Visual Design”“Sexy interfaces”

“Pretty Graphics”

“Look & Feel”

function

(Common Perception)

“Look & Feel”

function

“Do users want applications that work, or applications that can wrap themselves into funny shapes? I'm sure it looks really whizzy in demos, but come on, we're just trying to give user applications to help them do their jobs.”

“...it doesn't matter how pretty your site is or how many "bells and whistles" you have. While a high-quality site is important, the majority of people today value usability more than good looks or fanciness.”

“...it doesn't matter how pretty your site is or how many "bells and whistles" you have. While a high-quality site is important, the majority of people today value usability more than good looks or fanciness.”XYou can’t

Separate

Usability from

Visual Design.

“Eye Candy is a Critical Business Requirement”

“Eye Candy is a Critical Business Requirement”

Aesthetics

Aesthetics:

Aesthetics:"the science of how things are

known via the senses."

Aesthetics:"the science of how things are

known via the senses."

More than just visual design, anything that appeals to the senses.1.

Aesthetics:"the science of how things are

known via the senses."

More than just visual design, anything that appeals to the senses.1.More about the psychological response to sensory stimulus, than the actual trigger.

2.

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/104/moto.html

http://www.frogdesign.com/?p=13

“...consciously or unconsciously, the iPod materials reference a convention of ‘cleanliness’ that everybody interacts with every day – a bathroom.”

http://www.poetpainter.com/thoughts/article/the-ipod-shuffle-and-wrigleys-doublemint-gum

http://www.poetpainter.com/thoughts/article/the-ipod-shuffle-and-wrigleys-doublemint-gum

Aesthetics and...

Cognition“the process of knowing”

Aesthetics and...

Cognition“the process of knowing”

Aesthetics and...

Cognition“the process of knowing”

Affordance says an ‘objects sensory characteristics intuitively imply its functionality and use’

Guess what this screen is communicating...

Guess what this screen is communicating...

Guess what this screen is communicating...

A Visual Language is a set of practices by which images can be used to communicate concepts

Guess what this screen is communicating...

better:

A Visual Language is a set of practices by which images can be used to communicate concepts

Brilliant!

What does the ‘genie effect’ communicate?

Which of these windows of closer to you? Why?

Which of these windows of closer to you? Why?

Can you spot the problem?

Can you spot the problem?

OR

Can you spot the problem?

OR

One of the Four Laws of Perception states ‘elements that are close to each other are related.’

“Dismissing visual design as just a matter of making things pretty or ugly cuts off your ability to communicate with your customers...

Design is a means to communicate, not mere styling.”

-Luke Wroblewski

"the experience of feeling or emotion"

Aesthetics and...

Affect

"the experience of feeling or emotion"

Aesthetics and...

Affect

“Emotion is one of the strongest differentiators

in user experience namely because it triggers

unconscious responses to a product, website,

environment or interface. Our feelings strongly

influence our perceptions and often frame how we think about or refer to our experiences

at a later date.”

-Frank Spillers

http://experiencedynamics.blogs.com/site_search_usability/2004/08/design_and_emot.html

Easy to Use

Efficient

Enjoyable

Easy to Use

Efficient

Enjoyable

+

=

?

Easy to Use

Efficient

Enjoyable

Easy to Use

Efficient

Enjoyable

Perception.

Load time is five seconds.

Which of these pre-loaders makes this‘seem’ like a faster load time?

Load time is five seconds.

Which of these pre-loaders makes this‘seem’ like a faster load time?

Speed is in

the Eye of

the Beholder.

Which will seem to take longer?

(a) Waiting in a 20 minute line -or-

(b) Waiting in 5 different lines, each lasting about 5 minutes

Which will seem to take longer?

(a) Waiting in a 20 minute line -or-

(b) Waiting in 5 different lines, each lasting about 5 minutes

“...something that takes longer but that is

perceived to be efficient is superior to something

that is shorter but perceived differently.”

-Don Norman

Personality.

http://www.affectivedesign.org/ http://iasummit.org/2006/conferencedescrip.htm#88

see the smile?

Which window is friendlier?

Which window is friendlier? Why?

http://www.affectivedesign.org/http://iasummit.org/2006/conferencedescrip.htm#88

Why should we care about personality?

People identify with (or avoid) certain personalities

Trust is related to personality

Perception and expectations are linked with personality

Consumers ‘choose’ products that are an extension of themselves

We treat sufficiently advanced technology as people

...and so on

Why did Sony make their robot a puppy?

Trust.

What’s the most frequently cited factor for evaluating the credibility of a Web site?

What’s the most frequently cited factor for evaluating the credibility of a Web site?

Trust?

Trust?

Can you spot the differences?

“According to research presented at CHI 2007,

users judge the relevancy of identical search

results from different search engines based on

the brand, with Yahoo and Google coming out

on top… Participants in the study indicated

that the results from Google and Yahoo were

superior to identical results found through

Windows Live or a generic search engine.”

Trust + Personality + Perception. . .

Why did the more attractive (but otherwise identical) ATM Machine perform better?

“Attractive things work

better.”

“Product design that provides aesthetic appeal, pleasure and

satisfaction can greatly influence the success of a product.

Traditional cognitive approaches to product usability have tended to

underestimate or fragment emotion from an understanding of the

user experience. Affect, which is inexplicable linked to attitudes,

expectations and motivations, plays a significant role in the

cognition of product interaction, and therefore can be usefully

treated as a design aid. Emotion influences and mediates specific

aspects of interaction before, during and after the use of a product.

These affective states regularly impact how a user manipulates and

explores a user interface in order to support a desired cognitive

state.”

from “Emotion as a Cognitive Artifact and the Design Implications for Products That

are Perceived As Pleasurable”

to Davidson (2003), the perception that affect and

cognition are independent, separate information

processing systems is flawed. New breakthroughs

in neuroscience using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) have validated the

assertions that cognition and emotion are a unified

process. Gray et. al (2002) found that emotion and

cognition ‘conjointly and equally contribute to the

control of thought and behavior’.

Affect

Cognition

Myth reality

How I ‘think’ cannot be

separated from how I ‘feel’

If you care about function, then you care about cognition and affect.

And consequently, you care about aesthetics.

“Look & Feel”

function

“Look & Feel”

functionXPretty is Not

decoration!

Pretty is Function.

“Attractive things work better.”

Aesthetics and...

Business Value

ROI. Easier Sales. Higher Margins. Brand Equity. Market Differentiation.

“Is it worth the investment?”

“Good [enough] is the enemy of great.”-Jim Collins

“Is it worth the investment?”

It’s not an option.

“Why not?”

Product Maturity.

“When technology delivers basic needs, user experience dominates.”

-Don Norman

“When technology delivers basic needs, user experience dominates.”

-Don Norman

Meaningful

Pleasurable

Convenient

Usable

Reliable

Functional (Useful)

Focused on

Experiences(People, Activities, Context)

Focused on

Tasks(Products, Features)

SUBJECTIVE / QUALITATIVE

OBJECTIVE / QUANTIFIABLE

Has personal significance

Memorable experience worth sharing

Super easy to use, works like I think

Can be used without di!culty

Is available and accurate

Works as programmed

THIS IS THE “CHASM” THAT IS REALLY, REALLY HARD FOR ORGANIZATIONS TO CROSS

http://www.poetpainter.com/thoughts/article/presentation-notes-slides-for-creating-pleasurable-interfaces

80 / 20You know, 80% of the project gets

completed in 20% of the time. ...the remaining 20% takes 80% of the time.

This is commodity

This is where you differentiate.

http://www.markboulton.co.uk/journal/comments/aesthetic_usability_effect/

“Cars have been around for ages - since Ford’s little black number.

They all pretty much do the same thing and look similar. Four

wheels, seats, they go from point A to B. Why do people buy one

over the other? One word. Design.

Aesthetics and Car Design have been fused for many years. It’s what

defines a car, it’s what gives a car it’s personality and importantly for

the manufacturers, it’s what gives the car it’s competitive edge in the

market place.”

from “Aesthetic-Usability Effect”, Mark Boulton

“Eye Candy is a Critical Business Requirement”

“Eye Candy is a Critical Business Requirement”

Aesthetics

Thanks!

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