Eye Candy IS A Critical Business Requirement

“Visual Design” “Pretty Graphics” “Sexy interfaces” “Eye-Candy “Look & Feel” “Skinning”

“Look & Feel” f u n c t io n (Common Perception)

f u n c t io n “Look & Feel”

“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 X 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.” an’t ou c Y rate Sepa from ility Usab ign. Des sual Vi

“Eye Candy is a Critical Business Requirement”

hetics Aest “Eye Candy is a Critical Business Requirement”

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, 1. anything that appeals to the senses.

Aesthetics: \"the science of how things are known via the senses.\" More than just visual design, 1. anything that appeals to the senses. More about the psychological 2. response to sensory stimulus, than the actual trigger.

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

“...consciously or unconsciously, the iPod materials reference a convention of ‘cleanliness’ that everybody interacts with every day – a bathroom.” http://www.frogdesign.com/?p=13

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

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

Brilliant!

What does the ‘genie effect’ communicate?

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

Aesthetics and... Affect \"the experience of feeling or emotion\"

“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

Efficient Easy to Use Enjoyable

Efficient + Easy to Use = Enjoyable ?

Efficient Easy to Use 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? is in peed S e of e Ey th er. hold e Be th

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 es longer but that is “...something that tak superior to something perceived to be efficient is ut perceived differently.” that is shorter b -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?

Trust?

Can you spot the differences?

Trust + Personality + Perception. . . presented at CHI 2007, “According to research ancy of identical search users judge the relev arch engines based on results from different se d Google coming out e brand, with Yahoo an th the study indicated on top… Participants in Google and Yahoo were that the results from ical results found through superior to ident eneric search engine.” Windows Live or a g

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.” Products That from “Emotion as a Cognitive Artifact and the Design Implications for 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 How I ‘think’ cannot be separated from how I ‘feel’ Cognition Myth reality

If you care about function, then you care about cognition and affect. And consequently, you care about aesthetics.

“Look & Feel” f u n c t io n

“Look & Feel” X f u n c t io n Not ty is Pret ion! rat deco ion. unct is F etty Pr

“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

SUBJECTIVE / QUALITATIVE Focused on Experiences (People, Activities, Context) Meaningful Has personal signiﬁcance Pleasurable Memorable experience worth sharing Convenient THIS IS THE “CHASM” THAT IS REALLY, REALLY HARD FOR ORGANIZATIONS TO CROSS Super easy to use, works like I think Usable Can be used without diﬃculty Reliable Is available and accurate Functional (Useful) Works as programmed Focused on Tasks (Products, Features) OBJECTIVE / QUANTIFIABLE http://www.poetpainter.com/thoughts/article/presentation-notes-slides-for-creating-pleasurable-interfaces

gets 0% of the project You know, 8 20% of the time. ...the remaining 20% takes completed in 80 / 20 80% of the time. This is commodity This is where you differentiate.

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

“Eye Candy is a Critical Business Requirement”

hetics Aest “Eye Candy is a Critical Business Requirement”

Thanks!

ME MY PERSONAL SITE THE BEST WAY TO REACH ME

Eye Candy IS A Critical Business Requirement

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