Holistic Model of Website Design Elements that Influence Trustworthiness

Trustworthiness of a website relies foremost on a good first impression which includes the visitor’s perception of the user interface. The focus of this research is to investigate the effects of website design elements on user perception of trustworthiness of a site and provide a set of guidelines for website designers. The research design is based on Yosef Jabardeen’s (2009) “conceptual framework analysis”. In this research paper, a holistic model is developed to depict the relationships among website design elements and trustworthiness. The model was tested, validated and updated using the results of the repertory grid technique, a process that elicits perceptions about a topic from an individual. For this research, the topic was website trust, the objects were the website design elements, and the constructs were elicited perceptions regarding those website design elements. The repertory grid technique was applied in two stages to a set of participants made up of website users and website designers. Analysis yielded useful information regarding website design associations and correlations of perceptions. The research findings confirmed original suggestions regarding associations and produced an updated, validated model of website design elements. The research indicated that while all design elements had their importance regarding trust, those elements that provided for the function and security of the website rated the highest in importance and expectation. The validated model will aid website designers in understanding what elements are appealing to the visual senses and conjure credibility and trust. Most importantly, this new understanding may help designers to create websites that attract and retain new users and establishing a successful presence on the Internet

Culture in the design of mHealth UI:An effort to increase acceptance among culturally specific groups

Purpose: Designers of mobile applications have long understood the importance of users’ preferences in making the user experience easier, convenient and therefore valuable. The cultural aspects of groups of users are among the key features of users’ design preferences, because each group’s preferences depend on various features that are culturally compatible. The process of integrating culture into the design of a system has always been an important ingredient for effective and interactive human computer interface. This study aims to investigate the design of a mobile health (mHealth) application user interface (UI) based on Arabic culture. It was argued that integrating certain cultural values of specific groups of users into the design of UI would increase their acceptance of the technology. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 135 users responded to an online survey about their acceptance of a culturally designed mHealth. Findings: The findings showed that culturally based language, colours, layout and images had a significant relationship with users’ behavioural intention to use the culturally based mHealth UI. Research limitations/implications: First, the sample and the data collected of this study were restricted to Arab users and Arab culture; therefore, the results cannot be generalized to other cultures and users. Second, the adapted unified theory of acceptance and use of technology model was used in this study instead of the new version, which may expose new perceptions. Third, the cultural aspects of UI design in this study were limited to the images, colours, language and layout. Practical implications: It encourages UI designers to implement the relevant cultural aspects while developing mobile applications. Originality/value: Embedding Arab cultural aspects in designing UI for mobile applications to satisfy Arab users and enhance their acceptance toward using mobile applications, which will reflect positively on their lives.</p

Aesthetic Pleasure from Visual Quotes and its Influence on Individuals' Motivation to Exercise

It is well-known that physical activity has many benefits for health and well-being. However, one in four adults worldwide does not engage in enough physical activity. On the other hand, nowadays, many people look for physical exercise motivation online on image-sharing social media platforms, where it is relatively common to find encouraging text messages embedded in visual presentations (as visual quotes). Considering that perceived beauty can influence our perception of an artifact, this research project explored whether and how aesthetic pleasure affects people's perception of motivational text messages and the textual content's motivating capability on people's exercise motivation. The influence of several aesthetic pleasure levels (ugly, neutral, and beautiful) was explored in textual content with different characteristics (e.g., positive-framed, self-liberating messages, low-perceived competence, high-perceived competence). Several experiments revealed that high levels of aesthetic pleasure does not necessarily lead individuals to perceive a textual message as more positive. Similarly, low levels of aesthetic pleasure did not affect textual content perception. Indeed, ultimately, the influence of aesthetic pleasure seemed dependent on the textual content's own characteristics. Some experiments focused on the immediate effect of aesthetic pleasure, while others focused on aesthetic pleasure in the mid-term (over four weeks). In none of the scenarios did aesthetic pleasure influence intrinsic motivation, which has been found to be linked to individuals’ enjoyment of and likelihood of engagement with exercise over the long-term, or influence the extrinsic motivation (the identified behavior regulation), related to the initial adoption of physical exercise. Nonetheless, it was found that visual presentations perceived as aesthetically appealing help to instill a positive feeling regarding the textual content. Possibilities for future research are suggested on the basis of Cognitive Evaluation Theory, a sub-theory of Self-Determination Theory).É de conhecimento geral que fazer exercício físico traz vários benefícios para a saúde e bem-estar. Contudo, um em quatro adultos em todo o mundo não faz exercício físico suficiente. Por outro lado, hoje em dia, muitas pessoas procuram motivação para fazer exercício físico na internet nas redes sociais, onde facilmente se podem encontrar mensagens de texto motivacionais embutidas em apresentações visuais (designadas visual quotes). Tendo em conta que a perceção de prazer estético pode influenciar a nossa perceção sobre um determinado artefacto ou pessoa. Este projeto de investigação explorou se e como o prazer estético pode afetar a perceção de mensagens motivacionais e a capacidade motivadora do conteúdo textual na motivação das pessoas para fazer exercício físico.Foram explorados a influência de diversos níveis de prazer estético (feio, neutro, belo) em conteúdo textual com diferentes características (por exemplo, positive-framed, self-liberating, perceção de baixa-competência, perceção de alta-competência). Vários estudos (experiments) revelaram que níveis de perceção de prazer estético altos não levam necessariamente a que as pessoas percecionem as mensagens de texto como mais positivas. De forma similar, níveis de perceção de prazer estético baixos não afetaram a perceção do conteúdo textual. Em último caso, a influência da perceção de prazer estético pareceu dependente das próprias características do conteúdo textual. Alguns dos estudos focaram-se no efeito imediato da perceção de prazer estético enquanto outros focarem-se no efeito a curto prazo (até quatro semanas). Em nenhum dos cenários, a perceção de prazer estético influenciou a motivação intrínseca para fazer exercício físico dos participantes, que está associada à prática de fazer exercício físico a longo-prazo; Ou influenciou a motivação extrínseca identified behavior regulation, que está associada à adoção inicial de hábitos de exercício físico. Não obstante, verificou-se que as apresentações visuais das visual quotes percecionadas como esteticamente apelativas ajudam a incutir um “sentimento” positivo relativo ao conteúdo textual. Por último, são sugeridas possibilidades para futura investigação tendo como base a teoria Cognitive Evalution (uma sub-teoria da teoria da Auto-determinação)

AESTHETIC PERCEPTION AND MOTIVATION MODEL FOR FORMAL AND INFORMAL VISUAL ENVIRONMENTS

Researchers claim that aesthetic qualities of Formal Learning Visual Environments (FL YEs) have a persuasive role in intensifying learning motivation. Unfortunately, designers seem to overlook the necessity of aesthetic designing of FL YEs that could sustain Learners' Learning Motivation (LLM). The existing literature on aesthetic designing of FL YEs primarily focuses upon environment perspective and users' perspective. The existing studies, however, do not take into account, Learners' Aesthetic Perceptions (LAPs) in Informal Visual Environments (!YEs) which may also influence upon LLM. Recent research in this domain suggests that IVEs are producing learners' with a new profile of cognitive skills, such as visual-spatial intelligence and enhanced aesthetic perceptions. It is thus argued that LAPs formed in IVEs may result in establishment of new schemas (set of aesthetic expectations) and make learners' perceptually selective in judging aesthetics

Investigation of the relationship between aesthetics and perceived usability in web pages

The main hypothesis of the thesis is that between two systems identical in functionality and usability, di erences in aesthetics may positively in uence users perceived usability. To date, a narrow focus on the engineering aspects of aesthetics has adversely a ected the scope and success of experiments, therefore previous work in the eld needed to be revisited. The thesis reviews literature and theory in usability and aesthetics, the latter from the point of the view of philosophy, theory, and application. It also explores the relationship between aesthetics, usability and user engagement; discusses a distinct new trend research that identi es a link between beauty and perceived usability of website interaction; and develops a pilot for an experimental methodology. Based on conclusions from the review of the eld of usability, two experiments where designed and carried out, an independent measures and repeated measures. The ndings of these experiments con rmed the hypothesis that perceived usability was positively in uenced by higher aesthetics

Harmonious Screen Interface Design Principles from Chinese Calligraphy

Harmony is a major theme in Chinese culture. It is reflected in many forms, e.g. painting and garden design. However, calligraphy gives a straight forward insight into harmony in two dimensions. The main hypothesis was that the principles for building a harmonious calligraphic character could be converted from holistic to deductive and computable ones. These could then be applied to the design of harmonious screen interfaces, which would give visual pleasure. The first aim was to investigate and discover the quantifiable features of harmony in Chinese regular script calligraphy. Calligraphy has been associated in China with harmony and elegance for over 1500 years. There are features that are commonly accepted to establish harmony which can be quantified. However, the principles of Chinese calligraphy are embedded within Chinese culture. Direct translation does not convey the meaning. An extensive study was made of the literature on Chinese calligraphy and a practical exploration of characters was made. This resulted in a small number of principles which were needed to be satisfied for the character to appear harmonious. These were tested on several groups of participants. These principles were then converted into a mathematical form for Chinese regular script calligraphy, and for application to harmonious screen interface design. The mathematical forms were then tested on both Chinese regular script calligraphy and also on interface designs with groups of participants. Finally, an application for comparing harmony in Chinese calligraphic characters and interface designs was created. The “Harmony” application can be used to calculate how a Chinese calligraphic character or an interface design satisfies the principles of harmony and it can give an indication of how harmonious they are

University Homepage Affordances: The Influence of Hyperlinks on Perceptions of Source Credibility

The technology affordances of university website homepages were evaluated to inform the development of prototypical examples of accessible public university and exclusive private university homepages. Affordances are characteristic of the environment that, when perceived, afford or provide opportunities for action (Gibson, 1986). In addition, affordances, such as hyperlinks, also prompt heuristic processes that lead to judgments that are based on peripheral cues rather than substantive information. Integrating the MAIN model (Sundar, 2008) and the Two-Factor Theory (Herzberg, 1966; Zhang & Von Dran, 2000), eye tracking and survey methodology were used to assess differences in perception and credibility judgments of the prototypes developed to represent the website homepages of accessible and exclusive universities. A content analysis was used to assess hyperlinks and other design features of the website homepages of the 10 most accessible and 10 most exclusive Ohio universities. Consistent with prior research, results indicated relatively little variation among the hyperlinks and design elements of university website homepages. The features were used to develop prototypes representative of the two types of university homepages. Those prototypes served as the manipulated independent variable in an experiment and, although the manipulation was correctly perceived, the differences were not statistically significant. Correspondingly, the credibility measures, although consistent with theoretical predictions, were not statistically significant based on the type of prototype viewed. This study thus did not provide evidence of a relationship between number of hyperlinks and credibility. Perceived hygiene and motivator factors however, were significantly positively associated with credibility, consistent with two-factor theory. Additionally, prior experience, particularly with university websites, was associated with the extent to which credibility assessments were not neutral. Participants with more experience were significantly more likely to make non-neutral assessments of credibility than those with less experience, results which are consistent with theory underlying the MAIN model and provide evidence of heuristic processing. This work provides evidence that two-factor theory complements the MAIN model, with potential theoretical and practical benefits. Universities can apply them to develop websites that better meet with user expectations and are thus perceived more favorably