Is beautiful really usable? : toward understanding the relation between usability, aesthetics, and affect in HCI

This paper analyzes the relation between usability and aesthetics. In a laboratory study, 80 participants used one of four different versions of the same online shop, differing in interface-aesthetics (low vs. high) and interface-usability (low vs. high). Participants had to find specific items and rate the shop before and after usage on perceived aesthetics and perceived usability, which were assessed using four validated instruments. Results show that aesthetics does not affect perceived usability. In contrast, usability has an effect on post-use perceived aesthetics. Our findings show that the ‘‘what is beautiful is usable’’ notion, which assumes that aesthetics enhances the perception of usability can be reversed under certain condi- tions (here: strong usability manipulation combined with a medium to large aesthetics manipulation). Furthermore, our results indicate that the user’s affective experience with the usability of the shop might serve as a mediator variable within the aesthetics–usability relation: The frustration of poor usability lowers ratings on perceived aesthetics. The significance of the results is discussed in context of the exist- ing research on the relation between aesthetics and usability

Usability Engineering in the Wild:How do Practitioners Integrate Usability Engineering in Software Development?

Part 1: Research PapersInternational audienceIt has been argued that too much research on usability engineering is incoherent with the processes, and settings being the realities for practitioners. In this paper we want to extend the existing knowledge about usability engineering in the wild. Through 12 semi-structured interviews we wanted to get an understanding of how usability is perceived, and practiced in reality. We found that our participants primarily focus on upfront work to support the design, and implementation process. They implement usability engineering through informal evaluations, and by following a set of local de facto standards. We want to extend the existing body of knowledge about usability engineering in practice, to support the development of methods aimed at practitioners