from Yoast – http://bit.ly/1hAo9bq
In releasing our themes, we got lots of reactions about the aesthetics of our themes. Some people found them plain looking, boring or unappealing. Others were very enthusiastic. Of course, there is no accounting for taste. But it made me wonder, how important are the aesthetics of a website? Does a beautiful site convert better?
What is Beautiful is Usable?
A much cited article on the matter is ‘What is beautiful is usable’. The main conclusion of this article of Tractinsky, Katz & Ikar (2000) is that a design which people perceive as beautiful leads to a website that people perceive as usable. The main reason for this relation is the halo effect: people attribute the effect of the attractiveness of the website on the validation of other aspects of that website.
Although the article of Tractinsky et al. produced very important and still useful insights, it is very outdated as well. It was published in 2000 and the research was executed a few years before that. In those years, developers did not think about aesthetics at all. Websites were used only by very early internet adopters and for information gaining purposes solely. All designs were simple, style sheets were hardly used and CSS was not supported by any browser (see wikipedia). Aesthetics were just not that important yet. Tractinsky and collegues were so absolutely right in their prediction that aesthetics would become more and more important in websites. But, in 2014 design and aesthetics have a completely different role in websites. The results from the 2000 Tractinsky study cannot be translated in any way to the present situation.
No straight-forward relation between aesthetics and usability
Looking at the results of some recent studies on the importance of aesthetics and usability, results appear very mixed. A lot of studies support the initial notion of Tractinsky that a beautiful design leads to a usable design. However, most studies focus on correlational data solely, which severely limits the explanatory power of these studies (see aside about correlation and causation).
Several (recent) experimental studies show relations between aesthetics and usability (e.g. Lee & Koubek, 2010). A large and impressive study of Tuch et al. (2012) however shows opposite relations. Their findings refute the ‘what is beautiful is usable notion’. Poor usability appeared to lower ratings on perceived aesthetics. If people are frustrated because they can’t seem to find what they want on your site, their approval of the design of your website will become smaller.
Numerous authors argue that the type of website could be of great importance while establishing the relation between aesthetics and usability. Some websites really need a smooth design because of the products they offer (for instance photographers need nice pictures to promote their abilities), while other websites would benefit more from a slightly outdated design ( for instance second hand shops).
Next to that, the purpose of your audience appears to be a very important factor in the relation between aesthetics and usability (e.g. Sonderegger en Sauer, 2010). For goal-oriented buyers, usability is most important: they want to buy the product and leave your website. For more hedonistic buyers, the experience people have by visiting your website is more important, the aesthetics of your site could well convince them to buy your products (see also one of my previous posts).
What can we do with all this scientific blabla
Your website needs a nice design. It has to have an appeal to your audience. The evidence that aesthetics matter is overwhelming. Make sure your website looks awesome!
However, aesthetics should never interfere with the aim of your website. That is why you should always have a clear call to action. Also, be aware that although some things look nice, they have proven to have serious usability issues. Avoid these!
In designing our themes, we have focussed on usability AND aesthetics. Our themes were designed with personal blogs and small businesses in mind. Their audiences need clean and simple designs. We are currently designing themes focussing specifically on the aesthetics (amongst them a parallax-theme and themes with portfolio functionality), which will work better for sites of photographers, web designers and larger consultancy firms.
Literature
Tractinsky, N., Katz, A. S., & Ikar, D. (2000). What is beautiful is usable, 13, 127–145.