Form follwos Function

Scientists at the University of Münster has shown that the aesthetics of websites plays than previously assumed a greater role

In practice, they should be betrayed at first glance where to hide the information. And that should naturally be extensive, but not too much so as not to confuse the user. More does not offer a website. Or does it? Dr. Meinald Thielsch of the working unit for Psychological Assessment of the University of Münster (WWU), sees it differently: "Aesthetics play in evaluating sites play an important role."

So they should be beautiful too. But what actually is beauty? "Contrary to what is often assumed, judgments about beauty are not just a question of taste. Beauty is perceived individually by everyone, but judgments about beauty generally agree well for a group of people," explains Meinald Thielsch. Beauty judgments have two interesting properties: they are fast and relatively stable. Test persons were shown websites once for 500 milliseconds and once for XNUMX times as long: "The verdicts agreed surprisingly well."

So far, two dimensions have been taken into account when designing Internet pages: the content and the so-called "usability", the user-friendliness. However, recent results from basic research and market research practice suggest not to underestimate the role of aesthetics as a third dimension. To prove this, 300 test subjects were given specific surfing tasks. Then the effect of the three dimensions was recorded on three levels: on the first impression, in terms of overall satisfaction after carrying out various tasks and finally on a summary of whether one would visit the site again or recommend it to others.

It turned out that the first impression in particular is decisively influenced by the aesthetics of a page. So beauty has the important "door opener" function and helps decide whether a user stays on a page at all. "In terms of overall user satisfaction, the influence of aesthetics remains at a high level. At the same time, the connection between the user rating and the perceived usability, but especially with the rating of the content, increases significantly," describes the psychologist. Aesthetics then only plays a subordinate role for the key loyalty-relevant characteristics of willingness to visit again and to recommend others, which are subject to a greater rational evaluation than the first impression.

Meinald Thielsch is surprised that usability is no longer relevant in the third step - the content is what decides the most. "Content is the all-important basis of a website. Usability is important for the overall impression, but not as important as thought. When people want to know something, they are apparently infinitely capable of suffering. But the aesthetics are more than just decoration," he summarizes the results together, which were successfully confirmed in a second study with more than 500 subjects and over 40 different test websites.

Color, typography, imagery, animation and design make up the face of a website. Color has the greatest effect. A deep, saturated blue is best for users. Color triads and the use of empty space are also appealing. Ultimately, however, the design of a website is determined by content and usability, since users have now internalized certain norms and conventions. "Form follows function, the function determines the appearance", this quote from the architect Louis Sullivan is still valid.

Source: Münstr [Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität]