Title
Economic and subjective measures of the perceived value of aesthetics and usability
Abstract
The assessment of the relative value of different design features for users is of great interest for software designers. Users' evaluations are generally measured through questionnaires. We suggest that other evaluation methods, including economic measures, may provide different estimates of the relative value of features. In a laboratory experiment we created four versions of a data-entry application by independently manipulating the system's usability and aesthetics. Users' evaluations of the four experimental systems were obtained in a within-subjects design. In addition, five between-subjects experimental conditions were created, based on the evaluation method (questionnaire alone or auction and questionnaire), monetary incentives (present or absent), and experience in using the system (present or absent). In questionnaire-based responses, the systems' usability affected evaluations of usability as well as aesthetics. Similarly, the systems' aesthetics affected evaluations of both aesthetics and usability. Questionnaire-based evaluations of usability and aesthetics were not affected by experience with the system or by monetary performance incentives. Auction bids were only influenced by the system's usability: bids corresponded to the objective performance levels that could be attained with the different systems. The results suggest that by using economic methods, researchers and practitioners can obtain system evaluations that are strongly related to performance criteria and that may be more valid when the evaluation context favors task-oriented performance.
Year
DOI
Venue
2006
10.1145/1165734.1165737
ACM Trans. Comput.-Hum. Interact.
Keywords
Field
DocType
user centered design,design,aesthetics,software design,market value,measurement,human factors,economics,design theory,usability
Pluralistic walkthrough,Aesthetics,Web usability,Incentive,Heuristic evaluation,Computer science,Usability,Usability goals,Relative value,Human–computer interaction,Market value,Multimedia
Journal
Volume
Issue
Citations 
13
2
60
PageRank 
References 
Authors
2.14
13
3
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Tamar Ben-Bassat1653.44
Joachim Meyer237641.28
Noam Tractinsky32958265.07