Aesthetic-Usability Effect
Users perceive aesthetic designs as more usable.
My notes
The Aesthetic-Usability Effect claims that users perceive aesthetic designs as more usable. When I think about my daily life and what types of interfaces I prefer, I definitely trust aesthetic designs more, not only because they look better, but because they feel more enjoyable to use.
The first example that came to my mind was comparing a simple plain text HTML button versus a beautifully designed button with distinct colours, hover effects, and nice typography. Both buttons might work exactly the same, but I can definitely see how people would be less drawn to using the plain text HTML button over the fancy, well-designed button, thus making the well-designed button more “usable”.
Example
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A plain HTML button. It works, but nothing about it invites a click.
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Same job, with colour, type, a hover lift and a count that reacts.
Another interesting phenomenon of this law is that when a user is presented with a more aesthetically pleasing design, they tend to be more forgiving to minor usability errors. This illustrates how good design can help cover up for minor issues when navigating user interfaces.