Einfluss von Layout-Prinzipien auf die ästhetische Wahrnehmung von Web-Seiten

Abstract

A well investigated effect is the dependency between perceived usability and perceived aesthetics of products. Several studies show that aesthetically pleasing products are also perceived as highly usable. Aesthetic design is thus important for the success of a product. For designers it is essential to understand how concrete design decisions influence perceived aesthetics. Several well-known design heuristics guide designers in their decisions. We investigate heuristics for creating the layout, i.e. the positioning of UI elements on the screen. We study several heuristics to find out if they indeed influence the aesthetic perception of users. In addition, the relative strength of this influence is also investigated. For the study several variants of eight web sites were constructed that vary systematically concerning the investigated heuristics. Participants were asked to rank the variants concerning aesthetic impression. A conjoint analysis was used to analyze the results. From a methodological point of view the study shows that design principles can easily be derived by systematical variation of screen variants and a conjoint analysis. From the investigated screens a number of quite concrete suggestions concerning the optimal layout of screens could be derived. These suggestions can help designers in their daily work to make the right decisions to create an aesthetically pleasing layout.