What is beautiful is usable
Tractinsky first author. 132 third-year industrial engineering students used a computerised cash dispenser, with layouts sorted into high, medium and low aesthetics and crossed with actual usability, performing eleven tasks. Perceived aesthetics and perceived usability correlated strongly before and after use, and how attractive the system was affected post-use judgements of both, while actual usability did not. The authors note that an all-engineering sample restricts how far the result generalises.
Tractinsky first author. 132 third-year industrial engineering students used a computerised cash dispenser, with layouts sorted into high, medium and low aesthetics and crossed with actual usability, performing eleven tasks. Perceived aesthetics and perceived usability correlated strongly before and after use, and how attractive the system was affected post-use judgements of both, while actual usability did not. The authors note that an all-engineering sample restricts how far the result generalises.
Written from the full text read 2026-10-18.
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Tractinsky, N., Katz, A. S., & Ikar, D. (2000). What is beautiful is usable. Interacting with Computers, 13(2), 127-145. doi:10.1016/S0953-5438(00)00031-X.