Is beautiful really usable? Toward understanding the relation between usability, aesthetics, and affect in HCI
Tuch first author. Eighty participants each used one of four versions of the same online shop, varying interface aesthetics and usability, and rated it before and after use on four validated instruments. Aesthetics did not affect perceived usability at all, a null, while usability did affect post-use perceived aesthetics. The authors state that the reversal held under a strong usability manipulation combined with a medium to large aesthetics manipulation.
Tuch first author. Eighty participants each used one of four versions of the same online shop, varying interface aesthetics and usability, and rated it before and after use on four validated instruments. Aesthetics did not affect perceived usability at all, a null, while usability did affect post-use perceived aesthetics. The authors state that the reversal held under a strong usability manipulation combined with a medium to large aesthetics manipulation.
Written from the abstract read 2026-10-18.
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Tuch, A. N., Roth, S. P., Hornbaek, K., Opwis, K., & Bargas-Avila, J. A. (2012). Is beautiful really usable? Toward understanding the relation between usability, aesthetics, and affect in HCI. Computers in Human Behavior, 28(5), 1596-1607. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2012.03.024.