A WORD ABOUT AESTHETICS

Aesthetics

• Aesthetics is not directly about usability– Aesthetics is how “pretty” or “pleasing” it is– Usability is how well people can use it

• But it is possible for apps to be so tragically ugly that their very ugliness hurts usability– See www.webpagesthatsuck.com for examples

Classic elements of design

• From a design standpoint, these are the only things that you get to control:– Line– Shape– Space– Color– Texture And that's it!And that's it!

Line

Lines can be pleasing or annoying,

therefore,

they can aid or detract from aesthetics.

Line

Line

Line

Lines can be

pleasing or

annoying,

they can aid or detract from aesthetics.

therefore,

Shape

• Shapes with roughly 1:1.6 shape are soothing– So are circles, curve, smooth edges

• Shapes with sharpand odd cornerscan be a bitstressfulbut can be very useful for drawing attention.

Space

• Content is aesthetically pleasing if it– Comfortably fills the space– Avoids crowding the space– Is balanced within the space

– And is separated by space from less-related content

Six possible page designs. Which one uses space most aesthetically?

Color

• Color can be used– In harmony to create comfort• E.g., what colors "go together" well

– In a manner consistent with its context• E.g., matching color meanings to content (GO OSU!)

– In an unobtrusive fashion to fade into background• E.g., black text on white background is "ordinary"

– In disharmony to draw attention• E.g., red text on white background can indicate an error

Texture

• Texture is the surface quality– What it would "feel like" if touched– Can be used to create feelings virtually• E.g., www.apple.com "feels" like a Mac or an iPad

– Can also refer to the texture of sound• E.g., a disturbing sound to indicate an error

Principles for using design elements

• Be minimal• Present a visual balance• Design with a focal point in mind• Rely on harmonious colors• Only emphasize what matters– Visual weight, color, typography, whitespace

• Use motion and sound very sparingly• Elicit a reaction

Be minimal

• Minimize the number of lines, size of shapes, amount of space consumed, and amount & intensity of color & texture

• Benefits:– Improved aesthetics– Improved usability– Faster download– Lower bandwidth utilization

Present a visual balance

• The page should not "feel" as if it's all on the left side, or all on the right side of the screen.– Visual weight = qualitative sum of lines, pointiness

of shapes, size of shapes, amount of space consumed, intensity & amount of color & texture

• "Rule of thirds" (using halves also sometimes looks good)

– Divide your page into thirds, then into thirds, then into thirds, etc• Each side should have approximately the same visual

weight as the other side

Examples of fairly well balanced pages

Design with a focal point in mind

• What do you want users to focus on? – Both visually and mentally?

I have a thing here(it's identified in the blue)and there's subordinate

stuff beneath it.

This or that?

Rely on harmonious colors

• Three basic options for choosing mutually harmonious colors– Two colors opposite from one another on the color

wheel (complementary colors)– Three or four colors spaced equally around the color

wheel (triads and tetrads)– Three colors equally spaced but near each other

(analogic)• Two helpful tools– http://colorschemedesigner.com/– https://kuler.adobe.com/

Rely on harmonious colors

• You also want colors that are harmonious with the context– red: aggression, war, error– orange: warm, eagerness– brown: wholesome, natural– yellow: cheerful, weak– green: energy, life– blue: trustworthy– purple: important, royal

Example: Pick the best color scheme for a site that describes local organic food.

Only emphasize what matters

• Deviate from the rules above when you want to draw attention– Add visual weight by bolding, using color– Make headings more legible & striking by using

sans-serif fonts (i.e., fonts without curly-cues)– Use whitespace to set off things that matter– Use motion (very very sparingly) to highlight

things that are very very important

FYI, fonts available on most browsers

• Arial• Comic Sans MS• Courier New• Georgia• Impact• Times New Roman• Trebuchet MS• Verdana

Your main serif font

Your main sans-serif font

Elicit a reaction

• Use images with colors and textures that elicit a reaction– To buy a product– To sympathize– To get angry– To take some action that you want

You can get free images from Flickr (Creative Commons) – be sure to give credit where due.

Examples of great web sites

• www.apple.com– Notice the…• Minimalism• Visual balance• Use of harmonious colors• Visual emphasis on what matters most• Lack of visual emphasis on what matters least• The attempt to provoke a desire to be just as cool as

Apple thinks its products are

Examples of great web sites

• www.google.com – Notice the…• Minimalism• Visual balance• Use of harmonious colors• Visual emphasis on what matters most• Lack of visual emphasis on what matters least• The attempt to make you think that using Google

products is fun

Example of a good web site

• www.oregonstate.edu– Notice the…• Absence of any sense of minimalism• The moderate level of visual balance• The use of many colors, some of which are harmonious

and some of which clash for no obvious reason• Visual emphasis on a few key messages (top of screen)• Somewhat less visual emphasis on low priority content• The attempt to make you think OSU has got a TON of

exciting, interesting stuff going on (and it does!)