the beauty of simplicity.pdf

The Beauty of Simplicity Kristiina Karvonen Department of Art History, University of Helsinki and Department puter Science, Helsinki University of Technology 9700 HUT Finland +358 9 451 5785 kristiina.******@ ABSTRACT In this paper we show how discussion about design quality or even usability is often discussion about aesthetics. First, we introduce some definitions of beauty in aesthetics. Then, we introduce how the beauty of the Web design affects the feeling of online trust, and bring forth observations about this design quality as an aesthetic notion. As a result, we present how simplicity and beauty affect the user’s experience and interpretation of the design, and contemplate on how this perception may vary according to cultural background, age, and the amount of user experience. We will also envision some future trends for the aesthetics of user interfaces. Keywords Aesthetics, beautiful, design quality, pleasure, trust, Web usability, user interface design, cross-cultural HCI INTRODUCTION Quite recently, Jacob Nielsen has suggested simplicity as a key factor behind creating usable design [17]. At present, this notion of simplicity seems to ing up frequently in other studies across the HCI field also (., [2],[4],[10]). According to Nielsen, “simplicity” means, first and foremost, that users on the Web are able to get what they came for. According to