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not determined by aesthetic perceptions alone (Eagly et al., 1991). Many factors can potentially
moderate the relations between aesthetic characteristics of an IT artifact and the attitudinal or
behavioral consequences of the interaction (I refer to some of these moderators in the next section).
Thus, some responses to aesthetic stimuli are innate and relatively invariant, but some are learned
and depend on culture, education, and other experiences and acquired tastes.
Aesthetics Satisfies Basic Human Needs
The degree to which aesthetic considerations have gained (or should gain) importance in the indus-
trial landscape remains a contested issue. Designing aesthetic information systems may be viewed
by some as gratuitous or even manipulative. In his seminal topic
The Psychology of Everyday
Things
, Norman (1988) criticized designers' tendency to emphasize aesthetics at the expense of
practical features of the artifact, such as usability and functionality. Early criticisms of what was
perceived as overemphasizing aesthetics may reflect, in fact, a practical recognition that artifacts
should primarily satisfy basic requirements, such as reliability and usability. Recently, however,
with the increased recognition of the role of emotion in decision making the reverse has been
argued: modern design has placed too much emphasis on performance issues and not enough on
emotional aspects, such as pleasure, fun, and excitement, which are fundamental motivators of
human behavior, and to which aesthetics is a major contributor (e.g., Green and Jordan, 2002;
Norman, 2002, 2004a; Coates, 2003; Hassenzahl, 2003).
The notion that aesthetics satisfies human needs is not new. Maslow (1954) lists aesthetics as
one of the basic needs in his theory of human motivation. Aesthetics may also be viewed as
a motivator (as opposed to a hygienic) factor, to use Herzberg's terminology (Zhang and von Dran,
2000). Postrel (2002) suggests that aesthetic pleasure has intrinsic value: “People seek it out, they
reward those who offer new-and-improved pleasures, and they identify with those who share their
tastes” (p. 75). The need for aesthetics does not disappear in front of the computer. IT users strive
for a more complete and satisfying interactive experience; an experience that not only achieves
certain well-defined goals but also involves the senses and generates affective responses (Bly
et al., 1998; Venkatesh and Brown, 2001).
Fogarty et al. (2001) claim that since computer technology has moved beyond the confinements
of the work environment and into the rest of our lives, its use has expanded into wider aspects and
its requirements have shifted as well. If the value of computing technology was once measured
mostly by its usefulness for solving problems and by its ease of use
,
additional requirements, such
as desirability, have now emerged. Issues of visual appeal and aesthetics have become an integral
part of interactive system designs. Indeed, in striking contrast to the principles and the guidelines
advocated by usability researchers and gurus, any random perusal of Web sites would suggest that
aesthetic considerations are paramount in designing for the Web. One of the interesting phenom-
ena of current IT usage is the personalization of the application's appearance. The growing demand
for personalized user interfaces seems to spring from the quest for richer and more affective expe-
rience (Blom and Monk, 2003). The desire expressed by users to tailor the appearance of their
applications to their tastes is epitomized by the proliferation of skins—alternative interfaces to
commonly used applications. Skins allow users to change an application's appearance while pre-
serving its functionality (but not necessarily its ease of use!). Recent trends in PC-based applica-
tion design indicate that “skinnability” (the ability to tailor the application's appearance) has become
a common feature in many types of personal computing applications. Our studies indicate that the
choice of skins by individual users has much to do with the skins' aesthetic properties (Tractinsky
and Lavie, 2002; Tractinsky and Zmiri, 2006).
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