Graphical user interfaces are ever more present in our everyday lives due to the increasing technology-mediated nature of all human praxis, be it on desktop, mobile devices, VR or TVs. After becoming the natural means of world-wide communication, aesthetics in graphical user interface design has quickly started to gain attention.
Visually pleasing interface design is necessary for user engagement, sense of pleasure, trust, and overall usability. There is an increasing need to advance human-computer interaction that enables daily actions for different target groups, considering people with varying premises regarding age, gender, abilities, and technology skills.
Engaging imagery has become one of the most valuable assets in modern attention economy
Attractive user interfaces have become a megatrend not only because of their widespread use, but also due to the modern attention economy, where engaging imagery has become one of the most valuable assets. Observing what has been viewed as the fastest growing marketplaces in the world, namely app markets, shows that people spend an incredible number of resources on apps. Purchase decisions are often based on visuals.
– The level of attractiveness in graphical user interface elements can make it or break it. For example, mobile game icon design for app stores is a billion-dollar business and significant effort is made to create the most visually striking icon that will grab the user’s attention from the masses, Jylhä says.
While the importance of user interface aesthetics has been acknowledged, theories and tools to assess and design visually pleasing user interfaces remain scarce and scattered. Thus, Jylhä’s doctoral dissertation examines aesthetic perception, identifies the dimensions of the aesthetic properties of the user interface elements, and identifies design guidelines, ranging from a systematic literature review on prior measurement instruments for graphical user interface aesthetics to quantitative statistical modelling methods. A psychometric scale “VISQUAL” is also presented to measure user perceptions of graphical user interface elements.
Jylhä conducted her research during 2018–2022 at the Gamification Group at Tampere University. She is currently a Community Manager at the Finnish mobile game studio Tower Pop.
Public defence on Friday 14 April
The doctoral dissertation of M.Sc. Henrietta Jylhä in the field of Games and Gamification titled Attractive User Interface Elements: Measurement and prediction will be publicly examined at the Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences at Tampere University in the Auditorium A1
of the Main Building, Kalevantie 4, Tampere, on 14 April 2023, at 13.00. The Opponent will be Assistant Professor Jussi Jokinen from Jyväskylä University. The Custos will be Professor Juho Hamari from the Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences, Tampere University.
The doctoral dissertation is available online.
The public defence can be followed via remote connection.
Photograph: Jonne Renvall