Attractive interfaces are judged easier to use and their usability problems are tolerated longer.
Kurosu and Kashimura found Japanese ATM users rated better-looking layouts as easier to use, independent of actual usability. In testing this masks defects — users forgive an attractive interface long enough that the problem never surfaces.
In practice
- A dashboard with careful typography survives three rounds of user testing despite a broken filter, because testers blame themselves for the failure.
- A well-designed thermostat app is rated highly by owners who have never successfully programmed a schedule on it.
- Standing
- Cuts both ways: it also hides real usability defects during testing.
- Further reading
- Wikipedia
- Subject
- Design & Systems
- Essay
- The limits every design runs into