Beauty Vs Usabilty

Beauty is a very subjective thing. One cannot simply define beauty, because what may seem attractive to me might not simply have the same appeal to someone else. But there is however some common grounds in labeling something attractive or beautiful, for instance appearance. No matter how much they say looks do not matter, it actually does. In my opinion ‘pretty design’ or aesthetic is very important; maybe more important than the actual usability of the product. I will tell you why. Firstly, in terms of buying a product, trust is one of the main driving factors and trust is related to personality. Naturally, perception and expectation also comes from appearance. When we see a well-designed product we tend to automatically assume that it will be trustworthy and a good invest. As a result, we end up buying that thing even though sometimes that particular thing might not be that important for us. Many leading manufacture companies have actually figured it all out. And nowadays they are focusing more on aesthetic value rather than the end result so as to increase their sale rate. So, that was why beauty is important in terms of purchasing but what about usability? Do you think good looking things work better? As a matter of fact, yes! They do! According to a study on how our brain works, it shows that attractive things have better working result than the less attractive ones. When we are relaxed, our brains are more flexible and more likely to work around difficult problems. And it is true that we find ourselves more comfortable when working with attractive things. Whereas when we are frustrated and tense our brains seem to only see the problem in front of us. Think! How many times have you found yourself struggling to open the old doorknob after coming back home having a rough day? I am sure most of you would agree with my reader on this:

“We are more tolerant of problems with things we find attractive”    

 This is just how human brain works. We get frustrated with unattractive things quite easily whereas we really show patience while using that new sleek gadget we just bought. Even though some of us do not realize what we are actually doing.

But of course we cannot totally ignore usability. Beauty and usability actually goes hand in hand. But, for me if I have to take a stand I will surely say beauty or aesthetic value is more important.