Arguing for Aesthetics in Human-Computer Interaction

In the 60s and 70s few people were interacting with computers and if they did, those interactions were predominantly work-related. It seems quite natural then, that early Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), which emerged at that time, strove to enable people to perform work-related tasks in an efficient and error free way. During the 1980s, usability engineering emerged from this understanding of HCI. It was probably the right concept for that time. But things change. Technology is much more mature, powerful and cheaper now. Consequently, informations technology (IT) is everywhere; people use it for many purposes, beyond accomplishing tasks at work. They surf the web for example – a rich medium in terms of visual design. The merger of the computer with other media, the rise of the computer gaming industry, etc. changed the users’ expectations. Today’s users know that IT can be visually appealing and entertaining. At the same time, the HCI research community becomes more and more interested in the roles of affect and emotion in addition to the “pure” cognitive processes, which they study traditionally. As a result, the aesthetics of interactive products becomes more and more important for users and researchers alike. Our view is that – as a community that takes pride in designing for people – usability professionals should adopt a more comprehensive vision of their field, which goes well beyond conventional concepts of usability. For this purpose, let’s go back in time. Vitruvius, the first known theoretician of the design discipline, argued for three core principles of good architecture. Firmitas – the strength and durability of the building; utilitas – the suitability and the convenience of the building for the needs of its intended users; and venustas – the building’s beauty. It is not difficult to see the parallels between those principles and principles of good design for IT. The work on issues such as reliability, stability and robustness of IT corresponds to the firmitas principle. The second principle, utilitas, is the one most cherished and practiced by the HCI community. We deal with how information technology can be designed to meet individual and organizational goals. We are concerned with their efficiency and effectiveness. We want them to be easy to learn and to use. This is mainstream HCI, mainstream Usability Engineering, mainstream Usability Professionals’ work. Almost completely missing from our research, our textbooks and our conferences is the third Vitruvian principle, venustas. It seems as if HCI is one of the rare design disciplines, which at least in part ignores this aspect or even views it as standing in its way. This is particularly odd, because we all know how important aesthetics is to human well-being. We know that people desire beautiful objects and prefer aesthetic environments; so, what about beautiful interactive systems? Do aesthetics matter for HCI? Sure, but why?