Interview frequency: …
Short answer
Users tend to perceive visually attractive designs as easier to use and more efficient, and become more tolerant of minor usability problems.
Explanation
Visual beauty creates a positive emotional response that can reduce user stress during interactions. The risk is in user research: a participant may say "The site is great and very easy!" simply because it looks impressive, while actually taking twice as long to find a product or making serious errors. Researchers should observe actions and actual task completion rates instead of relying on verbal impressions.
Common mistakes
- Polishing nonfunctional interfaces with modern colors and graphics to hide structural problems in navigation and task flows.
- Treating users' positive comments about visual appearance as proof that an interface has no usability flaws.