Why should GUI designers create visual novelties?: The mechanisms of first impression formation in user experience

Abstract

Background The purpose of this study is to present the necessity of graphical user interface (GUI) design renewal, by identifying the positive effect of novelty on user experience. However, diverse user experience (UX) frameworks based on usability have difficulty in explaining the impact of the first impression, as they focus on during and after the use of the GUI design. Methods This study hypothesized and confirmed the relationships between each component in the UX at the time of the first impression according to differential emotional theories based on fast-forming neurophysiological emotional responses. Therefore, I surveyed 329 respondents to investigate the mechanism in UX through 18 preselected screen images of websites that presented various degrees of visual novelty, at the time of the first impression formation. Results First, the degree of 'Visual Novelty' was identified as an important factor affecting 'Pleasure', 'Arousal', 'Expressive Aesthetics', 'Classical Aesthetics' and 'Perceived Usability'. However, unlike the expectation that 'Visual Novelty' would have the biggest effect on Arousal, it actually had the biggest effect on 'Expressive Aesthetics'. Second, the UX model in first impression formation showed that during first impression formation, very fast-forming emotional responses preceded 'Aesthetic Judgment' and 'Perceived Usability'. Meanwhile, 'Pleasure' did not have a direct effect on 'Perceived Usability', but it was found that it impacts 'Perceived Usability' through mediated variables of 'Classical Aesthetics' and 'Expressive Aesthetics'. Conclusions This study is on a user experience model that is limited to the situation of first impression formation. Therefore, the study finding it would be difficult to extend to a general usability model. However, this study is meaningful in that it identified 'the value of visual novelty in design' in user experience, and explained the importance of neurophysiological emotion on first impression formation that otherwise could have been overlooked.