title: What makes icons appealing? The role of processing fluency in predicting icon appeal in different task contexts.
abstract: Although icons appear on almost all interfaces, there is a paucity of research examining the determinants of icon appeal. The experiments reported here examined the icon characteristics determining appeal and the extent to which processing fluency - the subjective ease with which individuals process information - was used as a heuristic to guide appeal evaluations. Participants searched for, and identified, icons in displays. The initial appeal of icons was held constant while ease of processing was manipulated by systematically varying the complexity and familiarity of the icons presented and the type of task participants were asked to carry out. Processing fluency reliably influenced users' appeal ratings and appeared to be based on users' unconscious awareness of the ease with which they carried out experimental tasks.
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, Faculty of Science & Technology, Bournemouth University, Fern Barrow, Poole BH12 5BB, UK. Electronic address: smcdougall@bournemouth.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Siné
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: McDougall
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, Swansea University, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK. Electronic address: i.reppa@swansea.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Reppa
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, Faculty of Science & Technology, Bournemouth University, Fern Barrow, Poole BH12 5BB, UK.
authors.forename: Jozef
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kulik
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, Faculty of Science & Technology, Bournemouth University, Fern Barrow, Poole BH12 5BB, UK.
authors.forename: Alisdair
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Taylor
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D011930:Reaction Time; D013561:Symbolism; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D014584:User-Computer Interface; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Aesthetics; Appeal; Icons; Processing fluency; User experience