1、Abstract:One of the challenges today in humancomputer interaction is to design systems that are not only usable but also appealing to users. In order to contribute to meet this challenge, our general objective in the present study was to enhance current understanding of the perceptual features that
2、favour users interactions with Websites. This is a particularly important issue, as users first impressions when they land on a site determine whether or not they stay on it. We conducted two experimental studies, focusing on one specific perceptual feature: Website colour. The first study investiga
3、ted designers and users preferred colours for a Web homepage. Although researchers generally flag up differences between designers and users, we found that the latter also had several favourite colours in common. On the basis of these initial results, three colours were selected for a second study e
4、xploring colour in relation to an entire Website. The main originality of this second study lays in the fact that we used both subjective and objective measurements to gauge the impact of colour, analyzing not only users judgments but also their Website navigation and the items of information they m
5、emorized. Results of this second study showed that colours were a determining factor in the way that users interacted with the Website. Their influence was also observed afterwards, when users were asked to exploit the information they had gleaned from the Website. As such, these findings will have
6、a practical value for Website designers.Keywords: Colour appeal, Website design, Navigation, User-centred design1 IntroductionThe importance of visual perception in humancomputer interaction （HCI） has long been acknowledged （e.g., 1）. In the past, authors generally advocated a user-centred approach,
7、 putting forward ergonomic recommendations, or “golden rules” 1,2. These recommendations tended to focus on users cognitive and perceptual-motor abilities, rather than on what they felt when interacting with a system. Now, however, humans and their interactions with systems are increasingly being st
8、udied at three different levels: knowing, doing and feeling 3. In recent years, the “feeling” level has become a popular research topic in cognitive science and the science of design, with advances in our understanding of feelings, affects and emotions 4,5 having implications for the latter 68. When
9、 developing products or systems, designers have to come up with design solutions that are both novel and adapted to their future users 9,10. This adaptation to future users must encompass several complementary aspects. Usability is no longer the ultimate goal for designers. New systems must also hav
10、e an aesthetic value and inject a little fun and pleasure into people s lives 7,11.In addition to their functional characteristics, interactive systems must be regarded as conveying feelings through visual sensory modalities.In the present study, we sought to enhance current understanding of one per
11、ceptual feature, namely colour, in a type of interactive system where aesthetics and attractiveness constitute a particular challenge: the Website. Here, users initial feelings are crucial, as it is during the first few seconds of interaction that users or visitors decide whether or not to continue
12、navigating the Website 1214.Lindgaard et al. 15 showed that users first impressions are constructed in about 50 ms and appear to be stable over time. They allow users to develop an aesthetic impression of the Web page,which influences their subsequent navigation. Since visitors preferences are based
13、 on the Website s aesthetic features 16,17, our objective was to analyze one particular perceptual feature that contributes considerably to first impressions: Website colour. Colours have the potential to affect our perceptions, emotional reactions and behavioural intentions 18. However, little rese
14、arch has been done on the impact of colours in Internet-based environments and only a handful of researchers have conducted studies on this topic in recent years e.g., 19,20. With a view to filling this gap, the aim of our study was twofold:identifying colours that Website designers and users find a
15、ppealing;determining whether some colours favour Website visitors navigation and cognitive processes.To this end, we carried out two experimental studies. The first one investigated the preferences expressed by designers and users when they were shown Website homepages in 23 different colours. The s
16、econd one analyzed how the use of three different colours （selected on the basis of the results from the first study） in Website design influenced interactions between visitors and three different versions of the same Website. We argued that the role of colours is essential not only when accessing a
17、 site and navigating it, but also after the actual interaction has come to an end and users exploit the information they have just obtained from the site. Before describing these studies, we present their theoretical framework, in order to underline both the importance of perceptual and aesthetic fe
18、atures （e.g., colours） in terms of the affects or emotions they convey, and their influence on usersinteractions with systems.2 Emotions, aesthetics and coloursFor years, researchers showed little or no interest in the possible links between emotion and cognition, and between usability and users emo
19、tions and aesthetic feelings. Only recently have they sought to draw these different threads together. We therefore begin by briefly characterizing emotions and their relationship with cognition, as well as their implications for product design （2.1）.We then point out the relationships between aesth
20、etic feelings and users judgments （2.2）, as well as between one aesthetic feature in particular （product colour） and users preferences （2.3）.Emotions, cognition and product designThe numerous papers on the subject of emotions offer divergent points of view about emotional phenomena e.g., 21,5,22. Sc
21、herer22 suggested distinguishing between various affective states and,in particular, contrasting utilitarian emotions and aesthetic emotions.These two kinds of emotion result from an appraisal of environmental or proprioceptive information, but have different functions. Utilitarian emotions, such as
22、 anger and fear, allow us to adapt to events that may have major consequences for us as individuals. These adaptive functions may consist in the preparation of actions （such as confrontation or escape） or the recuperation and reorientation of work. In contrast, aesthetic emotions are unrelated to th
23、e need to satisfy vital and mandatory needs.For instance, a person can be impressed, admiring or fascinated.These diffuse sensations differ considerably from utilitarian emotions with regard to felt arousal and behaviour orientation.Although emotion is not understood as well as cognition, both of th
24、em can be regarded as information processing systems 23, but with different functions and operating parameters. Cognition allows us to interpret the world and make sense of it, whereas emotions are more judgmental, assigning positive and negative valences to the environment 6,7,5. Advances in our un
25、derstanding of cognition and emotion suggest that each impacts the other.Thus, several studies have shown that emotions and affects have an impact on the cognitive functioning of individuals engaged in complex tasks 24,21,25. According to Norman 7 and Csikszentmihalyi 26, emotions can even make us s
26、mart. For instance, positive affects broaden our thought processes and seem to enhance our creativity in finding design solutions 9. Unlike negative affects, positive affects make difficult tasks easier to perform and make people more flexible and more tolerant of minor difficulties 6.These approach
27、es have implications for the design of products and interactive systems. In the field of HCI, a cognitiveaffective model of organizational communication has been developed by Teeni 27. This author posits the notion that the communication process, which comprises the communication medium （a Website i
28、n the case of our study） and the message form （e.g., differences in the colours used for a Website）, has an impact on the user and on whether the latter judges the communication to be appropriate. In line with this model, Norman 7 claims that the image which products present to the user, their attra
29、ctiveness and the users behaviour, all need to be considered. As such, the design of products or interactive systems should take three levels of processing into account: visceral design, which refers primarily to the initial impact of products and systems due to their appearance; behavioural design,
30、 which is about the experience of using a product or system （the “look and feel” ） and which contributes to its usability; reflective design, which is about the users subsequent opinion and what the latter has to say about the product or system （e.g., how it makes him or her feel, the image it portr
31、ays or the message it conveys）.Put in a slightly different way, we need to think about three dimensions when designing products: （1） their attractiveness （or appeal）, which depends on visceral design, （2） their functional and usable properties, which result from behavioural design, and （3） their”pre
32、stige”, which is related to reflective design. Nowadays, therefore, the aim of designers is to come up with products or systems that are not only useful and usable, but which are also thought to convey positive emotions and feelings through their aesthetic features. Aesthetics and usersjudgmentsMany years ago, social scientists demonstrated the importance of aesthetics in everyday life. For instance, a persons ph
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