Perceived and objective usability and visual appeal in a website domain with a less developed mental model.

In Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), the usability and aesthetics of webpages have been studied extensively. However, research into participant experience and expertise with the website domain being studied is often overlooked. This paper strived to acquire an understanding of the relationship between usability and visual appeal by examining it in a domain that had less developed mental models, to exclude the influence of past experiences. Two studies were conducted to (1) find a domain with a less developed mental model and (2) examine correlations between usability and aesthetics in the less familiar domain. Results of Study 1 showed that mental models were weaker for city council websites. Results of Study 2 showed that, for city council websites, pre- and post-use perceived usability and visual appeal, perceived usability and the number of passed tasks, and average number of hovers (objective usability) and visual appeal were all significantly and positively correlated.