Abstract
The aesthetic-usability effect is a long established phenomenon, where a high aesthetic in user interfaces leads to an increase in user perceptions of system usability. This benefits designers by rewarding ‘beautiful’ interfaces, but is problematic as it can mask underlying usability problems, leading to inferior user experiences. To date, research into the effect has mainly considered visual aesthetics. Limited knowledge about the effect in other modes of interaction may be especially problematic for designers of systems for users who live with situational or permanent visual impairment, who will, by definition, be less affected by visual aesthetic. This research investigates the extent to which the aesthetic-usability effect manifests itself in surface haptic and sonic human-computer interactions.