UX thoughts – In defense of eye candy, an “A List Apart” article

I’ve just read an amazing article at the A List Apart site, called In defense of eye candy. A lot of my feelings and thoughts that I have been struggling to put in words are expressed here in a crystal clear way.

The article discusses the role of aesthetics in the cognitive process, cites studies that prove that it is easier to learn and more productive to work with products that awake good positive emotions (yes, emotions!). Stephen writes about how “Eye candy” and a product’s personality can influence your buying decision or trust towards it. And that affect and cognition are actually walking had in hand. Also, we get to read about how the 100 year old mantra of “form follows function, and ornaments are evil” is now a thing of the past in architecture. Let’s hope that software design will follow the lead, soon.

In defense of eye candy is my favorite article this week. Go ahead, read it!