Colour has the potential to elicit emotions or behaviors, yet there is little research in which colour treatments in website design are systematically tested. Little is known about how colour affects trust or satisfaction on the part of the viewer. Although the Internet is increasingly global, few systematic studies have been undertaken in which the impact of colour on culturally diverse viewers is investigated in website design. In this research three website colour treatments are tested across three culturally distinct viewer groups for their impact on user trust, satisfaction, and e-loyalty. To gather data, a rich multi-method approach is used including eye-tracking, a survey, and interviews. Results reveal that website colour appeal is a significant determinant for website trust and satisfaction with differences noted across cultures. The findings have practical value for web marketers and interface designers concerning effective colour use in website development.

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Colour appeal in website design within and across cultures: A multi-method evaluation

The impact of colour on Website appeal and users' cognitive processes

Psychology of the arts

Since the introduction of the Motivational Technology Acceptance Model in 1992, many researchers have considered both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation as antecedents of intent to use and actual use of a system. However, it has been a long-standing and largely unchallenged assumption that intrinsic motivation (i.e., fun or enjoyment) is a more dominant predictor of hedonic (fun) application use and that extrinsic motivation (i.e., usefulness) is a more dominant predictor of utilitarian (practical) application use. In this article, we probe whether system type serves as a boundary condition (i.e., moderator) for understanding an individual’s interaction with information technology. Specifically, we examine whether perceived enjoyment’s influence on perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, intention, and use varies with system type. On the basis of a meta-analytic structural equation modeling analysis of 185 studies between 1992 and February 2011, our findings suggest intrinsic motivation is equally relevant for predicting intentions toward using and actual use of both hedonic and utilitarian systems. Therefore, our meta-analytic results call into question the rigidity of the assumption that system type is a ‘boundary condition’ for understanding individuals’ interaction with information technology. The implications of these results for research and practice are discussed.

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1057%2Fejis.2012.25.pdf

Can we have fun @ work? The role of intrinsic motivation for utilitarian systems

This paper addresses new and significant research issues in web page design in relation to the use of graphics. The original findings include that (a) graphics play an important role in enhancing the appearance and thus users' feelings (aesthetics) about web pages and that (b) the effective use of graphics is crucial in designing web pages. In addition, we have developed a web page design support database based on a user-centered experimental procedure and a neural network model. This design support database can be used to examine how a specific combination of design elements, particularly the ratio of graphics to text, will affect the users' feelings about a web page. As a general rule, the ratio of graphics to text between 3:1 and 1:1 will give the users the best feelings of ease-to-use and clear-to-follow. A web page with a ratio of 1:1 will have the most realistic look, while a ratio of over 3:1 will have the fanciest appearance. The result provides useful insights in using graphics on web pages that help web designers best meet users' specific expectations and aesthetic consistency.

How will the use of graphics affect visual aesthetics? A user-centered approach for web page design

This experimental study investigates the effects of animated graphic colors on attention and perceived usability of users from two cultural groups, American and Thai. The experiment employs a three-way split-plot design with one between-subjects factor and two repeated-measures factors. The between-subjects factor contains two cultural groups, American and Thai. The two repeated-measures variables are a banner background color factor with six levels and a banner font color factor with two levels. Participants search for target words from text on Web pages that contain three animated banner graphics. The findings lead to the conclusion that users across cultures tend to ignore animated banner graphics when they look for specific information on highly informative Web pages. This study also suggests influences of culture on overall performance, overall retention, and overall self-reports on usability, regardless of differences in banner color combinations. Moreover, cultural differences on the self-report of attention drawing are also revealed in each banner color usage, except yellow banners with white text. This study does not aim at exploring superiority of participants between cultures. Rather, it attempts to explore some possible cultural differences in interacting with a computer interface that could facilitate cognition and perception of users from different cultural groups.

Jantawan Noiwan

Papers

Cultural differences on attention and perceived usability: Investigating color combinations of animated graphics