The UX Five-Second Rules

Chapter 3

Testing for Emotional Response

An increasing body of research suggests that establishing product desirability is largely a matter of first impression. A positive emotional response to design aesthetics makes users more likely to overlook or forgive poor usability or limited functionality and can help trigger positive behaviors. With close ties to both visual perception and attitudinal inquiry based on short exposure times, emotional response appears to be ideally suited for adaptation to the five-second method. A template for using the method for testing emotional response requires that stakeholders identify critical design values and their opposites, ask for descriptions of the design in their own words, then use rating scales to measure ...