Study of the Influence of Prototype Aesthetic Fidelity (A Realism Factor) in Usability Tests

Tools (virtual and physical) currently available for product interactive design are becoming better and more affordable. Thus, it is now easier for designers to apply high degrees of appearance refinement to a prototype at early stages of design. This paper presents the findings of a study investigating the effect of aesthetic fidelity of digital and physical prototypes of a musical metronome device on user’s perception of usability, in a series of experimental trials. The study examined user behavior and subjective user evaluation and emotion. Four groups of users were created and assigned different kind of prototypes (physical or digital with low and high aesthetic fidelity). This paper presents results indicating that there is an effect of aesthetic fidelity on user’s perception of attractiveness and usability in both digital and physical prototypes and that user’s assessment becomes more critical as the prototype gets closer to the real product.