A GA-based approach to improve web page aesthetics

The field of human-computer interaction traditionally deals with the problem of improving usability of interactive systems. The concept of usability is defined in terms of user's task performance. While task is undoubtedly one important factor in "usable" interface design, recent research shows that form (aesthetics) performs an equally important role in shaping the overall user experience of an interactive system, which in turn leads to increased usability. Keeping the form factor in focus, in this paper we present an approach to improve aesthetics of web interfaces using a genetic algorithm (GA). An existing computational model of aesthetics has been used to develop the fitness function of the GA. In order to ascertain the efficacy of the approach, an empirical study with 30 web pages and 10 subjects was carried out. Results of the study show that in certain situations, the proposed approach is able to improve perceived interface aesthetics.