ABSTRACT
From the early days of humanity, humankind has made efforts to reach higher levels of well-being. In this way, we have created technology for controlling our environment. Craftsmen at first and designers later were always worried to manufacture instruments for making our life easier. From Stone Age to Digital Age, man has developed different strategies to simplify and make more effective technological devices. Nowadays, most of the digital devices we use (such smartphones, tablets, and other wearable or devices) have a visual display to interact with them and to become user-friendly.
Probably, the low usability of some of these gadgets is partially responsible of digital divide, blocking opportunities for a lot of people and blocking them a flourishing life. When people need a lot of time to learn how a device works, they give up and feel frustration. However, designers and developers have created new devices easier to use. Therefore, most people can use smartphones and tablets today without spending a lot of time learning how to use them. Even elderly people like using devices as e-readers or tablets for their own use and for accessing to Internet services. Digital mass media is closer than ever to many people, and the access to more information and services are closer too (at least in this sense).
Without doubt, aesthetic plays an important role to get a softer learning curve because avoid an initial refuse to technology. Beauty is pursued in the shape and colors, but also by the structure of the information and the logical order of the processes. At this point is where different skills meet in the same place. Visual design (as aesthetic responsible), information architecture (as under structure responsible), data visualization (showing complex data), and human computer interaction (as usability responsible) must work together. This holistic vision shows a new point of view. And this point of view forces a new research approach for studying the role of beauty in the user experience phenomenon, the ethic responsibility of designers, and the role of beauty in positive design. Then, this is an eudaimonic point of view—no, a hedonistic one.
