ABSTRACT
The role of IT in establishing the pervasiveness of aesthetics in today's business world is described by Schroeder, who argues that Web design has brought visual issues into the mainstream of strategic thinking. The Web mandates visualizing almost every aspect of corporate strategy, operations and communication. The framework begins with the design characteristics of the IT artifact as independent variables. This chapter shows how aesthetic concepts influence IT-related phenomena. Although the study of aesthetics in IT is still in its infancy, a series of methodological issues has already been raised and others will probably emerge as more studies are conducted. Designing aesthetic information systems (IS) may be viewed by some as gratuitous or even manipulative. Research on graphics in Management Information Systems (MIS) has concentrated on objective design features whereas much of the research on technology acceptance is based on perceived system characteristics.
