Abstract
The importance of web designs for commercial and informational use has been a focus of research for over a decade and a half. At present, findings concerning the influence of news website designs on the perception and recall of information are rather contradictory. This study aims to identify how the basic web designs aesthetically affect users. A total of 214 students from Arab universities were shown three news sites with different designs and asked to complete two tests to determine their levels of perception and recall. The results revealed that interactive sites with multiple aesthetic elements representing the message of the news item enable users to perceive and remember the information better. The findings of this study can be useful in creating news website templates that improve user comprehension and recall.


Similar content being viewed by others
Explore related subjects
Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.Data availability
Data will be available on request.
References
Amershi S, Weld D, Vorvoreanu M, Fourney A, Nushi B, Collisson P, Suh J, Iqbal S, Bennett PN, Inkpen K, Teevan J, Kikin-Gil R, Horvitz E (2019) Guidelines for human-AI interaction. In: proceedings of the 2019 Chi conference on human factors in computing systems. Association for computing machinery, New York, pp 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1145/3290605.3300233
Aranyi G, Van Schaik P (2016) Testing a model of user-experience with news websites. J Assoc Inf Sci Tech 67(7):1555–1575. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.23462
Aribarg A, Schwartz EM (2020) Native advertising in online news: trade-offs among clicks, brand recognition, and website trustworthiness. J Mark Res 57(1):20–34. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022243719879711
Baughan A, August T, Yamashita N, Reinecke K (2020) Keep it simple: how visual complexity and preferences impact search efficiency on websites. In: proceedings of the 2020 CHI conference on human factors in computing systems. Association for computing machinery, New York, pp 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1145/3313831.3376849
Bentley F, Quehl K, Wirfs-Brock J, Bica M (2019) Understanding online news behaviors. In: proceedings of the 2019 CHI conference on human factors in computing systems. Association for computing machinery, New York, pp 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1145/3290605.3300820
Chyrun L, Gozhyj A, Yevseyeva I, Dosyn D, Tyhonov V, Zakharchuk M (2019) Web content monitoring system development. COLINS. Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute, Kharkiv, pp 126–142
Conlin L, Roberts C (2016) Presence of online reader comments lowers news site credibility. Newsp Res J 37(4):365–376. https://doi.org/10.1177/0739532916677056
Cybenko AK, Cybenko G (2018) AI and fake news. IEEE Intell Syst 33(5):1–5. https://doi.org/10.1109/MIS.2018.2877280
Esau K, Friess D, Eilders C (2017) Design matters! an empirical analysis of online deliberation on different news platforms. Policy Internet 9(3):321–342. https://doi.org/10.1002/poi3.154
Foxall G (2017) Context and cognition in consumer psychology: how perception and emotion guide action. Routledge, London
Geeng C, Yee S, Roesner F (2020) Fake news on Facebook and Twitter: investigating how people (do not) investigate. In: proceedings of the 2020 CHI conference on human factors in computing systems. Association for computing machinery, New York, pp 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1145/3313831.3376784
Hamlyn DW (2017) The psychology of perception: a philosophical examination of Gestalt theory and derivative theories of perception, vol 13. Routledge, London
Jiang Z, Wang W, Tan BC, Yu J (2016) The determinants and impacts of aesthetics in users’ first interaction with websites. J Manag Inf Syst 33(1):229–259. https://doi.org/10.1080/07421222.2016.1172443
Kalogeropoulos A, Fletcher R, Nielsen RK (2019) News brand attribution in distributed environments: do people know where they get their news? New Media Soc 21(3):583–601. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444818801313
Kalyanaraman S, Sundar SS (2006) The psychological appeal of personalized content in web portals: does customization affect attitudes and behavior? J Commun 56:110–132. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2006.00006.x
King AJ, Lazard AJ, White SR (2020) The influence of visual complexity on initial user impressions: testing the persuasive model of web design. Behav Inform Technol 39(5):497–510. https://doi.org/10.1080/0144929X.2019.1602167
Lam KL, Chan CS, Peters M (2020) Understanding technological contributions to accessible tourism from the perspective of destination design for visually impaired visitors in Hong Kong. J Dest Mark Manage 17:100434. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdmm.2020.100434
Liu C, Song X (2018) How do information source selection strategies influence users’ learning outcomes’. In: proceedings of the 2018 conference on human information interaction and retrieval. Association for computing machinery, New York, pp 257–260. https://doi.org/10.1145/3176349.3176876
Loschky LC, Larson AM, Smith TJ, Magliano JP (2020) The scene perception and event comprehension theory (SPECT) applied to visual narratives. Topics Cogn Sci 12(1):311–351. https://doi.org/10.1111/tops.12455
Martin D (2020) Third spaces, sequencing, and intertextuality:(de) constructing misinformation and fake news. In: platforms, protests, and the challenge of networked democracy. Palgrave Macmillan, London, pp 135–156. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36525-7_8
McIntyre K, Gyldensted C (2018) Constructive journalism: an introduction and practical guide for applying positive psychology techniques to news production. J Media Innov 4(2):20–34. https://doi.org/10.5617/jomi.v4i2.2403
McIntyre K, Barnes SR, Ruel L (2016) The effects of online news package structure on attitude, attention, and comprehension. Electronic News 10(3):178–193. https://doi.org/10.1177/1931243116656718
Muravyeva AA, Oleynikova ON, Aksenova NM, Dorozhkin EM (2019) National qualifications system in Russia-an epistemological perspective. Educ Sci J 21(4):92–114. https://doi.org/10.17853/1994-5639-2019-4-92-114
Narikbaeva LM, Savenkov AI (2016) Pedagogical system of students vocational ability development. Int J Environ Sci Educ 11(9):3013–3024
Park I, Shim H, Kim J, Lee C, Lee D (2020) The effects of popularity metrics in news comments on the formation of public opinion: evidence from an internet portal site. Soc Sci J 1:1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/03623319.2020.1768485
Platt D (2016) The joy of UX: user experience and interactive design for developers. Addison-Wesley Professional, Boston
Porion A, Aparicio X, Megalakaki O, Robert A, Baccino T (2016) The impact of paper-based versus computerized presentation on text comprehension and memorization. Comput Hum Behav 54:569–576. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.08.002
Riaz A, Gregor S, Dewan S, Xu Q (2018) The interplay between emotion, cognition and information recall from websites with relevant and irrelevant images: a neuro-IS study. Decis Support Syst 111:113–123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dss.2018.05.004
Sjöblom M, Törhönen M, Hamari J, Macey J (2017) Content structure is king: an empirical study on gratifications, game genres and content type on twitch. Comput Hum Behav 73:161–171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.03.036
Stroud NJ, Van Duyn E (2020) Assessing the external validity of using news websites as experimental stimuli. Commun Methods Meas 1:1–7. https://doi.org/10.1080/19312458.2020.1718630
Tsalikova IK, Pakhotina SV (2019) Scientific research on the issue of soft skills development (Review of the data in international databases of scopus, web of science). Educ Sci J 21(8):187–207. https://doi.org/10.17853/1994-5639-2019-7-187-207
Um NH (2017) The effects of social presence, contextual congruence and source credibility in evaluation of online advertising on news websites. Int J Internet Mark Advert 11(1):64–82. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJIMA.2017.082999
Van Damme K, Martens M, Van Leuven S, Vanden Abeele M, De Marez L (2020) Mapping the mobile DNA of news. Understanding incidental and serendipitous mobile news consumption. Digit J 8(1):49–68. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2019.1655461
Vermeer S, Trilling D, Kruikemeier S, de Vreese C (2020) Online news user journeys: the role of social media, news websites, and topics. Digit J 1:1–28. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2020.1767509
Yang W (2020) Ux design of artificial intelligence news robot. MSE 740(1):012135. https://doi.org/10.1088/1757-899X/740/1/012135
Yazid MA, Jantan AH, Abd Ghani AA, Kamaruddin A, Admodisastro N (2018) Accessibility design issues with Malaysian news websites: a case study using a checker and WAVE. Int J Eng Technol 7(4):69–73
Zha Y (2018) Making the voice: exploring design professionalism in visual information structure of news websites. University of Lapland, Rovaniemi
Funding
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
Authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Appendix
Appendix
See Fig.
Examples of survey questions
The first section of the survey:
-
1.
“Is the main article of the page dedicated to street music?” (Yes/No)
-
2.
“Have you seen more than three people in a photo on a website page?” (Yes/No)
-
3.
“Are the theme of music and the theme of vehicles on the site page somehow related?” (Yes/No).
The second section of the survey:
-
1.
“Are there other examples of street drummers in Las Vegas suggested in the article?” (Yes/No)
-
2.
“Was the latest Ford motorcycle model presented in one of the articles?” (Yes/No)
-
3.
“Did the articles cover areas of New York other than Brooklyn? (Yes/No)”.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Al Said, N., Al-Said, K.M. The effect of visual and informational complexity of news website designs on comprehension and memorization among undergraduate students. AI & Soc 37, 401–409 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-021-01164-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-021-01164-6