My initial research idea was to learn why some graphics or website templates are more appealing than others. Currently, I plan to research which graphics or website templates appeal to which subgroups of a population.
The subgroups could be divided by age, such as children, teens, 20-40, 40-60, and senior citizens, which would include everyone. However, they could also be divided into specific groups, such as athletes, young parents, pet owners, tourists, etc. Research that focuses on the preferences of members of such groups may reveal patterns and similarities that would aid in designing websites that target such groups, increasing viewership, participation, and perhaps sales for commercial websites. Possibly, such research could reveal fallacies in perceptions; it is commonly believed that young elementary children prefer bright primary colors, but this may be only a stereotype.
I have found several articles analyzing the web design styles and graphics chosen by specific age groups. Richard Hartshorne, Adam Friedman, Bob Algozzine, and Daljit Kaur’s research studies elementary school websites to test on structure, design, and general components with ratings to measure the helpfulness of their websites to elementary students (2008). Anthony Chow and Kathelene McCarthy Smith did a similar study in which middle school and high school students rated a series of websites designed to target their age group (2012).
Additionally, a study by Denise Agosto studied the websites that teen girls chose when searching on the Internet, asking them to evaluate the websites and their designs, based on “social connectivity, flexibility, motility, inclusion, and graphic/multimedia concentration” (Agosto, D., 2004). Expanding this study to other groups could allow researchers to study the differences between the preferences of groups sorted by age or other criteria.
Thomas Madden, Kelly Hewett, and Martin Roth completed a fascinating project, focusing on the color preferences of undergraduate students in different countries, among them  Austria, Brazil, Canada, Columbia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the People’s Republic of China, and the United States (2000). Participants first rated colors to indicate the meaning behind colors in certain cultures and then rated another set for personal preference. Lastly, to determine if some color combinations had meanings depending on the culture of the participant, students selected an additional color to match red, blue, or green in three separate logos. The researchers found that a difference in preference between colors was more present for blue, brown, gold, orange, purple, and yellow, while black, green, red, and white did not have a significant difference. In addition, they discovered that color combinations were drastically different across the studied cultures. While students from Brazil and the U.S. chose to add black to a logo with red, students in Colombia, Hong Kong, PRC, and Taiwan chose to pair white with red. Many participants in Austria and Canada and PRC chose yellow when presented with a red logo. These findings strongly suggest that graphics, and more specifically, color choices for graphics, influence viewer satisfaction, and viewer participation. Clearly, graphics influence how users respond to a website or mobile app (Madden, T., et al. 2000).
Proquest, EBSCO, and Gale Academic OneFile are the best databases for me to begin searching for sources for my research journal and have provided me with several sources already. Having relied on these databases for previous projects, I am confident that I will find pertinent articles on the effects of graphics.
 
References:
Agosto, D. (2004) Design vs. Content: A Study of Adolescent Girls’ Website Design Preferences. EBSCOhost. http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.fhsu.edu:2048/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=a4b6b424-9688-4c21-b439-50b48b8c503d%40pdc-v-sessmgr01&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=16398750&db=aph
Chow, A. S., McCarthy Smith, K. (2012, Oct). Youth as design partners: age-appropriate websites for middle and high school students. Gale Academic OneFile. https://go-gale-com.ezproxy.fhsu.edu/ps/i.do?p=AONE&u=klnb_fhsuniv&id=GALE|A310150642&v=2.1&it=r
Hartshorne, R., Friedman, A., Algozzine, B., Kaur, D. (2008). Analysis of elementary school web sites. Gale Academic OneFile.  https://go-gale-com.ezproxy.fhsu.edu/ps/i.do?p=AONE&u=klnb_fhsuniv&id=GALE%7CA179076938&v=2.1&it=r
Madden, T.  J., Hewett, K., Roth, M. S. (2000). Managing images in different cultures: a cross-national study of color meanings and preferences. EBSCOhost. http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.fhsu.edu:2048/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=44dbdb27-0722-4b53-aad9-9d038302e5b8%40pdc-v-sessmgr03&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=bft&AN=511148802