The Influence and Moderation of Perceived Visual UI Complexity on User Preference in Social Media Apps

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-577-5_85How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Visual Element Density; Structural Clarity; User Preferences; Interface Design; User Experience

Abstract

This study focuses on investigating two key visual factors influencing user preference levels: perceived visual element density and visual structural clarity. An experimental design was implemented across four platforms—WeChat, Douyin, Weibo, and Xiaohongshu—to collect user feedback on interface visual design, with statistical analysis conducted using a two-factor ANOVA. Results indicate that visual structural clarity significantly enhances user preference, whereas visual element density exhibits no significant effect. However, an interaction effect between visual element density and structural clarity shows marginal significance, suggesting that improving structural clarity is crucial for enhancing user experience in high-density interfaces. Consequently, the study recommends prioritising structural clarity in interface design for functionally complex or information-dense interfaces. Concurrently, although high-density interfaces did not significantly negatively impact user preference, designers must still organise information rationally to prevent information overload from adversely affecting user experience. These findings provide empirical support for user experience design and interface optimisation, while offering theoretical foundations for future interface design practice.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Download article (PDF)

TY  - CONF
AU  - Yanghua Gong
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/05/15
TI  - The Influence and Moderation of Perceived Visual UI Complexity on User Preference in Social Media Apps
BT  - Proceedings of the 2026 5th International Conference on Social Sciences and Humanities and Arts (SSHA 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 837
EP  - 850
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-577-5_85
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-577-5_85
ID  - Gong2026
ER  -