A systematic approach to study preferences for complexity at different levels of order

Which visual displays do we aesthetically appreciate, and why? Order and complexity have often been suggested as important factors related to appreciation, but the exact type and direction of their relation to appreciation is still under debate. To clarify the contributions of order and complexity to appreciation, it is important to manipulate order and complexity independently and in a parametrically controlled fashion, to study their relation to appreciation in combination rather than separately, and to acknowledge the multidimensional nature of order and complexity. In an online study, we investigated individuals’ aesthetic preferences (N = 367) for three different types of complexity (i.e., the number of colors, shapes, and sizes in the display) while also varying the order level of the display (i.e., the number of element position switches in the applied pattern). Firstly, results indicated that not all complexity types are appreciated similarly: Whereas color complexity was on average preferred, size and shape complexity influenced preferences negatively. Secondly, all three complexity types were more often preferred in highly ordered stimuli than in stimuli with a lower order level, indicating a stimulating effect of order on preferences for complexity. Thirdly, we found both individual and contextual variation in preferences for complexity: Especially the extent to which color complexity is preferred varied across individuals and the specific set of colors used in the display.