I am happy you don't agree! This give me the opportunity to elaborate more on my thesis. I actually think that if we have a real example to discuss, we should agree on what is better. But still in theory I have found multiple sources that support my thesis.
I am talking about the so called "aesthetic-usability effect" . And also as UX flaws I mean minor problems, that don't stop the user from doing his job, it just make it a little harder, than optimal.
So according to some research* Users can't objectively assess the app/product experience. They can have their own subjective perception of this experience. And here aesthetics can influence this perception. Good aesthetics can influence users in multiple ways. By creating affection it can make them more patient, positive attitude can provoke creative thinking and enhance problem solving skills. On the other hand bad aesthetics can provoke negative attitude and stress, that on other hand can increase fatigue and decrease cognitive abilities.
So when working with a beautiful product users tend to be more creative, more clever and more capable of performing their task and this effect can surpass the minor UX flaws.
Here is some more info on the topic:
- The seminal work on the aesthetic-usability
effect is “Apparent Usability vs. Inherent
Usability: Experimental Analysis on the
Determinants of the Apparent Usability” by
Masaaki Kurosu and Kaori Kashimura, CHI ’95
Conference Companion, 1995, p. 292–293. - “Forming Impressions of Personality” by
Solomon E. Asch, Journal of Abnormal and
Social Psychology, 1946, vol. 41, 258–290. - “Emotion & Design: Attractive Things Work
Better” by Donald Norman, www.jnd.org, 2002.
Also this is a great and easy to read article on the topic:
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/aesthetic-usability-effect/
It is really funny because your sentence contradicts itself
:D
About the contradictive sentence. In the case you gave I agree, should trust user, when they say they struggle. I actually was thinking the case when, User say "everything is great, such a beautiful web site, everything is so easy to do." - And then when you watch the video test with the same user, you see how he spend a minute to find the contact us form :D