Digital physical activity applications employ various motivational mechanisms to encourage exercise, yet research on the complex relationship between their visual aesthetics and motivation for physical activity is still limited.
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how three different visual images, such as those representing health, fitness, and social benefits, respectively, can motivate people to engage in physical activity in a digital service environment. To investigate this, 50 participants evaluated these images in the survey.
The results showed that out of the three categories, fitness images had the most significant impact on motivating physical activity, suggesting that stimuli that directly evoke thoughts of physical activity help to increase motivation. In addition, motivation for physical activity and aesthetic appeal were found to be strongly related (r = 0.65, p < 0.001, n = 50). These findings provide new evidence that visual aesthetics in digital applications notably enhance physical activity motivation.