This article examines the cognitive process of visually experiencing user interfaces. It contributes to a theory- A nd methodology-grounded understanding of how UIs are experienced with regard to various aesthetic criteria. This aids in considering the targeted experience goals in relation to visual design choices-a problem that designers usually have to tackle intuitively. The issue in explicitly relating designs to experiences stems from the complexity of the process in which visual stimuli are processed and turned into experiences. The authors present a cognitive top-down approach to this process, rooted in the appraisal theory and the theory of the predictive brain. Several predictions are derived via this approach, and an eye-tracking experiment with Web sites is presented that provides evidence of them. The experience goals and repeated exposure to stimuli are shown to affect appraisal times and visual scanpaths in Web pages' evaluation; this supports the top-down approach described. Researchers can use the findings to inform their theoretical and empirical pursuits as they strive to understand what makes design artefacts emotionally evocative, and the methodology outlined can assist designers in locating the visual regions and elements relevant for experiential design goals.