[Sigia-l] All it takes is 50 milliseconds

[Chad Fennell]

Sounds like something we should incorporate into our "best practices" ;).

On 1/13/06, Listera <listera at rcn.com> wrote:
> Why Design is crucial:
>
> We all know that first impressions count, but this study shows that the
> brain can make flash judgements almost as fast as the eye can take in the
> information. The discovery came as a surprise to some experts. "My
> colleagues believed it would be impossible to really see anything in less
> than 500 milliseconds," says Gitte Lindgaard of Carleton University in
> Ottawa, who has published the research in the journal Behaviour and
> Information Technology1. Instead they found that impressions were made in
> the first 50 milliseconds of viewing.
>
> In the crowded and competitive world of the web, companies hoping to make
> millions from e-commerce should take notice, the researchers say. "Unless
> the first impression is favourable, visitors will be out of your site before
> they even know that you might be offering more than your competitors,"
> Lindgaard warns.
>
> The lasting effect of first impressions is known to psychologists as the
> 'halo effect': if you can snare people with an attractive design, they are
> more likely to overlook other minor faults with the site, and may rate its
> actual content (such as this article, for example) more favourably.
>
> This is because of 'cognitive bias', Lindgaard explains. People enjoy being
> right, so continuing to use a website that gave a good first impression
> helps to 'prove' to themselves that they made a good initial decision. The
> phenomenon pervades our society; even doctors have been shown to follow
> their initial hunches, Lindgaard says, relying heavily on a patient's most
> immediately obvious symptom when making a diagnosis. "It's awfully scary
> stuff, but the tendency to jump to conclusions is far more widespread than
> we realize," she says.
>
> Nature: Web users judge sites in the blink of an eye
> <http://www.nature.com/news/2006/060109/full/060109-13.html>
>
> ----
> Ziya
>
> "Do first things first, and second things not at all."
>
>
>
> ------------
> When replying, please *trim your post* as much as possible.
> *Plain text, please; NO Attachments
>
> Searchable Archive at http://www.info-arch.org/lists/sigia-l/
>
> IA 06 Summit.  Mark your calendar.  March 23-27, Vancouver, BC
>
>
> ________________________________________
> Sigia-l mailing list -- post to: Sigia-l at asis.org
> Changes to subscription: http://mail.asis.org/mailman/listinfo/sigia-l
>