Designing for the First Five Seconds

People make snap judgements. In fact, most users only take 50 milliseconds to form their first impression of your site. This impression lasts the remainder of their visit and even influences return visits. Suffice to say, the first five seconds a user experiences your site is extremely important.

Designing for first impressions is no easy task. 50 milliseconds isn’t enough time to read a single line of copy or even fully comprehend what you’re looking at. So how can you design for good first impressions?

The key is understanding human psychology and emotional reactions. Despite our highly evolved state, all humans have a subconscious “”lizard brain”” that makes lightening fast assessments about what feels good or bad. If you understand the lizard brain, you can use design to illicit positive first impressions.

Transcript

1. Designing for the First Five Seconds Making every millisecond count 3.7designs.co / @37designs
2. Hi, I’m @3pointRoss 3.7designs.co / @37designs
3. I classify myself as a Designer 3.7designs.co / @37designs
4. But I also like to start businesses. WHERE’S THE BIZ? 3.7designs.co / @37designs
5. I teach at Michigan State University #YouFail 3.7designs.co / @37designs
6. I organize WPA2 and WCA2 #Hashbrowns 3.7designs.co / @37designs
7. My wife says I walk Stomach First? 3.7designs.co / @37designs
8. I am almost was an author. 3.7designs.co / @37designs
9. This story begins with my parents.
 We all have an internal narrative we use to frame our lives. 3.7designs.co / @37designs
10. My dad was an architect. That’s a building designer, right? 3.7designs.co / @37designs
11. My great grandfather 
 immigrated from Sweden. 3.7designs.co / @37designs Oooh, they are good designers! Minimalism FTW.
12. His company, Puffer Hubbard, designed beautiful, industrial refrigerators.
13. His company, Puffer Hubbard, designed beautiful, industrial refrigerators. His company, Puffer Hubbard, designed beautiful, industrial refrigerators.
14. I’m a designer because of my Scandinavian roots, right? 3.7designs.co / @37designs All the evidence points to…
15. 3.7designs.co / @37designs Not Scandinavian??
16. My mom was a social worker. No, that doesn’t mean she tweeted professionally. 3.7designs.co / @37designs
17. She taught me Empathy Consideration Kindness 3.7designs.co / @37designs
18. She taught me Design. 3.7designs.co / @37designs
19. 3.7designs.co / @37designs
20. 3.7designs.co / @37designs
21. 3.7designs.co / @37designs
22. 3.7designs.co / @37designs
23. I just thought he smelled bad. 3.7designs.co / @37designs Let’s be honest, he probably did.
24. The root of my behavior was subconscious. 3.7designs.co / @37designs
25. Our subconscious is more powerful than we realize. 3.7designs.co / @37designs
26. This is why you have five seconds to make an impression. 3.7designs.co / @37designs
27. Five Seconds 3.7designs.co / @37designs
28. In five seconds you Make a subconscious first impression 3.7designs.co / @37designs
29. In five seconds you Recall a vast amount of associations 3.7designs.co / @37designs
30. In five seconds you Make a quick, misinformed assessment about how you feel. 3.7designs.co / @37designs
31. In five seconds you Change your behavior as a result 3.7designs.co / @37designs
32. In five seconds you Don’t even realize this is happening 3.7designs.co / @37designs
33. Five seconds is the difference between success and failure. 3.7designs.co / @37designs
34. How we think - vs - how we think we think. 3.7designs.co / @37designs
35. 3.7designs.co / @37designs
36. 3.7designs.co / @37designs
37. We make quick, subconscious judgements which unknowingly influence our future behavior. 3.7designs.co / @37designs
38. “…much of human behavior is subconscious, beneath conscious awareness.” 3.7designs.co / @37designs — Emotional Design by Don Norman
39. 3.7designs.co / @37designs Neocortex Higher Order Thinking Limbic System Emotion Reptilian Complex Survival
40. 3.7designs.co / @37designs Neocortex Higher Order Thinking Limbic System Emotion Reptilian Complex Survival
41. The neocortex came much later than the limbic system and reptilian complex. 3.7designs.co / @37designs
42. Judgements originate in the reptilian complex and limbic system and are justified later by the neocortex. 3.7designs.co / @37designs
43. “[I] refer to two systems in the mind, System 1 and System 2” 3.7designs.co / @37designs — Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
44. “System 1 operates automatically and quickly, with little or no effort and no sense of voluntary control.” 3.7designs.co / @37designs — Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
45. “System 2 allocates attention to the effortful mental activities that demand it, including complex computations.” 3.7designs.co / @37designs — Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
46. You are not fully in control of all thoughts, emotions or actions. 3.7designs.co / @37designs
47. “…what we think of as free will is largely an illusion: much of the time, we are simply operating on automatic pilot, and the way we think and act — and how well we think and act on the spur of the moment — are a lot more susceptible to outside influences than we realize.” 3.7designs.co / @37designs — Blink by Malcom Gladwell
48. Evidence? Thought you would never ask! (yes I did.) 3.7designs.co / @37designs
49. WASH 3.7designs.co / @37designs
50. SO_P 3.7designs.co / @37designs
51. SOAP 3.7designs.co / @37designs
52. EAT 3.7designs.co / @37designs
53. SO_P 3.7designs.co / @37designs
54. SOUP 3.7designs.co / @37designs
55. P R I M I N G 3.7designs.co / @37designs
56. Him was worried she always from are Florida oranges temperature ball the throw toss silently shoes give replace old the us bing sing play let sunlight makes temperature wrinkle raisins be will sweat lonely they 3.7designs.co / @37designs
57. Him was worried she always from are Florida oranges temperature ball the throw toss silently shoes give replace old the us bingo sing play let sunlight makes temperature wrinkle raisins be will sweat lonely they 3.7designs.co / @37designs
58. Male 3.7designs.co / @37designs Female John Sarah Tom Nick Sandy Lisa Bob
59. Male or Family 3.7designs.co / @37designs Female or Career Babies Sarah Tom Commerce Domestic Lisa Bob Office
60. Male or Career 3.7designs.co / @37designs Female or Family Siblings Shelly Tim Selling Promotion Donald Kitchen Robert
61. You can perform complex tasks without thinking about them. 3.7designs.co / @37designs
62. 3.7designs.co / @37designs photo by Hamed Saber
63. 3.7designs.co / @37designs
64. 3.7designs.co / @37designs X
65. Tomato Juice Diarrhea 3.7designs.co / @37designs
66. Reading the words triggers a range of associations, and even causes a physical reaction in your body. 3.7designs.co / @37designs
67. How do we apply subconscious thought to design? 3.7designs.co / @37designs
68. V I S C E R A L R E A C T I O N S 3.7designs.co / @37designs
69. 3.7designs.co / @37designs photo by Doug Lewis
70. 3.7designs.co / @37designs
71. 3.7designs.co / @37designs photo by Jesse Taylor
72. FOOD SHELTER REPRODUCTION 3.7designs.co / @37designs
73. FIGHT OR FLIGHT 3.7designs.co / @37designs
74. 3.7designs.co / @37designs
75. 3.7designs.co / @37designs
76. 3.7designs.co / @37designs
77. 3.7designs.co / @37designs
78. C O G N I T I V E E A S E 3.7designs.co / @37designs
79. EASY 3.7designs.co / @37designs STRAINED
80. EASY 3.7designs.co / @37designs STRAINED Feels familiar Feels true Feels Good Feels Effortless Feels Suspicious Feels uncomfortable Feels taxing
81. CLARITY 3.7designs.co / @37designs
85. SIMPLICITY 3.7designs.co / @37designs
88. LEGIBILITY 3.7designs.co / @37designs
89. Adolf Hitler was born in 1892 Adolf Hitler was born in 1887 3.7designs.co / @37designs
90. AVAILABILITY HEURISTIC 3.7designs.co / @37designs
91. FAMILIAR FEELS GOOD 3.7designs.co / @37designs
92. 3.7designs.co / @37designs
93. 3.7designs.co / @37designs
94. P R I M I N G 3.7designs.co / @37designs
98. T H I N S L I C I N G 3.7designs.co / @37designs
99. 3.7designs.co / @37designs
100. 3.7designs.co / @37designs Looks professionally designed credible logo Food related Looks expensive Earthy / Organic Style Modern Salmon Lentils Broccoli Paper Crinkled Wood Table Dark Looks Modern Food related Buy food Classy Hipster
101. I TRUST THIS SITE 3.7designs.co / @37designs
102. THIS IS WHAT I’M LOOKING FOR 3.7designs.co / @37designs
103. Recap Ooooh yeah… 3.7designs.co / @37designs
104. “…much of human behavior is subconscious, beneath conscious awareness.” 3.7designs.co / @37designs — Emotional Design by Don Norman
105. The first five seconds of observation greatly impacts the overall success of a design. 3.7designs.co / @37designs
106. You can use the following tools to your advantage…. 3.7designs.co / @37designs
107. V I S C E R A L R E A C T I O N S 3.7designs.co / @37designs
108. C O G N I T I V E E A S E 3.7designs.co / @37designs
109. P R I M I N G 3.7designs.co / @37designs
110. T H I N S L I C I N G 3.7designs.co / @37designs
111. Thank you. Be my friend @3pointRoss 3.7designs.co / @37designs