#FF00AA

Web users judge sites in the blink of an eye [via]. I could have told you the same just by intuition, but it’s always interesting to see it confirmed by scientific studies (even though I’m not certain the way they conducted it means so much; it relies heavily on the idea — which is probably proven, but still — that “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 prevalence of search engine referrals] makes a user’s first impression even more critical, he explains. “You’ll get a list of sites, click the top one, and then either say ‘I’ve engaged’ and give it a few more seconds, or just go back to Google,” he says.

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. […]

Caudron suggests that the amount of graphics on the page should be strictly limited, perhaps to a single eye-catching image. […] These days, enlightened web users want to see a “puritan” approach, Caudron adds. It’s about getting information across in the quickest, simplest way possible.

Still, nothing you couldn’t have figured out on your own, but having a scientific study and a Nature article to back you up can help you convince a client that, no, there shouldn’t be blinking horrors all over his web page. (Although the whole piece is discredited by the use of the “enlightened web users” phrase — in most cases, that’s not who you design for.)

The human being is still such a superficial animal: it’s love or hate at first sight, always.