How long is 50 milliseconds? For a website, it’s long enough.

50 milliseconds (1/20th of a second) is the length of time it takes web users to form an aesthetic opinion of your site’s credibility and trustworthiness*. With such a short interval to establish your brand’s perception and authenticity, here’s how to make that first impression a good one:

• Design for fast downloads
• Organize visually with hero images and hierarchical copy
• Make the navigation easy and organized

We would love to hear from you and add your impression to our list of what holds a user’s interest at first glance. Or what looses a user’s interest at first glance; see our examples below.

*Lindgaard, G., Fernandes, G., Dudek, C. & Brown, J. (2006). Attention web designers: You have 50 milliseconds to make a good first impression!, Behaviour & Information Technology. 25, 115-126