Article

Users love simple and familiar designs: why websites need to make a great first impression

Javier Bargas-Avila · Google Research Free Intermediate

The actual research behind the claim that a stranger judges your page in seconds, not minutes: visitors form a gut reaction in under 50 milliseconds, and simple, familiar layouts win over clever or complex ones. It's good evidence for why a fifth testimonial or a font change is not what determines whether someone understands your page.

  • Visitors form an initial impression of a website in well under a second
  • Simple, familiar-looking designs are judged more favorably than complex or unconventional ones
  • Comprehension and trust are set almost immediately, long before anyone reads your copy closely
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The question it answers

  1. I keep tweaking the landing page instead of launching. How do I tell polishing from procrastinating?

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