Gone in Sixty Seconds (or Less)
Your most intuitive, meaningful, and devastatingly clever design is worthless — unless it’s shallow enough to appeal in the first five seconds.
Most of the time, that's all you’ll get before they walk, click, or turn away.
Every day, millions go window shopping. Flip through magazines or channels. Walk bookstore aisles, quickly judging each book… by its cover.
Ask us what we’re looking for, however, and most of us won’t know. Though we can’t articulate what we want, it’s clear that we all know it when we see it. Design helps us see it.
With more email, more channels, and more data, we’re left with less time. And more and more, we’re forced to make decisions in a split second, often based on less information than before.
Though we may think of design as a process that runs deep, often it works at very superficial levels.
It’s here that design plays an increasingly important role: communicating a concept, feeling, or attitude in a moment. It condenses the larger body of information that we’re no longer willing (or able) to attend to, and conveys it instantly. It’s what good design has always done, and it’s more important than ever.
Amit Gupta is an entrepreneur in San Francisco who works on CommandShift3 (Hot or Not, for web design) and Photojojo (the greatest photo newsletter on Earth.) (A Brief Message, at the time of this writing, ranks 74 of 8,133, in the top .9% of all sites at CommandShift3.com. What does yours rank?) Khoi Vinh is the publisher of A Brief Message.
Remarks 20 total remarks were added before the post was closed.
Raafi
In that sense, design functions similarly to comedy. A joke must work the first time, every time, in order to be a success. It must work at the most visceral level in the performance itself. But in the best comedy we can savor nuance in both the performance and writing upon multiple viewings. In the film Coming to America, for instance, Eddie Murphy pats a baby elephant on the head in passing, "oh hello, Babar." While far from the funniest line in the movie, the overall comedic quality of the film allows the (ahem) avid fan to find such gems lurking in the details.
Dennis Eusebio
This concept also applies to the election process as well, unfortunately. People make snap judgments and don't research or look deeper. They just consume and then make a decision.
Probably why Obama is doing so well. He's able to convey his message and communicate his brand in the simplest and quickest manner.
Nick Whitmoyer
>>we’re forced to make decisions in a split second, often based on less information than before.
If the end goal is to get people to do something, it’s also crucial to include actionable instructions. With all of your time spent communicating a concept or feeling, a weak call-to-action like “learn more” or “submit” can cause sites to perform poorly.
Matt Certo
Great post. You bring up a good point and do a nice job of articulating it. It is a great reminder for anyone who is designing something (or evaluating a design for a revision) to remember the big picture. Too often, good design gets bogged down in minutiae that really has nothing to do with the 60 seconds you speak of.
Christopher Fahey
One implication of this is that good design can act as a kind of "lubricant" for smoothing over rough parts of a designed experience and for getting people to invest more time in a product than they would if the thing was designed badly (assuming that a product's design is usually not what a user/viewer/customer is ultimately looking for, and that content or function, to the extent that these are separable from design, are the real values).
But while I personally will invest more initial evaluation time in a product if I find the design appealing (and less time if I find the design unappealing), I suspect that a great number of people are largely unaffected by the aesthetic or even the experiential qualities of a design than we may think. People will often muddle through a crappy UI and tolerate ugly aesthetics. If they are affected by the design, it may be more at a branding or cultural level: an inefficent user experience that includes a photo of a beloved TV celebrity may, in many cases, be a more effective 60-second-experience than an elegant and efficient experience with no cultural referents for the user or audience to latch on to.
Scott Andrews
How true. If we don't make an immediate impression, people are outta there! Thanks for the reminder.
Scott Andrews, CEO
http://www.ARRiiVE.com
http://www.AspireNow.com
http://www.SemanticCollaboration.com
John Gruyter
Or, you can make an immediate bad impression, like posting a content-empty post coupled with your URLs, so people can quickly choose to ignore your self-promotion (hey Scott!).
Michael McWatters
I think Scott Andrew's post makes the point quite well, John. I clicked on each link, and in less than 2 seconds was astonished at how confusing and chaotic the sites appeared. In that 2 seconds, I made an instant assumption: these were not businesses that cared about my experience as a user.
Point being: who knows, maybe the businesses Scott provided us links to are really great, but many of us will dismiss them instantly because of the immediate impression they deliver.
Dino
I think Scott's comment makes the point perfectly.
I didn't even read the links, let alone click on them.
In literally a fraction of a second (could it have been the red links?) I concluded that it was a bullshit comment that was just meant to promote something I probably didn't need to know about.
Scott Andrews
Wow. John, Michael, Dino: Thanks. My comment was meant sincerely. I LIKED the article. Period. I didn't have time to ruminate about Eddie Murphy or wax poetic about Barrack Obama when I wrote it. (Sorry, couldn't relate to those comments.) I wanted to thank the author. That's it. I post linkbacks any time I comment because it is just good habit to grow linkbacks, which are red, sheez, maybe because this blog posts links in red, rather than using unreadable 6 point fonts (ahem) like some other blogs by supposed design gurus. ;)
I know I'm a design newbie, but I sure didn't expect that type of backlash, though... what's w/the rudeness? Is the design community really that snobby? Maybe next time, instead of blatantly blasting people, making them feel like an idiot, perhaps you could suggest something more meaningful?
We're all real people, aren't we?
Michael McWatters
Scott, the design community may or may not be snobby, but certainly this forum is going to generate a certain amount of defense against those who merely post to draw links back to their businesses, without contributing thought to the conversation. If your intention was not to use this forum as an ad opportunity, then you should think about the presentation of your information. Fitting, considering the topic of this thread. People will react at a gut level based on what they see you present. In short, I don't think the responses were rude or snobby so much as direct and honest. In our business, we receive feedback like this from clients who 'know a little something about design' every day of the week. It makes us, perhaps, tougher at taking criticism than some, but the intentions are good.
Dino
Apologies Scott, didn't mean to be so harsh, but I pretty much agree with what Michael said above. Maybe it was the "presentation of your information". Just a thought.
Shane
WORD.
It's especially sad when I sit back and think that the majority of what I design on a daily basis gets thrown away. So I'm basically designing trash.
Although I have been able to get a positive ROI for most of our clients with the pieces i have designed, the majority of the pieces are thrown away in a matter of seconds after receiving them.
Scott Andrews
Hey guys, actually, I'm taking some of the things you said to heart. Yeah, I probably put too many links in there and it at the least stood out so maybe that's good or maybe bad. Perhaps bad based upon comments of the diehards of this posting thread. Anyway, upon retrospect, I'm over it and I'm glad you tore me one because it shook me and I probably needed that (although I don't need to add more to the long list of to-do's right now!)
Sometimes we need to be critical of our work, rip it up, and start over with something simple and clean. These sites are all due for an overhaul. It's been a year for each of them. Maybe I'll hold a contest for who has the best idea for design... anyone up for it? If I held a contest, what would be a fun way to do it?
Scott
Niyaz PK
So true.
Marla
Scott, Scott, Scott. We were so close to all being friends. But a design contest is just about the quickest way to aggravate professional designers.
A contest means you don't care enough about design to be a participant in the process. You just want to sit back and get free designs in the mail. That's not how design works, at least not good design.
If you don't spend time to communicate the complexities and goals of your business, you may get a pretty design, but odds are very slim that you will get the RIGHT design. The RIGHT design comes from a strong collaborative relationship between designer and client.
My guess is that, like most contests, the prize is "a piece for your portfolio" or "a link on our website"? Pardon me while I swoon.
Even if there's a financial prize for the winning designer, you're asking the other 99% to work for free. (Do you work for free, Scott?)
Finally, you're also cheating yourself and your business. Talented, professional designers don't work for free; students and hobbyists do. Do you want your public image to be determined by amateurs?
Check out http://www.no-spec.com/ if you still don't get it.
Scott Andrews
Maria, Maria, Maria, I just SUGGESTED the idea of a contest but wasn't really looking for free design - just really superior design. So, that idea of the contest sucks then?
It reminds me of the blogger who challenged everyone on his blog to try to out-SEO him on search terms on his blog... yeah, I'd guess that's a stupid idea. There's often a gunslinger who might be a faster gun.
Thanks for sharing the no-spec link...
Still - no friends? ;)
John Gruyter
Scott, you got called out and had to eat some humble pie. You were a good sport about it though. Take the lesson and get back to doing some good work; then you know the friends will be around.
Michael McWatters
Back to the thread: bad design is more than just ugly design. it is unusable design. This is especially true when we're discussing interactive work. If your site appears instantly overwhelming, takes too long to load, or doesn't offer users clear orientation or direction, you will lose many visitors in a matter of seconds.
The simple, spare design that communicates may be more appealing to your audience than the beautiful design that is overly comlex or intimidating.
Samuel Guatieri
This is an excellent article, and a point I've been stressing to my own circle forever. Design and visual stimulation is the determining factor in whether the audience will hold your brand high enough in their minds to determine action. This is true for any kind of advertising, no matter what the brand is.