Nowadays, it seems that attention spans are a thing of the past. Most of us spend inordinate amounts of time swiping through short-form content or scrolling through infinite algorithm-led feeds, craving that next dopamine hit.
But this is perhaps not an entirely new phenomenon. Let’s talk about first impressions: humans are quick to judge and always have been. Not just when it comes to other humans, but with books (notoriously by their covers), films, and most importantly here, websites.
In a matter of seconds, our brains can assess whether something is worth our time. So, if we want to design a website with this animal instinct in mind, we’re forced to ask ourselves some blunt questions. Although we might not necessarily always like the answers, they tend to add clarity and lead to tightly-designed experiences.
Here is how you can design a website for the 5-second brain. Continue reading to learn more.
What is the Brain Looking For?
Before we get into the nitty-gritty of design philosophy, inspiration, and style, we probably ought to discuss what it is that the brain does in those 5 precious seconds.
It’s quite simple, really. All the brain is doing is asking three important questions:
- What is it?
- Is it for me?
- Do I trust it?
Be Clear
The first two questions are centred on clarity. For designers, it means that we need to clarify the purpose of the website. If you can explain that quickly, while taking aim at your target audience, then the users you want are already more likely to stay on the site. The value proposition needs to be placed in a central position, so that if the user only reads one thing on the page, it’s that.
This means that you need to start with a core idea: one clear message that users will be able to understand immediately. If you have a good headline, that will do a lot of the work, sure, but bear in mind that you’re answering questions at once (‘what is it?’ and ‘is it for me?’). I’d recommend using simple language and using more of a conversational tone. If you try to be too fancy, it can often wind up causing unnecessary friction.
Be Trustworthy
The third question is all about trust. Not necessarily in a specific sense, like if the site is for a licensed business or one like Bond Turner that requires strict qualifications. This is more fundamental than that, as it’s more subconscious and specific to the format of a website itself. Imagine the worst website you can; one that immediately would make you fear for the safety of your PC upon visiting and make you jump ship immediately.
With that in mind, think about what elements combine to make sure you don’t fear a website. Clear, consistent design and real, professional images go a long way. And if it’s an e-commerce website, for instance, a review section won’t just keep people on the site, but it’ll help them part with their hard-earned cash much more willingly, well after the first 5 seconds.
Be a Minimalist
Being a minimalist doesn’t mean that you create an empty page and call it a day. In this case, because the 5-second brain can be easily overloaded, it’s best for designers to reduce the cognitive load that we require of our visitors’ brains. We can do this by using minimalist design principles as a north star.
We want to give users’ brains as little work to do as possible, so let’s make sure that the page isn’t cluttered with silly animations, AI chatbots, and intrusive cookie permission forms. Nobody likes those. On top of that, make sure that the page loads quickly. Minimise the use of large images or videos where possible to help with this.
What’s more, because we’ve all been browsing the web for so long, we all have our own in-built models of how we expect a website to look and how to navigate it. So don’t try to reinvent the wheel, as you could risk alienating your target users. Give the site a clear visual hierarchy that allows them to scan the page in a ‘Z’ shape.
Closing Thoughts
For designers, the 5-second brain can come across as quite frustrating. We would probably much prefer it if visitors were a little more open-minded and gave the site more of a chance before deciding to move on.
But if that were the case, would websites actually be better? Maybe it’s a good thing that designers have some pressure to make sure that the user experience is placed front and centre, that messaging is clear, and that communicating trust is a real priority. Overall, it isn’t a huge surprise that 5 seconds is all we’ve got. Especially as in today’s attention economy, the competition is only becoming fiercer.