An exponential law of interface design

Josh Tyler
1 min readAug 28, 2014

The first time a person interacts with your site, app, or product:

  • The first two seconds will determine if the user invests four more seconds (What is this?)
  • The next four seconds will determine if the user invests eight more seconds (Why is it useful?)
  • The next eight seconds will determine if the user invests another sixteen (How does it work?)
  • 16 -> 32 (How will I actually use it?)

And so on.

  • The first day will determine if user invests a week (Does it work for me?)
  • The first week will determine if the user invests a month (Is it improving my life?)
  • The first month will determine if the user invests a year (Is it indispensable?)
  • The first year will determine if the user will use it for a lifetime (Have I stopped thinking about it altogether?)

Structure your interface and experience so the user is always able to find enough information to continue the process.

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Josh Tyler

EVP Engineering and Design @CourseHero, changing the way people learn. Author, Building Great Software Engineering Teams. Views expressed here are my own.