Hi Neil,
Ouch ! I've been stuck in that situation myself (Treasury Board Comon Look & Feel design restrictions) and, if the bureaucrats have taken control, it is the most frustrating thing imaginable. If it will help any, a couple of friends of mine in the Carleton HCI lab wrote a paper that analyzed the "impression time" of a "first view" (~ 50 milliseconds). If you shoot me an email, I'll be glad to send it off to you (an 1 page executive summary is available here).
Marc
Bookmarks