Does your website reflect your brand?
Does it invoke all the emotional triggers of your brand or convey the unique qualities that represent your brand? Unfortunately, most businesses have followed industry standard designs as it is a best practice to do so. Today, it is more important than ever to have a strong unique identity that distinguishes your website in relation to your brand.
Branding is as much about your web design as it is about repeat exposure in the digital space. As a brand, you want to make an impact with your message and presentation. This is what will trigger positive emotions in your target prospect and also make your website memorable. If that’s a far departure from what your website is currently achieving, then it’s time to redo your web design. Here are some tips that will help you get your design in the right direction.
Tip #1: Make Your Logo Prominent But Not the Prima Donna
Many businesses think that putting a heavy emphasis on their logo is going to make their website convey their brand’s unique identity and benefits. While you want to make your logo prominent, you don’t want to make it the star. You want the logo in a prominent position to remind users who they’re dealing with. Focusing too much on the logo doesn’t say much because at the end of the day, it’s only an image the represents your brand. It only serves as an anchor point.
Tip #2: It’s All About the Presentation and Atmosphere
You want your website to reflect what your brand is about as a whole. For example, if you are a luxury car company, you want to make sure that the design reflects qualities such as luxury, quality, tradition and exclusivity. This can be done by choosing the correct font, layout, images and background. The atmosphere of the website can also reflect themes in your branding logo such as the color schemes, shapes and general design style.
Tip #3: Create a User Interface That Makes Exploration Easy
There are many examples of brands that have done all the right things in their design except for the user interface. You want to avoid this common problem by designing a clean, crisp and easy to use interface. You want the interface to be intuitive, simple and organized. That doesn’t mean that you have to come up with something super basic. You just need to focus on making thing straightforward enough to get the user browsing through your website.
Tip #4: Looks Are Great But The Experience Is What They Come Back For
UI is part of it but not everything when it comes to the user experience. Users will come back and even refer their network to your website if you give them a great experience. Make sure that your website loads quickly, has a focused navigation path, relevant content and contains features that are designed to impress (optional). A great experience ties in positive feelings to the brand, which is what you ultimately want.
Tip #5: Give Them a Reason to Learn About Your Brand
Many brands miss out on the opportunity to get users to connect with their brand. Use visual storytelling, introduce your staff, or tie in your brand to something bigger in your web design. Avoid everyday corporate speak and mannerisms as that only serves to alienate your audience. Being more open about your company in a unique way also builds credibility and authority.

Goran
Goran has spent the better part of his career helping companies with branding and design strategies by giving authenticity to their corporate identities through focused design, visual branding and user interface & experience design. Goran founded the full-service creative agency, ArtVersion, in 1999.
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