Incorporating brand identity into web design.

The ultimate goal of branding is to connect your business with your target audience. Your brand identity is a collection of visual elements that create your brand, such as colour, design and typography. Brand identity offers an excellent opportunity to express your business through website design. For most businesses, their competitors have websites selling similar products, with a similar design. Having a strong brand identity that is effectively incorporated into your website can help you differentiate yourself from your competitors and gain a competitive edge. Gain insight into incorporating brand identity into web design with our guidance.

How to incorporate brand identity into web design

Consistency:

Colour: Consistency is key. What colour have you chosen to represent your brand? Is it blue, red or green? Your colour should be chosen carefully. You need to think about what you want your customers to feel. What emotions do you want to convey? What really matters is then using your colours consistently throughout your website. You want customers to be reminded of your brand when they see this colour. Consider coca-cola, they created an eye-catching logo using red and white that’s become one of the most recognizable brands in the world.

Web Design: Moreover, make sure web design is consistent. This means having website elements, such as headers, footers, sidebars and navigation bars the same across every page. It will visually look more coherent and garner better functionality for users to navigate.

Font: Additionally, the same goes for your font. If you use a fancy font in your logo, that doesn’t necessarily mean use it everywhere on your website. It may look good in a small amount of text, but writing in large sums of content could put viewers off. If your readability is poor people will bounce straight off. We suggest using a clear font that’s easy to read and be consistent with it throughout every page. Keep your fonts limited; we suggest using no more than two. Ensure they compliment each other and support your brand identity. Then utilise your ‘brand typography’ in the appropriate places e.g. your logo and as titles or headings.

This extends beyond your website, any advertisements and social media marketing you do must be colour and design consistent.

Content strategy:

The tone of voice: In addition to having consistent visual elements, tone of voice is just as important. Your tone of voice on your website should consistently convey who you are as a brand. It’s a form of brand expression, pick a definitive style of writing which expresses your personality. Are you an exciting new fashion brand? Then your tone of voice would be enthusiastic and fun. Or are you a professional law firm? Then your tone of voice would be formal, more academic using specific industry-related terms. For example, Netflix is a great example of a successful strategic ‘tone of voice’. They resonate with their audience using a friendly fun approach. Often backed with GIF’s and memes which compliment their approach. So be sure to include tone of voice into your content strategy.

Branded Content: On the topic of content, use branded content on your website to further promote brand identity. The images you use should also express your brand, move away from using anything you can find online. Creating your own images will directly link them to your brand, allowing consumers to associate them with your brand. It can be better targeted and evoke the emotions you want, this will increase engagement as its content your audience wants to consume.

Simplicity and Placement:

Overcrowding: Don’t overcrowd pages with masses of information, images and website graphics. Cramming space with content will have the reverse effect of engaging customers. Utilise whitespace, it’s one of the most simple but effective web-design tips known to web developers. Whitespace increases the attention span of users and boosts their rate of concentration. It’s easy on the eyes and communicates your content and images better.

Calls to action (CTA): A CTA is any prompt on your website that instructs the user to take a specific action. This could be a ‘sign up’ button or a hyperlink saying ‘read more’. CTA’s are a key website element. They need to be visually clear and strategically positioned to encourage users to convert. Create CTA’s that correspond with your brand identity. For example, use buttons instead of hyperlinks using your colours, fonts and shapes that resonate with your brand.  Incorporating the power of simplicity, the CTA on each page should be free from clutter and should draw users’ eyes easily.

Logos: Logos should be placed so users are drawn to them. Give them the leading stage role they deserve. It’s the face of your brand that people remember, so make sure it’s high quality. Don’t insert them around cluttered content, they need to be clear and bold with plenty of space around them.

Differentiation – Be unique: Get inspiration from a website outside your industry, searching for something completely random can spark ideas. Looking at competitors for help can lead to creating similar content evoking the same brand personality. Think outside the box, and input new ideas into your design. This will lead to better branding, and people will remember you better than competitors.

Benefits of incorporating Brand Identity:

• Develop a strong digital presence
• Increase customer engagement with your brand
• Transform customer experience to a more positive one
• Increase conversions and the top line
• Eliminate pain points and improve navigation
• Develop a strong brand identity
• Better more targeted branding to reach your audience
• Develop an Integrated brand strategy and web design
• Better brand identity makes you more memorable and builds trust
• Reduce bounce rate and increase lead generation

Wrapping Up

Building a strong brand identity is a long process that won’t happen over one web-design changing night. But by following our guidance, we’re putting you on the right road to creating a successful one. Put yourself in the customer’s shoes, what would you want to see? It can be hard creating a website when you have little knowledge of web development or even of brand identity. If you need a helping hand then gloversure’s expert team are here to help.

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