Maintaining Consistent Branding Through Design

Brand attributes are the core values that reveal the true nature and essence of a brand. They are the emotional and functional associations that prospects and customers assign to a brand. They play a key role when it comes to establishing brand identity. And they are made of four primary elements:

• The brand name
• The personality of the brand
• The pricing of the brand
• And most importantly, the visual aspects of the brand

The attributes of a brand can be greatly enhanced with UI design, as one of the biggest drivers of the UI design industry is the ability to create powerful identities when designing apps or websites. Brand identity is typically perceived as a visual representation of the brand name.

94% of people recommend a brand with which they have an emotional connection and 60% of customers eagerly try a new product line when they recognize the brand they trust, according to a study.

How do you nail your branding strategy?

Establishing a strong brand might not be entirely about the visuals, but the design does play a crucial role in how a brand is viewed by the users. Through the use of desired fonts, colors, and patterns, you can create a brand identity that is desirable and well-liked. And when it comes to an app or website, UI UX design’s importance is monumental! Branding and UI UX design are tied to each other through customer experience. It is the design of the app/website that will promote a good experience, which will eventually result in boosting your brand and making it a success.

However, UI UX design’s role in branding is not that simple. A great design promotes a good user experience, but that experience needs to be connected with something – maybe a name or a visual element. And that element has to be consistently represented throughout the app/website so that customers never feel lost.

What is Brand Consistency?

According to Forbes, brands are built through the consistent delivery of brand promise across all stakeholder touchpoints. It is the desired and consistent experience that builds trust and sets the foundation for both promotion and loyalty.

When it comes to achieving brand design consistency, it goes beyond just getting the logo and color right. It involves both your verbal and visual identity, the core values of your business, and your brand guidelines. Whether on billboards or Facebook, in client emails, or employee training, your brand’s core assets, voice, look, and value should remain the same.

Because branding is about the overall experience that your target audience has with your brand.

What is the Importance of Brand Consistency Via Design?

The primary pillar of brand identity is consistency, especially when it comes to design. Without a unique visual identity, no brand can thrive in a cut-throat, competitive market. Every piece of your brand’s design should complement each other effortlessly across multiple channels or domains. This consistency in brand design is key to:

• Building trust – Brands that stay consistent across all touchpoints are better remembered by consumers. For example, Google. The brand includes several products such as Mail, Drive, Photos, Maps, and so on. But, through the use of similar colors and a recognizable design layout and pattern, Google ensures that users enjoy a consistent experience, regardless of what product they’re using. They continue to maintain a childlike simplicity with geometric forms and snappy easy curves.
• Building recognition – As you’ve kept your branding strategy the same across all touchpoints, your audience readily recognizes your brand through the tagline, logo, or brand colors. Take Nike, for instance. The brand’s slogan ‘Just Do It’ is recognizable by everyone, even those who never wore Nike.
• Building powerful brand identity – Once you’ve gained the trust of your audience and built brand recognition, it is only about time that your brand portrays a powerful brand identity that people can relate with.

Ways to Create Brand Consistency through UI Design

Given the importance of brand consistency and how that is enabled through UX and UI strategy that is aligned with the brand strategy, the next step is figuring how to go about achieving brand consistency through UI and UX design. The following are some pointers to consider during design:

Find your brand’s personality

UI design looks at how two systems – an app/website and a user – interact with one another. The responsibility of UI/UX designers is to take the identity of the brand and use it in a way across digital channels so that it makes the most sense to the end-users. An example of UI design would be the use of color. Take red, for instance. The color red represents rage or danger. This is why most error messages use this color. Also, through color usage, UI designers try to reflect what the brand represents and reflects.

So, it can be said that the first and foremost task would be to find the personality of your brand. Brand design personality is the unique voice or style of your brand concerning the product/service that you’re offering. For instance, is it traditional or chic? Tech-driven or environment-conscious? Feminine or masculine?

Designing your brand across all touchpoints will be easier when you know what personality or style you’re representing. Once you’ve found the personality of your brand, the next step would be to translate it through UI design and communicate it to your target audience. This is exactly what we’ve done with Celes Care.

We’ve used soft, mellow colors to give the app a feminine touch since it is for women and the idea behind it is the brainchild of a woman. Through color usage, our UI designers wanted to showcase the feminine personality of the app.

Select the right color for your brand and roll with it 

Colors evoke emotions and they can help your brand express various moods. When it comes to branding, selecting the right color palette is everything. For instance, red is a color that is vibrant and eye-catching. It is an enduring shade of passion, energy, and enthusiasm. This is the right color when you want to grab attention, the primary reason why we used it to design Airtel’s app for their customers in Bangladesh.

On the other hand, black would be an ideal color if you want your brand to represent something serious, sophisticated, and classic. The color orange is friendly and energetic, blue showcases dependability, and so on.

Zero in on your brand’s typeface

Similar to brand colors, you also need to zero in on the typeface of your brand that will be consistent across all platforms. There are overwhelming styles of fonts to choose from, but too much style is going to detract from the main brand message. Instead of going on a font overload, select two typefaces that complement each other. Make sure that the typeface is legible because if your audience cannot read it, your efforts are in vain. For typefaces too, you can take inspiration from SimplyScience, where our designers used bold fonts to make the message clear.

Decide on the layout of your brand and stick to it

The layout of your brand’s design involves a lot more than selecting a color palette and font style. You also have to invest considerable time and effort in designing your brand’s logo and coming up with an attention-grabbing tagline or slogan. Then, you have to decide how and where to place the logo and slogan so that your audience sees them immediately and remembers them. Also, these elements must be used consistently throughout all forms of communication – both printed and digital.

Brand language – equally important as the design of the brand!

Creating a brand language is just as important as nailing the brand design. This is how you’re going to communicate your branding efforts with your audience. For the best results, add a little personalized touch and keep the language simple. Don’t confuse or frustrate your audience by using ornamental language or technical jargon. Your brand language can be fun and cheeky or helpful and considerate, depending on the brand image that you’re trying to portray. For example, take a look at the language that we’ve used for Celes Care. We have kept the language easy-to-understand and encouraging so that women feel secured and are driven toward downloading the app.

Conclusion

Brand design is critical to the market success of your offering as it is instrumental in building trust and recognition in the marketplace. The UI UX design of your website and application is an important tool to establish and reinforce the brand design. Furthermore, when there is a satisfying user experience with your website and application, it will support all that your brand stands for.

If you want your brand to be known as reliable and a big hit among your audience, you can contact Divami. Browse our portfolio to gauge the expertise of our UI UX designers and tell us the vision you have for your brand. Leave the rest to us.