The Connection Between Branding and Web Design

There are many aspects of web design to focus on, but one of the most overlooked topics is company branding. If you spend the next couple of hours using the search engines to research company websites across a variety of industries and markets, you’ll notice that many of them lack a strong brand identity. The prominence of the brand is important in web design because it creates brand awareness for the user and leaves a strong impression.

If you compare two different eCommerce sites that sell the same types of products, you’ll probably notice that the products, site structure, and product organization are all very similar. What’s going to distinguish these two websites is the brand. A memorable and relevant logo is a big part of the overall brand. Too many companies fail to go beyond that.

There are many more ways to integrate brand identity into the design from color schemes, company pages, the content, the story, the visual presentation, to the marketing message. How the company interacts with the user will probably create the most brand awareness, but you cannot discount the fact that first impressions still have a considerable impact. People pay attention to the presentation before delving into what you have to offer.

A website with a strong brand identity instilled in its design will emit authority and instill the confidence of potential customers. People closely associate the quality of the website design/structure to authority, trust, and reputation. Strong brand identity will also continue the conversation with existing customers, reminding them why they should do business with company A over company B and the unique benefits of the brand.

The importance of brand campaigns has long been discounted in the digital arena in the digital medium. It stemmed from the idea that only mega-corporations could afford to launch immense branding campaigns on the web due to the fact that such campaigns do not produce immediate ROI. Sadly, this idea seemed to have spilled over to the design world.

Today, you need to instill a strong brand into your design because of all the competition in the digital world. Your competitors are offering the same thing at a lower price only a few clicks away, so you need to distinguish yourself with your brand. You need to be memorable rather than being another everyday commodity in the marketplace.

So if you’re planning to redesign an existing site or build a site from scratch, think about how you can make your brand shine. Think about how to present your brand visually so that it communicates the unique benefits of your company and the value that your audience will receive. It can be the small difference that puts you ahead of your competition.