Web Design and Its Effect on Corporate Branding

If you’re in charge of designing a website for your corporate organization, it’s imperative that you look beyond everyday design services. You need to work with designers that understand branding on a deep level and can integrate your company brand into the site design.

You may ask “why is web design such a big corporate branding?”

You have to consider the fact that there are millions of websites in the same marketplace. To stand out from the pack, you need to have a brand identity that instantly conveys your uniqueness and value. Your organization may have a persuasive authority and reputation in the marketplace, but that doesn’t guarantee traffic and engagement on the Internet. The first thing that users will see when they come to your website is how the design looks and the message it is communicating, or sadly, lacking.

Your website acts as a digital business card, but unlike a business card, it is only the doorway that leads to the deeper aspects of your organization. Your website will leave an impression on your visitors. That impression will affect your target audience’s perception of who your organization is and what your organization is about, regardless of whether it’s true or not. Studies have shown that more than 70 percent of consumers judge the credibility of a company by how their website looks and functions. That means you need to get a positive perception.

Unfortunately, many corporate websites still look cold, stale, or exemplify too much self-interest. The focus is too much on their past history or too much on the image of their brand. While that sort of image may impress people in the offline world, it doesn’t work in the digital world. It’s true that the brand needs to assert itself into the design, but it needs to be done in a way that connects with the user.

Many corporations are picking up on this and have ditched the traditional approach. They are eliminating corporate-speak/tone, using varied color schemes, integrating more lively imagery, and injecting a healthy dose of personality into the design. Sometimes they have to compromise their traditional image a little bit but they are managing to find the middle ground to make it work.

They’re also using different design methods and content such as visual storytelling, parallax design, infographics, and multimedia. In some cases, they are going as far as rebranding to stay relevant in the digital age. The main message here is that web design is a big piece of the corporate branding puzzle. Some digital evangelists would even argue that the website and its design define the corporate brand.

Web design is an immense part of corporate branding whether you want to admit it or not.

Photo by Christopher Gower on Unsplash