How many times have you heard that a brand is just a logo? Well, the truth is, a brand is more than that. Every element of a product ‒ whether it is physical or digital ‒ communicates something about your business.
Elements like shapes, colors, and dimensions, all contribute to something memorable and distinct. From a UX perspective, the interface should reflect the brand’s values on every element across different points of interaction. Improving the user experience design is a long journey that requires quite a few modifications, so no wonder many users opt for hiring a user experience design agency.
Now we move on to defining what brand identity is.
It is how users perceive your brand and then recognize it among others.
How you can introduce your brand
Think of all the different ways customers can be introduced and reminded about your brand.
Several touchpoints are your website, brick and mortar store, customer service, partnerships, hardware, print ads, digital marketing, and the list goes on.
But the most important thing that you have to remember is to maintain consistency with these touchpoints. Consistency breeds familiarity within your customers, which eventually leads to greater understanding and trust, so it’s no wonder that a lot of users opt for a digital branding agency.
You also need to create expectations within the relationship so that you know what kind of value you have to offer.
Now, we will discuss the four ways on how UX design can help improve your brand identity.
1. Appearance and Usability
Whether you like it or not, people will always judge a book by its cover. Online, your site has a similar impact.
A lot of website designers focus so much on usability, but if the website does not look right in the first place, most users will see it as an issue in usability as well. In fact, in a 2012 study by Google, most users judge a website’s design in a matter of 50 milliseconds.
That’s why it is still worth your time to choose an excellent color scheme for your site to keep users on your site long enough, and then become impressed by its usability later on.
2. Consistency
You have to be consistent with the language you use, the fonts, the colors, your tone, and the design. That’s where a style guide would come in handy.
Ideally, you want the guide to be as simple and easy to implement as possible. So, remember this during the initial stages of your branding. If you can, limit the fonts and the colors that you use. Also, when creating landing pages, do not sacrifice your page’s consistency, because this creates a bumpy customer journey later on.
You have to do everything in your power to make your design and your content consistent with your brand values. Why? Because chances are, most people will know whether your brand is authentic or not.
At the end of the day, it is how you communicate your brand values through your UX.
3. Transparency
According to a 2016 Transparency ROI Study, the majority of the respondents say that they’re more loyal with a more transparent brand. So, how can you ensure transparency on your site?
One way you can do this is to share the ingredients of what your products are made of. Also, let consumers know whether or not they are recyclable. Even if the packaging that you are using is not recyclable, more people will trust your brand more if they can find this sort of material on your website.
Even branded links help create transparency and boost the user experience. Since branded links let you customize what happens after the slash, you are letting customers know where your links will send them.
They also would not think of it as malicious content or spam. Therefore, they are more willing to do a click-through.
4. Content
Ideally, you should craft a content marketing strategy that fulfills users’ needs and expectations and keep them engaged with your brand. The more up to date and relevant you are with your content, and more credible you will be.
Not only that, but outdated content can also hurt your rankings on search results, making your prospects wonder whether or not they can trust you in the first place.
That’s why you must update your old content so that it remains fresh and relevant in the eyes of both users and search engines.
With the right content marketing strategy, it is easier for users to rely on your site or blog, especially if they have questions that are directly related in your niche.
Crafting trust-worthy, high-quality content will help you establish you as a though-leader in your industry.
How does UX and brand identity connect?
At the end of the day, it all boils down to how you connect the intent of a brand’s promise with the real user experience that most people have. That’s why it is essential to have a set of objectives that the whole organization can commit to and introduce the meaning of product development.
Also, define your brand purpose, and use it as a metric. Always questions yourself whether or not you’re fulfilling your promise to your customers.
Over to You
Having a good brand identity does several things. It makes you more memorable to people, making them aware that your company has the solution to fit their needs. It enforces credibility and loyalty over time.
Design matters in a way that it speaks without words. It plays a key role in backing up what you say you are, and this helps solidify your brand.
