Have you ever wondered whether your firm’s website design is in line with your brand? If you haven’t, you need to evaluate. Here are five points that you can use to evaluate and determine if your web design and your brand are really in line.
Before evaluating your site, you need to consider what the current website says about your company. After you have, eliminate the things that you do not want it to say and consider what you would like it to say. You could ask yourself the following questions:
- Is the design current or out-dated? Does it say that your brand is new and dynamic or old, and behind time?
- How is the website’s adaptability and responsiveness? Incompatibility with the types of devices that people will use to gain access to your site, may imply that your brand rigidity or inflexibility on the part of your brand.
- Does your web design make navigation easy or difficult? No doubt, your brand is all for making it as easy as possible for clients to work along with you. Your web design should convey that message.
- Is the information, especially the basic contact information, on your site still accurate?
Having gone through those questions, let’s now dive a bit deeper into the elements of design that change overtime and can be used to measure your brand.
Logos
Logos have a tendency to evolve over time for various reasons. This is totally normal. Many huge companies have had different ‘versions’ of their logo. With a logo’s evolution, however, it becomes harder to keep track of everywhere the logo will appear and ensure that they are all up-to-date. Ensure that all the logos appearing on your site are the currently approved versions that are in use by your brand.
Remember logos should be:
– Strategically and correctly placed (usually at the top of your site)
– Clear and crisp
– Appropriately sized and resizable
– Distinct and memorable
Typefaces
Typefaces are one of the areas where less is more. It can prove challenging to choose a few from the various typefaces and fonts that exist. Even more challenging may be choosing fonts that go well with each other. When those typefaces have been chosen, they should be set forth in the brand guidelines. These should state clearly the typefaces and fonts that should be used in every brand design and should ALWAYS be adhered to on your site. It may not appear to be a big issue, but users will identify any inconsistencies in the fonts and/or typefaces and that will definitely shape how they see your brand.
Colors
The brand guidelines should typically cover brand colors that are acceptable. The brand colors may not be done up in a formal document however, most likely you know what they are. Take as an example, Cisco, which uses a specific blue color palette that their Color Guidelines lists. Hardly could you expect to visit a Cisco site and see red, yellow or orange, simply because that is not what we see associated with their brand.
Are the colors on your firm’s website consistent with its brand colors?
Imagery
Imagery is more than just the pictures on a website. It encompasses animations, banners, icons, info graphics, and videos. Service-based businesses often are not able to utilize product-based imagery. As a result, their tendency is to utilize pictures of individuals carrying out tasks or making use of services to perform tasks. The imagery that is most in line with your brand is that which should be seen in your web design. The imagery used should be kept consistent as well. A website with a jumble of differing image types can prove confusing.
Messaging
What is the overall message on the site? What is it that you want to subtly or overtly get users to do? Are the benefits calls to action, language used and statements harmonious with the brand message? Every single element, as well as the layout of textual elements should show a measure of uniformity in order to convey a cohesive story.
After your firm has surmounted the first hurdle of defining the main value proposition of the brand, the next step is to maintain that defined proposition throughout the messaging on the site. If the message of your website is not in line with the message of your brand, it may be time to think about revamping.
Consistency, navigability and responsiveness are all things that your prospective customers want to see on your website. Ensure that you implement these in all website elements. Be sure too to evaluate your site from time to time so you can be on top of your game.
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