The function of specific visual aspects of branding in the development of effective and high-quality user interface design is the topic of today’s installment of our Frequently Asked Questions Design Platform in Tubik Blog. This is a response to a question that we posted on Quora, where we are happy to share our thoughts, knowledge, and experience and where you are always welcome to read them.
To what extent does a user interface’s branding matter?
To set the stage for the answer, let’s define the core term so everyone knows what it means. In short, branding is the process of establishing a name, logo, slogan, and other identifiers for a product, service, persona, etc. through the use of marketing and psychology strategies.
In this context, “brand” refers to an image that is constructed through a collection of unique characteristics in order to increase market recognition and familiarity with the product or service. There is a plethora of visual, verbal, tactile, etc., ways to construct this picture.
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Journey 1: From Logo to User Interface
Answering based on our team’s real-world experience with user interface and user experience projects, we can state with certainty that branding is crucial in the interface. This is particularly true if you wish to use the interface as a channel to attract more users and raise brand recognition. Branding elements, most notably a logo, made by a professional designer prior to beginning the process of user interface design, greatly increase the likelihood that your product will become instantly identifiable. This should done after thorough marketing and user research, audience definition, and competition analysis.
The rationale behind this is straightforward: when creating the user interface (including its color scheme, shapes, types and fonts, illustrations, and icons), designers will take the product’s overall branding concept into account and strive for design solutions that complement each other. It makes the brand and its interface seem more harmonious and natural, which is important to the brand’s overall image.
Consistent use of branding components like logo, lettering, and illustrations, as well as the notion of strong corporate style, was an effective strategy in both instances when it came to brand positioning and promotion. Keep in mind that the interface of a website or app is more than just a moving or static picture; it is the arena for dynamic engagement. Brand elements and a general aesthetic concept are more likely to stick in users’ minds when they engage with the product through the interface.
Part 2: Moving From User Interface to Branding
Based on the above, another crucial question to ask is: is it feasible to design an effective user interface (UI) without first establishing certain branding elements? The response is unquestionably affirmative. There are many examples, so yes, it’s possible. Still, without branding components, UI won’t do as much to boost brand recognition. There will be no mutual support between these two powers of customer attraction and engagement.
But if the UI is fantastic and the product is helpful, the opposite might happen if it becomes popular: the UI becomes the strong element of branding because of its popularity and dictates all the subsequent solutions to branding design. When a client, for instance, is a startup with a tight budget, they may not be able to afford the design of both the product’s branding and its user interface at the same time.
Without a doubt, they will begin with user interface design, and the overarching stylistic concept will born out of the blue during interface creation, uninfluenced by branding or marketing decisions that have already been made. If the product is popular due to its usefulness, usability, and design, and its owners decide to create specific graphic assets for branding later on, it’s likely that this solution will be based on existing user interface graphics since they already represent the product and form the basis of brand awareness and image.
Product’s
In other instances, the aesthetic vision for the product’s user interface (UI) may be completely at odds with the more generic branding components, such as the logo, corporate colors, fonts, etc. An intentional case of this would be when a marketing strategy assumes, for whatever reason, that a product’s visual association with the brand should not be strong, or when an application or website should not strongly associate with the brand overall. However, promotion and conversion rates can take a serious hit when this type of variation isn’t part of a well-planned strategy but rather an oversight in the overall design and marketing process.
