DEV Community: Mary Williams

Brand Illustration System and Its Impact on Business Identity

Mary Williams — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 12:15:44 +0000

As the world of online content is gradually becoming competitive, the one thing that can help a company survive in the industry its brand image. A brand image is usually formed in the minds of the customers based upon their experience and interaction with a company. The interaction does not necessarily mean that it is related to buying or using a particular service or product. It can be done in a lot of ways. However, the main concept associated with it is that while purchasing a product, a customer is not just associated with the product but also with that of the company. That is why it is very important that a company should take every possible measure to make its brand image unique, strong, and positive.
So, what do you mean by a brand illustration system? Let’s go through the article to understand the concept in more detail.

Brand Illustration System and its Uses

A brand illustration system is a group of images that exhibits a certain style and mood, along with a bit of humor, irony, or hope. Overall, in this, illustrations are a complementary part of the brand framework. If the brand message and visual identity are serious and structured, then the illustration system should also express the same or it might create confusion. Along with that, the intent won’t also be properly communicated to the clients. That is why it is necessary to implement it in the right way to reach company goals.
An illustration is one of the powerful ways to eliminate distractions and showcase the complex emotions in a familiar but delightful manner. It is especially helpful when it comes to explaining an idea or information that is really difficult. Other reasons which make it a profitable asset to the organization are given below.

Language: By employing an illustration system, you can improve the visual appeal of your brand as only logos, color, typeface, or even words are not sufficient to convey the meaning alone.
Consistency: Consistency in branding will create challenges for the business to meet. If it successfully reaches the expectations, then the customer will reward back the company with loyalty.

How to Design an Efficient Brand Illustration System?

The design process for creating a brand illustration system might be a little complex. However, in this post, we tried to simplify it by showcasing some examples so that it is easier for you to understand and design accordingly.

Research your brand
The first and foremost thing to do while designing a brand illustration system for your company is to properly know the ins and outs of your brand. It may seem like you know your brand very well. However, it is advisable to still conduct proper research on it and other similar brands so that you get an extensive idea to judge its current status and what will be needed to improve it. While researching, the things you should consider are learning about your company’s culture, its main motto, different products and services it offers, its message to the audience, the existing visual identity forms, the direction which your company wants to grow in, etc. Through an appropriate investigation, it can later save from dead-ends and confusion.

Speak to the stackholder
Speaking to the stakeholder is a crucial step that needs to be taken for the successful creation of your design. So, it is beneficial to include them in your work process and keep them updated throughout. Besides, also try to keep a record of their answers for the following questions.
-Where are the illustrations going to appear?
-What should they express?
-What kind of situations and emotions do they need to play?
-What are the technical parameters needed for your work?
Don’t be worried if the stakeholder is not providing clear answers. It is absolutely fine at this stage. However, you should pay attention to what they are saying about the inputs and smartly include their expectations to your business goals and brand image. Always remember that the designs should be contemporary as well as simple and friendly.

Find what inspires you
Finding an inspiration is also profitable for your company as you can get grips with the input you receive and start organizing your ideas. You can start gathering images from your competitors or companies in the relevant field. They might possess some qualities that will be similar to your intended goal so that you can use and compile them into a resource. The inspiration can also turn as a guide to achieve the overall tone and suggest different ways for the first iteration. You can also showcase the material to the stakeholder as it will give them an overall idea of how the illustrations will work before the concept creation process starts.

Create the concept
After you are done with researching and finding inspiration, you can start creating the concept. Choose software like Adobe Illustrator and use different shapes to form a basic structure. You can also use different Pen tool options for adding detail and improving the outline of your illustration. Also, keep in mind that the images you create should stick together to build a uniform system and not the standalone ones. Focus on giving a distinct flavor to the illustration which can be replicated over various future designs.

For example. if you are using human characters and color schemes to keep the images in line with your visual branding elements, then make sure that they are created in such a way that they represent emotions and could express how they inhibit the interior spaces in reality. Give them dynamic profiles, create movement, and avoid anything that looks heavy. In addition to that, you can incorporate different objects and environments that are futuristic, design-forward, and abstract. Finally, the interiors should be attractive and bright and the object should showcasing an ideal and personalized environment.
As colors are the most powerful element and result in generating instant reaction, use it carefully so that you don’t overwhelm the illustration designs. Use subtle shades which improving and complementing the scene. Don’t forget that it should reflect the brand’s personality, so make sure to match the visual elements with the brand.

Get feedback
Once you are done with the first iteration, the next step is to get all the possible feedback. First, you need to speak to the main stakeholder regarding their take on the design. You can also ask for feedback from your colleagues or users who do not belong to the designing field. It may sound unimportant but it is terribly useful. By using their opinions, you can use it as a guide to focus your attention and take the needed measures that can help in improving your illustrations.

Build a reference library
While creating the illustrations, it is a better idea to create a library for the various elements you have already used. It can help you to refer in case you need to have a look back at the illustration design in the future. Also, try to keep the feel and style consistent as it will assure the overall effectiveness of your system in the long run.

Be prepared to repeat
There might be a need to repeat the process many times. So, prepare your mind to do that. Consistent iteration is one of the most important steps for creating a brand illustration system. Besides, implementing this step can also help you to produce a successful visual identity, which will be hugely beneficial for your business in the future. So, try to maintain consistency in creating new versions, receiving feedback, and drafting new iterations as much as possible. Also, stay open to incorporate changes to create a brand that is more relatable to the users.

How to successfully implement the Brand Illustration System for your business?

If you are new to the brand illustration system or have worked with it but were not satisfied with the outputs, then here are some key steps that can be used while implementing the system for your organization.

Understand your brand
It is the first and most important step. Some may think it is obvious and won’t put much attention to it but it should not be overlooked. If you try to create illustrations without knowing the brand, then it might not create the desired impact in the minds of the targeted viewers. So, make sure to collect information about the brand, how you want it to be perceived, what it should be like, and who you are trying to reach. If possible, you can also use a search engine to collect more information and take notes so that you don’t forget.

Know the type of illustrations you are going to use
Make a note of the different types of illustrations you will be needing for your project, how they should be implemented, their ideal dimension and proportions, and the desired formats. Also, discuss with your clients whether they need spot, full-frame, icon, or any other illustration. Check whether it will be used for packaging or printing purposes. Apart from that, find out whether it will be implemented only for websites, apps, or both.

Work in vector format if possible
You do not have to force it on your projects, but if you see that it fits your company’s vision and the raster graphics are giving any desired impact, then it is better to go for the vector format. The advantages of using it are that your editing will be faster, the color will be flexible, file sizes will be smaller, and resizing will be easier. Apart from that, designers who lack drawing skills can easily incorporate consistent and new assets as the system evolves.

List out the rules that your illustrations must meet
Listing out the rules will help you to create a good collection of illustrations. It should precisely represent the visual identity of the brand and can be arbitrary. For example, you can create the guidelines for adding the minimum and the maximum number of elements, profiles, colors, etc. in your design.

Don’t create a character that becomes a mascot
It is not bad to use mascots, but the type of characters used there usually overshadows the message and mood of the other parts of the brand, which can be a bit confusing. So, ensure that your illustrations complement each other as well as the overall brand.

Keep ample time for visual research
It is advisable to spend more time while visually studying the different types of images. Don’t limit yourself to this and make sure to study the work of other proficient illustrators, artworks, children’s books, old and new images, magazines, and more.

Make the right use of colors
Colors are also important while creating illustration designs. So, never underestimate its importance. Try considering it from the earlier stages of your visual research. It is because maximum people recall a brand by remembering the color schemes rather than the visual shapes and elements.

Select a style that is unique but flexible
Make sure that the illustration system you create is having a style that is unique from the rest. It should showcase special features that would evoke emotions in the minds of the public and make it easy to remember for them. Ideally speaking, it should seamlessly flow with the content, images, and all the graphic elements without affecting the true meaning of the message.

Incorporating the brand illustration system will help in building a strong brand image, thereby fulfilling the motives and goals of your business. It means that you can now easily introduce new products to the targeted audience by using your brand name with illustration designs and brand illustration. This, in turn, can attract potential clients and customers towards your products and help them remember your brand for a longer time. If your products are of high-quality and are useful to them, then it can increase their trust level and will compel them to associate with you every time. Gradually, it will help in developing a long-lasting customer-client relationship for your business.

Top 16 Things To Consider While Planning To Build Responsive WebSite

Mary Williams — Thu, 01 Aug 2019 05:14:02 +0000

Amazing technological advancements made in recent times have changed our lives for good. Most notable are the smart devices of different sizes like smartphone or smart television. You can utilize smart devices for connecting to net and browsing online content. The condition is that the website should be adaptive to different screen sizes without distorting the content. Responsive web development can help in creating such sites. Responsive web application improves the aesthetics of sites and allow seamless functioning across devices. The responsive design was initially created with mobile devices in perspective. You will find that the site page content automatically adjusts itself, grow or shrink based on device’s screen size in responsive design.

Things To Consider While Creating Responsive Designs

If you are planning to build mobile responsive website, you need to follow certain points as discussed below.

Ensure Cross-Device and Cross-Browser Compatibility
Use Google Analytics for collecting data related to number of times your site has been accessed from web browsers and mobile devices.

Keep Checking The Browser and Device Statistics Periodically
Use Analytics periodically to understand the shift in browsing patterns so that you can tweak the responsive quotient of your site accordingly.

Ensure Appearance Of Key Contents Correctly
You need to make sure that
-Important content should be appearing clearly on all devices
-Supportive content can be adjusted for smaller devices so that key content gets priority
-Font size and scale of content is proper
-Text is legible on all devices
-Pixelated or jagged views are not appearing
-Horizontal scrolls on smaller devices are not created by links or long words

Check Your Site’s Performance
You need to monitor the time taken by your site for getting rendered on various browsers and devices at different internet speeds. For improving performance
-Get large files compressed
-Use caching

Check Visual Appeal Of Your Website
You need to check the alignment of pictures, textual content and controls. They should not be overflowing the screen’s edges. You need to check if the content is getting scrolled for optimum visibility across devices.
The typography of site should be such that text can be read across devices. Ensure consistency of colors, style and font.

Check The Propriety Of Device Fonts
If you plan to use device fonts, operating system and devices should be considered. In stylesheet of mobile website design, fonts which are default for devices should be specified. Fonts may appear jagged if scaling of website is done. This depends on device and browser.
Uniform scaling of font weight is not done by Windows. Mac OS scales uniformly. In Safari, fonts appear leaner than Chrome. The outcome can be adversely impacted by line spacing and kerning. Fonts should be thoroughly tested from different angles and zoom ratios before adding to design.

Ensure Ease Of Navigation
You need to make sure that elements facilitating navigation should not move out of the screen edges. Hamburger menu icon can be used for ease of navigation on smaller devices. Navigation with swipe gestures should be enabled.

Check Popups Of Site
Make sure that the site popups, both browser window and inline, are interactive.

Check Interactivity Quotient
To optimize interactivity of site, ensure that
-Site is compatible with external devices like stylus, mouse, keyboard etc.
-Controls respond to taps and can accommodate finger taps

Focus On Mobile Usage
If you re-design site content or specific section, ensure that the design first caters to handhelds and then to bigger screens.

Check Media Files
The resolution of devices, type of browsers, and viewport sizes would vary. You need to complement the same with different versions of media like background images.
Check that
-Media is running on devices with slow connectivity speed
-Colors are consistent across devices
-Images are responsive and stay within containers
-Correct media is used dependent on resolution and internet speed of device
-Images of products can be expanded
-Icon fonts are positioned properly on various screens and browsers

Check Out Conditional Elements
Ensure that
-You can view sign-up button and input field behind keyboard on smartphones
-Conditional elements rendered with Javascript powered CSS are behaving properly
-SVG animation is displayed correctly on desktop even after resizing
-CSS, image and Javascript files have been optimized for best performance
-Files are compressed, made inline or minified as necessary

Ensure Seamless Access Of Style Elements by Google Bot
Google Bot should be allowed to access the CSS, image and Javascript files of site. Change the robots.txt file’s content to ensure that bot is capable of crawling files and can index your site for mobile relevant results. The site should have media queries responsive design.

Ensure Optimum Speed of Webpage
User experience depends on page speed. Your site’s Google ranking also depends on it. You can improve the page loading speed of your website by
-Using Touch events in place of click events
-Optimizing images
-Using caching optimized for mobiles
-Compressing large files
Keep monitoring the speed of your responsive ui design through Google Page Speed Insights or similar tools. Rectify potential issues earnestly.

Enrich Your Site’s Content
You can enrich your site’s content using mobile structured data through Schema.org. Snippets appear more attractive in mobile devices due to space constraint. Use following structured data for mobiles:
-Software Application Mark-up for displaying app details in results of Google search
-Events microdata for making user find and attend events organized by you

Take Care of Page Titles and meta-descriptions
Mobile devices lack space. So, keep title size less than sixty characters and meta-descriptions’ size less than 155 characters. This prevents them from getting truncated.

If you are seeking help for creating responsive web designs, you can connect with the experts of MAP Systems, the top web design company. You site’s design would be web and mobile friendly which will increase your site’s SERP automatically.

Make every visitor into customer by redesigning your website

Mary Williams — Wed, 06 Jun 2018 06:36:43 +0000

Why do you need to redesign your website?

You may have a range of reasons to consider over redesigning your website. There is no doubt that the rule of web designs and user-experience change over the time thanks to the leaps in technology. As such, in not many years, your website is going to be outdated. If your website plays a significant role in driving revenue for your business, redesigning website will certainly prove to be a strategic business movement in greater senses than you might imagine. As such, if you are trying to create a unique user-experience for your users and drive maximum business value by redesigning your website, we are here to help you with the best website redesign checklist.

However, since your aim is to create the best experience for users through redesigning website, the following things must be kept in your mind. Having these crucial aspects in your mind will always help you drive spotless yields while executing the project.

Thinks need to consider while redesigning

Update outdated graphics

When it comes to business, the product being offered or the brand itself may undergo changes as time passes. During such times, it is really crucial that you redesign your site. As a business is rebranded with different color schemes and themes, it is important that the new website resonates well with these changes as well.

Consider the future

Though a business is expected to run perpetually, changes to the status quality and brand styling are common. As such, when a website is redesigned, you need to keep the future of the business in mind as well. As the process of website redesigning is really expensive, it cannot be done every now and then. Hence when it is done, it must be done with the future of the business, its users and the trends in the industry in mind.

Evaluate the website’s strengths and make it better

Every business has its own strengths and it could be the reason why people visit your website. If you do not pay attention to these aspects when you are trying to redesign your site, your finished product may not end up correctly as per you expect. That is the reason you need to consider the positive aspects of your website as one of the most important things to consider before redesigning a website.

Relevant content on your website

If you look at the commitment of the biggest search engine, Google, you will realize that delivering relevant content is critical. This is important for any business if they have not paid enough attention to their content before redesigning the site. Though many seem to disregard the power of content, if you ask Google, it will tell you the content of the site is certainly one of the most important factors in web design.

Never forget about search engine optimization (SEO)

If you want your website to be returned for relevant queries of potential customers, you need to tell search engines what your site is all about through your title tags, meta description and a wide range of keywords and phrases. In short, it must be optimized to appear effectively on various search engines for diverse, relevant queries. In fact, the process of SEO should actually start with the design of a website.

Make your website responsive

In today’s times of mobile and hand-held devices, the importance of responsive web design is higher than it ever was. Since more and more people have come to use their mobile phone as their primary device to search for products, services and content online, making your website responsive is mandatory. Apart from assuring impeccable user-experience across various devices, it will also considerably improve the value for your visitors.

Ensure that your website is the digital face of your business

‘Let me check their website’ has become a common phrase among people who want to get into any kind of transaction with a business. This shows having website for business is becoming important in today’s highly competitive world. On the other hand, if they are not happy with performance, they will not only skip from buying from you but spread the word that you aren’t good for business because your website isn’t.

Removing unused codes from the website

Most of the times, when a site is created using templates, many CSS selectors end up staying unused. The same goes for the famous Twitter bootstrap ‘framework’. Hence it is always important that you get rid of all the unused CSS selectors to make your site more code-efficient. Further, removing these unused codes will reduce the load time in website making the users all the satisfied and happy with the service delivered.

These are few more important website do's and don'ts to ensure that you have the best user-friendly and visually stunning website adding to the reputation of your business.

Though there are several aspects that a business must take care of while redesigning a website, take the advantages of many features and present your business website in a fresh look.