Hi there!
Have you ever created your own website?
I know many developers are reading this web site. It's easy to make websites for you. But don't miss the branding part ;)
With the spread of COVID-19 around the world, I'm sure you have more time to spend on yourself. Many people have started new hobbies.
I think there are more and more people who want to start their own businesses, products, blogs or introduce their hobbies. If you are going to create a website, you want to make sure that many people will visit it.
When creating a website, we tend to concentrate on the structure and logo design, color, and visual design. However, branding can improve the quality of your website.
In this article, I would like to talk about how to incorporate branding into your website.
"BRANDING"
At first, let's think about branding.
Why do we need the branding to create a website?
Branding helps to clarify the concept and identity of your website. It also makes it easier to understand what you need and what you don't need, and which pages should be prioritized, even if you need a complex site map like a corporate website. From the user's point of view, it is also easier to understand the purpose of the website and leave a good impression.
Let's take a look at the basic process required for branding.
■ Make a brand concept
A brand concept is a general idea or abstract meaning behind a brand. A brand's concept is used to give consistency to a brand's identity. It can be described as the first thing you want to pop into your customer's heads when they think of your brand.
That's what I mean users can understand what it is in an instant, and immediately visualize it.
1. What kind of website do you want to create?
As mentioned earlier, the format of your website will vary depending on whether you want to create a corporate site, sell products or services, start a blog, or show your own work.
Once you have decided on the type of website you want to create, search to find out what types of websites are currently available. You will find that there are similarities in current trends, color trends, illustration taste, and even the structure of the website.
2. Brainstorming
Brainstorm ideas for the features of your website.
The important thing here is to come up with as many words as you can think of. For example, if you want to make a Bicycle store, it doesn't have to be directly related to a Bicycle store -> Bicycle -> City -> Cafe -> Coffee. Think of all the images that come out of your main theme.
Brainstorming will give you "an idea of where the demand for your main theme is", "the positives and negatives", and "how you want your website to be seen".
3. Think about who you want to deliver to.
Who do you want the website to be seen by?
It is also a good idea to create personas that assume the user's age group, gender, and behavior.
If you are targeting a wide age range, think about the behaviors, hobbies, and personalities that they share.
For example
- A man in his 30s who is looking for cycling as a sporting activity
4. What does the brand offer?
Think about the strengths and features of the brand and the value users will receive from the service.
- Maintenance and customization
- A cafe where you can take a break
- hold events
- Test ride
- Enjoyment of holidays
- Peace of mind about something you use every day
- More relevant to users' lives
5. Summarize in abstracted terms
Finally, summarize the words you have written down.
- the bicycle store where you can enjoy a free holiday
- the place that gives you a sense of security every day
- The bicycle store that makes you want to come back It doesn't need to be as cool as a catchphrase. It is important that the concept "conveys the information correctly". Based on this concept, we will go to the next step.
■ Create a mood board
What is a mood board?
A mood board is a visual tool that communicates our concepts and visual ideas. It is a planned arrangement of images, materials, pieces of text, etc. that is intended to project a particular style or concept.
Why we need it?
Using a mood board helps you to express the vision you have in mind for the project. A mood board is a good starting point to get things done. It will help you collate and focus your ideas, and help to define the project.
How to create a mood board
it's easy to create. Internet, magazines, anything is fine. Gather all the visual images you can think of. Then put them all together.
Key visuals, fonts, color usage, brand image, etc, move the images about on the board to create different compositions. Play around with the images until you are happy with the images that you have.
What's important is that they tell your story.
Even once a mood board has been created, it is important to make sure that only the image you are really looking for is there.
Once the mood board is created, if any items do not match what you are looking for, you can exclude them as mismatches. However, instead of deleting the excluded items, keep them in the "exclusion list".
In this way, you will be able to visualize that "this kind of image is not required", and the exclusion list itself will serve as a reference for future designs.
Conclusion
In this article, we talked about the basics of branding and how to incorporate branding into your website.
Branding is the foundation of anything you create.
It is not an abstraction but can be verbalized. It can be shared with all people, not just yourself so that the value can be easily understood and communicated.
It's easy to focus on the visible things like logos and designs, but once you think about who your website is for, what it's for, and how it communicates, your website will become even more attractive.
Thank you for reading! Have a nice day :)
Top comments (1)
Great material, and a clear description of the value of branding.
Here is another article that talks about the process of creating a brand in several steps gapsystudio.com/blog/why-is-brandi..., among which it is said about the development of a corporate identity, brand book.