Branding digital products
Help people better understand your product
- Mayya Geo
- February 6, 2022
- Time to read: 4 min.
Products loved by millions
Why are some digital products loved and used by millions, and others are not? There are so many decisions to be made in a product’s development that contribute to success. Keeping a digital product highly usable and up-to-date might be an almost impossible task. And still, some companies are succeeding in keeping a holistic development approach. In this post, we will focus on the importance and the advantages of branding digital products.
Brand and user experience
Have you ever thought of how to make your digital product more understandable for the world and your users?
Nowadays, brand experience and user experience overlap. In a user’s mind, those two are the same thing. Most likely you have already experienced this yourself when you go to the webpage or application of your preferred brand. Let’s say the experience is bad for some reason—so bad that you cannot place an order. Who do you blame? You blame the company. You have the feeling of dissatisfaction. Maybe you are already considering new options or competing brands that you will go to instead to buy your wished item. See what I mean?
Product development and design decisions will resonate directly on the brand reputation
What has branding to do with product? Brand is the base—the essential consistency keeper for your digital product. Brand is the unique character of a company and its services, for digital products as well.
Those who succeed in keeping the brand and product development aligned will help the users to better understand the product.
UX, UI, and brand
UX is related to the overall user experience, and it’s not necessarily closed to a digital product. User experience is also related to psychology—to understanding the target audience, their behavior, and their needs.
On the other hand, UI is correlated with both user and interface and how these interact with each other. User interface has to do with the design patterns, layouts, colors, typography, and other visual factors.
The brand represents a company, product, or service—who they are at their core. Are they innovative, bold, feminine, or playful? Who explicitly do they need to serve? Depending on the target audience and the market positioning, branding, through its characteristics, can make or break a product (or business). Keeping up a well-shaped, strategic brand can make a product recognizable and unique on the competitive market.
Role of branding in digital-product design
Direct placement of branding in the digital product
In designing the UI of an interface, this is the moment when your brand is being directly translated into the digital product. At this stage, design teams are considering additional factors when committing to the styling of visual design assets—colors and typography, for example. Some other direct places where brand interferes with product design are: the tone of voice and UX writing, how accessible the product is (considering the audience and persona), images, and even UX factors such as discoverability and layout design.
UX and Brand teams
There are many processes and departments that are part of digital-product development: the operations team, customer support, marketing, brand, product team, and others. From a product-design perspective, designers might stay closer to the internal process in the department and not always communicate with other teams from other departments.
Depending on the company size and funding, designers will have to take the responsibility for different tasks; especially in startups, it might be the case that there is one designer responsible for all—marketing, brand, and product.
Why you cannot neglect branding
No matter the size of the teams and number of people in a company, there will always be a need to consider UX, brand, and marketing. Because they have some shared goals, there should be an alignment. Each one of them should not be neglected, even within the smaller companies. Otherwise, the brand and company reputation will most likely suffer. Each decision will affect the overall experience and company success.
Use product branding to help people understand your product
Companies like Apple, Nike, Blush, or Figma are making it. They are using the power of digital branding directly in their services and products to ensure a good end-to-end experience for their users and customers. And you can do this too!
Whether you have a small or an extensive product team, you will need to include branding as part of your digital-product development. And remember, even if one brand can live without a product, a product cannot exist without its branding.
The consistent and seamless implementation of UI and UX will ensure the effective results of your brand.
Effective use of branding in the UI and UX design will ensure a consistent experience for your users and ensure community loyalty.
Thank you for reading! 💜
We are GEOBO, a design studio specialising in branding for fashion and creative tech companies.
