There are several ways that a web site or a web-enabled application communicates to users. In a previous post I wrote about how important it is to write a Creative Brief to bring focus to user communication through your design. Another important aspect of communication is through Branding. Branding is not just a color, logo and a font, but it’s a promise. Effective branding means that you are fulfilling promises by providing a positive customer experience.

Often times one of the items in a creative brief may be to support the brand. If that’s the case, the brand and the creative brief should be aligned. If you want to portray a feeling of trust to your users, you need to make sure that you provide a feeling of consistency. Consistency may manifest itself in color, font, look and feel, but it should also be conveyed through the user interactions with the application itself. This means that there should be no real surprises to the user.

Providing an intuitive interface gives the user a feeling of familiarity and provides comfort just as a positive branding experience. People tend towards the things that they are familiar with, and consistency is another great way of reinforcing familiarity.

Effective branding is an important competency of user experience, and it needs to be consistent, and it should be reflected throughout all user communication. This could be user interfaces, advertisements, signage, and collateral to name a few. Creative briefs, style guides, and POP are a few of the ways that designers communicate their branding standards throughout all of these different mediums. When an enterprise grows it’s important that the key players involved in creating branded items adhere to strict branding guidelines to keep consistant. Sometimes this can take coordination, but it’s something that should permeate an organizations company culture.