We recently had a fantastic discussion about the role of visual elements in branding for creating an efficient and high-quality user interface design. We thought it would be great to share some of our insights with our readers. This post is inspired by a question we answered for one of our clients as a brand and design advisory partner. We're always happy to share our ideas, knowledge, and experience.

Why is branding crucial in user interface design?

To better understand the answer, let's first clarify what we mean by branding. In general, branding refers to a set of marketing and psychological techniques used to promote a product, service, or persona, primarily by establishing a brand.

A brand is a specific image that is created through a set of distinctive characteristics and promotes recognition and awareness of the product or service in the market. This image can be created through various means, such as visual, verbal, or tactile elements.

When it comes to graphic design assets, branding can be achieved through a set of visual elements, including:

Logo;
Brand colors;
Typography;
This includes the lettering used in the logo or as the full representation of the logo, as well as the types and fonts used in digital and physical products representing the brand;
Graphic elements;
Like illustrations, design of letterheads, business cards, and other print assets
Templates for corporate presentations, etc;

In the context of the question about branding in UI design, branding refers primarily to the set of visual elements that define the brand's style, such as the logo, typography, and brand colors. These elements work together to create visual recognition of the product and its style. Based on research on the target audience and marketing/customer needs, branding plays a crucial role in promoting the product because visual perception is quick and easy for most people, more so than reading text and more memorable than listening to speech.

Approach 1: Transitioning from Branding to User Interface

From our experience working on UI/UX projects, we can confidently say that branding is crucial in user interface design, especially if you want to use the interface to attract users and increase brand awareness.

If you invest the time in proper marketing and user research, clearly define your target audience, and analyze your competition, then create branding elements, such as a professional logo, before starting the UI design process, your product will have a higher chance of being recognized faster and easier.

The reason is simple: a UI designer working on the interface, including its color palette, shapes, types and fonts, illustrations, and icons, will consider design solutions that align with the overall branding concept of the product, making them mutually supportive. This creates a more natural and harmonious feeling for the brand as a whole and the particular interface as an integral part of the brand.

All experienced designers understand that strong mutual support between branding and general interface design can be very beneficial for the product and its promotion. This has been proven to be an effective strategy in ViGu's practice too.

Using the concept of a strong corporate style and consistently applying branding elements like the logo, lettering, and illustrations is key. It's important to remember that the user interface of an application or website is not just a collection of static or moving images – it's an active interaction field. Interacting with the product through the interface increases the memorability of brand elements and the overall stylistic concept.

Approach 2: Transitioning from User Interface to Branding

Another important question to consider is: can you create an effective UI design without branding elements designed beforehand? The answer is yes, it is possible, and there are many examples. However, in this case, the UI will not work as effectively to increase brand recognition as it would if branding elements were included. These two different methods of attracting and engaging customers will work separately, rather than supporting each other.

On the other hand, if the UI is truly amazing and the product is useful, it's possible that the popularity of the UI itself could become a strong element of the branding due to its popularity, influencing all further branding design solutions.

For instance, sometimes customers can't afford to design both the branding and the UI design for a product at the same time, such as when they are a startup with a limited budget. In this case, they will likely start with UI design and create the general stylistic concept during the interface creation process, without a pre-existing branding and promotion plan. If the product becomes popular because it is useful, usable, and well-designed, and its owners decide to create specific graphic assets for branding at a later stage, it is likely that these assets will be based on the existing UI graphics since they already represent the product and form the basis of brand awareness and brand image.

There are situations where the branding elements for a product, such as the logo, corporate colors, and fonts, are completely different from the UI design style. This can be done on purpose if the marketing strategy calls for separating the brand image from the product, or if the application or website should not be closely associated with the brand. However, if this difference is not part of a well-planned strategy, it can negatively impact promotion and conversion rates.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss this further, don't hesitate to reach out to us. We would be happy to share our experience with you.