Now more than ever, as designers we have to treat the websites we design as an extension of brand.
A seamless brand extends from the storefront to the front page of the website. From television ad to banner ad. From product to packaging.
The well-crafted brand, no matter where it is encountered, evokes the same emotion. That emotion is created via a brand experience. Brand experience is what separates industry leaders from industry followers and can in-turn gauge the success of a websites ability to convert users to customers.
First and foremost we are not simply web designers, we are brand experience designers.
It is critical for us as design professionals to fully understand our clients’ brand and design an experience that tells the story of that brand.
Study these five world-class brands to become a master of designing brand experiences.
Nike
The global leader in sportswear lives on brand experience.
Their stores, packaging and website all exhibit a cohesive brand experience of sporting excellence. One thing Nike does well in all of its stores and online is create an emotion that inspires its consumers to pick up a sport or to exercise. Few companies can build motivation and emotion amongst their consumers like Nike. This is truly brand experience at its best.
Apple
You can’t talk about brand experience without mentioning Apple.
Apple creates an experience of innovation, quality and elitism through their stores, packaging and website. Talk to any Apple fan-boy about why they choose Apple and I can promise amongst their answer will be a reference to simplicity. The idea of simplicity is self evident in Apple’s website, products and packaging. Nothing more than what you need to get the job done and in the case of the website, nothing more than you need to become a fan-boy yourself.
The North Face
The North Face produces high quality outdoor apparel.
When you walk into one of their stores you’re immersed in mountaineering and you get the same mountaineering experience on their website. The North Face is truly synonymous with cold weather and outdoor gear. One look at their website and you feel warm and fuzzy in a cold environment of greys with a shot of warm red. The use of color not only makes actions clear and understandable, but also promotes a feeling of warmth in the cold.
Lego
Lego is taking their brand experience and marketing to new levels.
Unveiling Lego stores around the world and even the animated series Ninjago. Everything is built from little plastic blocks, the stores, cartoons, video games and website all play off of this theme. To get the full effect of the website you have to visit the site and watch the animations bring the blocks to life. They’ve created a vacation to your inner child’s imagination. This would explain why I see balding 50 year olds playing with the latest Star Wars Legos.
IKEA
IKEA is awesome in so many ways.
It’s cheap, well-built and occasionally fun to assemble.
IKEA is so decisively Swedish that they sell Swedish meatballs in the store. The Swedish pride themselves on class leading design and functionality in a small space. This is apparent in the IKEA website which plays heavily on their yellow and blue branding and simple solutions for small spaces.
Better yet is the integration of store and web. You can choose a furniture item online, check it’s availability in your local store and even get the aisle and bin number where you can find it in the store. Every business should strive for this level of integration perfection.
Did I miss some that are worthy of the list? Leave a comment and share the site and tell me why you think it’s a good example of brand experience and cohesion.
