Did you know that you have as few as 50 milliseconds to make a great first impression online? That’s all the time a user needs to assess your brand and decide to stay…or go.
In this “blink of the eye”, your visual brand is everything. Yes, your message and copy matter, too, but the ability to form opinions in milliseconds means that our brains can only process so much in that short span of time.
In other words, there’s no time to read (unless you have a very short, crystal-clear headline)—there’s only time to LOOK.
So, how do you make sure your visual brand is as amazing and on-brand as it can be?
What is visual branding?
Your brand’s visual identity includes anything prospects see and associate with your brand, particularly online.
That includes any visual component of your website that helps form the first impressions of your brand, like:
- Images
- Photographs
- Fonts & typography
- Logo
- Layout
- Design composition
Your visual identity doesn’t stand alone, of course. It’s an important part of your overall brand strategy and development. But once you’ve defined an overall business strategy and written copy to effectively communicate tone and value, your visual identity adds clarity to the careful identity you’ve established for your business.
Why your brand’s visual identity matters
Your visual branding elements are a reflection of your personal or company brand and how seriously you take your business, so it’s crucial you have something that’s visually pleasing, clear, organized, and makes people want to see more.
When a person finds your website online, they don’t have the opportunity to talk to you or greet you face to face. So your website needs to do the talking for you. Your visual identity needs to reflect your brand’s personality, purpose, and promise. It should bring clarity to your mission statement, evoke emotion and connection, and set the tone for your website.
When you consider these factors as part of your site’s design, you create a memorable and lasting impression for your audience.
Branding sends that first message about who you are and what your business is about. Put out a great first message, and people stick around. Put out a bad one, and people will move on quickly. Find out more: Share on XElements of a great visual identity
Maybe you’re thinking through your visual identity for the first time. Or perhaps you’re using visual elements in your brand today that don’t really reflect the business you’ve built. Wherever you’re at in your brand development journey, here are some tips to consider for presenting a stronger visual identity.
Take professional, on-brand photographs
If you really want to come across as a professional, you should have professional photos taken for headshots and company shots. You may have photos from your phone that you really like, but there’s such a clear difference when the photos are professionally done. A good thing to ask yourself when considering photos to use is, “If I was a potential client of mine, what would I think?”
Also, be sure that the photos you’re using show yourself and your business the way you want it to be represented. If your business is cutting-edge, are your photos sending out that vibe? If your business is warm and approachable, make sure you look that way in your photos, too. Put some time and effort into the images you select for your site, because without you physically there to prove them otherwise, they only have their perceptions to go on. Make sure they’re the right ones.
Use the right fonts
Fonts are sometimes overlooked, or people are quick to use the standard fonts they see used all the time or that they’re comfortable using themselves. But fonts have the power to really bring out your personality. For example:
- Times New Roman can bring out the more traditional or scholarly side of you
- Helvetica can be used to portray a modern or fresh approach
Picking the right fonts for your website is definitely an area where a professional’s input can be very helpful. They can make the selection process way more efficient and can show you how to mix fonts to get the ones that are just right for your site and the vibe you want to communicate with your business. You want to make sure you’re conveying exactly what you want to convey, and the right fonts actually have a huge part in that.
Choose your color palette carefully
When you’re talking about making first impressions, color has a huge impact on whether those are appealing or not, depending on what shades, tones, and combinations you use. Color also makes a powerful statement about who you are and what your business is about—so if you want to make a bold statement, don’t be afraid to go bold with your colors and vice versa. (Again, having a professional’s input may be helpful here.)
Color also works to reflect certain moods. You can follow the standard guidelines on that as-is, but it’s better to play around a bit and get creative, because color and mood can be great ways to differentiate yourself. And at the end of the day, that’s what we should all be aiming to do online anyways.
Clean up your site layout
Good layout serves a huge purpose in your visual branding—it’s job is to keep people engaged with your site and scrolling down the page, then click further into your site. It has to have a flow and keep the eye interested. Layouts that are effective help to break up text and highlight the important messages in the copy, as well as showcase the images so that they support the content.
The layout of your site has a lot to do with the way people perceive you, too. A disorganized or cluttered layout can portray a business that may (or may not be) disorganized. Likewise, a clean, clear layout can go a long way in establishing authority and trust. There are so many different layout options available to choose from or create yourself, so take your time to find the one that best works with the design elements and copy you have.
Make a style guide
Capture the various elements of your brand and visual identity in one place with a style guide your team can use to create messaging and marketing collateral. Your style guide ensures uniformity in how you present your brand to your audience and provides a much-needed set of instructions for team members.
Your brand style guide is a living document that you and your team can use for years to come in order to continuously shape, iterate, and further define your brand.
Getting started with your visual identity
When you treat your visual branding as the crucial element that it is, you’re setting yourself up to make an awesome first impression with your site.
Do it well, and that 50 millisecond rule won’t be intimidating—it will be all the time a new visitor needs to decide they want to stick around your site and learn more about you and your business.
And if you need a little help along the way? We’ve got you. At BrandiD, we help entrepreneurs connect the dots between business, brand and purpose with brand strategy and visual identity creation. We’d love to support you in your journey toward a stronger online brand presence.
About The Author
Veronica Gonzalez loves taking ideas and applying them on paper. In college, she decided to pursue a degree in web design and interactive media, and during that time, fell in love with the art of designing with a purpose. Working with The brandiD, she gets to put skill and imagination to work everyday, in order to create unique designs that will delight the client and their users. Find out more!
