Face value means a lot to us, especially when we are looking to buy. Let’s be real, when it comes to being a customer— we’re judgmental. What is it we have to go off of when we see a company or product? The only thing we have is the presentation of it. That’s why design is so important.
Company Image
Let’s say you’re looking for a cupcake shop in a busy city.
Based on these pictures- Which cupcake shop would you prefer to go to if you saw this online?
You most likely chose the one on the right. Why? Of course because it looks cleaner, more inviting, and it looks more appetizing. Even if the other cupcake tastes amazing— we don’t know that at face-value. We judge.
Now, this concept plays into how you present your own products and services. Product photography is extremely important in capturing your brand’s image. If you have low-quality images, people will assume you have low quality products and services, too. (Even if you don’t)
Credibility and Trust Through Design
What was the last e-commerce store you ordered from? Re-visit that website and ask yourself:
• If it didn’t have good quality pictures, would you have still purchased the product?
• If you saw a mess of a website with no clear direction, would you have stayed on it?
• If the checkout screen looked a bit suspect because it didn’t match the rest of the website, would you have trusted it?
Back to us all being judgmental:
We won’t buy from places that we don’t see as capable businesses. Through design, we are subconsciously taking the pleasing images and user-flows, as a sign that the business is legitimate and has spent the money and/or time to professionally present themselves. This makes us assume immediately that they’re successful and trustworthy at first glance (Even if they’re not).
Appealing To Different Audiences
Have you ever seen a website or an ad that is just the farthest thing from your personal style?
Truth is: businesses spend a lot of time defining their target markets to try to impress us specifically.
What if you want to attract people from all different ages, backgrounds, and locations?
Rule of thumb: Keep it about your product or service, keep it clean, and keep it versatile.
Colors
Blue- Statistically appealing to both men and women. It’s associated with calm, loyalty, and trust. This is why a lot of social media platforms and commercial businesses use it!
Green- It reminds us all of a very prevalent part of our lives – Nature! It also stands out well against other colors.
Orange and Yellow- They imply haste. It’s often used for “limited time offers”. Yellow is somewhat unappealing in modern taste, but that’s why it pulls your glance.
Fonts
Picking a font to match your objective is a bigger deal than you might think.
Let’s look at what fonts appeal to different audiences:
Comic Sans – This font is one for the kids.
It’s used on children’s products, in children’s books, etc. If your product or
service isn’t geared towards children- please don’t use this font.
Baskerville Old Face – This font is used to give the feel that your business is reliable. That it’s old-fashioned and has roots.
Calibri – This font is more modern. The gain in popularity of this font is due to its versatile nature in the e-commerce industries. It gives the impression that everything is neat and clean. It’s definitely a go-to for new business owners.
Visual Appeal
You have the power to decide where the user’s eyes go and what they focus on.
We’ve all been conditioned to read books “left-right”, and nothing has changed when it comes to text anywhere else.
But what about websites? We scan in a “Z” pattern. Your strongest call to actions, arguments, and most important information should always be in the top left, middle, and bottom right to make sure people see it and focus heavily on it.
You can also control user habits with space. Having sections that have space between them alerts the user that it’s different (for all you skimmers out there – you know what I’m talking about)
Conclusion
There are many things about design that influences a customer’s opinion of your brand. Take note of these helpful tips and check back to our blog for more information on design and digital presence!
