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Creating a Consistent Visual Hook For Your Site

9 August 2021
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Visuals are one of the most important parts of creating a website. That's why establishing some level of consistency in your visual design is crucial. Just saying, "I'd like some images on my pages!" won't cut it if you hope to have a site you're proud of.

All of this to say that, when building a website, you need to aim for consistency in appearance over flash without substance. If you look at many amateur websites and even some belonging to major companies, you'll find a heavily disjointed mess of visuals and colours all fighting to be seen. In the end, they largely cancel out and become an indistinguishable slop.

Balancing your visual assets while creating a unique hook that's all your own is the top priority. If you do this, your brand will flourish as more people start to remember you, letting your products scale and your brand loyalty grow. This can't happen, though, unless you start looking at the bigger picture.

A brand's visual identity goes beyond simple logos and pictures; it's all of these different elements working together, not against one another. If you can capture this feeling, you'll have yourself a website that's easy on the eyes and a unique selling point for your brand. That's all easier said than done, of course, otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation to begin with. Let's break down some of these ideas so that you have a better grasp on how to create a consistent visual hook for your site.

Understanding Visual Identity for Business

There's a lot of ways you can start down the path of crafting your business' visual identity. From our perspective, the Google Ventures Brand Sprint is a great place to start. In just three hours, you'll have a much clearer idea of the values that make up your brand and the personality of your product. With this, you can better tailor your visuals to these elements and create a cohesive whole.

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Visual Identity from a Design Standpoint

Part of designing good visuals is knowing what to base those designs on and around. The GV Brand Sprint is useful here, too, since you'll have nailed down these aspects through the program. With the resulting document, you'll have everything you'll need to figure out what kind of illustrations and the like your company can benefit from.

Crafting a Unique Visual Identity

A visual identity is the culmination of the different visual elements that make up your page. There's way too much to go into for picking colour palettes, choosing the right fonts, crafting a tone, and more, but we do have a short list of things that can help you start out. When crafting your visual identity, pay attention to how these parts work together, clash, and the overall feeling they give to your brand:

  1. Logos
  2. Fonts
  3. Image & Illustration Style
  4. Colour Palette

Figuring out what you want for these elements is the hard part, but it's just as important to stay consistent. When working with your teams, make sure everyone is on the same page with the different parts of your visual identity, otherwise you'll end up with a discordant and inconsistent website from page-to-page.

decked out image

decked out image

decked out image

decked out image

Focus in on Each Element

Now we can get a little more in-depth on the individual elements we just listed. Let's take a look at each and discuss what about them makes them important, as well as what you can do to tailor them to your brand and products.

Logos

It's no exaggeration to say the logo you choose might be one of the most crucial decisions you ever make for your company. The logo is what people will see when they think of your company. It's what sets the tone of your business and what it offers at a glance. Memorable logos make memorable companies, so an unimpressive or off-putting one does the same.

The key to a good logo is to be simple without simplifying so much that you become unmemorable. Think of the most popular brands available now and how they've crafted their image. Many of them feature standout colours, unique shapes, and good integration with their brand's name. These are all things you can take for your own logo design that will help you get recognised.

Fonts

You can't ignore how much font plays a part in a good visual style. Beyond the obvious like avoiding Comic Sans or Wingdings, your main criteria for a font should be that it's easily readable. Even the most elegant typography isn't all that important if your customers can't decipher what's on their screen. While aesthetics shouldn't be entirely dismissed — matching the general "feeling" of a font to the "feeling" of your site's style is great — it's still crucial that you select a typeface that's skimmable at a glance and accessible for those with poorer eyesight. It would also be helpful to select a font that's common among platforms like Google, as that saves you the time in installing custom fonts and allows you to keep the same style across sites and products.

Focus in on Each Element  Now we can get a little more in-depth on the individual elements we just listed. Let's take a look at each and discuss what about them makes them important, as well as what you can do to tailor them to your brand and products.  Logos  It's no exaggeration to say the logo you choose might be one of the most crucial decisions you ever make for your company. The logo is what people will see when they think of your company. It's what sets the tone of your business and what it offers at a glance. Memorable logos make memorable companies, so an unimpressive or off-putting one does the same.  The key to a good logo is to be simple without simplifying so much that you become unmemorable. Think of the most popular brands available now and how they've crafted their image. Many of them feature standout colours, unique shapes, and good integration with their brand's name. These are all things you can take for your own logo design that will help you get recognised.  Fonts  You can't ignore how much font plays a part in a good visual style. Beyond the obvious like avoiding Comic Sans or Wingdings, your main criteria for a font should be that it's easily readable. Even the most elegant typography isn't all that important if your customers can't decipher what's on their screen. While aesthetics shouldn't be entirely dismissed — matching the general "feeling" of a font to the "feeling" of your site's style is great — it's still crucial that you select a typeface that's skimmable at a glance and accessible for those with poorer eyesight. It would also be helpful to select a font that's common among platforms like Google, as that saves you the time in installing custom fonts and allows you to keep the same style across sites and products.

Image & Illustration Style

The images and illustrations used on your site are a fantastic way to make your brand and its products look more appealing. On a basic level, pictures are a great way to break up walls of text in long articles or other pieces of content. On another, they can be crucial sources of information on how products work. They're also just nice to look at and can make your company seem more appealing on a basic aesthetic level.

Choosing the right images to use on your site is its own challenge, though, particularly when it comes to style. Finding the right assets or artist to help you make your illustrations can be hard, especially if you've got a very particular idea about what you want. Even photography has its own style considerations. Finding your style, especially one that works in tandem with the rest of your visuals, is going to be important for creating a cohesive look for the brand. Overall, try to balance what you want with what's feasible, as flying too high too fast usually leads to disaster.

Colour Palette

Choosing the right colour palette for your brand really helps set the tone. Read up on colour theory to better understand what colours are generally used to represent and how they work together. By doing this, you can control the feeling your site gives off. If you offer multiple services, you could also try colour-coding different sections of the site, helping to keep them all distinct from one another while still having them share some basic design elements.

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