Brand Building Website w/ Character & Value
Character
Does your brand have character? Infusing your brand with a little personality can help you define what it stands for.
Is the brand all about stability and safety so that your customers can be sure to rely on you? Is the brand fun and down to earth?
Many people in commercialized societies use products and brands to define themselves, so shape your brand’s character towards something which your audience will like to associate themselves with.
Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human qualities and characteristics to other things, like animals or objects. Infusing your brand with anthropomorphic elements is a good way to give it character.
Think about the icon for the “Finder” application on Mac OS X. It’s a blue square with a distinctive smiling face drawn with a few black lines.
The program it represents is a file browser, but by giving it human characteristics the designers give it a soul.
Another great example is the Outlaw Design blog which sticks to a strong Wild West theme throughout the design with a unique mix of wooden textures and flat illustrations, branding itself very effectively:
Value proposition
When a visitor arrives on your site for the first time they take the first few seconds to orient themselves. Is this the right site? Does this look interesting? What is this all about? To answer these questions you should provide a clear and concise value proposition to your visitor.
This value proposition should be a short statement in a prominent location on your page. It should preferably be located next to the site’s logo so that when a new visitor reads the title of the site or business they’ll follow on to the value proposition.
In a few words explain exactly what benefit your site provides to the visitor, so that they’ll know not only what your site is about, but why they should keep using it.
Rob Sartain’s Prime Cut Design has a great value proposition in the header of their site. It’s highly visible, concise, and clear; and it covers both, the ‘what’ and the ‘why’:
