How Corporate Design Influences Appearance in Online Business
Every large company typically has a distinctive visual identity. Colors, shapes, typography, and design shape its external image. How important is what’s known as corporate design for a company?
Website, flyer, catalog, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and co. have one thing in common: they are the ideal advertising mix for a company. It is obvious to give them a look with recognition value. Depending on the medium, the space for this is sometimes larger and sometimes smaller. While the website, blog or printed catalog offers sufficient space for information, offers, store, competitions, location map and contact details, Twitter offers a pitiful 140 characters. The microblog thus reduces the information to its core.
Components of success
The time factor dominates business and private activities. Efficiency and creativity are the power couple for success at every level. Seen from this perspective, the components of a well thought-out corporate design become even more important, especially for online business. Under the umbrella of central corporate management, corporate identity, corporate design together with corporate communication forms the basis of brand identity. What are the components of corporate design?
Logo, typography and color selection
The logo is the well-functioning key to recognizing a company without a doubt. It works without mentioning the company name and does not require any letters. A popular logo immediately associates the associated company with the viewer. Without the brand, the logo loses its value. Only the brand fills the logo with life and gives it meaning.
Proportions are important when selecting the font. Ideally, the chosen font size and typeface form a harmonious whole that is equally pleasant to read and understand on the website and in traditional print media. A combination of different fonts for the corporate design belongs in the hands of a good typographer. A restless typeface quickly blurs the clear message of information.
Determining the colors and color combinations is also of central importance, because colors in themselves already characterize a company and the way it operates. No matter which colors are chosen: They embody the company's philosophy and strategy. Just as an observer judges his counterpart in a few seconds, he draws his conclusions from the company colors. These do not necessarily have to come from the established color spectrum. The human eye reacts particularly well to natural tones and mixed colors, which tend to be used less frequently.
Brand, quality, publicity and corporate culture
The brand name stands for the value of the company in its field of activity. The strength of a brand is based on credibility and customer trust. The better a company fulfills the needs of its customers, the stronger the brand name becomes. This process depends to a large extent on product quality and the entire spectrum of customer service. Increasingly, the focus is also shifting to questions of sustainability, environmental compatibility and a company's social commitment.
The quality of the products or services is at the forefront of every external presentation. It is also about the respectful treatment of customers and suppliers and all the details of the business transaction. These aspects influence the content and design of the website and print media.
Every company has its customers in mind first and foremost. The loyal community of regular customers is particularly valuable. In addition, there is another group: all those who identify with the products, services, philosophy and corporate goals. The latter represent an important potential of new and regular customers. In order to retain customers, regular customers and future customers, a company needs innovative products, first-class customer service and excellent communication channels. The website is the perfect tool to stay in touch with this community quickly and efficiently. Brand name and image are strongly consolidated in this way. This is the level of word-of-mouth propaganda, which has always been seen as one of the key factors in a company's success. Today, it is the influencers who test and recommend products on their websites and direct interested parties to the company's website via a link.
It encompasses the customs, language style, knowledge, values and characteristics of a company when dealing with its customers and interested parties in external and internal relations. Here, the company strives for congruence, which does not necessarily have to be the case. Ultimately, the community has a much higher value if it swims on the same wave as the company.
The red thread
Corporate design is just as binding for the virtual world of online business as it is for traditional print media such as business cards. A user-friendly website is also characterized by a clear look and language. Its particularly valued virtues include easy navigation, easy-to-understand content and a harmonious design. If all these requirements are met, users will stay longer on the electronic site and absorb more information about the company.
The author Jasmin Schmidt is an editor at the online printing company Overnightprints. Research on industry developments in the printing sector, new printing technologies, marketing strategies with print media and climate-neutral production are among the preferred subject areas.
Image: Pixabay; Alexander Stein
