Whether it’s a brand design, a building, a logo, a website, or software, good design is easy to recognise. It has just as much to do with how something works as to how it looks. If a product, website or advert looks good and does not function well our attention is quickly lost.
One basic principle of good design that has become an industry standard is that form follows function. The form, the font, the layout and the images of a webpage, for instance, are the form but they are secondary to its functionality.
As a marketing agency we never get a second chance to make a great first impression, but once that “wow factor” has died down, it’s the utility of a website that holds the attention. Users will spend more time on a website that is attractive and has a positive user experience.
Think of the design of the Google homepage. Google’s most important function is as a search engine and the search bar has centre stage in the design of the page. It looks good and it works really well.
Apple has been incredibly successful at creating products which have a high visual appeal and offer a fantastic user experience, causing their products to shine over many similar products from competitors (some of which actually have a higher spec than their Apple counterpart).
Notwithstanding, Apple has been accused of leaving the industry standard and sacrificing function on the altar of form, ie. giving design more importance than functionality. Take the removal of the 3.5mm headphone jack from the design of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, described by many as a rather unfriendly move in which their executives forced their design on the consumer. Yet, we have forgiven and forgotten and continue to buy Apple products because the overall experience is just sooo good!
The most successful adverts and websites are those that cleverly marry form and function. Have a look at some of these amazing ideas at canva.com.
At Cre8ion our design team gather as much information as we can about our clients’ needs and aims and what they want the function of their brand design/new advertising campaign/website to be before they even start to “design” its look and feel. Meeting the users’ needs and desires is, in the long term, more important to the success of our design for our client. If you are currently assessing your marketing needs our design team would be delighted to help.