Design in eCommerce – how to convey your company’s values

You all have an idea of how you want to run and present your online business. This is reflected, for example, in your corporate culture, communication and the appearance of your brand. The logo, visual language and design of your store should therefore always be consciously selected and coordinated. A uniform look not only creates recognition value and sets you apart from your competitors, but also conveys stability and professionalism.

There is a lot to consider when it comes to the actual design. In addition to the question of what appeals at first glance, it is primarily about which messages ultimately reach (potential) customers. Your company’s corporate design visualizes values and conveys what your brand and your products stand for – even subconsciously. It is not without reason that an insurance company, for example, has a completely different image to a provider of children’s toys.

We want to help you get the best out of your brand. In the following, we will therefore introduce you to the three design principles of color, typography and form and how you can use them to achieve the desired effect.

The design principles

Color:

The color scheme is a good way to control what your company represents, because it accounts for 90 percent of the spontaneous assessment of a brand*. For example, when you think of a bar of chocolate with a cow or a Swedish furniture chain, you probably have very specific colors in mind. But it’s about much more than just recognition value.

The human brain associates certain attributes with each color:

• The color red stands for passion, energy and happiness, among other things. One example of this is the Ferrari brand, which stands for passion like no other.
• We associate blue with credibility and reliability. It is not for nothing that a company like Deutsche Bank has chosen this color.
• Yellow conveys optimism, communication and warmth – attributes that DHL wants to be associated with.
• We find naturalness, relaxation and hope in the color green, as with the Frosch brand.
• Black stands for strength, elegance and conservatism – values that Mercedes wants to radiate.

When selecting the color, it is important to pay attention to contrasts. Check whether shapes and contours are clearly visible and whether the text is still easy to read.

Typography:

With typography, you can use your corporate design to convey messages that colors do not, such as modernity or classicism. For example, a company that offers traditionally made, high-quality pizza in an upscale atmosphere will present itself differently from a fast food chain that sells American-style pizza for a quick snack.

Even though the range of different fonts is hard to keep track of, most of them can be classified into one of the following four categories:

1. Serifs: Fonts in which the letters have thin lines or hooks at the end are known as serif fonts. We associate this with stability, tradition and knowledge, which Wikipedia, for example, makes use of in the design of its logo.
2. Serifed: These thin lines can be particularly pronounced, as in the Volvo brand logo. Here we think of properties such as persevering, powerful, masculine.
3. Sans serif: If a font does not have these lines, we speak of a sans serif font. This has a more modern, open and progressive look – such as the logo of the Nike shoe brand.
4. Script: Some fonts are based on handwriting and are not suitable for continuous text because they are difficult to read. However, they are often used for logos because we perceive them as creative, fun and romantic. A good example of this is Disney’s lettering, which is recognized even by small children who have not yet learned to read.

You should ask yourself the following questions before deciding on a font for your brand design: Does it suit my company? Is it legible? Are there any licensing issues to be clarified?

Shape

Of all three attributes, the shape is the most memorable. Most of you can probably spontaneously recall the logos of Adidas or Apple in your mind’s eye. When choosing the shape for your logo, you should also ask yourself whether it represents your business and what it stands for. You also need to make sure that it is small in size. – e.g.. on a business card – be easily recognizable. The recognition value for your target group also plays a decisive role.

How corporate design is created - an example

In the following, we would like to use a fictitious example to show you what the development process for a corporate design could look like. We have come up with an online business for alcoholic beverages with a target group of people between the ages of 18 and 39.

We start with the shape, as this is the most memorable of the three design principles. Through the association chain alcohol > Liquid > “Good drop“ in conjunction with an element of drinking alcohol (swirling the glass), the logo shape of the drop is created with swirling lines that lend dynamism to the whole.

In the next step, we decide on the color blue (liquid) in combination with brownish tones (rum, whiskey, cognac, etc.), combined with a dark shade of blue. This creates the necessary contrast and can be used well for continuous text on a white background.

When it comes to typography, it is always helpful to try out and compare which font best suits the shape and your Good. We opt for a modern font with a high recognition value that picks up on the flowing and curved nature of the shape and the products.

Now we have the opportunity to use our logo as the basis for an extension and to depict different product categories. To do this, we can change the shape and color of the logo to reflect the respective attributes of the categories, but retain the basic shape of the drop.

We have thus created the basis for an overall concept and can use it to promote our brand holistically:

Now it's your turn!

Take a close look at your corporate design and check whether the color, typography and form reflect what you want to convey. If you see potential for optimization, you can find support from our service partners, for example. We wish you continued success!