Thinking about your Branding - Implications of Web Design

Most companies would prefer their website image to co-ordinate with their other branding - their logo, colour scheme, fonts, headed paper, brochures etc.

Now as a graphic designer you have millions of options with print - almost unlimited variations in fonts, colours and layout options - unfortunately only a tiny fraction of these options are available to web designers - so the web severely restricts your creativity.

Therefore the ideal senario for branding is to look at the restrictions imposed by the web and work from there.

Some web site design restrictions and search engine optimisation considerations when looking at your branding:

Use of Text and Images:

It is fair to say that logos etc often do not use common web fonts, therefore they have to be images on web pages. This is often because graphic designers do their thing in isolation and then web designers come along after the brand is built and have to make the best of it. One consequence of this can be a lack of continuity of design on the web page as the main brand font cannot be matched except by using more images.

Fonts:
Websites use fonts available on the web site visitors machine - so the general principle to follow is to only use the few fonts that are generally common to all - in practice this means stick to Arial, Verdana or Times New Roman. Some variation of letter spacing, word spacing and line spacing is possible.
Words should be words not pictures:
As a general principle of web design - words should be in html text (not graphics) where possible. There are variety of reasons for this including disability accessibility and search engine optimisation. Therefore ideally any words in a logo, slogan or other important branding feature should use the common fonts available on the web so they can be html text rather than an image.
Alt (Alternative text) tags:
A few descriptive words are normally attached to any images (called alt tags) so you could use images to maintain your brand presentation and put all the words in the alt tag. The search engines will be able to read the alt tag. BUT words in alt tags have the lowest value of importance of all words on a web page to search engines. So if search engine performance is important it is clearly better to use text and not images for words which matter to give us a better opportunity of maximising search engine performance.
Hidden text:
I have heard the use of images justified by statements like "you can hide all the words you want on web pages for the search engines" BUT hiding words is the sort of behaviour specifically frowned upon by the search engines and can get you penalised. Think of it this way - search engines aim to truly represent the content a visitor can see in their searches - so any attempt at deceiving them (such as hiding words so the search engine sees them but visitors do not) is viewed by them accordingly when they spot it. This sort of deception can work, but is risky and therefore not to be recommended.

Colour Palette

The web uses what is referred to as the web safe colour palette:
this is a limited main palette of 256 colours (although variation out side this is usually possible with care) as opposed to the millions available for print. So most colours used by printers are not available to web designers. There are mostly no equivalents to pantone colours on the web so don't expect to quote pantone colours to web designers - you will need RGB or HEX values.
Contrast:
Poor screens (ie most screens, especially laptops and flat screens) require high contrast between forground and background colours. This affects the use of colour for text and in practice means you cannot use pale colours on pale backgrounds or dark colours on dark backgrounds.
Colour matching Images to text and backgrounds:
This is where the web safe palette has the most impact. Colours on images and colours on text and backgrounds must use the web safe palette to match.

Web Page Layout

Options for layout of web pages are basic at best. Print is a static medium - layout is fixed and only has to suit the content of the printed page at that one point in time. Websites are a moving, evolving medium which has to cope with:

content now, next week, next month and probably next year
variable screen sizes
variable browsers
variable web enabled technologies

Missed Opportunities

It is a great shame when web site opportunities are missed because brands are set in isolation without understanding the impact of web design. Web designers often seem to find themselves having to deliver second best to fit in with graphics and branding because decisions are made and expectations set without considering the requirements of the web.

It is just so unnecessary.

Regards

Michael Spencer, Managing Director.
michael@epsilis.co.uk
Epsilis - Website Designers
47 Farthing Drive
Letchworth Garden City
Hertfordshire (Herts)
SG6 2TR
UK

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