Oliver Reichenstein — Thu, 17 May 2007 17:32:55 GMT

Andrea,

Very interesting article. I fully agree with part 2 and I agree with most points of part 1. However, I have strong doubts on the way you define branding and separate content, usability and branding from each other:

“Branding:
The site provides visitors with an engaging and memorable experience.
Graphics, collaterals and multimedia add value to the experience.”

I think a website provides an engaging and memorable experience if it is
a) identifiable in its character purpose and value
b) pleasing
c) memorable
It is easily identifiable if it has a clear purpose that it communicates, if it is consistent in its appearance, and if follows the guidelines of corporate design if it belongs to a bigger corporation.
It is memorable it solved my problem quicker and better than expected.
Graphics and multimedia should follow the corporate guidelines and be highly relevant if used within contents. If they’re used just to please the user they create mistrust and annoyance.

“Usability
The site prevents errors and helps the user recover from them.
The site helps its visitors accomplish common goals and tasks.”

From my experience usability is a crucial element of the overall brand experience. If you go to a website that doesn’t work, you have a bad brand experience. First of all it needs to work. People hardly pay attention to design. They feel it, but they don’t really notice it. Design is important though, as it’s critical in the first few seconds, where the user decides to stay or go. Good design doesn’t mean the user stays. Again here usability is more important, but it helps building trust during the first judgment on the quality of the website.

Usability tests deliver good results within the test environments, they hardly assess one crucial moment of user experience: The first sight and the question: Should I stay or should I go. This moment is hard to test.

That’s maybe why usability consultants started developing interest for branding and design in general (see Norman). Coming from a big brand company it’s quite refreshing to see a usability expert get all excited about the matter:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=56548785834474352…

“Content
Link density provides clarity and easy navigation.
Content is structured in a way that facilitates the achievement of user goals.
Content is appropriate to customer needs and business goals.”

Again here the separation and usability and content is quite fuzzy. Structuring content is not content, it’s IA, and as such rather a matter usability. Maybe I misread the separation, but I’d understand the three categories more like this:

Brand > Usability > Content – And yet that’s still not quite correct.

What’s my point? In as short as I can:
1. Contemporary branding = interface (of a company or product – depending on weather you look at corporate branding or product branding), as nowadays brand is defined as an overall experience one makes in connection with a product. Best, i.e. most memorable and marketable (inciting word of mouth) experiences are interactive ones.
2. The interface is first of all a matter of usability. Products need to work. In the end the Interfaces get skinned adapting corporate guidelines. But only bad corporate guidelines intrude on the product.
3. An interactive product doesn’t need too much skinning, its Interface shapes through the inert functionality of what it’s built for (see craigslist, delicious, ebay, reddit).
4. The Internet has changed and will continue to change our understanding of quality, brand and communication. And – at least form the consumer’s point of view – in a good way.
5. Brand experience IS measurable. With web stats and usability tests on one side and by crosschecking with the corporate design manual on the other side.
6. Brand is still widely misunderstood as a superficial discipline that starts with the logo, leads into an expensive brand manual that costs millions defining a couple of grids, colors and fonts and ends with an emotional ad on TV.
7. Brand on the Internet does not equal to special graphic effects. The most special effect a website can make is that it’s useful and easy to use. If in plus it looks good. That’s branding. Branding and usability are not contradictory. They used to be quarreling twins. But they have grown up and now they can’t be without each other anymore.

Well that was not so short… Anyway, I hope I’ve not been too intrusive with my little speech here. But I am excited about that matter for over 4 years now, and as I am currently writing a book on usability and branding, I think this articles and the comment section provide a wonderful opportunity to get more insights in a matter that is widely ignored.

Boxes and Arrows: Comments by Oliver Reichenstein