How to Craft a Brand that Matters: Design for the People
Creating a brand that resonates with customers and investors isn’t easy. It takes time, research, and trial and error. Design is one of the most important components of any brand because it tells a story about who you are and what your purpose is. If you design for people first instead of designing for technology first, you create a brand that matters. Don’t get me wrong — design doesn’t create value per se. But it does act as an amplifier to someone else’s idea or message. You don’t need to be an expert designer to craft a brand that matters because there are plenty of affordable user-centered tools out there to help you brainstorm and prototype quickly. In this article, we explore key considerations when creating a user-centered design process for your brand, from identifying stakeholder needs to iterating towards a final solution.
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What is User-Centered Design?
User-centered design is a process that aims to create products and services that are intended for, and designed with, the users — the people who will use them — in mind. When you design with users in mind, you understand the needs and wants of both the product and the people using it. For example, a user-centered design process for a new product or feature will involve researching users to understand their needs. Once you have those needs identified, you can use those insights to determine what features are needed and how they can be delivered.
The Importance of Stakeholder Engagement
Engaging stakeholders — those who will be affected by the outcome of your design process — is essential to ensuring a successful brand. You need to involve stakeholders in the process so they can provide input, expertise, and feedback to help you create a solution that works for your users. You can engage stakeholders in the following ways: – Collaborating with stakeholders – Engaging stakeholders in your product design process means they can help you determine whether your design is meeting their needs. If you want your brand to create value for your stakeholders, it’s important to include them in the process. They know your business and product better than anyone else. If you’re designing a product that affects the health, wellbeing, or financial security of your end users, you owe it to them to design for them first.
Define your Brand Purpose Before you Decide on a Product
Before you start designing the functionality of your product, it’s important to define your brand purpose. If you don’t do this first, you will most likely design a product with a purpose that’s at odds with your brand, or worse — you may be creating a product with no purpose at all. The first thing you need to do is to define your brand purpose. Your brand purpose defines the reason your brand exists, and it can be used to guide your product decisions, including your product features and functionality. For example, let’s say your purpose is to provide financial security to people in the form of a retirement plan. If you want to design an account aggregation product, you would want to make sure that you include features that help users achieve their financial security goals.
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Determine the primary user group for your brand
Next, you need to determine the primary user group for your brand. Depending on what you sell, your primary user group can change a little bit. For example, if you sell gym memberships, your primary user group will be gym users. But if you sell health supplements, your primary user group will be health-conscious individuals. It’s important to understand the primary user group for your brand so you can design for them directly. A user-centered design process for a new product or feature will involve researching your primary user group to understand their needs. Once you have those needs identified, you can use those insights to determine what features are needed and how they can be delivered.
Make sure to include users in all your iterations
User-centered design is a process that aims to create products and services that are intended for, and designed with, the users — the people who will use them — in mind. When you design with users in mind, you understand the needs and wants of both the product and the people using it. You can’t design solutions for stakeholders or customers if you don’t understand their needs and wants first. Designing solutions that solve stakeholders’ problems is great, but you can’t expect stakeholders to care about your design and solutions if you don’t care about them as human beings first. A user-centered design process for a new product or feature will involve researching your stakeholders to understand their needs. Once you have those needs identified, you can use those insights to determine what features are needed and how they can be delivered.
Wrapping It Up
Building a brand that matters begins with the thoughtful design of a product or service that resonates with your customers. If you design for people first, you create a brand that matters. This means engaging stakeholders, conducting user research, and designing solutions that solve real problems for your end users. User-centered design is a process that aims to create products and services that are intended for, and designed with, the users — the people who will use them — in mind. When you design with users in mind, you understand the needs and wants of both the product and the people using it.