Identity Design

A product's identity communicates its values and permeates both its information architecture and its interaction design, but is separate from them. It is the style, the feeling, the vibe of a Web site. It's what makes it memorable and what makes it unique. In some cases, it rivals the importance of the product's functionality (though, as proved by many marketing campaigns that failed to overcome bad functionality, it's rarely more important). The identity is the combination of what a site does, how it looks, what associations it evokes, its editorial voice, and how it emphasizes certain features over others.

• Some elements that play a role in determining a site's identity include the way that text copy on a site is written. This conveys a lot about the site's values. Is it funny? Is it technical? Is it condescending? These factors make up the editorial voice of the site.

• Consistent visual themes can create an element of recognition for a site or for a group of sites. For example, nearly all of CNET properties have a yellow background with green highlights and the round red logo somewhere. This combination is recognized by most people once they've used one of CNET's sites for a while. They can even make the connection if they end up on a CNET site they've never seen. It's also possible to maintain an identity through more basic visual consistency.

• The features a site emphasizes also tell its clients where it's coming from. Two sites may have both shopping cart features and a bulletin board, but the impression people will have of the site that puts the bulletin board front and center will be totally different from the one that puts the shopping cart as its main focus.

• The Nike site is obviously related to an existing identity and brand by its association with an existing brand. The signals of online brand association are the same as those that defined the brand offline: the logos, the colors, the slogans, the vibe, and so on.

Identity Designers

The identity designer's job is to communicate an identity for the site that's distinctive from its competition and consistent with the company's other products. Though the identity designer's job is closely related to the marketing of the site, there's one key difference: the identity designer aims to make an enjoyable and unique experience on the site and to make it memorable when people are not using it, not to convince them to try it for the first time.

Information Needs of Identity Designers

The information needs of the identity designer are similar to those of the marketing research department. There are some key differences, however, since designers are more concerned with the immediate experience of the product rather than the perception of its brand or its prevalence in the market. Thus, identity designers need information about people's immediate emotional responses and how well they remember the product later. Assuming that a target audience for the product is defined, here's what they'll need to know about it.

• The competitive strengths of the product relative to others in its class. This tells the identity designer what features to emphasize since these are the things that the product does better than its competitors.

• The direction of the users' attention. This includes what people see when they look at the interface, what they ignore, and what they consider to be the important parts of the interaction.

• Who the current users are. This includes how they compare with the demographic and Web use makeup of the target market and what they like, dislike, and remember about it.

• What kinds of references and associations they prefer and understand. For example, people over 50 tend not to like bright colors as much as teenagers.

Useful Tools

The goal of identity design is to create a satisfying, memorable user experience, both immediately and in the long run. Thus, the tools are similar to market research tools, and the results can be both shared with marketers and (sometimes) obtained from them.

• Focus groups are one of the fastest ways to find out which things are most attractive about a product. They provide information about both where people's attention goes and what their preferences are.

• Surveys can determine the demographic and Web use makeup of the existing audience. It's difficult to determine potential audiences with them, but they're quite good at figuring out who is using a product, and if they're using any competing or complementary products. This information can then be used with interviews to determine why users choose the products that they're using.

• Competitive analysis can be used to create a list of features that competitive products have, which can then be used for research to find out which of those features are most valuable. Competitive research is covered in Chapter 14.