5 Reasons Why Consistency in Design Is So Important For Your Business
Many things in life are a balancing act. For a lot of us, seeking out the perfect work, rest, play ratio, is a lifelong pursuit. We’re advised to eat a well-balanced diet, getting all the necessary nutrients in the right quantities. It can also be hard knowing when to prioritise our own needs or the needs of others. The world of design is no exception.
Designers are constantly negotiating the line between innovation and consistency. Innovation is certainly the more glamorous prospect of the two. It is new, exciting and grabs attention; it is what makes designs stand out from the crowd! Consistency may seem like the boring counterpart. But, in the same way that a diet full of cake and no vegetables wouldn’t be good for you, designs full of innovation and no consistency do not benefit businesses.
Before we delve into 5 reasons why design consistency is so important and beneficial for businesses, let’s first discuss what it is.
What Is Design Consistency?
The Cambridge Dictionary definition of consistency is:
“the quality of always behaving or performing in a similar way, or of always happening in a similar way.”
Therefore, design consistency is when all the elements of a design act in a similar way. For example, if all the call to action buttons on your website are purple and round, or all your headings are in a CAPITALISED TIMES NEW ROMAN FONT, that would be considered consistent design. Consistent design within branding isn’t just limited to your website. The same principles should apply throughout your social content, printed media and beyond.
Removes Confusion
Great design isn’t just about aesthetics. You could own a beautiful chair which is incredibly uncomfortable to sit on. What would be the point? It just becomes a rather expensive and space-invading ornament. Effective design fulfils a practical purpose.
The practical purpose of web design is to provide customers with a seamless user experience (UX), whereby they can action the tasks or access the information they require in the simplest way possible. You can achieve this through consistent design.
Let’s rewind…in the early 20th century, a new school of thought emerged called Gestalt Psychology. The psychologists pioneering the movement were interested in how we as humans perceive the world around us. Their research suggests that we tend to look at the whole first before the individual parts i.e. we read a word rather than its letters or see a face rather than a nose, brows, eyes and lips. When a “whole” is complex, we try to make sense of it by making associations and seeking out patterns.
This pattern-seeking behaviour is explained within the six Gestalt principles. The second of those principles is similarity. The law of similarity suggests that we tend to group objects or design elements that share some similar — or consistent — properties such as colour, orientation, shape, size or texture. Since their inception, designers across various art forms have relied on the Gestalt principles to improve their designs. Web designers included.
When visiting a website, most of us know that to get back to a homepage, you click the logo. Or, to access the main menu, you click on the hamburger icon (3 vertically stacked horizontal lines) or a kebab icon (3 vertically stacked dots). These methods of navigation are used across the world wide web. Through consistent design, we have learnt to instinctively and confidently navigate websites we haven’t even visited before.
This law of similarity can and should be applied right down to the miniature details of your website. If all of your call to action buttons are round and orange, it provides autonomy for the user. They know if they click it, the words on the button get actioned. However, if they are round and orange on one page but square and purple on another, it can be confusing and make the user second-guess themselves.
If a user finds your website confusing or it takes too long to find what they need or complete the desired action, they will ultimately bounce and go elsewhere. Consistent web design makes the user experience (UX) more straightforward and enjoyable, keeping visitors there for longer!
Visually Pleasing
Consistency in design looks good. The Cotswolds and Bath are deemed some of the most idyllic places in the UK. All of the buildings are made from Cotswold and Bath stone respectively and the resulting uniformity creates a sense of harmony, which pleases the eye. From architects to web designers, practitioners across all art forms have sworn by consistency in design, to increase the aesthetic appeal of their work.
But why is consistent design so visually pleasing? In the early 2000s, Rolf Reber — a Professor of Psychology at the University of Oslo — carried out a study to answer the question: “is beauty in the perceiver's processing experience?” They found that objects that were easy to comprehend elicited a “positive… aesthetic response.”
According to the aforementioned Gestalt principles, we (humans) use similarity to gain understanding and make sense of the world around us. So, to very rudimentarily connect all the dots, a consistent design is easier to comprehend and that which is easier to comprehend, is more aesthetic. Therefore: Consistency = Comprehension = Beauty.
Let’s just caveat the above equation! Consistency isn’t the only determining factor of whether a design is beautiful or not. Continuing the theme of architecture, you can have a set of uniform buildings that are ugly! The individual elements have to be beautiful in and of themselves.
Context is another factor to be considered. For instance, being made from local stone, the buildings in the Cotswolds and Bath look as if they belong and are at one with the surrounding landscape. Nevertheless, consistency does play its part. Perhaps the above equation could be better written: consistency leads to comprehension which contributes to aesthetic appeal!
Great! But what are the benefits to beautiful web design, beyond being nice to look at? Professor Semir Zeki “is one of the world’s foremost experts in understanding how the brain responds to visual stimuli.” He has dedicated particular focus to “how the brain experiences various forms of beauty.”
In his paper Toward A Brain-Based Theory of Beauty, he reports that when people experience something they deem beautiful (audible or visual), the medial orbito-frontal cortex becomes active. This part of the brain is associated with pleasure and reward. To summarise, Zeki’s findings show that beauty is rewarded. The brain does this with the release of dopamine.
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter also known as the feel-good chemical. When we do an activity or task we enjoy, it gets released and creates a good feeling afterwards. The right balance of it can make us feel happy, motivated, alert and focussed - a wonderful state to be in! Naturally, that makes us want to repeat the task at hand and experience it all over again.
So if beauty is rewarded with dopamine, what effect does a beautiful website have? A visitor enjoys what they see and has a rewarding user experience, it leaves them wanting more, thus encouraging them to repeat and return for further custom. A beautiful (consistent) web design is more than just a pretty user interface! It can drive action and lead to all-important conversions.
Creates Brand Recognition
If great design has to not only look good but fulfil a practical purpose, what is the purpose of brand design then? To create a visual identity that captures the beating heart of your brand and makes you stand out in a crowded market.
When you are in the process of designing your branding, you can let innovation run wild! You want a visual identity that is fresh and distinguishes your brand against your competitors. However, once you have established and introduced your branding, you want to keep it consistent in order to cement your business’s identity.
Take some of the biggest brands in the world. What is the McDonald’s logo? Instantly, we think of the iconic golden arches. What is the Starbucks logo? A green mermaid. Just like that, we are able to describe them in detail. Visual consistency and repetition makes it easier for customers to recognise and remember brands, keeping them at the forefront of their mind.
If a business’s branding is inconsistent, it can raise doubts over their identity. Imagine you are on a road trip. You are hungry and looking to stop off somewhere for food. You see a big “M” in the distance. It is the same shaped “M” as McDonalds, but this time it is blue. You would probably question whether that was a legit McDonalds or not. As a result, most of us would probably drive on, not thru! Which nicely segues us to…
Builds Trust
We tend to trust what is familiar. It all comes back to basal survival instinct. The outer layer of our brain, called the neocortex, consists of many groups of neurons called pattern recognizers. We seek out patterns to establish whether something is safe. We tend to be more cautious around things we don’t know, in case they pose a danger to us.
Take berry picking for example. Many of us would feel confident picking strawberries and eating them. However, it is instilled in us not to pick and eat berries we don’t recognise, in case they are poisonous.
The same psychology applies in business. According to a study by Red C Marketing, “When asking respondents about the brand they chose when tackling a search task, a huge majority of searches (82%) resulted in them opting for a brand they were familiar with as first choice.”
When it comes to buying products or enlisting services, customers want to avoid risk, be it financial, health or safety. They are more likely to buy a product with a logo they have seen hundreds of times before. It shows that a business has stood the test of time, proving to be reputable. By being consistent in your design and messaging, you build up a log of evidence and familiarity, earning trust.
In a previous point, we discussed how visual consistency is pleasing to the eye. If something looks harmonious and well put together, it is synonymous with professionalism and reliability. Customers will more readily trust the quality of your services and products. Inconsistency can be interpreted as disorganised or unprofessional. It can make prospective customers doubt your capability to deliver.
Saves Time and Money
Consistent design saves time and money. Once you have done all the hard work consolidating your visual branding, all creative parties have a baseline from which to work from every time they create content. With a list of predefined logos, colour palettes, typography, photographs and imagery, they can create on-brand visuals quickly and with ease. Time and money is saved by not having to start from scratch every time!
You also save your customers’ time. With an intuitive user experience (UX), they are able to find what they want or need quicker. If they feel like you value their time, that builds trust. Trust cultivates action and you earn more money!
Conclusion
There you have it, 5 reasons why consistency in design is so beneficial for businesses. Consistent design increases understanding and removes confusion. Designs that are consistent and easy to comprehend have been proven to contribute to greater visual appeal. By being consistent in your brand image, your business becomes more recognisable and builds trust. Finally, it saves your business time and money by not having to go back to square one every time you create content.
Design consistency can be easily achieved and maintained through a Brand Style Guide; learn how to piece one together here. If you feel like your brand or online image has become inconsistent and would like some help refining it, the team at Made by Dave would love to hear from you.