How to inject brand personality in to web sites using content strategy, user personas and style tiles.

1. A little bit of heart
and soul
Putting personality into your online
presence to really engage
with your visitors.
Written, illustrated and produced by

2. Your brand’s personality
How you act.
What you say.
What you look like.
And what do you
stand for?

3. Personality is good for business.
Emotional and psychological factors are known to
drive choices and encourage loyalty.
Brand-connected customers are more likely to seek
you out and recommend you to others.

4. How does your brand make your customers feel?

5. Your web site: their first impression.

6. Your web site: your brand’s online hub.
Facebook Twitter
LinkedIn Google+
Other networks Pinterest
Your content presented the way you want it.

7. Does your web site reflect
your brand’s personality?
Or is it like your competitors?
The same colours, fonts, visual style,
copy, stock images...
Another web site Another web site Another web site Another web site
Yep, it’s pretty much a Yep, it’s pretty much a Yep, it’s pretty much a Yep, it’s pretty much a
template! template! template! template!

8. Your brand is unique.
“How do we stand out?”

9. Because even a small business has a
brand personality.
Traditional
Reliable
Assured
Authoritative

10. ...even a micro business has a brand
personality.
Friendly
Professional
Honest
Trustworthy

11. Where to start?
What is your brand really like?
(Let’s make this fun)

12. If your brand could have any spokesperson...
Someone who represented your business/organisation and what it stands for.
Who would it be?
Stephen Fry JK Rowling Alan Sugar Mary Berry
Irreverent Creative Straight-talking Traditional
Witty Pioneering Rational Formal
Intelligent Benevolent Driven Graceful
Progressive Inspirational Headstrong Methodical

13. How does your brand talk?
Establish ‘voice and tone’ to guide your communications
Witty, self- Friendly, informal Simple, corporate Erudite, considered
deprecating, and easy going. and formal. and formal.

14. Visual elements and styles to
reflect brand personality
Colour Colour Colour Colour
and type and type and type and type

15. A Design Persona document: flesh out the brand
Design Persona for OMG Dental
Brand traits
Professional but not stilted
Friendly but not too familiar
Approachable but not disordered
Assured but not condescending
Modern but not voguish
Welcoming but not laid back
Serious but not stern
Personality map
I’d say quite friendly and a little bit submissive (or more ‘passive’?) - dentists can be scary
so dominance would not be good.
Voice
OMG should speak with clarity and a calm assurance with a ‘human voice’. Knowledgable
but softened with a relaxed and friendly tone. It should avoid colloquialisms and technical
jargon.
An example:
OMG began life when three dental practitioners Catherine Oliver, Tom Macgregor and
James Green set up a practice in a converted 1920s detached house on Rushgrove Way,
Wilmington. Now five years later at our new location in Farringdon St. we’re proud of the
quality of service we provide for our patients in the Wilmington community.
Visual Lexicon
Colour
Muted greens and blues to convey healing, safety and trust.
Typography
Clean sans-serif typography to aid clarity, simplicity and to convey a clinical and modern
attitude.
General style notes
Clear and unfussy buttons, white space, uncluttered.
www.aarronwalter.com/design-personas
Other engagement methods
Helpful and appropriately placed (unobtrusive) ‘signposts’: ‘Did you know we’re open late
on Thursdays?’ ‘We have Spanish speaking practitioners’ ‘We can now offer you a range
cosmetic treatments’

16. User personas and scenarios
Your web site visitors
What are they like?
What do they care about?
Why are they there?
What will they do?
What would you
like them to do?

17. ‘Style tiles’ are a useful way to create the right visual language
styletiles.es

18. Get the style right early on in the project.

19. Future-friendly sites with brand personality.

20. Getting started with brand personality
on your web site.
What does your business stand for, what makes you
different?
What are the brand traits? Imagine your brand is a
famous person, or a car.
Create some simple guidelines on
how your brand will ‘talk’.
Establish a visual language and style that reflects your
brand’s personality.

21. Good news!
Everything you just read about we’ve done and we know
how to do.
Need help or advice?
We do more than just make good web sites.
Let’s talk, we’re friendly!
www.seedr.co.uk
Steve Morris is on Twitter
Web, Marketing, Business @SeedrSteve
Design, Tech, Music, Art, History @mozbloke
All images that are not ours are licenced under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike.
The pictogram fornt is Entypo - get it here www.entypo.com