I have always worked closely at the intersection of design and marketing, coming from the field of communication, advertising, and publicity. My career initially focused on graphic design and later, driven by my own interest, I transitioned into digital design, interaction, and interface design, what many today call UX and UI Design, working both for government/public initiatives and the private sector.

Creating a brand and a visual identity is essentially creating an abstract experience for existing or potential users. It involves shaping an appearance, style, and voice through graphic elements, often visual ones like shapes, colors, typography, signage, but also through other media and senses such as music, scents, and so forth, in order to create a personality and positioning in the market for a particular product or service.

This entire process can be translated into building a brand experience, and this is where the connection lies between what is now conceptualized as Branding or brand management and UX.

Working with a brand necessarily means designing elements to strengthen the relationship between a user or customer and a product or service. This implies the need for systemic thinking about the entire mix of brand components.

The user’s or consumer’s experience must reinforce their appreciation for the brand they consume. This relationship can be stimulated and strengthened at various moments and in many ways throughout the usage and consumption experience, since neglecting it can mean the difference between success and failure of a commercial initiative.

That is why there is an increasing importance given to the user experience of products or services as an almost immersive experience, which in a more marketing-oriented version has evolved into the consumption experience. At every moment, this experience should reinforce the brand’s components, philosophy, and positioning through a variety of elements.

Many brands strongly bet on the union between branding and user or consumer experience, something that has become known as branding experience.

Companies like Apple, Snapchat, Coca-Cola, and many others of similar or smaller scale have realized that, in today’s consumption model, it is possible to achieve authentic customer engagement with the brand or business idea by offering a differentiated experience. Only this way can one gain more than customers, fans and advocates of a brand and its philosophy.

User experience can be a source of insights about public perceptions of a brand. Thus, Branding can align with and help set expectations between what users or customers expect and what the brand can provide.

In other words, UX and Branding are deeply connected, and the relationship between these two activities should be better studied and practiced in the market, not just digitally, since these two areas have been related long before the digital or virtual world.

Ubiratan Silva, M. Sc.

Digital Design Lead / Doutorando em Design UFRGS / M. Sc. Mestre em Design / Professor / Consultor / Liderança em Design / Design