Welcome back my Caffeinated Creatives!
You ever walk into a restaurant, look around, and immediately feel like the vibes are off? Maybe it’s the fluorescent lighting, maybe it’s the Comic Sans menu, maybe it’s the fact that the host greeted you like you just walked into a morgue. Whatever it is, you’re already halfway out the door before you’ve even sat down. That, my friend, is brand experience at work… or rather, the lack of one.
Now imagine the opposite. You step into a space that just feels right. The music is on point, the tone of voice on the signage makes you smirk, and the whole space somehow whispers, “You belong here.” You haven’t even tasted the product yet, but you’re already sold. That? That is the power of branding done right. Not branding as in “we picked a nice shade of teal” but branding as in everything you feel before logic kicks in. That’s the kind of experience I’m motivated to create.
You may have noticed on my Linkedin Profile, my role at my current marketing agency recently changed from Digital Experience Designer to Brand Experience Designer. The change represents a reflection of the work I was already doing, just finally given a more appropriate name. I’m not just designing UX focused websites and landing pages, I am shaping the entire experience people have when they meet a brand. UX is still at the forefront of what I do, but brand is the baseline.
So, as a Brand Experience Designer, I’m not just tackling logos or layouts. I’m crafting a feeling. I’m building a living, breathing identity that people can connect with, vibe with, trust, and come back to, over and over again. It’s about consistency, intentionality, and the kind of storytelling that shows up in every pixel, every button, every message, and even in the silence between moments. It’s a mindset. A process. A philosophy. And honestly, it’s the only way I know how to design anymore.
Because once you start designing with the brand as your compass, you realize how chaotic and disconnected things feel when you don’t. You stop guessing. You start guiding. And suddenly, your work isn’t just “pretty”… it’s meaningful.
So grab your beverage of choice (mine’s a dangerously strong cold brew), and let’s talk about why branding shouldn’t just be in the room. It is the room.
Branding as a Design Philosophy, Not just a Department
Branding isn’t a phase in the project plan that we breeze through on day one and never revisit. It’s not a “department” that gets handed the moodboard and asked to sprinkle in some vibes. And it definitely isn’t just a file named FINAL_FINAL_ Company Brand Guide _V3.pdf that we all forget about the minute real work begins.
Branding is the foundation. The compass. The lens through which every design decision should be made… from typography to tone of voice to whether that CTA should say “Learn More” or “Schedule a Demo.”
When branding is treated like a coat of paint you slap on after everything’s been built, you can feel it. The site works, sure, but it’s forgettable. Everything looks “fine,” but nothing sticks. The copy sounds like it was written by a committee of beige office walls and ChatGPT. There’s no soul. It’s all function, no flavor.
But when branding leads the process? Oof. That’s when the magic happens. Every decision has a purpose. The visuals start talking. The copy starts dancing. And suddenly the entire experience feels cohesive and intentional, not just pretty for the sake of pretty. Your users experience the brand as one giant, seamless whole. So if we’re not all aligned from the start, guess what? That disconnect shows.
Design that’s disconnected from brand is just decoration. Design led by brand? That’s storytelling. That’s strategy. That’s how you make people care.
My Approach as a Brand Experience Designer
So what does being a Brand Experience Designer actually look like in practice? What’s different now that this isn’t just a UX focus for me, but branding through UX, copy, visuals, flow… everything?
For me, it starts with the very first conversation. I’m not asking “What do you want to build?” I’m asking “Who are you, and how should people feel when they experience you?” Because if we can’t answer that, then everything else is pretty much just surface-level. We’re not building with intention, we’re just piecing things together hoping something sticks. And hope, as it turns out, isn’t that great of a design strategy.
Once I’ve got a sense of the brand’s core: its values, tone, vibe, personality, I start building with that as the anchor. That might look like brand “toneboards,” instead of moodboards. It might be a flow diagram that maps emotional beats, not just user actions. It’s designing for meaning, not just motion.
And considering copy, I work really closely with content folks in my agency. Because design and copy are basically an on-again-off-again romcom couple that only really works when they’re in sync. Actually, the content team literally just restructured and merged with our design team for even closer collaboration. I care deeply about how things sound just as much as how they look. If your visual tone is playful but your copy reads like a Terms & Conditions page, the whole thing falls apart.
I’m also mapping the brand experience across the entire journey. It’s not just about the homepage. It’s the first email. The 404 page. The empty state. The micro-interaction that makes someone smile when they hover over a button. Every tiny touchpoint adds up to a larger emotional story. And I obsess over those details because I know they’re what make something feel human.
On the collaboration front, I’m a bit of a translator. I speak dev. I speak brand. I speak stakeholder. And my job is to make sure everyone’s working from the same emotional blueprint. I’m the person in the room (or Zoom) asking “Is this on-brand?” before I ask “Does this work?” Because it’s not enough to build something that functions… it has to feel like the brand in motion.
Being a Brand Experience Designer means I don’t just make things that work. I make things that connect. And once you start designing from that place? You’ll never go back.
What a Brand Experience Designer Isn’t
“Brand Experience Designer” can sound a little vague. Like maybe I spend my days in illustrator crafting the perfect logo and building out 60 page brand guides in indesign… There’s a lot of confusion around what I actually do when someone asks me what my job is. So now, let’s unpack what a Brand Experience Designer isn’t.
Firstly, I’m not just a visual designer. Sure, I love a good type pairing and yes, I have strong opinions about button spacing. But visuals are only one piece of the puzzle. I care just as much *if not more* about how a brand feels. How it sounds. How it moves. How it lives in someone’s mind after the fact. Design without that emotional layer? Might look great. Might also fall completely flat.
I’m also not just a UX designer with a new LinkedIn headline. I’ve lived deep in UX. I still love digging into user flows and making things work better, smarter, smoother. But UX is only part of the story. My job now isn’t just to guide someone through a journey, it’s to make that journey mean something. To make it feel like the brand is right there with them, every step of the way, being thoughtful, helpful, maybe even charming. Its a combination of all of the above.
I’m also not the “brand police.” I’m not going to hunt you down for using the wrong hex code or shame you for calling a “feature” a “tool.” But I will be the person asking, “Is this consistent with who we are?” or in the words of our VP of Growth Strategy, “How can we HUMANIZE this?” Because at the end of the day, that’s what people respond to: clarity, consistency, and something that actually feels human.
What I’m definitely not is someone who shows up at the end of a project just to make things “pop.” If I’m just there to slap some color on top of a half-baked structure, we’ve already missed the mark. I prefer to be in the room from the start. At the table. In the whiteboard sessions. Helping shape the strategy, not just decorate the outcome.
So what am I? I’m the person constantly zooming out and asking, “Does this feel like us?” I’m designing for connection, not just conversion. For meaning, not just movement. I want someone to experience a brand and feel like it was made for them, because when you get that right, it doesn’t just work. It resonates.
And that’s the real job. Not just making things look good, but making people feel something. That’s branding. That’s experience. That’s why I do what I do.
The Business Case for Brand-First Design
I know that at some point, someone’s going to ask: “But does all this brand stuff actually do anything?”
Short answer? Yes. Longer answer? Oh, absolutely YES. Let’s dig in.
When a brand is consistent across every touchpoint: visually, verbally, experientially, it builds trust. And trust, as it turns out, is a pretty solid business strategy. People buy from brands they trust. They recommend brands they trust. They forgive brands they trust when things inevitably break or glitch or ship late. Consistency makes your brand feel reliable. Predictable in a good way. Familiar. Like a go-to friend, not a flaky acquaintance.
And when you lead with brand-first thinking, you’re not just creating pretty things… you’re creating recognizable things. Things that feel like you. And that recognition? That’s value. That’s what helps you stand out in a sea of competitors all offering similar products or services. Because spoiler alert: it’s not always the best product that wins. It’s the one that makes people feel something.
In regards to efficiency: yes, branding can actually save time and money (if you treat it like a system, not a suggestion). When your brand is clearly defined and baked into the design process, decision-making becomes a lot easier. You’re not reinventing the wheel every time. You’re building from a shared playbook. You’re not arguing over tone or colors on every landing page because the vibe has already been established. This frees up energy to focus on what really matters: the experience. Plus, cohesive branding has a secret superpower: internal alignment. When your team is all on the same page about who you are, what you stand for, and how you show up in the world, things just move faster. Your marketers aren’t pulling one way while your designers are pulling another. Your developers know what to expect. Your sales team can confidently tell the brand story. It’s like giving everyone the same map, and making sure you’re all heading to the same destination.
Also… and I feel like this part doesn’t get said enough… when your brand feels ALIVE and human and intentional, people actually want to engage with you. In fact, according to Lucidpress/Marq, brands that present consistently across all platforms can increase revenue by up to 23%. That’s measurable impact. And all it takes is committing to brand as a core part of the process… not an afterthought.
A Brand Is a Feeling…And That’s My Job
At the end of the day, branding isn’t about colors or fonts or finding the perfect hero image of a person laughing while holding a salad. Branding is a feeling. It’s that instant, gut-level reaction someone has when they see, hear, or interact with your brand for the first…or fiftieth time. And it either hits or it doesn’t.
My job as a Brand Experience Designer is to make sure it hits.
It’s to design with empathy and intention, not just efficiency. To be the one in the room asking not just “Does this solve the problem?” but “Does this feel like us?” Because at the end of the day, people forget features. They forget price points. They forget button labels. But they remember how your brand made them feel. Warm. Seen. Confident. Empowered. Included.
That kind of connection doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when brand is embedded into every touchpoint, not sprinkled on top. It happens when you care just as much about the tone of a confirmation email as you do the layout of a homepage. It happens when every decision, big or small, is grounded in who you are and what you stand for.
And that’s what I love most about this work. I’m not here to just crank out pretty websites. I’m here to help people build brands that live and breathe and connect. Brands that people root for. Brands that actually mean something in a sea of sameness. Whether I’m mapping out user flows or rewriting empty states or reviewing onboarding copy, I’m always asking myself: “Are we showing up like “us?””
That mindset has completely shifted how I approach my work, my process, my clients… everything. Because when we prioritize brand, we don’t just make things easier to use. We make them easier to love.
So now that my official title at the agency I currently work for is a “Brand Experience Designer,” it doesn’t mean I’m the brand police, endlessly scrolling through your company’s Facebook feed and yelling at the social media strategist because they posted a photo with the logo skewed 12 degrees. I’m not here to nitpick. I’m here to build experiences that actually feel like your brand… and your brand is always a work in progress.
What it really means is that I design with context. With intention. I connect the dots between how something looks and how someone feels. Because when every element from the layout to the typography to the animation timing is aligned with the brand’s personality, that’s when design stops being just “nice” and starts being memorable.
It’s not about pushing pixels. It’s about pushing meaning into every pixel. Every decision is an opportunity to make someone feel something. That’s the real work. That’s what sticks. That’s what I do!
What’s one brand experience that has stuck with you, not because it was flashy, but because it felt right from the second you stumbled upon it? can you name a brand that just exudes personality and trust? Top off your coffee and meet me in the comment section!
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