Good question
Why design Digital-First?
In the dominating digital landscape, it’s essential to have a digital-first approach to design. This means ensuring that your brand identity translates well across different devices and platforms, from mobile apps to desktop screens. Digital-first design also involves component-based design principles that enable us to create cohesive and futureproofed design systems. Why do you need this approach? And what happens if you ignore it?
Component-based design systems
With a component-based design system, we no longer design webpages or app screens in isolation. Rather, it is a process of leveraging and documenting reusable parts that help create custom solutions and user experiences; tailored for each unique project. By focusing on the fundamental individual components that make up a webpage (or any screen) - this approach helps us build smarter websites and apps in an ever-innovating world.
When offline is first in line
With digital communication expanding continuously, you have to make sure your identity sticks digitally - today and tomorrow. All too often we are confronted with legacy design that looks good on paper, a situation that frequently arises when offline designers start designing for the web. They seem to have a lack of knowledge regarding device agnostic responsiveness and accessibility.
Responsive (adaptive) design ensures that your online content adjusts its layout according to the size, pixel definition and aspect ratio of any screen it’s being viewed on. Designed wrong - patterns, rhythms, lay-outs and the hierarchy of design elements will fall apart. As a result your brand is on dubious display with information badly accessible for users. Even a bigger problem: with your brand or service expanding online, you probably have no idea where.
Another thing we have learned: offline designers have a tendency to over-design. They are focused on aesthetics, without taking into account what consequences their design might bear for developers. Overly-creative design decisions can lead to lengthy projects and increase of costs - especially in the long run.
Avoid the pitfalls and design your brand Digital-First
Digital-first design requires you to understand how your brand identity must be able translate and evolve across different devices and platforms. You want to future proof your designs and create consistent customer experiences no matter where users encounter your brand. At New Story, we utilize component-based design systems that help you build and maintain a strong digital presence; efficiently and effectively while avoiding potential pitfalls along the way. With digital-first design, we create agile visual identities that perform both online and offline!
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