How do you align your IA design with the brand identity and tone of voice of your clients or users?

1 Know your audience

Before you start designing your IA, you need to research and understand your target audience, their needs, preferences, and expectations. You can use methods like user interviews, surveys, personas, and scenarios to gather insights and data about your users. This will help you tailor your IA to their behavior, language, and context, and avoid any confusion or frustration.

2 Define your brand

Next, you need to define your brand identity and tone of voice, and how you want to communicate with your users. What is your brand's mission, vision, and values? What is your unique selling proposition and value proposition? How do you want to position yourself in the market and differentiate yourself from your competitors? What is the personality and voice of your brand, and how do you want to express it through words, images, colors, and sounds?

3 Align your structure

Once you have a clear idea of your audience and your brand, you can start designing your IA structure, which includes the main categories, subcategories, labels, and navigation of your website or app. You should align your structure with your brand identity and tone of voice, by using consistent and appropriate terminology, hierarchy, and visual cues. For example, if your brand is playful and casual, you can use more informal and creative labels and icons, and avoid too many levels of depth. If your brand is professional and authoritative, you can use more formal and precise labels and symbols, and provide more options and filters.

4 Align your content

Another way to align your IA with your brand identity and tone of voice is to create and deliver content that matches your brand personality, values, and message. Content includes not only the text, but also the images, videos, audio, and other elements that you use to communicate with your users. You should use a consistent and appropriate tone, style, and format for your content, and make sure it is relevant, engaging, and useful for your users. For example, if your brand is friendly and helpful, you can use more conversational and empathetic content, and provide more guidance and feedback. If your brand is serious and informative, you can use more factual and objective content, and provide more references and sources.

5 Test and iterate

Finally, you should test and iterate your IA design with your users and stakeholders, to validate your assumptions and measure your performance. You can use methods like card sorting, tree testing, usability testing, and analytics to collect feedback and data about your IA design. This will help you identify any issues or gaps, and make improvements or changes as needed. You should also monitor and update your IA design regularly, to keep up with the changing needs and expectations of your users and your brand.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?