Web Design in Production Music: A Qualitative Study Into the Relationship Between Web Design and Brand

Abstract

The Internet as a commercial channel is well established while ever-evolving technologies provide businesses with many opportunities to offer products and services online. Websites are an important tool for businesses and can affect how users see the brand behind the website. Web design should be considered carefully when offering a product or service online to ensure competitiveness, commercial success, and brand recognition.
The aim of this study is to investigate how different aspects of web design can affect brand in a real industry context. Therefore, the research question is as follows: How does web design influence brand in the production music industry? The research question led to a literature review of web design, visual identity, and online brand experience, which revealed that web design can support brand through an online brand experience. The literature review showed that visual aesthetics and usability are two primary characteristics of a website, that individually and jointly can influence users’ attitude and perception of a website and in turn the brand behind. Furthermore, visual aesthetics and usability are important in supporting the user experience of a website. The literature suggests, that visual aesthetics, usability, and the user experience, together can support the five dimensions of an online brand experience and influence how users perceive brand.
Based on the findings revealed by the literature review, a framework to structure and guide the further research process was developed. The research used an ethnography strategy to obtain a level of immersion and employed observations on six typical production music websites. The study found that inconsistent visual aesthetics can reflect negatively onto the brand in production music. Moreover, the study found that websites with improved usability, allowed for easy, efficient, and organised music searches, by presenting accurate information to the users continuously throughout the music search process.
The study contributes to the understanding of the relationship between web design and brand, by providing qualitative insights from the production music industry, that can encourage further research into the area. The study further encourages managers of smaller online businesses to consider web design as an important channel for improving brand.