The Psychology of Trust in Design
I Suppose people often think trust is something you can buy. Or build out of nothing, on the spot. They expect a logo with a thoughtful colour palette to do all the heavy lifting.
But trust isnāt a design hack - itās a result of relationships that take time to establish and sustain. Trust is built upon the expectation that an experience or interaction will unfold in a particular way, and often, that expectation is rooted in some form of experience or exposure from the past. It could be something as simple as associating green with eco-friendly brands or remembering fond memories at places with similar decor. Thatās why trust comes easily when visuals remind people of something familiar and positive.
But building trust isnāt always easy, especially with evolving design trends and customer priorities. Sort of. After all, what people see might seem like an obvious starting point, but thereās no one-size-fits-all approach to getting it right every single time.
Thereās so much nuance to the way people perceive visual cues and associate them with trust. So while most people start with a logo and focus on designing for instant trust, itās not that straightforward if youāre playing for the long term. If there was one principle to get behind though - it would be consistency.
Color Choices That Inspire Confidence
Oh, colour. I think the single most misunderstood and misapplied element in design - and yet, itās the one everyone seems to have a strong opinion on. People tend to gravitate towards ātrust coloursā and make their selections based entirely on this factor - blue being a strong contender.
But, there are plenty of banks and legal firms whose branding incorporates red, yellow, and even green. It seems like i think confidence colours depend on many things - your industry, cultural associations in your target market, visual language overall, messaging, actual hue selected (a neutral green is very different from electric green), font choice, and so on. There is no right or wrong colour when it comes to trust - but thereās definitely a right or wrong combination.
Now, hereās where I get unsure - because there are studies that show certain colours come out tops in terms of trustworthiness. In fact, blue does win by a long shot. And I do advise clients in areas like finance or health to stick with safe choices like blue or sometimes green. But then I think of BP (petrol), ANZ (banking), HDFC (insurance), NAB (banking), Medibank (health insurance) - none of which lean hard into blue.
The reality is that your customers will trust you if youāre truthful and consistent about who you say you are, if your messaging matches your branding and vice versa, if you operate reliably across platforms and spaces online. If youāre going for an experimental approach to colour - own it completely with bold fonts and large copywriting. If youāre going for subtlety - maybe choose pastels or neutrals over brights and be equally subtle in your copy.
Typography: Crafting a Trustworthy Voice
Many think typography is the afterthought in a digital visual language, like the cheap part of the puzzle. They say, pick something you like, stick with it and donāt use more than 3 fonts on a website - youāll be golden. But what they donāt realise is that typography goes deeper than readability and reflects a deeper brand personality. Itās true that the right font can create strong recall but the right typeface can build trust.
It can become a consistent building block for your website and in time your entire branding. Choosing just āone typefaceā because it looks nice or is rather different is never a good way to go - in fact thatās how most people go wrong. Typeface, style and mood all must align with your brand guidelines and reflect on the work you produce. It's true, picking the right typography can make you feel nervous about choosing the wrong one.
Or worse, using too many fonts on a page to keep up with whatās trending at the moment. Thereās a lot of complexity in finding how colours work with typography too so donāt shy away from taking professional advice or time to figure out what works. The best thing to remember is, itās not always about grabbing attention but creating a sense of calm comfort for those who use your website. A guidepost that allows them to relax and feel secure while using your product and making it clear when there is something they should care about and look into more closely.
Imagery and Authenticity: Building Connections
Getting images right is not something most get spot on. Often we choose imagery from stock libraries because thatās what everyone does.
Sometimes itās not always clear what rights you might have to use an image, or maybe you donāt have the budget to invest in original content. But most people can seldom spot a stock image a mile away. Sort of. It doesnāt take much.
A computer search to see if the image appears in multiple online sources is usually a dead giveaway that an image has been used elsewhere. Then there are the often random appearances of white people in Australian marketing. Itās the world of the āeverywhiteā.
The way I see it, the āuniversal personā, apparently, is white. This sort of tone deaf marketing can usually throw your entire brand into ill repute - it shows that either your creative team donāt understand or they donāt care about cultural inclusivity and sensitivity. A more meaningful way to build relationships with customers is by using imagery that reflects the genuine diversity of people living here - instead of some outdated idea about what Australia looks like. This means looking for images showing people with visible differences, like prosthetic limbs, skin conditions or hearing aids - anything that challenges those (dare I say) boring stock photo tropes.
Being authentic is nearly always easier said than done though, especially when there are budgets to be balanced, which makes finding the perfect images quite tricky at times. You know you want to be as authentic as possible but sometimes there isnāt that much available to choose from because you arenāt creating your own original content due to time or cost restrictions - thatās okay too, for now, as long as youāre working on being better about it. No business is perfect and you may need to compromise every so often until you get there. The goal here is simply to always be moving forward toward more inclusive representation.
You want your customers to see themselves reflected in your brand imagery - if they feel seen and heard they will trust you more and we know trust leads to loyalty and repeat business. And if they feel invisible then they may feel like your business isnāt for them and go somewhere else instead- where it feels like they might belong better.
Layout and Navigation: Creating a Seamless Experience
You know what most people seem to get wrong. People believe a visually striking layout is enough for a website. That as long as thereās clever negative space, striking colours, and a nice, animated logo, their customers will feel positively toward their business. I Suppose and yes, first impressions do matter and aesthetics are crucial for creating them.
But they are only the tip of the iceberg - the first layer of what makes a customer trust your business and keep coming back. We tend to forget that the customerās experience does not begin and end with the homepage. A customerās journey through a brand website can get interrupted in so many little ways if the layout is confusing or not intuitive enough.
Sometimes it is because of endless redirects before they reach their destination or it might be multiple pop-ups urging them to buy before even getting to know the product. It could even be too much information presented at once - so much so that customers have no idea how to even begin navigating through your site. More or less.
Itās easy to say - āwell, this is how it was done before and it has worked so far. ā But the truth is that users are constantly evolving and staying up-to-date with what works best for customers can actually help you create better products for them. There are multiple layouts that work for different brands based on what works best for their customers. Conducting regular reviews, keeping up with market research and trends, and checking in with your users via surveys (not too often though - 2-3 times a year should suffice) can help you build stronger user-centric brands.
I suppose at the end of the day, it all comes down to putting your customer at the centre of everything you do when you decide on layouts or navigation for your site. After all, without your customer base - there isnāt much your business can achieve by being pretty but ultimately impractical and hard to use.
Consistency Across Platforms: Reinforcing Reliability
People keep getting stuck on this thing - as if consistent design means bland, boring and repetitive. And honestly, consistency often gets mistaken for lack of creativity or an unwillingness to take risks. But itās actually the complete opposite - itās about showing up for your people in the same way, every time, across all channels.
When your people feel like youāre a regular presence in their lives (even if itās just online), they become fiercely loyal to you. Itās sort of like being a parent - youād want your child to feel like they can trust you to show up for them, no matter what. The way I see it, itās comforting to know that someone or something is going to be there for you, always.
The way I see it, consistency is all about that kind of reliability and comfort, in every single touchpoint your brand has with the outside world. When your visual elements are aligned with each other in their tone and messaging, you appear trustworthy and genuine. But hereās the thing though - consistency can look vastly different across industries. For example, fast fashion brands have completely different standards from luxury brands (both in terms of cost and experience).
And sometimes, even within an industry, expectations might not be set yet - so it could take a few tries before you figure out what works best for your audience. At the end of the day, building trust is seldom about reliability - it takes time and showing up repeatedly. If someone is used to seeing you in a particular way every time they meet you, they start to trust that part of you is real.