performance-based design
Performance-based design in digital products is a design approach that focuses on achieving specific performance objectives or criteria.
This approach is used to optimize the performance of digital products, such as website loading speed, user experience, and accessibility.
How Muse designs brands and digital products that are built to perform
In today’s fast-paced digital economy, design can’t just look good—it has to work hard. At Muse, we specialise in performance-based design—an approach that fuses creative branding, UX/UI strategy, and product optimisation to deliver not only beautiful experiences but also high-performing digital outcomes.
Whether we’re building a brand for an ambitious startup or designing a fintech app for scale, our goal is the same: to craft digitally intelligent, scalable, and high-conversion design systems that elevate user experience and deliver on business objectives.
What is Performance-Based Design?
Performance-based design focuses on aligning visual design, brand storytelling, and interface architecture with specific performance outcomes—things like user engagement, loading speed, conversion rates, and retention.
In practical terms, this includes:
• Responsive design across mobile and desktop
• Optimised loading times using lightweight assets
• Battery-friendly mobile app UX
• Seamless device and network adaptability
• Conversion-focused user journeys
Whether we’re creating a web app or a new digital brand identity, we design for how people actually interact in the real world—on different screens, in different conditions, with different expectations.
Agencies like Pentagram have long emphasised that the best design is rooted in a core idea and executed with clarity. At Muse, we take that philosophy and apply it to the modern digital landscape. For us, it’s not just about the idea—it’s about how the idea performs across digital ecosystems, devices, and touchpoints.
We push creative boundaries while using data-backed insights, accessibility standards, and behavioural research to build designs that not only communicate but also convert.
Why Performance-Based Design Should Be at the Core of Every Brand & Product
In a world where attention spans are shorter than goldfish's memory and digital competition is fierce, aesthetics alone won’t cut it. Today, brands need to be beautiful and fast, strategic and scalable. That’s where performance-based design comes in.
This approach combines creative thinking with measurable outcomes, ensuring that your branding or digital product doesn’t just look good—but works hard too. Here’s how to put performance first in your design process, and why it matters more than ever in 2024.
How to stand out using performance-based metrics?
01
Differentiation: In a crowded digital marketplace, experience design can help a product stand out from its competitors. By providing a superior user experience, a product can differentiate itself and create a loyal customer base.
02
Brand perception: A digital product with a positive user experience can enhance a company's overall brand perception. This can increase customer loyalty, positive word-of-mouth, and improved reputation.
Building blocks checklist
How to strike the balance:
• Use colour intentionally to direct attention
• Pair bold visuals with minimal content
• Use consistent patterns that reduce cognitive load
• Make your brand assets instantly recognisable—even in small sizes
Performance isn’t just about code—it’s about context. Great design works on the devices your users actually use, in the environments they actually live in.
Things to consider:
• Is your mobile experience thumb-friendly?
• Are your assets optimised for slow connections?
• Is your app draining battery unnecessarily?
• Does your product work offline or in low-network areas?
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metrics for performance
Prioritise Lightweight & Scalable Design Systems
Heavy fonts, bloated images, and overused animations can kill performance. Modern design demands light, modular assets that adapt effortlessly across platforms.
Here’s what you can do:
• Use SVGs and compressed image formats
• Limit web fonts and keep your type hierarchy simple
• Build a reusable component library for faster load times
• Avoid animation overload—focus on micro-interactions that guide
Use Data to Inform and Improve Your Design
Design is no longer guesswork—it’s testable, trackable, and optimisable. Once your product or brand is live, monitor how it performs.
Metrics worth watching:
• Page load speed (especially on mobile)
• Bounce rate and scroll depth
• Click-through and task completion
• Error rates and crash reports (for apps)
• Brand recall or logo recognisability (via surveys or brand tests)
Great design evolves. Keep iterating based on what your users are telling you—through numbers and behaviour.