Can you pick out a brand just by their button design? I bet you can. I challenge you to take The Button Test. Get a piece of paper or your favorite text editor and jot down the names of the companies that correspond to each button style. Ready? Go!

All Done?

How’d you do? Answers at the end of the post.

Buttons can make or break your brand

Buttons can be your site's most recognizable brand element besides your logo. A well-designed,unique button style can be the key to establishing and maintaining trust in your site.

Keys to trustworthy buttons

Pick one size for all buttons

Buttons can vary in width, but should maintain the same height. If you do feel the need to make a GIANT call-to-action button, then be sure to use only one giant button per page. Two giant buttons is two too many.

Consistent buttons styles

Style attributes primarily deal with shape and dimension. If you have buttons with rounded corners, then all buttons should have the same rounded corners (with matching border radius). If your buttons have super deep dimension and texture, then be sure to carry these through to all your buttons.

Choose 3 distinct button colors. Max (unless you’re Microsoft).

3 distinct button colors should work most interface designs.

Use one color for a primary action. For example, Google uses blue for their search button while Twitter uses bright yellow for sign ups.

Use another color for secondary actions. Secondary actions are important, but should not compete with your primary button color.

The third color is for every other button and covers the functional stuff like “cancel,” “setting,” and general navigation (disabled buttons don’t count as a color).

Buttons Matter

The Amazon add-to-cart button is perhaps as iconic as the Amazon logo itself and will probably remain unchanged for many years to come. If done well, the combination of button size, style, and color help burn a brand identity into a person's mind. Choose your buttons carefully; you never know when you might be creating an icon.