YOUR OWN BRAND

I have been working on my own personal branding a lot recently, and I thought I would use this space to reflect upon what I have learned in this process and advise those who are in a similar situation. Deciding how you want to visually represent yourself is a daunting task. I feel that for me personally, I have many different styles that I like and many ways that I want to visually show off my work, but I struggled to find a perfect balance between all of my styles. 

KNOWING YOURSELF

I know the idea of knowing yourself sounds daunting, and not to sugarcoat things, it kind of is. The biggest aspect is knowing what you want your logo to convey about yourself. I recommend highlighting who you are as a person, your personality, and your design style. Having your logo reflects who you are, allowing future clients to understand you and your passions at a quick glance. Some of the ways I did this were asking others how they perceived me, messing around with colors and ideas until something felt right, and trying to identify what style of design truly resonated with me. 

CONSISTENCY

Obviously, the logo is one of the largest elements of your personal branding, but the choices you make with your visual identity should flow into other aspects of your branding. This means having this logo, color scheme, and font choice on other elements of your branding, such as resumes, letterheads, business cards, and websites. Making sure your personal brand truly reflects who you are consistently helps your clients trust you that you can achieve the same for them.  

Your logo and brand are your client’s first impression of you. When they are looking for a designer to achieve a full branding identity, they want someone they can rely on to create a well-thought-out, visual identity. If a client wants to find a designer with these qualities, their last pick for a designer would be someone who can’t even properly brand themselves. 

MY PERSONAL BRAND

So, like I said, I have been messing around with my branding a bunch and finally created something that reflects who I am personally. My initials are K and H, so I wanted to create an organic design that reflected who I am as a person and a designer. I utilized curvy lines and bulbous elements to exemplify these elements. The overall design features the bar of the H connecting into the legs of the K to create an interconnected monogram. To emphasize the organic design, I used a rounded typeface and warm colors (a warm pink and a terracotta orange). 

At the beginning of my experimentation and trying to understand who I am as a designer, I wanted to create minimalistic and overall sharp logos for myself. As I played around and tried different things, I realized that the more playful design fits my work and personality better. I feel that my logo visualizes who I am as an individual while also having a professional feel to it.  

I hope my experience and guidance on developing a personal brand were helpful to designers out there looking to get their name out there. Ensuring that your visual identity represents who you are and is consistent through all forms of marketing will elevate your chances of your name and brand being more recognizable.