pERSONAL BRANDING

Creating my own personal brand turned out to be quiet the journey. It was a real challenge to come up with something that could represent me and still stand out from the crowd. My first attempt when I was graduating from college was a very inexperienced and borderline immature attempt to put it nicely. But it did help solidify some elements that persist in my personal branding now.

My very first attempt relied heavily on my own physical presentation. I was well known for wearing a specific type of hat and wear glasses, so naturally those are the elements I chose to work with. Choosing to go a more literal route with icon design. The color palette I chose to work with was my favorite colors: red and black. It also featured my initials, though a vectorized recreation of my handwritten initials. All combined the idea came together and stood as my branding for quite a few years.

Over time as I matured as a designer, it became very clear that my old branding no longer suited me. So I set out to create a new brand identity that I hoped would stand the test of time and be something that could represent me for a long while yet. The process actually started with me creating a new resume and building from there the elements in my personal brand guidelines that I could use going forward. The stock photo of marble that I chose for visual interest laid the foundation for the color palette I would choose. A series of neutral warm tones and greys that could be used in a wide array of elements.

From there I wanted to pick the text elements that would follow this. I chose fonts that felt very classic without being one that is used often. So I landed on a Serif and Sans Serif font each that would find a home in my brand guidelines. From there was the real challenge, creating a logo. Or in this case, multiple variations of a logo.

I developed my full linear logo by playing with the same idea of elements that I had in the first round. Working off the circle lenses that made up my glasses, circles became my base geometric element. From there it was just laying out the circles and my text elements. Once the linear version was solidified, it just came down to setting up the squared off logo version that could be used for profile photos or small real estate applications, and a linear text only version that could live and be readable in other limited space applications.

In the end I think I landed on something that I’m proud of can stand the test of time, while also fitting in with contemporary brand identities without looking just like everyone else. Which was something that still mattered to me.