Why you need a personal brand, with tips to get started
“Why have a brand?” you ask. “I’m only an illustrator/writer.”
Good question! Personal brands are great for establishing a professional image. They help you to stand out from the crowd.
But where to start? Design is an evolutionary process. It starts with a whisper. Ideas emerge from that single thought and we let them roll around in our minds, where a small number start to take shape. We mold them. Then, when we have the idea in just the right atmosphere, we move it to pen and paper.
Half of the time we shred that paper into tiny bits and throw it into the wastebasket.
No? Just me? Okay, okay, maybe not quite so dramatic. But, I have never taken an idea from thought to reality without multiple revisions. It starts as one thing until I change this or switch that.
Branding has no magic pill. And, what works for one person may not work for another. But I can give you a few tips that I think will help – at the very least, it might give you some food for thought!
Check out the infographic below for more information:
As you can see, I have tried to keep my look consistent across my blog posts and various social media sites. I have:
- a designated color scheme,
- a basic look and feel to my graphics so that someone looking at them can easily distinguish this is something that I created,
- select fonts that I use,
- a name – young@art(c),
- a slogan – “Art for the child in all of us”,
- and, finally, a logo (I also have a couple of variations to the logo to fit different designs).
Have you thought about a personal brand for your professional identity? If so, I’d love to hear about them in the comments below!
