Reflecting on what we have covered in this module, personal brands are constructed the same way as commercial brands, however we apply ourselves into personal brands, a more subjective experience in presenting our identity.
When considering a personal brand the idea of how you can represent yourself with one singular symbol that not only embodies you as a person but also your work and style can often get quite tiresome. Typically designers will opt to use a monogram, using their initials will make it easier for people to remember the brand and the designer as they align directly. Personally I gravitate toward the idea of using a logo, whether it be pictorial or abstract to me it feels like something that not only requires more thought but is in itself a direct piece of work produced by you, for all to see. Beyond the idea of even implementing a logo the idea of your work speaking for itself and developing such a cohesive style that it becomes recognisable as your work speaks to us all i’m sure.
Like I touched on when discussing logos and monograms, style plays a huge role in regard to ones personal brand. This can range from how you speak all the way to how meticulous you are with padding. An example of a brand who’s style I enjoy in a more unconventional way would be Shovel Studio. As far as I can tell, Shovel is a one man operation, opting for a name such as studio or agency can be a stylistic choice, and I believe that is the case here. Beyond great design what I love about Shovel is their language and how they interact with design using language as a tool to allow us to further understand the choices behind the design. Phrases such as “Battle tested” and “Staying hungry” appear on the site suggesting a sense of motivation that other designers might not communicate so directly. On the side Shovel explore this use of language further, creating content about design, deconstructing web stores and even reviewing his own work.
We were advised to begin developing our own personal brands over summer. This has been something I have wrestled with long before I entered the world of design. We all have personal brands that we have spent our lives cultivating, deriving aspects of our personality from a range of sources such as clothing, music and food. The struggle comes in taking our real personal brands and applying them in a unique way to help sell our skills to others, to show how refined our tastes our and to demonstrate our ability as designers. I have always liked the idea of using a pseudonym, I always felt that it adds a sense of mystique that using your real name just can’t provide, often monograms fall into this trap too. This of course will be something I will delve further into over summer. For now this felt like a good time to reflect on my my work this year to give a taste of me as a designer.
Here are some elements from the work I’ve done so far in my first year in UXD, some coursework, some personal.
