Personal Branding
Personal branding is the conscious effort to create and influence public perception of an individual by positioning them as an authority in their industry, elevating their credibility, and differentiating themselves from the competition, to ultimately advance their career, increase their circle of influence, and have a larger impact.
Initial Comps
For this assignment, I was tasked with creating a brand identity and business system for my own brand. I wanted to create something that was uniquely me, and something that reflected my design values. I’ve always held vintage aesthetics, eye-catching typography, and unique color schemes in high regard. With this in mind, I created a brand identity that held true to these values, while also showing my ability to create innovative designs.
Being this assignment was personal to me, I felt the need to make it “perfect” in terms of its truthfulness to myself. I began by searching through design textbooks and online pages for inspiration.
Initially, I wanted to develop the typography to be the main focus of the logo design so, I decided to play around with many iterations of that, I created forms that resemble both my initials and just my first name and the initial of my last name. After selecting a few that I liked the best, decided to take my sketches into illustrator to develop some vectorized comps.
Comps
After creating my logo comps, I realized a few things. For one, they weren't as strong as I initially thought. Also, I realized I wanted to develop a wordmark instead. With this in mind, I went on a search for typefaces and ideas on how I could develop my own wordmark. I ended up coming across a serif typeface called Trebuchet MS Regular and discovered its traditional and sort of vintage feel, which could work for my branding. I also discovered a typeface called Keep on Truckin’, which I decided to use for a secondary line of type.
I knew I wanted to develop an icon for social media and secondary logo purposes. Going back to my original idea, I developed a typography-driven log with my initials and a textured overlay, that essentially is a circle with cutout shapes for my initials. Lastly, I developed a tertiary logo mock-up, that included both typefaces and a textured overlay.
Finalized Logos & Color Pallete
After finalizing my logos, I had to develop a color palette that I felt best represented me as a design. I knew I wanted to be seen by future clients as trusting and professional, while also being seen as not afraid to do things outside of my comfort zone. With this in mind, I choose a deep maroon as my primary color. To complement this, I choose a neutral orange as my secondary color; something to shock the system while keeping you interested. I created a psychedelic-inspired overlay using my colors for social media banners and as another design element to be used throughout my personal branding.
Business System
After finally having all of my logos and colors developed, I took to creating my business materials. Having already created a resume and cover letter, I used my new branding material to create a cohesive set of branding collateral; Including a resume, thank you letter, a letterhead, and a cover letter. I also added all of my brandings to my social media pages and my email. In the end, I found my final result to be successful, and true to myself.