Personal brands described

Such every freelancer will at some point need a name for their business. There is one question that always pops up, should you personalize your business name or not?

Let’s hear what some great logo designers have to say about their brands.

Mads Burcharth – www.mabu.dk

LFD: What do you think about personal branding?

Mads: It’s a “brand” new world today. I think of personal branding as the signature/fingerprint/identity of you. The brand is a promise of the value you’ll send and receive.

LFD: Could you please tell us something about your personal logo?

Mads: Those who already know me, knows that I’m a sucker for simplicity and the concept “less is more” – combined with some edge though. So in my case, I made an actual font for my personal identity and used the letter “m” for mabu(mabu = (ma)ds (bu)urcharth). Based on the visual language I’d like to express – subtle, clean and roundness. To give it some edge and contrast, white and a light neon green-ish color was used along with the type.

Josiah Jost – www.siahdesign.com

LFD: What do you think about personal branding?

Josiah: The process of creating your own brand identity is usually one of the most challenging projects a logo designers will have. I think this is mostly to the fact that we want to position ourselves for success with the top competitors in our field. We want an image that really gives people a good first impression. We need to keep in mind though that our brand is much more than just a logo. A brand is the way people perceive us, it’s our personality, values, ethics, talents, style, the way we respond to emails, etc.

It’s really important to discover what our brand is before we execute the brand identity. Find out what things are important about who we are, our vision and goals. Once we have discovered and established a brand we can then focus on creating an identity that matches our brand. It’s important not to make any hasty decisions regarding your logo. The goal is to make a timeless brand identity that won’t have an expiration date. It will save a lot of money in the long run making sure the identity is right for your brand before you design your whole website, twitter page, business cards, etc. This may be a long, challenging process but it is very rewarding.

LFD: Could you please tell us something about your personal logo?

Josiah: As most designers probably know, it is very hard to come up with an identity that you are 100% happy with. We always tend to be extra critical of our own work. I really wanted to have a strong concept for my new logo, something I could find a lot of significance in. I eventually developed an icon that involved a hand and a pencil. The pencil forms a hand to symbolize what I do. The index finger pointing up shows that I am a creative director. Other keywords that could be interpreted by the icon are: choose, number one, looking up, move forward. The main concept I find significant about the design though is that the hand is pointing up symbolizing that I am giving credit for any creativity I have to God.

Alen ”Type08” Pavlovic – www.type08.com

LFD: What do you think about personal branding?

Alen: Personal branding is a night mare for designers! We are creative people, brainstorming about brands and creative graphic solutions on 24/7 basis. There are tons and tons of sketches, brand names, color schemes, styles, fonts or complete messages that go through our mind and finish on paper or on screen – and from all of those you have to pick out only 1! That decision is tough, but very similar to process we usually go through when doing it for a real client. Usually, designers go by the idea of using the graphic style that will present their work the best and describe the personal philosophy on design. That’s also usually supported by very suggestive personal brand name. Maybe the approach could be narrowed down to 2 options: branding by output – sending the message out that will describe your style and the feel of your design solutions, or, branding by input – sending the message out that will describe who are you, what inspires you, what makes you – you! When branding myself, I decided to go with second one.

LFD: Could you please tell us something about your personal logo?

Alen: My personal logo is based on one of my great passions and inspirations – hip hop music! Back in 1989 I heard first tones of hip hop and I was instantly hooked on it! Only 4 years later I got this street name ‘Type08′ which I decided to use as my alias for freelancing purposes in 2008. Since graffiti art is one of the 4 core elements of that culture I decided to use that handwritten urban style to present myself with. In graphic design it’s still original enough and I have rarely stumbled upon designers that use this style for self presentation. Basically, it’s a version of my own tag (if you take about 4 days you’ll recognize at least the word ‘Type’ in it) using handwriting and arrow symbols and those present vectors that symbolize not only my design services but also core of my education – I have civil engineer / project manager degree. A touch of elegance was added by using it in negative (white on black).

Kevin Burr – www.ocularink.com

LFD: Could you please tell us something about your personal logo?

Kevin: The first approach to my logo was choosing a name. Initially, thoughts of using my initials or something revolving around my last name came to mind. Opting for something a little more clever and interesting, the Ocular Ink name was born. I chose the word ocular for it’s association with the word visual and how design must be seen to be appreciated. Simply describing the design never does the work justice. The second word, ink, was chosen as it is one of the primary tools used to capture ideas on paper. In a nutshell, Ocular Ink means, visual communication. My job title quickly became, “Visual Communicator”.

For the logo, I wanted to take on a literal approach in capturing the company name’s meaning, but I wanted to do it in an interesting and evocative way. I’ve worn glasses ever since I started to appreciate design. My first pair landing on my face at around the age of 15…because I couldn’t stand to wear contacts. I noticed the O/C portion of the “ocular” name strongly resembled glasses. This became the first solution to the ocular ink logo. My next challenge was how to incorporate the ink portion of the name. A linear solution was desired, so I opted for the ink drop to be flowing out of the glasses shape on the left side. To take my identity further, I started using the O/C glasses with the ink drop as my standalone mark. By rotating the stand alone mark, the ink appeared to be dripping out of the glasses, subtly conveying solutions. This also worked out nice because I always wanted a logotype and a stand alone symbol…not just one or the other.

The colors came naturally. I knew I wanted the logo to be against a black background ever since day one. With so many companies using a white background, I thought the black would set it off and evoke creativity and uniqueness. For the second color, it was either cyan, magenta or yellow. The other 3 colors of the CMYK spectrum. While blue is a favorite color, I also know cyan is one of the most widely used colors in design. Yellow just seemed to pale or cheery to me. So, I was left with magenta. The magenta offers a little more uniqueness and excitement to the identity.

The final logo embodies my initial desires for the logo and I haven’t had the urge to change it ever since.

Gareth Hardy – www.downwithdesign.com

LFD: Could you please tell us something about your personal logo?

Gareth: The name Down With Design came about in 2006 when I completed my degree and started to look for an in-house graphic design job. I found it so hard to find anything that I almost gave up. To try and make more of an impact on potential employers I researched potential domain names that I could use to showcase my work (at this stage I didn’t have a clue that people branded themselves as freelancers etc), and so www.downwithdesign.com was the eventual winner. The name itself has a double meaning. At times I would be so frustrated with the industry (and this sometimes holds true to this day) that I would simply want to pack it in but at the same time I could not because I just loved to design. I even gave up the profession temporarily between August – December 2008. I have a love/hate relationship with being a designer I think. The logo you see today is very similar to the one I used 3 years ago although the typography has been cleaned up a little, and the speech bubble has been tweaked countless times.

When I started out as a freelancer in early 2009 I really wanted to use a new brand name that people would remember and after 3 months of research which included what felt like reading half of the latin dictionary for inspiration, I decided to stick with what I already had. I think that’s the most important part of personal branding, you have to feel a connection with it. It’s all about the name, not the logo. People remember the name, and so it needs to say something about yourself that is unique. After all, you are the one that is going to have to put up with it for the rest of your career.

What do you think about personal branding? …please share your thoughts…Thanks!!!