Who are you?

Branding — i.e. the visual & verbal expression of a business — acts as a beacon. The quality of this expression will attract people who resonate with it. Before embarking on any kind of branding endeavor, it’s very important to know who you want to be connected with.

Thoughtfulness gets you noticed.

Thoughtful choices in your branding will attract people who know what to pay attention to. Loud, colorfully overwhelming designs can serve to convey the need for immediate action. A smooth, organized, and subtle user experience on a website conveys that the brand values of a luxurious touch and feel. A more rugged, hand made style in your choice of typography and an earth toned color palette will say something a very different message from a neo-grotesk sans serif typeface with a mostly white, grey, and purple palette.

There’s an almost infinite selection of identifying marks, patterns, colors that can be subtly adjusted and refined to speak directly to certain subcultures.

People of influence have a very specific knowledge of what works the best visually for their communities. As leaders, they are the voices of the many, and have a strong grasp of which visual and verbal choices will impact their audiences the most. When they decide to upgrade their brand perception, choosing the right designer and agency can make or break their business’s trajectory. I have sat in meeting rooms where hundreds of thousands of dollars were on the line for a branding project. The funneling process of taste increases in pressure exponentially the higher you go.

It becomes a complex dance of masks.

The oil industry will have a very different standard of taste from the fashion industry, from the non profit industry, from the athletics industry, from the health and wellness industry. The sheer amount of tastes and trends can be maddening to keep up with. It's quite fun for me to learn them all :)

As a small business owner or independent service provider, you can move much more quickly with more freedom to experiment what kind of aesthetic speaks to your people the most.

Branding is a science. We test multiple options and funnel them through a creative feedback loop until we find the right direction. One-size-fits-all, templated systems fall short for all except the one person it was designed for. No two people and no two businesses will ever be alike. It takes time and experience to grasp the nuance of how to bring out a business's unique expression.

Building a business's identity is very similar to the process of individuation — the transition from teenager to adulthood. One thing I can say with almost certainty is that engaging in commerce becomes so. much. easier. when you are being yourself.

But to be yourself, you have to find yourself, and that's a never ending process. Sometimes, the right questions from a stranger can go a long way.

For those that like this kind of introspective work, I've put together a free workbook on Notion. The exercises I've put together will help you tell your story and build a confidence you can carry over into your professional atmosphere.

On the top right corner, you can copy the workbook into your account as an editable template. Enjoy it while it's free!

DOWNLOAD HERE

If you have already done the work to build your confidence, offerings, and connections, and are at the stage where you are looking for the best ways to present yourself to the world, book a free discovery call with me here.