Graphic and Identity Designers - if you’ve ever had to design a brand identity for your own design practice (be it small or one-man creative agency or personal freelance design service), what has been your experience? I know many creative designers find it incredibly hard to design their own identity, and I’m curious to know why? Is there an inherent issue with self-promotion, or can we just not see our selves from the same perspective as we see our clients’ businesses? Very interested to gather your feedback.
It’s always been a problem for me, and I think you mentioned a big part of it.
Another part is that I don’t want to be stuck with something I won’t like two years later. Since the whole point of branding is to choose something that will stand the test of time and become associated with the business, I don’t want to be identified with something I no longer like — especially a logo (which is why I’ve never gotten a tattoo). I have a logo of sorts that I use, but that’s a long and boring story for another time.
As for a general brand, the cumulative work I’ve done for others constitutes my visual brand.
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Thanks for your feedback. Indeed I’ve always been in this mindset myself, and this tends to be a common way of thinking for most designers I’ve spoken to. I totally understand the need to allow our work to speak for itself, however I also wonder if there’s more to consider in how we promote ourselves, eg. can our brand identity reveal traits about our professionalism, experience beyond creative knowledge and skill, as the pool of designers is so vast, clients often tend to consider how well they may be able to collaborate with us to bring their vision to life with our help.
Though I am enjoying the process of developing branding for my own business, the effort of it is really challenging. The main issue I have is the problem of objectivity or the fact that I am too involved in the business to step back and look at it as a third party would. When crafting a design for another, I find it easy to become a part of the world they are and along with the brand story, values, and target audience to fully connect with them. On the other hand, in my case, it’s a personal affair, and the gap between how I want to project me and how others see me is often quite big. Perhaps, this mental concept has some roots in the fact that, in design jobs, the task we have is to merge our talent with self-promotion and truth. Designers are so used to giving a hand to other people that they often experience difficulty while evaluating themselves. There is the problem of self-doubt as to whether the design is a true reflection of my creative personality or whether it will make sense to the potential clients. I think it is the fact that we are too close to our brand that makes the situation more problematic. Thus, it is more challenging for us to create a strong and representative design for our brand.
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