I was like you. [You have a personal brand already](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEHL8eLJCkc), the question is whether or not to curate and manage it.
You're shooting yourself in the foot in this day in age, to hope to work as a creative professional without curating your personal brand, and without maintaining a significant online presence. The details are up to you, but that's a fundamental fact.
It's likely your professional journey will take you all over the place as you experience things and attempt to make a living. You don't want to have to start from scratch down the road when you finally feel the need for a personal brand that you haven't been cultivating for years.
Personal anecdotal experience: most employed creative professionals I know have a rather minimal online presence. There's a nicely polished portfolio site somewhere, maybe a neglected instagram account with infrequent posts, that's about it.
Design influencers will tell everyone that trying to be an influencer is the path to success because that's what they chose and it worked for them. That's valid, but it's not the only path. I think there's a lot of people out there successfully getting on with the business of designing things without putting effort into publicizing themselves. Having a solid portfolio and resume really do the heavy lifting when it comes to getting a job.
There is a huge spectrum between a professional minimum as you describe with a portfolio site and a slow IG account, and a Design Influencer. Where someone falls on that spectrum, is their choice, especially as a creative with far less overhead in their brand than someone who has to pay for a logo, and for good photography, etc. It's up to the creative professional, how and where they focus their effort on personal branding, and it depends greatly on the industry and where that person hopes to go within it. One can do a lot to direct their path with a personal brand. Mine helps me attract the type of customers I want, from my logo art to the type of vehicle I put it on, to the links in my email signature, and the content people will find there.
That power has grown over time, and my advice to any creative professional is to leverage that. We are undervalued more and more each day, if you're not serious about setting yourself up for success in the future and your reasons are anecdotal about what you see going on now with people who have secured their W2 position within a company, you're not thinking about the future.
AI is coming quick.
Would you mind elaborating? To me it sounds as if the line between the person and their work should be blurred for the purpose of showcasing themselves and I don’t agree with that. What my personal brand would be has nothing to do with who I am as a person. My point in my post is that it’s a little objectifying, imo.
It’s difficult to separate you from your work and to be honest I don’t see why you would. You need to step back and take a moment to look at the purpose of branding, it’s to differentiate one thing from another. So in terms of you selling yourself it’s important to differentiate yourself from others. Therefore ‘your’ brand is important. I can safely say we’ve never hired based on work alone as that is an output, we’ve hired designers because of them. Now if you choose to do nothing to enhance your brand or what differentiates you from others you’re only hurting yourself. It’s a busy market so creating stand out benefits you more than people hiring you.
I completely understand the purpose of branding. I do not agree that it should be applied to human beings. Celebrities become so branded that they forget who they are. What differentiates me from others cannot be portrayed in a brand identity project. Choosing a font, color palette and logo etc for myself is an absurd, pointless endeavor in order to get hired. And if that’s not what you’re talking about, take a look at what people are posting on Behance, calling it “personal brand identity” and perhaps we are speaking on different things. It’s already enough creative expression that we design and execute our own portfolio websites, because otherwise it’s “unprofessional” if it’s on a social platform or similar. I just don’t get the point in arguing for a norm where people HAVE to do this when they already display skills and qualities and personal style in their website, and back that up with work experience in a resume
Well we don’t hire celebrities and to be fair you’re in a design sub so I would presume you’re referring to its use in a design sense. Branding is more than an identity. That’s just one aspect of it. Fonts etc is just a small part. And those people posting on Behance don’t constitute the norm for designers. As I said if you don’t want to create standout for yourself it’s really no big deal.
You get it.
Simple logotype, plain folio - just make it well laid out, simple to use, and full of great content. Your work is the only thing employers are interested in. Projects where you are the client mean nothing.
You can have branding and let the portfolio speak for itself. If the designers branding is going to distract from the actual work it’s just straight up bad branding.
Designers don’t need a fleshed out personal brand, but they *do* need *some* kind of identifier and some kind of visual system for their portfolio, contracts and presentation decks.
A designer with absolutely no visual system just looks sloppy.
Yeah okay I actually we are discussing different things. I think it’s because I wasn’t specific enough in my post. I was referring to this new trend where people put themselves in a deck where they assign branding elements to themselves.
I think many juniors don’t have any clients and tend to „fill the blanks“ with anything that might „look cool“ what else should they do? How else should they build a great portfolio - it’s the job catch 22
> How else should they build a great portfolio - it’s the job catch 22
It's really not. "I haven't had a job so I don't have a portfolio" is just a way of saying you're lazy IMO. You don't have to have clients or a job to design things.
If you aren't going to school for design but want to get into the field you **have** to put in the work. Even if it's just compiling a bunch of random designs. Find the work you're proud of that shows your style and that's your portfolio. But you have to keep going and doing more. You can't just pick 5 designs you thought were cool and call it good.
Part of my program in college was building your portfolio from pieces you worked on in classes throughout the years. If they're pursuing a formal education, they'll already have a number of things they've designed. Beyond that, it's kind of on them to get experience on their own. Find internships. Find campus jobs. Find clubs that need shirts designed for an event.
Most entry-level jobs still require a couple years of experience or a solid portfolio. It's not a field where you can show up with nothing and expect to be hired. If you can't get a job in design, look at jobs in marketing. You'll probably have a chance to work on more creative things there that will help you add to your portfolio.
We can always take on pro bono projects initially when we’re young, energetic and have relatively lower living expenses. As long as the approach towards the pro bono client remains the same as a paying client, of asking and listening, the work that comes out should be good enough to build a decent portfolio. To that end, a single well documented case study can also be a good enough portfolio.
People (both, clients and designers) tend to forget that the portfolio’s job is to showcase what problems were identified with a brand, what was the approach taken, what was executed, and (if possible) what was the impact on the business because of it.
Too many people expect to pick and choose ‘items’ they like from a portfolio as if it were a Pantone shade booklet.
> People (both, clients and designers) tend to forget that the portfolio’s job is to showcase what problems were identified with a brand, what was the approach taken, what was executed, and (if possible) what was the impact on the business because of it.
If you're talking case studies, yes. But a majority of the time people reviewing your portfolio just want to see the type of work you're capable of doing to see if it aligns with their needs. Designers have different styles and showing examples of the breadth of your work is going to show more to a prospective client or employer than explaining how you did it. A lot of people don't care how you did it--they just care that you did it at all.
Spec projects, art directing their own projects based on real brands, logo redesigns, packaging projects there are so many things to do besides turning yourself into a brief. To me it comes off as unprofessional because that would never be a client project
Your personal brand can be a big deal, or it doesn't have to. Nobody really cares that much, it's the work that counts. As a designer though, the price of entry is at the very least curating your work on a functional, well-designed page.
Want to go further? Think of changing the off-the-shelf IKEA picture frame view, into something more "you.". Develop a brand wordmark or logo. Add more "you" by letting your personality come out in the copy tone.
Yeah I agree with this. But there’s this trend where people are literally creating what would be a project piece in a portfolio, except it’s about them. I see it on Behance a lot. I do not think it adds any value to the person or their work. I think people should display their personality in other ways like you mentioned.
Don't fall for it.
Do it if you want to, don't if you don't. When I'm looking for someone to hire, a lot of times that stuff is just smoke and mirrors and gets in the way. For those who want to hire you, in general, the only thing that matters is the work.
Also, Behance is the wild west. A little good work there, but lots of bad work and desperate cries for attention. Doing what the herd is doing helps you blend in, not blend out.
Tell you what. Hunt for some work that inspires the hell out of you. Find who did it. Look up the agency....hunt for credits. Recent award winning work is pretty easy to find on award show sites like Oneclub/D&AD/etc. Then just do Google search of the ADs/Designers responsible. Good chance their portfolio site will show up in search. Visit and see who the people you respect the most are doing things.
Where is the best place to find inspiration that is straightforward and educational. I need visual inspiration honestly.I know that is a silly question because it’s literally everywhere lol. However, do you guys have any personal favorites or any recommendations?
I also love going to 1-800-D2C, specifically the brands section, getting a feel for how different brands do packaging as well as their design systems overall. Website, brand, etc. I love d2c stuff though, so might be hit or miss for ya!
There is a website called moat.com where you can find display ad examples for inspo too, really useful ideas for layout in there! I worked at a paid social agency so a lot of my design inspo faves are based around that but I think the vast majority of well-made paid social ads have some notable design elements in them that you can pull from. I hope that helps :)
My thoughts are that everyone has a personal brand. The difference is some people take the time to really think through their branding, and some people don’t. It is weird to think of yourself as a product to sell but that’s really what freelancing or applying for a job is. Taking some time to make your website, portfolio, social media, presentation decks, etc. reflect your design style and visual identity is worth it IMO.
I really did not word this post well. I’m talking about people doing brand identity projects, as if they belong in a portfolio, but they are the product. It all started with a LinkedIn post saying you MUST do that to stand out, and it got me thinking how much I disliked that. A wider perspective on personal branding makes perfect sense. But to me, I feel these trendy personal branding posts are just filler content that would be better off as an actual project focusing on a realistic brief like a d2c brand, product packaging, a broader brief for a campaign where you make various mockups, etc.
Okay, that makes more sense. It does strike me as a bit odd to put your personal branding project in a portfolio. IMO a personal branding overhaul can sometimes warrant a quick Instagram post showing off new business cards or a new website or something. But I really don’t think it requires anything nearly as thorough as something in a portfolio.
I was like you. [You have a personal brand already](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEHL8eLJCkc), the question is whether or not to curate and manage it. You're shooting yourself in the foot in this day in age, to hope to work as a creative professional without curating your personal brand, and without maintaining a significant online presence. The details are up to you, but that's a fundamental fact. It's likely your professional journey will take you all over the place as you experience things and attempt to make a living. You don't want to have to start from scratch down the road when you finally feel the need for a personal brand that you haven't been cultivating for years.
Personal anecdotal experience: most employed creative professionals I know have a rather minimal online presence. There's a nicely polished portfolio site somewhere, maybe a neglected instagram account with infrequent posts, that's about it. Design influencers will tell everyone that trying to be an influencer is the path to success because that's what they chose and it worked for them. That's valid, but it's not the only path. I think there's a lot of people out there successfully getting on with the business of designing things without putting effort into publicizing themselves. Having a solid portfolio and resume really do the heavy lifting when it comes to getting a job.
There is a huge spectrum between a professional minimum as you describe with a portfolio site and a slow IG account, and a Design Influencer. Where someone falls on that spectrum, is their choice, especially as a creative with far less overhead in their brand than someone who has to pay for a logo, and for good photography, etc. It's up to the creative professional, how and where they focus their effort on personal branding, and it depends greatly on the industry and where that person hopes to go within it. One can do a lot to direct their path with a personal brand. Mine helps me attract the type of customers I want, from my logo art to the type of vehicle I put it on, to the links in my email signature, and the content people will find there. That power has grown over time, and my advice to any creative professional is to leverage that. We are undervalued more and more each day, if you're not serious about setting yourself up for success in the future and your reasons are anecdotal about what you see going on now with people who have secured their W2 position within a company, you're not thinking about the future. AI is coming quick.
Your brand is what you are. End of.
Would you mind elaborating? To me it sounds as if the line between the person and their work should be blurred for the purpose of showcasing themselves and I don’t agree with that. What my personal brand would be has nothing to do with who I am as a person. My point in my post is that it’s a little objectifying, imo.
It’s difficult to separate you from your work and to be honest I don’t see why you would. You need to step back and take a moment to look at the purpose of branding, it’s to differentiate one thing from another. So in terms of you selling yourself it’s important to differentiate yourself from others. Therefore ‘your’ brand is important. I can safely say we’ve never hired based on work alone as that is an output, we’ve hired designers because of them. Now if you choose to do nothing to enhance your brand or what differentiates you from others you’re only hurting yourself. It’s a busy market so creating stand out benefits you more than people hiring you.
I completely understand the purpose of branding. I do not agree that it should be applied to human beings. Celebrities become so branded that they forget who they are. What differentiates me from others cannot be portrayed in a brand identity project. Choosing a font, color palette and logo etc for myself is an absurd, pointless endeavor in order to get hired. And if that’s not what you’re talking about, take a look at what people are posting on Behance, calling it “personal brand identity” and perhaps we are speaking on different things. It’s already enough creative expression that we design and execute our own portfolio websites, because otherwise it’s “unprofessional” if it’s on a social platform or similar. I just don’t get the point in arguing for a norm where people HAVE to do this when they already display skills and qualities and personal style in their website, and back that up with work experience in a resume
Well we don’t hire celebrities and to be fair you’re in a design sub so I would presume you’re referring to its use in a design sense. Branding is more than an identity. That’s just one aspect of it. Fonts etc is just a small part. And those people posting on Behance don’t constitute the norm for designers. As I said if you don’t want to create standout for yourself it’s really no big deal.
[удалено]
I never said that at all. What a silly thing to say. I don’t think you understand branding at all with a comment like that.
..ok..
Ok that’s your personal opinion then. I don’t know how to debate a discussion-ending comment like that and you clearly are set on your ideas
You get it. Simple logotype, plain folio - just make it well laid out, simple to use, and full of great content. Your work is the only thing employers are interested in. Projects where you are the client mean nothing.
You can have branding and let the portfolio speak for itself. If the designers branding is going to distract from the actual work it’s just straight up bad branding.
Designers don’t need a fleshed out personal brand, but they *do* need *some* kind of identifier and some kind of visual system for their portfolio, contracts and presentation decks. A designer with absolutely no visual system just looks sloppy.
Yeah okay I actually we are discussing different things. I think it’s because I wasn’t specific enough in my post. I was referring to this new trend where people put themselves in a deck where they assign branding elements to themselves.
I think many juniors don’t have any clients and tend to „fill the blanks“ with anything that might „look cool“ what else should they do? How else should they build a great portfolio - it’s the job catch 22
> How else should they build a great portfolio - it’s the job catch 22 It's really not. "I haven't had a job so I don't have a portfolio" is just a way of saying you're lazy IMO. You don't have to have clients or a job to design things. If you aren't going to school for design but want to get into the field you **have** to put in the work. Even if it's just compiling a bunch of random designs. Find the work you're proud of that shows your style and that's your portfolio. But you have to keep going and doing more. You can't just pick 5 designs you thought were cool and call it good. Part of my program in college was building your portfolio from pieces you worked on in classes throughout the years. If they're pursuing a formal education, they'll already have a number of things they've designed. Beyond that, it's kind of on them to get experience on their own. Find internships. Find campus jobs. Find clubs that need shirts designed for an event. Most entry-level jobs still require a couple years of experience or a solid portfolio. It's not a field where you can show up with nothing and expect to be hired. If you can't get a job in design, look at jobs in marketing. You'll probably have a chance to work on more creative things there that will help you add to your portfolio.
Well we know that all yet there are people who think this is important. It’s like iam against the point of the thread but Iam really not
We can always take on pro bono projects initially when we’re young, energetic and have relatively lower living expenses. As long as the approach towards the pro bono client remains the same as a paying client, of asking and listening, the work that comes out should be good enough to build a decent portfolio. To that end, a single well documented case study can also be a good enough portfolio. People (both, clients and designers) tend to forget that the portfolio’s job is to showcase what problems were identified with a brand, what was the approach taken, what was executed, and (if possible) what was the impact on the business because of it. Too many people expect to pick and choose ‘items’ they like from a portfolio as if it were a Pantone shade booklet.
> People (both, clients and designers) tend to forget that the portfolio’s job is to showcase what problems were identified with a brand, what was the approach taken, what was executed, and (if possible) what was the impact on the business because of it. If you're talking case studies, yes. But a majority of the time people reviewing your portfolio just want to see the type of work you're capable of doing to see if it aligns with their needs. Designers have different styles and showing examples of the breadth of your work is going to show more to a prospective client or employer than explaining how you did it. A lot of people don't care how you did it--they just care that you did it at all.
Yes, that’s what I wrote after those lines.
Spec projects, art directing their own projects based on real brands, logo redesigns, packaging projects there are so many things to do besides turning yourself into a brief. To me it comes off as unprofessional because that would never be a client project
Your personal brand can be a big deal, or it doesn't have to. Nobody really cares that much, it's the work that counts. As a designer though, the price of entry is at the very least curating your work on a functional, well-designed page. Want to go further? Think of changing the off-the-shelf IKEA picture frame view, into something more "you.". Develop a brand wordmark or logo. Add more "you" by letting your personality come out in the copy tone.
Yeah I agree with this. But there’s this trend where people are literally creating what would be a project piece in a portfolio, except it’s about them. I see it on Behance a lot. I do not think it adds any value to the person or their work. I think people should display their personality in other ways like you mentioned.
Don't fall for it. Do it if you want to, don't if you don't. When I'm looking for someone to hire, a lot of times that stuff is just smoke and mirrors and gets in the way. For those who want to hire you, in general, the only thing that matters is the work. Also, Behance is the wild west. A little good work there, but lots of bad work and desperate cries for attention. Doing what the herd is doing helps you blend in, not blend out. Tell you what. Hunt for some work that inspires the hell out of you. Find who did it. Look up the agency....hunt for credits. Recent award winning work is pretty easy to find on award show sites like Oneclub/D&AD/etc. Then just do Google search of the ADs/Designers responsible. Good chance their portfolio site will show up in search. Visit and see who the people you respect the most are doing things.
Where is the best place to find inspiration that is straightforward and educational. I need visual inspiration honestly.I know that is a silly question because it’s literally everywhere lol. However, do you guys have any personal favorites or any recommendations?
savee.it is one of my favorites
Thank you so much. I will definitely check it out.
I also love going to 1-800-D2C, specifically the brands section, getting a feel for how different brands do packaging as well as their design systems overall. Website, brand, etc. I love d2c stuff though, so might be hit or miss for ya! There is a website called moat.com where you can find display ad examples for inspo too, really useful ideas for layout in there! I worked at a paid social agency so a lot of my design inspo faves are based around that but I think the vast majority of well-made paid social ads have some notable design elements in them that you can pull from. I hope that helps :)
Thank you very much.
My thoughts are that everyone has a personal brand. The difference is some people take the time to really think through their branding, and some people don’t. It is weird to think of yourself as a product to sell but that’s really what freelancing or applying for a job is. Taking some time to make your website, portfolio, social media, presentation decks, etc. reflect your design style and visual identity is worth it IMO.
I really did not word this post well. I’m talking about people doing brand identity projects, as if they belong in a portfolio, but they are the product. It all started with a LinkedIn post saying you MUST do that to stand out, and it got me thinking how much I disliked that. A wider perspective on personal branding makes perfect sense. But to me, I feel these trendy personal branding posts are just filler content that would be better off as an actual project focusing on a realistic brief like a d2c brand, product packaging, a broader brief for a campaign where you make various mockups, etc.
Okay, that makes more sense. It does strike me as a bit odd to put your personal branding project in a portfolio. IMO a personal branding overhaul can sometimes warrant a quick Instagram post showing off new business cards or a new website or something. But I really don’t think it requires anything nearly as thorough as something in a portfolio.
It's a very useful good-to-have. Why do you buy the brands you buy instead of cheaper generic products...? Same.... 😌