Read Time: 10 Minutes
Introduction
Are you having trouble giving your business a distinctive identity?
Is the experience customers have with your brand inconsistent, or worse yet, doesn’t leave a lasting impression? If so, it’s likely that you’re having some issues with creating a solid business identity. Please don’t panic; I’ve been through the same thing, and I can help.
MY PERSONAL STORY OF ME OVERCOMING MY IDENTITY ISSUE
Following my Non-Existent Yellow Brick Road
Brand Identity is no different from personal identity. A new business entering the corporate world is similar to a teenage Billy entering university. I’m so busy focusing on the nuts and bolts of school- doing my homework, getting good grades, and studying that I neglected developing my identity and what made me tick.
I needed more direction, community, and day-to-day, I kept changing the way I looked and portrayed myself. Nothing was working; full-blown identity crisis. How did I get here? I hear you ask. I am one of seven siblings; your identity can get lost with that many personalities in the household because you end up just going with the flow of the group. Day to day doing things that didn’t particularly interest me, but hey, I was with siblings doing it, so that was good enough, right?
Now that I’m alone at the university. I was by myself, and leaving my family in-which, which I’ve spent up to that point my entire life, left a gap within myself, specifically my identity. I had no group to flow with. I had to trust my own initiative; boy, did it suck. Everyone was on their own path, their yellow brick road to a happy ending, and I wandered aimlessly, trying to figure out what way was up.
I kept doing what other people thought was good design. 2nd year of university, I needed a community, direction, and people to align myself. I was surviving but not thriving! Boy, was I lost, and I was getting nowhere, fast.
My Creative Style; FingerPrintless
The stress of trying to find my identity caused me to ignore my inner voice. Instead of discovering what I naturally liked, I forced myself to do what I thought I should like. Similarly, following my many siblings in activities and hobbies left me wondering where my interest lay.
I was entering my third year, and my creative style changed every day because I lacked a clear identity to shape my creative output like a person without fingerprints. My creative style left no unidentifiable traits. See, a person’s creative style is unique to them, like a fingerprint. Easily identifiable by trained creatives to see. However, my work was unrememberable and creatively fingerprintless.
Three Months away from Failing my Degree
During the final year of university, we had to choose a final-year project based on our interests. I was stumped; I had no real particular draw to anything. So I spent the first two months of my three-month project watching what other people were doing. Seeing which ones worked and had some potential instead of doing it myself and discovering what I liked.
I was miserable; I lacked identity in who I was and couldn’t figure out my style. I’m at university studying visual communication, lacking the creative style to succeed. I could do the work, but I couldn’t find my visual voice, leaving my work toneless. I could replicate anything I saw or liked but couldn’t make it my own. Therefore I failed my final year, the year that required me to showcase my skills through my creative identity. But I suffered a creative identity crisis, and my work was inconsistent and incoherent. I couldn’t produce anything worthwhile.
I failed and dropped out of university. I left like I was drifting, unable to find my creative identity or even an identity to portray myself. I was as plain as porridge.
It was when I Failed my Degree that I Finally Found my Creative Fingerprint
I knew I needed to change. I needed to figure out who I was: my likes and dislikes, drive, and core values. I focused on the things I liked and my hobbies and built a community. I was finding others like me which rekindled my passion for design.
I landed a freelance job creating logos. Awesome, I thought this should be easy, create a logo. They tell me what they want, and bam, it’s done. But I hear those dreadful words from the client; I don’t like it. And I ask why? They can’t articulate why. At the time, I didn’t know how to ask the right questions to nurture out the “I don’t like it” into why they had trouble with it. Make it 20% bigger; I hear them say, try this I found, they said, how about we start again. all responses from my clients.
I’m a designer; how did designing become so hard? Then it clicked.
My client needed brand guidelines; how was I meant to create a logo representing the business when the brand had no clear identity documented? What became a simple logo resulted in me creating brand guidelines and working with the client to develop the brand’s identity and soul.
Even though I created Brand Guidelines for the company, I only charged them for the logo design. That was because we agreed upon a set rate for the logo. Therefore the extra work was part of that logo creation. Despite losing money in this venture, what I learned was priceless.
I applied what I learned to myself. I created my mission and vision statements and my core values. Seeing it on paper helped me understand my drive and passions. The brand guidelines I made for myself helped me find my identity. It gave me a focus on setting goals and objectives for myself and doing the things that aligned with my values, interests, and vision. I finally understood myself and where I needed to be.
Overcoming my Identity Crisis Meant that I could help Businesses Overcome theirs
With a better understanding of myself, I retook my final year. Finally, I could follow my strengths, and finally, I wasn’t just surviving; I was thriving. I was taking inspiration from others, but I was able to forge my personal creativity, eventually leaving an identifiable mark on my work. 2013, and I graduated from university with a 2:1 (B+).
I land my first role as a designer within the Mobile Phone retail industry, and things go askew immediately. A month into my first role, the Senior Designer quit, and I am now my department’s most senior staff member.
I’m thrown into the deep end, and I’m lost. The work I was producing kept changing, and it had no direction or consistency, and then it hit me. The company I worked for was suffering an identity crisis. Working with the stakeholders and the marketing manager, I created brand guidelines, the foundations for every business, and the solution for a brand’s identity crisis.
From there, I flourished, focusing on creating content that represented the brand, not those employed by the business. It’s a common theme when things are going well in the marketing department that every other department has input on what you should do; however, when things are going terribly, you quickly see that there is no more advice from others than to do your job.
My five years at the mobile phone retailer franchise gave me the confidence and the ability to resolve quickly;
- Brand direction and inconsistency.
- Unified marketing collateral and content creation.
- Finding a brand’s identity through brand guidelines.
- A whiz at Overcoming Brand Identity Issues.
- Fine-tuning the components of a Brand Identity.
Giving Brands Fingerprints and preventing Identity Crisis
I’ve spent the last ten years working as a designer, marketer, and storyteller, and throughout my career growth, my constant ability was building brands to last. From fashion, mobile phone retailer, and nutritional gummy industry to the horticulture industry, my craft of empowering brands to find their fingerprints has led me to you. Helping small businesses find their identities to create a consistent marketing and business plan for the brand.
I’m a designer, marketer, storyteller, and, most notably, an individual who crafts businesses’ brand fingerprints—helping small businesses to help themselves and to prevent them from killing themselves softly with their work.
Key Takeaways
- My Personal Journey: I share my own experience of struggling with identity issues and how I overcame them. I understand the challenges businesses face in establishing a distinct brand identity and the importance of avoiding self-sabotage.
- The Power of Brand Guidelines: I realized that designing a logo alone wasn’t enough if the brand lacked a clear identity. Creating comprehensive brand guidelines became essential in shaping the brand’s identity and ensuring consistency. It helped me align with clients and fostered better communication.
- Embracing Brand Guidelines: I encourage brands to adopt meticulous brand guidelines to prevent identity crises and forge deep connections with their audience. These guidelines humanize the brand, maintain consistency, and pave the way for long-term success in a competitive market.
Summary: Preventing Brands from Killing themselves Softly with their Work
Drawing from my personal journey of self-discovery, I wholeheartedly empathize with businesses confronting identity crises. Just as I navigated my own path to overcome my identity crisis, brands can chart a course towards renewal through the adoption of brand guidelines. Without clear directives, brands risk losing their sense of self and bewildering their audience, mirroring the struggles of my past self. A comprehensive brand guideline breathes life into a brand, fostering profound connections and upholding unwavering consistency rooted in core values. By embracing a meticulous guideline, brands can avert an identity crisis, forge meaningful bonds with their audience, and forge a path to enduring triumph. In today’s fiercely competitive landscape, embracing identity through brand guidelines stands as an indispensable step towards humanizing brands, guaranteeing their prosperity and crafting a distinctive imprint in the market.
Humanize your brand for meaningful connections by Building a Brand To Last with me, Billy
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