branding yourself (where to even begin)

Map it all Out. Spend days, weeks, even months if you can. If you rush into trying to throw together a logo or a resume, you likely won't be satisfied with the result long-term. Take time. Map it out in your head. Jot down notes, pin some ideas you like, talk to friends that love design or are active in the art world. Even if you are planning on hiring a designer to do all the branding for you, it's smart to draw out some things you like, rip out some examples of logos in magazines you are drawn to, ultimately just figure out who you are and how you want to be perceived. Even picking up some paint samples at Home Depot of colors you feel suit you could be helpful. Do what you can to have a firm foundation to build on. If this stage is skipped, everything else will crumble.


Create a Logo. If you are entering into the design or art world, or anything in the creative realm of things, this is a necessity. Other career paths, it's probably more or less optional. It'll take the longest of the steps, by far. It may take five different logos to find one that you are finally satisfied with. Then, you can breathe a sigh of relief because it's all (mainly) downhill from here. This is where I would endorse the 11PM-3AM rule. If you are a night person, stay up really late one night for the pure purpose of getting your creative juices flowing. That's prime time for me (and many other designers I know) to get our ideas. This may help it (and well, it may not, but hey, its worth a shot amirightttt?).

Construct a Complimentary Resume. My word of advice on that? Don't use a template from Word, don't overdue it, get to the point, make it well presented, and don't include unnecessary information. No one needs your photo blown up at the top of a resume and no one needs your parent's home address either.

Edit all your social media. Try and stick to the same look, roughly the same photo, and use the same email addresses, web addresses, etc. Make sure that across the boards you are presenting yourself the same. Colors and typefaces really help convey that. Consistency is key. It presents you as far more intentional then you would look if every social media site you have was substantially different looking.

Make a business card. Seek out options of printing them professionally. If you are going to make all the effort to design a business card, don't just print it out of your computer at home on the business cards you buy at Office Depot. Seek out professional options, but at the very least print them on nice, heavy weight card stock. That option would probably only send you back $10 for a big stack of them. But look into letterpress, custom stamps, and wood and plastic business cards. Maybe business cards are becoming old school, but most people won't remember your information by the time they get home and even if they lose the business card, maybe it'll end up in someone else's hands, duh.

Create a website.  I suggest creating a Wordpress website, buying a Domain Name, and buying a decently priced layout to begin with. From there, you can at least have an up-and-running website. You can then decide whether you want to invest in a custom designed layout or anything like that. Having a website is KEY, even if you aren

Get a professional email. Rid your life of extra numbers on the end of emails and unnecessary middle names and all. Make it as simple as possible with a email service that most people know of. Also, adding a signature on your emails that will link up with your website is smart (use every opportunity you get to point all your media and communication back to each other.)

Create anything else you need. A pricing sheet, an invoice design, etc. Get down to the nitty gritty details and push your branding as far as you can.
 

Bravo!