Branding: fancy freelance name or real name?
I have a personal branding question i’d like to gauge your opinions on.
I go by the freelance/sole trader name of Brace for Impact for my graphic / motions design work, I like this name, but I wonder if I should reconsider slightly and use my name first and foremost on branding bits n bobs - for a more personal connection with people?
I also like the idea of going back to clean simple lines for my logo, see what you think. I may be a designer but I always find creating my own identity extra tricky!
Would love to know your thoughts.
Thanks all
Scott
Replies5
- There have been some great comments here! It all depends on what you'd like the future to hold. If you have plans of growing your team, a brand name can support this. Furthermore, if you sold your business in the future, it can be easier if there are no personal names attached.If you'd like it to be personal to you, then your name would be perfect. In this case, your clients will always be dealing with you 1-2-1, so they would only be addressing you by your name anyway!Personally, I find it challenging when everything is under my name — it feels too close for comfort. However, some artist revel in this.What's the big dream? :-)
- First of all, 100% agree that designing for yourself is extra tricky!As for the name, I think it depends what relationship you want with your business now and in the future.If you'd like to grow into an agency that employs people in the future, I'd go with the Brace for Impact name, and start building on that.If you don't want to employ people or grow then you could go either way. Here is where I'd suggest thinking about how you want your relationship with your work/business to be. I used to use my nickname (Laurabelle) for design, but I realised this felt TOO personal. So I changed it to a studio name to give myself more separation between me as a person, my personal creativity, and my business. And I'm much happier this way.I'm also going to go limited at some point which further solidified my decision to work under a studio name.I don't think using a studio name affects people getting the 'personal touch' feeling either. Your online presence and dealing with you directly will communicate this. Have plenty pictures of yourself on your website (ideally smiling!) and people will know you're a real person behind the name.Finally, usually people reply to questions like this with "It doesn't matter after a while" which is true. Good idea to sit with it for a while and say it out loud to a few people. As long as it doesn't make you cringe or give you the ick, then you're onto a winner.
- Great question @Scott Robinson, I've just sent you a DM!
- The big advantage of a brand name is it's scalability and ability to make you look bigger than a one-man show.The human touch can be highlighted with web copy – "Add a human touch to your motion graphics…" and your role at every key touchpoint, emphasised through client quotatations "Scott helped us…"
- Personal name all the way. Ensure people know they're getting a personal service, rather than something ambiguous.From a solely imagery POV, I would simplify as much as possible. Get rid of everything but your name. You can show people what you can do through your work, rather than a big list within your brandmarks that no one will be able to read unless the logo is enormous.
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