Personal Branding – Bauhaus to Different Hats

Alongside my creative and strategic work for consumer and corporate brands I have been working on different aspects of personal branding for several decades. This all started at my London design companies Planet & Brand Voice where we got involved in many aspects of personal brand licensing. I created a David Bailey’s range of camera accessories for Olympus Cameras, a gardening product range for Alan Titchmarsh with B&Q and a personal care range with Trinny & Susannah. More recently I have worked with Beverley Knight – a great soul singer - on an ethical apparel range.

Sussex by the Sea

Since moving to Brighton, I have taken on even more direct personal brand identity design projects with some talented, and brave, people deciding to branch out on their own with their new business ambitions and journeys.

I have a clear approach to my strategic design thinking. We all have attitudes and beliefs about brands based on our experiences. The strongest brands are:

Powerful / Authentic / Consistent / Visible / Valuable

The same qualities apply to Personal Brands.

What makes this important? We now have greater control of our own destinies. With that comes increased responsibility and competition. To get ahead, we must manage the impressions others have of us. With a strong personal brand, you:

Differentiate yourself from others / Build a reputation / Maximise your business potential.

Isabelle Allende, the author wrote

“You are the storyteller of your own life, and you can create your own legend or not.”

Sam Thomas

One of my favourite projects has been with Sam Thomas. I met him through Brighton networking - the Big Business Breakfast Club - and we hit it off straight away. We discussed a shared love of creative business, entrepreneurial people and football (sorry - wrong North London team Sam!)

He liked my Brandad business model and wanted to create his own distinctive brand presence. He was very honest about his initial concerns with promoting himself and asked me if I thought it was arrogant - to which I replied that it was much more about having true passion and pride in your work and sharing it with new audiences and potential customers.

My branding methodology

I always start any brand design project with a purpose workshop. I create a bespoke questionnaire – the answers create the initial framework for the session(s). They include what is your elevator pitch? – in? circa 100 words over 30 seconds – and what is your commercial ambition? I really want to know what does success look like for you in the future.

Sam was very clear from the start.

“I have been running of my own businesses for more than a decade. I am an entrepreneurial thinker with a strong belief that you can achieve anything if you put your mind to it. In 2021 I launched the County Business TALKS Podcast. I believe everyone has a story to tell, through seeking true, authentic insights about the entrepreneurial journey, I provide a platform for our peers to share their stories and inspire those that listen. We talk about the highs and the lows of running a business and being an entrepreneur, the good, the bad and everything in between”.

I also do a brand ikigai session – which I explained to Sam in my podcast with him – the Japanese philosophy of what motivates you to get up in the morning and drives you forward. I use this in my college lectures to final year design students launching their careers too.

Brand naming

At the same time Sam engaged clever Terry Bower of Inside Stories to explore his narrative approach to business. Through this informed process they came-up with the brilliant Different Hats brand, so clever for two clear reasons. First this describes the different roles Sam plays and the fact that Sam’s distinctive trademark is his ever-present baseball hat!

I love a great brief – back to the future

Armed with the Different Hats story I wanted to create a smart and versatile brand identity that would work across all media, digital, print and hats - of course.

I focussed on the aspect that there were 3 distinctive parts of Sam’s activities. I am? passionate about design and art history. I like the 20th century modernist approach espoused by the constructivists, Mondrian with De Stijl and the Bauhaus with the power of 3.

Founded in 1919 by architect Walter Gropius, the Bauhaus School sought to unite fine art, craft and architecture into a single artistic vision. In this way, a unified design language emerged, characterised by functionality, minimalism and geometric forms. Central to this design philosophy was the Bauhaus basic palette, which consisted of the primary colours blue, red and yellow (supported by black and white). They believed that these symbolise essential human emotions: blue represents spirituality and calm, red represents warmth and emotion, and yellow represents intellect and happiness.

The great artist Wassily Kandinsky investigated colour, form, and their psychological and spiritual effects and developed a theory of form based on geometry. He believed that the triangle embodied active and aggressive feelings, and the square represented peace and calm. The circle suggested the spiritual realm.

I love a great brief – and a solution with a story and style.

I shared this art history and design theory and showed Sam how I would apply it in practice.

I developed an integrated brand device combining these primary colours and geometric shapes. I explained that it would be a versatile trademark that could combine across various applications and could be animated. Sam loved it – a brand identity with its own smart narrative and success story. When I showed him the Baseball hat and T shirt Sam’s big smile told me I was on to a winner.

He his since commissioned me to design brand identity devices for County Business Clubs and the Sussex Business Times.

In the market

I have since seen Sam at a number of events proudly displaying his boldly branded apparel and banners. I introduced him to talented George Mullis to develop his website. George embraced the design philosophy and approach and was really excited about animation possibilities. The site has gone live this week.

100 Podcasts

I was a guest at Sam’s great event on Monday night where he invited 150 guests to celebrate his first 100 podcasts. A memorable achievement celebrated in a lovely film. His journey has got him to explore and discuss really important issues like mental health and the prevalence of male suicide in particular.

His conclusion is that success is not about money or status but about love, family, friends and living for the moment. Be happy and true to yourself and be kind to others. This is a humanist philosophy I share, and I am so proud to have helped Sam build his compelling brand identity and story..