I’m just stopping in quickly to say I’ll be away for a few days, meeting up with other graphic designers/bloggers (Bre!!!) for a girls weekend in Palm Springs / Ace Hotel. I’ve never been to California before…or even traveled alone, so I’ve got a good mix of excitement and nervousness brewing inside. I’ll have lots to share once I get back.

Stay tuned my dearies 🙂

*above photo b David Richardson Photography

Here I am again, blabbing about my personal discoveries. I hope that by sharing my experiences during the rebranding process, that I’ll be able to provide insights to other designers going through the same thing. It’s a scary thing, people.

I’ve been talking a lot about gathering inspiration because I have found this part of the process to be the most rewarding and beneficial to discovering personal style. I’m able to see the big picture, visually, and use that as a guide for the next steps.

Discovery No. 2: My personal design style & my personal “clothing & home” style are polar opposites.
Now you can see how this can be a troubling/confusing thing to discover. For months now I’ve been so torn about what images to include in the rebranding mood board. Do I pin the perfectly neutral natural home photos or the bold graphic images with lots of gray and overlapping textures? I’ve discovered that cassie as a person who wears certain clothes and buys certain furniture pieces prefers her home and wardrobe to be cozy, comfortable, natural, neutral, & simple. (examples here & here)

On the other hand, her design style is drastically different. The designer in her chooses a neutral base to start with (black, white, gray) and then layers color and texture on top (Examples here & here). The colors found in her design work don’t usually show up in her wardrobe or home.

ODD! So odd to me. I think it comes down to expressing both sides of my personality without giving anything up in the process. In my home I’m able to elaborate on the handmade details, the natural materials, and the cozy comfy surroundings. My wardrobe mimics that style. This is very comfortable for me. It’s really easy. The other side of me likes to step outside of the box and present something unexpected. My design side takes advantage of this trait quite often. I think it’s an interesting combination.

Has anyone else discovered this about themselves? Seems like an odd combination to me, but then again…I’m a rare duck.

Hi guys! I thought I’d update you on where I’m at in the whole rebranding process. I’ve been collecting inspiration images like a mad woman and then sitting with those images to see if there is a theme throughout. Somedays things seem to click and then the next day, everything seems blurry again. Along the way I’m finding a system that works. I prefer to collect a bunch of random images first, and then streamline along the way, refining as I go.

As I’ve been collecting images, I’ve discovered two pretty big things about myself as a designer and my brand. The first discovery has really given me confidence in the decisions I’m making along the way, which is really refreshing.

Discover #1: My style hasn’t drastically changed, it’s only evolved.
Going into this whole rebranding adventure, I thought my personal design style had drastically changed over the past 3 years ( 3 years outside of my design school days). Just the other day I was sitting at my computer, starring at my mess of a Pinterest rebranding board (images I’ve been collecting for months now) and realized that my style really hasn’t changed all the much. My preferred color palette is basically the same (shocking actually) and the overall “mood” is scarily similar. I even brought out my senior year design portfolio to compare…crap…its basically the same aesthetic.At first I took this discovery as bad news. How could my design style NOT change after all these years? Is that normal? Later I was able to see the discovery as good news. It proves that through all the years of growing as a designer, my “natural instinct” is still intact. The things that make me tick and the things that get me to say “yeah!” are still the same. Deep down, I’m still me…just a more sophisticated me. Less random. More precise. It proves that I know what I like and that I’m able to define an iconic style that I can truly own. Hooray!!!!

* Here’s a really great blog post by Ana Louisa Perkins of Grown Up Shoes. She’s a self-taught designers and gives her perspective on defining your own personal style…and how it takes time. Thanks for a great read Ana

To be continued…

*photo collage by Veda House (images pulled from here)