Work in Process
The Swail Studio Blog about Branding,
visual identity, magic, and the void.
Do you know yourself “well enough” to rebrand yet?
I want to answer an FAQ that often comes up when talking to prospective clients:
Do I know myself and my business well enough to get a brand kit? I’m in a transition, and I'm not completely sure who I am, or what is next, right now.
Post-traumatic creative growth
For so long, I let my experience of creating the work, the pressure and fear that I felt in the trenches of it, completely cloud my perception of the result. Until this month, I couldn’t bear to look at so many of these projects, and it was IMPOSSIBLE for me to consider them as they are: truly some of my best work.
Graphic design is not my passion.
At risk of self-sabotaging, let me explain…
The truth is that I don’t, and have never, “lived and breathed” brand design. However… I'm pretty fucking good at it. I enjoy and care about it deeply enough to make a sustainable living out of it.
And it happens to make my clients a lot more money.
You need a mood board. No exceptions.
It’s the “secret” to my process. It's a translation from the verbal and energetic into the visual. It’s a mood. It’s a strategic direction. It's a peek into what is possible. It’s divination.
Are you a 2am idea person?
To create, I need time and space to myself. Darkness. Silence. Solitude. These are the ideal conditions that allow ideas to bubble up from my subconscious mind unhindered. Enter the 2am idea.