A colleague once suggested to me that my anti-branding was my branding. Had she not been such a nice and genuine person I may well have clouted her. She's lovely, so I didn't. But I keep coming up against this branding thing and it doesn't sit well on these shoulders.

In my world, branding (and we do thank you for giving us a single word to describe everything so succinctly) is a falseness; it's all lies or half truths made up by a marketing department to make you (the generic you) buy things. Companies are hugely successful at it - it's a reason why so many products and so many lifestyle choices are popular.

Not everyone sees branding in the same way. But is a particular marketing strategy, and I prefer to think that I have my own style, I do things my way, and that my customers like it.

I've rewritten this blog post countless times to try and remove any anger yet I still keeping back to this same point. So I figured I may as well end the sleepless nights and just say it as it is.

We are human beings. Creative individuals. Designers aren't products, their designs are. Why is corporatism creeping in to the point where those that shout the loudest or pimp themselves the best are dictating what's what? Why are folk starting to think that professionalism is all about editing themselves? Professionalism is a mindset, an attitude; it's about doing the best by your customers and putting your hands up when needed. Material things and a pretence of a perfect world don't factor in that equation.

We all have the right to market ourselves as we choose, or not. It isn't a competition. We are creative individuals putting our hearts into all that we do. This isn't a game plan to milk the pennies, or at least I don't think it should be. However we do it, it is our thing, and that's my point - there's nothing wrong in just being who you are, doing what you do with all of you and nothing less. Don't hide anything, be proud of who you are. Own your fuck ups. You can do this job, and do it well, without even thinking about the concept of branding.

Y'all get that I've things to get off my chest, yes?

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AuthorWoolly Wormhead