My Online Brand

I’ve never really thought about it before this morning, thinking I never really had a “brand” per se, but the truth is, when I looked closer, yes, I do. And it’s quite distinctive to me. From the choice of fonts I like to use because of the way they look, to the colours I choose for links and the fact I like clean, crisp, uncluttered white space.

I think most of this stems from when I changed jobs moving from the stress of air traffic control (from my time in the military) to publishing on the cusp of computers moving full time into the work place. I gravitated to both, and combining the two, had a thirty plus year career in print & publishing.

Obviously, working within this dynamically changing arena has informed my online presence in subtle ways I hadn’t really notice before. Of course it did. My artistic side has had training and now, has free reign to create in a way that’s simplistic and understated. I crafted any number of magazines back in the day. I’m not saying I didn’t go bold, and wild, and out there. I did. Especially when I worked on the early incarnation of UK music magazine, MOJO. Those first few issues, setting up a brand and style, were some of the most fun I’ve ever had.

And while I have had that background in print from those years, whether it was magazines or technical journals and handbooks, through to fiction, my own style has been growing, changing and forming quietly in the background, as I’ve learnt what I like. What works for me, as a person.

I think that’s part of the reason I gravitated to WordPress after trying out other platforms that put too much emphasis on what goes on under the hood rather than with the visuals, the layout and style. This website gives me the ability to craft almost anything I set your mind to. And that works perfectly for me, and so many others who use WordPress.

So, here I am, with my own brand and style, one I hope is simple and understated.

And you, do you have a brand or style that you’ve created specifically, or discovered?

NaBloPoMo: 28/30

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12 Comments My Online Brand

    1. Alexandra

      I love colour too, don’t get me wrong, and yes, I love me a nice bright pink, or purple (plum, mauve) with the best of them. But for me, it’s all about the design, the fonts, and the easy read for my visitors.

      1. Helen Chong

        Yeah, as a web developer who cares a lot about web accessibility, I want my websites and blogs readable and easy to navigate for not just myself, but also my visitors. I aim to design my websites and blogs to both reflect my design aesthetics and be accessible.

  1. iHanna

    I”ve worked with magazine layout as well, and loved it so much. White background and easy to use fonts are very important to me as well, that’s why I picked wordpress too (plus I wanted my own domain back in the day) to actually OWN what I put out there (words and images) and not be impacted by some host going out of business which happened to a friend of mine that was blogging. All her blog posts disapeared over night, as they closed the server. Yikes.

    My branding is very deliberate but also very me and rather playful, with many hints of my favorite color.

    1. Alexandra

      There is something that appeals to me with a magazine layout, as it’s familiar to me from the get go. And yes, WordPress seems to offer the best of a good theme and an easy way to blog online. It gives you as much as you need, or as little as you want.

      Like you, I like that we are the masters of our own domains. I’d hate to have happen to me what happened to your friend, that must have been devastating.

      Oh, and I love how your website looks, it’s so colourful and obviously of someone who is into art and crafts in a big way.

    1. Alexandra

      Yeah, I worked on the first handful of issues back in the day. It was such a great mag to work on in those early days. Such a buzz.

  2. Melissa

    I like a clean design too, but with photos. Before my WordPress blog, I had a blogger one and I had a similar design on that, but WordPress is definitely more customisable.

    1. Alexandra

      Oh, I couldn’t agree more. Photos is one of the reasons I chose this theme, as I can add images to all my posts and also have plenty of flexibility.

    1. Alexandra

      I noticed quite a few people using wordpress are the same, with really nice themes. Another reason I went looking for this new theme and not one that was free. I wanted something that was different, a little unique (like me) and looked good. I got lucky.

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