Notice: This article refers to an earlier version of my personal branding, but I’ve restyled the post to mimic the old design.
Gotham to Gothic
Some of you may know that I recently redesigned this website and my whole personal brand along with it—actually it happens pretty often. As my design knowledge grows my old attempts become obsolete, so I redesign. This new identity is a much more complete package. I’ve gone further than just designing a logo and website. My new identity is applied to everything—as it should be.
My new logo was the starting point for the new look. I first encountered it while watching Triumph of the Will and I fell in love immediately. (Or at least after the couple seconds it took me to realize it wasn’t a weird “G”.) While based off the Fraktur style of lettering, that one is custom made and I took a few liberties to make it more dynamic.
Another source of inspiration for the new design was the accompanying League Gothic typeface. I already had a thing for Gothic sans serifs and since Typekit makes the process so easy, I couldn’t resist. I also like the coincidence of both Frakturs and Gothic sans serifs being called, well, “gothic” (hence the title of this post).
With the new identity made, I decided it was time to make my first printed portfolio. I kept the outside of the portfolio very simple—just black museum board with a wire-o binding—so that the work doesn’t have to compete for attention. The wire-o binding is important because it makes it very easy to update as I add and remove work. Just print, cut and rebind. For a little extra classiness I made mini versions of my portfolio to leave with the interviewer as well.
In my excitement I’ve even gone as far as to setup my iPhone with a matching background and icon—the kinds of little things no one will ever notice.
So what do you think of the new identity? Got any other tiny place I can apply it that no one will notice? I’d love to hear your feedback in the comments.