CREATIVE BRAND

GUIDEBOOK
SURVIVING THE WILD PROFESSIONAL LANDSCAPE

EXERCISES FOR RADICAL

CREATIVE THINKING

ALISON KOEHLER CREATED FOR

ALISONKOEHLER.DESIGN SKILLSHARE
Your Creative
Self Discovery
Journey
Dear Reader,
I am not the first person to say this BUT —

YOU ARE YOUR OWN

SECRET SAUCE ~
What does that mean? Well, at least for me personally, SET YOURSELF UP FOR
I had always looked at others for inspiration and for SUCCESS FOR THIS COURSE
guidance on what my career should look like. But you'll
never find your niche if you are following others' example. — OPEN YOUR MIND
So embrace what makes you unique and never look back.
No, really! To begin this self
To get down to the nitty gritty, this course is based on discovery journey, we need
the model of a target. The inner portions are based to be open to possibilities.
on your core, specifically your values and personality.
These topics can be abstract and hard to pin down. — LISTEN TO YOUR INTUITION
That's totally okay, just keep working through it! Then as
you move on through the lessons, you'll go out from the In many cases, we're taught
center, analyzing what you learned about yourself and to ignore our inner voices
applying it to visual decisions! and gut feelings. Go with
those! They're guiding you
Based on the two inners circles, you will write a 1-2 in the right direction.
sentence brand statement that sums it all up. Then you
will focus on who you want to work with, creating an — BE PREPARED TO DO THE
ideal client persona, so you can ensure you're speaking WORK
directly to this 'individual' when moving forward in your
brand. Don't expect to be able to do
all of this in one sitting. Think
Finally, you will find inspiration, create a moodboard, and about it and come back to it.
work on tranforming these abstract concepts of who And things can evolve over
you are into a tangible visual brand that is based on the time, too.
core of who you are and what you care about.

~
 VALUES
LESSON: UNDERSTANDING YOUR VALUES

Understanding your values is a vital part to creating a brand that

accurately reflects you. You will start by creating a mindmap exploring
your interests, career goals, and hidden talents. These are your tools
that make you uniquely you.

What are your What do you

hidden talents? make time for?
What do you
What are your care about?
soft skills?

SKILLS PASSIONS

What makes you

What are your want to get up in
technical skills? YOUR NAME
the morning?

GOALS
What were the projects
How do you you were most excited
define success? to work on?

What do you hope

to accomplish?

SKILLS PASSIONS GOALS

LIST YOUR TOP 3 SKILLS. CHOOSE YOUR DRIVING PASSION? WHAT IS YOUR GOAL?
 PERSONA
LESSON: FROM PERSONALITY TO PERSONA

Think of your creative persona like your stage persona. How do you want
yourself and your work to be percieved? Answer the following questions
and pick out the words that resonate with you. If there's a word that's
not included on the list that more accurately reflects you, add it!

How do I want people to feel when they think Are there any traits or words that you
about my brand? definitely are not?

Pick 3 words that resonate with you...

ACCEPTING HISTORIC REBELLIOUS

ACTIVE HOLISTIC RELIABLE
ADVENTUROUS INDEPENDENT RESERVED
ARTISTIC INNOVATIVE RUSTIC
BRIGHT INTELLIGENT SAFE
BOLD JOYOUS SERIOUS
BRAVE KNOWLEDGEABLE SLEEK
BRIGHT LAVISH SMART
BUDGET LOUD SOCIABLE
CANDID MODERN SOPHISTICATED
CLEAN MYSTERIOUS TIMELESS
CONSERVATIVE NATURAL TRANSPARENT
DIRECT NEAT TRENDY
DYNAMIC NO NONSENSE UPBEAT
EAGER OPEN-MINDED UNASSUMING
EARTHY OUTDOORSY UNPRETENTIOUS
EMPATHETIC PASSIONATE VIBRANT
ENTHUSIASTIC PATIENT VERSATILE
ETHEREAL PERFECTIONIST WARM
EXCLUSIVE PLAYFUL WELCOMING
FAMILIAR PLUCKY WISE
FRIENDLY POLISHED WITTY
GENUINE POSITIVE YOUTHFUL
GROUNDBREAKING QUIRKY ZANY
 S + PERSONAL
LUE I
LESSON: CRAFTING A BRAND STATEMENT
VA

TY
Your brand statement is going to be made up of the last two sections.
It should reflect yourself, your personality, and your values. If you ran
into your hero on a moving sidewalk at the airport and you only had
until the end of it to explain how cool you are, what would you say?

{[PASSIONS] + [GOALS] +

[SKILLS]} + {PERSONA} =

BRAND STATEMENT

EXAMPLE:

[Walking dogs, being outside, and talking to likeminded people] + [wanting to run my own studio] +
[illustrating people and their pets] + [empathetic + optimistic + joyous] =

Waggin Pet Portraits is an optimistic and empathetic pet portraiture service centered around the
relationship between dogs and their owners.
 L CL
IDEA IENT
LESSON: WHO'S YOUR IDEAL CLIENT?

In this section, you will be creating a persona of the clients you want to
work with. By defining this, you will be able to make visual decisions based
on what will appeal to them, making your brand decisions more goal
focused. The more specific you can be, the easier it will be later on!

Where do they shop?: Tips + Tricks:

—
» The more specific you can be, the
—
better!
—

What are their pain points » If something isn't applicable like

gender or their occupation, feel

or goals? In other words,
free to leave it out.
what problem are you solving

for them? » Be creative! What makes these

___________________________ fun is if you're having fun.

NAME: _____________________ ___________________________

AGE: ___ GENDER: ____________ ___________________________

ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: _________ ___________________________

ARCHETYPE: ________________ ___________________________

JOB OR SALARY: _____________

What kind of relationship will you
INTERESTS (3): have with this persona?

— Some examples: consulting, client/

designer, B2B, partnership, etc.
—
___________________________
—
___________________________
PERSONALITY TRAITS (3):
___________________________
—

—
 VISUALS
LESSON: WHERE WILL YOUR BRAND LIVE?

For this activity, look at the different categories of visual assets

and decide which you will need to create. In other words, where
does your brand live? Write them in the tent so you have a checklist
moving forward!

DOCUMENTS: WEB:
- PROPOSAL DOCUMENT - FOOTER ICON
- REVISIONS DOCUMENT - EMAIL ME GRAPHIC
- INVOICE
- CONTRACT VIDEO:
- INTRODUCTORY GRAPHICS
SOCIAL MEDIA: - LOWER THIRDS
- HIGHLIGHT COVERS - TRANSITIONS
- STORY + POST TEMPLATES (STORY VS GRAPHICS) - MUSIC
- HEADER BANNERS (FACEBOOK / TWITTER /
PINTEREST / BEHANCE ETC.) MISC:
- MESSAGING [HOW DO YOU TALK TO YOUR
E-COMMERCE: AUDIENCE?]
- THANK YOU CARDS - DESIGN ELEMENTS
- PACKAGING (IE. BOXES / TAPE / WRAPPING PAPER / - PHOTOGRAPHY STYLE
LABELS) - CASE STUDIES

PRINT:
- BUSINESS CARDS
- LETTERHEAD
- ENVELOPE