Personal Branding and Harnessing the Power of Creativity – .ME Success Stories

Digital innovation has pushed the boundaries in so many ways. 

Among other things, it has opened the gate for creative industry professionals (along the lines of others), to distinguish themselves. Today, personal branding is critical if you want to stand out. This is especially important for designers who want to showcase their work to others.  

In this article, we will try to show you 4 successful .MErs stories from the design field. These guys (and gals) have managed to cultivate the .ME domain and their own creativity to build a powerful digital presence.

As we dive into their personal experiences, and the challenges they’ve had to overcome on their path, you will learn how building a strong online presence, combined with our domain can push you at the forefront. 

A Jack of Many Trades – Personal Branding of Kadir Inan

Let’s start with Kadir. A versatile designer, based in Cologne, Germany, knows so much about…well, just about anything when it comes to design and web programming.

But he doesn’t stop there. While working as a Senior Art Director at ZUM Goldenen Hirschen by day, by night, he is exploring the potential of Three.js, Shaders, and WebGL. By participating in many projects so far, he has built up his personal branding as a strategic thinker and true master of product design.

But his road wasn’t simple. His interest in coding and design sparked at the age of 13. At the same time, he was driven by the enticing prospect of web design and an opportunistic mindset. This led to him not being focused, and lacking some quality mentorship. As a result, he was trying to master too many skills at once.

Of course, it doesn’t work like that, as he now knows. But at that time, it left him frustrated and eager to give up.

Kadir’s Success Story

Despite almost giving up, something changed in his perspective. Kadir started channeling his creative power into specific projects. As a result, his personal branding started blossoming through his unique design style.

Awards started following. Here are just some:

·        Site of the Day (UIX)

·        Developer SOTD (UIX)

·        Best interface and navigation for UMG Cristal Festival 2017 Digital award

·        Breakthrough designer of the year 2017

·        Website of the day

·        UI, UX, and Innovation Awards for UIX CSS Design Awards

According to Kadir, he chose .ME for his personal online branding because it best depicts his global aspirations. Moreover, it is personal, short, and flexible. And how best to stand out as a designer, but with a personal domain.

Marc. A. Ebalaroza’s Personal Branding – From Welding to Graphic Design

Marc was always into digital art. However, it was far from his career choice. Now an accomplished graphic and web designer, he emerged as such after an unexpected challenge he faced.

Namely, he was training to become a welder, but a severe back injury impacted an important shift in his professional path.

Embracing personal branding and learning computing skills all by himself, he became the man he is today – the master graphical designer behind .ME.

Since then he has worked on many important projects, like creating a digital area for customers to customize their own Toyota Scion for Toyota in Hawaii. In fact, he received the Pele Award for this piece.

His own personal favorite, on the other hand, is an animation he developed with his sons, using Marvel Universe characters.

Advice to Younger Designers

In his opinion, it’s extremely important to work on online personal branding, if you aspire to become a professional designer. Keep in mind how you showcase your products, he says, it’s a part most people overlook.

He opted for .ME as it represents his full name abbreviation. Plus, a shorter domain is much better for the business, according to him.

Read More: Marc A. Ebalaroza – Web and Graphic Designer (An Interview)

Brent’s Personal Branding: Music, Skateboards, Colors, and Graphic Design

From his early childhood, Brent Galloway, an Ohio-based designer, was turning his love for music and skateboarding into product designs.

Today he specializes in designing merchandise for brands and bands around the globe. His creativity is unstoppable, and he manages to capture the true essence of all brands he works for and convey their message with his merch.

His memorable t-shirts, skates, hats, and keychains all transport their owners to the time when they first listened to their favorite band. His personal branding lies both in his creativity, but also in his determination and diligence.

His creative process comprises 4 equally important phases:

·        Discovery phase.

·        Creative phase.

·        Feedback phase.

·        Approval and Execution phase.

To learn more about each and the process behind it, check out our interview with him.

His decision to go online and showcase his portfolio using .ME domain helped him a great deal in finding potential clients. Truly his own space, ‘reeking’ of his personal branding hit the jackpot.

Today, Brent couldn’t imagine his work without his website which turned into a significant source of new clients.

Meet Rebeca – Entrepreneur, Designer, Photographer, and Multi Talented Individual

Becca Chen has been a proud member of our .ME family for some time now. Although her degree is in Advertising, she has found a way to develop into a multidisciplinary creative powerhouse.

Her journey started with internships in Smart Design and GSD&M, as well as IBM. On top of this, she is a passionate advocate for inclusion. She went as far as to co-found several initiatives fighting discrimination.

Her personal branding relies on the fact that she is a talented problem solver, who uses design principles in her work. Ultimately, she prides herself on her drivers: a diverse and inclusive society and helping brands support that.

In line with her core beliefs, some of her most pivotal achievements are The Color Complex and Museum of Colors. This project aims to mitigate the negative effects of discrimination, and further boost the self-worth of university students. The initiative was crowned with a TEDxUTAustin Talk.

Becca has used the .ME domain to build a cheerful playground for all creative people, allowing her to showcase her portfolio and personal branding.

In Conclusion

These are just some of the popular .ME designers who have managed to build up their personal branding using our domain.

If you wish to stand out from the crowd and get potential clients or peers to notice you, it’s the right time to pick your very own .ME domain.

Who knows? Soon, we might put up your success story on this wall.