i need a brand.

[mopinko]

i am trying to get started as a freelance graphic designer. before i can get graphic design jobs, i need to have a brand for myself. i am not really in that "i'm so great you can't not hire me" place. i would like to use my little avatar, redman.
redmangraphics is an available domain. i wonder if people will think i am a guy (which i get a lot, thank you stooges), and if that is a bad thing. i have one potential client that wants me to get certified as a wbe, which will likely be the case for other issue oriented clients.
mographics is not available. just redman is not available either.

or maybe i should go a whole different direction. i dunno. just not in a good place to do this.

ideas?

[RushIsRot]

1. MeauxGraphics -- ReadyGraphics -- RedMeGraphics

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. You're not a guy??

:hide:

I think Redman is cool, but will some people take it to mean Native American, and does that matter?

My husband is actually on his second incarnation of logo for his computer fix-it business. You may start out with this one and change your mind later on. :)

[mopinko]

12. i'm old. i have one shot.

i am in my mid 50's here, and think i get one chance at this deal. i am hoping for 10 good years, and maybe a little more part time. i could be wrong.

and just for those who don't know the rule- moe is short for morris, mo is short for maureen. most people don't actually know that rule, and i would shonuf ignore it is i liked it better with an e. but that is mostly what you will see.

[GreenPartyVoter]

20. I'm hoping it all works out! *hugs* As to names, Maureen was on the

short list for us, but we had boys. I was going to use Molly as a nickname but I am sure she would have moved on to Mo when she got older. (I figured if Sarahs could be Sallies then Maureens could be Mollies. :))

[mopinko]

22. molly is not unusual

i was mo as a kid, and insisted on maureen when i got to be a "grown up". but mo is much better for an artist.

[csziggy]

3. Just looked at your mo-clay site

You know your name is available? With a hyphen between the first and last names, at least. Or your name, first & last no separated, with graphics tacked on the end. I don't know if that would be what you would want or if you want a brand name that can be separated from your personal name.

[mopinko]

10. i am thinking about doing just that

i think just using my name is less ambiguous. it would be just me, and i always wonder a little about people who make themselves a corporation, when it is just them. seems kinda phony. if there is one thing i am without a doubt it is not phony.

[SwampG8r]

15. do it

my wife had to incorporate herself a few years back when she took a contract job with a hospital
shes a nurse practitioner/midwife
there are a lot of positives in it
discuss it with a good accountant

[mopinko]

17. yeah, i have a lot of reasons to get lawyered up.

i absolutely will be doing that. i am in a real complicated situation, and need to do it for that reason. but i also will be doing the wbe thing (woman business enterprise) as there are a lot of state and city funded education/public information contracts out there to be had.

[SwampG8r]

19. make sure you are protected

it would be terrible to not be a success but worse without personal protection via incorporation

[csziggy]

24. Artists - and graphic artists are artists - are identified with their names

So I don't think you can go wrong with that.

I like site names that make the different parts of the name distinct rather than running them all together. So putting a hyphen in does that.

On another forum I hang out at one of the participants was graduating from a graphics arts program. She had to develop her brand name and logo as a part of the requirements. She posted some of her ideas for us to look at and got some very nice suggestions on how to improve the look and the colors (she originally had a very muddy mauve color combo that was just nasty and we got her to clean it up). It worked on that forum since it was smallish and populated with people that have an eye for color and design, though not a graphics industry type forum. If you know of a forum (maybe even here) like that, you might want to come up with some concepts and post them for review.

[mopinko]

25. really good idea.

there is an artist forum here, but it is pretty slow. i will for sure come to the lounge when i get my website moving. i will probably have a beta/iweb thing pretty quickly.

[snagglepuss]

4. Instead of redman how about redwave graphics, given that the figure is

either waving or dancing. To my ears, redman sounds too much like a surname.

[blogslut]

5. mographco.com is available

[RandomThoughts]

6. Your talking about marketing.

Your conversation has two elements to it, how you feel about a label, and what you want your customers to think about the label.

For you redman means alot, your macro and thoughts about that label are full of good things from years of associations with that label.

However your question is not about how you would feel about the label, but what the customer would have loaded in that macro.

So you are not sure because you want the label for you, while wanting the label to evoke a positive loaded macro for helping your business.


So find a label that has that customer impact, but that you can still match the reasons you associate with redman label.


So for instance if you liked redman label because of native American heritage, you could find a macro that most people have loaded positively for your business, but in your mind would still match what you know it means to you.


If you picked Redman all the people with loaded stuff for red, and man, will think about your company differently, like you mentioned with comment on gender, and since red has many meanings, like political parties and other things.

An example could be something like Feather Light Graphics, I like that one, but note it will mean different things to different people, but your loaded macro would still be known to you, that you can keep without worrying about the label if you insist on it also having some public appeal.



I had to learn all the marketing stuff to defeat the label trap, shrug, the label trap is a tough delusion, so I know how most of that stuff works.

It is also how you can find great things in many places, by not letting how someone else loads a macro change what you believe and think on memories and beliefs.


And White Feather is an ancestor of mine, not sure what nation. Great Great Grandfather I think.

See how macros can mean different things to different people.

[mopinko]

9. thanks for such a thoughtful reply

doesn't have anything to do with native american. he is just a painting i did that stood out from all the others. i mostly paint about my family, and love and all that smarmy stuff. but this one painting was not about me, but about an asshole that set me off as i was on my way to paint. i just had to lay that down, to get to what i wanted to paint, so i painted it. but it just stuck out. he is my alter ego. he is the strong side of me that comes out when i need him. to some people, the best in me. to others the worst in me, which is why sometimes i wonder if that is the right image. but people who would hire me, i think, would want this guy on their side.
people mostly do respond positively, and definitely remember that image.

[xchrom]

7. if you have a university near you --

you could go to the business department and see if there are any students who need to work on a marketing/branding project for class and probably get a great map for branding yourself, images, etc.

and probably get it for free. or maybe not free -- but a lot less.

[mopinko]

13. i actually will be able to get a lot of help

i am in a graphic design program at the school of the art institute. my instructors will be happy to help me. but i have to have some clues to get off the ground. don't think i could entrust it all to these young whippersnappers, tho. i am older than every one of the teachers i have had so far. most by decades. it's a little weird, and discouraging, sometimes.

[xchrom]

14. well -- i guess i would say that branding is a young persons game these days.

i'm old myself -- worked in pr and marketing -- i would go to a young person for that.

but you are on the ground there -- and know what's best.

[mopinko]

16. meh. i speak boomer, and we still rule.

i find myself getting away with speaking as a boomer, and i think it is still a valuable voice in a lot of ways. ie- i refuse to use tiny type. to me 12pt is fine print. no way i go under 10. the kids just shrug, and figure i know what i am talking about. now, is there money in that? i have no idea.

[xchrom]

18. lol! -- i only speak boomer. -- i didn't bother to keep up. nt

[HopeHoops]

8. "redman" could be interpreted as a pejorative term for Native Americans.

I'm sure you don't intend it that way, but for a potential client it could raise suspicion.

[mopinko]

11. yeah, i also wouldn't want to piss off a tobacco company

i gotta suspect that their trademark lawyers watch that shit pretty carefully.

[rug]

21. momoney

You can play around with these.

[mopinko]

23. fortunately, this domain is taken.

i'm pretty sick of the stooges jokes. they stopped being funny at puberty. i mean, how long would you laugh at a face like that following you around?

[Kali]

26. ...