My Personal Brand Icon Explained.

When clients talk with me about logo and brand marks, my passion takes over! Over time, however, I'm learning that not everyone is as passionate. But for those willing to listen, here is the meaning my personal brand emblem has taken on:

Starting with the 'J'...
• Amongst my different leadership capabilities, I observed that I naturally see others where they are meant to be functioning; going one step further by also 'pushing' them into their area(s) of calling. Hence why the 'J' resembles a hammer (at the top), but at the bottom, is reminiscent of a chisel. When both the hammer and chisel work hand in hand, moulding and formulation occur as by-products. In addition, the curvature of the 'J', also accounts for my extremely different but jovial approach in certain areas of my life. It is an implementation of my personality trait...It goes deeper than just looking nice.

Finally, the circle that lies at the foot of the 'J', is a representation of the gift(s) being mined out of the different people I have been called to be a blessing to; including past, present and future leadership roles.

• It goes without saying that, the brandmark (icon) itself, is very simply my initials (JK). But the manner and thought process behind its design is the differentiating factor that gives life to a 'simple' brandmark.

If you turn the 'K' sideways, you will notice a hanger without the hook. This symbolises my love for suits and formal wear. But more importantly, what I feel, is my calling in the area of business.

In conclusion, the two letters are an amalgamation of the two major arms that will drive me on for the rest of my life (Leadership & Business). The font created for the brandmark is majorly serif based (Is finished with strokes and lines) to give the entire icon a more formal finish. This is then paired with a refined sans serif (without strokes and lines) typography (the brand's written font). In a future post, I will explain how a logo system was created which ended up incorporating 5 different variants into the Joshua Komolafe brand. Each brandmark was made available in the 6 colours of the Joshua Komolafe colour palette (Blue #2BC8E4, Charcoal #14141B, Grey #46484D, Beige #BEB9B4, Cream #E1DFDD and White #FFFFFF). A special shout out to Startteck, the creative design agency that took time to hear me out and conjure up my personal brand design identity.

One thing to note, is that a logo is like an empty vessel. It takes on meaning as you intend for it to. As a brand consultant, I was able to direct the graphic design team; guiding them on what I wanted the end result to look like. Which is what I do for clients anyway. I was able to apply the same knowledge for the development of my personal brand identity. 

Also, because I have spent adequate time in the area of self-evaluation, lifetime projecting and purpose discovery and fulfilment, it wasn't hard for me to add meaning to the brandmark once it was done. 

The best way to bring a logo or brand identity to life, is to know the core values of the said brand. The value system will help dictate the look, feel and even nomenclature. When the right values are in place, a brand will be sustainable. Values help to keep brand owners focused, regardless of changes that might come in in the future. A brand's value system (things they wouldn't compromise on) is heavily linked to a brand's 'why'.

The end result you see now was well thought out and carefully implemented. It might appear simple but has a lot of depth and meaning to it. Because I have approached this in the right way, I might never have to change my personal brand again. Barring minor adjusmtnets, this is capable of outliving me.

Brand Stifling

Whilst deliberating on content to post, I decided to touch on the concept of brand stifling, and how many brand owners are limiting their brand’s growth and reach because of it.

For the purpose of this write up;

• A brand owner can be: the founder, CEO, any member of the marketing team, an organisational body, an institution or any group of individuals tasked with ‘protecting’ and maintaining a brand’s core identity and values.

 • A brand user is anyone that is able to enjoy, utilise or interact with a brand (good or service).

Due to the unusual angle that I approach this topic from, it is good to understand or agree on a definition of the root word 'stifle'. According to Google, to stifle is to, 1.) make (someone) unable to breathe properly; suffocate. or 2.) restrain (a reaction) or stop oneself acting on (an emotion).

Applying these definitions to a brand, we can agree that stifling occurs when brand owners are 'too jealous' of their good or service (especially noticeable in their attempt to micro-manage every expression of their brand's identity), that they don't allow free organic interpretation by brand users/participants, they are said to be brand stifling.

However, on the other hand, when brands choose not to be as ‘intentional’ and allow all brand users to freely ‘reproduce’ their goods and or service(s) as they perceive it, they run the risk of being portrayed wrongly; the essence of their brand’s core message misplaced.

How then do brand owners combat the issues associated with both approaches?

 

1.) Brand owners must ensure that at the core, their brand content, delivery and approach, is cohesive at as many touch points as possible. The idea being that, no matter how much brand users ‘distort' the original message, core values and brand identity, it will be clear for all to see that ‘that’ is the exception and not the norm.

2.) Brand owners should make standard brand guidelines more readily accessible-via their website for example. Taking such a step helps the brand users know their parameters. An example would be to explicitly state that the logo should always be pink and white. "Don’t complain that cars aren’t stopping, if you forget to put traffic lights at the junction.” - Joshua Komolafe

3.) Brand owners should accept that their ‘strong’ brand is being ‘marketed’ free of charge and involuntarily. Despite the revolutionary advancements in the marketing industry, word of mouth still proves to be one of the best and most effective ways of gaining and increasing a more loyal target audience. When someone other than the brand owner publicises a good or service, it appears more authentic (especially when it actually is), and causes those around them to enquire about the brand further.

Going back to the first point, if your brand is strong in itself, as enquiries are made (via the website, social media, print, face to face with staff etc.), the essence of the brand’s core message will be received, regardless of how ‘badly’ it was initially portrayed by someone else. Which, thankfully, returns the initiative back to the brand owner.

4.) Brand owners must sadly also accept, that, no matter how strong the brand is, some brand users will never fully understand to then portray your brand as you would like (exactly). The earlier this notion is accepted, the happier brand owners can and will be. This is not to say that brand owners should sit by and accept a complete misrepresentation of their brand; on the contrary, I believe that brand owners should fight for what they believe in, as much as they believe in it, for as long as they believe in it. That said, there is also wisdom in discerning when to pursue and when to “let it be”.

When I founded JFConsult Group ( The performance improvement brand education consultancy which I currently run), several brand users would often mispronounce the name; mistakenly mixing it up with my surname or adding and removing letters as it made sense to them. Initially, I would get annoyed as I corrected people but over time, I realised, “...Yes, I must continue to correct and inform as many people as I can…”, however, it should be done out of love and from a place of understanding i.e. Accepting that not everyone will fully embrace or understand, to then replicate the brand as you passionately intend them to.

5.) Taking that point a step further, brand owners must take responsibility to educate and train as many as possible, on the vision, direction and brand identity of the good or service they find themselves to be custodians over. We have reached an age where complete control over the manner in which your brand is perceived is no longer possible. In the piece of the opinion pie, now, everyone has a slice. Disregard ‘them’ at your peril.

To conclude, the best approach will involve a mixture of strategies by brand owners, depending on their industry and end goal. No one size fits all, but, we all have shoes to wear. Find your shoe, wear it and take care of it.

It is impossible to completely manage every expression of your brand. Instead, be ready for it to go through the fire and the water… Will your brand still survive?

The 3 intangibles of your Personal Brand

In this post, I explore the concept of using colours to depict one's personal brand. I believe everyone has a colour which best represents them. My study has produced some very interesting finds, which have led to some very interesting conclusions. As I began writing this post, I very quickly realised that I would need to supplement my findings with more. I implore you to open your mind even as I try to make meaning of my discoveries. This post is applicable to anyone at any stage in the journey of personal brand discovery.

After reading through, see if you can answer the questions below:

• What would you add to my list?

• Do you agree with my list?

• How has this made you view your brand differently?

 

 I look forward to reading your thoughts...

In colour psychology, there is a way certain colours subconsciously make you feel and react-wherever you see ‘them’.

When I initially did an internal brand audit of myself, I saw that my brand 'emitted' or was perceived as colour orange.

Orange calls to mind, the feelings of excitement, enthusiasm, energy, flamboyance, optimism, sociability, creative flair, adventure & warmth, amongst other things (adjectives that closely describe me to a very large extent). 

However, as time passed, I noticed that my brand evolved; moving on past the 'allure' of the colour orange, unto something with the potential to be just as ‘bright’, but now with a more professional undertone that better represents the other aspects of myself at large.

After much perambulating, I decided to observe how my skills and passions played into the mix, and if when considered, would verify my thoughts (that my brand was evolving); leading to the emergence of a new colour.  

I can say it now because I am passed that stage, but it took me a very long time to finally arrive at 3 main words that described who I am; the three areas I felt were priority/my main areas of gifting (and still are, as I write this).

Those words are: Orator. Eyeonaire. Pioneer. 

At face value, they may not mean much to you but concealed within each word, are the skills and passions I possess and pursue purposefully...things I truly care about. 

The word ‘Orator’ spoke to the salesman in me. It spoke to my ability to entertain. It spoke to my constant need to motivate others. It also spoke to my realisation (most importantly) that my primary purpose in life is solely linked to my mouth. 

The word ‘Eyeonaire’ spoke to a pain I couldn’t seem to ignore-no matter how hard I tried. It was uttered whilst questioning my inability to overlook ‘bad' designs; to the extent that I once turned an interview into a brand consultation-to the surprise of those interviewing me. I couldn’t just sit there when they asked, “Any other questions?”, knowing fully well that their brand required a complete overhaul. I went ahead to explain how a company of their size could increase penetration levels with better identity design.

It won’t surprise you to learn that I didn’t get called back.

Coupled with this, was my realisation of how much of a pain I had become at home; always commenting on different pieces of media; explaining how colours clashed and how certain images appeared pixilated, or how a different version of a logo should have been utilised etc. These frustrations eventually led me into research which I now teach as oft as I am given the privilege. 

Reading so far, one might question how any of this comes into play when deciding your colour and then your personal brand. some might even question what any of this has to do with the title.

If you actually look deeper, you will realise that I have explained how the colour orange was derived from just looking at my personality traits (the first intangible). I then explained how I went a step further, looking at my skills and passions (the second intangible). There is still one intangible more which I would love to look into briefly as I conclude on how I arrived at where I feel my brand is currently at. 

The reason I have decided to explain in such depth and with such emphasis on my personal journey thus far, is so that, those keen on developing their personal brands can insightfully adapt my methodologies to start to make sense of and them hopefully take charge of their personal brand. I am where I am today because certain people decided to share deep secrets that took them years to discover. If there’s anything I am particularly grateful for, it is the manner in which those same people provided the information required to help me-FREE of charge. And so, I do the same...

As I conclude, the final realm I probed that helped me arrive at my current 'colour' and phase of my personal brand was my values. This stage was particularly tricky, for the sole reason that, I found myself putting words forward that sounded ‘big’ or ‘good' but weren’t really me. I had to practise an extremely hard skill-the skill of listening whilst I talk. 

I was able to do this via two mechanisms of sort.

One, I had to play out my vocabulary mentally, taking a 'back seat' to sound out words I kept saying without realising. I felt like these words emanated from my heart for a reason. One of such words was 'Excellence’. I found that in multiple conversations, with different people, in different contexts, I would often use the word “Excellence." so, my first value was penned down.

Two, I had to ask those close to me, at different times, what they felt I stood for. The answers were quite surprisingly the same. 

In one way or another, those values can be described as: Excellence. Trust. Passion. Power.

What started off as my quest to find a colour that better suited where I felt I was at in my journey, ended up as a documentation of my path to unearthing a new colour and therefore, the next phase of my personal brand. 

One of the take homes for me throughout this on-going process is that my brand has metamorphosed from an orange to an aqua like blue (hex code: 2BC8E4). But not only that, now also; a charcoal (hex code:14141B), a beige (hex code:46484D), grey (hex code:BEB9B4), cream (hex code:E1DFDD) and white (hex code:FFFFFF). 

Personality traits, skills & passions and values were the three intangibles I considered which helped me realise what I am about in more detail and how they can be expressed more visibly. This process has definitely increased my focus but has also sadly meant that some other skills, passions and hobbies that I thought I was good at/liked, have taken the back seat on my journey to fulfilling purpose.

There is the wisdom in knowing the brand architecture. There is the knowledge required to apply the brand principles. Then there is the application of the brand design. 

This part has spoken specifically to the wisdom in knowing the brand. In subsequent posts, I hope to be able to speak to the knowledge required to apply the brand and the actual implementation of one’s brand. 

I am curious as to how my brand will evolve in the future. I also wonder how long my current brand will last. As with the 'orange phase’, I didn’t think change was going to happen in the manner it has done. Because it’s a truer representation of where I am, it points to the fact that I have grown. And growth, especially when positive, is always a good sign. 

5 Ways to Improve your Branding

In a bid to map out my future; the coming year, the next five years and even fifty years from now, I employed a tactic, popularly known to Mathematicians and Economists alike, as backward induction. Visualising the heights I intend to attain, I started to work backwards, taking note of every prerequisite required for each milestone. It was then I began asking myself certain questions. One of such was:

“When people hear ‘Joshua Komolafe’, what is the first thing they associate the name with?”

 That question changed my life. As a result, I started employing the “5 ways to improve your branding” systematically.

Deliberately, the word ‘branding’ and not ‘brand’, is used, as very quickly, I started to realise that a brand is continuous in nature, in that, there is no “top of mount Everest.”

Someone said, “The biggest room in the world, is the room for improvement.” There is need for constant assessment and ‘maintenance checks’, to ensure that as seasons change, due to; different economic cycles, different trends, or maybe even a change in attitude by your target market audience, you are also willing to adapt aspects of your brand, to cater for such changes, without losing your core values. The key word here is ‘willing’. Though It might not always be necessary to adapt your brand, you must be aware of such changes if any and be ‘open’ to change if necessary.

1. KNOW YOUR CORE VALUES:

Ask yourself questions, write down the answer to those questions, store them away for a short while, re-visit them and finally, check to see if you still agree with what you wrote down. If not, repeat the process until you are happy (No amount of times is too much).

You know you are in trouble when there is no direct correlation between your values and how you are perceived. That said, once you are sure of what you want to be known for/how you want to be seen, people’s perception of you will automatically align to your values.

2. INVEST ADEQUATE TIME INTO RESEARCH:                                                        

You must actively set time aside to constantly study people or companies that are currently, ‘correctly’ exhibiting the values you wish to be known for. You might not necessarily need to be in contact with them but you must be willing to deconstruct their products, dressing, style etc  *mentally*…Try and break down the little pieces that make for the jigsaw you see now. Sometimes, expert help is required to understand the little pieces but once you do, the jigsaw isn’t as complicated anymore. Better still, you can then begin to construct your own puzzle, as you will now have the knowledge required to do so.                                    As Albert Einstein said, “You have to learn the rules of the game and then you have to play better than any one else.”

3. MYTH BUSTER:                                                                                             

“There is no shortcut. In most cases, The price you are ready to pay, is directly proportionate to the quality you will get.”

With regards to clothing, something I learnt very quickly, especially when I started university, was the wisdom of shopping within budget. As I’ve gotten older, I have started to only want to wear suits. I now actively seek out occasions when suits are not out of place (one of the reasons I love going to church). If not because of how uncomfortable it is, I would sleep in a suit.

With that in mind, I faced the dilemma of wanting to have a good range of suits without having ‘enough money’.  After much window shopping ( Research and Development), I realised that there are several places that allow me to ‘look good’, no matter how much I have.
This further buttresses the first point; once you are sure of and can be confident in your values, you will begin to find resources that make your brand affordable.

4. LOYAL HATERS:

You need a  team of 2-3 people who are trustworthy perfectionists. People you can fall back on to check if you’re dressed well, if your logo looks good, if you are aligning with your values and whether the values you have outlined for yourself truly suit you.

One thing to note however, is not to get offended when they say things you might not necessarily expect or even like. I always have it in the back of my mind that, no human being has ever seen themselves before. The images we see of ourselves are actually just reflections or photographs in one way or another. It is others that really see us (physically) how we appear. You must appreciate that what you see might not always take into account the full picture. You must learn to develop a hard shell for critique and seek to utilise; at times what can be very painful words of advice, into building blocks for a better brand…For a better you!

5. CONSISTENCY:

Your consistency will naturally improve your brand. It is through consistency that your branding process will become more efficient. Consistency consists of Consistent Consistence. Consistency consistently consists Consistently. Be CONSISTENT!