Personal Identity

I trained as an art director, but these days I mostly work as a developer and PM. My own brand has to cover all of that without leaning too hard into any one part, because I keep moving between them. So I wanted something that works on anything I put my name on.

I designed the HM monogram years ago, around 2019, while I was studying to be an art director. I wanted something that didn't say anything specific about what I do, mostly because I do a lot of different things and didn't want to box myself in. So it's just my initials, put together in a way I like: the H and the M sit in the same space, overlapping, with the H in front on the left and the M in front on the right. They're really stacked on top of each other, but the depth and the way you read left-to-right make it resolve into “HM”. This lets me keep the outline totally symmetrical while still having it read a certain way.

The current version wraps that mark in a full system. The colours focus on a warm but still editorial and playful feel. Cream background, near-black text, a terracotta accent and a muted sage. The colours were picked mostly to take the cold edge off the strict grid-based design I tend towards. Each colour has a job rather than just being decoration. I've also specced out a dark variation as I am a dark mode enjoyer myself. When I was thinking about the type I wanted the story to shine through. Unbounded, which is round and a bit expressive, for the big headings, and Geist, a cleaner, more technical typeface, for everything else. The art director and the technical person merged together.

I treat my own brand as something I keep redoing whenever I want to sharpen my skills, so this is really just the latest version rather than a finished thing. The 2019 mark is still at the centre of it, and everything around it is current. I am certain this will not be the last iteration of my brand, and will probably change the next time I want to learn a new skill.