GUEST POST BY BRAND & WEB DESIGNER, KRYSTIANNA PIETRZAK
NOTE: Some of the tools and resources mentioned in this article are affiliate links. That means when you click the link to create an account, start a free trial or make a purchase, it won’t cost you any more but I may receive a commission for introducing you. One thing I want to stress is that I would never recommend anything or anyone I haven’t successfully worked with myself or trust unconditionally.
One of the most important elements of being an online creative is having a brand and website that actually feel like you and fully represent you as an artist. But… how do you actually add website personality?
As a brand and web designer, I’ve had the joy of collaborating with many incredible creatives (from photographers to tattoo artists and everything in between) over the past few years. With each and every project, my goal has been to support these creatives by bringing their personality to life through visual design.
Throughout this blog post, I’ll guide you through exactly how to make your website feel more like you. By the end, you’ll have an action list to help you upgrade your website personality in the next week!
Why does website personality even matter?
Before we dive in, it’s important that you understand why it’s actually a good thing to have your website showcase your personality. It comes down to this key factor: people buy from people, not businesses.
The more that you can make your website feel human and represent who you are as a creative, the more likely you are to build those personal touchpoints prior to someone even reaching out to you.
This is because your client experience begins even before someone fills out your inquiry form. Your website is one of your very first client experience touchpoints, and you want it to live up to your offers and help your website visitors decide if you are a good fit for them or not.
And if you are, we want to help the website visitors feel like they already know you by the time they hop on a disco call with you to help increase your odds of getting booked.
How to make your website feel like you
1. Create a strategic, non-bland brand
While you could easily check off all the other parts of this list, if you skip having a brand, you aren’t going to have a lot of website personality. That’s because your website’s design and all of its visuals come from your brand’s creative direction.
Now, when it comes to having a brand as an artist, this is the brand minimum I always recommend that you have, just for a website’s sake:
- A primary logo that can be used at the top of your website’s navigation. Your primary logo doesn’t have to include every detail about your business but should seamlessly help to create the aesthetic that you want your business to have.
- An icon or brand mark that can be used for your website’s favicon.
- A type suite made up of a heading font, subhead/button font, and body copy font. If you want to have fun with it, you can also add in a script font that’s an accent font, but make sure it’s legible!
- A color palette made up of around 6 colors that is balanced and includes at least some neutrals.
With your brand, you want it to be strategic; this means that you want it to seamlessly blend your likes with what your dream audience will be attracted to. Many designers feel that your brand should be solely for your audience, but I’m a big believer that as a creative, your brand needs to feel like you, too.
While you can 100% DIY your brand when you’re first starting out, once you begin to figure out your core offers and who you love working with, it can be worth working with a designer to really stand out from the crowd.
2. Use fun GIFs and other bits of movement
Next, use fun GIFs, hover effects, scroll effects, videos, code boxes, and more throughout your website to add bits of movement. This is one of the easiest ways to add personality because most website platforms, like Showit, Squarespace, and WordPress, have built-in animations that you can add with the click of a button.
The trick here is to try to blend regular website movement (like hover effects) with movement that actually shows you in action. For instance, if you’re a wedding photographer, this could mean having a GIF or video of you actually photographing a wedding.
Your personality will easily shine through, and website visitors will feel connected to you because they can see you behind the scenes. (Listen, there’s a reason this type of content performs so well in short-form videos on TikTok and Reels!)
3. Make sure your copy is written how you speak
Believe it or not, a lot of your personality shines through the words on your website. Remember how I mentioned that your brand dictates how your site looks? Well, so does your website copy. Website copy always comes before website design!
If you are DIYing, this could mean making sure that you aren’t using words or phrases that you normally wouldn’t say throughout your website. For instance, if you don’t normally use a lot of Gen-Z slang, don’t use it throughout your website. If you do, then great; add it to your site in a way that makes sense but isn’t cringey!
Of course, this will always be easier if you work with an awesome copywriter like Nadine! When in doubt, if you’re doing it on your own, have a close friend or family member who knows you well read through your website words to make sure it sounds like you. Don’t forget to have fun with it!
4. Curate your photography
Listen, I work with lots of photographers! It’s what I specialize in at my studio, and I’ve seen time and time again the importance of having strong photos throughout your website.
If you have the budget for it, I highly recommend hiring a photographer for at least a 1-hour session to get some fun, on-brand photos for your website. Wear your brand colors (see, your brand is important!) throughout the photos so that they blend seamlessly throughout the website design.
Be sure to get a wide variety of images, including:
- Flatlays/detail shots for background images
- Headshots, including basic ones (you never know when you’ll need one) and more personality-driven ones
- Action shots that showcase behind-the-scenes or the process of what you do
By having photos of yourself, you can easily showcase your personality and begin to create that connection that goes beyond the screen.
Don’t have the budget for photos? It’s totally okay! Use stock image sites like Unsplash and Pexels and curate photos that are in your brand colors.
(Want tips to make your first or next personal branding shoot a smashing success? Score 5 brand photography tips by Sister Scout Studio in this blog post.)
5. Add to your blog on a regular basis
Last but certainly not least – and this point might surprise you – but write fresh content for your blog post consistently! Your blog is one of the most overlooked spots on your entire website to show your personality.
Our clients, time and time again, have told us that they get leads and inquiries from their blog posts because they consistently write and showcase their work. Beyond that, they tell stories, they share resources, and they create a place that website visitors can refer to (which helps showcase them as the expert) while also building a whole other connection point that many creatives forget about.
What if you had a personality-filled website that represents you as an artist?
Get started today by focusing on your blog! In Blogging for Business, learn exactly how to write blog posts that rank and connect with your website visitors so that you can showcase more website personality and build more connection points with your brand as a creative.
Get this no-BS course and start to write blog posts that ACTUALLY rank today!
About Krystianna Pietrzak
KP is the founder and lead designer of queer-led design studio Inkpot Creative. She is a multi-passionate creative with an incurable travel bug who runs three travel blogs in addition to the work she does for Inkpot clients. With an eye for aesthetics, a data-driven strategic mind, and a talent for designing brands that boldly stand out, KP supports wedding photographers who don’t want “just another wedding brand” because bland brands are so last year. Above all, KP’s goal is to empower wedding photographers, allowing them to show up confidently in their business and with their clients.
