You see, my old website was built entirely on trying to one-up other photographers in the U.S.  (Not my region or the state, mind you, but THE COUNTRY.)  And to one-up the whole country, to ‘do what’s never been done,’ well…

You have to pull out all the stops.  You have to have bells and whistles.  Flying chandeliers, tweeting birds, blinking text, the works.

Photographers went NUTS over my old website.  Seriously.  Batshit insane. Just today, someone told me it was their favorite photography website of all time.

But clients?  You know, those people who hire me and pay the bills?

They weren’t big fans.  Inquiries dropped.  Web traffic dropped.

To potential clients, I was the kid at the holiday concert who plays air guitar and stagedives during the class rendition of ‘Silent Night.’

The kid who’s oblivious to awkward silence.  The one wearing Grandma’s reindeer sweater while rocking the imaginary mosh pit.  That kid.

(Or I was Smelly Cat. The jury is out.)

I was too busy looking sideways to see my clients.  I was so worried about other photographers that I forgot to be worried about my clients’ needs.  The current Essential Imagery website is a result of sincere reflection on my part.  It educates them about my brand, outlines the needs I can fill, and provides only a dab of personality aside from the portrait images.  In other words, it’s exactly what they’re looking for.

How have you been held back by looking sideways?  Who do you compare yourself to, and how can you stop the comparisons?  How can you fulfill the needs of your clients today?  How can you get yourself on the road to looking forward — right into the eyes of new clients?

Want to read it on the blog? LOOKING SIDEWAYS

You’re stuck with plain ‘ol white, and you need to distinguish you & your art from aaaaaaall the other artists out there.  What do you do?

You kick ass, if you’re one of these people:

Marc Johns. Never have I seen so much done with…well, post-it notes and a few scribbles.  Great choice of words.  Quirky, laugh-out-loud funny drawings.

Tara Whitney.  Often emulated, never duplicated.  Tara recently went from a super-colorful,  popping with polka dots layout to this little ditty.  Brilliant.

Bonnie Tsang.  Two columns — an increasingly rare choice for professional photographers.  Simple simple design  and utterly stunning imagery.

Sweet Fine Day. Another two-column layout, this time with marshmallows.  (Really — caramel ones and some meant to be eaten with beer…)  I can’t put my finger on what, exactly, I adore about this blog design, but I’m firmly in heart, and on my way to heart heart hearting.

That Unreliable Girl.  Thinking there’s no way to distinguish your text from other’s text? (Not the actual words you’re writing, but the text itself…) Check out the way that unreliable girl formats a typical blogpost.  Sheer genius.

There ya go: five examples of branding without color.  Layout choices, blockquote choices, consistent use of one’s own handwriting, ridiculously stunning imagery, and one-of-a-kind products distinguish each of these blogs without the use of poppy, punchy, over-the-top design elements.

If your blog went color-less, how would it stand out?

Want to read it on the blog? BRANDING WITHOUT COLOR