Art is Branding

having been exposed to both worlds...

… at least in part, i’ve come to realise that a part of our consumption of creativity is an act of self-branding.

WTF is that? Branding is an effort to influence how people feel about something, with the use of subconscious triggers and associations. So branding ourselves is trying to make us feel a certain way about ourselves, in ways we aren’t really aware of.

Branding is a way to add emotional value to an otherwise utilitarian product or service. It makes it unique when otherwise it isn’t.

So creative consumption isn’t always about the art itself, it’s also about what the art and the act of consumption says about us.

This painting on your wall, maybe you like it not just for itself, but because it reinforces something you want to believe about yourself.

This record you bought, maybe it’s not just the music and how it makes you feel, or the record and how it makes you feel, but how being a person who listens to this music on this record, instead of all the other people who don’t, makes you feel.

This is why things get packaged and marketed a certain way, conforming to genres, known knows and established cultural currents.

In the old world, creatives would hand over their work and professionals who understood all this would complete the branding and put it out in the world.

But today when more of the process is in the creative’s hands, it’s useful to understand this: people don’t only like our art because of our art - they also like our art because of what it says about them to them.

As a creative who also consumes a lot from other artists, I’m also slightly amused how I do this in unnecessarily expensive ways. I like to spend the money, when when it’s in short supply, on the music I like, cool graphic design books, photo books, etc, while technically the internet has made all this available for next to nothing. I want to build and reinforce a self-image, to have an identity I can cling to internally and present to others so they, and I, know how to understand and deal with me.

What does this mean? Not sure, but it’s been on my mind.

This is all I’ve got for you today!