"What is that one thing you're the best in the world at?"
"Oh hi! Nice to meet you, what do you do?"
"That's a really clean, elegant-looking website!!!"
"So, you do design?"

I get asked these questions and I internally start to feel two things: perplexed, and some form of disgust (maybe not the right word, but pretty close - how about building an AI product that helps you find words to describe how you feel!?)

I was initially going to title this post: "My (Personal) Problem with Brand" but then I realized that that may be me trying to soften the title. I've previously written about how I always feel like I'm in a transitory period, how there is so much changing and I'm always moving from one thing to the other!

Okay, so - let me try and explain the problem. I've always done a bunch of things, design, operations, client-communication, social media, content, marketing, product - and a lot more that I'm forgetting. I've dipped my toe into a lot of rivers, so to say (So, a generalist?). On the internet, I've always run by the name "theonlysif" - partly because I was really pissed that there are so many Asif's on this planet but largely also because I'm a closeted narcissist with a god-complex. I obviously wanted a really cool looking website, so I built out the visuals for my brand; with colors that screamed just the right amount of elegance and fonts that felt 'crafty'. I now feel stuck.

Now of course I could just re-brand (but been there done that), and while this also connects on some level to my commitment issues with everything under the sun - it also surfaces something else for me, my problem with ever being in a box.

Even the confines of a desktop breakpoint is uncomforting - maybe that's why I love my public moodboard so much, it's an infinite canvas.

"But like who is Asif, as a person? Am I funny? Am I smart? Am I reserved? Am I sad?"

While I did leave this conversation with the very convenient 'like message' option, it made me think of how the internet forced us into "formats" - an unintended consequence of an attempt at letting anyone make their own home on the internet, as opposed to just devs who could code anything into reality. While I fully acknowledge that we're now blessed with a tsunami of no-code tools that let us build (almost) anything - the argument stands for a lot more than just formats.

Naughty time - Brand.

I'm talking more about personal brands than anything else. I don't want to feel tied up to my brand - that is not the kind of tied up I'd like to be. I want to be a person. If that means I will not be identified with anything other than my internet name, then so be it.

Before you think I'm having an identity crisis - please know that I'm not. I'm very secure in my identity in the sense that I have none apart from believing that I am the center of the (for more sensitive readers, read: my) universe.

In my version of an ideal world - the entire RGB spectrum would be mine to play with, my website would be a space where you will (in 3D) stumble on uncurated pieces of my person, and my content across socials would be predictably unpredictable.

No, the irony of the fact that this blog is hosted on my very well-branded website is not lost on me.