How I painted the story of my partner's untold dream
Tips from a designer on how to give your Substack publication a professional brand to help it stand out
Before I met Matt, I spent most of my time designing and illustrating for corporations and startups, never fully exploring my own creative potential.
Matt's encouragement was exactly what I needed. He pushed me to take my illustration and design seriously, urging me to "start creating value for yourself." And honestly, I love it. Planning and strategizing my content has been incredibly rewarding.
It's fulfilling to finally have a space for both my words and images, and to stay connected with an audience like you through my newsletters.
Knowing that Matt is also growing his Substack, Speculative Fiction: One Page at a Time, I decided to help him rebrand his publication. Since I noticed most writers don’t have an online brand presence, my goal is to help him stand out by establishing a strong visual identity for his content.
Having a strong brand will leave a strong impression on your readers and make them more likely to re-engage.
Here are the guiding principles I used to develop Matt’s brand:
Understand your purpose and personality
My process started with an interview with Matt. It’s important to ask questions that help you understand your brand’s unique mission and let your personality shine. ✨ See the full interview at the end ✨
Make your visual branding memorable
The brand elements are distilled to essentials, using unique and simple color palettes, illustrations, typography, mascots, and shapes to create a vivid impression of Matt’s publication.
Add personal touch to reflect your content
The brand illustration reflects his personality and communicates his vision for his publication. I wanted the core illustration to highlight the “intriguing but weird” aspects of Speculative Fiction.
Scaling yourself online while being consistent
The brand elements are easily customizable and reusable, serving various purposes such as communication and online marketing.
Full interview with Matt
Author of Speculative Fiction: One Page at a Time
🤓 Why do you write about Literary Fiction?
Reading literary novels and short stories can be challenging. Frankly, it can feel like work. By discussing stories together, we can help each other unlock their hidden value. When you talk about fiction with others, you make connections you wouldn't have made on your own.
🩻 What draws you to Speculative Fiction specifically?
I love how Speculative Fiction creates its own system of meaning by building on top of its invented premises. While absurd on the surface, these stories follow the same psychic rules of reality, in order to highlight some deeper truth. Truths that are hard to convey in language with our conscious minds.
🫀 What are your writing aspirations?
Ultimately, I aspire to make a living with my writing and to help others do the same. For me, it's about creating a sustainable career and supporting other writers.
In my Substack, I plan to share my thoughts on my favorite stories via close readings One Page at a Time. I also want to give writing tips, talk about the writing industry, and share my own personal development journey.
🔮 Any Speculative Fiction recommendations?
I highly recommend the short story collection Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung. I love the way she blends genres. The horror stories are particularly suspenseful and absolute page turners. Currently I am reading the novel Whale by Cheon Myeong-Kwan. It scratches the same itch for me as the Wind up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. It's an epic novel that tackles big subjects from an original angle.
