Matt reflects on the concept of self-branding as a “representation of morals and values held by a particular person”. He states that they can be presented in a number of ways, but most commonly via social media, websites and face to face interactions.

Matt demonstrates the influence of his rational values. He reflects on how his studies gave him the opportunity to grow into the freelance graphic designer that he is today. He reflects on his journey stating that he mostly “fell into it”, as he was approached for a wide range of products at the conclusion of his studies, and these have continued to grow ever since.

Matt’s emotional values are revealed through his unique skill set which he describes as “precise, motivated and distilled”. He uses his personal website to form the core of his branding and to present himself honestly and consistently. He states that maintaining a consistent self-brand “is pretty straight forward when it comes from one person who is speaking true to who they are”.

For Matt, social media doesn’t play a significant part in branding himself online. He states that he has never been the type to actively work on and maintain his presence across these platforms, using them more as an enforcer of personal and face to face interactions. Matt prides himself of the level of detail and care that he puts into projects and suggests that this contributed to increased clientele from word of mouth recommendations. Matt believes that if he is more active on social media it could pay dividends.

Matt reflects on how he was lucky to have clients from day one but states that due to this he never really developed a reliance on creating a personal brand. Although he always had work coming in it was often challenging and he states that “it wasn’t always things I was interested in working on – no dream clients per say”.