Today’s Guest is the Legendary Tola Alabi, He is a Boss in the Industry, a Mentor, the Creative Director of Tola Alabi Design LLC – an Abuja-based design company that specializes in brand identity design, He is being in the industry for over 13 years now and has successfully carved a niche for himself as an Authority in Brand Identity Design. He is also the Co-Founder of Logo March a movement that featured designers from over 6 countries. He speaks to us about his journey, experiences and also gave us actionable nuggets on creating a niche for yourself and differentiation techniques, today’s episode is practical. Do listen, leave comments and have fun. “The first challenge I had was, breaking the stereotype of designers being just being an extension of the hands of clients, nobody pays you well for being an extension of their hands, you are paid for thinking” Notes from Today’s Episode: We can always learn from other Designers, research and model your career after Designers you admire Standing out in today’s Creative Industry can be quite daunting, the first step for anyone starting out is to know yourself, what area of design do you want to specialize in, start out with that area first As a designer what you do is valuable, You are a professional; place a premium on what you do, learn and understand client communication, this skill will stand you out The one thing that has kept me going is that I believe that this is what I am meant to do, you need to be clear about your why, why you do what you do will keep you going Separate emotions from what you do, don’t be emotional attached to your designs that you can’t take criticism or rejections Tell stories with your projects, make your clients’ understand the thought process behind your designs What you have is valuable, put a premium on your skill as a designer Demystifying myths The Myth that design is easy is wrong, design is not easy. Design takes a lot of careful thinking, technical skills, visual accountability and social skills; all these go into the process of creating good design. No skill or profession is actually easy. Another myth is that good design is cheap, good design and branding isn’t cheap, if you are doing branding and getting it cheap, you need to question it. Don’t expect people to task themselves for nothing, you need to understand that good branding differentiates your product and stands it out, customers and clients place premium on products with good branding. Remember to go out and create Awesomeness, I am looking forward to hearing from you, send in your comments via email: [email protected], remember to subscribe on iTunes, Google Podcast and any other podcasting app you use, just search for The Creative’s Chronicles Podcast on your podcasting app and subscribe, thank You! Show Notes: Tola Alabi on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/tolaalabidesign/ Tola Alabi on differentiating yourself as a Designer – http://thisisyox.com/the-best-way-to-differentiate-yourself-as-a-graphic-designer/