If you know me at all, you know I think about death a lot. Not in a morbid way, but in honouring the very thing all of us must face eventually, and how that connects us all.

I had the great honour of attending the celebration of life of a notable Canadian artist this past weekend. A truly inspiring life and incredible legacy of work. The community and stories shared from family, friends, and other artists made it clear their work and contribution were not only understood, but celebrated.

Most artists hear the word "brand" and think logo. Maybe a colour palette. Maybe a font. That's understandable — those are the visible parts. But they're the surface, not the thing itself.

Strategy is one of those words that sounds corporate until you understand what it actually means — and then it becomes one of the most useful concepts you can apply to your practice.

Visual identity is the part of branding most people are actually thinking about when they say the word "brand." It's the visible layer — what people see before they read anything, before they meet you, before they experience your work in person.

Most artists have a vague sense that something isn't quite right with their brand. The website feels off. The Instagram doesn't reflect the work. The bio sounds like someone else wrote it. But without a clear picture of where the problems actually are, it's hard to know where to start.

You've done the thinking. You know what your brand stands for, what it looks like, how it sounds. Now someone else needs to work with it — a designer, a photographer, a web developer, a printer. And suddenly you're spending two hours on emails trying to explain something that should take five minutes.

Every time you bring someone in to create something for your brand — a designer, a photographer, a web developer, a copywriter — you are briefing them whether you know it or not. The question is whether that brief is clear or accidental.

Typography is everywhere in your brand and almost invisible until it's wrong. The font on your website, the type in your email signature, the way your name appears on your business card — all of it is communicating something before a single word is read.

You can have a beautiful logo, a considered colour palette, and a well-designed website — and still have a brand that doesn't feel like you. Usually the culprit is voice.

Positioning is the answer to a question collectors, curators, and collaborators are always asking — even when they don't say it out loud: why this artist and not another?

This is one of the most common points of confusion in an artist's brand — and one of the most consequential to get wrong. Using your artist statement where your bio should be, or your bio where your statement should be, sends the wrong signal to the wrong audience at the wrong moment.

"My work is for everyone." It's one of the most common things artists say about their practice. It's also one of the most limiting beliefs you can hold about your brand.

Of all the brand advice aimed at artists, "be consistent" is probably the most repeated. It's also the most misunderstood. Consistency doesn't mean rigid. It doesn't mean boring. And it definitely doesn't mean perfect.

Something feels off with your brand. Maybe it's been feeling off for a while. The question is whether you need to fix a few things — or start over.

Colour is the fastest communicator in your brand. Before someone reads a word, before they register your logo or your typography, they've already had a response to your colour. That response is partly cultural, partly psychological, and partly just human.

Briefing a photographer is one of the most valuable things you can do before a brand shoot. It's also one of the most skipped. Artists tend to either over-explain in a long email that doesn't quite answer the questions a photographer needs answered, or say almost nothing and hope for the best.