Yes. You CAN Change Your Look. I Just Did.
And it was painless!
I started my first newsletter year in the middle of January 2024. I knew exactly what I wanted to call it. The inspiration came to me during one of my 12 Step meetings in December 2023. Someone was sharing about the struggles they were going through, and they ended their share by saying “All I need to do is the next right thing.” And I lit up. Because it’s true. That’s all we can ever do. That phrase gave birth to the title of my Substack. The Next Write Thing. A simple play on words that meant everything to me. I was planning on writing about my recovery journey. What I didn’t know clearly at the time is that I would find that I wanted to write about everything. My life, my struggles in and out of program, family, sexuality, depression, and childhood. A perfect name. It encompasses everything. Creates space for any topic I might want to write on. The name gives me freedom and permission to write whatever I want.
Because I’m also a designer I was able to create all the assets that go along with beautifully presenting my product. Because I was going through so much personal transformation, I leaned in a slightly different direction than I usually do. I’ve always presented myself as a sans-serif type of gal! What does that mean? The fonts I favor are simple and unembellished. Often quite bold, they’re clean and lack the little “feet” and adornments that come with serif fonts. The difference between Helvetica, as an example, versus Times New Roman. As writers, most of us are familiar with Times New Roman (it’s a commonly specified font for manuscript submissions).
I wanted a more refined look to go along with my gorgeous photo––I’m not saying I’m gorgeous––though I’ve never looked better thanks to Franco Vogt, genius portrait photographer. It felt like I was reinventing myself a bit. So, I opted for a classic serif, Didot. It’s stunning. It’s elegant. It conveys sophistication. I knew exactly what my color palette would be. For the last 15 years, I’ve owned a web and graphic design business. My logo and all the branding is white, black, and hot pink. I would use these colors to create my look, just as I have with StyleYourStack. I love what I came up with, though there were drawbacks to my font choice. Didot is so delicate, even in its bold weight, that it was often hard to read my logo (not a logo exactly, more of an icon, let’s discuss that please, Substack Central, in addition to the limiting dimensions for wordmarks). It didn’t necessarily shout “NAN!” but I loved it. A lot. I made allowances for its occasional unreadability.
My design business logo, where my devotion to hot pink was born, is never used as a dominant color, it’s always used as an accent. Too much IS too much.
I experienced a tremendous amount of personal growth this year. As a person, as a writer, as a friend, and as an entrepreneur. And as I grew, I realized that the brand look wasn’t working for me anymore. I’ve been coming into my true self more and more each day. When I started StyleYourStack I chose my favorite font, Gotham (I use it a lot, maybe too much). Gotham offers a broad selection of weights from ultra-thin to ultra-bold. I tend toward the chunkier weights, because they speak loudly, they demand attention. And they’re fun and playful.
The other night I was sitting and working for clients too late, past my normal quitting time. I turned to my own projects and said to myself “It’s time for a change. I want to begin my second year on Substack with a new look.”
I decided to cross-brand The Next Write Thing with StyleYourStack. Same colors, same font. Same Nan. More true to my nature. The Nan I’ve always been. I like to be seen. There! I admitted it. Even though I’m an introvert in many ways, yes, I like to be known, and I like to be seen. I even added my name to my wordmark.
It’s okay to change your look. It’s okay to evolve. That’s my takeaway, it’s what I want you to know. We evolve as people, as writers, as creatives. It’s easy to stay stuck in the familiar. I guess I have in a way, coming back to the font that I love. But I tried something new this past year; that was big for me. It’s brave to make changes, to take risks. It can be very freeing. Our tastes often change over time; what was once a favorite color may not resonate in the same way as it used to. Fashion goes through cycles. It keeps things fresh and new. It’s always okay to change your mind. What was true for you yesterday or 5 years ago, might not be true for you today. It’s okay to grow.
Here are the changes. I loved the old version, and I love the new version.
My original wordmark:
I used the pink sparingly, as my link and button color, and to dot the i’s.
My new wordmark
And then, someone, a special dude with a great eye and terrific design sense asked why all lowercase? Yes, , I’m talking about you! And I asked myself the same question. I thought it would give me more real estate. I still haven’t fully figured out the formula around the difficult Wordmark. I know it has to do with a fixed header side and the 21:4 ratio. So, I tried it. And I think this may be the winner. What do you think?
I used the pink in a similar way, kept the pink link and button colors and still pink dot the i’s. It’s a recognizable connection for my regular online readers and email subscribers. The brain gets the consistency, whether it’s conscious recognition or not.
My original logo/icon:
This is great, except when it’s very small, as it appears in the browser tab and as my icon on the website version, (upper left corner) then the elements are harder to discern.Substack needs to provide for a proper, more detailed logo, and for an icon to be used in browser tabs (called a favicon). I opted for a much simpler image this time around and added a symbol that’s very powerful for me personally.
My new logo/icon:
Yes. It’s a semi-colon, that’s all. A semi-colon. It’s used when a sentence is more or less complete, but the writer has more to say. Read more about the semi-colon and what it means to me.
A similar idea to the logo I use for StyleYourStack, the XO, which is how I sign everything. A kiss and a hug. Love.
My original welcome image:
My new welcome image:
Or, in keeping with the all lowercase versus mixed caps and lowercase:
See, you can change your mind! Any time at all!
I redesigned my email banner, too and added my photo. My original banner didn’t have it.
Are you tired of your old look? Is it time to make a change? To put more of your current self into the presentation of your writing or other creative endeavors? Have you put energy into creating a visual representation of your newsletter?
If it’s time to make that change, I’m here and ready to help you do the next right thing for you!
Interesting changes Nan! I like the new look and am a big fan of the hot pink! I've been working on a little re-branding but it is still a work in progress.
Seems fitting for you Nan ❤️