Building your personal brand as a designer
All things personal branding and the future of design education with Thijs Kraan
In this article I am speaking to Thijs Kraan about all things personal brand and building the future of design education.
He’s doing an incredible job of helping designers and leaders amplify their voice online and giving them the confidence and tools to do so. This is a topic close to my heart as I love writing and sharing my thoughts online (hence this Substack!).
TL;DR:
The future of work for designers
The reason more people want to build their personal brand
Why personal branding is important in 2025
Mindset blockers to start posting and how to overcome them
How much time you need to dedicate to get results
The role of storytelling
Examples of people doing this
How Thijs can help you
Welcome Thijs, it’s a pleasure to have you here. Please could you introduce yourself to the community.
My name is Thijs, I'm building the future of design education. My goal is to enable the new-generation of designers to learn from the best in their field. Helping the best design leaders, ICs, and founders become educators to show, articulate, and grow the (business) value of design. Currently, design education is led by professional educators, often stuck in theory, not practice.
And this misrepresents the real world.
I run a business called Value Positioner. It's a growth advisory for design educators to accelerate audience-, revenue-, and student growth. Either through consultancy or actual hands-on work where I do 99% of the heavy-lifting. I predict everyone will become a designer and build profitable, sustainable businesses. So, my mission is to inspire and educate every designer in the world on business-building. My first project is growexpertise.com where I'll share curated insights from designers with a 6 to 8 figure business. Digging into how they think, build companies, productize expertise, and get customers.
I'm all-in on turning design-led founders, ICs, and leaders into design educators.
Q: Why did you not follow the traditional path early on and decided quite quickly to freelance and then build your own business?
Early in my educational journey, I started building and selling websites. My first for €800 in 2018, second for €1800, and third for €17.393 – this money was crazy to me, so, I was hooked. During my last project, I earned around €100 per hour, but when offered a job after college – I would earn around €15 to €25 per hour. Normal rates in the Netherlands, and it's what my peers earned – some even to this day.
Starting a business felt like a natural, less risky move where I had full control over my future. First, I was afraid I would learn less, but the freedom led me to find exactly what I loved doing, was naturally good at, and the market wanted. One of those things was writing. Something I fell in love with during a writing challenge I started on 16 May, 2022. Every day, I wrote for 30 minutes and publish one post for 30 days, a streak that never ended – I'm on day 1079 now.
This led to free expert mentorship, private community access, and many business opportunities. Slowly and iteratively, I found my purpose – now realizing this was the best decision of my life. Around 16 months after the job offer, I was earning around €200 to €300 per hour doing client work. Literally 10x I would make as a junior product designer. But now, donig the work I love, not having a ceiling, and free to follow my natural curiosity.
I was fortunate enough to get lucky early-on and win relatively big client who saw my potential. That first 5-figure deal gave me the confidence, to build towards my own dreams, not someone else's.
Q: How do you currently see the future of work for designers?
77% of designers dream of running a business (source: poll). And this makes sense. Most don't want to build someone else's dreams, they want to be in charge. That's why I predict a shift toward entrepreneurship and a similar model as the film industry. More designers will start their own business – teaming with other solo contractors. Building new products, co-founding businesses or agencies, and collaborating on projects.
The new age of intelligence, enabled by AI innovation – helps us facilitate this shift. Starting businesses becomes easier. Tools make streamline collaboration faster. And agents help us avoid risks or delegate repetitive work. Recent layoff waves, AI role replacements, and bad hiring practices accelerate this shift. Take-home exercises or 5+ interview rounds will result in more designers saying: “F*ck it. Let's go independent.”
I already see the shift happening. New designer founders, freelancers, and fractional leaders are joining the game of business. And to me, building a business seems less risky than a full-time job. Losing a job means losing 100% of income, 3 to 5 interview rounds, and 100s of designers competing for the same job. When you learn to run a business, your income diversifies across more clients or markets. Client acquisition often takes 1 or 2 calls instead of five. And the only limit to your earning potential is you.
If you're willing to do the work, running a business gives more flexibility, freedom, and income.
Q: So, are you seeing more people want to build their personal brand? If so, why?
Yes, I'm seeing way more people wanting to build personal brands, and for good reason. Personal brands are one of the most effective ways to organically distribute content. Every new business, project, or idea launches faster when you have a personal brand. Look at the impact of personal branding around Elon Musk, Bill Gates, or Richard Branson.
This trend accelerates because of multiple reasons:
Human interaction: We're social creatures who crave interaction with other humans. Content shared from personal accounts consistently performs better than corporate accounts. I assume this is because we desire human connection.
Better AI tooling: Tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity make content creation easier and more accessible. And when things get easier, more people will participate. More participation leads to competition.
Distribution scarcity: As content creation becomes easier, distribution becomes more competitive. When supply (of content) increases, demand (attention) becomes more scarce. More people are competing over the limited amount of attention on social platforms.
And the best part, you simply have to take your offline reputation online. That to me, is personal branding – being yourself online. Algorithms reward authenticity, it stands out with all the AI-generated content.
Soon, you'll realize the longer you play the “great online game,” the more you'll represent your true self. It's hard to keep up an image of something you're not for years or even decades. People know when you're faking it or not genuine.
Q: Why is building a personal brand especially important for designers in 2025?
When you have a personal brand, everything becomes easier. Building businesses, winning client projects, charging premiums, securing funding. reaching the right people, earning speaking gigs, getting a job, and so much more. It's a great asset for anyone, employees, freelancers, business owners, or investors. When you're being yourself online, you'll attract like-minded people. And this often leads to new career opportunities.
Most times, it's the best long-term strategy for organic reach:
Nobody needs to give permission for you to share your expertise online
Content is critical to every other form of distribution (outreach or ads)
Jobs, clients, partners, or peers come to you, instead of you to them
Not only will you get opportunities. Teaching deepens expertise, makes you a better communicator, and shows what language resonates. And all your have to do, is to show your work, tell your stories, and share your expertise consistently. The longer you do this for, the more your results will compound.
So, the earlier you get started, the faster you'll see your results compound.
Q: Ok, someone understands the importance of posting. Great. Now what? Can they tactically understand what to post, when and get a good reach?
Organic-first content creation is the name of the game. Generally, I recommend sticking with writing-first because nearly all content requires good writing. When you see a great video, movie, presentation, or ad, they all started in a written script. Without a good script, the content usually lacks quality, structure, or value. All creators spend the majority of time on writing the script. It's why the best movies or series often base their story on a best-selling books, like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, or Game of Thrones.
That's why I chose and recommend a platform like LinkedIn because text-only content still performs there.
And I hear you ask: “But what should I post? When? And what gets good reach?” My recommendation is to share your work, stories, insights, and expertise. Specify the problems you solve or have solved in the past and start writing about how you did it. Share the work, the situation, outcomes, or obstacles, and the impact of your solution.
Generally, I categorize content in three buckets:
Brand-building (1 to 4 posts per week) – telling stories around your experiences, observations, lessons, or reflections. The goal here is to build more brand awareness and resonate with your audience.
Trust-building (1 to 4 posts per week) – showing your expertise, work, results, perspectives, or industry insight. The goal here is to show your unique value and deepen the trust with your audience.
Conversion (0 to 2 posts per week) – articulating the value of your unique expertise, products, or services. The goal here is to turn attention into email leads, booked calls, or product sales.
Usually, I tell designers to aim for 3+ posts per week: 1+ brand-building, 1+ trust-building, 0-1 conversion. And when you're just starting, prioritize brand- and trust-building. Produce content about the work you want more of, problems you want to solve more of, or audience you want to attract. Publish your content around 14:00 to 17:00 GMT+2 because that's where most timezones align. Share whenever your ideal audience is either starting to work or finalizing work.
Next to that, personal brands perform better than business brands. I see LinkedIn content performs 5-10x better when shared from personal instead of business accounts. And not to forget, distribution will become even more scarce over the next years.
So, keep it simple, look at your calendar, write about problems you worked on or solved, and publish the content from your personal account.
Q: What common mindset blocks do you see design leaders face when it comes to putting themselves out there online—and how can they overcome them?
Many design leaders never put themselves out there. To me, this is a waste of valuable design expertise, and hoarding on it simply is self-centered in my opinion. For context, I've learned nearly everything from reading books and consuming free online content. If nobody shared their expertise, we likely still would've struggled to make fire. Teaching in private is respected, but teaching online is often considered taboo.
And there are more mindset blockers I often see:
Thinking you'll become an influencer. Instead, become an educator. Someone who shares, educates, and articulate the value of design to non-designers.
Overthinking what you'll share online. Instead, treat your content as a test of resonance. Share ideas you know aligns with what you do or your values – figure out what resonates.
Underestimating your potential impact. Instead, understand sharing one idea can change someone's entire world. There's always someone who values your expertise.
Assuming everyone has it figured out. Instead, realize nobody has figured it out. Everyone is winging something, and the best players always have a beginner's mindset.
Believing everyone instantly sees you. Instead, see it as a long-term game. Content often only distributes to 5-10% of your audience and requires consistency.
People often assume I'm an extravert, have it figure out, and crave the spotlight. But actually, I'm an introvert, always figuring stuff out, and hate the spotlight. I simply see the value of sharing expertise, for myself and the design industry. Being a contributor not only makes me more valuable, it helps designers a few steps behind me, who can't afford expensive courses or coaching.
Free (or cheap) content allowed me to afford being able to spend 5-figures on personal development every year. And this accelerates my growth even further.
Q: How should design leaders think about the balance between showcasing their work versus sharing opinions or thought leadership?
My general rule of thumb is to prioritize sharing the work you want to do more of. This leads to inbound opportunities for doing the same work. Opinions or thought leadership are often a big part of design leadership work. The work often isn't visual, it's about strategy, hiring, influence, operations, or org design. Thinking quality defines work quality. And writing is a window into your mind, good writing is a reflection of good thinking.
Try to have a “show, not tell” mentality. But don't over-iterate on pretty visuals, they're a bonus, prioritize the writing. Show the work whenever you can, and when this blocks you from sharing anything – leave the visual work out. Case studies are only a tiny part of a content strategy, it aims to help potential buyers make a buying decision. But usually, that isn't your bottleneck. Most design leaders struggle to get seen in the first place, so brand-building content works better.
So, I recommend to standard to opinions or thought leadership and show your work as much as you can.
Q: How much time should a VP or design director realistically expect to dedicate to personal branding each week—and what’s the ROI? You would have heard it before “yeah, but I am busy”
Usually, to hit your 3 posts per week, you need around 1 to 4 hours per week. Depending on how fast you can deliver quality writing. Time to write a post gradually reduces, you'll get faster over time. My content usually takes 20 to 40 minutes to produce, or even around 5 when I'm creative or need to deliver in a rush. Generally, it's good to understand the ROI of personal branding is incalculable, you must trust the ROI is there.
Here are returns you can expect from your 1 to 4 hours weekly investment:
Results snowball with black swan potential. The more people think or see you, the more opportunities will come your way. Posts gradually get better, easier to produce, leading to more results from your initial effort or (time) investment. Content improves all growth metrics, from client acquisition, to retention, to referrals. Not to forget, algorithms can be a lottery, where one viral post can change your entire life.
Get unexpected inbound opportunities. Part of the game is never knowing who reads your content. But by sharing content online, you reach, build trust with, and convert people you never even knew at scale. Maybe it's your new employer, your favorite podcaster, your dream client, a wealthy investor, or even a life or business partner.
Build a long-term distribution asset. After publishing content for a while, you'll build an audience of prospects, partners, and peers. Useful for whenever you want to test an idea, need funding, or launch a product. The likelihood of reaching the right people increase drastically without any extra costs.
Grow the strength of your network. Every time you publish, you show up in the feed of your network. This nurtures your existing network, and when they either like or comment, you expand your network – building an audience over time. People often forget about you when don't promote yourself.
Boost the quality of your thinking. Writing is a meta-skill that improves all other skills. Forcing you to think clearly, communicate sharply, and articulate your ideas. Sharing your ideas shortens the feedback loop, learn about the quality, and helps iterate on your ability to think. All leading to better decision-making, which helps you get better outcomes in life.
That's why the results are incalculable, one post can change your entire life. The process alone will. And the more consistently you publish high-quality content, the greater the likelihood of hitting a lottery. Sharing your expertise online is highly leveraged, and the best way to get better outcomes in your career.
Q: What role does storytelling play in building a design leader’s brand, and how can someone develop their own voice online?
Storytelling is one of the most critical sub-skill of writing for design leaders. We often don't remember raw data, facts, or theory, we remember the stories being told, either by ourself or others. Every metric contains a story, it's your job to extract and tell that story. Humans are driven by emotion, we think we're rational, but we're not. And emotion is best transferred through stories.
And not only work stories, also about yourself – your signature stories. Stories about your life, journey, origin, upbringing, career pivots, or outcomes. I recommend having 3 to 5 signature stories you tell others to show what you stand for, who you are, and why you care. Pivotal moments that defined your personality, purpose, or your current focus. Try following the StoryBrand storytelling framework.
The first one I usually recommend is your origin story. This summarizes your journey from being born to today – who you are, what you do, and why you care. Ideally, a 30 to 60-second version, a 5 to 20-minute version, or even an 20 to 60-minute version. A design leader client said an origin story made him stand out in an interview, which led to a ±€150k/year job.
Q: Who are the best examples in design people can learn from?
Generally, I recommend finding a design leader or educator who is in a situation you'd like to be in. I shared one post with 40 design educators with large followings and one with 20 design thought leaders. Many have asked me for this inspiration. That's why I made a LinkedIn Map for Designers with 202+ active designers or leaders on LinkedIn (and 1044+ of their best-performing posts).
OPTIONAL: Design your LinkedIn Growth Strategy in 5 days
Since I kept noticing designers and design leaders facing similar problems. I decided to make a free resource to start building your personal brand with the right strategy. It's a free 5-day email course breaking down the biggest LinkedIn mistakes designers make trying to get clients:
Mistake #1: Trying to appeal to everyone – and why you’ll never stand out while becoming one indistinguishable sheep in a herd of millions.
Mistake #2: Pivoting your direction too soon – and why you’ll stay stuck in a 3-month restart loop without ever compounding your progress.
Mistake #3: Waiting until content is “perfect” before posting – and why you’ll waste hours on posts you’ll never publish (or that flops anyway).
Mistake #4: Sharing expertise without a conversion mechanism – and why you’ll get 1000s of likes but with zero clients from all those eyeballs.
Mistake #5: Ignoring the hand-raisers right in front of you – and why you’ll leave high-value leads, partnerships, and sales hidden in your notifications.
This mini-course, shared over 5 days, will help you:
Position to stand out, build an audience, and charge premiums
Turn LinkedIn into a lead generation machine – on autopilot
Get an actionable 15-step plan to win clients on LinkedIn
If you want to start building your personal brand, this is the perfect place to get started. Every day, I share more about the mistake, the reason it happens, and how to avoid it. This helps you turn your LinkedIn into a revenue channel for your (future) business.
https://growexpertise.com/linkedin-growth-strategy/
Thank you to Thijs for this incredible insight and actionable steps to start building your personal brand online today. I highly recommend Thijs, and I know he’s helped a lot of people already start amplifying their voice online, so I hope this helps you start posting and talking more about your work.
Until next time!
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