My name is Kelly, and I am a brand.
My design standards aren't very set, and certainly not adhered to strictly, but the work I produce and the way I speak and interact with the world is unique. Just like everyone else.
As a designer, it is a very good thing when people, especially potential employers, know your brand. How do you make yourself known?
One good way to share your work is ironically by waiving your personal copyright to it. Submissions to stock photography websites are a great way to gain the attention of other designers (also known as future colleagues/employers). Let's say you take some absolutely gorgeous photos of your Persian cat, and submit to deviantart's stock photography section with a creative common license that allows "free for personal use." Then, other designers who absolutely need a photo of your type of cat for their personal illustrations will go to your page and interact with you. Provide some free, usable content and designers will have a reason to come to you (provided, of course, that your content is high quality).
There is even a creative commons option to allow "free for commercial use." That's right, you essentially give others the right to profit off of your work (usually included in this is a caveat that the image must be modified in some way - to prevent someone from selling your free stock photo as a pay stock photo). Why do this? Well, if someone at Big Company A needs a font for their website, and finds your free-for-commercial-use font on a site like dafont.com, every person who visits Big Company A's website will be exposed to your work (if you require, say, a small credit be given wherever your work is in use). In this way, you (and your brand) can become widely known.
DeviantART: Where ART Meets Application! Web. 01 Dec. 2010.
"Stock Art." Stock Images on DeviantART. Web. 01 Dec. 2010.
Dafont.com. Web. 01 Dec. 2010.
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