Yo dawg, I applaud you on wanting to stick out. Branding is great for that. But my advice is going to be a bit different because of your age.
Go out and create things. Many things. Beautiful things.
Work with amazing people you can learn from, learn how to take feedback and improve your work. Constantly ask people how you could improve something.
Focus on one or two areas that you want to excel at, don't try to do everything.
Write. Write about your process, write about your day, write about your dog, I don't care, but just learn to articulate your thoughts eloquently through writing.
Take risks, you are 18, do things people normally wouldn't. Bring back skeuomorphism for all I care or grunge design or anything that is not the normal "I designed a flat ui with only icons and a giant image". Design t-shirts. Design hardware, anything but redesigning an existing product to fit your personal aesthetic.
Go to art shows, gallery openings. Mixed media, sculpture, photography, museums, Design can be art if you let it. And stay away from just browsing on dribble all day. Influences can be found in graffiti, Van Gogh and Gehry.
Then after a few years when you have all these amazing projects and great articles and people who respect you because they know you listen and value their feedback you will find you have already created a phenomenal brand which is just you being awesome.
Yo dawg, I applaud you on wanting to stick out. Branding is great for that. But my advice is going to be a bit different because of your age.
Go out and create things. Many things. Beautiful things.
Work with amazing people you can learn from, learn how to take feedback and improve your work. Constantly ask people how you could improve something.
Focus on one or two areas that you want to excel at, don't try to do everything.
Write. Write about your process, write about your day, write about your dog, I don't care, but just learn to articulate your thoughts eloquently through writing.
Take risks, you are 18, do things people normally wouldn't. Bring back skeuomorphism for all I care or grunge design or anything that is not the normal "I designed a flat ui with only icons and a giant image". Design t-shirts. Design hardware, anything but redesigning an existing product to fit your personal aesthetic.
Go to art shows, gallery openings. Mixed media, sculpture, photography, museums, Design can be art if you let it. And stay away from just browsing on dribble all day. Influences can be found in graffiti, Van Gogh and Gehry.
Then after a few years when you have all these amazing projects and great articles and people who respect you because they know you listen and value their feedback you will find you have already created a phenomenal brand which is just you being awesome.