your design style is your best marketing tool
8/19/26
education
YOUR DESIGN STYLE IS YOUR BIGGEST MARKETING TOOL
The secret to attracting the right clients isn’t chasing trends. It’s creating work that feels authentic to you.
The age-old question every designer asks at some point: How do I get design clients? Trust me, I get it. 10 years ago, I was typing the exact same thing into Google.
How do I get clients?
Where do I find clients?
What am I doing wrong?
And while I wish I could give you some magical formula (wouldn’t that be nice!?)The biggest thing I’ve learned after years of running Brighten Made is this — getting clients starts with being confident in your style.
I know. Not exactly the answer you were expecting. You were probably hoping I’d say something along the lines of “post three times a day on Instagram,” “build a subscriber list and send a daily email,” or “crack this secret algorithm.”
But here’s the thing… If you don’t feel confident in what you’re sharing online, you’re probably not going to show up consistently in the first place. You’re going to second-guess every post, tweak your portfolio for the 900th time, and end up blending in with the sea of designers doing what everyone else is. And then you’re left wondering, “Why isn’t anyone noticing me?”
The reality is, people don’t hire designers because they can make something pretty. There are a million talented designers out there. People hire designers because they connect with their style and the unique twist they can bring to a project. Your creative voice is the thing that makes you different. I believe we were all created with our own unique creative abilities and skills the world needs to see.
So, my biggest secret to getting clients over the years? Owning my style unapologetically. Not chasing every trend. Not trying to recreate what someone else is doing. Not watering down what makes my work mine. OWNING IT. So, how do we get there…?
Your style should be recognizable.
Just to clear something up real quick, this doesn’t mean you’re stuck creating only one type of work forever. You can absolutely design a sophisticated, minimal brand one day and a playful, colorful brand the next. The goal here isn’t to create the same thing over and over again. It’s that even when the project changes, it still feels like YOU.
Let me explain. Maybe this comes down to your typography choices, the way you use color, your illustrations, your layouts, the tiny unexpected moments you add. It’s less about a specific “genre” and more about your personal creative fingerprint.
When your style becomes recognizable, something really cool happens. People start knowing your work before they even see your name. They see a post (or in my case, a brand) and think, did Brighten Made make this?
And here’s where it gets evennnnn better. Recognition builds trust, my friends. It helps your audience connect with you faster and understand what they can expect when they follow your work. And people are way more likely to hire a designer whose work they’re already familiar with.
Don’t follow every trend.
I love a good trend as much as the next person, but there’s a difference between being inspired by trends and completely reinventing your style every time something new comes along. Trends come and go. Your style is what should stick.
Before you jump on the latest design trend, pause and ask yourself if you actually love it. Because if you’re only creating work because it’s popular, you’re building a portfolio based on what other people want to see in the moment, not what makes you memorable. We don’t want to be trend followers. We want to be trendsetters. At the end of the day, the best designers are usually the ones who take inspiration and filter it through their own style and perspective.
Go back to the version of yourself who didn’t overthink everything.
This one might sound a little cheesy, but hear me out. Go look back at the creative work you made before you started trying to make things “good.” Before you knew what was trendy. Before you started comparing yourself to every other designer online. What did you naturally gravitate toward?
A lot of times, the things we naturally loved before we started overthinking are the exact things that make our work unique. When I look back at some of my earliest design work, one thing becomes obvious. I’ve always been drawn to bright, colorful, playful design. Over time, my style has evolved, but that same playful energy is still woven into the brands I create today. While the style has matured, the core has stayed the same.
So what’s next?
Once you’ve figured out your style, it’s time to make it your own. And I’m going to be blunt here, but this is arguably one of the most important steps. It’s really easy to look around at what’s working for other designers and think maybe I should just do that. After all, their work is getting attention, they’re booking dream clients, their Instagram is growing. It’s natural to wonder if you should shift your own work to match.
But here’s the thing: you’ll never build a memorable brand around someone else’s creative voice. The designers who stand out aren’t the ones who are replicating what’s already working for someone else. They’re the ones who are creating something that feels completely unique to them.
There’s nothing wrong with being inspired by other designers, but there’s a big difference between being inspired and trying to be someone else. YOUR style is the thing that makes your work yours. It’s the little details you gravitate toward, the choices you make without even thinking, and the creative instincts that show up over and over again. You won’t stand out if you’re creating the same thing as everyone else. You’ll stand out when you create work that the right people (your people) instantly connect with.
Here’s where we come full circle.
You have to know your style in order to sell it. Getting design clients isn’t just about having a pretty portfolio or perfectly curated Instagram. It’s about confidently showing people what you do, why/how you do it differently, and what makes your style worth investing in.
When you truly understand your style, everything else starts to fall into place. Creating content feels easier because you’re not constantly questioning whether something fits your brand or not. Your portfolio becomes more cohesive because it feels like a collection of work created by one person, not a bunch of disconnected projects. Even your services become easier to sell because you’re attracting clients who already resonate with your aesthetic and approach before they ever reach out.
Instead of trying to convince every potential client that you can design anything for anyone, you get to show up as the designer who does your thing really, really well. And that’s the power having a recognizable style gives you. The right clients start finding YOU because they can see themselves in your work before they even hit submit on a contact form.
