How Do You Fit It All Into a Title?

One of the hardest design decisions I’ve made since starting my own studio has nothing to do with logos, typography or colour.

It’s figuring out what the hell to call myself.

When you work at an agency, someone else gives you a title.

Designer. Senior Designer. Art Director. Creative Director. Design Director.

Then you start your own studio and suddenly you’re all of them. And somehow none of them feels quite right.

Founder? Technically true, but it doesn’t really say what I do.

Owner? Accurate, but it sounds like I should be handing out paycheques and approving vacation requests.

Creative Director? A big part of what I do, but I’m still very much designing every day.

CEO? Feels a little ambitious when I’m also the guy resizing a PDF at 4:47 on a Friday.

Principal? Sounds important. Still not entirely sure what it means.

And maybe that’s the weird thing about giving yourself a title: it’s no longer about hierarchy. It’s about positioning.

What do you actually do? What do you want people to hire you for? And how do you fit 18 years of designing, illustrating, art directing, strategizing and generally making things into two or three words?

Right now, I’ve kept it simple:

Designer.