Nzce style lab

ENTER THE STYLE LAB Let your creative juices overflow with a little help from your career lab director Paula

Personal Branding Exercise

by Paula Stenberg Š 2015

Welcome to the journey that you are about to embark.

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MAKE YOURSELF COMFORTABLE This fun exercise is designed to develop your tripartite style statement, (that is, three words to describe yourself) and will introduce you to words to do just that, much like how the fashionista journos describe the latest runway collections. So without further ado, please sit yourself down in our departure lounge where the Lab Director will hand you a fresh cup of tea (or coffee) and a travel pack. The Lab Director wishes to encourage you in using your imagination… so start day dreaming.

“Hello folks, we are about to take off in our Style Lab Shuttle, therefore, fasten your seatbelts. In your travel pack you have some scissors, you will need them for the first part of this journey. Look below and note the vials in the lab’s apothecary. To prepare the vials you will first need to cut them out of their packaging” - please turn the page and cut the perforations.

“Enjoy this time unbuckling your seatbelts, grabbing a coffee (or tea) and snipping out those words.”

“Once you have done this we will prepare for landing on earth. You have quite a number of words to choose from, some have been intentionally misspelt, while others may be even obsolete in their usage. Still they are there, and the choice is yours. “

ICONIC

CASUAL

GLAMOUR

“Up here in the clouds in the Style Lab Shuttle you can see earth where you have a much wider perspective on what you can see. Metaphorically we are using this same principle; from a distance you have plenty of life choices, and style choices. As you get closer to your landing you are to select just ten. These ten are going to determine your Style Sphere.”

COLOURFUL

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Classic

Nature

L’enfant terrible

Simple

Coquettish

VIP/Posh/Regal

Sacred

Victoriana

Theatrical

Polished

Cool

Dramatic

Whimsical

Graphic

Warm

Artistic

Gothic

Beatnik

Understated

Psychedelic

Layered

Relaxed

Embellished

Opulent

Vintage

Dark

Flamboyant

Creative

Glamour

Referential

Funky

Oriental

Ethnic

Conservative

Heavy metal

Tuff* (macho)

Traditional

Sci-fi/space age

Layered

Effortless

Refined

Cheerful

Androgyny

Bold

Tomboy

Wild Child

Modern

Gothic

Underground

Urban

Contemporary

Powerful

Quirky

Raunchy

Deluxe

Gamine

Accented

Eccentric

Eclectic

Exotic

Sexy

Casual

Frivolous

Iconic

Soft

Ethereal

Militår*

Artsy

Emblematic

Smart

Playful

Olde Worlde

Natural

Preppy

Bogan

Sporty

Timeless

Country-chic

Rocker

Trendy

Sophisticated

Baroque

Trés chic

Elegant

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* These words are intentionally misspelt because of their style.

Dressy

DIY

Edgy

Practical

Indie rock

Confident

Tailored

Steampunk

Pop

Structured

Heritage

Punk

Hipster

Hip hop

Detailed

Romantic

Stylish

Vogue

Smart

Grunge

Reggae

Authentic

Spiritual

Original

Sweet

Shabby-chic

Streamlined

Accessorised

Horror

Contrast

Chic

Sport-chic

Zen

Fashionable

Clean

Curvy

Balanced

Bohemian

Boutique

Eco-chic

Modest

Ethical

Safari

Chanel-esque

Mystical

Flirty

Colourful

Masculine

Nostalgic

Feminine

Fantasia

Hippy

Comfortable

Refreshing

Intentional

Retro

Glitzy

Sensual

Woodsy

Verve

Current

Rustic

Sacred

Intellectual

Cute

Flair

Nautical

High contrast

Aggressive

Avant garde

Youthful

Sassy

Authoritative

Glamorous

Mysterious

Lacy

Juxtaposed

Provocative

Natural

Boho chic

Contemplative

Sleek

Techno

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YOUR STYLE SPHERE

SELECT YOUR TEN TOP STYLES Assort them randomly on the globe so you see your styles

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Your style is how you say, do, express, appear or perform the distinctive features of YOU. You have probably heard of ‘sphere of influence’ (SOI).

A term commonly used in international relations, where different nations have territorial control over regions or areas as a dominant power.

These controls are usually the country’s political, economic and religious systems. These control factors heavily influence the citizens of those regions in their behaviour. On a smaller scale, everyone has their own sphere of influence. Your sphere too, is your own beliefs, attitudes and values. These “influences” will affect and have impact on your connections and contacts.

Unpacking this concept further is your style sphere. Here the sphere is looking at ways your style can influence others. You have selected ten and these descriptive words become like keys, unlocking doors that are closed. A style creates a certain ‘tribe’ or group you reflect and belong to.

Each of these ten vials (words) can be left as concentrates (pure forms) or mixed together to create a chemical reaction resulting in another element (sub-tribe). These tribes or sub-tribes can be classified as your customer groups, target market or community you belong to or wish to belong to.

HOW TO USE YOUR STYLE SPHERE: With these ten words (your style sphere) think about ways of how you can reflect on them in your everyday life.

Ideas – 1. Use some of your words to help write your career objective or a mission statement for your business.

2. Use some of these words to describe a project or assignment you may be working on.

3. Analyse each word. Check the thesaurus to get a larger scope of understanding its meaning.

4. Research more into your style. For example (taking two extreme styles), if you have used the word ‘glamour’ (or ‘aggressive’) in your style, and that does not fit in with your professional life, then how else can you use it as an appropriate avenue for yourself?

5. Do certain style words suggest further streams of revenue? Taking the above examples you may wish to develop a lingerie line based on your style of glamour; or create a choreographed or staged performance based on aggressive actions.

6. Deliberately select a word for the next ten days from your list and consciously think how it affects you and your behaviour with other people.

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YOUR STYLE PILLARS

DISCARD FOUR STYLES Now stack them in two columns of six, pay particular attention to the two foundation styles.

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Pillars are used to support a building, and they can also act as a trophy or memorial. Pillar as a metaphor is a symbol of stability, security and support. You are creating two support structures based on your style.

The use of paired pillars is representative of the witness of each pillar to one another. Paired pillars (actually or symbolically) guide your choices and decisions when relating to your personal branding. Your style words at this level will start to support each other, although they may be quite juxtaposed.

Your Pillar Style is the style words you feel most comfortable in, and where you are not too much out of your comfort zone. These styles support you in your working environment. They can undergird the decisions you make. When you arranged your style words you gave thought to the foundation of the pillars. This is the understructure or underpinning of your pillars. The style words at the foundation level are supportive to your tribe, customer group, target market or community you are aligning yourself with.

HOW TO USE YOUR STYLE PILLARS: 1. Apply the pillar styles to something such as an idea, a principle or fact that provides support for something. Particularly look at your foundation styles on each pillar. For instance if it was ‘eco-friendly’ followed by ‘smart’ and ‘sassy’, then your product/services’ underlying your USP (unique selling point) would be its eco-friendliness featuring in all other style areas. For example, the packaging of a washing detergent as biodegradable could feature smart and sassy dressed individuals.

2. Use the stability factor of your style to reflect constancy of character or purpose in your goals. This will help you stand and endure and not go off track; nor be unduly influenced by others and then taking on ‘their’ ideas that never really match your own. This can often result in you losing your vision (career, idea, assignment, project or whatever you are calling it).

3. To help guide you in the purpose of your vision, go through each of your six words and determine how they will fit in or relate to the project you are working on. [You may wish to only use your persona pyramid style for doing this.]

4. Use the security factor of your style to be free from perceived danger or threat; and/or for protecting yourself (that is your vision). It could be a certain niche market where your style pillar provides a secure base to operate from because of its business model; or your vision is so targeted and specialised that it allows little entry for other competitors or players.

5. Use the support factor of your style by understanding how it will help you sustain or withstand pressure, strain, demands, threats, and so forth for maintaining the ‘weight’ that may come upon you (your vision – career, project or lifestyle choice).

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YOUR STYLE PERSONA PYRAMID

DISCARD THREE STYLES And arrange your hierarchy in order of importance. This becomes your tripartite style statement.

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The pyramid has long been an emblem or symbol of enigmatic mystery.

This appeals to peoples’ intellect as well as emotion.

The strongest appeals are to the emotions rather than to the mind. Your Persona Pyramid style is a composite of appeals to the mind as well as the heart, focusing your vision, project, service or work on one area above the other depending on your specific tribe, community or target group.

HOW TO USE YOUR STYLE PYRAMID: 1. Slant your conversations/presentations according to your tripartite style statement (your style persona pyramid) – look at the tribes’ interest or desire. What are their needs? What are their wants? Want do they desire?

2. Personalise any marketing collateral with your style in mind, after all you are now the brand! Your marketing collateral can be anything from your CV, portfolio, online presence (e.g. LinkedIn profile, website, blog, Facebook Page, etc), to your covering letters and press kit. All need to be integrated into a unified look (image) – that of your personal brand.

3. Use your persona pyramid style in all your presentations, planning and delivery to ensure the integrity of your purpose.

4. By using your persona pyramid style you will ensure that your first visual impression to your prospective employer, market, clients, community or tribe is favourable.

5. Use your style to become an expert in those three areas. Be so well informed in your areas of expertise that ‘they’ will want to listen to you.

Be an authority in your field. Learn everything you can about your ‘tribe’, their psychographics – their likes, dislikes. Be the go to person to discuss trends and new developments in your field. Visualise your pyramid acting like a beacon within its spatial field, with your light being multi-directional.

6. Start cultivating contacts and relationships within your personal pyramid style. Be involved in a community forum, the best form of online social media for marketing and relationship building purposes.

FINALLY Your style can change when you move into different groups, it can also change when you develop in new areas, or when life choices cause major changes. Learn to accommodate the changes. You may find doing the exercise in one year’s time maybe quite different from doing it today, time does change people’s tastes and preferences.

Build a strong positive reputation of brand YOU – your persona pyramid style. Reputation will include your dependability, integrity, sincerity and consideration of others. These qualities are vital in all relationships whether professional or personal. Now you may disembark and go and enjoy the authentic you.

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YOUR STYLE STATEMENT Please enter your three words from your persona pyramid, as this is your style statement.

YOUR BEACON NOW BECKONS Our final metaphor is the lighthouse. Once you are appropriating what you have discovered on this journey about your style and you start to move into your vision, you need to be prepared not only for smooth sailing but also tumultuous times ahead. The lighthouse represents the shedding of your light (brand YOU) onto the waters to signal to others how to connect to you and also where danger may be. Ensure your team/community/ tribe do not go off course or worse get shipwrecked. After all brand YOU is about gathering together "your" tribe, and staying true to your vision.

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