The new year is coming in hot and changing planners isn’t the only thing I’ve got on my mind.
If you’ve followed me for any length of time you may have noticed the changes in branding on my social media and website. This ranges from switching web hosting platforms from Wix to WordPress, to changing backgrounds, colors, and themes.
A lot of that has been picking something that I think is pretty and a lot of it has come from me trying to figure out what I want to do and how I want to present myself. The biggest drivers are the changing projects I’ve been working on and how much every industry is driven by individual social media presence.
I find that I am constantly reinventing myself by learning and trying new things. I am the kind of person who can become immersed in any subject so no matter how banal some may find it, I can find something fascinating in a topic and tie it to another idea that may seem entirely unrelated.
This is the basis of my branding and aesthetic for 2026.
In 2025, I read How Your Book Sells Itself, and had been working through some of the exercises in it. I had started the process of choosing a narrowed list of social media platforms to focus on and get comfortable with. In the process I realized that there were some things missing.
I started a few different trainings and made a lot of improvements in my process, but as they say, the more you know the more you realize how much you don’t know.
A few months ago, I stumbled across Saffana, @saffanabanana on Instagram. She shared three things that changed the way I look at the world. The first was the way that marketing is used to engage people, the second was how to read more deeply, and the third was some book recommendations.
I bought two of the books. Influence the Psychology of Persuasion and The Adweek Copywriting Handbook.
Then I started annotating my first book.
Enter my video on 300 things from 2020, where I first shared an experimental way of goal setting that I tried and have been using for the past five years. I have a blog about my 2026 list. This is something that always comes up around November and December when I start evaluating how the year has gone, what worked, what didn’t, and what I’d like to do moving forward. I realized that I’ve made so much progress and my life has changed so much in the last ten years, it was time to really shift my focus. To help me clarify my vision, I made a mind map. I used this to explore all aspects of my life and how I’d like them to align with each other, from the way I like to read, start my day, and the experiences I’d like to have. I’m looking at how I set up my life to make that easier.
Functional Aesthetic.
The intention is that every environment I’m in, supports me, my goals, and the ways I want to feel while I’m working. Dim warm light makes me want to fall asleep, slow quiet mornings with coffee or tea help me get it together for the day. I’ve realized that feeling like I have to clean the whole house stops me from filming a video or writing a chapter and that a spotlessly clean house allows me to relax and be creative. This idea takes all of that into account.
How can I make the designs I post more cohesive when I’m marketing completely different kinds of books? I settled on learning more about photography and color theory for a start. Reading deeply as suggested by Saffana and applying that to watching videos and taking courses.
I watched several videos on photography, videography, and design. I got more book recommendations, specifically, Graphic Design for Everyone. It’s foundational and easy to understand which is helpful because this is a new way of thinking for me.
It all comes down to one thing. If I have to reinvent my presentation for each project, it will be very confusing and hard to connect with those who want to support me and my work. If I’m always changing the look, people who are interested in the kinds of books and media I create may have a hard time finding me or understanding what I’m offering. If the presentation is based on me, it will be clear why I create the things I do.
So 2026 is all about showing up as myself, regardless of what I’m sharing.
Shout out to Veronica King for summing up what I’ve been feeling with the phrase, “functional aesthetic”.
Do you have a word or a phrase that sums up your intention for the year? Share it below.
You can find me on socials linked below.
Chandra Arthur 
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