Moving forward on my journey to become a self published author, I decided to use my graphic design skills to design some basic branding for my blog and upcoming YouTube channel. At first I just wanted a simple monogram or a script-font-signature-style logo, but nothing was impressing me much so I decided to use a mascot or symbol of some kind.

Using my spirit animal would make sense but I didn’t really know what that animal was. I’ve always used a wolf whenever there’s been a need to use an animal to represent me; like in video games where you have to name your football club or racing team. Wolves are cool, of course, but I also identified with the lone wolf metaphor.

Except that, that metaphor is not based on reality. A lone wolf is often incredibly vulnerable and might struggle to survive. Wolves are incredibly social creatures and their society is very similar to human society and that’s why perhaps we were able to team up with them before any other animal. Their strength comes from the pack, the society. And I’m definitely not like that.

So, I took a very scientific online quiz to find out what my actual spirit animal was and it turned out to be the owl. Now, I like owls. Owls are like the wolves of the sky; cool, restrained, loners. But owls are related to wisdom and I’m trying desperately to overcome my tendency to come across as a know-it-all and so owls were out.

Then, almost by accident, I came across an image of a beautiful moth. And I remembered that I used to find giant beautiful moths in our school every morning when I was in middle school and I used to pick them up off the floor and place them on windowsills so that they don’t get crushed under the feet of rowdy children running in the corridors. I found them fascinating even as a child and I still think their life cycle is amazingly interesting. Which ties in with the book I’m writing because that story is inspired from the life cycle of the periodical cicadas. More about that soon!

When you think of a moth, you might think of the small grey moth that lays eggs in your sweaters and the larvae then ruin them. But moths can be incredibly beautiful. In fact, I’ve always been ready to fight anyone to defend my claim that moths are more beautiful than butterflies. If you don’t believe me just watch this slow motion video of these adorable little insects:

They are not just fluffy, but they are also incredibly friendly and will let you pick them up easily. They won’t tease you and fly away like butterflies who’re just jerks!

Moths also represent death and rebirth because they spend most of their life as a caterpillar. Towards the end of their life they die, metaphorically of course, and entomb themselves in a chrysalis and then are reborn as beautiful flying angels with wings. I think that metaphor fits my life well, as long as I can find a way to burst out of my cocoon soon.

And so I chose a moth to be my authorial brand’s symbol. I added some symbols to represent solar bodies and the five elements of paganism. And being a fantasy author, I chose a font and colors to represent some mystical and mythical feelings. Here is the YouTube banner I made for my channel:

I think I like it. Especially because completely unintentionally, I’ve also created something that kind of feels middle-eastern or oriental. And as an Indian author trying to write for the international market, that works for me.

Now that I’ve procrastinated as productively as possible, maybe I should get some actual writing done.