Social media revamps and online branding
The Monday Newsletter
It’s official! On Friday, I relaunched all of my social medias as my official writer page, as well as my blog. Going all-in as a writer means going all-in with my presence online, and that meant I had to kill my darling. My Instagram handle @froggies_are_beautiful. I’ve had her since I was in 5th grade, when I first downloaded the app. She’s carried me through so many good years, but she was an old dog that needed to be put down, and has been replaced with the sensible @naomililacgordon.
My friend and long-time collaborator Natalie Uhl revamped the graphics for my newsletter. She has always been and continues to be one of the greatest graphic designers I’ve ever had the privilege of working with. I am continually in awe of her talent and her point of view, and beyond that she’s a lovely human being. I first worked with her on the graphic for one of my best articles that I wrote during college, “Men Hate Women: Let’s Talk About It.” It’s probably my favorite project I worked on during my time at Ink Magazine, and I largely credit that to her blessing the project with her talent.
Once again, she has blown me away. When I first saw the graphics that she’d created, I was so moved that tears welled up in my eyes. She gave me a visual language for what I wanted my blog and my presence as a writer to carry, and for that I will forever be grateful. There’s no ceiling to the high praise she deserves for her work. She’s brilliant. You can follow her on instagram @poisneyev and peep at her portfolio here.
I took a multi-pronged approach to my social media game. It wasn’t just my Instagram and Substack, but my TikTok, Twitter (I refuse to call it X, and even though Elon Musk is destroying the world, I refuse to leave my gays), and BlueSky (Of course I had to download cool leftist twitter). I wanted a clean multi-platform approach to my online presence, one that readers can find and instantly recognize as me on whatever their platform of choice might be.
I tried to hit the major players, and I’m sure I missed some, but I’m honestly not too interested in the upkeep of any more digital gardens. Going on the internet is already a bit of a chore for me, and it’s far too easy for me to get caught up in a soul-sucking doom-scroll, so I’m trying to reduce my social media use as much as possible. It’s a sacrifice, but a necessary one if I intend to be a working writer. And I do.
Anyways, here’s the slideshow I made! I’m pretty proud of it:
Latest Read: Saga [cont.]
Alongside my venture into youth dystopian fiction, I have continued to read “Saga,” which burrowed its way right into my heart, and now plucks at its strings, playing me like a violin. It’s dark, funny, and violent, but for all its pessimistic circumstances (it’s about a galaxy trapped in an endless war), its emotional core is one of hope. Marko and Alana come from warring planets, brainwashed for centuries to hate each other. But they love each other, and would do anything to protect their daughter. In the face of a seemingly endless horde of people who want to tear their family apart, they stick together. And, with the help of family, friends, and kind strangers, they stay alive. Their family is a symbol of the pointlessness of this war. Throughout the series, battle after battle, we see firsthand how violence begets more violence, how ultimately, the only way forward is together. This is not a naive belief. This is a story where characters die left and right, where seemingly the entire universe is filled with selfish, cruel people. This is about seeing the bad, and choosing good. About looking at all the hurt, and realizing that the only way that we, as the human race, can possibly move forward, is through the redemptive power of love.
Latest Watch: The Avengers (2012)
In the final film of “The MCU: Phase One,” the special boys finally get together in one room and immediately make it a dick measuring contest. Their fragile little diva egos rub against each other in a tension that would be almost sexy if Tony Stark wasn’t so blisteringly straight, and Loki and Thor weren’t, y’know, brothers. I totally get where the slashfic writers were coming from when they made the MCU their bitch during the fandom wars. These boys just needed to kiss! I have been interested in what the different MCU girlfriends represent, though. These films really tap into the male fantasy, and the girls can tell us a lot about that. Peggy Carter is the romanticized “one who got away.” Every guy has one and thousands of girls have made TikToks crying about not being her. Pepper Potts is the “emotionally abused crashout girlfriend.” We all have that one friend who keeps making excuses for her terrible boyfriend, right? Men love that shit. If he ever starts to say that you deserve better, take that as your sign to run for the hills. He’s gonna keep torturing you until you leave. And Jane Foster? She’s the girl next door! Doting, devoted, naturally pretty and definitely not wearing makeup. She’s cool girl! I like Natalie Portman in this movie. In any movie, really. She’s truly the pre-modern Zendaya.
Latest Listen: Kimya Dawson
Most of you might recognize her for doing the soundtrack to “Juno” — the Elliot Page flick about being 16 and pregnant with Michael Cera’s baby — but I discovered Dawson back in high school, thanks to her 2006 album, “Remember That I Love You.” I loved her quirky sound, her open contempt for the Bush administration’s pointless war, and her bunny-eared hat. Then I went to college and forgot all about miss moldy peaches, until recently. In a world where every artist is competing for engagement and TikTok sounds, where music feels textureless and overly produced, I found myself longing for something real. And Dawson is real. There’s something comforting about her non-sequiturs. Her rough, scratchy sound. What she lacks in polish, she more than makes up for in heart. In the world of Kimya Dawson, everyone is imperfect, and figuring things out, and a little rough around the edges, and that’s okay. It’s human. I’ve found myself turning to her music when I’m down. She takes me back to being a kid. To my parents singing me lullabies with their strained voices at night. To going to yard sales and picking up vintage Pokémon cards. To my Dad burning movies from the Library onto DVDs for us to keep. To childhood indie music concerts at street festivals. To a time where the greatest thing in the world was to hold on tight to the people that love you. She reminds me that it still is.
Sorry I missed out on the weekly newsletter last week; it won’t happen again. But woo! I’m so grateful that I finally got my rebrand done. What do y’all think of the new visuals? Do we love it or no?
As always, leave a comment and I’ll do my best to respond!
Love, Naomi ♥♥♥
Love the rebrand. I agree its important when deciding to all in as a writer