The Architect as an Icon: A PR Guide to Building A Personal Brand
There’s no doubt that the architecture sector is a crowded one, and it can be difficult to cut through the noise and secure media coverage. Beautiful project imagery is a must, of course, but increasingly, it’s effective executive positioning that sits at the forefront of every good PR strategy for architecture practices.
We are living through a broader shift: from product-led to personality-led branding. In design and architecture, where creativity is both business and identity, this shift is especially potent. Clients, investors, collaborators, and even the media no longer assess portfolios alone. They want to know the person behind the practice. Founder branding is essential to offer additional pitching angles, varied content opportunities, and a personal touch to architecture PR.
Successful founder branding not only humanises design businesses but can differentiate you from key competitors. If you're not building visibility around the founder, you're missing one of the most influential growth drivers available today. Executive positioning strengthens trust, signals leadership, and anchors your firm’s identity in an increasingly personality-driven design landscape.
We recently explored how to build an effective thought leadership strategy. In this article, we go a step further to review the key elements of building a personal brand, why it matters to spotlight executives in this day and age, strategic advantages, and what PR opportunities there are for founders in this space.
Why Founder Branding Matters Today
In a time where business values mean almost as much to potential clients and media contacts as design experience and visual stimuli, the public persona of your founder is important to act as the face of your business and its ethos. Clients and collaborators are drawn to people before portfolios. That’s not to say your work doesn't matter; it’s just no longer the only thing that matters. A strong founder presence provides a deeper context for your projects and business as a whole. It helps people feel your vision, not just see it.
According to an Edelman study from 2024, 71% of consumers are more likely to buy from a company if its CEO is active on social media, while LinkedIn published an article proposing that 64% of buyers say that thought leadership content is more trustworthy for assessing competency than marketing materials and product sheets.
Clients connect with who you are as well as what you’ve built; they can resonate with personal histories and anecdotes of both success and failure. Sharing this journey through strategic PR can alter public perception of the business, creating a sense of relatability.
In this new environment, design leaders are also cultural storytellers. Whether it’s articulating the values that shape your work, commenting on how architecture intersects with society, or dissecting the latest industry innovations or trends, founders with a point of view attract better press, stronger partnerships, and more engaged clients.
Crucially, visibility builds reputational capital. Your name becomes a shorthand for quality, thoughtfulness, and creative leadership. It opens doors that would otherwise stay closed. Founder branding isn’t about ego. It’s about clarity. It’s a deliberate tool for business development, audience growth, and long-term influence.
Executive Positioning as a Strategic Advantage
Founder visibility works best when it's focused, consistent, and intentional. That’s where executive positioning comes in. It's the strategy behind the presence, the architecture behind the icon.
Start with your niche. What does your firm stand for that others don’t? What ideas or values do you represent that could shape a wider conversation? It might be your approach to sustainability, your rethinking of housing, or your blending of digital and spatial design. Whatever it is, own it.
Then, develop a clear point of view. Use platforms such as social media, trade press, and speaking engagements to consistently share your insights and philosophies. Don’t wait for others to ask. Make space for your expertise.
Ensure alignment across your channels. Your speaking topics, interviews, website bios, and social posts should all be telling the same story: who you are, what you believe, and what your leadership represents.
Develop a small set of key talking points and repeat them often, cementing what you stand for personally and as a business. This helps build a recognisable founder profile. It also gives journalists, clients, and peers the language to describe your work and ethos accurately.
Strong executive positioning doesn’t just make you visible; it ensures you’re seen as a leader, not just another participant in the design conversation.
Building a Personal Brand That Sticks
A personal brand that resonates is built, not improvised. It starts with a clear origin story: how you came into the industry, what shaped your worldview, and why your studio exists. Weave that story into every public appearance, from media interviews to panel discussions.
Consistency is essential. Your values and mission should be evident in everything from how you present your portfolio to how you caption a photo. People are drawn to coherence; they want to feel that what you say aligns with what you do.
Choose the right platforms for visibility. LinkedIn might serve you well for professional insight, and Instagram could offer a more visual and informal look into your process and projects. Don’t spread yourself thin. Focus on where your audience is most active and engaged.
A mix of content works best: showcase projects and accolades, but balance that with behind-the-scenes glimpses, reflections on leadership, or lessons learned. People connect with authenticity.
Finally, get the basics right. Invest in a professional headshot. Craft a media-ready bio that communicates not just what you do, but why it matters. Build a set of talking points and key messages you can return to.
Case study example:
We recently collaborated with East London-based architecture practice Russian For Fish on a combined PR and Digital campaign, boosting awareness not only of the practice and its previous case studies, but also of founder and creative director Pereen d’Avoine.
Pereen has developed a distinctive voice and public identity over the past 10+ years, fully aligned with her studio’s ethos of inventive minimalism, sustainable detail, and human-centred design. We capitalised on this to pitch her for expert commentary and strategic thought leadership positioning. This approach took her beyond being a featured architect to being a recognised commentator on everything from design trends to more practical architectural and building queries.
Origin story & credibility
Pereen comes from a multi-generational architecture background and trained at UCL’s Bartlett before founding Russian For Fish.
Media narrative
We secured placements that emphasised her personal approach, highlighting compact-space challenges, colour-led interiors, and reuse of materials, not just the final aesthetic.
Thought leadership
Her commentary has been featured in respected outlets such as Building Design and Livingetc, shaping her as a credible industry expert rather than just a studio founder.
How it supports personal-brand best practice:
Consistent narrative: Pereen’s public voice is coherent across platforms, including in publications relevant to the studio’s target audience, and on social media, always grounded in her values: sustainability, craft, and narrative-driven design.
Professional polish: High‑quality headshots, a media-ready bio, and refined talking points helped position her not only as an architect producing beautiful homes, but also as a thinker with a disciplined, value-led approach.
Balanced visibility: Project showcases are interspersed with behind‑the‑scenes insights and broader commentary on urban reimagination, giving audiences both substance and personality.
Mistakes to Avoid in Founder Branding
As more founders step into visibility, the temptation to copy others grows. Don’t fall for it. Mimicking another architect’s tone or style dilutes your distinctiveness. Your voice, your ideas, your path - that’s all important to the brand. Inconsistency is another common trap. Saying one thing in an interview, something else on your website, and remaining silent on social media in between confuses your audience. It also weakens trust. Align your messaging across platforms and keep it active, even between launches.
Be cautious about relying solely on aesthetics. Awards, press features, and slick imagery are valuable, but without a coherent narrative behind them, they don’t build equity. Always connect your work back to a bigger idea or principle.
Lastly, don’t underestimate scale. As your studio grows, so should your personal brand. Revisit your positioning every six months. Are you speaking to a larger audience now? Are your goals shifting? Prepare for evolution.
Media and Messaging Tips for Startup Founders
The early stages of building visibility can feel daunting, but they’re also where the biggest opportunities lie. Start with clarity: develop a concise pitch that answers three things - who you are, what you believe, and what you’re building. When engaging with the media, avoid the temptation to simply announce. Use each opportunity to interpret and share your unique perspective.
Why did you make a certain design decision?
How does your latest project reflect your values?
Why is this important at this particular time?
Journalist outreach isn’t just a channel, it’s a conversation.
Don’t wait for a major project to pitch a story. The process itself can be compelling. Document your early concepts, failed sketches, and lessons learned. Journalists and clients alike appreciate the transparency. Think beyond the traditional press release. Podcasts, op-eds, webinars, and roundtables are all platforms where you can speak in your own voice, at your own pace.
And finally, work with a PR partner who understands executive positioning in context. Architecture PR is not the same as generic business PR. You need a PR partner who gets your industry and knows how to elevate founders within it, not just studios.
Becoming the Architect of Your Own Image
The founder is no longer a background figure. In today’s design economy, they’re front and centre as the face, the voice, and the anchor of the brand. Every talk you give, article you write, or social post you share contributes to your studio’s identity. It’s a cumulative process, and consistency beats virality every time. You don’t need to be everywhere, but you do need to show up with purpose.
At Sandford, we help design founders step into visibility with clarity, confidence, and a strong sense of self. - because the studios that make the biggest impact are almost always led by people who are memorable, articulate, and present.
