Luke Wroblewski’s equation of brand with personality seems a questionable analogy. Personalities are full of complexities and contradictions, can change on a whim and be held in check. Brands, on the other hand, strive for simplicity and consistency. This is not to say branding is not ever useful, but with regard to human endeavors it seems a limiting concept at best. If you are interested in selling yourself to the internet audience, then branding is likely a worthwhile approach. A site through in which you might attempt to represent more than a few of your personality characteristics seemingly would contain a variety of looks and feels. The first approach seems akin to wearing the same clothes everyday, which is fine for some.
As I mentioned on Laura’s blog design is important, but it can’t be everything. More to the point the idea of design combined with branding becomes an easily abused model(for example companies like BP claiming environmental stewardship). Design, visual appeal, ease of use are all important, but I think if we are ultimately helping promote surface over depth and appeal over content, we are benefitting those who hope to use design to manipulate rather than serve.
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