How to Write a Bio for Your Creative Business
that actually SOUNDS LIKE YOU
If you're a designer, photographer, illustrator, or really any creative, there's a very good chance you could spend three hours perfecting spacing and not think twice, but sit down to write your own bio and suddenly you've reorganised your entire desk, made a second coffee, and convinced yourself you'll do it tomorrow.
Tomorrow has been going on for quite a while now, hasn't it.
Here's why it happens: visual creatives are wired to show, not tell. You communicate through imagery, composition, colour — not words. Writing about yourself in the third person while trying to sound confident but not arrogant, specific but not exclusionary, personable but still professional? That's not your medium. No wonder it feels awful.
The good news: there's a formula. And once you have it, writing your bio goes from existential dread to a genuinely manageable task.
the 3 types of bio YOU ACTUALLY NEED
Before you write a single word, it helps to know what you're writing for. Most creative businesses need three versions, and they are not interchangeable (we cannot stress this enough):
The short bio (50–80 words): For Instagram, speaker profiles, podcast intros, award submissions, and anywhere character counts are a real thing. This is your punchy, personality-forward snapshot — and it doubles as your elevator pitch. Because when someone at a networking event asks what you do, you want a version that's clear and natural enough to say out loud without trailing off into "...yeah, so, it's kind of hard to explain." Same content, spoken instead of read. Practise it in the shower until it stops feeling weird.
The long bio (150–200 words): For press pages, media kits, and formal introductions. Still engaging, but with more context — your background, your clients, your approach.
The narrative bio (your About page): The full story. Conversational, layered, and written to make the right person feel seen. This one gets its own section on your website and its own rules entirely.
Have all three ready to go before you need them, because there is nothing worse than scrambling to write a speaker bio at 10pm the night before a pitch.
how to write them WITHOUT SOUNDING DULL
Start with what you actually do for people — not what you are. "Brand identity designer" is a job title. It's accurate, and it's also completely forgettable. Instead, try leading with the outcome, the client, or the specific problem you solve — in language that actually sounds like a person wrote it. "Independent hospitality businesses come to me when they want to look as good as their food tastes" lands very differently to a job title, and even more differently to an "I help" statement, which — let's be honest — has been done to death on LinkedIn and no longer impresses anyone.
Get specific about who you work with. "I work with small businesses" helps no one. "I work with independent retailers, makers and creative studios" tells exactly the right person that they're in the right place.
Write in first person for your About page, third for everything else. First person feels warmer and more direct on your website. Third person is standard everywhere else — and yes, it will feel weird to write about yourself as "she" or "he," but that's normal. Push through it.
Read it out loud. If you wouldn't say it in conversation, don't put it in your bio. If you stumble over it, rewrite it. Your bio should sound like you — not like a press release about you.
phrases to delete YESTERDAY
| Instead of this... | Try this |
|---|---|
| Passionate about | What you actually believe / why you actually do it |
| Dedicated to | Cut it. Just say what you do. |
| Helping brands reach their potential | The specific thing you help them do |
| Creative solutions | The actual work you make |
| With X years experience | Lead with what that experience means for the client |
The goal is always specificity over polish. A sentence that's a little rough but genuinely true will always outperform something that sounds impressive but says nothing.
good bio vs GREAT BIO
Here's a fictional photographer named Clara.
Before:
Clara is a Sydney-based photographer with a passion for capturing authentic moments. With over six years of experience, she works with brands and individuals to create beautiful, timeless imagery that tells a story.
Fine. Forgettable. Could be literally anyone.
After:
Clara shoots for brands that are done looking generic. Based in Sydney, she specialises in campaign and product photography for independent fashion labels, beauty founders and creative studios — clean, considered imagery with a strong point of view and no stock-library vibes in sight. Six years in, her clients keep coming back because the work looks like them, not like everyone else in their industry.
Same person. Completely different impact. The second one has a perspective, a specific client, and a reason to trust her… all in three sentences.
That's what you're aiming for.
when DIY is enough and WHEN IT ISN'T
A DIY bio is absolutely enough when:
You're just starting out and testing your positioning
You need something functional while your brand is still evolving
You're confident in your voice and just need a framework (hello, this post)
But there comes a point, and most established creative founders know exactly when they've hit it, where DIY stops serving you. When the gap between how good your work actually is and how your words represent it becomes genuinely costly. When opportunities are landing and your bio is the weakest thing in the room.
That's when it's worth calling in someone who does this professionally. Not because you can't write — but because you're too close to your own story to see what makes it magnetic.
ready for more than A BANG-ON BIO?
If you've followed this guide and your bio is in better shape… genuinely, brilliant. But if you're reading this and thinking what I actually need is the whole story, properly told, that's what a Founder Feature is for.
It's the long-form, interview-led piece that becomes your bio, your About page, your pitch hooks, and your press-ready narrative all at once. One conversation. Everything flows from it.