In just over a year, Bud Intonato has transitioned from being a young college grad supporting himself with freelance graphic design work found on Craigslist, to starting Bud Creative group a small graphic design firm that thrives because of his unwavering dedication to his clients. Bud is an excellent designer and has an intuitive business sense, but what sets him apart is his interpersonal skills. Bud’s company is growing fast and will undoubtedly continue to achieve success. Although the company’s work will improve as they add new talent and gain experience, his most important asset will always be his genuine, down to earth personality. Bud’s clients trust him because they know that when they hire him, he will always deliver the best.
What is Bud Creative Group?
A small, New York City based creative studio. We specialize in branding, creative strategy and transmedia design.
How did you get here?
I grew up on Long Island and started doing graphic design in middle school. My friends and I made skateboarding videos and started designing t-shirts to sell at school. We decided to build a website to post the videos and then posted flyers all over school to advertise it. It was called Clay Sushi. I was the worst skateboarder ever but I was getting really into design and film, so after we did Clay Sushi, we did my parents website and my brother in law’s website. Looking back on it, they were pretty bad websites but we were just learning and at the time we thought we were incredible. We actually turned Clay Sushi into a design firm for a little while. Nothing really ever came of it and my friend and I eventually parted ways.
In high school, I continued to do all the graphic design for my parent’s company. I took art classes and tried to learn about graphic design but until about senior year, I wanted to be a filmmaker. Then, I decided I didn’t want to make movies. I wanted to work on a new project every week, not every two years. So, I decided I wanted to do advertising. NYU didn’t have advertising, so I went into Gallatin, the school for individualized study. My major was Creative Direction and New Media Design.
How did college prepare you for the real world?
It didn’t really teach me much about business and it didn’t really teach me much about design, which are the main things that I’m doing. It did teach me what I didn’t want to do. Throughout college, I did a bunch of internships. I interned at the smallest agency you could imagine and I also interned at Grey Healthcare Group, which is one of the biggest pharmaceutical advertising agencies. They were both good in different ways, but the set up didn’t really work for me. I don’t know if it’s because I’m better at being my own boss, or I have certain vision for how things should be done or I lack the skill of working for someone else but when I graduated, it was so hard to motivate myself to apply for those same jobs.
What was the transition like from working for someone else to being your own boss?
It was a very smooth transition that really wasn’t planned. I always liked being a leader on projects. The best part of my education was starting a magazine (http://grubmagazineonline.com/) because it taught me how to work with and direct other people on a big creative project. At NYU, I was able to create my own class around making the magazine. The magazine allowed me to build an actual portfolio and improve my graphic design skills. Eventually, people I knew started to need graphic design work and they would hire me.
When you’re looking for work as a graphic designer, there are two types of ads you’ll see: one type is to be an in-house art director at a company and the other type is for just one piece of work. I was responding to both, doing some interviews, but I started to pick up more of the free-lance type jobs. When I graduated, I decided to re-brand myself from being Bud Intonato looking for a job to being my own company. That way people would feel more comfortable hiring me because they would feel like they’re hiring an agency. The work was the same for me either way. The major change titular, switching from being Bud Intonato to being Bud Creative Group. Luckily, it worked.
What was your parent’s reaction to you starting your own business?
They definitely support me. They act like they knew this would happen. I guess they always had a feeling that I would do something like this. I’ve been able to support myself pretty well financially so I don’t get too much concern from them.
Where do you draw your inspiration?
I’m kind of like a constant sponge. I’m always on the look out for new things. More importantly, I encourage my clients to tell me what their inspiration is. One of the first things I do is have them send me examples of designs they’re into. There are so many styles and so many different ways to execute so if I have an idea of what they’re going for it gives me a better idea of where to start. It’s like anything, if you’re feeling happy it’s going to be easier to work or if I like the project, I’m more likely to feel inspired.
What type of projects do you like to work on?
It doesn’t really matter what type of company it is or anything like that. I like it when I work on the project from the very beginning. That way I can really ensure quality control and start the brand from the ground up. It’s like my baby. It’s also the best from a business standpoint because you become attached to the life of the company. It usually starts with a logo and keeps growing and growing. I also like it when the clients are good business people because they are like my temporary co-workers.
What advice can you give to young entrepreneurs?
I think my situation is a little unique. Starting most businesses you need thousands and thousands of dollars in capital. I run a virtually no overhead business. I don’t have to even rent an office. I don’t have the same risk as other people so I don’t think I can really advise other entrepreneurs. Some people risk their house to start a business. I think a lot of people jump into businesses without doing the proper research. The information is usually out there so you just need to ask yourself, is this going to be profitable? Some people get excited and jump in without really knowing if it’s going to work. I think it’s a good exercise to do the number crunching in the beginning. There are lots of less exciting aspects of owning a business.
How do you use the Internet to promote your business?
My business couldn’t have existed 5 years ago. It wouldn’t have worked for people. It’s not that you couldn’t work remotely and it’s not that people wouldn’t be able to find you, I just don’t think people were comfortable doing business over the internet 5 years ago. I don’t think people accepted the idea of finding someone they really didn’t know and trusting them enough to invest a big part of their business. Right now, I do sit down with a lot of my clients. I encourage them to meet with me as much as they can and talk on the phone as much as they can because it helps the job but you’d be surprised how many people are willing to do business just over email. They’ll email me, I’ll email them back and they’ll send me a check. We never meet throughout the whole process. Sometimes even clients that I’ve worked with multiple times will decide not to meet with me. I think people have a comfort level interacting virtually that they didn’t have before. Or maybe it’s a discomfort with meeting in person.
How do you stay up to date on new business and design trends?
When I wasn’t in business, I was Mr. Social Media. I tried to read everything and keep up to date on all of these new industries. I don’t really keep up as much anymore. I read Smashing Magazine, which is online and is mostly about the technical aspects of design. If I can find it, I’ll read Print Magazine, which has a more artistic focus. But if you walk down the street, you pick up a lot. I’m not a particularly trendy designer. Trendy is a dangerous place to be. I cater to a very broad client base. Not all of my clients want to be trendy, but some of them do. I do party fliers for promoters, so they want to be trendy so I might pay more attention to trends for them, but anyone can walk down the street in New York City and see the latest designs.
What is the future of Bud Creative Group?
We’ve been working really hard for a while. When we relaunch the website, I plan on getting a lot more business. Theoretically my company only exists if my website exists because we are a virtual company. It’s the only way people know me. I don’t have a storefront. What’s really cool about a virtual business is you can reinvent or upgrade yourself by simply updating your website. When we update the site, we hope to get more web clients, which was not originally part of the business. My developer is quitting his day job, so we’re going to be able to do more work. Then, the plan is to take on another free-lancer, probably either a designer or another web person but still not on salary. I don’t want any overhead. We will continue to grow organically for the next couple of months. When I say organic growth, it’s not just waiting around. Every time you do a project, like a website, you learn all this new stuff. The next job is easier, you are able to put the new website in your portfolio and your skills as a designer improve. Your company naturally gets better and your product improves each time you do something new.
What is your dream project?
I’m sure this is a regurgitated answer because I know most designers would love to do something iconic that everyone would see. It’d be amazing to design something like U.S. currency or a flag. A symbol that will last forever. These are brands. They’re so ingrained that you don’t even think of them that way. More realistically, it’d be awesome to do all of the New York City street signs. It’s hard to imagine modifying something so ingrained into our daily imagery, but it would be great to design something that is that ubiquitous and has its own meaning that transcends a marketing message.
Special thanks to Bud Intonato. For more information, please visit www.budcreativegroup.com or email Bud directly at bud@budcreativegroup.com.
