Californiaboast housing the top tier designers in the industry with the competitive edgeoffered from the hundreds of Silicon technology firms in the area. Smallbusiness still the heart and sole of areas in the Valley have been pushing their way above the larger tech companies press and authority.
Ifone looks at the Valley’s continuing rise of unicorns, one may assume that the requirement of design has become a standard."Make it look good and functional", is the moto of past. Today, whenone starts diving deep inside a particular design entrepreneur's success storythey can see a different creative attitude within product development, and filling a need that demands creativity, demands attention to detail and most importantly demands humanapproaches to design. It seems that some of the crop creepers are looking forsomething unique in brand and product simulation. "Design is not onlyimportant for defining your business but it can insanely assist in growing yourproduct or service, making you seem larger." - Bussolini.
Inthe depths of the Bay Area, the rising talent of Bradley Bussolini is anotherdisruptor in his digital design profession. A proxy of diversity in style and amaster of serving small businesses giving them a face lift they would kill for, Bradleycreates digital pieces that are transcendent from his design style to offereasy to use solutions complemented by beautiful interface, animations and screentransitions that set the tone of many other independent creatives. Whenspeaking to him he is conservative in his language, and optimistic in both thearea he lives and the industry he continues to uplift.
What does it mean to be a creative leader? BB:“To embody the person you want to be. It means empowering yourself and usingthat as a magnate to inspire. It means being fearless in how you approach yourwork and constantly learning”. And Bradley is fearless. As one gazes throughhis portfolio, one can see the vast amount of work he outputs and throughdifferent mediums of screen sizes. From dashboards to landing pages to mobileinterfaces, Bussolini takes on the approach for a stylized utility category,paying attention to the lines, shadows and spacing in his graphs. Thismethodology creates "tightness" to his work, a total sense of completion, whereeach piece offers a greater story, and not afraid of color to complement it.
Hestarted his early days by providing needed design requests from smallbusinesses requiring brochures and business cards. In his early college days inSouth Lake Tahoe, Bussolini took on a role in a print and press shop, which atthe time needed ongoing design support. “My First couple clients were the smallbusiness type – the psychologist, an owner of a trailer company. I continue tostick these types to this day.”
His Process
"In an ideal process the concept is validated and there is real market value. From there doing research into the specific areas is insightful, I find comparative and competitive research highly valuable. I usually have the client send me examples of what they are looking for, or in the cases where that is not easily available I begin with ideation work. I sketch less and less these days, but do find great value in using that as a foundation. I try to ideate in my mind prior to getting in front of the computer so the process flows a little easier. Once I have a direction it is pretty easy to build out the initial aspects, and I usually have a round of feedback for the work. I start in lower fidelity for the initial stage and depending on how complex the design is I may go right into high fidelity. Once the client approves I make sure the file is organized for final delivery, and depending on the scope may provide specifications or production assets."
Starting Bussolini Designs
Hestarted his agency Bussolini Designs in the same way providing small businesseswith design deliverables. This includes both design and development forwebsites and mobile applications ensuring that his clients gain theprofessional details they need to drive home their larger than life messagesthrough to end uses. “I am making more mobile applications these days, and withthat comes a particular professional layer needed on both the frontend designand the backend development”, Bradley continues in saying that finding a talentdeveloper, Anton allows the product to not only advance his own design agendabut also his clients. It seems that designing for Bradley means thatdevelopment is transparent throughout every stage, and its fluid not only withinwireframe, but thought out in everyelement. "I design for development and for client objectives. It’s a mixof both". Using Invison and other prototyping software’s, the team of thetwo can intertwine the look and feel of their concept through every animation,transition and screen. This process seems to be Bradley’s special sauce thathis small business clients great prosper from and want more of.
Itis in this technique that makes Bussolini Design an agency that continues tooperates through referral, and is seen to be a backbone to many small businessin the Valley area. To him he acknowledges this exciting time in Silicon Valleyand he expresses the responsibility he has to continue to uplift the mainfoundation of this ecosystem. Small businesses, to him today resemble theongoing advancements of technology at its truest and most exciting form, andworking together with the right people can only create a situation of success.“Be comfortable with your path in design and life. Wake up every day and havesomething that drives you to succeed. Understand that the barriers that mightcome up will only hinder you and keep a focus on your practice and developingyour skills. At the end of the day the real value I see with design is how youapproach and share your work with the world. Ask questions and never loosecuriosity. Have fun, be kind to yourself and others, and do amazing work” –Bradley.
