I’m Tony B, a design pro.
Not like the guy behind the counter at your neighborhood quick printer. Or your sign guy or t-shirt guy.
More like the designer who did package design for Apple Computer and magazine ads for McGraw-Hill while in his junior year of college.
Or the designer who worked at Apple when our late boss said something that’s stuck with me through every design job I’ve completed:
“Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like…it’s not just what it looks like and feels like.
Design is how it works.”
—Steve Jobs
Or, the graphic designer who helped Philadelphia–the home of multiple branches of the U.S. military–build, brand, and grow their first-ever Veterans Day Parade and then their Division of Veterans Affairs.
A designer who’s built projects (and teams) to provide design and brand identity solutions both in-house and as an agency professional.
An Adobe Certified Visual Design Professional.
With over a decade of experience.
THAT guy.
What do my certifications even mean?
MCIW Designer, Master Certified Interactive Web Designer
This one means I was trained to design for the internet. Web pages, banners, interactivity, coding…like that. It means I was also trained in writing code. I don’t want to do that all day, but it’s possible.
Adobe Certified Professional in Visual Design
This comes with that badge up there by my photo. 4 of them, all together.
There’s the colorful red badge that says I’m a certified Professional in Visual Design for Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe InDesign.
And then separate badges for each of those industry-standard digital design tools.
“Mr. Buford is a talented graphic artist and capable art director that I have worked with over my past two terms as an elected official in the City of Philadelphia.”
Kenyatta Johnson,
President, Philadelphia City Council
“Anthony Buford is consummate professional within his field. His balance of business and interpersonal skills are what make him the ultimate colleague. He has great attention to detail and his follow through is impeccable. During his tenure with us he was required to work from home and his communication and deliverables never missed a beat.”
Karl Schneider,
President/CEO, Thomas-Matthew Associates
And, here’s what I actually do:
Brand Identity Design
That means what everybody else sees. Logos. Presentations. Company signs. Vehicle designs (called “fleet graphics”). Even “Old-school stationery” (yes, people will read your letters if you send them…in fact, they will set time aside for it!)
And, of course, the things nobody else thinks they see: color palette decisions, typography (lettering) choices, photo quality and retouching, and paper selections…things like that.
Basically, your brand identity is how people will remember and think of you...BASED ON what you share with them.
MarCom
Marketing Communications, often shortened as MarCom, is where a team is built to communicate your brand’s IDENTITY, and decides and designs the best way to get that information OUT.
Think of MarCom as two parts to a single thing in business, a whole that needs you to perform two distinct jobs.
I’ve worked in the Marketing section, where decisions are made on WHAT the product is and how to present it based on WHO the customer is and WHAT our brand’s visual standards look like–and I’ve been on the Communications side where we choose HOW to get our message to the right people, both internally and externally.
In my opinion, MarCom, this thing that sometimes seemed all jumbled together, is what makes this career fun.
And frustrating.
And a moving target when it comes to learning something new every day.