Bold Type Design is a small group of independent design and digital marketing professionals, coordinated by Brad Squires – that's me.
I began my design career roughly 20 years ago, working as a freelancer while attending design school in San Francisco, and working for a non-profit. From there, I moved to the corporate world as a junior designer for Wells Fargo, eventually filling the role of Creative Director and overseeing the brand for the Mutual Funds group.
At wells Fargo, I was able to witness for the first time, what happens at a large brand – where do the directives come from? Who gets the ball rolling? What conversations are had, and who is it that makes everything take too long? Since forming Bold Type Design, I've had the privilege to take a look under the hood of some of America's most successful brands and learning how they work.
Hiring Designers is Tricky
Something that surprised me while I was Creative Directorizing at Wells Fargo is that hiring designers can be very tricky (I expected it to be easy). Design firms were often overpriced and moved too slowly; freelancers were quick and nimble, but they either had talent or organizational skills (rarely both), or designers just had too much ego or attititude. Where was the joy? Over the years, I learned what to look for, but still I thought it shouldn't be so hard to find good designers. If I, as a designer myself, was having this much difficulty, how must it be for the average business owner or marketing manager?
I Resolved to Make it Easy to Get Good Design
I left the cozy, protected confines of Wells Fargo to start Bold Type Design, a hybrid between freelancer and design firm. We are a group of independent creative professionals – designers, strategists, writers and programmers – who come together according to the requirements of each specific project, providing the best of all worlds. Because we're not a brick-and-mortar design firm, we don't carry unnecessary weight that your project doesn't call for. And because we're a team of many, we have greater breadth and depth of talent than a freelancer.
How We Work With You
After nearly a decade in business, we've learned that to get you the best results and keep everyone happy, we need to work hard to understand your expectations, and to thoroughly communicate to you our process and what you can expect from us. This helps get everyone aligned at the beginning, all striving for the same goal, all wanting the same success. That's why we ask so many questions, and that's why we give you such a detailed proposal explaining every last detail of the specific process for your project. And of course, everything is negotiable – you want to see more concepts? You got it. Want to fit it into a smaller budget? We can find ways to do that too. Need it by tomorrow? Er ... let's talk. Understand that our focus is not to be the lowest price you'll receive, or to win design awards, but to get you what you want, and to bring you real results.
You have an opportunity for great design.
Don’t waste it.
