Comics, caricatures, logos and… websites: Andrea’s thousand souls, aka BuonG
Published by Incomedia in Success stories · Thursday 16 Jun 2022
Give me a pencil and, in the best case scenario, I will just make a doodle; give the same pencil to Andrea Buongiorno, and he will create a little masterpiece: cartoons, caricatures, logos…it all depends on your needs and his inspiration of the moment.
Today, Andrea put to good use his talent and has become an illustrator, a comic artist and a graphic designer. His first business card is his website www.buong.it, which he of course created with WebSite X5.
Are you ready to come into an artist’s fanciful and colorful world? Andrea is here to lead us in this journey.
Hi Andrea, I know you’d rather draw a caricature to introduce yourself, but can you tell us something about you?
«Hi everyone, I’m Andrea Buongiorno and I have been signing my works with the pseudonym “BuonG” since 1993. I was born and I still live and work in Monopoli, one of the most beautiful places in Puglia, Italy.
I work in the communication, I creating comics, illustrations and graphic design products in collaboration with agencies, publishers as well as clothing and gadget companies.
Furthermore, I'm specialized in sports design, caricaturing and mascots - I created more than a hundred - as well as in the graphic design of paper products.»
At one point, the PC entered your life, besides the pencil. What can you tell us about that?
«In 2003, after some local collaborations as cartoonist and illustrator, I decided to purchase my first PC, so to associate freehand drawing and digital tools. I was planning to move online so to reach a wider audience or potential customers.
My need for a website arose practically immediately: unfortunately, as far as computer graphics goes, I was self-taught, so you can imagine how difficult it was for me at first. I wanted to use my website as business card for my contacts with agencies, magazines and publishers all over Italy, I had thousands of ideas, but no technical skills to put them into practice.»
So you didn’t use WebSite X5 right away, did you?
«Unfortunately I didn’t. WebSite X5 is a recent discovery for me: I already had a website, but it was pretty outdated, and I was looking for a tool which I could use to redesign the entire project. The positive feedback I found online and the affordable price are the elements that led me to try out WebSite X5, and I’ve never regretted it.
I immediately liked how easy it is to create a complete and modern website. Moreover, WebSite X5 offers a very useful guide and a community where you can solve any doubt related to website creation.
On top of that, with social plug-ins, I can communicate with my customers on my website, using Facebook and Instagram: it only takes a few clicks.
I remember that when I published my first WebSite X5 website, my friends and colleagues asked me if I had attended web design classes, because after my website had been static for years, I finally had a dynamic web page! It was great satisfaction for me.»
What advantages did you get by introducing yourself with a website?
«As I imagined and hoped, the web widened my field of action by reducing the geographic distances. Many potential customers and partners all over Italy and abroad got to know me: many fans of the genre discovered and appreciated my work, especially as an illustrator.
I definitely have to thank the great communication potential the Internet has if, throughout the years, I have been able to enjoy many creative collaborations with Italian and international partners in a remote working form.»
According to your experience, what’s the difference between drawing a comic and creating a website?
«In my opinion, because in both cases we have a form of communication which combines textual and graphic elements, there aren’t as many differences as it may seem at first glance. Comics and web have their own peculiarities, of course, but after all, the author always needs to ask himself the same questions: “What do I want to tell?”, “What can I do for the readers/visitors to get involved?”, “What inputs do I want to convey with the user experience?”. Answering to these questions means building a solid foundation both for a comic story and for a website.
Every comic, just like every website, needs some eye-catching elements which can immediately describe and explain the soul and the philosophy behind the subject or the project. Here we go, these are the keywords: soul and philosophy. They are two essential elements for any communication project, no matter what kind it is.»
Going back to WebSite X5, and coming to the end of today’s chat, would you recommend it to someone who wants to create their own website?
«Yes, of course. Actually, I’ve already recommended WebSite X5, especially to those who want to build a website and don’t have any particular skill in the field. I mentioned the ease of use and user-friendliness, the wide variety of customization options that allow anyone to create a nice, dynamic and functional website to introduce themselves, their business or hobbies.»
One last routine question: any projects for the future?
«I surely have many projects and ideas. As far as my website is concerned, I am going to work on the online shop. The current one is managed through an external e-commerce platform: I didn’t know WebSite X5 back then.
WebSite X5 has all the necessary tools to create a complete and functional online shop, I will therefore use it to create mine. By managing everything with a single tool - I mean the presentation part as well as the sales - I am pretty sure that I will be able to get a better result and improve the website browsability, as well as the users’ experience. You know, there’s always room for improvement!»