Meet Christopher Santoro

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Christopher Santoro. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Christopher below.

Christopher, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?

I think I knew my purpose pretty early on in my high school years, and even at that point, I always knew I wanted to be in a creative field. I was always a creative kid growing up. I drew a lot, loved watching anime and other cartoons, and loved playing video games. I was also a pretty fun-loving but sensitive kid, and whatever I took on, I always honed in on it with a pretty focused mindset (I would go on to know this as ADHD in my adult years!).

When I was a freshman in high school, I initially wanted to go to art school for animation—specifically Art Center College in Pasadena—because it was the same art school that Mike Shinoda and Joe Hahn from Linkin Park went to, However, the more I got into playing in metal bands with my friends, I started getting more into album packaging design, and realized that I wanted to do this way more. Designers like Mike D’Antonio from Killswitch Engage and Jacob Bannon from Converge not only made me want to pursue this field called “graphic design” in my senior year, but also made me want to have my own practice. During my final year at design school at Massachusetts College of Art & Design, I took a Package Design elective with my professor, Adam Larson of Adam & Co, which changed my career aspirations from music graphics to branding.

Fast forward almost 20 years later, I’m proud to say that while my overall career has seen a few changes, my purpose hasn’t!

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I’m a multidisciplinary designer and brand strategist of 15 years. My studio, Santoro Design, works with early-stage tech and e-commerce startups to transform them into powerfully dynamic contenders in their competitive landscape through branding and website design services.

Most of the clients we work with are within their first few years of business, with products out in the market and looking to reach that next level in their growth. They may have specific goals in mind, whether it’s securing fundraising rounds, increasing sales, or being able to position themselves as more premium. When they engage with us, we work with them on all aspects of their brand to ensure that they are able to meet and engage with their customers in a genuinely powerful way.

I legitimately love all aspects of branding. As someone who’s always been a bit of a generalist, branding has been the specialty that’s allowed me to have my cake and eat it too. Whenever I’m working out a brand strategy, I know it’s going to make the visual identity strong. Whenever I’m working on visual identity, I know it’s going to make the website experience great. Whenever I’m working on a website UX, I know it’s going to be rooted in aspects of the brand strategy. Everything is tied together because it has to be, and to be able to craft this sort of “universal” presence alongside my clients, I wouldn’t trade it for anything else in the world.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

When I graduated from design school in 2012, the economy was just starting to experience an upswing, but there were still very few full-time roles. I was privileged to have been living at home at the time, but I still attacked my career hard with taking on whatever I could and up-skilling in my weak areas. I built my resume on staffing agency roles and private projects while I built the foundation of what would become my studio.

I worked my ass off during what felt like a steep, up-hill climb of trying to prove myself as a design professional. However, the world has changed a lot. Bluntly speaking, the past few years haven’t been friendly to the creative industry at all. For the objectively good things that have come from it, the rise and adoption of AI has been wrought with issues that have lead to a “devaluing” of the creative professional. I’ve had friends, fellow designers who can design circles around me, get laid off and stuck within a jobless void. My mentors, who were working during the housing crisis of ’08, have said they’ve never seen a time like this. It’s straight-up scary and disheartening to think one could spend their years honing such a valuable craft, only to then be shut out of opportunities because they were pitted against a soulless machine—under the guise of “efficiency.” This is particularly true for young designers out there, which is just critically unfair in my eyes.

In the face of all this, I feel that tenacity is the most important quality anyone can have. Confidence is important because it says, “I believe I’m good enough,” but tenacity says, “I’m never giving up because I believe I’m good enough.” It’s also important to be honest with yourself and know your limits. Lean into your specialities and only build up in areas that inspire you. Don’t expect yourself to learn skillsets you don’t care about, that will just waste your time and mental health. Last but not least, lean into your community and network: your mentors, your friends, your colleagues. Build each other up, and you’ll never feel alone in any struggle.

Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?

There are way too many people to list here, so I’ll leave it to the heavy-hitters (sorry if I missed anyone!):

My former professor, Joe Quackenbush, was not only pivotal in teaching me how to iterate and let my creativity loose, but he also led a freelance seminar that helped set the early foundation for my freelancing out of school.

When I was getting into my senior year of design school, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do career-wise. Adam Larson, my other former professor, led a Package Design class that not only opened my eyes to the branding process, but also gave me the definitive answer to what I wanted to do with my career.

Tony Leone of Tony Leone Design, has been there for me countless times as both a mentor, a colleague, and a great friend. Whether it’s been giving me feedback on client work via text after work hours, collaborating on projects with me, or just commiserating over client work, he’s been crucial in building me into the designer I am today. If you’re reading this, thanks Tony.

Last but not least, the following have played huge roles in their own ways: Stephanie Audette of Awen & Co, Elyse Bogacz of Mercurie, Chris Dalton of Worcester Interactive, Eric Trieu, Zarah Sikorah, Penny Price, Austin and Cassie Huck (HIVE,Studio forever!), the Bay State Design Shop Slack Channel, Samantha Brewster of PURE Branding, and Adam Graves.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.santorodesign.co
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/santorodesign1/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/santorodesign/

Image Credits

Headshot photography by Austin Huck/HIVE.Studio