Creative Leader& Designer

Brand identity systems, visual language, brand guides and campaign key art for restaurants, consumer products and entertainment properties.

I believe the true value of a digital product is in its ability to feel inevitable—an experience so intuitive and fluid that it seems to have designed itself. Like a timeless song, it arrives complete, effortlessly concealing the work behind it.

I'm drawn to the challenge of distilling a mission, idea, objective, or promotional message into a visual expression that feels immediate, intentional, and memorable. The process is inherently collaborative: understanding the core of what needs to be communicated, exploring how far the idea can be pushed, and refining it until the final work feels both strategically sound and visually unique. It's especially rewarding to reach a solution that serves the client's goals while still meeting the highest creative standard.

Responsive websites, landing pages, and e-commerce experiences that balance strong visual storytelling with clear conversion paths. I focus on typography, pacing, and user flow so every page feels intentional and on-brand.

Out-of-home, publication advertorials and spreads, POP collateral, retail marketing, experiential, direct mail and full-scale publication layout — including the 2016 Costa Mesa Visitors Guide and several comprehensive company strategy guides.

Art direction across CRM, GTM campaigns, photoshoots, owned channels, POS, experiential activations and promotional materials. Design and front-end development oversight for high-visibility conversion and eCommerce landing pages, as well as SEO-driven digital properties. Creative direction, design and data visualization for executive board meetings, sales conferences and leadership presentations.

Role: Creative Director. I lead the creative team for the Fender Play digital subscription business — briefing, RFP, selection, oversight and on-boarding of creative production partners, photographers, agencies and freelance; art direction for GTM campaigns, photoshoots, performance media, social, owned channels, POS, experiential and printed promotional material across all physical product; design for and oversight of front-end development for hi-visibility conversion pages, eCommerce landing pages and SEO-driven properties; and direction, design and data visualization for board meeting and sales conference presentations. Still lifestyle photography credit Rennie Solis.

Role: Art Director. Fender Songs gives you instant access to chords and scrolling lyrics for any song on Apple Music. Practice your favorite songs on guitar, ukulele and piano with real-time, scrolling chord charts and voicing. Build Setlists to group songs and structure practice time, and use helpful tools like metronome, backing tracks, speed slow-down and capo mode.

Fatburger is a true original, a consumer brand that has stood the test of time and become a beloved fixture of California pop culture, with particularly deep roots in hip hop. My responsibility was to thoughtfully evolve the brand through intentional creative decisions, some subtle and others more overt, that captured that cultural cachet, remained authentic to its California roots, and moved the brand forward without losing what made it iconic in the first place.

The opportunity to shape and define how a nostalgic California centerpiece brand shows up digitally and how it feels in person was both enjoyable and rewarding. I carefully guided the team through nuanced stakeholder and committee perspectives, advocating for a creative direction that pushed the brand beyond the starkness we started with. The result was an identity with greater warmth and deep nostalgia, moments of humor, and, when needed, a sense of toughness and gilded polish.

Role: Creative Director. Full redesign of Johnny Rockets website. The goal with this was to blend classic diner nostalgia with a clean modern aesthetic that offers a seamless experience to the user. This look and feel was then applied to all digital experiences that followed, effectively establishing a new look for how the brand feels in digital interactions.

Directed the full creative vision and strategy for the FAT Brands Franchise Summit 2024 at the Wynn Las Vegas Convention Center, bringing together more than 2,000 franchise partners, operators, suppliers, sponsors, and corporate teams. Led end-to-end creative across both the 2022 and 2024 summits, transforming more than 200,000 square feet into a cohesive, immersive brand experience spanning theme development, environmental design, key art, content systems, and hundreds of physical and digital touchpoints. Oversaw creative execution across every scale, from guest credentials and wayfinding to large-format environmental graphics, stage content, and a custom 75-foot digital centerpiece. Directed a broad network of agency partners, fabricators, print vendors, AV teams, hospitality groups, talent representatives, and sponsors to ensure creative consistency across the entire experience. Also conceived, wrote, and produced a thematic 60-second animated hero film in partnership with award-winning studio Pixel Park, using motion and storytelling to establish the visual and emotional tone of the event.

MISSION STATEMENT: to create genuine, un-interfered and original music by exploring the freedom of, and constantly building upon the experience gained from home-recording. Gunmetal is not confined to a particular genre, but acts more as a label under which I can place original material that is separate from my more commercial stuff.