Origin Stories

Growing up, I often felt polarized; torn between my passion for art and my love for writing. When I was a sophomore in college, that tension finally dissolved as I sat in the opening lecture of a "Computer Arts" elective course and was first introduced to the concept of graphic design. As my soon-to-be-favorite professor described my future trade, my ears and eyes opened and a weight lifted from my chest. I had finally found my calling.

As he so artfully put it, graphic design is the intentional arrangement of images, words, and symbols to convey a given message. And as his lecture imparted, few forms of communication have shaped human civilization so profoundly. From ancient hieroglyphs to vintage propaganda posters to the advertisements, marketing campaigns, and brand insignias that surround us today, these layered messages work to satiate a desire that's uniquely human — the desire to be understood.

Being a designer lets me satisfy my endless curiosity about the human condition: to remain a perpetual student while becoming a temporary expert in an extraordinary range of subjects. Every project is a chance to immerse myself in an unfamiliar world, understand more about the people each deliverable is intended to reach, and translate complex ideas into clear and compelling communications.

While my undergraduate and graduate studies in design thinking would plant the seeds of a successful creative career, I couldn't have predicted how far and wide those early aspirations would come to grow.

Career Highlights

Since then, I've seen my name roll with the credits of six of Pixar's feature films. Of the thousands of graphics I produced during my five years with the animation powerhouse, many have made their way onto merchandise, apparel, billboards, Disneyland rides, art books, and international gallery walls. I also transitioned from mentee to intern mentor during my time there, and led several introduction-to-graphic-design workshops through Pixar University, the studio's in-house education program. In my final year, my peers elected me a peer liaison for the art department — one of a studio-wide group tasked with collecting feedback from various teams and reporting findings directly to studio leads and executives.

Next, during my time as a lead designer at an award-winning branding and packaging agency, I served Fortune 500 companies including Coca-Cola, Visa, Johnson’s Baby, Amazon, Samsung, and Leo Burnett. I soon became well versed in the agency's signature strengths — employing a ruthless and refined sense of minimalism to distill each brand, packaging panel, and deliverable into its most essential and equitable parts.

In 2015, I returned to both of my alma maters as keynote speaker and received the Distinguished Alumni of the Year award from each. I was likewise honored to be invited to UC Berkeley as a visiting lecturer and a design competition judge, made two trips to Shanghai to lecture at the China Academy of Art, and accepted an invitation from IDEO as a visiting speaker.

The Work I Do Today

After serving globally recognized filmmakers and behemoth brands who speak to some of the world's most expansive audiences, I now bring that same level of expertise and quality to ventures of every size, from early-stage founders to established companies. I bring a multifaceted and ever-expanding toolkit — from brand identity and strategy, packaging, copywriting and storytelling, to motion graphics, product design, and UI — to the clients I collaborate with.

More recently, I've woven a range of AI applications, assistants, and image generators into my process, though they certainly don't run the show. What a well-seasoned design mind can orchestrate is still well beyond what these tools produce on their own — but they've become a useful way to speed up the iterative process, research and sense check ideas quickly, and bring a bit of collaborative energy back into work I otherwise do solo as an independent contractor.

Bringing all the tools and skills I have at my disposal to the table, I still enjoy the problem-solving challenges that each new project brings, and pride myself on my capacity to deliver the kind of design equity, confidence, and quality typically reserved for the world's most recognizable brands. I'd love to bring this same caliber of meticulous creative support to the team, project, or idea you're greenlighting next.