Alumni
Stephen Serrato
Graphic Design & Educator
Stephen Serrato lives and works in Los Angeles, California. He began his independent graphic design practice after receiving a BFA from the Art Center College of Design, Pasadena in 2005. Stephen received his MFA from the Werkplaats Typografie, Arnhem, Netherlands in 2010. His work has been exhibited internationally and most recently included in the “Work from California” exhibition at the 25th International Biennial of Graphic Design, Brno, Czech Republic. He works across various media but specializes in design for art and cultural institutions and independent record labels. Clients include: 18th Street Arts Center, Amsterdam School of the Arts, Bing, de Appel Arts Center, Ford Calumet Environmental Center, International Architecture Biennial Rotterdam (IABR), Kunstverein Publishers, LA Forum for Architecture and Urban Design, Naked Faces Films, Netherlands Architecture Institute and Publishers (NAI), Ninjatune, Ray Johnson Estate, St. Martins Press, Stedelijk Museum, Stonesthrow Records, The Underground Museum, Warp Records, and What Matters Most Films among others.
Rebeca Mendez
Rebeca Méndez was born in México City in 1962. She received her BFA (1984) and MFA (1996) from Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, California.
Méndez’s art practice is in various media—photography, 16mm film, video, and installation—with which she explores the nature of perception and media representation, specifically how cultures express themselves through the style of nature that they produce at a given time and the medium through which they construct this nature. She moves through different scales with ease—from photographic prints, to immersive sound and video installations, to murals of more than 25,000 square feet, to installations involving sixty-foot boulders and tons of lava rock. She considers the journey as a medium in itself and has produced a significant body of work based on travels to unfamiliar and extreme places such as Iceland, Patagonia, Svalbard archipelago in the high arctic, and the Sahara, where she is awakened to a heightened level of perception.
Méndez’s work has been exhibited extensively throughout the United States and Latin America. Selected solo exhibitions include: Rebeca Méndez: At Any Given Moment at the Nevada Art Museum, Reno, Nevada (2012); Each Day at Noon: Rebeca Méndez, Café Hammer, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2012); Rebeca Méndez, Museum of Contemporary Art, Oaxaca, Mexico (2011); Rebeca Méndez: Selections from the Permanent Collection of Architecture and Design at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (1998).
Méndez was the 2012 recipient of the National Design Award bestowed by The White House and the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. Méndez was awarded the 2010 California Community Foundation Mid Career Fellowship for Visual Artist. She taught at Art Center College of Design and is currently a professor at the University of California in Los Angeles. She lives and works in Los Angeles.
Kit Hinrichs
Founder and Creative Director at Studio Hinrichs
Kit Hinrichs founded Studio Hinrichs in October 2009, following 23 years as a partner of the international design firm, Pentagram. Prior to that, he was a partner in the design consultancy Jonson, Pedersen, Hinrichs & Shakery. Over the past few decades, Kit has been an influential force in graphic design. Included among the hundreds of projects that he has design directed are the California Academy of Sciences graphic identity program, Sony Metreon Entertainment Complex identity and interior graphics, United Airlines’ Hemispheres magazine, Design Within Reach identity and catalog, and countless annual report, corporate identity, packaging, exhibition, editorial, and promotional campaign programs. He is also the co-founder and design director of @Issue: Journal of Business and Design, which is now an online magablog — atissuejournal.com.
Kit has taught at the School of Visual Arts in New York, the California College of the Arts, and the Academy of Art in San Francisco. His work has been honored and widely published internationally, and several of his pieces are part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art and the Smithsonian Institution’s Cooper-Hewitt Museum of Design. Kit is also the co-author of several books and a much sought-after guest speaker on design. An avid collector of Stars & Stripes memorabilia, his collection of over 3,000 objects has been exhibited across the country and in Japan, and presented in the book Long May She Wave (published by Ten Speed Press, 2001).
Kit is a recipient of the prestigious AIGA medal in recognition of his exceptional achievements in the field of graphic design and visual communication. He is a past executive board member of the American Institute of Graphic Arts, a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale, and has been an Art Center College of Design trustee since 1996.
Kidon Bae
Kidon Bae is a multi-disciplinary designer from Los Angeles, California. Upon his graduation with a BFA in Graphic Design from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena in 2010, he worked with design agencies and production companies such as the Groop, Five33, and Tool of North America where he gained experience in visual research, branding, and principles of continuity in imagery and design. Eager to explore more aspects of communicative design outside of the United States, he moved to Seoul, Republic of Korea in 2012. He has since worked with clients from all facets of urban culture (singers, musicians, dancers, riders, etc.)
As a dancer in his personal life, his work focuses on developing creative and original design solutions through experimentation and his understanding of choreography in visual communication overall. He recently starred in the BBC World News: The Travel Show as a b-boy and artist.
Kidon is currently a designer and art director of Pi Creative 314 (picreative314.com).
Amelia Stiers
Creative Director & Founder, Pony Creative Co.
Amelia is creative director and founder of Pony Creative Co., a full-service branding and design studio. Prior to starting her own business, Amelia worked as a designer + art director at agencies in Seattle, Los Angeles, Berlin, and Montreal.
In addition to running Pony, Amelia is Creative Director for PlusMTL, an agency focused on developing and launching brand stories for start-ups in Montreal. She is also developing her own line of Mexicana-inspired kitchen textiles.
Some of Amelia’s clients include: Nordstrom, Microsoft, Jimmy Choo, Adidas, Air Canada, Maison de l’achitecture du Québec, Sid Lee, Rona, Bleublancrouge, Société de transport de l’Outaouais (Gatineau’s public transportation system), Toyota, AIMIA, and Montreal Allouettes Football Club
Justin Chen
Visual Designer at Google
Justin Chen (born in Taipei, Taiwan in 1989) is a multi-disciplinary designer based in San Francisco. Graduated from UCLA’s Design Media Arts program, Justin’s passion for graphic design has brought him to ArtCenter College of Design in the Fall of 2011. Justin always finds opportunities to work with people from different industries – He helped designed mobile based features such as “Motorola Active Display” and “Droid Dream” as a visual design intern at Motorola Mobility, designed a set of custom made buttons for “Linsanity” – a documentary film about NBA star Jeremy Lin, and did rebranding work for startup companies in LA and SF. Justin was selected as a “Creative Five” to work on the Data Arts Team at Google Creative Lab in 2014 and is currently a full-time visual designer on the Android team at Google.
Daniel C Young
Interaction Designer at Google
In his previous incarnations, Daniel has been an engineer, a consultant, an entrepreneur, and a swing dance instructor. But after discovering Graphic and Interaction Design at Art Center, he has embraced a new mission: To declutter the Internet. He now works with Search UX at Google, where he is discovering that diverse perspectives, emphatic listenting, humility, and grit help in crafting respectful technology. He hopes that one day, he can be most proud of having made something extraordinary that then becomes ordinary — a digital product with soul and spirit that his friends and family delight to use every day.
Jana Frieling
Communication Design & Strategy at IDEO
Jana Frieling is a principal designer and strategist at IDEO, with a focus on design strategy, brand development & identity, storytelling, design research and user-centered design for all media.
Jana’s experience includes a wide range of projects for clients like the Gates Foundation, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Intel, Target, ConAgra and many more.
A German native, Jana studied Graphic/Communication Design at the University of the Arts Bremen. Her curiosity and the lack of sunshine brought her to California, where she received multiple prestigious scholarship and graduated as valedictorian from Art Center College of Design. In addition, Jana also spent some time at INSEAD, the international business school in Singapore to expand her business knowledge, and sharpen her interdisciplinary teamwork skills.
Her work has been recognized through numerous awards and publications including: Red Dot Award, Adobe Achievement Award (semi-finalist), AIGA “Justified” Award and two IDSA/IDEA Silver Awards.
Specialties: Design strategy and innovation, identity system design, experience & service design, print design, interaction design, packaging design, storytelling, concept development.
Samuel Gates, Microsoft
samuelgates.com
Samuel Gates is a Seattle based creative that aims to conceive, design, and build transmedia experiences. With the belief that design should work, not be overstated, Samuel practices clean aesthetics, user research, and looks for emotional connections to help create direct, yet memorable experiences.
He is a graduate of Art Center College of Design and is currently working for Microsoft. Specializing in user experience and user interface, Samuel works with the Windows team, which covers numerous devices and serves millions of users.
Paul Yeh
Paul was born and raised in Orange County, CA. After receiving a degree in Biology, he decided to pursue an entirely different career path and started Art Center in the summer of 2000. In 2003, he graduated with distinction in motion graphic design. The following year he premiered his first major work “1961,” a video which was exhibited at Resfest, Onedotzero, and Pictoplasma Conference. He is currently freelancing with several studios in LA and working on several collaborative projects.
Scott Ponik
MA candidate at the Werkplaats Typographie
Scott Ponik is currently an MA candidate at the Werkplaats Typographie in Arnhem, the Netherlands. Previously he worked as a designer at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN, where he designed the book and marketing campaign for the exhibition ‘ANDY WARHOL/SUPERNOVA’ and the book and collateral materials for the exhibition ‘Cameron Jamie’. With Andrew Blauvelt, Scott designed the new identity system for University Art Museum, Long Beach, as well as the identity for the upcoming series Project Lab: Explorations in Art + Technology. He worked formerly for Ph.D, Los Angeles with Clive Piercy on the book ‘When I Knew’. In 2005, he was named to ‘STEP’ magazine’s ‘Field Guide to Emerging Design Talent’. He is a 2003 GPK graduate of Art Center College of Design.
Rafael Esquer
www.alfalfastudio.com
Rafael Esquer has made New York City his home for a decade. From 1997 to 2004, he worked in the design group at @radical.media, ultimately as its Creative Director. The group’s work in communication design was recognized by the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum with the prestigious National Design Award in 2004.
In 2004 Esquer opened Alfalfa, his own design studio. His clients have included The New York Times Magazine, Nike, Bjork, AIGA, Tommy Boy Records, Target, IBM, Scholastic, and MTV Networks. The Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland and the poster collection of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. contain some of his pieces.
Esquer frequently serves as judge and speaker at national and international design events. A native of the Sonora desert of Mexico, he received his BFA with distinction in graphic design from Art Center College of Design.
Eric Cruz
Cruz is an art director, designer, commercial director and educator. His strong interest in Asian culture and commerce prompted him to rejoin Wieden+Kennedy Tokyo in pursuit of work that is culturally relevant to his roots, working with clients such as Nike Japan & Asia, Aiwa and Mori Building. As director of W+K Tokyo Lab, W+K Tokyo’s music label, youth brand and creative outlet centered around hybrid expression, he oversees the labels entire visual output from directing music videos to art directing and designing its packaging and online experiences. His work focuses on the intersection between art and design, moving images and digital narratives, exploring new frontiers in media hybrids. A revisionist historian and graphic sociologist, he spends most of his time thinking about global equilibrium and advocating on Asia nowhere : now here.
Christian Cervantes
From his birthplace of Newport Beach, CA, Christian, at the age of twenty-one, traveled north on the 405 (to the 605 to the 210) about an hour to settle in Los Angeles and attend Art Center College of Design. There this once lost, young man found his calling as he buckled down and studied graphic design and photography. Putting aside a life of good weather, a decent sized apartment, and a reasonable cost of living, Christian packed his bags after graduation and moved to New York City. He soon took a design position at BIG, Ogilvy & Mather’s Brand Integration Group, a small group of art school idealists taking on the challenge of designing and branding some of the world’s most influential companies. In his two and half years at BIG, Christian has worked with clients such as Kodak, Coca-Cola, Tribeca Film Festival, American Express, and Delta.
Michael Osborne
1951: Born in Cincinnati, Ohio; 1969:Vietnam, US Navy; 1978: graduated Art Center College of Design, with honors; 1981-present: started Michael Osborne Design, San Francisco, CA
After 25 years in business, my office, my designers and the work we do continue to inspire me a great deal. It’s actually a pleasure coming to work each day, never knowing exactly what will happen. It’s actually not like work at all; it’s a daily field trip! Other sources inspiration include my children, hot baths, great wine, my fine art print making work.
The education I received at AC set the course of my career and changed my life in so many ways. The discipline, skill sets, and love for design (especially packaging) are still with me every day.
Jeri Heiden
Jeri Heiden is Co-Creative Director at SMOG Design, Inc, a Los Angeles based design studio, specializing in all facets of visual communication for the entertainment and publishing industries, including imaging, identity, packaging, print, and electronic media. Formerly Sr. Vice President/Creative Director at A&M Records, and Vice President of Creative Services at Warner Bros. Records, Ms. Heiden has art directed and designed over 300 album campaigns and has received 3 Grammy nominations for her album package design. Her career spans 24 years, working in creative collaboration with artists such as; Madonna, Janet Jackson, Christina Aguilera, Van Halen, k.d. lang, the Eagles, P!nk, Seal, Sting, Los Lobos, Tracy Chapman, Jewel and Sheryl Crow.
Her work has won recognition from the AIGA, American Center for Design, the Type Directors Club of NYC, Print, Communication Arts, Graphis, I.D. Magazine, and the Art Directors Clubs of Los Angeles and New York. Ms. Heiden has taught and guest lectured at Art Center, Cal State Northridge, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and the Los Angeles and Santa Fe chapters of the AIGA. Ms. Heiden served on the AIGA Los Angeles chapter’s Advisory Board from 1992-1995 and has served on numerous design juries, including the NARAS Crafts and Packaging Commitee, the Independent Music Awards, and Communication Arts Annual Design Competitions.
Fabian Geyrhalter
Founder and Principal of FINIEN
Fabian Geyrhalter is the founder and principal of FINIEN, a consultancy that specializes in turning ventures into brands.
For 12 years, Fabian ran the highly successful branding and graphic design agency
Geyrhalter & Co. and worked for clients such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,
Goodwill, Brandman University, W Hotels, CO-OP Financial Services, USC, Evolution
Fresh, the City of Los Angeles, and John Varvatos.
He served as an adjunct professor at USC and Art Center College of Design and is
an advisory board member for Santa Monica College. Fabian is a frequent public
speaker, a mentor to entrepreneurs worldwide, and co-author of the No. 1 bestselling
book “How to Launch a Brand.” He also serves as consulting executive creative
strategist at Urban Insight, a leading technology consulting firm, where he manages the intersection of brand vision and creative digital strategy.
Geyrhalter was born and raised in Vienna, Austria. He attended Art Center (Europe) and graduated from Art Center College of Design.
Dustin Edward Arnold
Creative Director at DEA/Studio
Dustin is a designer whose practice incorporates media design, fashion, scenography, products and film.
He has created rotting environments, developed graphic identites, hacked 3-d scanners, directed fashion campaigns, printed his own body in gelatin and designed interiors and products.
His work has been featured globally in publications from Time to I.D. and in institutions and festivals ranging from D+D Design Directory to Art Basel. Dustin has collected over forty international awards and has been named one of fifty winners of the ADC Young Guns 5 award, honoring the world’s next generation of creative talent in visual media and design. In 2008, he received the Young Alumni Innovator award from Art Center College of Design and later that same year was selected as one of Print Magazine’s Top New Visual Artists. In 2010 he was selected by Computer Arts UK as “The 10 best designers you don’t know about (yet)”
Clients include: Issey Miyake, Bang & Olufsen, Nike Japan, The New York Times, Apple, Alexandre Plokhov, D L & Co., Levi Strauss, Shiseido, Coty Prestige, Asprey London, The Dallas Museum of Art, Vertu, and Harry Winston.
Golnaz Ghodstinat
Senior Art Director at Bloomingdale's
Even as a young girl growing up in Iran Golnaz has always had an interest in design, arts and, in particular, fashion. Upon moving to the United States Golnaz decided to further explore her interests in design and arts, but has never lost touch with her rich cultural heritage. It’s something that inspires and defines her to this day. Not long after graduating in 2008 she went to work at TOMS where she worked on developing a brand identity and guidelines for what is today an internationally recognized brand, symbol for startups and the model for socially responsible companies around the world. Despite her success at TOMS, it was always Golnaz’ dream to work in the fashion industry at it’s hub, New York City. Today, Golnaz is currently a Senior Art Director at Bloomingdale’s working on seasonal campaigns and women’s fashion catalogs.
Yo Santosa
Creative Director, Entrepreneur, and Dreamer
Three Emmy Award nominations, a renown branding agency, two start-ups, and a publication. Behind it, Yo Santosa: creative director, entrepreneur, and dreamer.
Born in Indonesia, raised in Singapore, she emigrated to the U.S. at 17. At 21, Yo graduated from Art Center College of Design and created title sequences for Zack Snyder’s 300 and ABC’s Desperate Housewives.
In 2006, from her loft she started her branding agency, Ferroconcrete. Yo believes, ”People don’t fall in love with businesses, they fall in love with personalities”. With a unique perspective in branding, her first client Pinkberry, grew from 1 store to a global brand with over 200 stores worldwide.
In 2011, she started früute. This modern cookie and gifts company shares with the world what she’s been privy to all her life: her mom’s baking and her sister’s sense of style. Brides Magazine declared früute a “genius idea” and Wallpaper Magazine called “One of the Top 20 reasons to be in the USA.” In 2014, Dean & DeLuca welcomed früute into their stores across the U.S.
She also co-founded Commodity in 2013, a fragrance company with a mission to make “fragrance personal.” Featured in GQ, Fast Co., Esquire and W Magazine, Commodity launched in Sephora March 2015.
As a downtown LA early adopter, she is an advocate for the fastest growing metropolis in the U.S. In 2014, Yo created LA Downtowner, a print publication that reveals an insiders view of downtown LA’s culture, food, drinks, fashion and the people who shape it.
With her iPhone as her best friend and Steve Jobs as her hero, she believes it’s fate they share the same birthday. Inspired by timeless German design, minimalist Japanese style, Dieter Rams, and a good chicken wing, she can be found wandering downtown LA (she keeps a 2 mile radius from her apartment).
“Not just a dreamer but a do-er, she’s a visionary entrepreneur with guts.” – Ivy Ross, VP of Google, Head of Glass.
Chris Do
Founder/ Chief Strategist, Blind
Chris Do is the founder and chief strategist of Blind, Inc., a business design consultancy located in Santa Monica. Over the past 20 years, the studio has garnered numerous industry accolades and awards, including a design distinction from ID, British AD&D silver, MTv Best rock video, and an enviable roster of national and international clients including: Scion, Fox Sports Net, EA, Microsoft and Sony. Blind is a full service digital agency, which includes: stategy, branding, positioning, web/app design development, production, editorial and visual effects. He received his BFA in Graphic Design in 95, from the Art Center College of Design. He is also the co-founder of The Skool and online educationa and media platform that teaches the business of design.
Stanley Chen
Stanley Chen is a multidisciplinary designer and art director based in Los Angeles. He advocates visual communication across a variety of media, ranging from brand strategy, identity, print, interactive design, content development, and art direction. His interdisciplinary approach is based around principles of research, analysis, and collaboration. He believes in delivering meaningful experiences that are underpinned by a commitment to ideas and stories. He had worked with clients, collaborators and agencies from both commercial and culture sectors such as Acura, Beats by Dre, Sundance, Getty Museum, R/GA, Moving Brands etc. Prior to graduating with honors majoring in Graphic Design from Art Center College of Design, he obtained an early education studying fine art. His work has been recognized by the Art Directors Club, Core 77, Adobe, AdWeek, Creative Quarterly, Applied Arts magazine, Dot magazine, Type Directors Club’s Best in Show and Complex magazine’s 25 People Shaping the Future of Design.
Dante Carlos
dantecarlos.tumblr.com
Dante Carlos is a graphic designer currently based in Los Angeles. Dante maintains his own practice—regularly designing books and printed matter for artists and cultural institutions. Enthusiastic about knowledge, his self-initiated projects serve as an excuse to research seemingly random subjects, many of which inform his process. His commissions include clients such as the Walker Art Center, Philip Johnson’s Glass House, High Times Magazine, Museum of Arts and Design, Armory Center for the Arts, Midway Contemporary Art, The Office of Culture and Design, The Third Rail, The Aspen Institute, Bloomberg, Levi’s, CB2, Institute of Contemporary Art (Miami), and the New York Times.
Paul Hoppe
Art Director at Local Projects
www.paulhoppedesign.com
Paul Hoppe is a multi-disciplinary designer from Los Angeles, California, currently working as Art Director at Local Projects in NYC where he specializes in interactive exhibition design for museums, educational institutions, and adventurous corporate clients. Most recently he has helped lead the design of an interactive concept store for Target in San Francisco and the award winning interactive exhibits at the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum in NYC. In his limited spare time Paul does freelance graphic design in equal parts print, branding, and motion design. He holds a BA with a Double Major in Graphic Design and Fine Art from Azusa Pacific University and a BFA with Distinction in Graphic Design from Art Center College of Design.
