PHANTOM FRUIT — A COMMUNAL CELEBRACIÓN
Curator | Exhibition Design | Creative Direction | Live Performance Design

Following the release of their debut EP "Diamondied, Bloodied, Jesus," Phantom Fruit presented their first live performance at Dulce Upfront—an immersive multimedia experience celebrating community, connection, and the collaborative spirit that defines their work. A Communal Celebración featured interactive projections, live poetry readings, and visual artwork by Stephanie Ayon, Mike Adame, Claire Evans, Joseph Rios, and A is A, creating a showcase that highlighted each collaborator's artistic contribution.

We curated the exhibition and provided creative direction for the live set, developing a visual language that could translate the intimacy of their recorded work into a communal performance space. The project built upon the band's ethos of mutual acknowledgment and respect, creating an environment where diverse talents and perspectives could flow freely. The performance design needed to honor the deeply personal nature of their tribute to Danny while creating space for family, chosen family, and community to gather in shared experience.

FORMAT: Live performance + group exhibition
YEAR: 2025 VENUE: Dulce Upfront, Fresno
ARTIST: Phantom Fruit
SERVICES: Exhibition curation, creative direction, performance design, exhibition graphics
CLIENT: Phantom Fruit
SCOPE: Multimedia live performance, interactive projections, collaborative showcase
FEATURED ARTISTS: Stephanie Ayon, Mike Adame, Claire Evans, Joseph Rios, A is A
PHOTOGRAPHY: Arthur Robinson
THEME: Community collaboration, memorial tribute, collective creation

PHANTOM FRUIT — A COMMUNAL CELEBRACIÓN
Curator | Exhibition Design | Creative Direction | Live Performance Design

Following the release of their debut EP "Diamondied, Bloodied, Jesus," Phantom Fruit presented their first live performance at Dulce Upfront—an immersive multimedia experience celebrating community, connection, and the collaborative spirit that defines their work. A Communal Celebración featured interactive projections, live poetry readings, and visual artwork by Stephanie Ayon, Mike Adame, Claire Evans, Joseph Rios, and A is A, creating a showcase that highlighted each collaborator's artistic contribution.

We curated the exhibition and provided creative direction for the live set, developing a visual language that could translate the intimacy of their recorded work into a communal performance space. The project built upon the band's ethos of mutual acknowledgment and respect, creating an environment where diverse talents and perspectives could flow freely. The performance design needed to honor the deeply personal nature of their tribute to Danny while creating space for family, chosen family, and community to gather in shared experience.

FORMAT: Live performance + group exhibition
YEAR: 2025 VENUE: Dulce Upfront, Fresno
ARTIST: Phantom Fruit
SERVICES: Exhibition curation, creative direction, performance design, exhibition graphics
CLIENT: Phantom Fruit
SCOPE: Multimedia live performance, interactive projections, collaborative showcase
FEATURED ARTISTS: Stephanie Ayon, Mike Adame, Claire Evans, Joseph Rios, A is A
PHOTOGRAPHY: Arthur Robinson
THEME: Community collaboration, memorial tribute, collective creation

ATELIER ACE — UPSTAIRS
Visual identity system | Event campaign design

Upstairs is a rooftop bar atop the landmark Ace Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles, hosting events against cinematic city views. As part of Ace Hotel's in-house creative team, in collaboration with Jimena Gamio, we designed a new visual system for all of Upstairs' event campaigns that could flex across diverse programming while maintaining instant brand recognition.

The project established a constrained graphic framework that created consistency through limitation rather than prescription. Using only the Atlas Grotesk type family (with hand-drawn letterforms as alternatives), required hand-drawn marker elements scanned into each composition, mandatory arrow motifs pointing upward, and copier manipulation of any photographic assets, the system embraced lo-fi spontaneity within a rigorous structure. This approach allowed for widely varied textures and layers across campaigns while maintaining an immediately identifiable visual language.

Format: Modular campaign system
Year: 2019
Venue: Ace Hotel Downtown Los Angeles
Services: Visual identity system, event graphics, campaign design
Client: Atelier Ace
Collaborators: Jimena Gamio
Scope: Ongoing event campaign framework
Context: Designed and led while working in Ace Hotel's creative design department
Framework: Atlas Grotesk type family only, hand-drawn marker elements, mandatory arrows, copier image manipulation

HONEST HISTORY
Brand Development | Packaging Design | Publishing Mark | Website Design | Book Design

Honest History is a children's publishing initiative exploring truthful stories of people and events that changed the world. With an established header logo already in place, the team sought to strengthen their brand identity and create a cohesive system for their expanding catalog.

In collaboration with Jimena Gamio of Weird Plants, we developed the complete brand identity extension, including a new publishing mark to work alongside the existing logo, packaging guidelines for their Capsule Collection, and book design for two History is... titles. The project encompassed the design and development of their retail website, establishing visual standards that could house future publishing endeavors. The identity needed to balance educational authority with approachable design that invites young readers to engage with complex historical narratives.

FORMAT: Publishing brand system + e-commerce platform
YEAR: 2021
SERVICES: Publishing mark design, packaging design, book design, website design & development
CLIENT: Honest History
COLLABORATORS: Jimena Gamio (Weird Plants)
SCOPE: Brand identity extension, publishing guidelines, retail platform
DELIVERABLES: Capsule Collection packaging, 2 History is... books, publishing mark, e-commerce website

CLAIRE EVANS — AT THE HIP
Exhibition design | Co-curation | Book design | Visual identity

At The Hip is the debut solo exhibition by Fresno street photographer Claire Evans, documenting her hometown through an intimate lens. Evans approaches street photography as "a conversation that cannot be accomplished by snapping the camera and then walking away"—an act of paying attention, respect, and love for the people and places of Fresno.

We co-curated the exhibition and developed the complete visual identity for the campaign, including a large-scale wheat paste street campaign throughout downtown Fresno, exhibition signage, and editorial design for the accompanying photo book. The project required visual language that could honor the sacred, conversational nature of Evans' photographic practice while establishing her presence within Fresno's creative community. The guerrilla-style street campaign brought the work directly into the urban environment it documents, creating dialogue between the photographs and the city they celebrate.

Format: Solo photography exhibition + photo book
Year: 2024
Venue: JSA Gallery, Fresno
Photographer: Claire Evans
Services: Co-curation, visual identity, exhibition signage, book design
Client: Claire Evans
Medium: Street photography
Scope: Exhibition campaign, publication design
Production: Locally produced, printed, and bound in downtown Fresno

FLAT LAND
Publication Design | Creative Direction

FLAT LAND is a free experimental publication centered on stories of creative culture from the Central Valley. These stories take visual and written form via photography, poetry, essays and art. FLAT LAND strives to fill a need where we see one - telling stories of land and people, documenting creative histories of Fresno and the greater Central Valley, so that these stories are not lost and forgotten.

Issue 01 was released on May 10, 2025.

Format: Printed Publication
Year: 2025
Collaborators: Christian Vargas, Marla Sweitzer
Scope: Creative direction, editorial design

FLAT LAND
Publication Design | Creative Direction

FLAT LAND is a free experimental publication centered on stories of creative culture from the Central Valley. These stories take visual and written form via photography, poetry, essays and art. FLAT LAND strives to fill a need where we see one - telling stories of land and people, documenting creative histories of Fresno and the greater Central Valley, so that these stories are not lost and forgotten.

Issue 01 was released on May 10, 2025.

Format: Printed Publication
Year: 2025
Collaborators: Christian Vargas, Marla Sweitzer
Scope: Creative direction, editorial design

ATELIER ACE — BAR MARILOU
Brand Identity | Logo Design | Signage | Website Design

Bar Marilou is a craft cocktail bar in New Orleans housed in City Hall's historic library, lushly decorated with curated curiosities, oil paintings, classic books and warm furnishings. The bar is part of Maison de la Luz, a 67-room luxury guesthouse designed by Studio Shamshiri that channels the fertile, cross-cultural history of New Orleans within a historic 1908 building.

Working under the creative direction of Atelier Ace and Paris-based Quixotic Projects, I designed the logo and established the complete brand identity for the bar. The project encompassed exterior signage, website design, and a range of printed ephemera that lives inside the space. The identity needed to reflect the vivid, eccentric atmosphere of Studio Shamshiri's richly layered interiors while establishing Bar Marilou as a destination for craft cocktails within New Orleans' vibrant bar culture.

FORMAT: Brand identity system
YEAR: 2021
VENUE: Maison de la Luz, New Orleans
SERVICES: Logo design, brand identity, signage, website design, print collateral
CLIENT: Atelier Ace
COLLABORATORS: Quixotic Projects (Paris), Studio Shamshiri (interior design)
SCOPE: Full brand development
CONTEXT: Designed while working in Ace Hotel's creative design department

PHANTOM FRUIT — DIAMONDIED, BLOODIED, JESUS EP
Packaging Design | Singles Artwork | Music Video Art Direction

Phantom Fruit is an intimate four-piece band of family and chosen family members who have created music together for over twenty years. Their debut public release, "Diamondied, Bloodied, Jesus," is a deeply personal tribute to their late family member Danny, marking their transition from decades of private music-making to sharing their work with the world.

We developed the complete visual identity for the release—tape packaging design, single artwork for both "Spit Magic Hymn" and "Ser a Ser," and art direction for the debut single's music video. The band seeks to "commune with y'all's spirits and familiar ghosts," requiring visual language that balances memorial reverence with celebratory intimacy, capturing the vulnerability of chosen family stepping into public visibility for the first time.

FORMAT: Cassette tape
SINGLES: Spit Magic Hymn, Ser a Ser
YEAR: 2025
SERVICES: Packaging design, single artwork, music video art direction
PHOTOGRAPHER: Claire Evans
VIDEO EDITOR: Mike Adame
CLIENT: Phantom Fruit
GENRE: Independent music
SCOPE: Visual identity, creative direction

PHANTOM FRUIT — DIAMONDIED, BLOODIED, JESUS EP
Packaging Design | Singles Artwork | Music Video Art Direction

Phantom Fruit is an intimate four-piece band of family and chosen family members who have created music together for over twenty years. Their debut public release, "Diamondied, Bloodied, Jesus," is a deeply personal tribute to their late family member Danny, marking their transition from decades of private music-making to sharing their work with the world.

We developed the complete visual identity for the release—tape packaging design, single artwork for both "Spit Magic Hymn" and "Ser a Ser," and art direction for the debut single's music video. The band seeks to "commune with y'all's spirits and familiar ghosts," requiring visual language that balances memorial reverence with celebratory intimacy, capturing the vulnerability of chosen family stepping into public visibility for the first time.

FORMAT: Cassette tape
SINGLES: Spit Magic Hymn, Ser a Ser
YEAR: 2025
SERVICES: Packaging design, single artwork, music video art direction
PHOTOGRAPHER: Claire Evans
VIDEO EDITOR: Mike Adame
CLIENT: Phantom Fruit
GENRE: Independent music
SCOPE: Visual identity, creative direction