Hello.
I'm Baron.
I bring brands to life.

I have been in the field for over 15 years and have worked in various creative jobs. I started working as a designer for the marketing department at LT Apparel Group, a clothing company, creating lookbooks and clothing labels. Before this title, I was an intern doing creative work, from mood boards to creating graphic patterns and working on tech packs. Jobs were scarce during this time as I graduated during the beginning of the decline of the economy in 2007, and graphic design was still not considered an actual source of living for many companies.

After a couple of years working, I moved to a Korean-based company that opened up shop in New York. This job was my first introduction to branding, and I worked closely with the Art Director to build up the practice. This place is where I learned to do work vigorously. To them, More is more, meaning more design options, more to choose from to get something right. We worked 12-15 hours a day, especially when I did a short stint in their office in Korea. It was a good experience for me, and I learned how to stretch my explorations as far as I could. We worked on many consumer brands, from food to retail.

When I left the job in the Spring of 2010, I freelanced for a bit with Creative Circle and put on interesting small jobs across NYC. I did some work for the NFL, which was fascinating as I watched how they operate given the organization's size and the team around the visuals you come across everywhere. During this period, I stumbled upon Prophet, who was building a design department and was proud to be part of the first teams established at Prophet 12 years ago. Prophet jumpstarted my career in branding, and it's where I learned deeply about how brands are built and rebuilt. I started as a designer and worked my way up to design director. They exposed me to various industries, which were enjoyable, and I learned a lot about each of the industries from pharma, hospital systems, jail technologies, biomedicine, and retail. Prophet is where I found my joy in designing consumer-facing brands—we built restaurant brands, product brands, and retail stores. I love working on different genres and design sensibilities. We would create something refined last week and expressive creatively the next day. My time at Prophet helped me stretch my design capabilities as I developed in my career.

I graduated with Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts Parsons, The New School for Design, concentrating in Communication Design focusing on branding with knowledge in packaging, spatial graphics, and information design. Before attending the university, I also acquired an Associate's Degree in Applied Science from Nassau Community College, concentrating in Commercial Arts.

I grew up in the Philippines and moved to New York in 2000. Growing up, I have always been crafty and curious. Besides school, I spent most of my life in my family's machine shop that fixed cars and built jeepneys. I was fascinated by the crafters shaping metals and how they decorated the stainless steel surface using reflective stickers. This craftsmanship was when my passion for typography and design started. Apart from my drawing skills inspired by comics, I was also interested in rock bands logos, comic book titles, and signages.

My parents were encouraging. They collected art and antiques, and they used to take us to book sales to get Archie's and vintage comic books. My dad ran a small shipping company. As part of their community responsibility, he would import used books and magazines to give out to local libraries, and where I encountered highlights magazines which cemented my pursuit in going to the creative field from doing their DIY crafts.

I do long-distance cycling on weekends and antiquing when I am not designing. I also collect things designer books, old and new kid's books. I also collect and build model cars in my spare time. This car collection is a hobby growing up around cars and the machine shop. I also have a good set of artworks and prints that I wish to hang up in the future. I love visual textures around me as it keeps me encouraged and stimulated as I work on my designs.

Graphic designers who inspire me worked on other mediums, mainly children's books. I am a big fan of Ivan Chermayeff. His designs and art inspire my work. I always incorporate the simplicity and details of his work with my projects. I was fortunate to acquire a few of his books, posters, and original art.

I also admired Bruno Munari. His book "Design as Art" is one of the books I always encourage people to read. Being a creative mind, he was also an inventor, which is very encouraging. He worked on classic graphic design to artistic product designs like lamps and furniture. Similar to Ivan Chermayeff, he also designed and wrote many children's books which I try to get when I have the chance.

Alexander Calder is also an inspiration. I love his sketches, mainly the circus series. He is also inspiring because of his relentless efforts to build and create from paintings to mobiles to jewelry.