El Creative, my first long-term studio gig, provided my first major branding project. The studio was a small but mighty; there was no bureaucracy; everyone did everything, and the best solution won. When I interviewed, I noticed the campy Luchador graphics outside and the funky pylon sign with hand-drawn icons. The execution wasn’t good, but it was still the most interesting thing to see on Commerce Street in Deep Ellum.

The challenge I gave myself was to elevate our brand to our evolving clientele, which had moved beyond mom-and-pop shops to companies like Toyota, Univision, Wingstop and HGTV. This involved re-drawing the script logotype and turning the luchador into a versatile symbol of its own.