HECHOXPAO was born amidst the chaos and noise that was happening around us during the 2020 global pandemic. This was a year of great reflection on all ends of the spectrum. It 100% made us rethink all the practices set in place for years, and most importantly what actually matters in life. I was having lots of discussion with myself and with friends around positivity, acceptance, racial equality, female empowerment, and the future of Latina Representation in the world to name few. HXP has provided the space and creative channel I needed to set that into motion.

My hope for HECHOXPAO is for others to see themselves in my work and foster a sense of community and open dialogue.

Hecho is spanish for made, x is commonly used as a fill in for “by”, and my friends call me Pao. HECHOXPAO = MADEBYPAO

For more work look me up on instagram @hechoxpao

For a period of three months I'd been exploring form making and looking into origami tesselations. Folding paper has become second nature to me as the years have gone by. I came across this form and after studying it for quite some time I figured out how to reproduce it. Using 65 pound paper, I expanded it and let it take a life of its own. Finding an appropriate song to go along with my form was key. I chose Agnes Obel's song Chord Left for its mood and tone and allowed my intuition take a course of its own for the visuals.

Mentor: Ivan Cruz, Miles Mazzie

The stars tell stories, and each zodiac holds a powerful, radiant energy that shapes the way we move, feel, and express ourselves in the world. Zodiac Queens is a tribute to the cosmic forces within us, reimagining each sign as a celestial goddess—bold, ethereal, unapologetically divine.

Each illustration captures the essence, quirks, and magic of its sign, blending symbolism, emotion, and celestial beauty into one visual story. Whether you see yourself in the dreamer, the warrior, the muse, or the rebel, there’s a Queen for you among the stars.

The journey begins with Pisces: The Celestial Dreamer—flowing between realms, wrapped in moonlight, soft yet boundless.

Step into the cosmos. Which Queen are you?

A playful remix of photography and illustration, Foto Garabato brings images to life with vibrant, hand-drawn doodles. Each piece transforms everyday moments into whimsical, expressive, and unexpected works of art—where reality meets imagination.

From bold strokes to delicate details, every garabato adds personality, energy, and a touch of magic to your favorite photos. Whether for personal keepsakes, creative branding, or just for fun, Foto Garabato turns snapshots into one-of-a-kind visual stories.

📸+✏️ = ✨ Let’s doodle your world!

🖌️ Now open for commisions :Want your own custom Foto Garabato piece? Let’s collaborate! Send me a message to bring your photos to life in a whole new way.

Sometimes I draw and when I do its with Micron 001, 02, 005, and gauche .

Base is a rebrand of San Francisco's museum The Exploratorium. With a mission to change the way the world learns, we bring you a new Base to build upon. Base is also an acronym for Bridging Art and Science Education. 

Base Sans was created and inspired by the likeness of DIN Next Rounded LT Pro. A stencil like approach was  incorporated into the design to allow a dual system of usage. It may be used in its totality or in its deconstructed form, giving it an encrypted feel to it forcing its viewer to decode the message. The deconstructed portions may be used as a placeholder for other material to exist (refer to posters).

Promotional posters of the rebrand to be posted throughout all of San Francisco. All of Base's promotional posters are typography driven and strictly use Base Sans. When appropriate, the deconstructed portions of the typeface become a placeholder for other material to exist, in this case, reflective material was used to add an element of surprise (best seen in video below.) From a distance the poster appears to be shimmering at you and the closer you get you start to realize it holds a message .The messages found on the posters all incorporate the word Base in a clever way. This is a branding strategy to get the public familiarized with the new name and keep it in their subconscious.

Mentor: Brad Bartlett

In the Spring of 2013 I took an Archetype class at Art Center College of Design taught by instructor and designer, Gloria Kondrup. Gloria proposed the idea of creating a poster in honor of the 150th Anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. She chose an excerpt from the document and together as a class we created a beautiful letter pressed poster. I decided to take one of the printed posters, cut it up and design a special remembrance piece.

Mentor: Gloria Kondrup

The Metropolitan Museum of Fashion (MMF) is the first stand alone museum to be soley dedicated to fashion in its entirety in California. Located near Downtown LA, its the perfect venue to come and spend your day soaking up the latest trends and past iconic legends.

Just as fashion references past iconic styles, I've created a mark that references a very iconic typeface in the world of typography, Bodoni. But it wouldn't be fashion without reinterpreting the wheel by referencing a past movement. Whether it be neoclassical, cubism, or pop, here I've chose to reinterpret Bodoni by deconstructing and abstracting the letter forms M, M, F, it its most simplest form.

Currated Exhibits:

UNUSUAL HAPPENINGS Abberational Pairings features some of the hottest designers to date you won't want to miss. They'll be exhibiting their latest work along with a recollection of all the unexpected things that have happend along the way to the runway.

INCEPTION PERCEPTION Abberational Innocence taps back into the origin of creativity. Some of the most imaginative scenarios happend while playing make believe but everyone's story is unique to their own. Rei Kawakubo, CÉLINE, Stella McCartney and many more will speak about their first encounters with creativity and how it influenced their creative process in fashion. 

SECRET DESIRES Abberational Symposium features the work of 6 local designers and their inner most secret yearnings. Come and find out what they've been holding back until now. There will be an interactive confession wall where you get the chance to expose your secret desires as well, annonymous or not the choice is yours. 

Mentor: Simon Johnston

A lovely elevated rebrand of the well known grocery store, Whole Foods Market. Existing a little over 30 years but with food practices and morals that take them back generations, I created a mark that reflected that. One that would feel modern and chic but at the same time have an old world feel. With their number one competitor in the eyes of many, Trader Joes, this rebrand has to really set the two apart other than for the obvious price reasons. They both currently go after that hand crafted look throughout the store. Not to say it isn't appropriate for some, but with Whole Food's incoming demographic, the overall look and feel should match it.

Mentor: Guillaume Wolf

Drawing letterforms has been one of my favorite pass times since I can remember. I started off drawing bubble letters and as I matured, so did my letterforms. 

Mentor: Nils Lindstrom

Jack Kerouac & Paul Rand

At first glance one might presume they are complete opposites. One pertained to a Jewish orthodox up brining in the densely populated city of Brooklyn, New York, while the other pertained to a French-Canadian catholic upbringing in the industrial town of Lowell, Massachusetts. One of their greatest opposing qualities lies within their day to day lifestyle. Rand would wake up early and was usually the first one in the office every morning while Kerouac would go about as he pleased, working random jobs here and there, hitchhiking through America. Rand’s life was structured, while Kerouac’s was nomadic.

However they were both overtly passionate about what they did. Rand would spend hours in Room 313, the main branch of the New York Public Library taking in the rich collection of art books, European design annuals, and print/type journals. Kerouac would indulge in the literary works of Walt Whitman, James Joyce, Thorsten Veblen, and Ernest Hemingway to name a few. Both looked into the past, and introduced it into their work and created something unique. Despite these similarities, when placed in the same room, they're a beautiful oxymoron. Heavily induced by their surroundings and spontaneous in their own way.

Mentor: Clive Piercy

Fall of 2013 I studied abroad in Berlin for a period of three months. As I walked throught the streets of the city I began to notice the different type of stones within the sidewalks. I took notice that scattered around the city there lay brass plates called Stolpersteines, which translates to "stumbling block."

Stolpersteines were created by sculpter and conceptual artist, Gunter Demnig. The engraved brass plates commemorates a victim of the Holocaust and is placed where they used to live or work. The following are drawings a few of the Stolpersteines and their locations that I happened to stumble upon. 

Mentor: Michael Sans

What transmedia means is simple, but what you do with it is where the magic happens. Transmedia means to transcend far beyond the expected in the medium of which we are exploring and create and experience. It can be anywhere from print, to packaging, to interactive, to spatial media. It means taking an idea, however big or small, and exploring far beyond your comfort zone. It at anytime in your process you aren't feeling uncomfortable, you aren't digging deep enough. Transmedia should challenge you, it should push you so far beyond your boundaries that you land into unexplored territory. But before arriving there it requires you to know your subject matter inside and out. And by doing so you'll find what I like to call gems. Gems are the sweet spots hidden inside the research that'll drive your project into unexpected places.

Film created and directed by Guillaume Wolf.

In Chile each year, more than 100,000 children suffer burn injuries, with the large majority of them under 5 years of age. COANIQUEM, a private non-profit institution in South America, works to lead progressive research and bring medical attention, restoration healing and comprehensive rehabilitation to 8,000 children per year who are most seriously afflicted with burn injuries. My peers and I along with Guillaume Wolf, a faculty member from the Graphic Design Department at Art Center College of Design, worked together to creat an effective and powerful campaign targeted to a global audience, specifically aiming to bring about change in 6 Central American countries.
      We were challenged to create 2 separate campaigns, one that could reach out to American donors, and a separate one to reach out to the children of Central American countries and empower them with the knowledge of the danger of hot objects. A mascot created for the campaign, named Santi (short for Santiago) is a powerfully charged symbol of safety and recognizability for COANIQUEM. A series of illustrated educational books were created featuring Santi, in which he explores with children "hot objects" not to touch. The full campaign for children consists of the books, a simple motion graphic piece, activity books, a contagiously fun song written especially for Santi and COANIQUEM, and promotional plush Santi dolls.

Santi the Mascot

Santi the cat is the new mascot of COANIQUEM. He is here to appeal to all children, playing a cuddly role as both a friend and, eventually, teacher. He is inspired by the ocelot, an animal commonly found in South America.
      First, Santi appears through five stories created to educate children on the dangers of hot objects. Curious and silly, Santi initially makes dangerous mistakes (trying to touch hot objects), empowering children by prompting them to help Santi avoid these dangers by saying "Caliente!" (hot!). Eventually, Santi grows and becomes a protector of children.

The Campaigns

Two Campaigns were intended as the main deliverable, one that would address American donors and another that would be launched in all of Central America to bring awareness to the 5 main causes of burns in children and how to prevent them.
      Capaign Esperanza, meaning "hope," was created for American donors, informing them that COANIQUEM provides free and comprehensive rehabilitation to children burn victims. With donations, COANIQUEM can continue to help kids 18 and under rehabilitate, and support scientific research to improve the long-term treatement of children with burns.
      The Caliente Campaign, meaning "hot," was created to help adults and children of Central America become more cautious and aware of fire safety by addressing the top causes of burns in the home. Caliente materials fature Santi the mascot showing children simple measures to stay safe from burns as well as children helping Santi to recognize items that are "¡CALIENTE!"

The Books

A key compnent of the Santi/Caliente campaign are a series of books created to address the 5 main causes of burns in children: hot liquids, fireworks, hot objects, electricity, and open fire. Each story features Santi growing curious with one of the "hot" objects, just as children would. The narratives all feature the children "heroes" of the story helping Santi learn to stay away and avoid "¡CALIENTE!" objects. By repeating this narrative as a theme of the book series, the viewer—the child— is empowered with the knowledge of burn prevention and safety information. Together with the children in the stories, they can learn how to save Santi, and themselves, from getting burned in the 5 most common household scenarios.

Santi Dolls

A Santi doll was designed creating a tactile connection with the character and children, reinforcing the brand image and bringing new opportunities for additional interactions with the mascot.

#findsanti

The Santi dolls created soon became the central piece of the conceived social media campaign. #findsanti is an Instagram based campaign, launched by the students themselves, where they each took and posted pictures of a Santi doll posing in various locations in their daily life. The is for Sant dolls in the hands of children all over the world to also post their pictures of Santi with the hashtag #findsanti, creating a buzzing community of awareness of COANIQUEM's new mascot.
      When pictures of Santi quickly swarm the news feeds of student's Facebooks, the mascot began to catch the attention of many outside of the class. One of which commenting, "what is this? I've seen this before!" #findsanti was an early success.

Mentor: Guillaume Wolf

Team Members: Lawrence Chang Graphic Design, Jennifer Cho Illustration, Fatima Ghanavi Graphic Design, Trisha Kim Illustration, Diana Lui Graphic Design, Diana Mok Graphic Design, Lisa Wakiyama Illustration, Xing Wei Graphic Design, Brian Xiao Graphic Design, Stacy Zou Graphic Design, and myself.

Special Contributor: Caitlin Anne Illustration Alumna

Tom & Huck’s is inspired by Mark Twain’s novel “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn.” Although originally this was meant to be for Big5, I was granted the creative license to push forward with this project as it felt it belonged more in an upscale sports and outing goods store.

The story takes place in the 1840’s, so naturally I decided to base the look and feel on this time period. I looked into bags, luggage, garments, and typography used during that era to influence my design process. My project quickly became more product based as I wanted to design a messenger bag filled with items a young boy would need to go on adventures. The idea is to encourage boys to get away from technology, get back into nature, explore, and disconnect from reality and take on an adventurous roll with their best bud/s. Inside the messenger bag you’ll find a canteen, binoculars, a compass, a flashlight, a harmonica, and a sketchbook.

Mentor: Dan Hoy

"A western thriller set in a dark fairytale"
—Aaron Cabrero Jr

Had the honor of art directing and creating my good friend, Aaron Cabrero Jr's movie poster for his first film, VINDICTA. Check out his process on his Instagram account @aaroncabrerojr @somnieafilms !!

Dark, rich, and flavorful, Burns Cigars are the ultimate trademark of masculinity and class. A classic icon of American humor and wit, George Burns was the inspiration behind the creation of Burns Cigars. As extemporaneous and off-the-cuff as he was, George Burns never performed without a cigar in hand. For men in their late twenties and up, Burns Cigars is targeted for those with an appreciation and respect for fine quality and excellence.  Black, wood, and aluminum were used in the design and appeal of these cigars, emblemmed after the late 1930’s when George burns began his lifetime as a classic and awed performer.

Mentor: Candice Lopez

Imagine mixing the delicacy and flavor of chocolate with the happiness and passion of love. That is was Chocolamor is about. With fine Mexican ingredients put together to make a chocolate that will please your palate like no other, there needn’t be just one day to declare and share your love with your partner.  

Mentor: Candice Lopez