There once was a brief asking for ideas and a mood-board, creative suggestions, about what to do with an unattended Coca-Cola owned room, right inside Six Flags Over Georgia, on the outskirts of Atlanta. Used mostly for storage and ripe to do “Something” under these directives:

1) Need for low maintenance and durability, in an area with
a lot of foot traffic and lots of very energized young costumers

2) Meet Coke’s brand standards and personality, product attributes and visual identity, get buy-in from all departments and the parks management

3) Make it interactive and fun at a low cost

This brief gave us a perfect opportunity for a lift-me-up via good old Coke fun and Coke’s real magic new ethos, giving life to the The Coke Corner ‘s Fizzy Room.

An invitation for play and curiosity, where two simple notions, the infinite depth of a Coke bottle and the elevating effervescence of a fresh Coke’s pop, create a space of illusion, where visitors can find themselves entering an infinite Coke bottle or floating-up-inside and walking over anamorphic bubbles, that come together at unexpected camera angles.

Concept: Gaspar Guerra

Experience design:
Gaspar Guerra, Zully Beltre, Kenyon Smith and Celine Moumne at CSM

Illustrations: Zuly Beltre and Gaspar Guerra

3D Illustrated Elements: Kenyon Smith

Production art: Gaspar Guerra & C2 Imaging

Print: C2 Imaging

Print installation: Michelle Chornobey at Fusion Imaging

Fabrication and electric: Rohit Kapoor

Agency management leads:
Stephanie Smilowitz
Rikesh Buddhdev
Bridget Zima

Illuminarium (the place of light) is an original concept by Radical Media and The Rockwell Group and the most innovative proposition out there for indoor entertainment and storytelling. Driven by the will to democratize and give access to the world’s wonders, Illuminarium uses light, first captured and then projected, to bring the most amazing places, people and experiences to a fully immersive environment where projections, sound and modular props give visitors the opportunity to experience the best of reality in a unique, heightened way that can’t be found anywhere else.

It didn’t take much to make light front and center of Illuminarium’s visual identity. A rich, yet elemental concept, light in its many forms and behaviors drove all the visual language of the brand, yielding an endless amount of elements and uses that are incredibly expressive but become consistent thanks the common element that creates it all. Light.

Scene in Black is HBO/HBO Max’s home for black creators, change-agents, tastemakers, doers and dreamers. Leveraging HBO/HBO Max’s rich history in amplifying Black stories and talent, Scene in Black spotlights visionaries, and emerging talent, and collectively promotes and supports the telling of stories from the Black perspective.

Our approach to the visual identity was driven by three essential premises:

1) Be uniquely and authentically black. Familiar but not old school or nostalgic.

2) Brand assets for today’s medium landscape, social media ready filters, animations, overlays, and framing alternatives that anyone can use from their phones.

3) Highlight the talent. Finding a distinctly “Scene in Black” use of graphic elements combined with video and photography that brings focus onto the creators themselves. Recognizable yet understated

Gucci Changemakers mission is to increase inclusion and diversity within the fashion world, and they wanted to ensure the launch film to attract the next generation of industry-changing applicants upheld the same commitment to diversity and inclusion as the program itself.

This film features individuals who have been supported by the Gucci Changemakers program, extending an invitation to the viewers to see themselves reflected not only in the video, but at the forefront of change in the industry. With a future-forward perspective, this film champions the idea of embracing yourself to move with radical freedom in a world that often says “no” to difference.

Welcome to the Tokyo Vice Takeover, take a deep dive into the gritty, neon drenched world of HBO’s Tokyo Vice.

For one day and one night the Tokyo Vice Takeover brought Little Tokyo, LA back to the gritty 90’s. It all started with a scavenger hunt through different Little Tokyo businesses, where two teams of influencers found the clue for a magical night at the the legendary and revitalized “Far Bar”, bringing Little Tokyo to the center of LA’s hip.

The “Little Tokyo” community embraced and benefitted from the activation which had a big focus on highlighting and educating about the API community and small businesses in Little Tokyo, LA and Sawtelle’s Japan Town. Far Bar’s owner was so pleased with the lift we gave to the venue that requested that no decor elements, branded or not, were removed from the façade, interior bars and outdoor alley.

After snapping the gorgeous 281 Park Avenue South from the hands of grifter Anna Delvey and undergoing a full renovation Fotografiska New York opened its doors in December of 2019. Less than four months later, the covid-19 pandemic shut their doors right back. Yet, Fotografiska had already built a community and withstood the worst of the lockdown thanks to the internet and their rule-breaking approach to art and museography.

This videos pay homage to the pillars that held the young museum through the worse of the pandemic and hold the Fotografiska brand today: the community that stands by, the art that, wether online or in-person, stays always relevant and speaks to the moment, the environment, gorgeous catalyzer of joy and wonder through art, architecture, food and drinks, and unforgettable experiences, and last but not least the core idea of an out-of-the-ordinary museum where everything gives everyone the perfect excuse to be fully themselves.

Creative Direction: Gaspar Guerra
Agency: CSM
Director: Tobias Nathan
Production: Matte Projects
Producer - Brigitte Bishop

Director of Photography - Htat Htut
Editor: Sean Fazende
Cutdowns: Gaspar Guerra

Sound Design + Mix - Bobb Barito
Color - Olivia Peters

During my time with the good folks at Broadstreet I had the chance to participate on a couple of exiting projects for Konica Minolta, a dynamic and evolving corporation that's expanding its portfolio from the printing business to the technology services, cloud computer and IT businesses. Clever marketing and excellence in design are some of the tools driving the brand to greater heights. 

Taking on the visual refresh of a world class sports institution is a scary and challenging task. We went through endless hours of research, sketching and prototyping before even daring to show anything to the team managers.

While the initial brief asked us to graphically modify the team's crest in order to avoid counterfeiting and increase accurate reproducibility, we took our task a little further by proposing a major change: Replacing the traditional ASR wordmark with the word "Roma" and the team's founding year. This idea lined up perfectly with the team's objective of expanding as a brand and become a global household name, our proposal was accepted and the rest is history. 

Brand Strategist: Pam Harris
Creative Direction & Design: Gaspar Guerra

The CSM team and I had the unique opportunity of helping Bitfry Game Studios bring to life their flagship project “Ultimate rivals”, a video game that brings the best athletes of every sports league into a series of enhanced game fields. The unique aesthetic of the game provided the building blocks for an equally unique approach to brand and design system development. There’s no substitute for working alongside such talented artists and creatives, willing to explore and challenge conventional thinking, who leave no stone unturned and let no detail slide.

Creative direction, logo design and dimensional logos: Yours truly
Art direction and design system: Sara Healy
Marketing and web design: Luigi Fulinello, Gaspar Guerra and Sarah Healy

Agency: CSM North America

Textile & Design

Inspired by Combray's core activity, embroidered fabrics for interiors, furniture and decoration; my clients and I decided to use graphic representations of threads, beads, patches and textures. We aimed for a branding system that conveyed and combined Combray's contemporary design style and their love an deep respect for traditional craftsmanship and hand embroidery.

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Crow Collective makes essential, versatile clothes that can be used on any occasion. Clothes that make you FEEL FREE.

A broad directive like this drove the design of CrowCollective.com to generate a wide range of assets; Cinemagraphs, handwritten banners and interchangeable logos that vary depending on the platform used to visit the site, the different garments and the day of the week. Expressions of freedom, flexibility and organicism. 
 

More than a brand, Crow Collective offers an eclectic lifestyle for those adventurers that discover themselves through living and experiencing. Those who live freely and FEEL FREE.

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I was delighted to collaborate with the good friends at Debrain in establishing Lift’s brand and visual identities, and materialize them in an interactive toolkit that allows for easy sharing of communication guidelines and assets, gives Lift’s associates and the company’s media creators a common tone of voice and visual language, and engages lift’s audience in a meaningful and true manner, that has grown and strengthened the brand’s community and their loyalty.

Litoral is the point were opposites meet in harmony, the shifting edge were complementaries collide in a furious balance. Litoral's music is that perfect spot were the analogue and the electronic comfortably fuse, were the groove of tropical beats embrace the heartless frequencies of the machine. It is at once union and contradiction, heart and brain, mundane and divine, alien and familiar, soothing and wrecking like a gothic teenager singing loolabyes to an African grandma. 

I had the luck of being selected as motion designer for the Dos Almas Films documentary "I Am Migration". By giving away DNA tests on a road trip throughout the US , “I Am Migration” shows how the USA are a nation built by immigrants where almost nobody has 100% American genes.
The subject of the film is very close to my heart and the producers were incredibly receptive to pursue a style that wasn’t the most obvious choice.
We decided on an aesthetic that's reminiscent of the conquest of the American west, thus reinforcing the fact that immigration is the heart and soul of the nation and has always been.

Director: Paola Baldion
Dos Almas Films

From the idea of "Meet the Moment" DEBRAIN studio created a cross media campaign that spins around the user generated content website meetthemoment.com. "People can upload photos, play around with type to immortalize their moments of athletic adventure as fun postcards and finally give back to nature and communities. CLIF Bar donates $5 dollars to an environment oriented NFP of the user's choosing. If the site reaches the intended 10.000 uploads the donations will be doubled."

This project won an Applied Arts Magazine award, was selected "Site of the day" by CommunicationArts.com and the Best Web Design Awards, won a W3 silver Award, was featured in the AIGA member gallery and was the people's choice at the TheFWA's public shortlist.

Los Herederos (the inheritors) combines an interdisciplinary approach to documentary storytelling with digital/multi-media resources to amplify the voices of a new wave of New York City-based heritage bearers finding their roots in the traditions of their ancestors.

Los Herederos branding reflects the organization's philosophy through simplicity, inclusiveness and flexibility on each one of its elements. The design is supported by the idea of cultural heritage as a force that passes on, dives under and resurfaces constantly and cyclically, even beyond linguistic and geographic barriers.  

losherederos.org

National Train Day is Amtrak's largest marketing initiative and the greatest day of the year for America's train lovers. DEBRAIN created these promos as a homage to trains, train crews, Amtrak employees and train travelers.
The promos showcase Amtrak's services and attributes with America's stunning landscapes as background.

The 2014 NY/NJ Super Bowl Host Committee came to us with the idea of using their space at Super Bowl Boulevard (35th street & Broadway) to highlight the wonders of New York State. My team and I took this simple directive and turned it into a fully immersive audiovisual experience that delighted tourists and New Yorkers alike. The Video Park  allowed them to experience first hand what it feels to fly over NYC, ski down White Mount in the Adirondacks, kayak through Lake Placid, ride a train through the Hudson Valley, people watch in Soho or drive from Harlem to Downtown Manhattan in less than 10 seconds.

No better playing field than big brands exploring the underworld.

Gaming, e-sports, fight-game tournaments are just examples of terminology to describe what The Coca-Cola Company is about today. Working from the ground up Coca-Cola’s inroads in the gaming world are bringing the brand into unexplored territories, and allowing Coke’s cheeky side to shine through. The brand’s been betting on, and funding, events and competitions that highlight inventiveness, entrepreneurship, modern skills and street grit. Events that deliver authentic, unfiltered and memorable experiences to its attendees. Events that place the Coke brand at the forefront of the e-sports industry and the future of sports, culture and business one more time. Events like “Good Game ATL” where we had the pleasure of creating the arena for not-so-far dystopian future, that delivered lots of fun, and brought the fight-games competition to its rightful setting, in a hidden fight club, deep in the gutter of Atlanta.

Original idea and Strategy: Zach Solomon @csm

Creative direction, art direction, graphic design and video environments:
Yours truly @csm

Environmental design: Kenyon Smith @csm

Production and AV; CSM and CSM Production

FANIA Records called me up to create and direct a 12 minute video to go along the launch of the Hammock House Africa-Caribe album (mixed and produced by Joaquin "JOE" Claussell). 
Within a period of four weeks my team and I wrote, pre-produced, shot, edited, illustrated and animated this clip. The clip portrays, in a non-linear and non-realistic fashion, a day in the life of "JOE" as he roams through the latin and african faces of New York City, observing and participating, through music and images, of the past and present of these realities

Cinematography: Kay Hung
Editing and Motion graphics: Richard Hawkins
Production: Trilce Ortiz & Gaspar Guerra
Direction and Illustrations: Gaspar Guerra

Fund a Mental Health Revolution is FUNDAMENTAL 's moto and mission.

FUNDAMENTAL is a continuous crowdfunding campaign to support the research that leading scientists around the world are doing to treat mental health issues with psychedelic-assisted treatments.

I was deeply honored to participate of this noble cause, and interact in the process with some of the brightest minds and most forward thinking scientists of our time.

Our strategy was to tone down the visual language associated to psychedelics in order to make it more institutional and approachable to a general public, while sticking to essential ideas that are core to the psychedelic culture; spirituality, consciousness, awareness, connectedness and self-reliance.

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Experiential marketing agency Creative Riff got in touch looking to overhaul their brand and seeking a visual identity that would speak to their main clientele; entertainment brands.

We focused on the love for artfulness and craft common to these brands, as well as on their mission to engage and delight their public through powerful stories with emotional appeal. These are the core pillars of Creative Riff’s brand expression and the drivers of the agency’s motto: Unique experiences. Connections that last.

CreativeRiff.com

Creative direction, brand strategy and design: Yours truly
Copy and Tone of Voice: Charlotte Kelly
Web development: Julian Ospina

Deep inside the raw and hidden chambers of Manhattan's 33rd street Post Office Landmark building, my team and I created this multiscreen immersive environment, designed to host the launch of 2012 Amtrak's National Train Day and the beginning of works at the Moynihan Station Transportation Hub.
A V.I.P. dinner was hosted within the horseshoe screen configuration as the plans and renderings for the future transportation hub were revealed and Amtrak speakers delighted the public with their expertise in transportation, food and the huge advantages of train travel.

When Trip's Kitchen founder Matthew got in touch I wasn't sure this was the project for me, I've never been a fan of weed based edibles and didn't want to make a disservice to a client. However we agreed to meet and sample the products; to my surprise I realized that the weed bit was only a component, what Matthew and Trip's were all about was food: healthy, wholesome, made-with-care, delicious food. Matthew's philosophy and talent for food making convinced me that I shouldn't pass on the chance of developing Trip's branding.

After a few rounds of design that ranged from old school Americana to bubble-gum pop and family–legacy type of products we both felt inclined toward the slightly psychedelic, odd and yet earthy, friendly and inviting brand you're looking at.   

It is known amongst many Amazonian tribes that the "Curupira" is the guardian of nature, the protector of the rainforest and the animals of the jungle. Curupira is also the name and spirit of one the bands that set the parameters for the birth of the "New wave of Colombian Music" 15 years ago.  La Gaita Fantástica (The Magic Flute) is Curupira's latest album and perhaps their most risky and innovative work to date. 

We looked for an artwork that could communicate the richness of Curupira's sound; deeply rooted in Colombia's most popular and traditional rhythms and heavily influenced by modern jazz, rock and contemporary experimental music. An artwork where the mystery and mysticism of the Amazon meet the energy, flamboyance and techy vibes of the big city and the electronic sounds of today.

Art Direction and Styling: Gaspar Guerra
Photography: Giuliano Ferreira

For their 50th anniversary in 2014, FANIA Records returned to New York, the city that gave it birth, the home of "Latin Boogaloo" and  the "Salsa" boom of the 70's. SummerStage honored the label's legacy with a series of concerts and events while FANIA tackled on their younger audience with a series of "Armada FANIA" parties throughout the summer.
My team and I had the honor and pleasure of participating of such memorable summer by filming, designing, animating and even building all the creative elements of both event series. From digital flyers to stage and merch booth design, 2014 was one of the most exhausting and rewarding summers of our lives.

It all began with the question:"If an album is made of several songs, why not of several covers?". Starting with a typographic design with the album's title, a series of 15 CD covers (with budget for 1) were designed as a puzzle for the same album "Ten Cuidado" (Be careful), for urban-salsa band "La-33". A translucent paper jacket unified the look of the CDs. The idea was to give several cover options to the public, and at the same time use the potential of the "puzzled cover" idea to create a cross-media product (web, packaging, merchandise, print)built over time. Our bet was curiosity will make people look for the whole of the product. It has worked well so far! 

Concept, Design & Illustrations: Gaspar Guerra
Production: Cecilia Rocca & La - 33

From its inception in 2013,  "Armada FANIA", a touring club & Pop-Up store, has expanded exponentially and turned into FANIA's signature initiative amongst the label's younger public. "Armada FANIA" has brought together some of the foremost musicians, DJ's and producers of today's Latin-Alternative music scene in the U.S. and Latin América and made thousands of people dance to free versions and remixes of FANIA's cult catalogue of Latin Music.

Marketing Concept: FANIA Records
Creative Direction, Illustrations, Stage Visuals & Video: Gaspar Guerra
Video: Ignacio Linares, Nicolas Ulloa, Juan Forero
VJ's & Animators: Pablo Gnecco & Nicolas Ulloa
 

For the fourth year on a row LeadDog Marketing Group and it's creative branch DEBRAIN were chosen to create and produce the Syfy upfront party. Working in tandem with experiential artist Pablo Gnecco, DEBRAIN developed an interactive video wall that provided attendants with a fun and innovative experience.

Creator: Pablo Gnneco
Art Direction: Gaspar Guerra
Technology: WorldStage Inc.

Legendary Puerto Rican reggae band, Cultura Profética, approached me with the challenge of creating a cohesive visual identity for the band that was easily recognizable by their fans in the United States, Latin America and several European countries.

Given the multiplicity of languages that this entailed my recommendation was creating a logomark that conveyed their Puerto Rican origins and was simple enough for anybody to pronounce in any given language, the letters C for Cultura and PR for profetica and Puerto Rico (which all together also stand for resuscitation in english), combined with the star of the Puerto-Rican flag provided the elements for a balanced and high contrast logo design, easily translatable into many types of media and applications. 

The brand strategy has reported great success and efficiency. Since the implementation of their new branding the crowd goes crazy at the end of every concert yelling their lungs out so that all you can hear is their roaring approval... CPR!, CPR!, CPR! 

Creative Direction & Design: Gaspar Guerra
Web Programming: Nicolas Ulloa

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DËBRAIN partnered with the leading advocacy non-profit group The Committee to Protect Journalists to create speakjustice.org, a platform that serves as a call-to-action for Voices Against Impunity; voices that break the cycle by demanding justice for murdered journalists, empower impactful reporting and shield reporters from reprisal. Consumers could join CPJ’s quest for justice and defend our collective right to information.

Ever-Challenging La-33 came to me one more time looking for a unique recording package design. They wanted hand drawings, the band members to be highlighted and the notions of free-roaming and wondering about as main thematic. The solution I was able to offer made the packaging a moving and interactive piece inspired by the wheel books of our childhood and the hypnotic force of simple optical illusions.

180-degree photo booth created suspended animations of party guests, images were then superimposed onto different futuristic landscapes and projected on the walls of the atrium. 
Unexpected extras such as paper flowers and 3D type added an onbrand feeling to the space.

Client: SyFy
Venue: MoMA
Agency: DEBRAIN, a division of LeadDog Marketing
Creative Direction: Federico Gomez & Gaspar Guerra
Event Design: Rachael Fry
Motion Graphics: Santiago Castaño, Nicolas Ulloa & Michiko Yamaji
Video Production: Digital Air
A/V & Programming: WorldStage

2008 Latin Grammy Awards nominee,  "Best recording Package", Award to the art director

La - 33 is no ordinary salsa band, sons of the mountains and the urban atmosphere, la - 33 lives, sounds and talks about the big city life, keeping the groove and flavor of the Caribbean shore. 

Taking a humorous and somewhat cheeky approach we used the word Salsa in its literary sense, sauce. Ketchup is called "Salsa de Tomate" in many Latin American countries and the classic Heinz label gave a perfect frame to play with food and music analogies, specifically "Sabor" (flavor), that refers to groovy music as much as it does to good food. 

 

Artvertising pieces made for Absolut vodka and restaurante urbano in Bogota, Colombia, the pieces reflected the urban-kitsch style of the restaurant, while playing with the iconic bottle as an item of religious faith. We used shape related religious figures, placed in front of the bottle's silhouette to make it work as the aura of the saints and the virgin. 

The main piece was afterward published as a postcard and featured on the book Absolut Latin America. 

Original Idea: Ivan Ulloa
Art Direction: Gaspar Guerra & Ivan Ulloa
Illustrations & Graphic design: Gaspar Guerra
Production: Ivan Ulloa
Production Assistants: Tabita Serrano & Natalia Cuellar

FANIA Anthology was one of the last CD collections released by FANIA before going 100% digital and it was also one of my first jobs for the label. It was thrilling to have access to the label's magnificent photography archives and work close to the great musical talents I grew up listening to.
FANIA wanted the collection to move away from the "academic" and "classic" look and content that characterized prior collections and present a somewhat grittier facet of its artists; after all FANIA's music was originally born in the streets of Harlem and the Bronx and talked to and about the struggling Latino immigrants in the US. The release of the "FANIA Anthology" albums brought a considerable increase in the label's sales and more importantly helped a younger audience reconsider their perception of the label.

Plastic Caramelo is a multidisciplinary art project led by musical producer and film editor Christian Castagno. At its core, the project is a parody of the pop music industry and the mass production culture, a sarcastic expression of our own shallowness and materialistic take on modern life. 

A mix of tropical rhythms and NYC glamour, the term "Glampeta" (Glamour and Champeta) synthesizes what Plastic Caramelo's music and looks are all about, having a good time while criticizing and making fun of anything and everything.

Musical director & Producer: Christian Castagno
Performers and Vocals: Teas, Lenka,  Eddie White & Gasparhymes.

The TV ONE team was looking for an engaging activation at their 2016 upfront events that could push through their new motto: "REPRESENT". We came up with a live mural that was completed throughout two days of events. The mural combined different techniques borrowed from street art like wheatpaste and spray painting to depict iconic figures of the African American culture and the most prominent programming of the network. The public participated enthusiastically of the mural's creation by answering the question "How do I represent?" and drawing or writing their answers in designated areas. Everybody had fun and helped us finish the piece. 

The design and wheatpaste decals were created by yours truly and the painting and lettering came from the unstopable @dis_satisfied at no entry design.

Cross media campaign for the launch of MSG Network's original show "50 Greatest Moments at Madison Square Garden". We got to play around with the world famous arena's matchless photographic archive and wrap Midtown Manhattan with some of the most memorable moments in the music, sports and arts of the 20th Century.

Creative Direction: Federico Goméz
Art Direction & Graphics: Gaspar Guerra
Photography: George Kalinsky & MSG Archives

Tumbacatre's main musical influences are drawn from the folk and traditional rhythms of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of Colombia. However, their subjects, harmonies and melodies take bits and pieces of a broad array of musical and ideological influences such as punk rock, rock'n roll, soul music and Arab music. Their lyrics talk humorously about dark and even sordid subjects found in the contemporary urban life, a mix of influences that led us to try choose the use of conflicting concepts for the album's cover, the result was a cute/macabre mating dance were skulls wear traditional dresses from the Colombian's Pacific region of Choco.

VitaminWater partnered with Knick's player David Lee for a New York promotion that celebrated Lee's famously peculiar hairdos. My team and I created a website that allowed people to create and submit different hairdos for the player and also upload and share their own pictures.  Grow, cut, dye and brush hairs was even more fun thanks to the the help, or pressure, of some rather unexpected sidekicks. 

Lee ended up getting the most voted hairdo in a public event at Freeman's alley's Barber shop.

Creative direction: Federico Gomez
Design and Art Direction: Gaspar Guerra
3D Graphics: World Leaders Entertainment
Programming: Michelle Rueda