Gerry Villareal

Gerry Villareal is an art director and designer. His work displays an elegant simplicity that is a result of careful deliberation and editing. To Gerry, achieving simplicity involves a reductive process: to distill an idea or concept to its essence and to build from there. It comes from a desire for clarity—a big differentiator in the increasing complexity of our world. Gerry believes in holistic approaches to branding and marketing. He identifies the larger context of everything he creates, a skill he cultivated through diverse design and marketing experiences. Intrigued by new technologies and media, Gerry believes in being creatively and intellectually nimble, and thus stays open and adaptable to new ideas. He strives to find the synergies fostered through collaboration and seeks to ally himself with people who have a distinct vision, such that everyone involved has a chance to learn from each other and move a project forward.

An early technical role at Emigre started Gerry’s path into the creative world. He then moved to New York in the mid-90s to work with creative director Fabien Baron, whose clients include Calvin Klein and Giorgio Armani. After five years atBaron & Baron, Gerry went on to collaborate with Visionaire, We Are Plus, and other studios. He spent a few seasons with MAC Cosmetics as international design director before joining David Lipman’s boutique advertising agency. In his four years as associate creative director at Lipman, Gerry serviced a host of fashion and luxury brands such as St. John, Burberry, David Yurman, and De Beers, as well as hospitality and other industries. As head of design, he conceived, developed, and managed the execution of materials ranging from advertising, corporate identity, web, packaging and collateral. Now located in the San Francisco Bay Area, Gerry continues to work with clients in New York and contracts with local companies such as Apple Inc., DraftFCB, and Millions of Us. He has extensive experience working on both the retail and agency sides of many brands, as well as a diverse range of freelance assignments for clients of all sizes.http://five.com/gerry/