My name is Jonathan Lopez, and I am a design leader based in New Orleans. Over the past ten years, I have held two roles that are normally carried out by two different individuals: establishing brand strategy and carrying out the work that results from it.
I take part in a discovery workshop, help identify gaps in a company’s positioning, and then move on to the design system that gets applied in the real world.
I’m the son of immigrant parents who wanted me to pursue a practical career. That ranged from law enforcement and medicine to general contracting and architectural drafting. None of which ever quite materialized. However, during my drafting education, seeds were being planted that would launch my freelance career.
While I was working part-time as a table waiter, my restaurant manager asked if I knew anyone who could hand-letter a chalkboard menu. I told him I could, even though I had no experience. I just knew I had a steady hand and I was pretty decent at sketching. That single chalkboard gig grew into a small side business where I hand-lettered menus and signage all over New Orleans.
In college, I found my passion in brand identity. I branded a coffee shop, a Cajun smokehouse, created artwork for wine labels, and painted a handful of murals. Pretty quickly, I was juggling clients and solving real-world design problems, all while I was still a full-time student.
In 2016, I launched CRATE, a boutique full-service creative studio. I realized that no matter which industry a prospective client operates in, the problem is always the same: they know what they’re trying to do and can’t yet see it or say it. My goal is to translate their vision into something the world can recognize and trust.
When the pandemic hit, the clients I’d built my business around saw their marketing budgets cut almost overnight. I pivoted and started leaning into brand strategy. My thought was that if I was to invest in addressing gaps in their visual communications, I at least owed it to my clients to help them think clearly about who they actually served and why.
These days, I’m half of the two-person in-house design team at Cint, a global B2B restech company in consumer insights and media measurement. I co-led a full brand refresh from early concepting through global rollout, and I’m the one who carries the system across every surface the company shows up on: events, video, print, and the site itself.
Don’t take my word for it; see what clients have to say. See the work.
Want to collaborate?
Reach out if you think we’d make a good fit.