burlao
For over a decade, I’ve contributed to companies large and small. My work spans across digital product, brand identity, and art direction. As part of recidiviz, I design practical systems that actively reduce the amount of people incarcerated in the U.S.
Outside of my career, you’ll find me reading esoteric essays, tinkering with cameras, or practicing Muay Thai. I spent my childhood in the Caribbean and my adolescence in California so I find rainy days beautifully nostalgic but cold winters really f* me.
Projects
Digital products aimed at systemic criminal justice issues in order to reduce the amount of people incarcerated in the U.S. Since 2019, I've worked on the product strategy, brand ethos, digital design system, website, and team operations. Credits: Sonia Chokshi, Ian MacFarland, Allison Chan, William DeShazer
Logo and brand work for a community made up of students, educators, writers, engineers, historians, activists, and scientists – all coming together to reimagine techno-optimism for a better collective future.
Logo explorations for a venture capital studio based in New Mexico.
As part of a national initiative to enhance the consistency and transparency of data in the criminal justice system, our goal was to build a platform for gathering essential data from criminal justice agencies across the nation and get them into the hands of policymakers to support more informed decision-making.
Advisory brand work for a venture capital studio investing in deep–tech projects.
Concepts for Matter, a reading tool that chooses agency over algorithm and quality over recency. Anchored to the onboarding experience, the design harmonized typography with minimal illustrations to guide the user along core functionality while conveying the tool's values.
Creative and art direction for a series of portraits. Credits: William DeShazer
Digital product design for a social fitness mobile app. As an offshoot experiment from 2020's mental health initiative, its aim was to encourage and support a long-distance community of walkers.
Early product design work for a human resources platform aiming to improve the hiring process, from initial application to offer.
Product design work for affordable dental hygiene. I worked on early conceptual models for the brand and customer experience as well as the staff and admin workflows.
Logo concepts for a silk goods brand.
Online publication that provides informed analysis of US national elections.
Graphic design for a philanthropic venture funding science and technology research initiatives.
Photography and art direction for a cannabis brand that celebrates artistry and emphasizes excellence. Credits: Kate Moore, Ron Brandon
Digital product design for a set of tools that correctional workers used to track and anticipate the impact of Covid-19 inside of prison facilities. Used in all 50 states, the toolkit allowed users to: 1) project cases, hospitalizations, and deaths among both staff and the incarcerated population, 2) compare before-and-after scenarios for policy changes and early release decisions and, 3) model the current rate of spread and trajectory of the outbreak in each facility. Credits: C. Andrew Warren, Clementine Jacoby, Joshua Essex
Digital product and brand identity design for a wellness platform. Conceived as an iOS app, the audio-first anonymous community focused on mental health and emotional support.
Inline with its values, the harmful “endless feed” of information was omitted by design. The ephemeral content that took its place emphasized accessibility to marginalized people, especially the visually impaired. Service was supported for 2 years before shutting down in 2022.
Product growth work for a financial platform positioned as infrastructure during the rise of the legal cannabis industry. Archival in progress...
Website for two friends who set out across America to better understand each other and the country they love.
A scalable and extensible visual language for the world's leading unmanned aircraft management platform.
To create a balanced environment for local residents, we designed an open-source and free-to-use platform that leveraged publicly available data to inform city planners, investment firms, and activists alike.
As part of a larger 'smart cities' initiative, this was an experiment to use real world rewards to incentivize alternate modes of transportation for daily commuters.
Changing the way the world moves through everyday acts of cooperation. I was the lead designer across all growth initiatives where we raised the monthly active users from 55M to 110M and formed partnerships with local agencies internationally. Archival of further work in progress. Credits: Haraldur Thorleifsson, Dominic Flask, Robin Noguier
Following hurricane Maria, my brother and I embarked on a mission to raise $10k worth of relief and personally deliver over 350 industrial-grade water filters. The journey took us across 10 of the most impacted towns in Puerto Rico as we formed partnerships with on-site military units, World Central Kitchen, The Home Depot, and Sam's Club. We named the project Clean Water Fund.
Design and development for a self-service asset generator. Credits: Lemuel R. Bezares
A cloud-based networking management platform positioned as an alternative to Cisco. I worked in the product design team as a visual and interaction designer.
Archival in progress...
Side Projects
Just some bird pics.
Photo documentation of photosynthetic organisms (leaves and whatnot).
A succulent brand for a good friend and family-owned business based in California's San Joaquín Valley. Credits: Risewise
Landing page for a noncomformist internet marketing agency. Credits: Lemuel R. Bezares
Early concepts and web domain research for a collaborative adventure dungeon crawler game.
Work Experience
We build practical systems that actively reduce the amount of people incarcerated in the U.S. As head of design, I am responsible for the product and brand experience across all touch points. Check out our team page to learn more.
Product and brand work for select clients only.
① Growth and brand design (Waze)
② Product design (Area 120)
2015, Enterprise UX, Aerohive (💀)
2015, Design Research, GOTO
2012, Art Direction, Curran & Connors
2006, Imagemaking with Photoshop
1996, Game concepts and design
Education
Teams
