we are Pinnacle Design Center. we're a unique, creative business venture owned and operated by the award-winning husband and wife team, steve trapero and yvonne xu. the business has combined 3 of their passions under 1 roof! branding, photography and education. Pinnacle Design Center has several designers, interns, employees, and instructors involved with us at any given time. however, steve trapero and yvonne xu remain the driving force behind each arm of the business.
steve, a native of southern california, has lived on both the west and east coasts, and has traveled extensively throughout the united states, south america and asia. steve studied graphic design at world famous art center college of design in pasadena, california. in addition, steve has taught college level graphic design since 1995, starting at columbia union college in tacoma park, maryland. he then went on to teach at art center college of design for a few years, and pasadena city college, pasadena, california for 7 years. occasionally, he also lectures on graphic design, art in general, photography, and his interesting life experiences. 2005 marks the year steve took his hobby of photography, and began marketing and licensing it in conjunction with his design skills. steve's other hobbies include; fine dinning (and sometimes not so fine), traveling, movies, listening to and mixing music, theme party planning, playing chess, collecting foreign and domestic coins and currency, action figures, hotwheels, and stickers for his laptop.
90 + awards since 1995, including, print magazine, american corporate identity, graphic design:usa, creativity 27, logolounge 3, international logos & trademarks 4, associated church press, + various rockport publications. 100 + times published, in addition to work published in competitions, my design work has appeared in magazines and books by: rc publications, hearst books international, rockport publishers (u.s. + china), and pie books (japan).
advent source publishing alhambra sda church american college of cardiology american petroleum institute american public health association the art store aspen publishers atlantic richfield company bel air productions beth singer design capitol hill sda church carryoutsupplies.com certified fabricators, inc. cleopatra records clinical computer systems, inc. cooper square press david a. zuckerman, attorney at law derrydale books directors guild of america flight safety foundation greater los angeles zoo association groff creative, inc. guice advertising design harper collins publishers heavenspeak cards ivan r. dee publishers, inc. intersolv software litteral legends surfwear madison books marriott international, inc. humanities osborne / mcgraw-hill pacific press publishing association print media + design pro imaging lab review & herald publishing association rowman & littlefield publishers, inc. scarecrow press screen actors guild standard brands paint company taylor trade publishing thirteen36 toyota motor company truth + spirit urban junction east music vallejo drive sda church wax west hills hospital & medical center wrbs 95.1 fm - baltimore mcgraw-hill publishers mortgage bankers of america national clergy council national endowments of the arts
some would say that "branding" is simply a fancy way of saying "graphic design", but this really isn't the case! it would be like saying a brain surgeon is merely a doctor! branding is an emphasis on the development, implementation and expansion of a client's corporate identity. this includes graphic design, marketing. it is the foundation upon each company creates and builds it's marketing and collateral materials. although we specialize in branding, we do every type of graphic design with an equal award-winning level of expertise and attention to detail.
photography is something that started out as a hobby for steve trapero. in 2004, steve got his first digital camera, a lowly 3.2 megapixel point and shoot camera. a year later, and some 20,000 images shot, steve knew this was becoming more than a mere hobby. in 2005, steve licensed his first 3 images to book publishers. 2 years later, steve bought his next digital camera, a much higher end 9.1 megapixel camera. prior to 2007, steve had only taken one b&w film photography class, while studying graphic design at art center college of design. although he enjoyed the class immensely, he opted not to spend the thousands of dollars needed to be a serious photographer back then. in 2007, steve took his second photography class to refresh his understanding of manual settings, and to learn about studio lighting. today, steve continues to improve his skills and shoots an amazing variety of photographic genres, including abstract, commercial, children, food, product, creative, portrait, casual fashion, hi-fashion, glamour, bikini & swimsuit, lingerie, pin-up, fetish, goth, horror, cosplay, body painting, implied nudes, nudes, and erotica. keep this in mind when reviewing steve's work, the slideshow has quite a variety of samples, something from just about every category of which he shoots. enjoy!
this is an area that both yvonne xu and steve trapero have been involved in for many years, and are very excited about finally integrating this aspect into their business! steve began teaching college level graphic design in 1994 at columbia union college in washington dc. a few years after steve returned to los angeles, in 2001 he taught at art center college of design for a couple years teaching a class he created called, "logos + icons". simultaneously in 2001, steve began a 7 year teaching spree at pasadena city college. while teaching at pasadena city college, steve won his first award for teaching from the annual media arts competition. steve has also taught at some small private schools in the los angeles area, as well as tutored numerous students, helping them put together an entrance portfolio for art center college of design, and helping some graduates from other colleges that realized that their portfolios were not strong enough to get them a job. so they turn to steve to help them improve their portfolio, clean up their resumes, and get them jobs. yvonne has been working passionately since 2006 at cal poly pomona, primarily teaching website design. she has also had experience teaching at a small private art school before that, and has had some experience tutoring one-on-one.
summer, 2009 marks Pinnacle Design Center's launch of an exciting, new class, fashion modeling 101. creating and offering a modeling class is something we've considered for awhile. in 2008, Pinnacle Design Center was approached by 3 separate groups of people, each interested in partnering with us to create a modeling school. ultimately, we felt better off doing this mostly on our own. we are very pleased to announce that we've hired an exceptional model, actress, and modeling teacher, deanna noe to be our main instructor for this new course! in 1999, deanna noe began her modeling and acting career as a teenager in salt lake city, utah. she has done countless runway shows, print modeling jobs, acted in commercials and movies, and has taught modeling classes for a well-known, highly respected modeling school. in 2003, deanna relocated to the center of the high fashion industry, new york city. in addition to her former training, she gained more experience with editorial modeling, high fashion shoots, and numerous runway shows during fashion week in new york city. some of her credits include working with nicole miller, make up forever, vice magazine, prizy sebastian, collective 7 group, van van, paul mitchell, tigi and many more. in 2008, deanna moved to los angeles to pursue her passion in acting. although her focus is currently more on acting, she remains involved in doing high fashion shoots, commercial shoots, runway shows, and teaching. this class will introduce you to the fashion modeling industry. you will learn posture, walks and turns for the runway, social etiquette, public speaking, make-up and hair, wardrobe, posing in front of the camera, the business of modeling, building your portfolio, how to start your modeling career, contact info for over 100 los angeles modeling agencies, and much more.
I met Steve Trapero at exactly the right time. I was about to start my senior year in high school and just decided I wanted to turn my hobby of graphic design into a career. I thought about applying to Art Center College of Design, in Pasadena, but it was more of a wishful daydream than a serious goal. My lack of formal training seemed like a huge obstacle in my way. Meeting Steve changed everything. From the moment I first talked to him, I knew that as long as I worked hard, Art Center could very much become a reality. As a professional who's been in the industry for many years, and an amazing instructor, Steve worked with me to produce a portfolio I was proud of, that I could call my own, and in the amount of time that he promised, around 12 weeks. He taught me how to not only present my work effectively, but also to be a more confident person. Art and Design schools often require a portfolio that demonstrate a wide range of skillsets and a healthy amount of professionalism and Steve knows exactly what these institutions are looking for in students. Because of him, not only was I accepted into Art Center, I also entered the school with strong skill sets that helped me tremendously in my foundation terms. Art Center is a school that changed my life, but without Steve, I wouldn't be where I am today. Eric Hu "I first saw and picked up a flyer of Steve's at a tea house in San Gabriel. The flyer said that Steve was a graphic design teacher and said that he had 100% success rate with getting design students into Art Center College of Design. At the time, I only had a few pieces done for my portfolio and thought it would be helpful to be tutored by someone, so I grabbed a flyer intentionally. I kept that flyer in my purse for a long time. About a year later, I finally called Steve at Pinnacle Design Center when I felt better prepared to apply for Art Center. He turned out to be a really generous and helpful person, who really cared about me, my decisions and my educational goals. Steve tutored me for about 2 months. He is an excellent instructor, and our sessions were always interesting due to his knowledge and humorous personality. I learned more applied skills and methods for graphic design, such as typography, color theory, book binding, and even how to use a glue gun! Furthermore, Steve taught me the importance of craftsmanship and time management. In other words, he trained me thoroughly to be ready for Art Center. I used to be the type of person who literally threw my projects in my car and didn't protect them very well. But with Steve's help, I now keep all of my work clean and organized. In fact, every project I worked on with Steve turned out to be very well designed, well presented, and much more interesting to look at. When I had my portfolio completed and ready to apply for Art Center, I felt very confident! Now a student at Art Center, my craftsmanship skill are always very good. I feel really thankful to Steve, who has forever changed my life as a designer! So, like he claims in his ads and flyers, it is really true that Steve can get you into Art Center!" Patty King In 2004 I took a graphic design class that Steve Trapero used to teach at Pasadena City College. That was an eye opening and skill building experience. I learned so many different aspects of graphic design and the industry. Steve really hooked my interest, and I finally choose graphic design as my major in university. I ended up attending Cal State Fullerton and graduated in the summer of 2008 with my degree in graphic design. However, I still had a hard time finding work, and felt that my portfolio wasn't strong enough. So, I decided to take the portfolio building class with Steve to polish the pieces in my portfolio and create a few new ones as well. Between when I had first met Steve and when I was wanting his help with refining my portfolio, he and his wife Yvonne has started up Pinnacle Design Center. Its a great place to learn about art and graphic design! I did the portfolio class with Steve there. he is a teacher with a fun personality, years of award-winning graphic design experience, and will without a doubt help you take your work several notches up! His rich experience in graphic design, photographer and teaching not only make learning with him, fun, interesting and educational, but he also offers a wealth of other interesting life experiences that make his experience invaluable! He also has a great eye for catching imperfect details of a design project, yet with the ability to give wonderful alternative solutions to a particular problem. The environment at Pinnacle Design Center is very friendly, easy going and yet professional. It really makes learning very easy and a lot less stressful than other environments I've previously been exposed to! After the portfolio class with Steve, I started getting better offers and opportunities. I immediately landed an internship with a non-profit organization in Pasadena, from which I learned a lot, had fun, and began to learn how to deal with clients for the first time. Even at this stage, from time to time Steve would offer me advice and encourage me, long after I took his class. Currently, I am working as a graphic designer with a high end cosmetic company in Los Angeles and loving it! Thanks to Steve and Pinnacle Design Center, I was able to build up a great portfolio that has landed me a great job! Thank you Steve, I could not have done it without you! Phoebe Gao
if you need to get a hold of us for any other reasons, here is our contact information. thanks so much for stopping by our neck of the woods!