Steve Trapero - creative director, designer, photographer, teacher
steve trapero, 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.
Yvonne Xu - art director, graphic designer, teacher
though born in shenyang, china, yvonne has lived in los angeles since 1995, and considers it home. she studied graphic design at world famous art center college of design in pasadena, california.
in 2002, yvonne first met and studied under steve trapero when she took his logo class at art center. after that, yvonne began collaborating on a few projects with steve, which eventually lead them to forming exti dzyn (their previous business together), and now Pinnacle Design Center.
in addition, yvonne began teaching 2 college level web design classes in 2006 at california state polytechnic university, pomona, california.
at Pinnacle Design Center yvonne is the art director, in charge of administration, ongoing muse for steve’s photography work, and a class instructor.
yvonne’s interests include: cooking, traveling, being involved with her local church group, playing chess, movies, snow skiing, regularly reading the new york times, listening to audio books, collecting hotwheels, buttons, postage stamps, poker card sets, and funky purses.
