Cihuapilli Rose Amador LeBeau interviews Carlos Pérez (Mexica/Chicano), Art Director and ArtOrigin on Native Voice TV.

Rose asks Perez about how he started to be an artist. Perez speaks much about his aunts from Jalisco, Mexico where he was born and how they made him attend every Saturday at the age of seven an art class taught by a teacher and artist.

Perez gives details of his of his journey from Mexico to Silicon Valley. He speaks about his apprenticeship with the top ‘Silcon Valley’ advertising agency, Regis McKenna, for six months, after he graduated from San José State University, Graphic Design and Fine Art Departments in 1974. He had 4.0 GPA,
Academic Achievement Honor, and Dean’s Scholar Award. Rose asks Pérez about this ‘Mysterious Napkin’ which turns out to be the final draft of the Apple Logo.

In 1977, Pérez and Rob Janoff were colleagues at Regis McKenna. Janoff designed the Apple mark, while Pérez created its initial rendering and master artwork. Pérez also rendered the typographical solutions that would accompany the Apple logo brand, designed and art directed the first Apple newsletter, created the masthead and co-designed the first Apple magazine. He inked all of this by hand, relying on his mastery of drafting and illustration techniques, because the hardware and applications now ubiquitous in the realm of graphic design simply did not yet exist.

Fresno (CMAC 93) Educational Channel 93
of  Native Voice TV shows four times a week
(Monday, Wed., Friday & Sat.) at 5PM.