Jacobo Castañeda Paz · Strategist · Context Engineer · Creative Director & Head of Art
Jacobo Castañeda Paz strategist, context engineer, creative director and Head of Art, working from Guatemala City.
I have spent almost two decades where strategy, design and narrative cross. I started where everyone starts, learning the software and making the necessary mistakes, and grew into leading and mentoring large multidisciplinary teams as Head of Art. That full route, from junior to leader, is how I read a team: I can see each person's potential and what they need to do their best work. Being a boss and being a leader are different things, and the whole team feels the difference.
In one line
I founded BAIOLUX Labs in Guatemala City on one conviction: design is infrastructure, not decoration. Business by Design isn't a slogan; it's how I structure every project.
2005
First year of design school
2013
BAIOLUX Labs founded, July
15
Years of workshops, talks and mentoring
8th → 1st
Suzuki's regional ranking, in under a year
On leading
My job is to be a lighthouse. The designer's job is to navigate the storm and reach the harbor safely.
Being Head of Art isn't only having a good eye. It's finding the exact point between the client's vision, the agency's and your own, and guiding a team from seasoned directors to designers still discovering what they can do.
Recognition
Finalist, Bienal de Diseño de Madrid, 2012. Selected for BID12, the Ibero-American design biennial.
The route so far
From drawing pictures to drawing directions.
2005
Graphic design, Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala
Licenciatura with a multimedia emphasis, 2005–2010.
2008
Philosophy for the research and creation of art
Diploma at the Centro Cultural de España in Guatemala, 2008–2010.
2011
Creative writing for advertising and media
Diploma with UGAP, the Guatemalan union of publicists.
2012
Finalist, Bienal de Diseño de Madrid
Selected for BID12, the Ibero-American design biennial in Madrid.
2012
Motion graphics at Magnetico.tv
Illustrated and animated TV and social content for the country's second-largest telecom, until 2015.
2013
BAIOLUX Labs is founded
Officially and legally, in July, in Guatemala City: a studio for strategy, identity, illustration and experience design.
2016
Character design, Pictoplasma Academy
Character design studies with the Berlin-based school, 2016–2022.
2021
No-Ficción
A design system for the journalism site, and a business model for three new digital products.
2022
HEALI AI, Los Angeles
Brand voice and a redesigned app flow; a new core feature lifted in-app sales conversion by 18%.
2022
Banco Industrial
UX research coordinator until 2023: board-level culture workshops for digital transformation, fintech and remittance research.
2024
Head of Art for Suzuki and Honda
December 2024 to December 2025, with agency Peter Jordan: Suzuki went from eighth to first in the regional ranking.
2026
Context Engineer, WayFinder & VENA
Designing the systems where people and AI work together: a three-vector method for strategic clarity, and a creative infrastructure to produce at scale.
Practice
What I bring to the table.
- Research
- User research & interviews
- Usability testing
- Personas & journeys
- Future design
- Strategy
- WayFinder method
- Brand & comms strategy
- Business model design
- Context engineering
- Organizational culture
- Direction
- Art direction
- Creative direction
- Workshop facilitation
- Pitching
- Craft
- Branding & identity
- Illustration & character design
- Editorial, print & BTL
- Motion & sound
- UI design
- Tools
- Figma · Adobe CC
- Blender · Resolume
- Miro · Dovetail
- Midjourney · Runway
Along the way
Suzuki, Honda, Banco Industrial, Changan Guatemala, INTELAF, Italy Motors, HUSH App, The Odds, Heal App, Bank for Good, Casa Pensativa, CARTI, No-Ficción, Saúl E. Méndez, Municipalidad de Guatemala, Papila and many founders, publishers, musicians and nonprofits.
Workshops & talks
Fifteen years in front of students, professionals and teams. I care less about passing on information than about sparking perspectives: questions that keep growing after the microphone is off.
Off the clock
Capoeira, music, painting, sculpture and science-fiction writing. Fueled by coffee and a soft spot for space and animals.
Let's talk
Where are you headed? Let's find your north together.