Honda Autos y Motos (C.A.)
Honda what it means to be Head of Art: a lighthouse for the team, not a stamp on their work.
The role
Being Head of Art isn't only having a good eye. It's inhabiting a political space where too much pressure crushes and too little transforms nothing, and guiding the team from the exact point between client, agency and your own vision.
Real creative leadership isn't about imposing an aesthetic. It's recognizing each person's potential and pushing them past the point where they had settled.
01 · NAVI
“Go wherever you want.” A simple brief, and a talented designer delivering average results.
I saw his intention and found the problem: a gap between the branding being projected and what the audience actually lived.
I gave him back focus, Honda's tradition of cheerful, casual, genuine characters, and added a layer of contemporary imagery from gaming and K-pop. One reference key visual, one good coaching session, and he made it his own.
Designer input01
Art direction input02
Published03
02 · Christmas
No concept, no clear objective, just one line: “The end of the year is in the air.” That line was everything.
My obsession is making an image felt, not just seen: almost haptic, with texture, temperature and movement. Two references met: Tadao Cern's Blow Job series (2012), faces deformed by the force of air, and the involuntary humor of 90s family Christmas portraits.
We couldn't show a rider speeding down a street without compromising the safety narrative. So we put him in the living room, in the classic family photo, as the only one hit by the wind. Who lives Christmas most intensely and who lives the Honda experience? The same person. Twice.
Designer input01
Air as a physical force + the solemn 90s family photo
References02
Published03
The work
Head of Art · Campaigns · Key visuals · Team coaching
The result
A campaign that stood out against the competition and inside the corporation itself. My job is to be a lighthouse. The designer's job is to navigate the storm and reach the harbor safely.
Across the year: motorcycles, cars and out-of-home, one Head of Art. The same effect we saw with Suzuki repeated here.
Next case study
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