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El Presidente

Jose Caballer is Co-Founder and CEO of THE_GROOP, an award-winning digital design firm in downtown Los Angeles specializing in interactive design solutions for Web, TV and Mobile.

Growing up in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, Jose developed his visual acumen at an early age (he handcrafted a race track and cars out of river clay and cardboard shoe boxes). He quickly developed an appetite for entrepreneurism as well, selling Star-Wars replica space ships made out of chipboard, foam and paper to his 6th and 7th grade classmates (Darth Vader’s Imperial Transport was his top seller). He figures that’s why he gravitated to a career in digital media because of the blinking lights, sounds and visuals that it combines.

Throughout his career he’s had the opportunity to collaborate with clients such as Sega, Microsoft, CharityFinders, Wieden + Kennedy, WK Tokyo Lab, Sony Music, Warner Music, The Digital Living Project, Art Center College of Design, and Nike. While Jose is much more driven by results than awards, he’s taken home his share of hardware too, including Art Directors Club Young Guns 2004, HOW Magazine’s, Interactive Best of Show 2003, American Center for Design Web 100, and he has work in the permanent collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

When he’s not producing results for clients or running a contemporary art gallery called The Bank that he co-owns, he spends his time dropping knowledge as a professor of digital media and design at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. Here he provides students with an insider’s look into the ever-changing methodologies that are used to create engaging digital experiences. Jose holds a B.F.A. in Graphic Design and Packaging from the very same school. Hmmm...wonder how he got the job?

Member Since

Feb 8, 2006

Sites

• THE_GROOP

What is the next…

Purchase you’ll make?

The next big purchase I will make will likely be a Triumph Bonnevile.

Trend in design?

I think that the next big trend in design will be DIY everything. Using the web to design and rapid computerized manufacturing.

Car you’d like to own?

The next car I would like to own is a Porsche 911 Carrera S.

Big step you’d like to make?

The next big step I would like to make is buying a house. Which I guess means getting a lot of furniture and stuff for it.

Fad that will fade?

Hm. I guess blue shirts and khakis for office uniforms.

Vacation you’ll take?

Rainforest in Nicaragua.

Thing you’re going to fight for?

Better Traffic in L.A. Downtown LA.

Secret that’s going to leak?

That George Bush is a puppet dictator of the military industrial complex. Oh wait, thats not a secret.

Hollywood blockbuster going to be about?

The eco system of the art world. i.e. 7 billion dollars worth of art sold at Basel Miami last year. Hm.....

Life you’ll lead?

Global Philanthropy with a focus on developing infrastructure for latin american countries. Likely by use of force and puppet regimes.

Fountain of youth?

Exercise and diet. And a passion for something.

Book you’ll read?

Ogilvy on Advertising

Thing that will change the world?

Carbon Offsetting

Guilty-pleasure food in which you’ll indulge?

Peanut Butter

Person to whom you’ll say, “I love you”?

Lorraine