Creative Evolution
Dennis is a first-generation Nicaraguan American who grew up in Boyle Heights, a neighborhood in East Los Angeles. From an early age, his mother, Gloria, recognized and encouraged his talent for drawing. Creativity ran through his family: his great uncle, Rubén Darío, was a renowned writer and poet, and his uncle, Orlando Sobalvarro, was an accomplished abstract painter.
As a child, Dennis spent countless hours drawing classic monsters, robots, and spaceships inspired by Transformers and Robotech, alongside imagery absorbed from the visual culture around him — including the character-driven graphics of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and contemporary advertising. His creative direction crystallized after seeing a behind-the-scenes segment on the making of TRON, which introduced him to the idea that art and technology could work together. From that point on, he became determined to pursue a future as a digital artist.
Growing up in Los Angeles shaped Dennis’s perspective early on. He experienced the city as both energetic and challenging, learning to observe, adapt, and find creative focus amid complexity. He remembers riding bikes with friends and watching the sun set over downtown Los Angeles from the hills of Boyle Heights — moments that reinforced his appreciation for place, scale, and atmosphere.
As his family transitioned to a new neighborhood, Dennis carried those early influences forward. That combination of creative curiosity, cultural context, and exposure to technology would later inform a career focused on building visual systems, experiences, and environments that balance imagination with structure and clarity.
In 1987, the Gomez family relocated to Baldwin Park, a suburb east of Los Angeles known for its trees and mountain views. There, Dennis discovered skateboarding and spent much of his time exploring the city with friends. When the graphics on his skateboard wore down, he sanded it clean and painted his own artwork onto the deck. An older skater later noticed the board and offered to trade his professional deck for the custom-painted one — an early signal that Dennis’s creative work had tangible value beyond his immediate circle.
By 1991, Dennis was in high school and increasingly focused on computer graphics. With no formal class available, a counselor suggested he enroll in Drafting. He excelled, teaching himself Adobe Illustrator by reading the manual and experimenting after hours. His teacher, Mr. Wallace, recognized his aptitude and successfully advocated for the school to invest in professional tools, including Photoshop, a scanner, and an updated version of Illustrator — giving Dennis early exposure to industry-standard workflows.
After graduating, Dennis landed his first professional role as a junior designer at a local t-shirt and sign shop, MW Design. There, he learned not only design production, but also the fundamentals of running a small creative business under the mentorship of the shop’s owner, Mike Walker.
Around this time, an unexpected freelance opportunity led to Dennis’s first independent client engagement. He was commissioned to design a logo, stationery, and business cards for a jewelry designer — marking his transition from junior designer to trusted creative partner and reinforcing the viability of design as both craft and profession.
Eager to take on new work and push his skills further, Dennis brought the jewelry print project to a print shop he had long admired: A&A Graphics & Printing, a respected design studio and print house known for its work in the nightlife and music industries. While there, he asked about potential opportunities and was surprised to meet Artie Parent, the shop’s owner, at the front desk. Artie expressed interest and invited Dennis to return once newly constructed studio offices were complete.
When Dennis returned, he was introduced to Juno, a designer working on artwork for an Easter-themed rave featuring a complex, character-driven 3D illustration. The work immediately impressed Dennis and clarified the gap between his current skills and the level he aspired to reach. Rather than seeing this as a limitation, he treated it as a challenge and committed himself fully to learning, growth, and long-term development.
At A&A Graphics, Dennis began designing under the moniker Third Eye Graphics. Working alongside some of the strongest designers in Southern California, he gained daily exposure to freshly printed work from studios across the country — an education in craft, production, and visual language that accelerated his development. Immersed in an environment where ideas moved quickly from concept to print, he refined his illustration skills and deepened his understanding of how artwork translates in the real world.
Before long, his work began to attract attention within the scene. Dennis was commissioned to create artwork for Narnia, a then-prominent electronic music festival produced by Global Underworld. His designs stood out for their fresh, slightly psychedelic aesthetic, incorporating symbolic and mystical elements that resonated with the emerging visual language of electronic music culture.
As the work gained visibility across Southern California, it led to a growing range of opportunities, including a collaboration with Insomniac. Under the art direction of Pasquale Rotella, Dennis designed artwork for Nocturnal Wonderland, a large-scale electronic music festival that drew tens of thousands of attendees and helped establish the foundation for the modern festival landscape.
The visual system developed for Nocturnal Wonderland received industry recognition, including a “Flyer of the Year” award from a leading publication, and contributed to defining a distinct West Coast visual language during that period. The success of the project positioned Third Eye as a trusted creative partner for promoters and producers across California and beyond.
Dennis went on to work with a wide range of organizations and promoters, including Channel 36, B3, Clear Channel, Bill Graham Presents, Live Nation, Clockwork Events, and others. His work stood out for its bold use of illustration, color, and emerging 3D techniques, as well as for production-forward thinking that pushed the boundaries of print through specialty inks, custom die cuts, and textured finishes.
As his reputation grew, Dennis became known for delivering highly detailed, production-intensive work that balanced visual impact with technical execution. His designs were widely published in industry magazines and design books, further establishing his role in shaping the visual culture of live music and experiential events during that era.
In the early 2000s, regulatory and industry shifts significantly altered the landscape for electronic music events, creating uncertainty for many promoters and creative partners. As the environment changed, Dennis recognized the need to adapt and broaden his scope of work.
In response, he deliberately expanded his practice into corporate and media-driven design, applying the same rigor, visual clarity, and production discipline he had developed in live events to new contexts. During this period, he collaborated with a range of established organizations, including Sony, Interscope, Pioneer, MTV, and National Geographic, among others.
This transition marked a pivotal evolution in Dennis’s career — reinforcing his ability to navigate changing industry conditions, translate creative thinking across sectors, and build durable creative systems beyond any single cultural moment.
In 2004, Michael Rocchio, a colleague from A&A Graphics, invited Dennis to design a festival map for Coachella, referencing the clarity and usability of a map Dennis had previously created for Narnia. Dennis accepted the project and developed a foundational map system that clearly organized entry points, stages, food, and essential services — establishing a functional and user-centered approach that would evolve alongside the festival itself.
That initial project marked the beginning of a long-term creative partnership. Over time, Dennis’s role expanded in both scope and responsibility, contributing to the development of Coachella’s broader visual and experiential systems. In 2011, this work culminated in the creation of the Coachella Welcome Package — a pre-festival fan experience designed to bring clarity, anticipation, and cohesion to the event before attendees ever arrived on site.
The Welcome Package introduced a distinctive cigar-style box containing a thoughtfully designed internal system to organize wristbands, parking passes, printed guides, a calendar, and a yearly custom paper-based project. This packaging system helped redefine expectations around festival communications and fan experience, emphasizing clarity, craft, and intentional design at scale.
From 2011 through 2020, Dennis produced and oversaw more than one hundred individual deliverables annually for Coachella, including maps, iconography, printed guides, schedules, signage systems, and environmental graphics throughout the festival grounds. His work also extended into digital touchpoints, contributing to the look and feel of the festival’s mobile app and website. Across all formats, the focus remained consistent: usability, continuity, and a cohesive visual language that could function reliably under the demands of a large, public-facing event.
2004 Coachella map by Dennis Gomez
2017 Coachella map and app navigation
