Since 2004, Alfalfa Studio has created clear, memorable, and beautifully crafted design for civic, cultural, and commercial brands.
Producing award-winning design, Alfalfa Studio has flourished from the start as a small, independent, and deeply hands-on branding and graphic design firm. Rather than grow into a large agency, Founder and Creative Director Rafael Esquer has chosen to keep the studio focused, personal, and entrepreneurial, ensuring that clients have direct access to the people shaping the work.
Our mission has remained constant: Make the idea clear and simple, the design surprising and beautiful. This philosophy guides the way we create brand identities and communications that help people understand, trust, and connect with organizations, places, and civic initiatives.
Alfalfa Studio is located in Sugar Hill, Harlem, one of New York City’s most iconic cultural neighborhoods and a historic center of the Harlem Renaissance. We are proud to work from a community shaped by cultural traditions, creative ambition, and immigrant stories, a place that continues to inspire our belief in design as a bridge between people, ideas, and the city.
What keeps the Alfalfa team excited about design is the challenge of solving complex problems through simplicity, surprise, and beauty. We begin with a blank canvas, without formulas or fixed rules, but that canvas is always shaped by the worlds around us: New York streets, language, art, literature, film, music, travel, memory, and the people who give places their character.
This belief has guided Alfalfa’s work for more than two decades. In 2007, German publisher Taschen included Esquer in its collection of the world’s 100 most progressive designers working today, Contemporary Graphic Design, edited by Charlotte and Peter Fiell.
Clients have ranged from civic institutions and cultural organizations to global companies and beloved public-facing brands. They include The City of New York, Design Trust for Public Space, Open House New York, Museum of the City of New York, El Museo del Barrio, New York City Football Club, the Houston Rockets, Darden Restaurants, Paramount, Brookfield Properties, Booz Allen, Guggenheim Partners, Ford Foundation, Goethe-Institut, Kate Spade New York, The Glass House, Björk, Amphibian Stage, The New York Times Magazine, AIGA, and International Flavors & Fragrances.
The projects featured on this website reflect the range of artistic, conceptual, and strategic thinking that Alfalfa brings to design. They are united by a belief in the emotional power of good design, the importance of clear communication, and the value of creating work with curiosity, rigor, and imagination.
In 2009, Alfalfa Studio launched Alfalfa New York its own online brand. Alfalfa New York distributes the studio’s original Iconic Poster Series, a growing collection of city and place-based posters that reflects the studio’s love of visual culture, storytelling, and New York.
Team
RAFAEL ESQUER | Founder, Creative Director
Formerly Creative Director at Radical Media, his group’s work in communication design received the National Design Award from the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. In 2007, Taschen named Rafael one of the world’s 100 most influential graphic designers working today. Some of his work is contained in the Library of Congress poster collection, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Denver Art Museum, and the Olympic Museum in Switzerland.
He teaches at the School of Visual Arts, sits on the Advisory Board for the Diversity Archives at AIGA, and serves as Emeritus Board Member for Adobe Partners by Design.
Rafael received his BFA in graphic design from Art Center College of Design.
JOSÉ FRESÁN | Art Director
Originally from Mexico City, José joined Alfalfa Studio in 2018 where he enjoys working in close collaboration with clients who value the power of innovative design. As a Fulbright Grantee, José earned his master’s degree in Branding + Integrated Communication from the City College of New York. As Art Director at Alfalfa Studio, he’s led a wide variety of projects for clients in many categories including hospitality, sports, arts and culture, education, and technology.
His over 12 years of communication design experience ranges from graphic services for global brands such as Colgate and General Mills to brand development for music festivals.
Prior to joining Alfalfa Studio in 2018, Jose ran his own design studio for five years.
CHUY ORTEGA | Senior Designer
Chuy joined Alfalfa Studio in 2015 and has led a myriad of graphic services for clients including Guggenheim Partners, The Museum of the City of New York, Repertorio Español, Booz Allen Hamilton, Brookfield Properties, and The Goethe-Institut among others. Known for his creative conceptual thinking and attention to detail, Chuy is skilled at understanding complex information and visualizing it into accessible graphic design.
Born and raised in Harlem, Chuy is inspired by the grit and energy of the city which he brings to his design work. Raised in a bilingual household, Chuy is fluent in English and Spanish.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in Communication Design from New York City College of Technology, CUNY.
