About the Studio — Manny Espinoza

30 years building the brands that define this Peninsula.

Crema Creative Media is the studio of Manny Espinoza — graphic designer and creative director with over 30 years rooted in Carmel-by-the-Sea. We've built the brands of 200+ Peninsula businesses across restaurants, construction, hospitality, real estate, and beyond.

Logos, brand identities, websites, vehicle wraps, menus, apparel, signage — we've designed it all. And unlike most design shops, everything stays under one roof: design, professional photography, and large-format printing in-house, under one creative vision. Fewer vendors. More consistency. Better work.

Beyond the Studio

Thirty years of doing this for a living.

Design is the day job, but the surrounding work is part of what a client gets — publishing, printing, and photography learned from the inside.

Creative Director & Lead Photographer

65° & 57° Magazine — 13 years, current

The Monterey Peninsula's luxury lifestyle quarterly, covering Carmel-by-the-Sea, Pebble Beach, Monterey, and the Napa and Sonoma valleys. Manny has directed the look of the magazine and shot much of its editorial photography for 13 years. 65mag.com

Co-Owner & Publisher

Shakers Magazine — until 2020

Co-owned and published a regional magazine for years: editorial, ad production, print buying, and the business of getting an issue out four times a year.

Fine Art Giclée Printing

Simon Bull — ongoing

The studio's 64-inch Epson came out of Simon Bull's own studio — and we still run his giclée prints on it. Bull is a twice-over NALED Print of the Year winner, was Muhammad Ali's official artist, and shows at Meuse Gallery in Carmel. A press good enough for an artist at that level is a fair reference for what it will do for your banner.

Owner

Screen Printing Company — earlier

Ran a screen printing shop before the studio, which is why apparel and merchandise are handled here rather than farmed out to a supplier who has never met your brand.

Interpretive Design

City of Monterey — 2000

Designed the graphics for the Simoneau Plaza historical marker, commissioned by the City of Monterey and the Robert Louis Stevenson Club. Still standing at Pearl and Munras.

Interpretive marker at Simoneau Plaza, Monterey — Site of Simoneau's Restaurant, visited daily by Robert Louis Stevenson

Still Standing

Some work outlives the brief.

In 2000, the City of Monterey and the Robert Louis Stevenson Club commissioned an interpretive panel for Simoneau Plaza — the spot where a young, still-unknown Robert Louis Stevenson ate nearly every day in 1879, playing chess with the restaurant's owner, Jules Simoneau. It was installed for the 150th anniversary of Stevenson's birth.

I designed the graphics for that panel. It was one of my first projects for the City, and more than twenty-five years later it's still there at Pearl and Munras — still read by visitors, still photographed by people who have never heard of me.

That's the part of this work I care about most. A logo can be redrawn and a website rebuilt, but some pieces just stay put and keep doing their job.

Client: City of Monterey & the R.L. Stevenson Club
Installed: 2000 — Simoneau Plaza, Monterey
Reference: Historical Marker Database

The Crema Creative Media Difference

From the first concept
to the finished print.

Most agencies outsource photography. Most designers outsource print. Most marketing firms outsource the creative itself. We don't outsource anything.

Strategy & Branding

Identity systems, positioning, and creative direction that give your business a voice worth hearing.

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Design & Web

Print collateral, custom-built websites, social content, and campaigns — every deliverable designed by the same hand that shaped the brand.

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In-House Photography

Your designs deserve real imagery, not stock. Every project gets professional photography without hiring a second vendor.

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Large-Format Print

In-house Epson SC-P80600 64" wide-format printing. Fine art reproduction, signage, and marketing materials — printed and proofed on-site.

One relationship. One creative vision. Zero handoff friction.

Talk to Manny

One studio,
every step.

30 years building the brands that define this Peninsula.

Thirty years of doing this for a living.

Some work outlives the brief.

From the first concept
to the finished print.

Let's build your next chapter.

One studio,every step.

30 years building the brands that define this Peninsula.

Thirty years of doing this for a living.

Some work outlives the brief.

From the first conceptto the finished print.

Let's build your next chapter.

One studio,
every step.

From the first concept
to the finished print.