ABOUT / AMBER CASTRO
I took the scenic route to design. I think it made me better at it.
I’m a multidisciplinary designer in Orange County with a background in photography, marketing, branding, web, and running a creative business.
My career hasn’t followed one perfectly tidy path, and I’m glad it didn’t. Each chapter taught me something different about how people see, understand, trust, and respond to visual communication. Now I bring all of those pieces together in the way I approach design.
01 / LEARNING TO SEE
Before design, there was photography.
I spent more than a decade as a professional photographer and studio owner, learning to see composition, emotion, and the tiny details people may never consciously notice, but absolutely feel.
Running a studio taught me the other half: how to listen, communicate ideas, solve problems, and create work with a real person on the other side of it.
02 / LEARNING THE WHOLE PICTURE
Eventually, I got curious about everything surrounding the image.
I wanted to understand why some brands simply worked: the visuals, words, website, experience, and strategy all reinforcing one another.
That curiosity led me into design, UX, marketing, and SEO, where I discovered I was much more interested in connecting the pieces than staying neatly inside one creative lane.
03 / PUTTING IT TOGETHER
Now I work somewhere between big-picture thinking and tiny-detail obsession.
Today, I work across brand, web, digital, print, photography, and marketing, moving comfortably between the idea behind the work and the details that make it work.
I’m happiest with an interesting problem to solve, thoughtful people to solve it with, and enough room to make something useful and beautifully considered.
Education + Certifications
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Orange Coast College
Associate in Science | Graphic Design
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Orange Coast College
Associate in Science | UX/UI Design
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CalArts
Certificate | UI/UX Design Specialization
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UC Davis
Certificate | Market Research & SEO
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Google
Certificate | Digital Marketing & E-Commerce
WHAT I’M LOOKING FOR NEXT
I’ve learned a lot working independently. Now I want a team.
Running my own studio has given me an enormous amount of creative range and responsibility. It has also clarified what I want more of: collaboration, shared momentum, different perspectives, and the chance to contribute to something larger than a one-person practice.
I’m looking for an in-house or deeply collaborative creative role where I can bring my experience across design, photography, digital, and marketing—while continuing to learn from people who care about the work as much as I do.