Design in service of a meaningful mission.

hey there!

I'm Gabriel Bastos

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I'm a creative leader with over 6 years of experience building, leading, and scaling creative teams in mission-driven environments.

I'm the Creative & Art Director at the Institute of Church History, where our mission is to support the restoration of Catholic memory by building the most comprehensive online repository on Church history. What started as a small initiative grew into a full digital education and publishing platform — and I've been directly responsible for shaping how it looks, feels, and communicates.

My career path is deeply hands-on and end-to-end. I started as a UI/UX designer, then expanded into brand design, graphic design, and visual systems, growing into creative and art direction. This progression allows me to bridge strategy and execution, combining creative vision with operational leadership. Today, I lead a multidisciplinary team of seven — four video editors, two graphic designers, and a web designer — organizing projects, timelines, and resources at scale.

At the Institute of Church History, I built the creative function from scratch — hiring and developing talent, defining the visual identity, and applying it consistently across websites, video productions, documentaries, posters, and books. This work directly supported the platform's growth to 3,000+ paying students and a combined audience of 354,000+ followers across social platforms.

I've led and worked on documentaries and video productions, including on-location filming. One of the most meaningful projects took me to France to record a documentary on medieval cathedrals, where historical depth and visual storytelling came together in a very real, very human way.

Beyond execution, I'm deeply motivated by coaching people and helping them thrive, creating environments where creative professionals can do their best work in service of a meaningful mission.