About Us
35751 GATEWAY DRIVE #E503
PALM DESERT, CA 92211
(760) 610-2758
Chris & Patti Garland, c. 1990
Xeno Design is the husband-wife team Chris and Patti Garland, who initiated the visual design studio in 1981 to pursue their own personal creative vision. A full-service marketing design firm with a long history of success both in Chicago and Los Angeles, Xeno has provided innovative solutions to a wide variety of industries, from advertising agencies to fashion, health, and beauty, music and entertainment, publishing and broadcasting media, government, manufacturing, and professional services.
Their expertise extends into graphic design, advertising, multimedia and online. Celebrating it’s 30th anniversary in 2011, the studio continues to be in the forefront of style and technology, constantly evolving and expanding in new creative directions and encompassing increasingly sophisticated expressions of excellence in design.
The Garlands share a true complementary partnership and collaborative relationship; the harmonious yin-yang balance of their business is obvious. Chris explains, “Our individual talents naturally balance one another.” With his visual art, Chris strives to create the same type of joyous, empowered feeling that Patti creates through her own unique expressions, not only by developing marketing campaigns, but also through creative outlets such as her cooking, gardening, and fashion design. “Helping people is a big part of what any good designer does, and we enjoy combining that service with the creative journey, receiving a specific request from a client and being able to deliver exactly the right solution. It is fulfilling to help people to be able to communicate and present themselves in the right light.”
Chris: “We have an opportunity every day to educate, and unless you’re willing to do so, you’re never going to broaden your market share. As professional designers, our goal is to get you more customers… that’s the bottom line. Education and entertainment is what attracts new business.”
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“With a flair for freshness, Xeno is an agency masterful at surprises.”
ADVERTISING AGE
Xeno Design has pulled quite a trick. It has carved out a niche marketing ‘avant-garde’ style to the mainstream.”
ADWEEK
“There is always an energy and a freedom of movement that inspires Garland’s creativity.”
IDEA MAGAZINE, JAPAN
“The style reveals an eclectic professionalism that draws on the culture of the past and the present with uninhibited nonchalance…”
MODO MAGAZINE, ITALY
“A strategic group living up to the current of the world.”
DESIGN JOURNAL, KOREA
CHRIS GARLAND
Owner & Creative Director
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Chris is a marketing communications executive with over 30 years experience in strategic planning, business management, and creative marketing. After graduating magna cum laude from the Institute of Design, IIT, Chicago, with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Visual Design, he worked for Playboy Enterprises before leaving to form the city’s premier marketing design boutique. Chris has enjoyed a long, successful career in art direction and graphic design, receiving numerous awards for his achievements.
Although the poetic attractiveness of visual art is what first attracted him to the field, Chris especially appreciates the opportunity he has to communicate a message to his audience in an emotional, humorous, or otherwise stimulating delivery. “It’s not just graphics, it’s my method of communicating. I want it to be informative and entertaining.” Wife and partner Patti is completely supportive: “I just love his style. The work is so lively and colorful and happy… it’s all very positive.”
Chris enjoys channeling his creative vision into a practical end result: successful marketing and communication campaigns for his clients.
PATTI GARLAND
Director of Brand Strategy and Product Design
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Patti’s career has been devoted to the effective implementation of strategies and solutions. As vice president, she supervises new business development and is responsible for research, marketing strategy, social media and Internet marketing.
“I love business, the structure of business, and creating business. I also love being with people and the creative aspect of living daily life.” Patti’s favorite quote unlocks one key to her success: “Beauty is the promise of function.” Resonating with the positive aspects of life, she appreciates aesthetic beauty, integrity, and balance. She prefers things as natural as possible. Whether it’s food, furniture, clothing, people, or her work, she strives for the cream-of-the-crop at all times. States Chris: “Patti is on a quest for perfection…” Her reply: “Totally, every second of every day.”
Patti admits that, since an early age, she has been “highly intuitive,” with a profound ability to detect and perceive energy in people, things, and her environment. She treasures self-sufficiency, and has spent a long time tapping into the concept that each of us carries within us everything we require. Her innovative, unique business strategies are proof positive of her connection to an internal creative guidance. “I want our design solutions to be as pure as possible, so that we are always contributing in a positive way.”