About

An
ENDURING

magazine imageBevel imageabout collage

20 YEARS
of Proof.

who we are

You name it, our team builds it. But the end product is only one part. With us, you get a true partnership. One that’s relational over transactional. Long-term over short-term. We’re a creative agency focused on endurance.

No one-hit wonders. No trend chasing. No reactivity. We explore every avenue and channel (printed, digital, owned) when it comes to discovering your brand identity, story, and what makes it resonate—now and for decades.

You hire us because you can’t do that alone, especially in a world of ‘next.’ We rise to the occasion because we know your company’s greatest challenges are our biggest opportunities to change hearts, minds, and maybe even the planet.

We’re not kidding about that last part. Our clients do that every day.

what we do

We capture a brand’s vision, character and soul through strategic brand systems.

Here’s how we do it.

Branding

HOW THE WORLD SEES YOU

From logos to packaging, identity systems to environmental graphics, we design branding and touchpoints—both physical and digital—that communicate your mission, vision, and values so it’s consistent with every user, every time.

View our brand work.

Publishing

HOW YOU TALK TO PEOPLE

We leave no rock unturned in our pursuit of creating beautifully engaging and bespoke coffee table books, consumer catalogs, national magazines and more that are worth a publisher’s investment.

At last count, we have completed 45 magazine redesigns and over 500 individual issues across 24 different titles. As you must assume, we love publication design in all of its forms. Creating physical artifacts that endure long after they have been seen or read, artifacts that are experienced over and over and remain fresh and exciting with each interaction, is one of the highest creative challenges we face.

See Our Publishing Work.
Services
Team


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José Reyes

Founder, Executive Creative Director

Born in Puerto Rico and raised in Turkey, New Mexico, Utah and Florida, José is a graduate of SCAD, and the founder of Metaleap Creative, where for 20 years he has led award-winning brand launches, editorial redesigns and digital efforts. In 2022, he launched the Right Mind at Work podcast with his business partner, Nikolle. In it, they delve into real-talk around the challenges facing industry leaders and the disconnect they are experiencing with their creative teams. Guests include NYT columnist David Brooks, design legend Gail Anderson, and Nike shoe designer, Sergio Lozano to name a few.

He currently serves as a board member for the Society of Publication Designers and the ATL Collective. He has spoken at the 2018 SCAD Commencement Ceremony (alongside Oprah Winfrey), Auburn University, the City and Regional Magazine Association Conference, HOW Design Live, the University of Georgia, and other venues about beauty, inspiration, and Metaleap’s core values of creativity and relationship.

Nikolle Reyes

Principal, Managing Director

Nikolle has been the vice president and managing director of Metaleap since 2004. Nikolle earned a Master’s degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology and an MBA from Goizueta Business School at Emory University. She served as a partner and consultant to Metaleap from the very beginning, providing key strategic and organizational advice to the growing start-up while simultaneously maintaining a career as an investment banker on Wall Street. Later, she made the jump from finance and began using her wide-ranging experience to serve Metaleap and its clients. She now gets to walk through projects with clients and explore the possibilities for their companies, and manages the “business of the business.”

David Mitchell

President

Born and raised in England, David has spent his career in executive leadership: transforming business models, creating and communicating compelling vision, building teams, creating premium brands, and setting the right foundation for scale. Prior to joining Metaleap, David served for 8 years as President of the Paterson Center, a strategic consulting firm working with clients across business, non-profit, and ministry, such as Otterbox, Connectwise, and Atlas Free. David has a BA from Oxford and a Master’s Degree from Yale.

Lee-Beth Burge

Bookkeeper

Lee Beth earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Accounting from the University of Georgia and has provided bookkeeping and accounting services to Metaleap since 2013. With the Metaleap team commissioning illustrations from contributors the world over, we wish we had a record of all the places she’s sent checks over the years.She and her husband have lived in Decatur for over 25 years and have four pseudo-adult children. Lee Beth is an active volunteer with Friends of Refugees and with her church.

Eric Capossela

Creative Director

Eric got his start in the New York City advertising world after graduating from University of Georgia with a B.F.A. in Graphic Design. Lured by his love of magazines and the smell of barbecue, Eric moved back to Georgia where he later became Design Director of Atlanta Magazine. After a stint at WIRED in San Francisco, Eric is once again back on his beloved East Coast as part of our talented Metaleap team.

Jason Cyr

Developer

Raised in Boston, a former Utahn and now living in Georgia, Jason has worked with brands like the New York Times Digital, BMW North America, Octagon Marketing and the United States Ski & Snowboard teams. When he’s not developing websites you can find him on the trail with his wife and kids (and two Husky/Shepherd dogs), either on foot or on a mountain bike.

Rachel Lasserre

Creative Director

Rachel is an award-winning creative director who works to align inspiration, business objectives, and story-telling into a powerful and clear brand narrative. With deep experience developing brands and creating content across various platforms in the food, home, and lifestyle space, she is both innovative and strategic in her approach. Her work exudes sophistication and playfulness, and no detail is too small. Most recently, she has worked with brands like Domino, Bon Appétit, and Saveur.

Matt Love

Associate Creative Director

Matt comes to Metaleap with over a decade of experience in publication design and a love for visual story-telling. He has worked with sports, travel, and general interest titles including the past six years as design director for Atlanta Magazine. When he's not designing publications he is searching for the perfect cup of coffee.

Harold Velarde

Publication Designer

Harold is our very own behind-the-scenes design ninja. We rely on him to do whatever it takes to get every single issue of our publications to press on time. He earned his B.A. from Baruch College in Manhattan and has designed for Forbes Magazine, Martha Stewart Living and Rolling Stone Magazine, among others. He was born in Bolivia and spent most of his adulthood in The Bronx—lucky for us, he was willing to make the move to Atlanta and joined Metaleap in 2013.

Keith Williamson

Project Manager

Keith has (re)joined Metaleap after a brief stint in the FinTech sector. He comes equipped with a full arsenal of project management tools, and spends his time in the office creating timelines and interfacing with clients. In his spare time, you can find him wrestling with his boys and trying to put a bow in his daughter’s hair, all to the amusement of his wife.

heard around the office
“Don’t talk to me about paintings. I went to art school.”
“One bites your neck, the other bites your head off.” (Re: Team Jacob vs Edward and Twilight)
“I like him. But not enough to reactivate a Twitter account.”
“Gandalf is a shepherd of sorts.”
“Even I feel out of the loop sometimes. And I AM the loop.”
“This is a magazine, right?”
“A bad photo is a bad photo”
“Sometimes I over design on purpose—because I know how good it’s going to feel to take things away.”
“I don’t do high fives, but I will do it for you.”
“I’m very mature.”
“All those European countries…”
“I just want to listen to Katie Perry”
“It’s just grape juice. But HAPPY grape juice!”
“I love this song...or whatever...JAM!”
“You just want to watch a movie at church.”
“I like cornhole!”
“I just view this whole thing as a pleasant dictatorship.”
“So, this weekend I had two separate dreams where I was Barack Obama”
“I’m a sucker for any song that’s about love or something.”
“Dead. Snap. Serious.”
“I mean, I’m not a man, so I’m not the target audience”

Awards & Recognitions

Think of it this way: We’re not bragging about ourselves–we’re just giving you the comfort of knowing that other people recognize that the work is pretty good.

Accolades
3x3 Awards
Various work selected for print
ASME Awards
Nominated three years in a row for General Excellence
American Illustration Annual
Various work selected for print
City Regional Magazine Awards
Gold for General Excellence, various Gold and Silver awards
Communication Arts Photography Annual
Silver
Communication Arts Typography Annual
Various work selected for print
Cover Junkie
Various Covers posted
ECPA Awards
Various Gold and Silver awards
EPA Awards
Various Gold and Silver awards
GAMMA Awards
Various Gold and Silver awards
Lüerzer’s Archive
Silver
Print Magazine Design Annual
Various work selected for print
Society of Illustrators
Various work selected for print
Society of Publication Designers Awards
25+ gold and silver awards including Best Redesign, Best of Genre, Best Cover, and Magazine of the Year