Born and raised in southern California he graduated from Art Center College of Design and began his career at CBS Records in New York creating artwork and logos for Boston, Willie Nelson, Ted Nugent, Blue Oyster Cult, Rick Derringer, Bob Dylan, Ramsey Lewis, The Isley Brothers, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, George Benson, Rupert Holmes, Stephen Stills, Alvin Lee, The Charlie Daniels Band and many others.

After leaving CBS Gerard designed lettering for AC/DC’s High Voltage and Let There Be Rock albums, the latter being adopted for the now iconic AC/DC lightning bolt logo. He also designed logos and covers for Foreigner, Firefall, Chicago and The Outlaws. Gerard collaborated with Roger Huyssen on the branding for Clint Eastwood’s Bronco Billy, Super Bowl XXVIII, and designed lettering for Super Bowl XXXIV, The Coal Miner’s Daughter, Friday the 13th-Part III, and the one-sheet artwork for Atlantic City and Star Trek III: The Search For Spock. He also created theme art logos for ten years for the annual Breeders’ Cup event.

Gerard expanded his work beyond the recording and movie industry to design logos for Swiss Army Brands, MSG Network, HBO, CBS Records Masterworks, Waldenbooks, Spelling Entertainment, Nabisco, Calvin Klein’s Eternity, Arista Records, Type Directors Club, Pepsi, The National Guitar Museum, Monterey Peninsula Country Club, the mastheads of Time, Money, People, The Atlantic Monthly, PC Magazine, Adweek, Us, Condé Nast’s Traveler, Working Mother, WordPerfect, The American Lawyer, The National Law Journal, The National Catholic Register, Illustration, Connecticut Post and Architectural Digest as well as corporate alphabets for Waldenbooks, Time-Life, Pepsi and Condé Nast. He designed watch dials for the Original Swiss Army Watch and their complete line for fourteen years and also created original product illustrations.

Gerard also designed the multi-necked fully-playable stringed instrument known as The Rock Ock for the National Guitar Museum, which is on tour along with his Vintage Guitar Art. His work is in the permanent collection of The Museum of Modern Art.