// DARK MATTER GRID / CASE STUDY 10BRAND IDENTITY · CULTURAL COMMUNICATION
Cotorreo
Keep Spanish
in the public ear.
READ THE STORY ↓CLIENTArely Guzman Jasso
ROLEStrategy, Identity & Art Direction
FOCUSCulture, Language & Belonging
Give a shared language a public presence.
In an increasingly xenophobic environment, speaking Spanish can feel like something to justify or soften. Sometimes people hide it.
Cotorreo needed a public identity that welcomed people with very different relationships to Spanish. I wanted someone to recognize the invitation without feeling that their fluency was being tested. The parrot gave the idea a visible messenger.
MISSION / 01A place to
speak Spanish.
Cotorreo gives Spanish speakers a visible place to connect with one another and their roots, without grading anyone's fluency or identity.
cotorreo
THE ORGANIZING IDEAKeep Spanish
in the public ear.
Belonging became the design brief.
The identity had to feel connected to the community without asking a flag or stereotype to represent everyone. I used modular shapes and a shared palette to give the parrot flexibility. The invitation stays the same as the layout changes.
01BUILD WITH LANGUAGE
Modular forms work like syllables. Repetition and assembly give the individual pieces a meaning people can share.
02GIVE VOICE A MESSENGER
The parrot is familiar across Latin America. It gives the invitation a visible messenger and keeps conversation at the center of the identity.
03WELCOME EVERY FLUENCY
The invitation includes native and beginning speakers. Bilingual and heritage speakers belong here too, with no fluency test at the door.
A bird built from language.
Geometric pieces assemble into the parrot. I treated them like syllables: they can repeat and move around, but together they make something you recognize.
01 / FORMULA
+VOICE / MEMORY / CONNECTION BUILDING BLOCKS
BECOME A MESSENGER.02 / RESPONSIVE MARKONE BIRD.
MANY VOICES. TYPE + COLORClarity carries the message.
Basic Sans keeps the community information legible. The palette works across quiet notices and louder invitations, so both can feel like Cotorreo.
PUBLIC NAVY#091B31
CONVERSATION RED#D63F28
MANGO#F6A02A
COMMUNITY AQUA#74B4BA
PAPER#DBD3BF
One name.
Many voices.
Color changes from letter to letter in the alternate wordmark. The spacing stays fixed so the name remains easy to recognize.
ALTERNATE WORDMARK / COMMUNITY VOICEcotorreo
Keep Spanish in the public ear.
A recognizable messenger for a language that refuses to disappear.
The parrot holds the identity together as the layouts change. I kept the invitation open to people with different relationships to Spanish. The name and event details stay readable around that character.
VISIT SOMOS COTORREO ON INSTAGRAM ↗
