Patrimonio de VIHda
Tying the cultural and historical legacy of the city of San Cristóbal de La Laguna (Tenerife, Spain) with the reality of those living with HIV.
Q4 2025
ADVERTISING | INSTITUTIONAL COMMUNICATIONS
Overview
In 2025, the City Council of San Cristóbal de La Laguna marked the 25th anniversary of the city’s architectural ensemble being declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. At the same time, the 37th anniversary of World AIDS Day was being commemorated.
The city sought to assert its historical identity as a colonial city while also supporting the fight for people living with HIV. In response, I developed a visual concept inspired by the colonial-style balconies found throughout the city’s historic center. The delicate motifs of the balconies’ carved woodwork provided the perfect medium to integrate the HIV ribbon into the design, without falling into the cliché of making it the central element of the graphic identity.
The Tiles
The shapes extracted from both the HIV ribbon and the motifs present on the balconies of the city were used to represent different ceramic tiles.
These tiles are tightly linked to Spanish and Portuguese culture, and they are especially relevant in colonial architecture. Here, I use an abstracted form of these elements (reduced to squared shapes and motifs) to add a touch of fun to the visuals and communications of the project.
The campaign required multiple forms of communication, from simple animations to posts for scheduled events and press conferences.
The shapes, colours and motifs formulated during the creation of the project's identity were applied in several formats to accomodate for all of these necessities.
