Latispánica Cultural Association
LatinFax Festival
Educational/Promotional Illustrations
Synopsis
For LatinFax 2025, the studio designed illustrated posters for Latispánica showcasing dances like samba, salsa, bachata, and reggaeton, capturing their beauty and history as forms of resilience and joy, while avoiding common stereotypes.
Nahom’s process combined community engagement, dance video research, and salsa lessons to accurately capture each dance's movement. He designed two recurring mannequin style characters with repositionable limbs, dressed in traditional clothing for each style, keeping the series consistent while giving each dance its own look.
Shared across LatinFax's Instagram, the campaign drove 320,000 page views and reached over 27,000 people. Latispánica's Marketing Lead praised the posters as educational pieces that deepened the community's connection to its heritage.
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For LatinFax 2025, the studio served as a bronze sponsor and designed illustrated posters for Latispánica showcasing dances meant to reflect their beauty while teaching viewers about their roots as forms of resilience and joy through hardship. The challenge was portraying these dances honestly, avoiding the stereotype and exoticism common in mainstream depictions, while keeping the posters playful and welcoming for all ages and families. The series also had to stay true to LatinFax's existing branding and typography, and give each dance its own distinct look while still reading as one consistent set.
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Nahom engaged directly with Halifax's local Latin American community and researched dance videos for reference on clothing, poses, and angles that made each style instantly recognizable. He also listened to music tied to each dance to capture its energy, and took basic salsa lessons to understand the movement firsthand.
For the illustrations, he designed two recurring mannequin style characters with repositionable limbs and torsos, dressed in traditional clothing for each dance. This gave every poster a consistent, familiar base while still capturing each style's unique character. The final illustrations were animated and playful, matching the spirit of Latin culture.
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Shared across LatinFax's Instagram, the illustrations contributed to driving 320,000 page views, a 280 percent increase, 4,826 content engagements, up 156 percent, and 314 new followers, up 61 percent. Website visits jumped 121 percent, reaching 4,286 visits.
Latispánica's Marketing Lead, Mildred Mastache, praised the collaboration, noting Nahom's genuine care in understanding the cultural background behind each dance. The posters became more than promotional graphics, serving as small educational pieces that helped audiences connect with the history and meaning behind the art forms, and played a real part in strengthening the community's connection to its own heritage.
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Here's a focus area list for the LatinFax project:
Illustration
Character Design
Brand Identity Design
Cultural Representation
Latin American Dance & Music
Community Engagement
Social Media Marketing
Adobe Illustrator
Procreate