ASU communicators work with alums to create Hispanic Heritage Month graphics
In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, three alumni designers collaborated with ASU communicators, the ASU Alumni Association and the Los Diablos alumni chapter to make new graphics to celebrate in Sun Devil style.
The new graphics appeared as part of the Oct. 8 Stanford game to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. During this same game, Los Diablos scholars were recognized in on-field celebrations.
All three designers are recent graduates of the ASU Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, Master of Visual Communication Design program. Designers Justin Gilbert, Michael Torres and Iván Delvasto have done research and reflection on their heritage and history throughout the project, in dialogue with alumni and student collaborators. They prepared multiple rounds of sketches and brainstormed together to propose solutions for these Hispanic Heritage month graphics.
The project was designed to initiate a new collaborative process in the creation of new graphics to celebrate cultural heritage months. It is the beginning of a multiyear effort to cocreate cultural celebration graphics with many campus and alumni groups. The graphics will be added to T-shirts and other materials available in the Sun Devil Campus Stores just in time for the ASU vs. Stanford game in October.
Meet the designers:
Justin Gilbert, ’19 MVCD Master of Visual Communication Design
Gilbert was born and raised on the Southern Ute reservation, which founded his passion for revitalizing the Ute language and advancing Native American culture. Afterwards, Gilbert created Kuvua Design, a design company that creates brand identity systems for Native American-owned businesses with emphasis on strengthening the owners’ cultures. While working on his master’s degree at ASU, Gilbert created a game called UMU, which teaches players the Ute language of the Southern Ute people in Colorado.
Gilbert celebrated his indigenous and Hispanic culture through the Diablo’s Tail artwork, using linework, shapes and glyphs from the Mayan calendar. He chose to represent Hispanic Heritage using Mayan patterns because they are “representations of Central American history. It is part of the framework of Hispanic culture.”
Follow Kuvua Design (@kuvua_design) on Instagram.
Michael Torres, ’21 MVCD Master of Visual Communication Design
Torres worked as a designer and UI/UX researcher and developer for multiple Phoenix companies during his time at ASU. He currently works as a radio frequency designer for CTS-1.
Torres, who was born and raised in Phoenix, said that his Sol design represents cultural pride, spirituality, progress and family. The sun symbol reminds Torres of his grandmother — who was an important figure in raising him as a child — as she often purchased décor with the sun motif for Torres’ mother’s house. He connects seeing this symbol throughout his childhood with many of the life lessons his family taught him and the Hispanic culture behind them. He says that the Sol design was created for his grandparents.
Follow Michael Torres (@m.angelo.t) on Instagram.
Iván Delvasto, ’17 MVCD Master of Visual Communication Design
Delvasto is an educator, editorial designer and photographer. He works with AIGA Arizona as the Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Accessibility, which has been important to him; as an educator, Delvasto strives to be well-involved with the community and spark curiosity among members while learning about different cultures and working with communities outside his own.
Delvasto was born in Colombia and raised in the US. Learning about his Colombian heritage influenced his ‘magic realism’ designs, which depict indigenous-inspired patterns. The artwork visually references traditional Aztec and Mayan costumes, with gold connecting the powerful image of indigenous warriors to the color of the Sun Devils. He feels that this design shares ancient Latin American history in a modern way.
