Year: 2020

Medium: Digital Magazine

Conception: I wrote and designed this magazine article after visiting Mexico City for the Día de los Muertos Festival in 2020. While there, I learned about the network of sign painters whose job it is to hand-paint commercial signs throughout the city. I ended up devoting a large part of my trip to on-the-ground research to learn more about this community, the job itself, and their impact, all of which has been little-studied and rarely written about. I decided to compile my research into an article which then morphed into a digital magazine, cataloging all of my newfound knowledge, experience, interviews, and photographs of the Mexico City hand-painted signs.  

Making: My process began with researching the sign painters of Mexico City. I toured the city with a Mexico City native Spanish speaker as my translator and spoke to any and all sign painters we were able to come across. After speaking with the painters, I collected photographs of their work and formed an artistic and typographic analysis based on observation. With additional research, I was able to write a cohesive article on the subject including background and translations of each of the signs. With my article written and my photography completed, I designed a vibrant digital magazine, which I hope does justice to the amazing and challenging work done by the Mexico City sign painters.  

Impact: My research in Mexico City exposed me to a highly unique creative process that is packed full of obstacles, the unexpected dangers of working as a sign painter, and a body of public work which, while commercial, highlights a community of passionate creatives and makers whose work is too often overlooked and uncared for. If you haven’t had the chance to learn elsewhere about the Mexico City sign painters, I highly encourage you to read the article as it is a small snapshot of a massive, unseen picture, deserving of far more attention.