Isla de Fuerza

Skills: Art Direction, Branding, Graphic Design, UI Design
Tools: Adobe Illustrator, Adobe XD, Procreate

Created in 2023

Isla de Fuerza was a finalist for an Anthem Award in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion – News & Journalism. The Anthem Awards, from the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, recognize social impact and had more than 2,000 entries this year.

As part of a five-person design team, I helped brand and design Isla de Fuerza, a five-story multimedia journalism project about Puerto Rico. I co-developed the project name and story titles, created a cohesive visual identity, and designed interactive site elements that reflected Puerto Rico’s culture and resilience.

Site Branding

Our team developed a unified style guide including the project name, logo, color palette, and typography.
We chose “Isla de Fuerza” (“Island of Strength”) to represent Puerto Rico’s enduring spirit following Hurricane Maria. I proposed a five-color palette inspired by the island’s vivid architecture and landscapes, assigning one color to each story theme.

For the logo, I initially explored wave-based concepts symbolizing strength and the island’s geography. Then we tried a streamlined wave, but it came across like a political emblem or a rainbow. After several iterations of a streamlined wave that looked too much like a political emblem or a rainbow, we simplified the design to a clean logotype that conveyed clarity and impact without cliché symbolism.

Site Layout

We analyzed previous multimedia projects and drew inspiration from interactive features in The New York Times’ Snow Fall and past international journalism projects like Aftermath. I created low-fidelity wireframes and mockups in Adobe XD to guide development of a responsive, user-friendly experience. Through multiple rounds of critique, we refined the layout for simplicity and readability, focusing on an intuitive flow between stories and media.

Clicking each of the images below—low-fidelity wireframe, first mockup, and final mockup—will take you to the respective Adobe XD file I made for that step of the process.

Check out the final website here.

Graphics

For the “Government” story, Resistant, Not Resilient, I designed an interactive timeline visualizing key historical and political events in Loíza and Puerto Rico. The final design balanced narrative clarity with accessibility—introducing text first, then layered media interactions to enrich the reader’s understanding. I collaborated closely with developers to translate my wireframes into a functional interactive experience.