Guías Barranquilla Cívica: Ser Ciudadano

Guía Cívica Barranquilla: Ser Ciudadano

Overview

Cultura Ciudadana, a department of the Mayor’s Office of Barranquilla, commissioned us to design Guías Barranquilla Cívica, a collection of four publications created to promote citizenship, coexistence and shared responsibility across the city.
The collection addressed four distinct audiences: the general public, local communities, children and educators. Each guide needed to communicate how Barranquilla’s spontaneous, expressive and distinctly Caribbean identity can coexist with respect and consideration for others. Our objective was to transform the content provided by Cultura Ciudadana into engaging editorial experiences tailored to each audience.

Challenge

The four guides contained a broad range of information, including civic principles, everyday behaviours, historical references, educational activities and practical tools for the classroom.
The main challenge was to organise this content and make it relevant to audiences with different ages, needs and ways of engaging with information. Each publication had to communicate clearly and feel approachable to its readers, while remaining connected to the wider Barranquilla Cívica initiative.
Rather than applying the same design system to the entire collection, we needed to develop four visual languages. Photography, illustration, typography, colour and editorial structure had to work together to support each message, differentiate the publications and reflect the culture and personality of Barranquilla without losing clarity or purpose.

Solution

We developed the concept, visual identity and editorial design for each guide, creating an experience according to its audience and purpose.
The version for the wider public combined a clear institutional structure with historical and contemporary photography, illustrations and infographics. Its warm orange and cream palette helped organise the information and make it easy to navigate.
Cómo ser un bacánquillero used a more expressive language inspired by the streets, colours and everyday energy of Barranquilla. Bold typography, photography, collage-style compositions and vibrant graphic elements connected the publication with the way the city speaks and lives.
The children’s guide became an educational and interactive publication. Hand-drawn illustrations, a broad colour palette and activity-based layouts invited younger readers to participate, reflect and express their ideas.
For educators, we created a structured, functional system that combined documentary photography, colour interventions and practical layouts for concepts, exercises, action plans and classroom activities.
Our work covered the visual and editorial production process, including art direction, photography, illustration, layout design, print-ready artwork and coordination with the printing team to ensure consistency.

Result

The outcome was a collection of four publications united by a common purpose, yet differentiated by tone, structure and visual identity. By adapting the design to each audience, we transformed civic education content into clear and engaging editorial tools. Together, the four guides communicate a vision of citizenship without relying on a single visual formula, reflecting the diversity, personality and cultural identity of Barranquilla while making each publication relevant to the people it was designed to reach.