Mujeres de Oro

Campaigns and content for communities in Bajo Cauca, Antioquia

Client USAID Colombia Mineros S.A. Arteaga Latam

Role Art direction Graphic design Field photography

Instagram @mujeres_deoro Facebook MujeresDeOro.co

Three women smile at the camera, photographed from below in front of a large tree.

Problem

Turning a purpose into visual communication

Mujeres de Oro aimed to strengthen women’s political participation, economic autonomy, and leadership in Bajo Cauca, Antioquia. The challenge was to communicate these goals across communities with different realities, where talking about gender equity meant understanding the context and the people we were addressing.

When I joined the project, the visual identity was already in place. My role was to bring its purpose into campaigns and content, finding a relevant way to represent each message for the people receiving it, rather than focusing only on making attractive pieces.

Mujeres de Oro’s Instagram profile, where the project’s campaigns and content ended up.

Context

Designing from a context I was still learning about

I worked alongside communications specialists, anthropologists, and sociologists who knew the communities of Bajo Cauca, a region marked by inequality and territorial disputes. Their experience helped me better understand the women we were communicating with.

The project introduced me to a part of Colombia I might not otherwise have come to know, and changed how I think about the people I design for.

Mujeres de Oro piece for Afro-Colombian Heritage Month: Yuri Alvear holds a medal over colored bands with geometric patterns.

Mujeres de Oro piece for Afro-Colombian Heritage Month: smiling portrait of Daniela Maturana over torn colored bands.

Mujeres de Oro piece for Afro-Colombian Heritage Month: Francia Márquez looks to one side among illustrated leaves and flowers.

Pieces from the series for Afro-Colombian Heritage Month.

Decisions

Finding the right form for each story

The visual decisions depended on what each story needed to communicate. For Mujer: vida, tierra y territorio (Woman: Life, Land, and Territory), I developed illustrations inspired by Bajo Cauca’s natural richness, alongside pieces featuring photographs and testimonies that recognized women’s role in caring for life and their communities.

8M illustration “Vida, Tierra y Territorio”: woman silhouette with a mountain landscape in orange and yellow tones, a beekeeper holding a honeycomb among hives and bees, on a reddish-brown background.

8M illustration “Vida, Tierra y Territorio”: woman silhouette with crop fields, a cow, a pickup truck and a country house, and a figure with one arm raised, on a dark green background.

Illustrations from the 8M campaign “Vida, Tierra y Territorio.”

For Momento Cero (Moment Zero), the November 25 campaign against violence against women, I used orange to connect the campaign to the international observance and incorporated it into Mujeres de Oro’s visual identity.

Piece “Momento Cero para prevenir violencias contra las mujeres”: orange-toned photograph of a group of people with their arms raised, the title in cream letters and partner logos below. — Momento Cero.November 25 campaign against violence toward women, with interventions in El Bagre, Nechí and Zaragoza.

Piece “Momento Cero”: an orange zero formed by two arms with raised fists, on a peach-to-yellow gradient background, with the text “cero violencias contra niñas, adolescentes y mujeres” (zero violence against girls, adolescents and women). — Zero violence against girls, adolescents and women.

Photo of two young people holding cardboard signs: one with an illustrated woman and the word “Cero”, the other with the fist-shaped zero; over the image, the name “El Bagre” in orange inside an arched frame. — El Bagre.

Photo of a smiling young woman holding a sign that reads “¡Mujer! Si sufriste algún tipo de violencia, marca mi ropa con un pincel” (Woman! If you suffered any kind of violence, mark my clothes with a brush), with a red handprint. — Mark my clothes with a brush.

Photo of an older woman dancing in an orange ruffled skirt and blouse, with the name “Nechí” in orange and an arched frame over the image. — Nechí.

Photo of a march in Zaragoza: several people in white T-shirts reading “Somos vida, ¡no cifras!” (We are lives, not numbers!), one smiling with sunglasses and a drum in the foreground, with the name “Zaragoza” in orange and an arched frame. — Zaragoza.

Mujeres de Oro’s orange scarf.

Piece “Intervención artística” (artistic intervention): a woman with fluorescent paint on her face holds a percussion instrument out toward the camera; includes dates, place, time and partner logos. — Artistic intervention in El Bagre.

Municipal Youth Councils

Printed sheets with several copies of a young woman with long curly hair, frames already cut out, on a wooden table.

Several paper cut-outs of a young woman in a white t-shirt and jeans holding a yellow object, laid out on a wooden table.

Videos of the Municipal Youth Councils: Zaragoza, El Bagre and Nechí.

What I learned

Designing from context

Getting to know Bajo Cauca showed me the difference between designing from an office and getting to know people directly. Some campaigns that seemed to work in Medellín needed different approaches and channels to reach these communities, including WhatsApp, radio, and printed materials rather than Instagram alone.

I also learned that representing someone means taking their context and safety into account. For some women leaders who faced risks, we chose illustrations instead of photographs so we could tell their stories without exposing their faces. This experience changed how I think about design and reinforced my interest in purposeful communication.

Piece “¡Por las mujeres!”: illustration of a woman with a megaphone and a raised fist, wrapped in a lilac ribbon, on a purple background with yellow shapes. — For the women!Pieces for commemorative dates such as March 8 and the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

Illustration “¡Por las mujeres!” with a long-haired woman and a bearded, curly-haired man raising his fist and holding a megaphone, joined by a lilac ribbon. — Character illustration.

Piece “¿Cómo conmemoras el 8 de marzo?” (How do you commemorate March 8?): smiling portrait of a woman next to a large number 8 and a jar, on a yellow background. — How do you commemorate March 8?

Piece for the conference “El Poder de la Mujer Rural” (The Power of Rural Women), Thursday, March 11 at 5 p.m. on Zoom and Facebook Live, with a photograph of a rural woman with her hands on her hips. — Conference: The Power of Rural Women.

Piece for the International Day of Women and Girls in Science: Rosalind Franklin looking through a microscope, with the quote “La ciencia y la vida cotidiana no pueden y no deben separarse” (science and everyday life cannot and should not be separated), on a peach background. — Rosalind Franklin.

Piece for the International Day of Women and Girls in Science: Gerty Cori holds a test tube, with the quote “Creo que el arte y la ciencia son glorias de la mente humana” (I believe art and science are glories of the human mind), on a dark blue background. — Gerty Cori.

Piece for the International Day of Women and Girls in Science: portrait of Walys Vera, 22, from El Bagre, Antioquia, a mathematical sciences graduate, inside a yellow circle with an illustrated brain and a calculator. — Walys Vera, from El Bagre.

Piece with Walys Vera’s testimony about studying mathematical sciences: “Al final del día sé que es difícil pero es mi pasión” (At the end of the day I know it’s hard but it’s my passion), on a peach background. — Walys Vera’s testimony.

You can find more of the Mujeres de Oro work here:

@mujeres_deoro on Instagram