Andreína Morales, for Café Belleza
Andreína Morales, a student in the Graphic Design program, collaborated with the specialty coffee shop Café Belleza. Specialty coffee involves an artisanal process in which every step—from growing the beans to roasting them—is carefully managed. Café Belleza is located in Ciudad de la Costa, in El Pinar, giving it a strong connection to nature.
When Morales started the project, Café Belleza had been in business for less than a year. It completely lacked any graphic elements that would set it apart. For her, it was a major challenge to "capture its entire atmosphere and convey it through graphic designs." During her presentation at Recreación18, she stated that her main motivation was to convey the concept of multisensory experience, which is the core of the project: “Coffee itself already has many colors, tones, and aromas… and then there’s the location where it’s situated.”
Christian Rodríguez, Diego Goldstein, and Sofía Grassi, for Positano
Christian Rodríguez (B.A. in Graphic Design), Diego Goldstein (B.A. in Industrial Design), and Sofía Grassi (B.A. in Fashion Design) chose to work with Positano, a brand founded by two sisters: Agustina and Florencia Franco.
The designs are casual, suitable for both day and night, and the target audience is young people between the ages of 18 and 25. Positano is a brand that manufactures all its products in Uruguay and supports domestic production.
Sofía Grassi focused on creating a new knitwear collection. To do so, she used different textures and bold colors. The sisters had never worked with this technique for Positano before.
For his part, Christian Rodríguez worked on the graphic design. He explained that the brand is very new and lacked a sense of cohesion.
The three students drew inspiration from the Italian town of Positano, which helped them create a graphic design. Rodríguez, in particular, was inspired by geometric shapes and the town’s angular features, with its old houses and the mountains that surround it. He also sought to reflect the company’s modernity and youthful spirit.
In addition, Rodríguez explained that the company initially targeted only female customers, but is now also targeting male customers. For that reason, Rodríguez developed a design for that line as well.
Goldstein analyzed the shortcomings of the store, where he identified the way the clothing was displayed—an aspect he addressed in his project.
Cecilia Guggeri, for Pappolino Design
When she saw that Pappolinohad signed up for the internship program, Cecilia Guggeri—a graphic design major—didn’t hesitate to reach out to them. “It’s a company with over twenty years of experience in the children’s fashion industry, and I thought it was a great opportunity to put everything I’ve learned during my studies to the test.”
“From the very beginning, the company was extremely open, willing to consider suggestions, and eager to provide me with all the information I needed to carry out the project,” he said.
When they first started, Pappolino had a logo that they wanted to update. When they began looking at the rest of the graphic elements (packaging, labels, etc.), they noticed that there was no consistency: “They were separate elements without a unifying aesthetic, in which, more than anything else, the logo was simply repeated.”
“My proposal was a brand identity that would set it apart from the rest of the market and reflect its values and spirit,” said Guggeri. “To achieve this, I created illustrations based on animals native to Uruguay which, together with other graphic elements, resulted in a fun, functional, and easily recognizable identity.”
Renata Cantú, from Pappolino’s Design and Production Department, said that the company needed “much more than just a logo change; a rebranding was necessary.” That’s why they worked on designs for prints, labels, hang tags, packaging, and more.
“Cecilia was very attentive to our feedback and showed great dedication,” he noted. “We really enjoyed the experience of working with students and getting a fresh, outside perspective on the brand.”