Mis Raíces

Mis

RaÍces The loss of Cultural Identity within young Mexican American Individuals in the United States Digital Design Thesis 2023

By Larysa Medina

Process Book

“We gotta be twice as perfect as anybody else. We gotta prove to the Mexicans how Mexican we are. We gotta prove to the Americans how American we are. It’s exhausting.”

- Abraham Quintanilla (Portrayed by Edward James Olmos) Selena 1997

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Table of Contents 1 Introduction 3-12 Thesis Problem Thesis Question Mentors

2 Research 13-26 Historical Significance Cultural Assimilation Balance of language, color, and culture Experiences in Society and at Home Challenges vs Opportunities Being Optimistic

3 The Project 27-38 Ideation Brand Identity Motion Graphic

4 Conclusion 39-46 Final Thoughts Thank Yous About the Designer Bibliography

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1

Introduction

Thesis Problem Thesis Question Mentors

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- Owl Alebrije (Air), usually brightly colored and full of patterns Mexican folk art sculptures

Thesis Problem

T

he loss of culture within Mexican American communities can be due to many things but one of the most common is cultural assimilation.

The struggle of being bi cultural is very much a real thing for young Mexican American individuals, ages of 15-25, here in the United States. At this age it is crucial that these young individuals are familiar with their Mexican roots as it is the most formative years of their life in finding and accepting their own cultural identities. However, due to American mainstream expectations as well as familial expectations it is often that their bi cultural identity is sacrificed forcing these young Mexican Americans to choose sides. Throughout history to modern day, cultural assimilation has a catastrophic effect on them; it has changed their language, experiences, traditions, religions, values, and their own perspectives.

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1/ Thesis Question

“How might I apply motion design and branding principles to educate young Mexican American individuals of the effects of cultural assimilation and foster a deeper connection to their culture?”

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- Otomi Illustration. A traditional Embroidery Technique from the Central Plateau Mexico.

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1: Design and Media Mentor

David Lozeau

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David Lozeau is a figurative painter who creates very unique and expressive characters that are commonly associated with traditional Día de los Muertos iconography and adds a modern, lowbrow twist. In the span of 10 years, he has featured his works in dozens of galleries on three continents, collaborated with Fender, El Jimador Tequila, and Disney, won awards at fine art exhibitions, and been featured in numerous magazines and hardcover books.

David grew up in rural New Hampshire where majored in graphic design and minored in fine art. For several years after graduation, he ignored his paints and focused solely on his career, working commercially in print, web, and video production before eventually moving to Southern California and reawakening his long-dormant artistic side.

Today, David layers acrylics, gouache, and enamel to create vibrant, unforgettable paintings with interesting narratives and tight line work and then builds his own custom wood frames to complete his vision for each piece.

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2: Design and Media Mentor

Blanca Molina

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Blanca Molina is a graphic designer and illustrator based from Santa Rosa, CA. She was born in Jalisco, Mexico and moved to California at the age of five and has lived here ever since. Growing up in Sonoma County has made her appreciate fresh produce from her local farmers’ markets, music, wine, and culinary flavors.

She graduated from Sacramento State University where she gained skills in brand identity, motion graphics, layout, typography, and web design.

One of her main focuses is researching solutions for creative problems that are beautiful and effective. She always look at the brighter side of things and apply it to everything that she does.

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3: Subject Matter Mentor

Dr. Renee Fajardo

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Dr. Renee Fajardo grew up here in Denver and is a Native to Colorado, her cultural background consists of bring Chicana and Native American (specifically Picuris Pueblo) along with some European roots. She went to school at the University of Nebraska.

Though she is a very successful writer and that is her primary focus now; she is an attorney by education and training. A lot of her books are based on traditional and cultural recipes in hopes it would encourage the younger generation into continuing these traditional recipes into their generation and further on. Today she continues to teach about creative writing, poetry, storytelling, culture, and many other workshops within that realm.

She is the program director for Metropolitan State University Journey Through Our Heritage under the department of Chicana/o Studies where she works with many students within program outreach and among the college community to get closer to Latinx roots. Primary there a lot of students a lot of students who identify with the Mexican American identity.

She helps these students by holding workshops, Aztec Dance, Tummy Tales, and the Corn Mother Project.

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2

- Fish Alebrije (Water), usually brightly colored and full of patterns Mexican folk art sculptures

Research

Historical Significance Cultural Assimilation Balance of Language, Color, and Culture Experience in Society and at Home Challenges vs Opportunities Being Optimistic 13

Historical Significance

T

here have been many historical events here in the United States that are relevant to forming the Mexican American identity. A specific long term event is the Chicano Movement, also known as El Movimiento, that took place during the 1960’s.

Chicano/a is another term used to describe someone who identifies as Mexican American.

This was a social and political movement that empowered cultural nationalism and chicanismo.

Leading up to the 1960’s, it was common in the U.S. West and Southwest that Mexican Americans endured discrimination for not wanting to conform to the American way. A lot of this discrimination came from earlier events such The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848.

(Carrillo, 2020) This put an end to the Mexican American War, 1846-1848, but was in favor of United States. This war was started because of conflict over who owned territory. This territory includes present day Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, California, Arizona, Nevada, and Wyoming. As of February 2, 1848, the United States now owned this land, and it was established that the Rio Grande River to be new border between America and Mexico.

However, Mexicans who chose to stay within the United States after the Treaty was placed were promised their right to their property, culture, and language as well as citizenship. However, this didn’t last long as they were judged as second

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class citizens and were expected to assimilate to the society around them. Many Mexican Americans attempted to assimilate as expected in hopes to be considered as a class of white Americans, some even filled legal cases in hopes of changing their native identity. This often mislead them into thinking that they would gain civil rights. Now back to the late 1960’s, the Chicano Movement was where they abandoned the idea of trying to fit in and started fighting for their own identities.

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Some well-known activists that took part of the Chicano Movement and still remembered today for their efforts are César Chávez and Dolores Huerta who worked together and founded the National Farm Workers Association, also known as United Farm Workers (UFW) which is based in California. They fought for improved economic and social conditions for Mexican American and immigrant Labor. Chávez led a strike for grape workers in 1965. These strikes eventually lead to contracts with union where Huerta would negotiate. Land was also another touch point.

Reies Lopez Tijerina fought to reclaim land that was confiscated by settlers in violation of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. He founded the Federal Land Grant Alliance in 1953. He held protests on New Mexico properties. The courts started to notice his efforts and it had a big impact on younger Mexican Americans as it

allowed them to understand the ways the U.S. took land from Mexico. Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales was another well-known activist as well as poet. He led numerous student walk outs across the country fighting for their Mexican American culture. (Carrillo, 2020.)

In the End, El Movimiento was very successful, and it reminded people who they truly are and gave them a reason to stand up for it instead of giving into cultural assimilation for it to be lost in history forever. Young Mexican Americans found their own voices during this time where they could determine their own identity and future and influence generations to come.

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What is

Cultural Assimilation?

How does it affect the cultural identity of many young Mexican American individuals?

Cultural assimilation is the process where a minority group or culture assumes the beliefs, values, behaviors, and rituals of their host nation’s majority group. (Seven, Z, 2022.)

There are two different forms of cultural assimilation: forced and full. Forced is where a minorities or a indigenous group is forced to change their cultural identity, their language, traditions, values, beliefs, etc. In America, forced assimilation has always been more common, especially throughout historical events, because it had quicker results due to the threats of violence.

Full assimilation is where minorities and Indigenous groups assimilate to the host culture willing, or they just assimilate overtime through out generations. This type of assimilation is common within young Mexican Americans because they are born, more 17

educated about, and more exposed to the more dominate culture around them.

Even though it is considered voluntary, it is often just out of response to the pressure society has put on them that pushes them to conform to the more predominate culture.

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- 50 Star Mexican American Serape Flag (Credit: Artsy Chica Boutique)

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Balance of Language, color, and culture

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ike many other individuals out there, these young Mexican Americans are trying to find their place in society but find it hard to navigate when it comes to balancing their native language, the color of their skin, and their traditional culture. It is common that they are pressured to be more American, especially from their parents.

Those with separated parents often go through this hardship more than others. According to Berenize García, who is 16 and from New York City deals with this daily. Her father pressures her to “be more American” where her mother criticizes her for not retaining and speaking Spanish and claims it is disrespectful to her Mexican relatives. This can be confusing for the younger generations; it makes them feel like they have to choose a side. (Gamboa, Lilley, Cahlan, 2018.) Many parents felt that not teaching their children Spanish would ultimately help their children succeed because they thought it would make life easier.

This is missed opportunity for many young individuals and an example of the English language dominating the Spanish language.

About 59% of Hispanic identifying individuals claim they use Spanish, where 76% feel,they don’t need to know Spanish. (Gamboa, Lilley, Cahlan, 2018.) It’s often that they’re stripped of their Spanish language and heritage in fear of the hardship that they could face because

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of the prejudice that this country holds. Not only does language determine how Mexican Americans are perceived, but the color of one’s skin. They receive a lot of judgment not only from other Americans but by other Mexican Americans. If you are someone who identifies as Mexican American but has a light complexion, it is common to be called “whitewashed” and not considered to be part of the Mexican American community. This type of judgment often comes from people who identify within the same community and is commonly family. On the other hand, those who have a dark complexion receive a lot of judgment from other Americans who identify as white. Usually due to ignorance, they refuse to believe that these individuals are American at all, yet alone trying to claim to be part of Hispanic population. One thing about Americans who don’t necessarily claim to be anything else but American, are quick to judge just based on how someone may look. An example would be when you fill out a document that asks for your identity. Usually, they only give you select options to choose from which can be very controversial.

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Their own Experiences in Society and at Home

S

ociety and home life play an equivalent part in shaping these young identities, but like everyone else, everyone’s experiences are different from each other. Like the loss of language and judgment of skin tone, many are unfamiliar with their traditions.

Many Mexican American individuals don’t have a clue on how to embrace their familial traditions because it was something they weren’t exposed too. This is because of older generations feeling afraid to be who they truly were, so it was common they would leave certain things regarding tradition unknown to their children. These young individuals also find themselves having to constantly explain their own identity to not just the U.S. but to their home countries. (Gamboa, Lilley, Cahlan, 2018.)

They must explain this to their acquittances in the U.S. about their Mexican experiences and acquittances in Mexico about their American experiences.

Traditions are very important when finding identity. Tradition is the main building block when being familiar with one’s own culture, in fact they are many benefits of keeping traditions.

It gives sense of belonging and comfort, it reinforces personal values, and enables a way to recognize your own roots, brings diversity, and the art bringing each other together. It’s

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important as a society and as individuals enforce these traditions because overtime our cultural identity will become foreign.

As said previously every experience is different, especially depending on generation. Mexican American identities fade as generations loose their immigrant connections. In fact, about 11% of Americans that have Hispanic ancestry do not identify as Hispanic at all. (Lopez, 2020.) It isn’t till about the fourth generation that about half the American population with Hispanic ancestry claim they aren’t Hispanic at all. The vast majority of 81% of people feel their cultural identity is too far back to even find. (Lopez, 2020.)

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- El Pachuco, an Important Mexican American Figure (Credit: El Pachuco Loteria Card) 24

Challenges vs opportunities

M

Many of these young Mexican Americans run into challenges as they do opportunities.

One of the biggest obstacles is navigating between both cultures of being American and Mexican. It’s something that will always be there.

One thing that continuously presented itself as a challenge is discrimination, but a strength would be the pride that many adolescents hold for their heritage. (Malott, 2010.)

Compared to other ethnic identities, people of Hispanic origin have struggled with is financial odds. For this specific age group, college is something that is heavy on their minds. But is sometimes placed in the back burner till it is financially achievable. Due to the Great Recession, many Latino families, including Mexican Americans, lost 66% of their household wealth. (Gamboa, Lilley, Cahlan, 2018.) Luckily, as time moves forward and new opportunities arise, more affordable options have become available.

Like most American’s, their success is determined by the country’s economic success. They continue to prosper and beat the odds. There will always be challenges as there will be opportunities.

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All in All:

Being Optimistic for the Future

H

istory has had its influence on the present and on the future in this case. However, young Mexican Americans ages 15-25 are finding their self-identities in many other ways but are at a loss when it comes to their cultural identities due to conflicting expectations of both cultures.

If these expectations continue and both cultures aren’t equally recognized, the more that cultural assimilation wins. If these adolescents don’t recognize the importance of tradition, language, color, and culture; it won’t be long till it is foreign.

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3

The Project

Ideation Brand Identity Motion Graphic

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- Wolf Alebrije (Earth), usually brightly colored and full of patterns Mexican folk art sculptures

Ideation

F

or my project, my idea is to create a motion graphic that would contain branding principles. I created a fictional organization called “Mis Raíces” that is dedicated in finding or creating that lost connection of cultural identity specifically catered to Mexican American youth.

The branding part will be applied with of course the logo of the organization. With the logo I have created stickers of it that will be in part of my presentation. The introduction of the motion graphic will also contain a logo animation. In addition, I have created two T-shirt designs that in theory the audience could buy in support of the organization and what they do as well as represent their cultural identity.

The motion piece will be the main part of this project. It will contain information regarding how cultural assimilation has affected many generations of Mexican Americans from old to young. It will also go into detail on why it is important for these younger generations to be familiar with their cultural identity before it disappears in the future.

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Brand Identity

The Logo

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Brand Colors Primary

Hex

#F2A223

Hex

#F15F2C

Hex

#101820

RGB

242, 162, 35

RGB

241, 95, 44

RGB

19, 26, 33

CMYK

3, 41, 98, 0

CMYK

0, 78, 93, 0

CMYK

81, 70, 59, 74

PANTONE

130 C

PANTONE

165 C

PANTONE

Black 6 C

Secondary

Hex

#BD352E

Hex

#3B4F8C

Hex

#0EA8C5

RGB

189, 53, 46

RGB

59, 79, 140

RGB

14, 168, 197

CMYK

18, 93, 92, 8

CMYK

88, 77, 16, 3

CMYK

75, 13, 18, 0

PANTONE

7626 C

PANTONE

7683 C

PANTONE

311 C

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typography Main Font

Gobold

Gobold extra 2 abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 0123456789

gobold abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 0123456789

gobold high abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 0123456789

gobold thin light abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 0123456789 Alt Font

Bebas

bebas Regular abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 0123456789

Bebas neue abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 0123456789

Bebas Kai abc d e fg h i j klm n o pq rstuvwxyz 0123456789 31

Brand Identity

T-Shirt Design

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Motion graphic

Title Sequence

Presents

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Scene 1:

Scene 2:

Scene 3:

Scene 4:

Scene 5:

Scene 6:

Butterfly flies across the frame.

“Mis” begins to transtion into frame using a morph transition.

“Presents” the fades into frame.

Butterfly flies from the bottom right corner up towards the middle of the frame.

“Raíces” begins to transtion into frame using a morph transition.

The frame then fades into a black screen.

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Motion graphic

Explainer Video

Forced When a group is forced to change their cultural identity.

When a group is willing to change their cultural identity.

Full !

59%

!

76%

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Scene 1:

Scene 2:

Scene 3:

Scene 4:

Scene 5:

Scene 6:

Introduction of title with wavying flag and butterfly will fly across screen as transition to scene 2.

Sancho then walks across frame where thr word fade and slide onto screen as Sancho describes what cultural assimilation is.

Sancho explains how cultural assmilation has affected the younger generation of Mexican American individuals both at home and society.

Butterfly flies into frame on to Sancho’s hat where Sancho is waving intoducing himself as the narrator of video.

Continued from Scene 3, describes the two different types of cultural assimilation.

This scene explains the loss of language and signficance to Hispanic identifying individuals as well as hardships.

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Motion graphic

Continued Belonging and comfort Personal Values Familiarity with your own Roots

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Scene 7:

Scene 8:

Scene 9:

Scene 10:

Scene 11:

Scene 12:

“Tradition” slides on to screen 3 times one after another. As Sanch speaks the other details fade onto screen as well as the the decorative details.

To support this organization Sancho explains that you could buy these two t shirts influenced by the Mexican culture.

Continued from scene 10.

Building blocks of cultural identity and then it shows the blocks falling down if younger generations dont realize the importance of culture.

Sancho explains the main goal of Mis Raíces as the bars of color slide onto screen as a transition.

Sancho starts saying the closing remarks as butterfly flies back into frame.

Closing credits.

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4

Conclusion

Final Thoughts Thank yous About the Designer Bibliography

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- Dragon Alebrije (Fire), usually brightly colored and full of patterns Mexican folk art sculptures

Final Thoughts

I

n the end, I learned a lot while creating this project. Design in any form takes a lot of time and patience to create a complete piece that a designer is truly proud of. This project made me realize the importance of time and how it important is to take things step by step. This project put all my skills that I have learned to the test and makes me look forward to future projects and my future career.

As someone who is third generation Mexican American that has lost language and some traditions a long the way due cultural assimilation, I found this project to be eye opening and I was able to teach myself a few things a long the way. It has made look into my family history more to find my roots and how to make a stronger connection.

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Thank you!!

Mom, Dad, & Logan for always being my biggest supporters Scot Odendahl, Pete Cunis, & Tammie Morton at Warren Tech for being there since the beginning of my graphic design career Michelle Carpenter, Travis Vermilye, & all my professors for the support of this project and completion of this degree You all have gave me the confidence to dream big and achieve my artistic and professional goals and for that I am forever grateful!

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About the Designer Larysa Medina is a graphic designer and illustrator originally from Alamosa, Colorado. She moved to Denver with her family in 2007 in hopes of finding bigger and better opportunities.

Larysa grew up within a family that valued cultural and familial traditions which she applies to her work and is her main inspiration. She is very detail oriented and loves to design anything with skulls especially. Her current work consists of skateboard and snowboard design as well as brand identity projects.

As a recent graduate from the University of Colorado Denver with a BFA in digital design, she looks forward to what the future has to offer to help her grow as an artist in her career. Larysa is also working towards a future in tattooing as well. Learn more at larysamedinadesign.com

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Bibliography

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Retrieved November 1, 2022.

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Retrieved November 7, 2022.

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University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing edition, 2016. This edition adapted from a work originally produced in 2013 by a publisher who has requested that it not receive attribution. (2016, September 29). Communication in the real world: An introduction to communication studies.

8.1 Foundations of Culture and Identity | Communication in the Real World: An Introduction to Communication Studies.

Retrieved November 7, 2022.

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“A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.”

- Marcus Garvey

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