NUESTRO TEXAS

Working with one other designer, a photographer and small team of advocates, I led the design of Nuestro Texas, a human rights campaign calling for reproductive health access for all women—no matter their zip code, ethnicity, race, economic class, or citizen status.

Access to affordable reproductive health care has never come easily for the women living in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, one of the poorest regions in the U.S. and home to a large population of immigrants and Latinos. In 2012, when the Texas Governor and State Legislature began actively dismantling access to health care for women in the state, the Center for Reproductive Rights partnered with the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health (NLIRH) to design a campaign highlighting the impact of these restrictive laws on the women of the Rio Grande Valley.

Collaboration: Curtiss Calleo | National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health
Photography: Jennifer Whitney | Chi Nguyen

The Texas Flag & La Lotteria

Brand Colors & Logo

The campaign identity emphasized the resilience and strength of the community, giving voice to their stories to show the unfairly devastating impact of Texas reproductive rights laws. It was important to the Rio Grande community that we show not only their hardships but also the dignity of the women and families.

To find a graphic language unique to the Rio Grande community, we focused on a game the women play. La Loteria is a combination of tarot cards and bingo in which each card has a colorful image representing a different fate, riddle, or story. To emphasize that the women and families belong in and are a part of Texas we combined the Loteria colors with the state flag to represent their unique Texan identity.

The branded materials ­— flags, shirts, Tattlys, tote bags, buttons and publications — were used at conferences, protests, and rallies and distributed by the Rio Grande community with pride.

Telling their Stories

Website & Video

Using the vibrant brand of Nuestro Texas we created a website to document the stories of the women using video, audio and images. The website used a pledge to gather signatures from users and is not only a resource for policy makers and organizations to learn more, but a place of support and hope for the Rio Grande community.

The women saw the strength and boldness of design and the Nuestro Texas colors as representative of their determination in fighting for their reproductive health care rights. As the creative lead on the campaign the words of a Nuestro Texas Activist fill me with joy and satisfaction: "They had a beautiful, colorful [report in the style of a magazine]. It was really powerful for people to see themselves in those beautiful photos. It made me feel good and filled with pride."

“The Nuestro Texas campaign was something very important in my life. I learned how to raise my voice so that people would listen, and I learned that every one of our voices could be heard."   

- Nuestro Texas Activist

 Speaking Out

Protests & Schwag

Joining the women and families from the Rio Grande Valley in protests to raise awareness of their situation, the brand was put on banners, buttons, shirts and tattly's. I hired Texas based photographer Jennifer Whitney to shoot the daily lives of the women and document the San Antonio rally.

Publication and Results

The publication is rich with beautiful photos and the Nuestro Texas colorful brand. The combination of the authenticity of the women’s voices and a strategic communications approach resulted in the campaign being widely reported in both traditionally focused progressive media as well as mainstream outlets.

Nuestro Texas helped inspire, unite, and build the Rio Grande Valley communities to lead a movement for positive change. Information about the campaign has reached wider audiences, including health care providers outside of the Valley, community health providers and social justice organizers in Texas and other states.