For the first Poster Monday spot we featuring the poster “Zapata Vive” (Zapata Lives) designed by Jose Luis Coyotl Mixcoatl from Mexico. Jose Luis was born in a small town in Cholula, Puebla, known as Tlaxcalancingo, where currently live as freelance, he studied graphic design in the Benemerita Universidad Autonomy de Puebla, one of the most notable education institutions along Mexico. “I always felt that I want to do a lot of things, and there were a couple professors that I had in my university that were very important: Rene Azcuy and Antonio Perez “Ñiko”, two master poster designers from Cuba, so, they were a big influence on a way of understanding and thinking design, and since then, I’ve been designing posters and a lot of things. Also, I am a self-taught type designer, because 20 years ago, there were not a specialized source to study type design as I want, so I start to design my own typefaces, custom type designs and it has been my main element along in my career. I also was working with wonderful and very talented designers and studios in Mexico, even working in Los Angeles for Kyle Cooper in his studio, Prologue Films”.

The poster “Zapata Vive” was a poster designed to participate on the exhibition “Tinta y Libertad”, with other talented designers and artists collaborate for the 100th anniversary of the death and murder of Gral. Emiliano Zapata, one of the most important icons in the Mexican Revolution. Convoked by Enlace Zapatista, an organization affiliated to the EZLN (Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional), an organization that defends the rights of indigenous people and communities in Mexico. The poster was donated to Enlace Zapatista and EZLN to be printed for raising funds for communities in fight of their rights.

“Because the Zapata’s legacy in the modern Mexico’s history, there were a challenging project to do at the beginning of making this poster, so I just make a research background and I decided to take a famous photograph of his face and make a nice representation from it, because his peculiar features of his face that its very recognizable along the years, for making an alive feeling more than someone dead, with a strong personality that shows the determination of what he had and live on his life” says Jose Luis.

You can find more about Jose Luis and his work in the social media behance, facebook and the online portfolio, even a course in Domestika which is about title credits and typography and remember to submit you posters for the next edition of Poster Monday.