As University of Maryland students head into Jiménez Hall for their foreign language classes this semester, they might see stickers with three red dots scattered on walls or doors around the building.
The stickers are courtesy of the Spanish and Portuguese department’s Red Dot campaign, designed to raise awareness, celebrate the department’s identity and illustrate the pervasiveness of the languages in society.
“We want to raise awareness of how important language and culture proficiency and the humanities are,” said Eyda Merediz, Spanish and Portuguese department chairwoman, who was involved in the campaign’s planning.
Interested students can interact with the campaign by asking their professors for stickers, which they can then post across the campus themselves, Merediz said. A second portion of the campaign, which features the image of a tree bearing fruit that symbolizes interconnection and the pursuit of knowledge, will be unveiled by the department later this semester.
The department hopes the campaign will create a recognizable brand and visual identity for it, said Laura Demaria, a Spanish professor, and that it will highlight students’ daily interactions with the languages.
“The stickers are a way of intervening,” Demaria said. “We wanted to show our students that these public spaces have narratives and stories related to the Spanish and Portuguese culture and department itself.”
Spanish is everywhere on the campus — you can go to Stamp Student Union or even the library and hear Spanish, Demaria said. The stickers are designed as visual reminders of the importance of Spanish diversity and culture.
In March, the department will hold an open house showcasing the work and full brand that Colombian artist Marta Luz Gutierrez designed for the department. Merediz said she was very excited to work with Gutierrez on the designs.
“Very graciously she contributed to our project and helped create the visual for the brand,” Merediz said. “We wanted to make something that we hope our students could be proud of.”
They also plan to incorporate social media into the campaign so students can have a fun way of sharing with their friends that they are Spanish or Portuguese majors or minors, Demaria said.
Ana Patricia Rodriguez, another Spanish professor, described the campaign as important given the diverse student body at the university and its surrounding areas, including neighboring Langley Park, which she said has a large population of Latino immigrants.
“If we are going to be a global university, languages are central to that project,” Rodriguez said. “This campaign makes it more relevant and more pertinent that we really recognize the presence of Latinos and Spanish-speaking people in this area.”
