Business Context
Havaianas is Brazil’s leading flip-flop brand and a cultural icon, selling millions of colourful pairs every year in Brazil and around the world. Designing for such a familiar brand means building on what people already love while pushing its visual language into new territory.
Renewing both product and visual expression is central to the brand, and collaborations and open calls like this one are part of that approach. IdeaFixa, in partnership with Havaianas, launched Cores Urbanas, a national open call inviting visual artists from across Brazil to explore the brand through the lens of city life.
A jury of prominent Brazilian figures, including Marcello Serpa, Lilian Pacce, Katia Barros, Rui Porto, and Janara Lopes, reviewed more than 560 entries and selected 50 pieces. My design was among them, featured in a special exhibition at the Havaianas flagship on Rua Oscar Freire and in a limited IdeaFixa collector’s set of prints.
Renewing both product and visual expression is central to the brand, and collaborations and open calls like this one are part of that approach. IdeaFixa, in partnership with Havaianas, launched Cores Urbanas, a national open call inviting visual artists from across Brazil to explore the brand through the lens of city life.
A jury of prominent Brazilian figures, including Marcello Serpa, Lilian Pacce, Katia Barros, Rui Porto, and Janara Lopes, reviewed more than 560 entries and selected 50 pieces. My design was among them, featured in a special exhibition at the Havaianas flagship on Rua Oscar Freire and in a limited IdeaFixa collector’s set of prints.
Urban Colours Challenge
The brief focused on colour, shapes, freedom, and boldness in urban life. With Havaianas’ reach and the scale of the national open call, the bar was high for work that combined a strong concept, brand fit, and solid execution.
Instead of treating the city as just a backdrop, the project framed it as a canvas for hundreds of different views on how the brand could live in everyday city life, calling for new ways of expressing the concept. The challenge was to create the “Havaianas side” of the city so it stood out among work by leading Brazilian visual artists while still feeling true to the brand.
Instead of treating the city as just a backdrop, the project framed it as a canvas for hundreds of different views on how the brand could live in everyday city life, calling for new ways of expressing the concept. The challenge was to create the “Havaianas side” of the city so it stood out among work by leading Brazilian visual artists while still feeling true to the brand.
Designing for a Global Lifestyle Brand
I created a symmetrical, abstract composition built entirely from Bodoni letterforms. It was the only typographic piece among the selected works, a deliberate choice to avoid the more obvious graffiti or illustration routes for an urban theme.
Bodoni, with its sharp serifs and strong contrast, is not an obvious fit for the theme, which made it an original way to bring structure and attitude into the Havaianas universe. With only three colours, I built a puzzle-like composition where shapes intersect and lock together, creating an intriguing arrangement that captures attention and rewards a closer look.
Bodoni, with its sharp serifs and strong contrast, is not an obvious fit for the theme, which made it an original way to bring structure and attitude into the Havaianas universe. With only three colours, I built a puzzle-like composition where shapes intersect and lock together, creating an intriguing arrangement that captures attention and rewards a closer look.
The artwork was planned to tile across the flip-flops without obvious repetition, keeping the design dynamic from different angles while still reading clearly as a single, coherent piece in prints and exhibition formats.
Exhibition and Impact
The selected artworks were presented in a collective exhibition at the Havaianas flagship store on Oscar Freire, a prestigious shopping street in São Paulo, a metropolis of more than 20 million people and Brazil’s largest city.
The launch brought together the artists, the IdeaFixa team, and Havaianas guests for an opening event, after which the pieces remained on display in the store for a month.
The launch brought together the artists, the IdeaFixa team, and Havaianas guests for an opening event, after which the pieces remained on display in the store for a month.
The exhibition brought the Urban Colours work in front of everyday shoppers and invited guests, connecting the contest, the brand, and the city in a single high-visibility retail setting.
The project showed how a bold, constraint-driven concept can sit inside a major brand while still pushing its visual language. My typographic composition worked as an artwork in the gallery and as a pattern for the flip-flops, showing it adapts easily across formats without losing its character.
Within Havaianas’ ecosystem of products, campaigns, and work from leading Brazilian professionals, the design met the expectations of a widely recognized brand while adding a distinct direction to how its visual language connects with urban culture.
Within Havaianas’ ecosystem of products, campaigns, and work from leading Brazilian professionals, the design met the expectations of a widely recognized brand while adding a distinct direction to how its visual language connects with urban culture.