Read about Studio Projects
Methodology Manifesto
Dr. Mario Alberto Obando, Jr.
Associate Professor of Chicana/o Studies at CSUF, and LatinxLab.Studio Faculty Lead and Designer
The LatinxLab.Studio’s design process was rooted in my desire to virtualize the Latinx Lab for Storytelling and Social Justice within an imagined intellectual space rooted in familiar and cultural memory and purpose.
In my survey of websites that house multiple digital humanities projects, I decided to expand my horizons, and I found that I wanted to create a user experience similar to that of the band Khruangbin’s 2024 website where the band’s music, news, merchandise and tour information is spatialized in a museum-style walk through.
From there, I scheduled three journaling sessions where I reflected on what the heart of this virtual space would be for myself and for guests. I imagined the spaces that made me feel most comfortable in my beloved Costa Rica — and to be frank, it all started with the tiles on the floor of my late abuelito’s house, which regardless of the weather always kept his home feeling cool in felt sense and literally on our feet.
The tiles of my abuelito’s floor are the inspiration for the tiles on the courtyard. Right alongside the courtyard, we have our zine DIY punk inspired garage studio. I shared the organizing visual reference of a Costa Rican pulpería as a space that could hold academic goods and space for new intellectual formations. The pulpería was inspired both by my own maternal family’s history of running of a small rural pulpería in Palmichal de Acosta and the abundance of pulperías in and around San José, Costa Rica where there was always a sweet treat, stimulating conversation, and communal adventures that would lead to memories and stories full of joy, inspiration and possibility.
Janel Navarro, RJ Ramey and I discussed, imagined, and collaboratively wrote prompts to input into Midjourney, a generative AI program, to design all of the spaces. Our design methodology included sharing and dialoguing about the stories around pulperías, spaces full of cultural exchange, in the midst and for community formations, and holding the energy and vibrations for storytelling. Via weekly meetings from December 2024 to April of 2025, this inspiration was part of the dialogue we incorporated into the prompts to Midjourney.ai for the renderings of a Costa Rican pulpería, a lobby space, accompanying courtyard and garage. Additionally, we were inspired by a design that allowed us to move outside of the space and into the streets. Our virtual timeline lines the back of the courtyard wall and aligns itself with a mural and leads to a newspaper kiosk set in twentieth century Mexico City.
After consultations with each respective project team, we aimed to design a LatinxLab.Studio that was always already beyond the conventions of the space and place of the university knowledge production— and instead in a living, breathing studio environment. We demonstrate that the spark of our knowledges also happens outside of the classroom and honor that our knowledge epiphanies happen on the street corner, under a guayaba tree, and in the converted spaces of our garages. As a team, RJ, Janel and myself aimed to generate and render a space of possibility, imagination and community formation.
Like our methodology emanating from memory, collaborative listening, and patient, thoughtful design, we encourage our audiences, students and community members to build stories from the heart, from memory and towards more capacious and abundant futures.
Read about Studio Contributors
About the Studio Projects
Methodology Manifesto
Dr. Mario Alberto Obando, Jr.
Associate Professor of Chicana/o Studies at CSUF, and LatinxLab.Studio Faculty Lead and Designer
The LatinxLab.Studio’s design process was rooted in my desire to virtualize the Latinx Lab for Storytelling and Social Justice within an imagined intellectual space rooted in familiar and cultural memory and purpose.
In my survey of websites that house multiple digital humanities projects, I decided to expand my horizons, and I found that I wanted to create a user experience similar to that of the band Khruangbin’s 2024 website where the band’s music, news, merchandise and tour information is spatialized in a museum-style walk through.
From there, I scheduled three journaling sessions where I reflected on what the heart of this virtual space would be for myself and for guests. I imagined the spaces that made me feel most comfortable in my beloved Costa Rica — and to be frank, it all started with the tiles on the floor of my late abuelito’s house, which regardless of the weather always kept his home feeling cool in felt sense and literally on our feet.
The tiles of my abuelito’s floor are the inspiration for the tiles on the courtyard. Right alongside the courtyard, we have our zine DIY punk inspired garage studio. I shared the organizing visual reference of a Costa Rican pulpería as a space that could hold academic goods and space for new intellectual formations. The pulpería was inspired both by my own maternal family’s history of running of a small rural pulpería in Palmichal de Acosta and the abundance of pulperías in and around San José, Costa Rica where there was always a sweet treat, stimulating conversation, and communal adventures that would lead to memories and stories full of joy, inspiration and possibility.
Janel Navarro, RJ Ramey and I discussed, imagined, and collaboratively wrote prompts to input into Midjourney, a generative AI program, to design all of the spaces. Our design methodology included sharing and dialoguing about the stories around pulperías, spaces full of cultural exchange, in the midst and for community formations, and holding the energy and vibrations for storytelling. Via weekly meetings from December 2024 to April of 2025, this inspiration was part of the dialogue we incorporated into the prompts to Midjourney.ai for the renderings of a Costa Rican pulpería, a lobby space, accompanying courtyard and garage. Additionally, we were inspired by a design that allowed us to move outside of the space and into the streets. Our virtual timeline lines the back of the courtyard wall and aligns itself with a mural and leads to a newspaper kiosk set in twentieth century Mexico City.
After consultations with each respective project team, we aimed to design a LatinxLab.Studio that was always already beyond the conventions of the space and place of the university knowledge production— and instead in a living, breathing studio environment. We demonstrate that the spark of our knowledges also happens outside of the classroom and honor that our knowledge epiphanies happen on the street corner, under a guayaba tree, and in the converted spaces of our garages. As a team, RJ, Janel and myself aimed to generate and render a space of possibility, imagination and community formation.
Like our methodology emanating from memory, collaborative listening, and patient, thoughtful design, we encourage our audiences, students and community members to build stories from the heart, from memory and towards more capacious and abundant futures.
