Marc Castro

[ON YOUR] marc

21:24

vancouver, canada [ ]

Role — Visual Design Lead, Co-Founder, Co-Director

Type — Nonprofit, Community Organization

Scope — Brand Design, Visual Identities, Art Direction

Impact — National Conference on Asian-Indigenous Relations

[ Asian Indigenous Relations Collective ]

Currently available and seeking new work opportunities.

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A visual identity system dedicated to highlighting, supporting and teaching the ongoing efforts of decolonization and solidarity, creating a foundation for continuous conversation across digital and community spaces here on Turtle Island.

Currently available and seeking new work opportunities.

Thanks for stopping by! Get in Touch:

AIR Collective — Cynthia Cui, Jeffery Su, Xiaolan (Yaya) Zheng

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Foundation for Continuous Conversations and Solidarity

The Asian Indigenous Relations Collective (AIR) is a Vancouver-based organization dedicated to highlighting, supporting, and teaching the stories and conversations that explore how shared histories between Asian and Indigenous peoples have shaped, and been shaped by, life on Turtle Island. It is not just a digital resource. It is about people, not just as an audience, but as participants. It was a living act of solidarity.

Today, every decision starts with the people it is crafted for. My work is grounded in research and intent, guided by strategy, collaboration, and direction. I’m most engaged when breaking down ideas, uncovering insights, and exploring new directions before bringing them to life. I think

through ideas strategically, then express them through design solutions, building clear, considered visual systems and experiences that connect with people and the communities they serve.

As lead visual designer and Co-Director of Creative Operations, my role was to build a brand that could carry the weight of the Collective's mission: supporting ongoing efforts towards decolonization and restitution across digital and physical spaces.

through ideas strategically, then express them through design solutions, building clear, considered visual systems and experiences that connect with people and the communities they serve.

[ Challenge Statement ]

through ideas strategically, then express them through design solutions, building clear, considered visual systems and experiences that connect with people and the communities they serve.

How might we create cohesive visual identities across key initiatives that support rather than overshadow the collective voices they were built for?

through ideas strategically, then express them through design solutions, building clear, considered visual systems and experiences that connect with people and the communities they serve.

[ Designing With, Not For ]

through ideas strategically, then express them through design solutions, building clear, considered visual systems and experiences that connect with people and the communities they serve.

Every decision started with the same question:

Does this serve the people this platform is built for?

through ideas strategically, then express them through design solutions, building clear, considered visual systems and experiences that connect with people and the communities they serve.

This wasn't a project where aesthetics came first. It was about bringing history out of the margins. The challenge was designing something flexible enough to live across digital platforms, community events, key initiatives, a symposium and continued dialogues, while staying rooted in the AIR Collective's core values of education and solidarity.

through ideas strategically, then express them through design solutions, building clear, considered visual systems and experiences that connect with people and the communities they serve.

We knew the collective (AIR) wanted to symbolize the intertwined histories and futures of Asian and Indigenous communities. The logo went through three distinct iterations. What we didn't know yet was how many times we'd have to unlearn our own design instincts to get there.

through ideas strategically, then express them through design solutions, building clear, considered visual systems and experiences that connect with people and the communities they serve.

[ Iteration 01: Ribbon]

through ideas strategically, then express them through design solutions, building clear, considered visual systems and experiences that connect with people and the communities they serve.

A ribbon connecting the letters "AIR"; two communities tied together. But the more we looked at it, the more it felt like the opposite: constrictive, like boundaries closing in.

through ideas strategically, then express them through design solutions, building clear, considered visual systems and experiences that connect with people and the communities they serve.

[ Iteration 02: Ribbon]

through ideas strategically, then express them through design solutions, building clear, considered visual systems and experiences that connect with people and the communities they serve.

Badges, emblems, overlapping circles reflect how braided relationalities from the past, ongoing efforts and future influences towards decolonial solidarity movements. The semantic nature of Asian-Indigenous relations.

But it gave an impression of one community existing inside the other.

A misunderstanding we did not want perpetuated.

through ideas strategically, then express them through design solutions, building clear, considered visual systems and experiences that connect with people and the communities they serve.

[ Branding That Carries Both Story and Responsibility: The Collective's Language ]

through ideas strategically, then express them through design solutions, building clear, considered visual systems and experiences that connect with people and the communities they serve.

Both iterations, while potentially successful aesthetically, failed at the thing that mattered most: communicating the right message. The answer, it turned out, was simplicity. Two interconnected circles. Slightly rough, deliberately unpolished. No hierarchy, no community inside the other, just two, together. Braided histories and futures, side by side.

through ideas strategically, then express them through design solutions, building clear, considered visual systems and experiences that connect with people and the communities they serve.

The Colour also went through many iterations. We wanted it to carry the same weight of intention. Orange wasn't just a palette choice. Orange is a direct reference to Orange Shirt Day and the ongoing Indigenous-led reconciliation movements rooted in Vancouver and BC. Paired with earthy, warm brown tones to express an open invitation:

"you're welcome here, explore freely."

through ideas strategically, then express them through design solutions, building clear, considered visual systems and experiences that connect with people and the communities they serve.

[ What the Collective's System Had to Do ]

through ideas strategically, then express them through design solutions, building clear, considered visual systems and experiences that connect with people and the communities they serve.

[01] Hold space without taking it: the design couldn't overpower the voices and stories it was built to platform

[02] Communicate belonging: warmth, accessibility, and openness had to be legible

at every touchpoint

[03] Resist the default: consciously pushing against how design, as an industry, has historically centred whiteness over the communities it claims to serve

through ideas strategically, then express them through design solutions, building clear, considered visual systems and experiences that connect with people and the communities they serve.

[ Braided Solidarities Symposium: The System, Extended ]

In September 2025, AIR hosted The Past, Present, and Future of Braided Solidarities, the largest national conference on Asian-Indigenous relations. My role was to extend the AIR brand system into a full event visual identity without losing what made it intentional. Deliverables spanned the full event experience: visual identity, main posters, lanyards, workshop signage, and collaborating on the website's visual direction.

We knew early on that interconnectedness had to continue being at the forefront. The goal was a visual identity that felt distinctly its own while still living clearly within the AIR world. Because the conference was about the coming together of two communities, the design had to reflect both equally, and without flattening either into a stereotype. That required iteration, consultation with community members, and a willingness to start over when something wasn't working.

Early directions leaned too heavily on Asian visual elements; Indigenous aspects were getting lost. So we went back, consulted and iterated further.

The symposium motif: decorative ribbon knot branches. Brought both cultural threads together. Neither overpowering the other. A translation of the AIR logo's interconnected circles into a connected, living form. Asian knotwork and Coast Salish weaving are brought together without either overpowering the other. AIR's orange was carried forward as the primary colour, paired with warm brown tones to maintain the same sense of welcome and warmth that the broader Collective system was built on.

[ What the Symposium System Had to Do ]

[01] Echo, don't repeat: its own visual voice, reinforcing AIR's message of braided histories while feeling distinct to the event

[02] Culturally honest, not decorative: every visual element had to be earned through consultation and iteration, not assumed

[03] Designed through collaboration: the final result was only possible because of constant communication with community members and external consultants ensuring cultural sensitivity at every step

[ Designing Otherwise ]

through ideas strategically, then express them through design solutions, building clear, considered visual systems and experiences that connect with people and the communities they serve.

This project taught me that collaboration isn't just a nice-to-have; it is the work.

When you're designing for communities that have been historically marginalized and excluded from Western archives, the voices in the room matter as much as the decisions on the page. The result isn't just a cohesive brand identity. It become much more.

A foundation for continuous conversation, a visual system built to make space, not fill it.

through ideas strategically, then express them through design solutions, building clear, considered visual systems and experiences that connect with people and the communities they serve.