Virtual events, competitions, and limited live activities will mark the Zamboanga Hermosa Festival 2020 celebrations as Zamboanga City abides with the landscape of the new normal.

This, in keeping with the minimum health standards, as the local government prepares for a #SafeHermosa2020, and a meaningful reflection of Fiesta Pilar amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hermosa Festival 2020 will officially open with the virtual 2020 Opening Salvo on October 1, 7 PM, to be held via the official channels of the Festival and the local government. Replays of 2019 Hermosa events will be broadcast over the Festival Week, from October 1 to October 7.

Meanwhile, competitions have been trimmed down to only those that can be held on online platforms. These include: Batalla 2020: Hermosa Mega Crew HipHop Competition, Original Chavacano Video Music Festival 2020, Festival de las Bellas 2020, Hermosa Photography Competition and Hermosa TikTok Challenge.

While majority of events will be virtual, there will be limited live events that will be held from October 1-15. These are the: Cosechas de Zamboanga 2020 from October 1-15, the Novena Mass at Fort Pilar from October 3-11, and the Feast of Our Lady of the Pillar and Pontifical Mass on October 12.

A live event, the Las Ofrenda de Flores con el La Virgen del Pilar, will also be held to bring Nuestra Señora La Virgen del Pilar to different barangays on October 11, a whole day activity that will begin at 6 AM and will follow a route from Sangali to Ayala to Talon-Talon and to City Hall.

All live events will strictly adhere to the minimum health standards.

Zamboanga Hermosa, also known locally as Fiesta Pilar, is one of Zamboanga City’s most important festivals. It honors the city’s patron saint, the Nuestra Señora la Virgen del Pilar whose image is enshrined in the equally historic and venerated Fort Pilar. The feast day proper is on October 12 and is a special holiday in Zamboanga City. (Jasmine Mohammadsali)

Check out the calendar of activities here:


#ZamboHermosaFest 2020
𝗖𝗔𝗟𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗔𝗥 𝗢𝗙 𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗩𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗘𝗦

𝙑𝙄𝙍𝙏𝙐𝘼𝙇 𝙀𝙑𝙀𝙉𝙏𝙎 𝒗𝒊𝒂 𝑭𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝑷𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒖𝒃𝒆

October 1, Thursday, 7PM
• Zamboanga Hermosa Festival 2020 Opening Salvo
• Virtual Replay of Inter-Barangay Bandoreal Competition 2019
October 2, Friday, 7PM
• Virtual Replay of Hermosa Drum & Lyre Competition 2019

October 3, Saturday, 7PM
• Virtual Replay of Dancesport Competition 2019

October 4, Sunday, 7PM
• Virtual Replay of Mascota de Zamboanga 2019

October 5, Monday, 7PM
• Virtual Replay of Best of Parade of Lights

October 6, Tuesday, 7PM
• Virtual Replay of #LaRaza: Nacimiento del Lenguaje Chavacano

October 7, Wednesday, 7PM
• Virtual Replay of Zamboanga Hermosa Festival Streetdance Competition 2019


𝗟𝗜𝗩𝗘 𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗦

October 1-15, Thursday
• Opening of Cosechas de Zamboanga 2020
8AM-8PM, Plaza Pershing

October 3-11, Friday-Sunday
• Novena Mass at Fort Pilar
5PM-6PM, Fort Pilar Shrine
Live Streaming via FB Page and Youtube Channel

October 10-11, Saturday-Sunday
• Copa de Alcalde Golf Tournament
Zamboanga Gold and Beach Park

October 11, Sunday
• Las Ofrenda de Flores con el La Virgen del Pilar
6AM, Vitali to Ayala to Talon-Talon to City Hall

October 12, Monday
• Feast of Our Lady of the Pillar and Pontifical Mass
3PM-6PM, Fort Pilar Shrine
Live Streaming at Facebook and Youtube

October 24, Saturday
• Dive Safari at Once Islas


𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗣𝗘𝗧𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦

October 9, Friday, 7PM
Deadline of Submission of Entries for:
• Original Chavacano Video Music Festival 2020 (tinyurl.com/OriginalChavacano2020)
• Festival de las Bellas 2020 (tinyurl.com/Bellas2020)
• Hermosa Fest TikTok Challenge

October 13, Tuesday, 7PM
• Deadline for Hermosa Festival Photography
Competition 2020
October 17, Saturday, 7PM
• Virtual Awarding Ceremony

October 25, Sunday, 7PM
Deadline of Submission of Entries for BATALLA 2020: Hermosa Mega Crew Hiphop Competition (tinyurl.com/Batalla2020)

October 31, Saturday, 7PM
• Virtual Awarding Ceremony for BATALLA 2020:
Hermosa Mega Crew Hiphop Competition
#SafeHermosa2020 #TieneCuidaoZC

Here are this year's competitions for Zamboanga Hermosa Festival:


We're inviting everyone in the annual Cosechas de Zamboanga, an agri fair showcasing the fresh produce of our farmers, including fruits, vegetables, processed food, and decorative plants. It opens on October 1 and runs until Ocotber 20 at Plaza Pershing.


Official Logo of Zamboanga Hermosa Festival 2020:


For more updates, like the Facebook page: Zamboanga Hermosa Festival and follow the Twitter account @zambocitygovt and Instagram account @zambocitygovt.

"I Love Zamboanga City" is a campaign of the City Government to promote the Zamboangueños love for their city. It was launched in 2016 during the 2nd term of Mayor Beng Climaco and the logo was revised a year after. The logo is simply I Love (Heart) ZC where the heart icon is stylized like the iconic vinta of Zamboanga. The color pink is associated with Mayor Beng which evokes femininity, joy, youthfulness and love. Here's the iconic logo of I Love ZC! You may download the vector file here.

The Hermosa Festival also known as Zamboanga La Hermosa Festival or popularly known as Fiesta Pilar a month-long festival held each year in the city of Zamboanga, the city center of Zamboanga Peninsula Region in the Philippines. It is one of the oldest festivals in the country and the most awaited event in the region.

The festival is held in honor of the miraculous image of Our Lady of the Pillar (Spanish and Chavacano: Nuestra Señora del Pilar), the patroness of Zamboanga City which is held in every 12 October. It is also the patroness of Zaragoza in Spain, the sister city of Zamboanga in Philippines. (source: wiki)

The official emblem of Zamboanga Hermosa Festival was launched in October 2015 to celebrate a new age of the festival, bringing a new and fresh look and feel to the grandest festival in this region. The insignia has three aspects: the cultural, community and the religious aspects.

The colorful composition are inspired by the vinta sail, a traditional transportation of the indigenous tribe of Badjaos. The Regatta, a race of the vintas is one of the most awaited events in the festival. The Vinta is considered as an icon of Zamboanga City and perhaps the entire region, representing the different cultures who live in harmony. The boat represents the united community, and above it people are one in celebration, dancing and worshipping the patron saint, El Nuestra Señora del Pilar.

This year, the City Government is already preparing for the biggest fiesta of the year. Here's the official look and feel of Zamboanga Hermosa Festival 2016. Check out the calendar of activities below. Click the images for a larger view.





Like the official facebook page of Zamboanga Hermosa Festival for more updates!

Visual Identity or Branding, are Visible elements of a brand, such as color, form, and shape, which encapsulate and convey the symbolic meanings that cannot be imparted through words alone. In a broader (corporate) sense, it may include elements such as building architecture, color schemes, and dress code (src: BusinessDictionary). For the midterm project of my COM116 (Desktop Publishing) class, I asked them to develop a visual identity for a logo that they designed in their previous exercises. Here are their outputs:


Blue Coffee Cafe + Bar by Mina Alfad


Silver Shoes by Hazel Arias


Sweet Saliva by Marese Malvar


Crimson Babe by Rach Marquez


Red Ninja Agency by Riza Narag


Pink Spoon Ice Cream Parlor by Gab Pareja


Blue Ocean by Mohd Sarajan


Telly Vision by Alvin Serondo

I am really impressed with most of their works. I really noticed how they did their researches and took my recommendations very well. Im happy that their works looks professional and has a high potential for real life work. Which project is your fave? Like and leave your comments below.

The City Government of Zamboanga are doing the preparations for the biggest festival in the city, Hermosa Festival or Fiesta Pilar. This year's celebration focuses on unity, harmony and friendship with the theme "Junto y Unido: Un Celebracion de Harmonia y Buen Amistad".

To kick start the festival, there will be pre-fiesta parades at the two districts of Zamboanga. On October 26, Saturday, 8AM, District 1 will have a Bandoreal Parade Competition starting from Butterfly Garden to Sta. Maria School Covered Court. Bandoreal is a unique parade from the city which features marching bands, higantes, payasos (clowns), and comical characters that will surely bring fun out in the streets. The next day, Oct 27, Sunday, 8AM, District 2 will also have the Bandoreal parade from the UZIHK to Yubengco Tetuan.

October 1 will mark the opening of the Hermosa Festival. The Grand Opening Salvo will start with a parade of streetdancers and the winning Bandoreals from ZC District Fire Station to the City Hall Grounds. The Mayor will official open the program with the symbolic lighting of the Fiesta Emblem followed by energetic dance performances.



On October 2-9, the R.T. Lim Boulevard will be transformed into a food strip at night for the Zamboanga Smoke Out: The Grilled Food Fiesta! which will feature an array of grilled food such as barbecues and steaks. At the same venue, there will also be a cook-off of Zamboanga's best restaurants during La Cocina Zamboanga. Each night, one restaurant will show us how to cook Zamboanga's best dishes. Live bands and comedians will also provide the entertainment for the rest of the night.

Want to shop? Zamboanga's major bazaars will bring out their goodies at the streets for the Grand Midnight Sale. A regional trade expo called ZAMPEX will show the products of locals from the city and provinces of Zamboanga Peninsula. For vegetables, flowers, processed goods and other agricultural products, head to Plaza Pershing for the Cosechas de Zamboanga trade fair. For souvenirs and novelty items, go to Petit Barracks to trade with the travelling merchants.

Zamboanga's diverse culture and rich history will be on the spotlight too during the Hermosa Festival. Visit the Centro Latino for the Zamboanga Art Exhibit, Conference on Culture, Arts and History, and special events at night. On Oct 5, Una Noche de Canciones will feature songs rendered by the City Government Grand Chorale. On Oct 6, Una Noche de Bailes will feature the folkdances from the region. On Oct 7, the Mascota de Zamboanga Competition will feature the unique Zamboangueña Filipiñiana attire created by the talented local designers. On Oct 8, listen to the Original contemporary Chavacano songs and watch their music videos during the Original Chavacano Video Music Festival.

A Philippine festival will never be complete without the street dance. This year the Street Dance Competition will be back where it should be, at the streets! On October 10, 1PM, from Canelar Street the competing street dancers will fill the city with colors in the tune of festive beats up to Paseo del Mar where the Grand Showdown will happen.

Some of the events are innovated this year such as the Parade of Lights which is a Float Parade competition which used to be a Floral Parade Contest. The Parade of Lights will feature floats illuminated by lights like huge lanterns on October 9, Friday, from RT Lim Boulevard to Paseo del Mar which will be followed by a foam party at the Paseo del Mar Esplanade. Another street party dubbed as Danza La Vida will feature Dj's from Manila to give the Zamboangueños the best EDM party in town on October 10, Saturday, 8PM at the Butterfly Garden, Pasonanca.

On the eve of the fiesta, October 11, 8AM, watch the famous Regatta de Zamboanga, a race of colorful Vintas of the Badjaos at the R.T. Lim Boulevard. During the feast day, follow the Procession to Fort Pilar celebrate with the city's patron saint La Virgen del Pilar. The next day, there will be a Sardines Festival, a one-day event to celebrate the city as the Sardine Capital of the country. There will be lots of activities which will commence with WOW Sardinas!, a grand boodle fight of sardines at the Paseo del Mar, 5PM. Vamos a Zamboanga and let's enjoy this year's fiesta with friendship, unity and harmony! Here's the full calendar of activities for Zamboanga Hermosa Festival 2015!



For updates, like the official facebook page of the Zamboanga Hermosa Festival. Like and share!

So i was tasked to design the logo of the City Government's campaign "Build Back Better Zamboanga". Here's the process of creating the final logo.


1. Here are my two very different take on the Build Back Better Campaign. One is very colorful and the other is just a simple black and white typography. The second one was chosen.


2. I created a variety of designs. I gave different choices of fonts to choose from.


3. I also made a colored version of the variations. The chose the colors of the middle top but the "Zamboanga" of the top right.


4. More variations from the chosen color and font.


5. They want navy blue for the field and fuchsia pink for Zamboanga. I gave a variety of shades to choose from.


6. Final Logo :)

So, i've been teaching Digital Multimedia again this summer but for IT students this time. We're done with Advanced Photoshop lessons and it's time for them to learn vectors with Illustrator. This week, I gave them activities to practice their vector muscles by tracing shapes with the Pen Tool. It is the most basic skill one must have in order to make vectors but takes a lot of time to master vector Illustration. I asked them create their own logos based on their made-up company or organization. Some were pretty okay, others impressed me but most were just blah. XD hehe. Anywyas, here are some of the output of my students.



Basically, there are 5 types of Logos. First is the Brandmark or the icon/graphic style logo such as the famous Apple Logo and Nike swoosh logo. Second is the Wordmark that simply uses the name of the brand or company with a specific font style / treatment that embodies its brand. It's very common for technology companies like Sony, Samsung, Microsoft and websites like Facebook and Ebay. The logo above and below are examples of wordmark logos.



The third type of logo is the lettermark. It is like the wordmark but it uses the initials of the company which has a long name. Examples of lettermark logo are the logos of IBM, HP and KFC. The logo below is an example of a lettermark. The fourth type of logo is the combination mark. It combines both brandmark and lettermark or wordmark. Some logos like the famous swoosh logo of Nike can stand of its own but if the word Nike is combined, it can be considered as a combination mark. This is also called as a "lock up" version of the logo.




The last type of logo is the emblem. It incorporates the whole name of the company or organization. It is sometimes called a "Seal" such as the school seals and government offices. They are also used in coat of arms and car/motorcycles logos such as Ferrari and Harley-Davidson. The logo below is an example of an emblem.




I also shared to the class some tips on designing a logo. Some of the best logos are the flexible ones. They can be in colored version, greyscale or black and white. They can be placed in letterheads, resized as a tiny icon for a website, enlarged for billboards, or engraved in wood without losing its legibility and brand quality.



So these are some of the creations of my students. Some of them have the innate talent in creating on their own and some really had a hard time just even sketching on their own. I know that not all students can come up with a nice logo such as these ones but all i can do is guide them and give them the materials they need to create one. It's always up to the student if they want to push their limits and do something beyond the four walls of the classroom. Anyways, what can you say about my student's works? Ill post some of their previous works soon. For now, im back in planning my lessons and checking assignments. :D

This is my latest branding project for an upcoming business in Manila. I was asked to do a logo for a new Milk Tea business offering authentic taiwanese milk tea. The name is "Tea.gre" and the idea is to put some tiger feel on it. I started with my research on the existing milk tea brands and here are some of them.


I observed that there are four main themes in milk tea logos. First, is the tea leaf, which of course, symbolize the tea element of the product. Second, is the informal/creative use of typography. Since its a food business, the fonts used are not too formal, very readable and fun to look at. Third, is the use of secondary vibrant colors. Aside from green as the common color representing tea, they used another vibrant color such as pink, purple or orange to add a pop of color into the logo.

Lastly, I noticed that they also incorporated the "cuteness" factor which reminds us of K-Pop and Chibi characters of the animes. It gives the feel of a foreign product (like it came from an East-Asian country). This is a very important element to attract customers of all ages. With these key factors in designing a logo for a milk tea business, i came up with these three studies which i presented to the client.


I started with three different logo styles in my initial design. The first study has a tiger character into it with its body transitioning into a tea leaf. The font that I used reminds me of eastern calligraphy yet the rough edges of the outlines gives the logo a safari feel. The second study is more abstract. The graphic in the logo in the shape of the leaf can also be seen as a top view of tiger. The font that i used also looks like brush stokes and the pattern also has a safari feel in it. The third study is a typographic logo with round and bubbly edges. The tail of the "g" is designed to look like a tiger's tail.

And so, I emailed the studies and here's the feedback. They really liked the tiger character with the tea leaf concept. However, they thought that the tiger character is not that "appealing". So they requested for another character design. They also want to incorporate the typography of the third study but with another font style. So, here are my revised font choices and character design.


I explored more font styles in this one. Personally i like the original one that i did. If not, the second from the right. :D


These are three character studies of the Tiger. I made the tiger look like its holding and drinking milk tea. I made variations with the ear, nose and eye shapes. They chose the first character design. The next revision is to make it a round logo "like Starbucks". After another set of redesigning, here are my round logo proposals.


I stayed with the three main colors: brown, orange and green. I used different combinations of fonts, type placing and colors. Finally, the logo that they chose is first one in the second row. But it doesn't stop there. They also requested to change "Milk Tea" to "Authentic Taiwanese Milk Tea". It's a pretty lengthy addition to the design so i really have to make a way to balance it. And so, here are my proposals.


I placed the new text below Teagre. I also proposed to put chinese characters of milk and tea so that the spaces where Milk and Tea used to be will be occupied. They chose the last one with the thinner sub text below. However, they preferred to remove the chinese characters. Finally, here's the official logo of Teagre. I also rendered it in a milk tea cup so you can see how it looks like in the final product.


So what do you think about the final logo? Let's analyze it based on the four elements that I mentioned above. First, does it have the tea leaf? Yes. Second, is the font creative/quirky? Not really, but its readable. I think this is the weakest part of the design. I hope that they chose a more creative font style. Third, is there a secondary color? Yes, Orange. And fourth, does it have the cuteness factor? Yes! :3

I really hope I gave the client a logo that they desire. I did my best to cater every requests to come up with an effective design. Logo design is a very long process of research, design, and redesign. A lot of factor and elements should be considered and incorporated but its our job to lay them out and make sure it is a balanced and harmonious design. Personally, i have different preferences about the design but the client has the final word. At the end of the they, client satisfaction is the most important. :D