Mission: Possible

After almost 20 years of working on this evolving world of design, one of the most challenging projects was to create a logo that can communicate the essence of this company. If you read our first blog, you had felt the passion of our founder about this island…that said…the “coquí taíno” was a must to have.

I was not confident of using the famous beautiful symbol because of the use and misused of that centennial drawing. We see it everywhere! I felt it was kind of dangerous. So, the process began with a series of studies, trials & errors, trying to convince Jeff on why this could be a yes or that a no and so on. We actually, used two of the logos in the past, but since were not “live” yet, I took the risk and started over.

As the company vision grew I was more convinced to address the logo design. We sat down, debriefed the chief and re-think the whole concept without losing the “coquí”. Then I understood that the inspiration of Jeff’s vision for CoquíLabs was based on his passion for technology, his passion on building things and of course the Island!

Based on that interview we came up with the concept of a wireframe. Everything is builded around a wireframe or idea. Our new icon is a wireframe of a coqui, that tiny frog but with a loud sound, like us. The selection of the font was really simple…although I’m super fan of Max Miedinger with Eduard Hoffmann: Helvetica Jedi Masters, we chose Raleway initially designed Matt McInerney, because it is a soft and organic serif.

At the end the result pleased everyone and I feel that we accomplished the goal.

Our Beginning

I've been coming to Puerto Rico since 2003 several times every year. I fell in love with the island immediately. I love the scenery, the climate, the culture, the food and the people. However, over the years, I noticed a drastic decline in the local economy. I also noted that most of the tourism marketing dollars were being spent in the U.S. with very little being done to attract local tourism. It was ironic that this "Isla del Encanto" was my preferred vacation spot while most locals prefer to leave the island at every chance to vacation.

For years I wanted to move to the island. I wanted to create a company to help local businesses attract local customers and spur local tourism. In addition, I get to experience the island not in short weekly stints but as a resident so I can really immerse myself in the culture and contribute to the local economy. Thus the idea of Ofertones was born.

While visiting "abuelita Laddie" (the grandmother of my wife) out in the mountains of Hormigueros, I was struck by the beauty of the coquis singing at night. Combining that with my scientific background, we created Coqui Labs with the vision of creating a company that will have a positive impact on the local economy and hopefully leave Puerto Rico a better place for the next generation.

I welcome you to our new website and I look forward to forming strong partnerships with local businesses.