Au Contraire is an authorial project that began in São Paulo, Brazil, from Leonardo Hemmel Otsuka's wish to give his own work a signature.
The name is not about contradicting for its own sake. It is about what is born after the friction: a synthesis between what already exists and what is still missing.
It also stands for valuing what goes unvalued and what is thought of as imperfect, and for following a path of its own rather than a generalist one.
The French name "Au Contraire" is not there for sophistication. It is a way out of the cliché and of the anglophone soft power spreading across the world. The phrase is also very close to the Portuguese "Ao contrário".
I was drawn to naming the project in French after studying the language and reading about Québec's resistance to anglicisation. It is a stance I have shared since I first started learning English as a child, because my family said it mattered for getting a good job, even living in Latin America.
Communication and real intent.
For Leonardo, languages are tools, but also something essential to a people's culture. Art is a kind of language: it tells apart what is merely aesthetic or generative from what actually communicates and carries real intent.
The right to exist.
Art and language are imperfect, they are alive, and they go through the same attempts at standardisation by purists and nostalgics. A dialect was never a mistake, not even the marginalised ones: it was always just a language no one granted the right to exist.
Branding
Building a brand identity: naming, concept, logo, palette, typography and the guidelines that keep everything consistent across every application.
Design
Graphic and editorial design: identity in use, layout, composition and hierarchy. From campaign pieces to the brand guidelines, in print and digital.
Motion Design
Logo animation, title sequences and animated pieces for social, plus short-form video editing. Identity set in motion.
Web Design
End-to-end website design: page architecture, wireframe, prototype and interface (UI/UX), ready for development.