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se habla usa
univisionHow Univision found a voice for the generation that speaks English at work y español en casa.
Se Habla USA is Univision’s social-first brand for bilingual Latinos who are 100% American and 100% Latino. We built its identity and the content system behind it, then scaled that system from the Instagram feed to Univision TV, a network-wide campaign, the street and the merch table.
- Client
- Univision
- Services
- Strategy, creative, content, social, motion
- Timeline
- 2019 – 2021
- Audience
- Bilingual Gen Z & millennial Latinos
- Channels
- Instagram, Facebook, Univision TV, Univision.com
- Disciplines
- Identity, art direction, illustration, motion, broadcast, merch
01The gap
Univision’s kids were online. Just not on Univision.
The network built its name with Spanish-dominant audiences. Their children grew up bilingual, scroll mostly in English, and don’t see themselves in either general-market or Spanish-language media.
Sources: GlobalWebIndex Multicultural: Hispanic; Edelman Trust Barometer 2019: U.S. Multicultural.
02The insight
We speak English at work y español en casa.
Being bicultural isn’t a translation problem. It’s a language of its own. So the brand never translates. It code-switches mid-sentence, the way its audience does.
Code-switch, don’t translate
No subtitles. If you get it, you’re in.
Nostalgia is the common language
The plastic on the sofa. Sana sana colita de rana. Recognized instantly.
Celebrate us, not the stereotype
Researchers, dancers and founders, in their own words.
Built to be tagged
Every post is made to be sent to a prima, a tía or the group chat.
03The identity
Loud color. Warm type. One idea per post.
A palette pulled from painted bodegas, piragua carts and birthday papel picado. Every post sits on a single color field, so the feed reads as one brand before you see the logo.
Logo
Two languages, one word mark.
“se” sits in rosa above “habla” and leans on the stacked “USA”, so Spanish and English share a single mark. The rounded geometric sans keeps it friendly at avatar size.
- Primary
- White and rosa on azul
- Secondary
- On rojo, with “Univision celebra a los latinos”
- Avatar
- Stacked mark on azul for profile images
Color
Five flat colors, one or two per post. No gradients.
#0A2FB4#FE0000#FCE851#FEADA9#91CDEFType
Three voices, each with one job.
Sobremesa
We dream American dreams y vivimos valores latinos.
El que se enoja pierde.
Voice
Proud, diverse, y divertidos. In that order.
Sounds like us
- “Imma need a siesta after esta paella.”
- “Échale #gasolina to the most Spanglish night of the summer.”
- “Quincena: the sweet sound of cha-ching.”
Never
- Translating every line into both languages
- Explaining the joke
- Sombreros, maracas, one-country-fits-all
04Content buckets
Language, nostalgia, community.
Every post belonged to one of three buckets. Inside each bucket, recurring series with a set format gave the audience a game to play and kept the team shipping 37 posts and nearly 100 Stories a month.
LanguageWords only we use
NostalgiaGrowing up between two cultures
CommunityReal people, real voices
Nostalgia
Latino Truth
Static · numbered
The game: one universal truth per post, numbered like a running list. The number does the work: every new one says “there are a hundred more where this came from.”
It became the series that crossed over to TV. See it on air
Language
What Does That Mean?
Static · dictionaryThe game: Spanish words English never figured out, each defined in Spanglish. It teaches the non-Spanish speakers in the comments and rewards the ones who already knew.
Language
Spanglish Dictionary
CarouselThe game: the flip side of What Does That Mean? Not Spanish words, but the ones we invented: janguear, taguear, el mapo, confle. Carousels earn the swipe and the save, and everyone has a word to add.
Language
¿Cómo se dice?
IllustrationThe game: an object every Latino home has, drawn flat. The English caption is the punchline and the comments supply the Spanish. The chancla needs no explanation. Neither does “Run!”
Nostalgia
Growing Up Latino
IllustrationThe game: one shared memory, one drawing, one line. Humor and nostalgia about growing up Hispanic was the top-performing theme on the account.
Nostalgia
Dichos
MotionThe game: the sayings your parents repeated until they stuck, set in kinetic type. Every country has its own version, so the comments turn into a friendly debate.
Community
Celebrate Us
Carousel · 2 framesThe game: frame one is an animated portrait framed in the palette; frame two is the person in their own words. It takes the brand past jokes, so a researcher and a dancer sit in the same feed as the chancla.
Community
Creators & UGC
Reels · repostsThe game: Reels co-created with Latino creators, wrapped in a branded frame and closed on the Se Habla USA end card, plus the best community posts reposted in brand colors. Real voices build trust a brand voice can’t.
05Scaling up
Built for a phone. Ready for a billboard.
Because every element was a flat color field and one line of type, the system scaled without redesign: from a 1080px post to broadcast, a network campaign, a website and the street.
On air
The feed, on Univision TV.
Latino Truth ran on Instagram past #100, then became 9-second bumpers that sent viewers back to @sehablausa. Heritage films followed. Pick a spot to play it with sound.
Bumper · 9s
Latino Truth #24 · Dejar las luces prendidas
Muted preview. Click the spot below to play it with sound.
Network campaign · Art direction
Mes de la Herencia Hispana.
The Se Habla USA language became Univision’s network-wide Hispanic Heritage Month look: one art direction across linear TV, live events, digital and social.
Concept rationale
“Moving shapes and kinetic type for a generation shaping America’s future. Many type families for many origins. Bright color for their zest for life.”
Employees and viewers sent in phone videos, so every frame had to hold any footage and still fill a 16:9 screen.
Motion package
Delivered with alpha channels for on-air graphics. Shown here over the campaign frames.
Web · street · merch
Then it left the screen.
A Univision.com takeover that sold the merch, tees worn on air on Despierta América, and concepts for a studio wall, an event backdrop and a mural.
06Impact
9.4 million impressions in a single quarter.
At its Q4 2020 peak the account published 465 pieces in one quarter, all on system, and the audience answered.
Same creative system, two investment levels
The amplified launch quarter vs. the following organic-only quarter.
Audience · 88% U.S.
Sellable
By early 2021 a national wireless carrier sponsored a multiplatform Se Habla USA program, including an hour-long broadcast special.
What worked
- Humor and nostalgia about growing up Hispanic
- Captions that ask for something: tag, finish the dicho, pick a side
- A look recognizable before the logo
What didn’t
- Text-heavy graphics without one clear line
- Square in-feed video once Reels arrived
- Volume for its own sake. Fewer, better posts reached more people
What we’d carry forward
- Design series, not posts
- Give the community the mic early
- Build every asset to survive a jump in scale
Source: Univision social performance reporting (Sprout Social) and 2021 strategy reviews. Q4 2020 totals include paid amplification and partner content.
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