The Challenge: Scaling the Classroom Imagination

Criança Esperança is one of Brazil’s most influential social mobilization platforms. For the 2019 edition, I was commissioned by Maria Farinha Filmes to design the scenography for a segment exploring “Career Choices.” The project centered on the life of Ausonia Donato, a 74-year-old teacher, and her former students. The goal was to transform a standard interview set into an immersive, imaginative space that bridged the 50-year gap between a teacher’s first lesson and her students’ professional reality.

The Concept: The Universal Doodle

I bypassed high-tech digital sets in favor of the semiotics of the classroom. I utilized the “doodle”—the spontaneous, creative scribbles found in student notebooks worldwide. These marks are universal signifiers of a mind in the process of learning and imagining. By elevating these “marginal” drawings to a monumental scale, we created a visual environment that felt both nostalgic and aspirational, mirroring the fluid nature of a child’s career dreams.

The Execution: 30 Meters of Hand-Drawn Narrative

I designed and executed custom illustrations for five massive whiteboards in one afternoon, each measuring 6 by 1.5 meters.

• The Technique: Each board was hand-performed using whiteboard pens. The choice of a raw, analog line-work ensured the set felt approachable and deeply “human” on camera.
• The Palette: A strict black-on-white high-contrast scheme was used to ensure the visuals were sharp and “popped” during the national prime-time broadcast.
• The Iconography: I developed five distinct “visual universes”—one for each profession featured (Lawyer, Artist, Doctor, Teacher, and Veterinarian). These boards functioned as scenographic mind-maps, surrounding the interviewees with the tools and symbols of their life’s work.

The Impact: Design as a Storytelling Catalyst

The segment aired nationally on August 19, 2019. The illustrations provided more than just a backdrop; they served as a scenic anchor, grounding the emotional weight of the interviews in the familiar, playful language of education.

The Professional Takeaway

This project highlights my capability to deliver large-scale analog production under the high-pressure demands of national television. It demonstrates a unique ability to use minimalist tools (black ink and white space) to solve complex scenographic challenges, proving that a hand-drawn line can often communicate more “energy” than a digital screen.