To talk about Mexico is to talk about diversity, people, traditions, and art. Each region of our country has a particular style to represent its traditions. It's the element that gives identity to their culture and differentiates them within the country.

When we look at Mexico City, We find a very particular style that has evolved over the years as a manifestation of the city's growth. Starting with the work and influence of José Guadalupe Posada with his engravings inherent to Mexico City, continuing with the muralists such as Diego Rivera or Siqueiros, and in the post-revolutionary era with the emergence of the rotulism trade and with it the beginning of popular graphics as we know it today, which quickly positioned itself as a current that became part of the identity and daily life of the people.

We can consider as popular graphics any object that brings color and identity to the city, the thought of as an aesthetic whole, and that can or cannot have an artistic intention in its origin. The first image that comes to mind when thinking of popular graphics are the signs accompanied by commonly sarcastic graphics although they are the main piece for the vitality they give to the streets, there are also other variants of graphics, such as the announcements of sonideros, wrestling posters, murals, traditional printing methods and any visual applied to objects that refer to the city just by looking at them.

Because of this cultural load, it is a gold mine for designers in terms of visual resources and inspiration. But this is where the dilemma arises: As designers, are we taking advantage and appropriating this graphic, or is it simply a process of inspiration?

To define the action between appropriation or inspiration we have to consider the context of each case and the approach given to these elements. We will understand it as appropriation in cases where the graphic is recreating exactly an original that we find in the streets and taking it to a different context, some area of different socio-cultural characteristics and higher purchasing power. In other words, the intention would be to perceive the graphic as something of higher quality simply because it is in a privileged context and to make a profit from it.

We could consider it as inspiration to take as a reference. But without copying exactly, the final product should convey the same sensations and essence as the graphic but without having it present as the initial product. In this case, the object or place designed may offer a different experience to people outside the context but give value to the origin for the inspiration in terms of sensations and what it transmits to the consumer.

It may seem that the limit between appropriation and inspiration is very subjective, but it all depends on the intention. The practice that we can consider correct is an inspiration because we do not seek to obtain any benefit from extracting this graphic style to take it to other people as a way to attract them. We only use it as a trigger of ideas and feelings to convey, to create a similar experience. In this case, a person familiar with the source of inspiration will know how to identify it. On the other hand, an outsider will not notice it but will feel good to see that designed product.

It is important to keep popular graphics in the collective imagination, and it is with these practices of inspiration for new design projects that we manage to recognize the graphic style by taking its essence to other contexts. As spectators, we will have to adapt to its context to know the source material, because, as we mentioned, if we take it out of its context we are undermining the importance of its creation and the people who produce it.

We value and respect popular graphics as part of our identity, so we need to understand how we can be inspired and transmit what makes us feel to other contexts.