"The Two Faces" began as a cover design idea to communicate what Alexia's Ortiz, a mexican independent writer first novel, was about: mental disorders. But, the insight behind the craft was so strong that also became the campaign of the book that took over the streets and libraries in Mexico. Embroidered painting is a technique with a lot of work, dedication and craftsmanship behind it, especially when it comes to replicating a human face, and also it's a perfect metaphor of what a mental disorder feels, because while the front of the artwork looks flawless, its back is chaotic.

Fortunately Alexia Ortiz SOLD OUT all the 10,000 copies of the book she printed, which is a massive result for a mexican independent writer first novel. But, there are still copies on amazon and independent libraries website so anyone could order online. And Alexia is now printing the 2nd edition, so she can continue growing and spreading this powerful story of how mental disorders almost devastated Ainoa, Alexia and Julian, the characters from the book.

It's no secret that in Mexico and Latin America one of the most difficult products to sell are books.

The reading population is gradually decreasing in Mexico. In the last twelve months, the literate population that is assumed to read books, magazines, newspapers, comics or websites fell from 71.8% of the population to 68.5% in 2023. (Source: The Economist Mx)

Also, it's very difficult to shine in an established, male dominant and competitive market as an independent mexican writer launching her first novel as Alexia Ortiz.

But, the increasing push by woman to highlight other women talent and of course a powerful and relevant story, really gave Alexia's novel the PR that she needed to sell every book she printed.

Alexia Ortiz is a mexican independent writer who was about to launch her first novel, so she came to the agency with the task to design the cover of the book. In her words:

"I wrote a novel that portrays the duality of mental/emotional disorders. I want to have a launch campaign that shows this duality in a powerful way so that people will want to read this story and buy it on amazon."

This was an objective we hadn't faced before, an independent writer as a client.

When we read the book, we discovered that the main topic in the story was that mental disorders could silently devastate us, and that's when we came with the idea to communicate this insight through a beautiful visual metaphor and craft depicted by embroidered paintings.

Alexia Ortiz wasn't a brand, she was a person, so we knew that we wouldn't have media budget or even brand guidelines. We went directly to rely on the craft of the paintings to create something so beautiful that could answer to what Alexia was asking for.

We thought that sparking a conversation around the book cover would help to attract more people into reading the book, that's why the cover became so important. We wanted people to judge the book by it's cover, literally.

Some disorders aren't visible, but they eventually take their toll. So, for the launch of a novel that addresses these disorders, we depict it beyond its pages.

We illustrated the main characters of the book based on the author's description. Then, in collaboration with an artist, we created embroidered paintings based on these illustrations.

Why? Because this technique perfectly represents a mental disorder, for while the front side of the work appears flawless, its back side is chaotic. These embroidered paintings became the launch campaign of the novel.

Despite being a low-budget campaign but with a high level of creativity and innovation, we managed to sell 100% of the books 6 times faster than what was established (estimated sales figure in 6 months according to the sales standard of Gandhi Bookstores and El Péndulo cafeteria for an independent book).

10,000 books sold, a big achievement for an independent mexican writer.