Codex Mendoza, Folio 2r: Founding of Tenochtitlan

Created around 1541–1542, the Codex Mendoza was produced shortly after the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, during a period of major cultural and political change in Mexico. Despite this new colonial context, the codex shows how the Mexica used visual systems to communicate and preserve knowledge through images, symbols, colors, and organized visual sequences.

In this folio, the founding of Tenochtitlan is communicated through recognizable symbols and their placement. The eagle standing on the cactus represents the sign that guided the Mexica to the location where they would establish their city, while the surrounding water refers to Lake Texcoco. The organization of symbols, figures, and landscape allows viewers to understand the relationships between the people, their environment, and the founding of their city.

The Codex Mendoza also demonstrates how information design can help preserve cultural identity. Although it was created after the Spanish conquest, it maintains Indigenous visual traditions that existed long before European printing was introduced to Mexico. Through its use of pictograms, cultural symbols, and visual storytelling, the codex preserves important aspects of Mexica history and identity, showing how graphic communication can carry cultural knowledge across generations.