Primed Community · Medellín, Colombia

Caminos de
Medellín

Three pathways that shaped our community: the steps of Comuna 13, the cables over Santo Domingo, and the trails of Arví. Every camino a story of transformation.

Aprendizaje y Sistemas
Conexión y Coraje
Acción y Adaptación
Cuerpo y Ritmo
Resiliencia
01

Las Escaleras

Like the electric escalators of Comuna 13, each step in our story lifts the community higher. From humble beginnings to a thousand voices strong.

2016
Semilla
Community founded in Comuna 13. First English classes in borrowed spaces. Three students, one teacher, one dream.
2017
Storytellers
First Storyteller cohort graduates. 18-month formation program launches. Community guides find their voice.
2019
Experiencias
Community-led tourism program begins. Travelers’ Choice 2021. Primed becomes a bridge between worlds.
2021
Red Crece
Network expands to 50+ partner allies. Volunteer program matures. IVHQ, United Planet, Exchange Do Bem join forces.
2024
Mil Voces
3,244 community contacts across 4 comunas. 158 volunteers in 2025. 3,446 hours of shared growth. The forest canopy connects.
02

El Metrocable

Like the cables connecting Santo Domingo to the valley, Primed’s chapters link communities across the city. Nine urban stations, five expansion pilots, and a national node — one network, no one left behind.

SAN JAVIER STO. DOMINGO MORAVIA CONSTELACIONES POPULAR ARANJUEZ BOSTON PICACHO BUENOS AIRES
ESTACIÓN 01
San Javier
Comuna 13
Founding community. Where Primed was born in 2016, at the outdoor escalators. Community English classes, Storytellers formation, and graffiti tours. Cultural beacon of transformation.
ESTACIÓN 02
Santo Domingo
Comuna 1
Metrocable community. Panoramic views, deep roots, and neighbourhood pride. Home of community leaders who tell the story of their territory in Spanish and in English.
ESTACIÓN 03
Moravia
Comuna 4
Transformation hub. From rubbish dump to one of the largest open gardens in Latin America: art, urban agriculture, and eco-tourism. Living proof that anything can grow.
ESTACIÓN 04
Manrique / Constelaciones
Comuna 3
Home of Medellín’s largest artistic macromural. English for Service programme active in neighbourhood restaurants and cafes. 5 tour enterprises founded by graduates.
New
ESTACIÓN 05
Popular
Comuna 1
Hillside neighbourhood in the northeast. International volunteers support children’s foundations. Local youth also join a community seedbed, learning English to open future employment opportunities.
New
ESTACIÓN 06
Aranjuez
Comuna 4
Territory of tradition and popular culture. International volunteers support children’s foundations. Local and nearby youth train in English through Social Sponsorship, preparing for the bilingual sector.
New
ESTACIÓN 07
Barrio Boston
Comuna 10 — La Candelaria
Historic heart of Medellín. Heritage neighbourhood where volunteers connect with urban memory and downtown revitalisation projects, and support local elderly foundations.
New
ESTACIÓN 08
Picacho
Comuna 6 — Doce de Octubre
Hillside neighbourhood in the northwest. International volunteers support children’s foundations.
New
ESTACIÓN 09
Buenos Aires
Comuna 9
Traditional central-eastern neighbourhood. A meeting territory where volunteers support community initiatives, especially around child care and training programmes.
Expansion pilots

Beyond Medellín

Pilot chapters and community mapping in progress — extending the Primed model to other Colombian territories.

Pilot
Termales
El Chocó
Pilot chapter on the Pacific coast. Extending the Primed model to Colombia’s Pacific, with community tourism and local knowledge.
Pilot
Amazonas
Leticia
Tri-border community. Exchange of Indigenous knowledge and community connections at Colombia’s southernmost point.
Mapping
Río Sucio
Caldas
Community mapping and connections. Building relationships and understanding local needs for a future chapter.
Mapping
San Rafael
Antioquia
Preliminary community mapping. Early-stage exploration of the Primed model in eastern Antioquia.
Pilot
Carmen de Viboral
Eastern Antioquia
International volunteers accompany rural women’s empowerment processes, contributing English, experience, and cultural connection.
National node

Emprendedores Sociales

Social enterprises at a national level focused on peacebuilding. Community products, artisan goods, and local business development articulated with the Primed network.

03

Los Senderos

Three forest paths through Primed’s ecosystem – inspired by the trails of Arví Park. Each sendero leads somewhere worth going.

Sendero del Idioma
Language Path
18-month Storyteller formation. From first words to community guide – language as a bridge to opportunity, identity, and connection.
Explore this path →
Sendero de Experiencias
Experience Path
Community-led cultural tours across Medellín’s comunas. Walk with the people who live the story. Authentic, immersive, transformative.
Explore this path →
Sendero del Voluntariado
Volunteer Path
Skills-matched volunteer placements across 9 pathways. The Dandelion Principle – every seed grows where it’s planted.
Explore this path →
04

Comunidad Viva

Five kingdoms, one living community. The sacred geometry of collective growth.

Learning & Systems Connection & Courage Resilience Action & Adaptation Body & Rhythm
10
Years of community impactEst. 2016 · Medellín
3,244
Community contacts8+ chapters · 4 comunas
158
Volunteers hosted (2025)23+ countries represented
3,446
Volunteer hoursDandelion Principle in action
50+
Partner alliesIVHQ · United Planet · Exchange Do Bem
9
Urban stationsSan Javier · Sto. Domingo · Moravia · +6
05

Paleta Visual

The Five Kingdoms palette – mapped to Medellín’s landscape. Colours, gradients, and type that carry the valley’s warmth.

Monera
#FFB03F
Santo Domingo sunrise. Community warmth and foundation.
Protista
#D82253
Comuna 13 graffiti. Adaptive energy and resilient action.
Fungi
#472675
Aburrá Valley evenings. Deep networks and innovation.
Plantae
#3CB3A5
Arví forest canopy. Growth, nature, development.
Animalia
#0081BA
Medellín mountain sky. Connection, courage, action.

Typography

Caminos de Medellín
Lato · 700–900 Bold
Headings · Section titles
The voice of the ecosystem. Bold, uppercase, commanding presence.
Where Community Evolves
Lato · 300–400
Body text · Descriptions
The body of the story. Warm, readable, distinctly modern Devanagari-Latin.
EST. 2016 · MEDELLÍN
DM Mono · 300–400
Labels · Data · Metadata
The notation layer. Technical, precise, quietly structural.
New 05b

Kingdom Reacts

Custom SVG emoticons with glowing kingdom borders. Line-art icons in the Caminos aesthetic – replacing generic emoji across all Primed pages.

Kingdom Identity

Activities & Content

UI & Navigation

Usage

Include kingdom-reacts.js on any page. Call kingdomReact('seedling', 'plantae', 48) for a standalone SVG, or kingdomReactInline('book', 'protista', 24) for an inline span. Each react adapts to any kingdom colour.

  • Glowing 2px border – Gaussian blur filter per kingdom
  • Tinted fill – 6% kingdom colour background
  • Line-art interior – 1.2px strokes, rounded caps
  • Scalable – any size, any kingdom colour
  • 35 reacts – covering all site emoticon use cases
Draft 06

Propuestas Visuales

Draft SVG design assets for review. Steep Andean mountains, Comuna 13 hillside architecture, and street art elements in Five Kingdoms palette.

Combined Medellín scene: mountains, buildings, and street art
Combined Scene
Full landscape composition: steep Andean peaks, Comuna 13 brick buildings with tin roofs, hummingbirds, Wayuú patterns, and street art accents.
Steep Medellín mountain layers
Mountains
Three-layer Valle de Aburrá peaks with vegetation canopy, palm silhouettes, cloud wisps, and atmospheric mist.
Comuna 13 hillside buildings
Comuna 13 Buildings
Bare brick houses with corrugated tin roofs in offset non-grid patterns. Stairway passages, laundry lines, satellite dishes.
Street art elements: graffiti, figures, patterns
Street Art Elements
Platform Evolved Community™ 07

LMS & Hivemind

Living network visualisations for the learning platform and operations dashboard. Mycelium as navigation metaphor – growth is visible, connections are organic, the system breathes.

Open interactive
Mycelium Pentagon
Guardian · Growth · Network
Guardian-centric navigation hub. Five kingdom nodes connected by organic tendrils that grow from a central guardian. Tendril density reflects kingdom health – active kingdoms grow thick mycelium corridors, dormant ones show sparse threads. Click kingdoms to sprout, click guardian to pulse energy across the whole network.
Open interactive
Mycelium Network
Identity · Symbiosis · Reach
Free-form network concept. Click to spawn kingdom nodes – tendrils grow outward, discover neighbours, and form symbiotic connections. Pure nodes pulse once; symbiotic nodes pulse twice. Energy travels the organic path, not a straight line. Colour shifts from kingdom to kingdom mid-journey.
Meaning & Application

These are Evolved Community platform assets (Ed’s IP) available across the entire ecosystem – the mobile app, LMS course screens, Hivemind dashboard, and all tenant surfaces including Primed.

The mycelium metaphor is not decorative. It expresses the platform’s core thesis: growth is connection, not accumulation. Kingdoms don’t stack vertically – they reach outward. Completed evolutions extend the network. The shape emerges from engagement, not geometry.

  • Pentagon Home – low density, ambient navigation background
  • Kingdom Views – medium density, single-kingdom focus
  • Hivemind – live kingdom health, connection map
  • LMS Screens – course progress as tendrils, lesson nodes
  • Guardian Profile – low density, character focus
Dual Theme & Density
Both assets support dark (bioluminescent guardian/habit screens) and light (Primed highland community/course screens) themes with toggle. Pentagon radius, tendril density, and glow intensity scale with real nourishment data in production – these demos use mock health values. The network canvas algorithm adapts from full-screen immersive to subtle background element depending on screen context.
Comienza tu Camino

Whether you want to learn, volunteer, explore, or partner – every connection strengthens the community. Your path starts here.

Get in Touch Volunteer Experiences