Project Information

For nearly 15 years, Aceing Autism has worked to become the preeminent thought leader on how sport, and specifically tennis, helps to develop individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Their tennis camps use custom tailored fitness programming and social connection to serve each individuals needs.

When the team initally approached me for work, it was the beginning of the pandemic, we were all going a little stir crazy, and families who had come to rely on Aceing's tennis programs as an outlet and development opportunity for their children suddenly had nowhere to go. So in conjunction with their Program Director, Miles Vidreiro, we set out to establish a strategy for bringing Aceing Autism, home, and a visual facelift while we were at it. Armed with an iPhone, a tripod, and no audio equipment, we set out to create weekly training sessions for the families stuck at home. We leaned into their social channels as hubs for these lessons.

The team also decided to use this time away from in-person clinics as an opportunity to refresh the visual identity without a staggered rollout of materials. Our two major focuses were modernizing the logo, keeping legibility in mind, as the original logo suffered greatly in that department, and updating the Visual Schedule illustrations, as it was an integral component and point of focus to every clinic.

Taking notes from brands associated with sensory art and crafts, I leaned into a diverse color palette reminiscent of play-doh, crayons, or construction paper, and an illustration style that is meant to mimic cut paper crafts. The final logotype and monogram continued to use the unique "A" form created by the throat of a tennis racquet, but did so in a more streamlined, legible way.

THE IDEA

Look to the behavior of TV before DVR, and launch a weekly show. School of Guac, led by our host–Hallie Peño, was our take on an after-school special meets variety program meets satirical news program. Our audience: HS and college kids craving some mid-afternoon Chipotle.

THE EXECUTION

The premiere season of School of Guac ran for 11 episodes, including a Halloween special, on-the-ground Election Day coverage, and other cultural milestones, such as Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday. Each episode was teased and promoted on our other social channels with trailers, cutdowns and even re-runs.