PATHS TO INDEPENDENCE
A Community Jewel
Paths To Independence is a school in Oklahoma that serves autistic kids. PTI fills an incredible need in the community that public education can’t. The teachers at PTI are wholey devoted to the kids and can pay the special attention to the specific needs that autistic kids have so that they are not left behind. They were able to buy a building that was sold when budget cuts were made and the building was in bad need of renovations. They hired a local fundraising consultant, Kent Stroman, who contacted us to brand and animate the campaign. We wanted to come up with a name and attitude that would truly encapsulate the impact and difference that giving to this campaign means.
Telling A Story
To educate the donors on the campaign we wanted to tell the story in a different way. So, we made a storybook called Keiffers story, based on the first boy to attend PTI and for whom it was created. We proposed the idea to Kent and PTI, not realizing that Jean, our contact at PTI, was actually Kieffers mom.
She loved the idea, and we began researching art styles and creating characters. We worked out the narrative to tell the Kieffers story while educating the viewer about the autism spectrum and how PTI helps.
After creating and drawing the charters and scenes, we had to colorize the drawings. We wanted to pick mediums that would compliment the storybook style and have that childlike flair. We picked a mixture of oil pastels and watercolor.
All of the sceens were colorized and maticulously finished to look exactly like a childrens book. After they were finished, they were scanned and exported for use in our storybook campaign brochure.
Then we began the process of bringing the drawings in and adding content.
What resulted from this process of getting to know PTI and telling their story, we could not be more proud of. We believe that as designers and marketing professionals, our job is to tell stories. This time, we literally got to tell a story, and a story that needed to be told. We are proud of the work that PTI does and are honored to have been a part of it.