CASE STUDY:
ATHLETES UNLIMITED AUTOGRAPH CARDS
Athletes Unlimited is a professional women’s sports league dedicated to elevating the visibility and impact of women’s athletics. For the past five years, I have collaborated with the league to design annual autograph cards for the Athletes Unlimited Softball season. These cards are distributed to fans during events and serve as collectible items for obtaining player autographs.
Each season presents an opportunity to refresh the visual design while maintaining alignment with the league’s established brand identity. The primary objectives are to create a visually engaging collectible, maintain strong brand consistency, and ensure sufficient space for player signatures without compromising the design.
STAGE 1:
Design Challenge /
Design Strategy
The previous year’s autograph card design successfully captured the league’s visual identity and was widely distributed to fans. However, heading into the upcoming season, the league underwent significant structural changes during the offseason. Most notably, Athletes Unlimited expanded its format and shifted toward a more team-focused model rather than operating solely at the league level.
To support the league’s transition to a team-centered format, I developed a concept that introduced individual autograph card designs for each team. This approach allowed each team’s identity to be highlighted while still maintaining a cohesive visual system that connected all designs back to the overarching Athletes Unlimited brand.
STAGE 2:
The first phase involved developing brand concepts for each team, exploring color systems, typography treatments, and layout variations that aligned with each team’s identity. Multiple layout directions were created to test how the designs could function across different visual formats.
Although not all layouts would ultimately appear on the autograph cards, this broader exploration created a flexible design system that could later extend into additional marketing assets and merchandise.
A key design principle throughout this phase was maintaining visual harmony across the league. Even as each team received its own identity, the layouts needed to remain connected through shared structural elements and brand language.
Concept Development
STAGE 3:
After establishing the team-based brand concepts, the next step was to build the final autograph card layout. To preserve continuity with previous seasons and maintain recognizable league branding, several signature elements from the prior design were intentionally retained and integrated into the updated layouts:
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The film strip motif, which frames player imagery and reinforces the dynamic storytelling of the athletes
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The league slogan “This is Legendary”, reinforcing the brand’s message of excellence and empowerment in women’s sports
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The official Athletes Unlimited league logo, maintaining strong brand recognition across all team variations
Layout Design & Brand Integration
STAGE 4:
Using all the information created and gathered, this was the final design printed. The elements provided a visual bridge between seasons while allowing the refreshed design to reflect the league’s evolving structure.
Outcome
The introduction of team-specific autograph cards proved to be a successful enhancement to the league’s fan engagement strategy. By shifting from a single league-wide design to individual team-branded cards, the project created a more personalized experience for fans while supporting Athletes Unlimited’s transition toward a team-focused format. Distributed prior to the start of the season, the cards generated immediate positive feedback from fans who appreciated the opportunity to represent their favorite players and teams.
RESULTS & IMPACT
The updated design approach also contributed to increased interest in team-related merchandise during the preseason. More importantly, the team-branded cards served as a visual indicator of the league’s evolving structure, helping communicate the organization’s growth and new direction while strengthening the connection between fans and the Athletes Unlimited brand.