Associação Académica de Coimbra
Coimbra, 2023
These are some of the works I produced as the head of the image and communication department of Associação Académica de Coimbra, during 2023. This was AAC's first full-fledged visual identity.
Associação Académica de Coimbra is more than a student association. Historically, it has started and taken part on many protests, revolutions, and political crisis - some say it had a role in ending the Portuguese dictatorship. With over 25000 associates, it is the biggest academic association in Portugal, and even one of the biggest in Europe. It is composed of multiple sports and cultural sections, that make it one of the most impactful and dynamic entities in the city of Coimbra. Académica is a beloved household name for hundreds of thousands of people in Portugal, and even around the world.
Every year, students elect a new team for the main board of AAC. In 2023, I had the pleasure to be chosen as the head of the image and communication department. Throughout that year, besides having a vote and a voice in any of the main board's decisions, and helping other departments organizing activities and events, I was responsible for managing AAC's social media accounts, as well as creating any image-related content necessary.
The fact that AAC is over 130 years old, the heavy flow of work, and the yearly change of teams, never allowed AAC to have a visual identity, until I became the main responsible for designing its first one. When developing it, I tried to represent the association's classic and historical legacy, along with the revolutionary, modern and irreverent personality of students, combining it with graphical elements took from Coimbra.
For as tiring and wearing as it was to have so much work and responsibilities alongside my other school and personal life compromises, I must say it is one of the most gratifying challenges I have ever faced, for what it represented and the experiences it gave me. For all the posters, outdoors, signs, event credentials, merch, logos, visual identities, social media posts, and everything else I had to design (for AAC and even for other entities), there was always a part of me that I was giving to the student's and the city's community.