Cementing a Legacy
In 2025, I was approached by the family of Hall of Fame coach Michigan high school football coach Al Fracassa to design the visual identity for their newly established Legacy Foundation. I set out translate a storied 50-year coaching career into a timeless brand system.
Brief: Develop a series of marks that integrates Coach Fracassa’s likeness with his authentic signature.
Strategy: The heart of the project was to create a custom-illustrated silhouette portrait of Coach Fracassa.
By focusing on the interplay of light and shadow, I captured his iconic profile in a way that is instantly recognizable without the need for intricate, busy detail. To create an impactful brand system I designed a vertical lockup for formal applications, utilizing a high-contrast silhouette paired with a classic serif wordmark. For apparel, social, and other digital applications I created a circular brand logo.
Challenge: Translating a photograph into a functional mark (directly below) required a careful balance of detail and simplicity. Relying solely on high-contrast thresholds resulted in a loss of character, while over-detailing moved the work toward an illustration rather than a logo. I focused on a strategic balance, retaining the specific facial features that define Coach Fracassa’s likeness while distilling the lines for scalability.
Below: A centerpiece of the brand is the coach’s signature, shared with me by the Fracassa family. I refined the script into a vector format, developing both linear and arched iterations. This allows the foundation to maintain a personal, human touch across touchpoints.
