U FIND OUT (UFO) STUDIES

Recruitment print collateral & administrative document design for a constellation of observational, longitudinal social & behavioral health studies focused on hepatitis C among young people who inject drugs.

Field operations centered in and around San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood, with targeted recruitment throughout the city and central bay area. These materials lived in vibrant neighborhoods rich with interconnected stories of artists, refugees, and people pushed to the margins- amid overlapping systems of care, commerce, transit, housing, and street life. Designs needed to be immediately legible, distinctive enough to compete with surrounding visual signals, and recognizable enough to activate informal participant networks through the earned trust attached to the UFO Study name.

The UFO studies were based at the University of California, San Francisco's Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, a division of Global Health.

Photo by GiGi, former location of UCSF Tenderloin Clinical Research Center. San Francisco, CA. Market St., between 5th & 6th.

UFO Study Business Card Background Wix_edited.jpg

My primary role with the UFO studies was in frontline public health and research operations, including participant recruitment, retention, risk-reduction counseling, and study coordination. Design was never the job description. It was a need I chose to take on.

I established the studies’ visual language early, then adapted it across a practical range of materials-from recruitment posters and outreach cards to clinic signage, patient forms, and administrative documents. Although the core visual direction came together quickly, I continued to support and adapt the system as the studies’ needs changed over time- even after my formal university role moved elsewhere.

Est. 1997

Acute hepatitis C virus infection in young adult injection drug users:
a prospective study of incident infection, resolution & reinfection

National Institute for Health NIHMSID: NIHMS174521 // PMID: 19764883

The U Find Out (UFO) Study is a long-standing constellation of research studies and projects focusing on viral hepatitis, particularly hepatitis C virus (HCV), among a cohort of young adult people who inject drugs (PWIDs) in San Francisco, California.

Established in September 1997, UFO was based at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Originating from The Urban Health Study began in 1985. The Urban Health Study continues to this day.

Due to the longevity of the project each era had a name based on its focus. My era focused on Acute Hepatitis C making the shorthand for this grant cycle "UFO Acute", and often "Acute UFO".

Acute UFO Study Recruitment
Collateral Creative Objectives

New grant requires visual distinctiveness from previous iterations that shares a visual language.

Build around previous grant cycles branding (👀 this section):
- Instantly recognizable name.
- Well established in professional epidemiology circles, local service providers, and informal patient networks alike.
- Memorable pulpy aesthetic that's

rough around the edges.

Invite questions via word of mouth between peers: “UFO Study? About UFOs!?” to which patients would clarify details.
A playful but serious nonjudgmental

atmosphere with services tailored to

participant needs including

good food and movies.

Signal we’re not like other research studies to new patients.
Demonstrate clinic nights are safe spaces with accessible low threshold services.

1st UFO Study Logo (1997).
Branded sewing kit.
Community competent freebies.
The iconic UFO logo. Misplaced during Acute UFOs startup. Later folded back into use!
Haight Ashbury Free Clinic era.
Haight Ashbury Free Clinic era.

Acute UFO Recruitment Collateral

Beginning here with 1 recruitment flyer & 1 business card turned into more design opportunities throughout my career as a clinical research analyst at UCSF. Open signs, forms, and more posters came next. The UFO Study collateral prepared here opened up opportunities to fully support The VIP Study serving a shared patient population through developing a complimentary buttoned-up visual identity.

Front of UFO Study appointment reminder card includes an aerial view of the South of Market Street waterfront including image of The Bay Bridge in downtown San Francisco. Futuristic font for UFO Study and phone number. Background includes the Avro Car experimental aircraft blueprint designs.

Back of UFO Study appointment reminder card includes address and day of drop-in. Originally only one day a week between 4:30pm and 8:30pm. Accompanying image includes what looks like a radar display and superimposed over it are the outlines of 5 flying saucers. Looks like an old photo from the 1950s shot in low light.

This receipt document-type continues for a full page. One visit receipt/ lab slip for every visit type and patient compensation complete with lab draw and lab sticker placements for phlebotomy lab staff tracking associated with every visit type.

This is the environment these materials lived in & around, the UCSF Tenderloin Clinical Research Center. Back of UFO/ VIP Study offices.

"Yes. We're Open. No. Not that kind of UFO."

2010-2014	2014-2017

Consistently Successful Recruitment & Retention Tools (2010 - 2018)

2010-2017	2010-2017	2010-2018
Out in the world. Rip tabs work!	Expanded Hours!	Retention Incentives

Resource Guide & Clinic Announcements

Resource Guide Cover	Resource Guide Title Page	Outreach Kit Handbills 4x1
Thanksgiving Limited Operation	Winter Holiday Limited Operation	Holiday Closure Announcement

PUBLICATIONS

Page K, Hahn JA, Evans J, Shiboski S, Lum P, Delwart E, Tobler L, Andrews W, Avanesyan L, Cooper S, Busch MP. Acute hepatitis C virus infection in young adult injection drug users: a prospective study of incident infection, resolution, and reinfection. J Infect Dis. 2009 Oct 15;200(8):1216-26. doi: 10.1086/605947. PMID: 19764883; PMCID: PMC2821203.
El-Diwany R, Wasilewski LN, Witwer KW, Bailey JR, Page K, Ray SC, Cox AL, Thomas DL, Balagopal A. Acute Hepatitis C Virus Infection Induces Consistent Changes in Circulating MicroRNAs That Are Associated with Nonlytic Hepatocyte Release. J Virol. 2015 Sep;89(18):9454-64. doi: 10.1128/JVI.00955-15. Epub 2015 Jul 8. PMID: 26157120; PMCID: PMC4542372.

UFO ARCHIVE

The official UFO Study website: Archived

The History of the UFO Study: Why young PWIDS? (archived)

My bio on the official UFO Website: Reach beyond time & space to wave "hi" to me in 2014 (archived)

Research Brief findings for the Center Of AIDS Prevention Studies: 2009 Research Portfolio

Four page brief released 2010 with significant details & findings from the longest running study of its kind.

Search for The UFO Study at UCSFs Department of Medicine's Prevention Sciences Division.

Learn more about my main duties in the Evidence Based Intervention Manual I designed & formatted for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Click here or the UFO Presents! logo below.