U FIND OUT 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 U Find Out (UFO) 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 research operations. A broad scope including participant recruitment, retention, risk-reduction counseling, and study coordination. Design was never in 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.

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Est. 1997

Established at UCSF in 1997, the UFO studies grew from the Urban Health Study and evolved across multiple grant cycles, each with its own research focus. My work centered on UFO Acute, the phase focused on acute hepatitis C infection among young people who inject drugs.

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

Designing the Acute UFO Grant Cycle

Each grant cycle needed to feel new while remaining unmistakably UFO. The challenge was to create a distinct visual language that could stand apart from earlier iterations without losing the recognition, trust, and word-of-mouth potential attached to the name.

Creative Objectives

Build on established recognition among researchers, service providers, and participant networks.
Create a visually distinct grant-cycle identity while preserving continuity with earlier UFO materials. (👀 this section):
Invite curiosity & peer-to-peer conversation around the name.
- The UFO name had unusual memetic pull: it traveled through participant networks, reinforced recall, and helped bring highly mobile participants back for follow-up visits.

Signal a playful, nonjudgmental, low-threshold research environment.
Remain legible & memorable across posters, cards, signs, forms, and clinic announcements.
Establish a visual language early and set it as an easily adaptable design system to meet study needs over time.

Selected Examples of Previous Creative

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

Acute UFO Recruitment Collateral

The visual language I established matured UFO’s playful identity without losing its spirit. An aerial view of San Francisco’s Bay Bridge and Embarcadero waterfront anchored the masthead in place- a useful cue for a partially transient participant population. Sci-fi typography and real mid-century aviation schematics gave the materials a more grounded expression, while familiar UFO elements at the edges preserved continuity.

I locked in the visual system early with a recruitment flier and outreach card, then expanded it as new needs emerged: clinic signs, appointment reminders, announcements, patient forms, lab slips, and additional recruitment materials. Because the visual language was simple and modular, it adapted quickly.

The lessons from building UFO’s adaptable visual system later informed the more mature identity I developed from scratch for the VIP Study which served an overlapping participant population.

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.

TOP LEVEL UFO COLLATERAL

Photo by GiGi, pictured below: Rear view of the UCSF Tenderloin Clinical Research Center, where UFO and VIP field operations were based. The Acute UFO office was located behind the pink-haired figure’s eyes. The neighborhood’s visual intensity informed the need for materials that were immediate, recognizable, and visible at street level.

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

2010-2014	2014-2017

Established Once. Adapted for Eight Years.

Recruitment & retention collateral, 2010-2018

2010-2017	2010-2017 Half-Sheet. Added to distributed outreach kits.	2010-2018 Outreach Cards later used as appointment reminder cards. Photo includes previous iterations reminder cards.
Out in the world. Rip tabs work!

A Visual System for Everday Study Life

The system extended into the everyday life of the clinic: resource guides, outreach handbills, schedule changes, holiday notices, closures, and other short-lived materials created as needs arose.

Retention Incentives	Holiday Closure Announcement	Extended Hours
Outreach Kit Handbills 4x1	Resource Guide Cover	Resource Guide Title Page

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

Archived Official UFO Study

History of the UFO Study

My 2014 UFO team bio

2010 research brief from the longest running study of its kind

UCSF's Department of Medicine Prevention Sciences Division own archive

2001 Breathe: An Educational Game About Overdose

THE VISUAL LANGUAGE CONTINUED

The schematics first introduced in UFO Acute’s recruitment materials later became a prominent visual element in UFO Presents!, an evidence-based hepatitis prevention manual created for public health departments, research organizations, and community programs serving young adults at risk.

The UFO Presents! case study covers the broader intervention work I supported and the evidence-based manual I designed and formatted for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Select the wordmark below to continue, or click here.