SPD’s Inaugural Breaking Barriers Virtual Run: Designing an Identity for an Inclusive Challenge
Identity & Branding · Campaign Identity · Medal Design
At a Glance
Creating a distinctive identity and finisher medal for SPD’s inaugural Breaking Barriers Virtual Run — connecting participants through a shared challenge in support of people with disabilities.
In 2017, SPD organised its inaugural Breaking Barriers Virtual Run, inviting people to complete a 10 km challenge anywhere and at their own pace.
The run took place from 24 November to 10 December 2017 and formed part of SPD’s wider Breaking Barriers initiative, which sought to encourage greater understanding and acceptance of people with disabilities and promote a more inclusive society.
JAB Design was appointed Official Design Agency for the Virtual Run, developing its logo, campaign identity and finisher medal.
But a virtual run presented an unusual design challenge:
How do you create a shared identity for an event without a shared starting line or finish line?
The Challenge
Unlike a conventional run, participants in a virtual run do not gather at the same venue, start together or cross the same finish line.
They participate independently — in different places and at different times.
That flexibility was fundamental to the format, but it also meant that the Virtual Run needed a strong identity capable of connecting individual participation to a common purpose.
The name itself provided the starting point.
Breaking Barriers connected the physical challenge of completing 10 km with SPD’s broader purpose of challenging perceptions and barriers surrounding disability and inclusion.
The visual identity needed to capture that spirit while giving the inaugural Virtual Run a distinctive presence of its own.
Giving the Challenge an Identity
JAB developed the Breaking Barriers Virtual Run logo and campaign identity around bold typography, energetic graphic forms and a strong sense of movement.
The visual language reflected the energy of the challenge while keeping Breaking Barriers prominent as the central idea.
Purpose → Challenge → Identity → Participation
The identity could then provide a consistent visual connection across the event’s communications, helping participants recognise the Virtual Run wherever they encountered it.
Turning the Identity Into Something Tangible
For participants, completing the 10 km challenge needed a physical expression too.
The finisher medal carried the Breaking Barriers identity from campaign communications into an object participants could receive and keep.
Rather than treating the medal simply as an award, JAB incorporated an additional functional detail into its design.
The centrepiece could be detached from the medal and used as a magnet — extending the life of the design beyond the completion of the run.
Connecting Individual Participation to a Shared Purpose
The Breaking Barriers identity provided a common visual thread across the campaign, while the finisher medal gave participants a tangible reminder of completing the challenge and supporting its purpose.
Different places. Different times. One challenge. One shared identity.
For SPD, the Virtual Run provided another way to bring the Breaking Barriers message to the public.
For JAB, the design challenge was to translate that purpose into an identity that could move from communication to participation — and ultimately into something participants could take away with them.
Recognition
SPD subsequently presented JAB Design with a Certificate of Appreciation as Official Design Agency for the Breaking Barriers Virtual Run 2017, recognising JAB’s support of people with disabilities.
For JAB, Breaking Barriers demonstrated how identity design can give people participating separately a common connection to an idea and purpose.
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