Free Handi'se Trophy

The Client

Free Handi'se was a French non-profit with one bold mission: change how companies see disability by putting it in motion. Its flagship, the Free Handi'se Trophy, was an inter-company raid where employees with and without disabilities crossed the country side by side -by adapted bike or canoe, linking two major French cities over several days.

For the companies involved, it was far more than a race. It was living proof that a disability policy could be lasting and real - and that a company's true strength lies in its diversity. A rare, powerful employer-brand statement in a field few brands knew how to talk about.

The Challenge

This was a redesign, not a blank page: I had created Free Handi'se's original logo and guidelines myself. But the brief had shifted. The offer had grown considerably - the Trophy was no longer a one-off event but the centrepiece of a whole season of services, and the brand now had to carry all of it.

The task was to re-affirm, graphically, who Free Handi'se was and what it stood for: a rigorous, ambitious organisation whose defining quality was diversity itself. Which suited me perfectly - translating the many facets of a brand's DNA into visual direction is the part of this work I love most.

The Strategy

After many exchanges with the FHT team, one truth stood out: what defined both the organisation and its mission was diversity, multitude, abundance - energy everywhere, yet every action meticulously planned. The identity had to hold both at once: the exuberance and the rigour.

So I made a hard call and retired the original lettering in favour of something more effervescent and alive - letting all of FHT's dynamism show, unhindered by a cage of rules. I built the "FHT touch": a signature photo-filter treatment that gave every image one recognisable identity with countless faces. I drew custom lettering and a bespoke typeface (old habits die hard), and brought it all together in a brand book designed to liberate rather than restrict.

The Outcome

A bold, effervescent identity that embodied the spirit of the raid - many facets, one clear voice. A flexible system that gave partner companies a brand they were proud to stand behind, and carried Free Handi'se through its most ambitious editions, until the 2020 pandemic brought the adventure to a close.

Expertise

Brand Identity · Visual Identity · Logo Design · Custom Lettering · Typography · Photo Art Direction · Brand Guidelines · Editorial Design