The Autism Journey
PECS is the card system a non-verbal autistic child speaks through, and it has looked the same for everyone since 1985. Vivo made it draw itself, one child at a time.
Cannes Lions 2023Bronze · Health & WellnessBronze · Brand Experience
D&AD 2024Wood Pencil · Impact
The One ShowMerit · DesignMerit · Experiential & Immersive
Play case film — sound on2:15Client
Vivo / Telefônica Brasil
Agency
Africa Creative DDB
Role
Editing · Motion Design
Year
2023
The brief
The method works, and it is efficient and outdated at the same time. The cards are drawn once, for everybody. Hyperfocus, the narrow and absolute interest an autistic child organises their whole attention around, is different in every single house.
The idea
Put the research on hyperfocus together with AI and let the cards be built out of whatever that particular child is fixed on. A parent writes the title and describes the picture, EAT and Buzz Lightyear eating a donut, and the system draws it. No app to install, no prompt to learn.
The result
It became a daily working tool inside the largest autism institution in Latin America, and Cannes gave it two Bronzes. The film ends on the argument rather than the numbers: while everyone else was debating whether AI would replace people, this one was used to get two of them into the same room.
Credits
Creative Leadership — Sergio Gordilho, Nicholas Bergantin, Gustavo Victorino
Creative Direction / Creative — Pedro Galdi, Pedro Rosas, Felipe Luchi
Direction / Production — Rafael Damy / Santería
Editing / Motion Design — Edu Menezes
Sound — Satélite Áudio
Autism Expertise — Francisco Baptista Assumpção Junior
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