Visual Language Development for AIU by Maciej MleczkoVisual Language Development for AIU by Maciej Mleczko

Visual Language Development for AIU

Maciej Mleczko

Maciej Mleczko

ATHLETIC INTEGRITY UNIT

The Athletic Integrity Unit safeguards clean sport worldwide.
For three years I was AIU's lead designer, shaping their entire visual language - from annual reports and event design to social media for an organization whose work spans 135 countries.

ROLE: Lead designer (via Penceo)
SCOPE: Visual direction and hands-on design — annual reports, infographic systems, social media, presentations, event design
CLIENT: Athletics Integrity Unit

Context
 & Problem

AIU communicates about doping - a subject where credibility is everything and audiences range from skeptical media to athletes scrolling Instagram. When I joined, their channels were run by the education team without a visual system: event snapshots, reposted partner graphics in third-party branding, no consistent typography or grid - functional, but with no voice of its own.
The organization needed to look like what it is: a serious, independent institution - without losing the energy of sport.

My role

I joined as one of several designers on the account and quickly became its lead. AIU chose to schedule projects around my availability rather than work with rotating designers - for three years I set the visual direction, proposed new formats, guarded consistency across everything they published, and worked directly with the client, developing new ideas together on calls and I designed all of it myself: every chart, every layout, every post in this case study came off my desk.

Key design decisions

An infographic system, not one-off charts
For the annual reports I built a reusable visual language for testing data, geography and case statistics: a modular grid for data spreads, a numeral treatment that keeps large figures readable at report and social sizes, a custom icon set for sample types and sanctions, and chart behaviours that hold up whether a dataset has three values or thirty. Dense integrity numbers became something media could quote and athletes could actually read — and the system proved durable, continued and expanded in the following years' reports.
One language, two registers
The same foundations - grid, type scale, colour logic, image treatment — carry an institutional annual report and an Instagram post about whereabouts deadlines.
I drew both ends of that range myself, which is exactly why the system stayed honest: nothing was specified that I hadn't already produced at deadline speed.
It kept AIU consistent whether addressing federations or young athletes, and made monthly social production efficient, because every post started from the system, not from scratch.

Turning complex data and global campaigns into one cohesive brand story.

From reports to global campaigns

Report Covers
Report Covers
Report
Report
Report
Report
Social Media posts
Social Media posts
App design idea (proposal)
App design idea (proposal)

Working on integrity communication taught me that credibility is a design material - built chart by chart, report by report.

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Posted Jul 28, 2026

Led visual direction for AIU, enhancing their brand consistency across reports, social media, and events.