Von Steuben Panthers Baseball
The Von Steuben Panthers Baseball program had the pieces of something real — a competitive team, community support, and sponsors willing to invest. What they needed was a visual identity that matched. Over the course of the 2026 season, I worked as their contracted designer and communications specialist, handling everything from the official media guide to Senior Night banners to a full season of themed game day content. The goal was the same across every piece: make VS Panthers Baseball look like the program they already are.
The 2026 Media Book
2026 Senior Banners
Special Game Day Social Posts
Sponsor Banners displayed for every home game
Pre-Season Rally Postcard Flyer
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Client: Von Steuben Panthers Baseball Program
Industry: Education / Athletics
Services: Print Design, Editorial Design, Marketing Design, Social Media Content
Year: 2026
Project Brief: Full-season creative partnership for a Chicago public school varsity baseball program — media guide production, Senior Night banner design, and themed game day social content.
Solution: Elevated every public-facing touchpoint of the program: rebuilt the media guide as a print-ready 24-page saddle-stitched booklet, built a six-player Senior Night banner system with a cohesive design language, and created custom graphics and copy for six themed game days throughout the season.
Printing Partner: Chicago Printworks (Media Guide)
Propaganda (Banners)Photography Partner: @nickyflix (Player photos)
Outcome: Nearly 200 media guides distributed since opening day. Six seniors left their special home game with a banner to remember the last 4 years by. Social posts drove strong engagement and shares across the program's platforms. The Panthers now look like a program sponsors want to support and players want to join.
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The media guide is where this project started, and it set the tone for everything that followed. I took the existing book and rebuilt it into something the program could be proud to hand a sponsor or a potential recruit. The Varsity and JV programs got their own dedicated sections. The program's mission and history got a real home in the book. Senior players got the spotlight they deserved. Schedules were redesigned to be easily scanned. Stats in the back were simplified and clarified. Sponsor ads got bigger and more prominent, with a full sponsor lineup added.
The Senior Night banners were a chance to push the design further. I built a unified system for all six seniors: black hexagon-pattern backgrounds, a black-to-red gradient at the base, oversized vertical last names running the full height of each banner as the dominant element, full-color cutout player photos in the foreground, and black-and-white headshots layered behind. Every banner is cohesive. Every one is individual. The players and their families saw them at the game and thought they were amazing. Every senior got to take theirs home.
The social content ran all season — six themed game days from Autism Awareness to the CPS Playoff opener. Each post was custom designed to match the event: puzzle piece motifs, fire and flames, chalkboard texture, player cutouts, an American flag treatment for CPD Appreciation Day. Captions were written separately for Instagram/Facebook and X, with hashtag strategy tailored to each platform. The posts got strong engagement: high view counts, lots of likes, and significant shares across the program's feeds.
