Concept Brief
Con Ganas is a local initiative dedicated to fostering an active lifestyle culture in San Antonio, Texas. Exercise can often feel like a chore or a hassle due to a variety of external and internal factors such as insecurity and accessibility. We seek to address these concerns by personalizing and simplifying exercise through a community event hosted annually in the city. It allows people to explore new forms of fitness, while utilizing gamification to create an engaging experience —encouraging consistency among participants.
Created in collaboration with Oscar Aguilar and Emily Lopez
Awards: Branding Honorable Mention – 2026 Glitch National Student Juried Design Competition – Hosted by AIGA MSU
“How might we simplify and personalize exercise for busy adults — to motivate them to work out consistently, doing something they actually enjoy?”
The Challenge
Regular exercise is one of the most powerful things a person can do for their long-term health — and yet, for so many San Antonians, it never quite sticks. Gym memberships feel intimidating. Schedules fill up. Motivation comes and goes. And somewhere between the busy workdays and the heat, the idea of getting active quietly falls off the list.
We asked ourselves: what if the problem wasn’t a lack of willpower, but a lack of the right environment?
Con Ganas is the only community-driven fitness event series in San Antonio that combines a recurring, festival-like experience with gamified challenges and local cultural connections — for residents of all ages, all fitness levels, all backgrounds.
What We Heard
We spent weeks talking to San Antonians — in surveys, one-on-one interviews, and even a Latin dance class — to understand what actually gets people moving, and what holds them back. Three themes kept surfacing and it’s these three truths that became the backbone of Con Ganas.
People wanted:
Community more than competition.
Accessibility over intensity.
Rewards that felt meaningful rather than arbitrary.
Woodlawn Lake Park
Branding
A visual identity rooted in San Antonio’s culture: bold color, Fiesta energy, and bilingual pride baked into every asset.
Environmental
Wayfinding, signage, and park infrastructure that makes the space feel like an event worth being part of.
Interactive
A gamified participation system — lanyards, milestones, tiered rewards — giving people a reason to return.
The Idea
Con Ganas — Spanish for “with everything you’ve got” — is a recurring field day series held at Woodlawn Lake Park. Local fitness groups host demos organized around four pillars of exercise: aerobics, strength, flexibility, and balance. Participants explore freely, try things they’d never try at a gym, and earn rewards for showing up — week after week. The experience is built around three design areas working in concert:
Building the Brand
The Con Ganas identity needed to feel like San Antonio — not a generic fitness brand dropped into it. Every decision traced back to a set of brand nouns: field day, community, movement, challenge, reward, energy, fiesta, consistency, celebration.
A bold geometric “G” with an exclamation. A chunky all-caps wordmark. Hot pink, teal, deep navy, vivid orange. BONK for display, Arboria Bold for body. A custom icon system for the four exercise pillars.
THE EXPERIENCE
Con Ganas isn’t one thing — it’s a connected ecosystem of touchpoints that guide a participant from the moment they arrive to the moment they earn their final reward. Here’s how it comes together.
Check-In & Information Tent
The branded entry point to the whole experience. This is where participants receive their lanyard, hear a quick rundown of how to earn rewards, and get their first impression of what Con Ganas feels like in person. The tent reads: “We are here for you. Y para todos.”
Lanyard Badge (Tier 1 & Tier 2)
The lanyard is the first thing participants receive and the last thing they complete. It tracks their journey through the event series — each sticker earned represents a demo tried, a milestone reached. Completing Tier 1 unlocks Tier 2 with bigger rewards. Finishing all six milestones earns a top-tier voucher redeemable at any participating Con Ganas partner.
It’s a progress tracker, a piece of SWAG, and a conversation starter — all in one.
Voucher Prize
The finish-line reward. Participants who complete all six milestones across both lanyard tiers receive a voucher redeemable for a discount or exclusive offer at a participating organization of their choice. It closes the loop between effort and reward — and builds a lasting connection between Con Ganas and the broader San Antonio community.
Event Zine
A portable, foldable mini-guide handed out at check-in. It includes the map, partner list, event schedule, and a brief intro to the four pillars of exercise. Compact enough to pocket, energetic enough to actually read.
Park Map & Event Hub
A large-format environmental installation at Woodlawn Lake maps the four activity zones, color-coded by pillar. The schedule lives on the same board. From across the field, you know exactly where to go and what’s happening when.
Wayfinding System
Tall pole signs echo the map’s color language and pull participants toward each zone. A-frame signs at each activity area display the demo schedule and community partners for that section. Concrete path graphics reinforce direction and momentum as attendees move through the park.
The goal was for participants to feel oriented — never lost, never uncertain, always curious about what’s next.
What I Took Away
Con Ganas taught me that design systems aren’t just visual — they’re behavioral. Every asset existed to move someone from hesitation to participation, and then from participation to habit. A real park, a real community, a real culture — those constraints made the work harder and more meaningful.
Working across branding, environmental design, and research gave me a fuller picture of what it takes to build an experience rather than just a product. If I were to keep going, I’d push further into the digital layer: progress tracking between events, social accountability, a stronger competitive system for those who want it.
Con Ganas was never just about fitness. It was about giving people a reason to show up — for themselves, and for each other.
