Tokyo will be hosting the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. However, despite growing public excitement, study shows only 1% of Japanese watch Paralympic Games as these sports still struggle to gain media coverage and audience.

It is a global challenge facing many para-sports committees and athletes, including our client, Japan Para Table Tennis Association.

Among the reasons for the general lack of interest in Paralympic Games, are that people don’t relate to the challenges faced by para-athletes, and therefore don’t fully appreciate the immense skill involved in competing.

To raise awareness of para table tennis and para-sport in general, in a reality where Paralympic Games are regarded secondary or largely ignored, we felt the need to bring a new perspective for spectators, by communicating the appeal through an innovative method that facilitate an authentic understanding of the sport.

(Poster with Triangular shape Pingpong Table)

This game of table tennis

Will move you

In ways no other games can

Koyo Iwabuchi (Dysfunction of both lower limbs due to pes adductus)

Limited abilities. Unlimited possibilities.

Japan Para Table Tennis Association

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(Poster with elongated shape Pingpong Table)

In this game of table tennis

There are spots near the net

You’ll never reach

Yukimi Chada (Dysfunction of lower limbs due to transverse myelitis)

Limited abilities. Unlimited possibilities.

Japan Para Table Tennis Association

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(Poster with circular shape Pingpong Table)

In this game of table tennis

Victory cannot be earned

Without running the distance of a marathon

Katsuyoshi Yagi (Radial deficiency of both arms)

Limited abilities. Unlimited possibilities.

Japan Para Table Tennis Association

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(Poster with Manifesto statement)

Not Limited by Shape

The ping pong table has no fixed shape.

It can stretch left, get long, or turn to a circle

You may say it is impossible

But there are people that face it every day

The athletes out there, who face these challenges every day

In this game of table tennis

The same shape may look different

The same sport may bring different obstacles

They may feel limited

But they never give up

If you can’t reach, run a little faster

If you can’t move, make your opponent move a little farther

In life, in hardship and in sport,

Don’t dwell on what you can’t do, but focus on what you can do

Stand at the table and see the world through their eyes.

Where you find limitations, you find possibilities.

Limited abilities. Unlimited possibilities.

Japan Para Table Tennis Association

The objective for the art direction was to reinvent the look of a seemingly familiar product in an unprecedented way, the same way the product, the pingpong table, was reinvented as an innovative tool that offers a new perspective.

In order to create new, sophisticated and inspiring look that focuses on the product,

the tone and colors are kept simple and clean to convey the feeling similar to what you get looking at a picture of a new, beautifully designed spaceship created by NASA, the excitement of seeing something that will change your world.

All executions focus on the shape of Para Pingpong tables and the story behind each. To keep the communication simple and clear. Our art direction focuses on the Pingpong tables as the center of the visual element to achieve non-verbal communication that resonate with people all over the world.