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✦ 2hands2help✦ Empower Program✦ SEL Curriculum✦ Logo Design✦ Character Illustration✦ Lesson Plan Design✦ Youth Education✦ Social-Emotional Learning✦ Scenario Cards ✦ 2hands2help✦ Empower Program✦ SEL Curriculum✦ Logo Design✦ Character Illustration✦ Lesson Plan Design✦ Youth Education✦ Social-Emotional Learning✦ Scenario Cards
Case Study — Curriculum Design & Character Illustration

A curriculum.
A cast of characters.
A complete visual world.

Joelle James and 2hands2help created the Empower program to teach social-emotional skills to youth. Moor Graphix built everything they needed to bring it to life visually — logo, brand guidelines, 30+ original character illustrations, and full lesson plan layout across 4 units.

See the Characters ↓ Full Scope ↓
ClientJoelle James / 2hands2help
ProgramEmpower — SEL Curriculum
DeliverablesLogo · Characters · Curriculum Layout
Partnership2023 – 2025
Empower Superkids character illustration group by Moor Graphix
30+
Original character illustrations
4
Curriculum units fully designed
2+
Years of ongoing partnership
SEL
Social-emotional learning for youth
Services delivered across this engagement
Logo Design Brand Guidelines Character Illustration Curriculum Layout Design Lesson Plan Design Activity Sheet Design Scenario Card Design Print Production Supplemental Materials UUSW Logo Design
01 — The Challenge

A powerful
curriculum with
no visual world.

Joelle James had built something real with 2hands2help: a structured, research-informed social-emotional learning program designed to help youth navigate feelings, build relationships, and develop the inner tools they'd need for life.

But the Empower curriculum existed as a concept — text, frameworks, lesson structures — without the visual identity, characters, or designed materials that would make it credible in a classroom, fundable to donors, and engaging to the kids it was built for.

Moor Graphix was brought in to build the entire visual world from zero: the logo, the cast of characters kids would see themselves in, and the fully designed lesson plan system across 4 units.

—

No logo or visual identity

The Empower program needed a mark that communicated youth empowerment, warmth, and credibility — something educators and funders would immediately trust.

—

No characters for kids to connect with

A curriculum that teaches emotional intelligence needs characters who model it. Kids needed to see themselves — different backgrounds, ages, family structures, and emotional experiences — reflected in the program.

—

No designed lesson materials

Raw curriculum content needed to become designed, print-ready lesson plans, activity sheets, and scenario cards that educators could actually use in a classroom setting.

—

Ongoing refinement across 4 units

As the curriculum evolved through implementation and feedback, the design had to evolve with it — multiple revision cycles across units, characters, and supplemental materials.

02 — Logo & Brand Identity

A mark that
earns trust in
every room.

The Empower logo needed to work for two very different audiences simultaneously: the youth it serves, and the educators, administrators, and funders who would evaluate it. It needed energy without chaos, warmth without naivety, and professional authority without coldness.

Moor Graphix delivered the logo across all formats — full color, grayscale, vector, print-ready — with a complete brand guidelines document covering usage, color system, and typography. Multiple revision rounds refined the mark until it was ready for both the classroom and the boardroom.

03 — Character Illustration

30+ original
characters. Every
kid sees themselves.

The most distinctive and labor-intensive deliverable in this engagement was the cast of original characters Moor Graphix illustrated for the Empower curriculum. These weren't stock images or clip art — they were custom-designed people that populated the Empower world: kids, parents, teachers, coaches, community figures, and even abstract emotional characters.

The cast was built to reflect the real diversity of the students Empower serves — different races, family structures, ages, and roles. Alongside the realistic cast, Moor Graphix also designed fantastical "Super Kid" versions and emotional concept characters that bring abstract SEL ideas to life visually.

Full Character Roster — Designed by Moor Graphix
Brandon · Kyle · Jayden · Robert
Juan · Kai · Maria · Jazzy · Lucky
Sidney · Davis · Baby Hero
Mom · Dad · Grandma Ella · Grandpa
Coach · Mr. Williams · Ms. Santos
Ms. Sanders · Ms. Thompson · Principal
Officer Blake · SRO Patel · Neighbor
Captain Cool · Super Kids (5 versions)
Doubt · Focus · Crybaby · Squirm Monsters
04 — Curriculum Layout Design

4 units.
Designed to
teach and inspire.

The Empower lesson plans aren't just functional documents — they're designed experiences. Moor Graphix laid out all four curriculum units with the characters, color system, and visual hierarchy that makes the content inviting for youth and clear for educators.

Each unit went through multiple design revision cycles as the curriculum was piloted and refined. Moor Graphix delivered each iteration — including the November 2025 revision cycle — keeping the visual system current with every content update.

01

Unit 1 — Self-Awareness

Helping students recognize and name their emotions, understand their strengths, and build a foundation of self-knowledge.

02

Unit 2 — Self-Management

Strategies for managing impulses, setting goals, and developing the discipline to stay on track when emotions run high.

03

Unit 3 — Social Awareness

Building empathy, understanding diverse perspectives, and developing the social intelligence to navigate relationships.

04

Unit 4 — Relationship Skills & Responsible Decision-Making

Communication, conflict resolution, and the frameworks for making thoughtful decisions under pressure.

05 — Activity Sheets & Scenario Cards

The tools that
make the lesson
land.

Beyond the lesson plans themselves, Moor Graphix designed the full suite of student-facing activity sheets and scenario cards that bring each lesson to life in the classroom. Each sheet is character-driven, age-appropriate, and designed to be completed — not just looked at.

06 — Full Scope

Everything it takes
to build a
curriculum from zero.

From the logo to the last scenario card — Moor Graphix delivered the complete visual system.

30+
Original character illustrations
4
Curriculum units fully designed
2+
Years of partnership and iteration

A cast built for every classroom

Kids, parents, teachers, coaches, community figures, and conceptual SEL characters — the Empower cast was designed to reflect the real diversity of the students this program serves. Every character was custom-illustrated from scratch.

Curriculum that evolves — design that keeps up

As Empower was piloted, refined, and expanded, Moor Graphix delivered each design revision cycle on time. The November 2025 update cycle produced new units and updated materials that kept the program current with its educational goals.

From concept to classroom-ready

Every deliverable Moor Graphix produced was built for real use — print-ready PDFs, high-resolution illustrations, and InDesign-based layouts that could be updated, exported, and distributed to educators without rebuilding from scratch each time.

UUSW
Second logo project delivered for Joelle James
"The Empower program needed more than a designer — it needed a creative partner who could translate the vision of social-emotional learning into a visual world kids would actually want to be inside."

— Sid Washington, Moor Graphix

The Approach

Curriculum design
is character design.

Social-emotional learning works when students see themselves reflected in the material. Abstract concepts like empathy, impulse control, and decision-making become real when they're embodied in characters who look like you, live in neighborhoods like yours, and face situations you've actually been in.

Moor Graphix applied Cultural Alchemy to the Empower curriculum — building a visual world diverse enough for every child to find themselves in it, and designed well enough that educators would choose to use it every day.

✦ Your Program

Have a curriculum,
program, or mission that
needs a visual world?

Whether you're building an educational program from zero or need to elevate existing materials — Moor Graphix brings the same depth and craft that turned the Empower concept into a print-ready, classroom-ready curriculum product.

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