I Made This: Design Business Born from an Autistic Child's Perspective

Sonny with son Woody. Photo credit: Campaign

Sonny Adjoran, a creative director at Engine, and Charlotte Adjoran, a freelance creative, have a son, Woody, who was diagnosed with autism when he was only three years old.

His parents always thought that he had very interesting phrases when he would describe or talk about things. With this unique perspective, they decided to write them down and transform them into linocut prints and cards. They calked this project Woodisms.

There is often a misconception that individuals with autism lack compassion or understanding. For Woody, there are times where he processes emotions differently, but there’s other times where he says lovely things. Woody’s dad made a link print of one of his Woodisms thinking that it could suit the way he speaks and could help as a form or mediation. 

They were offered a free stand at an exposition at Olympia London. The head of art buying at Bartle Bogle Hegarty, Aine Donovan, has a print shop called ‘They Made This’ where she agreed to keep their work. After this happened, Woody’s dad decided to post about it on LinkedIn where he got around 200,000 views.

“I’ve been a copywriter for 20 years but in just a few years of his life Woody has come up with better phrases and ideas than I’ve ever had. Themes like love and friendship have been described for centuries, yet he’s still coming up with new ways to describe things,” said Woody’s mom to Campaign.

Woody has had a very difficult time at school and his parents share that he is realizing that he’s different from his peers. But that didn’t stop him from finding something he’s really good at. His parents told him that everyone loves the way he thinks and that his school wanted his thoughts on a wall at his school, so his school ended up displaying some of his prints. 

Woodism recently won a D&AD Pencil in the Side Hustle category. They believe that Woodism could become a platform for kids and a place where other young artists could sell their work. 

“In advertising, diverse minds are more important than ever. We’ve been in the industry for a long time and we know it can be quite a closed shop. By selling Woody’s work, we’ve proven that an autistic mind can also be commercial. We’re hoping that will send a message to the industry that diverse minds are going to be the future of coming up with brilliant, unique and wonderful ideas,” said Woody’s mom to Campaign.