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Zeki

Positioning a Startup to Connect Investors With Talent

  • Tech
  • Branding

Goal

Zeki, a U.K. startup, fast-tracks global innovation by connecting science research investors with a diverse talent pipeline. NJI partnered with Zeki to bring this innovative company to life with a brand that emphasizes diversity, collaboration, and scientific advancement.

A graphic displaying "11.4% of the AI talent market recruited by US Big tech" alongside a black-and-white photo of an individual wearing glasses. The image also shows the letter "Z" and the text "zeki" in two styles: black on white and white on black.

Results

Zeki’s new brand reflects the company’s core values and its humanist approach to scientific research and discovery. Clean concepts and designs position Zeki to attract greater investment and global support for the next iteration of scientific innovation.

Strategy

A minimalistic line drawing in blue ink shows an abstract design featuring a rounded rectangle, a circle, and a partial loop that connects the two shapes. The drawing appears to be sketched roughly but with smooth, continuous lines.

We began by leading Zeki stakeholders through a strategic brand workshop to explore the company’s goals, values, target audience, and personality.

After aligning on the brand identity, we crafted visual expressions to mirror the company’s core values. Inspired by the Bauhaus movement, we adopted a modern style featuring abstract patterns and a cultureless aesthetic to symbolize Zeki’s inclusivity.

A wall with various printouts featuring logos of companies like BBC, LinkedIn, and NASA. There is a yellow sticky note with handwritten text attached to one of the sheets. The sheets showcase icon designs, logos, and brand samples.
A geometric design featuring five interconnected circles. Four of the circles create a square-like arrangement with their centers. A fifth circle is placed centrally where the other four circles overlap, resulting in a symmetrical, flower-like pattern.
A collage of images including: two people working together on a laptop; a geometric abstract art piece with red, blue, yellow, and white rectangles; a colorful overlapping semicircles design; and a stylized illustration featuring bowls and the text "Plenty More.
A spirograph with blue gears and an orange frame is shown alongside intricate spiral designs drawn on white paper. The gears are positioned on the paper, contributing to the creation of geometric patterns.
A black geometric spiral pattern forms a circular design with a white center. The pattern consists of evenly spaced, overlapping curved lines creating a complex, symmetrical shape reminiscent of a spirograph drawing, set against a white background.
A white identification badge reads "Erik Dupree, Junior Virologist" in black text. The badge has a portrait of a bearded man wearing glasses on the left side. A metal clip is attached to the top of the badge, and the logo "zeki" is printed at the bottom right.

The new brand incorporates a versatile geometric font, a confident color palette, and comprehensive guidelines to support consistent application. Together, the brand and imagery spotlight the growing need to place the best talent at the center of today’s science.

A blue background features a circular text area at the center with the heading "Zeki's Mission" and the mission statement: "Our mission is to enable those who invest in science research to discover and attract the most promising talent, accelerating the progress of global innovation and creating a more diverse science research talent pipeline." The circle is surrounded by a geometric, grid-like pattern creating a visually engaging frame.
Image showing a contrast ratio test. On the left, a background color (#4a4085) with hue 249°, saturation 0.35, and lightness 0.35. On the right, a foreground color (#8ecfd2) with hue 183°, saturation 0.43, and lightness 0.69. The contrast ratio is 5.08, passing AA standards.
A graphic display of six rectangular cards in different shades of blue and green, each bearing the text "We’re bringing better science forward faster." The logo and website "zeki.com" appear at the bottom of each card. The same text is repeated on the left side of the image.
A black-and-white collage shows diverse scientists at work: a woman in a hijab and a colleague examine a tablet, a man with glasses intensely observes a screen, another man stands with arms crossed in a lab, a woman smiles with documents, and a man in a sweater thinks.
A spread of multiple pages from a research report by Zeki. The pages contain text, colorful graphs, and charts, including line graphs and bar charts, against a white background. There's also one predominantly purple page with white text and abstract geometric designs.
Text "zeki" in white letters on a dark purple background with subtle geometric line patterns.
A black-and-white image of two people sitting at a table, focused on a screen. The person on the left has glasses and tied-back hair, while the other has curly hair. Abstract lines and shapes are overlaid on the image, adding a modern, tech-inspired design.

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