Research-Focused Design
Create a brand that instils confidence within the scientific community
Scientists and engineers dedicate their careers to solving the world’s largest problems — from climate change and pandemics to information security and cybercrime. In moments of crisis and opportunity, how can we identify the best and brightest minds upon which to rely?
Zeki answers this question — build a company that fast-tracks global innovation by creating a more diverse pipeline for discovering scientific talent. The company aims to accelerate vital scientific work by proactively identifying emerging talent and connecting them to resources and support networks globally.
THE BRIEF
Zeki engaged NJI to bring its innovative company to life with an aspirational approach that emphasises diversity, collaboration, and scientific advancement. Creating a brand for a unique startup requires a thorough, collaborative process that investigates all available options. NJI began by leading Zeki stakeholders through a strategic brand workshop that considered the company’s goals, core values, target audience, and personality.
OUR APPROACH
Refined design through a modern lens
Authentic
Insightful
Persuasive
THE PROCESS
Our designers developed mood boards to explore the company’s aesthetic taste and offered samples and flavours for stakeholder input. After further alignment on the brand’s identity, we explored a plethora of logos, colour palettes, and font pairings for the brand to be applied across a variety of collateral and instances.
NJI crafted a geometric suite of abstract patterns and compelling visuals echoing the iterative nature of science. The visual language was paired with an approachable and confident colour palette, a versatile geometric font, and a robust and flexible set of brand guidelines.
Inspired by the Bauhaus movement, NJI adopted a modern, inclusive style featuring abstract patterns with a cultureless aesthetic to symbolise that all are welcome. We overlapped and merged shapes to create collaborative images reminiscent of the teamwork required for groundbreaking research and discovery. Each set of geometric shapes also corresponded to different career paths within the scientific community.
Building on the clarity of Zeki’s messaging, we crafted visual expressions to mirror the high quality and precision needed for successful advancements in science. We created a visual expression of the company’s core values of:
THE OUTCOME
Zeki’s new brand offers a humanist approach to scientific innovation that emphasises collaboration, discovery, and progress. The clean concepts and designs lure greater investment into the next iteration of scientific research and discovery. Together, the brand and imagery spotlight the growing need to gain earlier access to global support and place the best talent at the centre of today’s science.
At a glance:
drag
100+
rough logo sketches
20+
patterns created
3
timezones
3
design concepts
1
old-fashioned Spirograph purchased
Intuit
fortune favors
the bold
We collaborate with tenacious organizations and ambitious people.
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