Unearthly Materials

Powering the century of superconductivity

About the project

Bureau Bureau designed a comprehensive visual identity for deep tech venture Unearthly Materials. Launched amid much public excitement and some controversy, Unearthly Materials was founded to transform the 21st century by bringing the benefits of novel room-temperature superconductors to the world. This ambitious mission under a poetic name called for an evocative visual expression.

An unusual typographic approach was used to create this sense of wonder. One letter in each word is expanded horizontally, adding boldness and a pinch of otherworldliness to an otherwise plain word mark, alluding to the strange properties of superconductors and the high pressures to which samples are subjected during the material discovery phase.

Impact

$17m

Across multiple funding rounds, Bureau Bureau helped Unearthly Materials raise over $17 million.

Design services

Positioning and messaging, strategy, pitch deck, visual identity, website design, website development, collateral design, illustration, animation, print design, copywriting, and naming.

Unearthly Materials branded building sign mockup.

Typographic approach

(Almost) endless variation

An unusual typographic approach was used to create this sense of wonder. One letter in each word is expanded horizontally, adding boldness and a pinch of otherworldliness to an otherwise plain word mark, alluding to the strange properties of superconductors and the high pressures to which samples are subjected during the material discovery phase.

Visual system

Beyond the ordinary.

A combination of vivid colours, distortion and distinctive image treatments lead to an visual language that feels truly unearthly. Body text is set in the vivid blue-violet brand colour. Images and video are recoloured using a palette derived from scientific visualisation software. Some incidental images are unexpectedly stretched like the letters of the logotype. Among all this strangeness, the layouts remain familiar and accessible.

Unearthly Materials purple branded notebook mockup. Unearthly Materials branded notepadUnearthly Materials purple embroidered cap.Unearthly Materials business cards.

Identity guidelines

Extensive brand guidelines for the whole organisation.

To support the Unearthly Materials team, Bureau Bureau produced an extensive set of brand guidelines and maintain a website as the single source of truth for the visual identity — including hosting all brand assets and templates. A small subset of the guidelines and assets are made available to media outlets on the company’s website.

Static logo generator

A dynamic logo with dozens of static variants.

Using the dynamic logo is made easy for the Unearthly Materials team, colleagues can download a random static variant of the logo for ad-hoc use. A custom solution coded by Bureau Bureau, team members can compose their own individual email signature block all within the guidelines website.

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