Since our founding in 2016, Data-Driven EnviroLab (DDL) has collaborated with researchers across the world to tackle the world’s most pressing environmental challenges. Our team of policy experts, data scientists, and designers creates tools that translate messy datasets into clear, actionable insights. When we were founded, I created DDL’s website by putting out a bid on 99designs.com for a designer to help develop a logo. With the logo, I then designed and built the website using a simple WordPress template.
Coming on the eve of our 10-year celebration (more on that soon), I decided it was time for a brand refresh and sought the expertise of designer Louis Charron, who had previous experience working with the MIT Senseable City Lab, other academic researchers, and non-profits. After sharing that we were searching for a consistent brand and color identity that could be used not only on our site but in print and other outreach materials, Louis came up with three distinct design directions for our team to choose from.
An example of Louis’ work, layering the abstract with the solid
What Louis developed for the DDL was more than what we had initially envisioned. The main driving concept behind DDL’s refreshed identity is the centering of people in our work, transforming messy, complex datasets into clear, actionable insights. We work with science and data for the good of our planet and its people. To express this commitment, Louis developed a collage-based visual system that layers abstract and concrete elements. Satellite imagery sits alongside hands reaching toward each other. Circuit board patterns are mixed with humans and natural landscapes. These juxtapositions illustrate the philosophy of our lab: bridging the technical and human for the good of our planet. Check out Louis’s vision in his own words at his website.
Since we loved two of Louis’s designs so much, I asked him to combine the collage idea with one of his other design directions, which created pixelated shapes to reference urban extents. Much of our work focuses on cities and urban environments, such as our Urban Environment and Social Inclusion Index (UESI), and Louis was able to develop a visual language to reinforce the idea of “decoding data” — and how we take complex urban information and distill it into understandable forms.
I am excited about our refreshed brand identity in helping us better communicate our technical work to stakeholders and communities. This rebrand captures the values and vision that shape our efforts to clarify complex data into actionable insights that support informed decision-making. I welcome you to check out our website and work, and to connect with us if you see an opportunity for collaboration.
