Designing the difference in a cutting-edge biotech brand
Startup company Deepcell goes abstract to make an impact.
Services PROVIDED:
Brand strategy
Visual & verbal identity
Brand Guidelines
Website/UI design
Social Media Templates
Insight
Sometimes one word can be the key to unlock a brand’s freedom to be unique. In this case, “avant-garde” was the north star for a biotech identity as artistic as it is innovative.
Challenge
Deepcell is introducing an entirely new way to analyze cells—not just a new product, but a new way of thinking. Their brand needed to convey a total paradigm shift.
Solution
The Deepcell brand is a stark departure from the competition’s sea of sameness, with a design system that uses visual abstraction to create a unified yet dynamic brand experience.
Strategy
Inclusive ideology
Deepcell began with a desire to expand cell morphology into a brand new field of morpholomics. At Molequl, we began by translating the passion of Deepcell stakeholders into an ideology that spoke to the innovative thinking and techniques they bring to the industry.
The company’s values, positioning, pillars and personality were crafted with a theme of service to scientists—helping them make discoveries quicker and more frequently than ever before. Deepcell is not just about tools or tech, but the impact of its customers.
Photography and video by DCA, San Francisco
Brand Elements
Deepening the brand
Innovation and collaboration are the heart of Deepcell, and now the heart of their brand. Their logo and wordmark have a technical feel that is now balanced by bold new colors that bring energy and vitality to the visual identity.
design system
Gradient versatility
The Deepcell design system sings with a signature gradient effect referencing their in-depth cell imagery. The system is infinitely expandable via custom crafted shapes that can be zoomed into and cropped to complement any number of layouts, text treatments or display media. Beyond the free-form usage, we created a set of four core brand expressions, each imparting different qualities via distinct crop treatments and repetition techniques.
ICONOGRAPHY
Iconography was designed for distinction with an isometric orientation that roots the icon library in a consistent perspective and unifies it with pops of branded purple and green color.
Digital Design
Bringing depth to digital
All these brand elements come together in Deepcell’s digital experience, where the system provides cohesive sophistication across social platforms, media channels, and all throughout the web experience we designed and developed for their launch.
Results
Instant influence
The impact of Molequl’s branding work for Deepcell was immediate and far-reaching. The results were evident across multiple fronts:
Internal Impact
There was an immediate lift in energy and pride among internal stakeholders and employees post-launch. The new brand gave the Deepcell team a renewed sense of purpose and excitement about their work.
External Recognition
The new brand received enthusiastic responses from investors and partners, and experienced a dramatic spike in brand awareness, transforming almost overnight from an obscure startup to a closely watched challenger in the industry.
Market Traction
Deepcell was able to enter the industry with a mature and confident brand that immediately set them apart from competitors. The new brand powered Deepcell’s debut at CYTO 2023 in Montreal, where they reported a glowing reception from attendees. Post-launch, our branding effort provided Deepcell with the tools needed to leverage their newfound visibility and begin growing their business effectively.
These results collectively demonstrated the power of strategic branding in transforming a biotech’s market position and internal culture. Deepcell went from being a promising but little-known startup to a recognized innovator in the competitive field of single cell analysis, armed with a brand that could effectively communicate its revolutionary approach and vision for the future of scientific discovery.
