When it hit it’s 25 year anniversary in 2011, the MIT Media Lab unveiled a swanky new building, nerdily naming it E14. What they also did was go for a new visual identity to capture the spirit of the place. And what they came up with is pretty amazing… an algorithmic logo that generates sui generis images for everyone at the Lab.
The basic idea here is that the logo has three intersecting spotlights that can be organized in any of 40,000 shapes and 12 color combinations using a custom algorithm. That’s enough to supply each and every new card-carrying Media Labber with his very own logo for a whopping 25 years.
The logo is based on a visual system, an algorithm that produces a unique logo for each person, for faculty, staff and students. Each person can claim and own an individual shape and can use it on their business card a personal website. The design encompasses all collateral, business cards, letterhead, website, animations, signage etc. A custom web interface was developed to allow each person at the Media Lab to choose and claim an own individual logo for his/her business card, as well as a custom animation software which allows to create custom animations for any video content the lab produces.
via co.Design