2016

SMAT-map. Horizon 2020 Visual Identity

Branding, graphic and web design for a Horizon 2020 European project

SMART-map is a coordination and support action financed by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 Programme. Its goal is to co-design and implement concrete roadmaps for the implementation of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) principles in three key game-changing fields: precision medicine, synthetic biology and 3D printing in biomedicine.

The project involves industries, research institutions, universities, societal actors and organizations from Germany, Denmark, UK, Italy, Spain, Austria, Hungary and several other countries.

Formicablu is the partner in charge of the communication activities, and as for the Chromic project, they asked us to design all the visual identity along with all the main graphic material for both printed and digital purposes.

The key challenges of this extensive work lied basically in two very different, yet very connected, areas: the visual language and the complexity of the project structure.

On one hand the European affiliation tends to force the visual design towards predictable and redundant outputs. On the other hand a very concrete set of functional requirements are needed in such a complex context where more than 8 countries must co-operate side by side, in such a broad range of work environments and practical activities, both online and offline. Designing on the edge of aesthetic audacity and functional rigour was key to come up with a solution that can be memorable but also extremely effective in enabling all the day-to-day activities and the dissemination purposes of the project.

An overview of the main visual identity outputs

Analysis and brand strategy

The research and analysis work that led to the definition key design concepts

The “Identity Navigator”: a tool to position strategically a brand between competitors and relevant case studies

Visual research on the 3 main fields of the SMART-map project

Main visual identity elements

The SMART-map logo celebrates the interconnections, the hybridizations and the dialogues between different scientific fields,
societal actors, countries and innovation practices.

Main compositions with logo, illustration and backgrounds

3D illustrations modeled in Cinema 4D and rendered in Keyshot

Typeface

SMART-map official typeface and colors

Colors

Editorial and printed material

Some of the graphic tools for dissemination and day-to-day activities

SMART-map project brochure

Web and digital

Full responsive website

SMART-map website

The homepage presents in sequence the most important informations about the project. The navigation between the inner pages and the different sections of the homepage are enabled by two different menus: a common horizontal one at the top of the page and a vertical one on the side

Website structure and elements. Four different page types: a. Single homepage with “scroll to” sections. b. Project topic with custom illustrations. c. Internal page with hero header d. Basic internal page