Ever since my involvement in the autonomous robotics startup Matternet I promised to continue to advise startups who are taking on some of the World’s toughest problems.
When Matt Gialich my old colleague and navigation engineer at Matternet called me about his new company Ex Scientia I was intrigued.
Ex Scientia, which is still in stealth mode, is creating a Network of Intelligent Submersibles that are able to capture essential ecological oceanic data autonomously.
In our first conversation we talked about the vastness of the Oceans and the scale of the problem, I was amazed to learn that the Pacific is so big that it can fit the width of the moon five times over. Building a system that is able to monitor something that big needs vehicles that are sentient, that are connected to each other and a network of low orbit satellites.
The existing company name means ‘From Knowledge’ and is a shortened version of a well known maritime moto ‘Ex Scientia Tridens’, but we knew from the outset that the name couldn’t carry the identity as it may well evolve. So we needed to create a symbol.
We agreed that the brief for this symbol had to focus on something that was known to experienced ocean goers and would express the sentience of the entire system.
During research I repeatedly found boats and submarines that had an eye painted on the bow. This tradition, I learned, came from Greek sailing boats that had the Eye of Horus as a symbol of protection. A modern expression of the ancient Phoenician and Egyptian ritual invoking Osiris. The eye seemed to represent sentience, as well as protection. A guardian of the sea.
By refining the form, the eye could also express the hydrodynamic form of underwater vessels. The iris was drawn from the sensor array on the front of the prototype vessel. A pair of eyes could be added to each submersible, adding protection and literal vision to the system.
This was the beginning of a language, but a logo needs to be more reductive and less illustrative when used beyond the vehicle. By containing the eye in a circle, it becomes the center of the blue planet, surrounded by the vastness of the Oceans.
The form language, the type and color drawn from the depth of the oceans formed enough of a Brand language to give Matt the coherence needed pull together a vision for the company.
I continue to advise Matt and the team at Ex Scientia, growing startup brands is rarely a single push, but a series of evolutions. There’s a lot of exciting news coming – I will share more soon.
The sensor array on the cone of the prototype vehicle inspired the iris.