Design by algorithm

Logos that change based on external variables

The tension between the desire for uniformity and the need for originality has provided a rich seam for branding agencies to exploit.

The idea that the essence of visual design can be expressed via a universal set of rules has a rich history, from the greek golden section via vetruvian man, compositional techniques, and the typographic grids of modernist typography.

But whilst brands can be monolithic or flexible, their visual expressions remained fixed until the 1980’s when the introduction of desktop publishing made it possible to produce designs that change based on external variables.

Some brands might need to show diversity of service or product, while others see flexibility as a crucial competitive advantage. So for those organisations that have evolution written into their essence, a dynamic identity provides an exciting and relevant structure for brand expression.

NAI

A radical scheme for the NAI (Netherlands Architecture Institute) by Bruce Mau provided many distorted, out of focus logos that allowed for flexibility and experimentation. Soon after, the Tate Gallery took the NAI’s lead and introduced an ever-changing logo for its ever-changing displays (courtesy of Wolff Olins).

Less successful was Abbey National’s 2003 ‘soft and fuzzy’ rebrand, ditched when Santander acquired the bank, but Wolff Olins returned to the idea of flexible brands, with a more controlled iteration in PWC’s device-friendly identity where a set of translucent rectangles flex and change depending on their usage.

PWC's flexible branding

However, logo selection is often made from a tightly controlled master set rather than from dynamically created marks.

Now, the use of the algorithm has enabled the rise of tailored design, where application of a consistent set of rules to a dynamic data set produces a unique output - design expressed as art.

A recent example of this genre is MIT Media Lab’s development of its flexible identity. Created by Pentagram, and based on the same grid as its predecessor, its aggressive pixelated letterforms create an uncompromising set of marks with echoes of Wim Crouwel’s New Alphabet.

It’s not a beautiful logo, but as the visual expression of the Media Lab’s multiple research groups at the core of its academic structure, it fits.

Lockups of two characters within the grid allow for almost every possible letter combination— “an algorithm” explains Pentagram, “will generate all the possible solutions for any given group acronyms in the future.”

This visual language sets the tone for a highly flexible range of applications and future permutations of the identity that will have the same look and feel without having to be the same.

In a more sensitive use of the pixel-block style, Norwegian design studio, Snøhetta, has designed the obverse of Norges Bank new bank notes. The design, based on the boundary where sea, shore and sky met, renders images from the Norwegian coastal landscape in a Minecraft-like pixellated form, the degree of distortion related to the ‘windspeed’ that increases with each denomination.

On the 50 kroner note the wind is weak, so the boundary between sea and coast is rendered in calmer short, square shapes; while on the 1,000 kroner note the wind is strong, creating longer, stretched-out forms that allude to rolling breakers and windswept trees.

But whilst Snøhetta uses the idea of windspeed to create the pixel distortion, the execution is static. A 2010 scheme for Nordkyn from Oslo’s Neue Design Studio, also using data based on the feed from the Norwegian Meteorological Office, produces a new logo dynamically for every application.

http://horizons.dandad.org/

Although not strictly speaking a logo, D&AD’s 2013 Annual used a similar methodology to create ‘identities’ that reflected the global spread of winners at the D&AD Awards. The algorithm creates a unique composition based on longitudinal and latitudinal location data, with colours chosen by time, and meteorological data used to determine the hue

Where an entry lacks a suitable data feed to produce dynamic data, use of a picker to sample random colours from an image can provide the necessary random variable.

ITV colour picker

Similarly, ITV’s rebrand created the opportunity to tailor the colour palette of the logo using key colours and tones from the programme being promoted, so popular entertainment gets a vibrant palette, whilst the logo can take on a more sombre appearance when the programming (or news) requires it.

As well as colour, shape can have an influence. Sagmeister’s identity for Casa Da Musica needed to echo the exuberance of the architecture because ‘as we studied the structure, we realized that the building itself is a logo’.

Casa Da Musica dynamic logos

The essence of the brand identity was to illustrate the many different kinds of music performed, through an algorithm that paired colours sampled from a composers image with different facets of the building. Depending on the music the logo changes its character and works dice-like by displaying different planes and hues.

Sound can also be used as the dynamic element.

Precedent’s work for the Leeds College of Music, using a tool created by Karsten Schmidt, allows staff and students to create their own visual identity by inputting visualisations of their own music to create their own unique sound signatures to use in graphic applications.

Arguably, those dynamic designs that incorporate a random element into the algorithm achieve a more aesthetically pleasing result, negating the principle of the application of a universal rule.
But because many audiences will only see a single iteration of a dynamic identity system, it follows that if any individual variant is weak, the overall identity suffers. For the overall brand to be successful, the pieces need to equal the whole.

So the key question to ask of any dynamic identity is whether it accurately expresses the brand in all its executions.