DSB Software Package Branding [GRAPHIC DESIGN]

[Graphic Design]

Logo Design and Branding “Denoised Scaled by Background (DSB)” Software Package

Medium: Adobe Illustrator // Role: Designer

The brief: Design a thematic, memorable logo and stickers for "DSB". Make the brand recognizable to the scientific community as a tool for biologists who frequently analyze antibody-based data.

Background and Objective: 

Developers making open-source statistical software for the programming language “R” often use a hexagonal logo. The client was a biologist who developed software called "DSB" for analyzing single-cell genomics data that quantified cells labeled with antibodies. The structure of an antibody is a characteristic “Y” shape with two additional arms underneath the top of the Y, called the light chains.

The goal of the project was to design a thematic, memorable logo for "DSB". The client wanted the logo to be recognizable to the community as a tool for biologists who frequently use this type of antibody-based data. The hexagonal shape of a software logo is standard in data science communities. Developers will often print their logo onto hexagon-shaped stickers, which they distribute at conferences and events to promote their free software. It is not uncommon for these designs to contain humor or hidden references to the software’s purpose.

Process and Outcome: 

There were no pre-established visual brand guidelines to follow, so I worked with the client to create a design brief to consider the initial visual direction. The client desired a brand for the software that was exciting, new, cutting-edge and professional, but “not too academic.” He wanted it to stand out among other tools in the field, many of which are characterized by amateur design elements and lack of color. 

My first approach to this project was to learn what the software did and why it was necessary. To make sure I was extracting the most meaningful points from dense concepts, I asked the client a series of questions and we made some drawings together that helped characterize the software’s function in simple, visual terms. This guided a discussion about what images or symbols would hint at the software’s function without describing anything or relying on words. The image of an antibody “Y” was similarly shaped to the lower case letters of the acronym “dsb”. In my preliminary sketches, I used this shape to create a design in the shape of an antibody that would be recognizable to a biologist.