A team at Columbia’s Department of Computer Science asked us develop a publishing platform, editorial design system, and graphic identity for a new digital publication focused on educating and engaging the public on digital security and privacy.
Decipher’s core identity elements leverage text treatments in different ways, depending on context and scale. At larger sizes and when using the entire name of the publication, use ransom note styling. This gives an overall sense of the type system, allows for motion, and projects a bold and subversive identity.
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Manipulating Unicode to produce stylized text illustrates how ordinary users find novelty and self-expression in the most ubiquitous of technologies. This transparently highlights how the technology itself works, reflecting the instructional mandate of the publication.
These styles can be used in combination to create a ransom note effect that represents the publications identity, or individually to provide a more distinctive voice.
System fonts like Times New Roman and Arial are the visual voice of solitary office workers and formal institutions. They provide a sober foundation for our exotic typographic treatment.
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Index page.
Animations imitate missing Unicode characters to highlight the roots of the typographic treatment and suggest a literal process of decryption.
Decipher provides each article with a custom editorial design that reflects the tone of the subject matter while adding a sense of variety and controlled chaos to the site. This allows the publication’s staff to set a visual mood for each article simply by rating its tone along four dimensions.
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Stationery.
Slide presentation template.
Social media avatar.
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Design guidelines website.
In addition to a content management system, we delivered a tool that generates logos at various scales as well as stylized text, allowing for use of the system in other contexts.
