Tigist Tamir

systems metabolism & signaling lab

untangling how cells defend against stress

Keisha Okafor, Illustration
Emily Vriesman, Design
Kika Tuff, Direction
Brand Strategy
Logo Design
Content Strategy & Development
Creative Direction and Production
Custom illustrations
Web Design & Build
Copywriting

Dr. Tigist Tamir at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill studies cellular metabolism, to unravel the biochemical intricacies of how cells defend against stress. Their goal is to develop new treatments for increasingly common metabolic disorders, like cancer, obesity, and diabetes.

When you meet Tigist, her energy, playfulness, and ambition pull you into the science immediately. She is a skilled communicator and dedicated mentor — you can’t help but want to join the lab!

For this project, our goal was to design a new brand and website for the Systems Metabolism & Signaling Lab that captures Tigist’s energy, vibe, and magnetism. We wanted website visitors to immediately feel what we picked up right away in the launch call — that this is a lab worth joining!

We hope you love the results ❤️

The brand

playful,

compelling,

collaborative

The Systems Metabolism and Signaling Lab’s brand is playful and collaborative, with a focus on innovative technologies and approaches. Driven to cure metabolic disorders, their brand is anchored in the principles of curiosity, community, and science for good.

The look for this brand is bright, bold, and compelling.

Yellow and magenta bring an energy to the palette, electrified by a technological teal accent color. Custom illustrations reinforce the science with abstract representations of metabolism, data networks, proteins, and dna.

The brand and website are designed to make you say, “wow” every time you load the page. This brand is not for the monochromatic or minimalist! It is dripping with color, texture, and illustrations to create a truly unique and memorable digital experience.