Website homepage for the Yerneni Lab at UT Austin
yerneni lab
Engineering Solutions from Nature
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Lee Brennan, Brand Strategy & Identity Design. Website Design & Development.
Kika Tuff, Creative Direction. Content Strategy & Development.
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Brand Strategy
Logo Design
Content Strategy & Development
Creative Direction and Production
Custom illustrations
Copywriting
Website Design
UX / UI / UA
What if the future of medicine is already written in nature?
Nature has spent billions of years solving some of the very problems that challenge modern medicine. Living systems have evolved remarkable ways to transport molecules, protect genetic information, and repair damaged tissues. At the Yerneni Lab at UT Austin, Dr. Sai Yerneni and his team are exploring these biological strategies to engineer new therapies for some of the most difficult-to-treat human diseases.
When Sai approached Impact Media Lab, he wanted a brand that captured the breadth and ambition of his research without tying his lab to a single disease or technology. His work spans drug delivery, cancer therapeutics, and regenerative medicine, but at its heart is a unifying philosophy: nature offers an extraordinary blueprint for engineering solutions to human health challenges.
We developed a visual identity, custom website, and suite of custom brand assets that bring this philosophy to life. Drawing inspiration from the organic structures at the heart of his research, we paired a vibrant, nature-inspired visual language with bold typography and a dynamic digital experience. The result is a brand that feels distinctly biological, forward-thinking, and full of possibility, much like the science itself.
Brand design for the Yerneni Lab at UT Austin
about the lab
Finding tomorrow’s therapies in the biology of today
For Dr. Sai Yerneni, the inspiration to become a scientist began with a book. Growing up in India, he discovered biotechnology through Robin Cook’s medical thriller Chromosome 6, sparking a lifelong fascination with what might be possible if we could engineer living systems to improve human health. Today, that curiosity drives his research at The University of Texas at Austin, where his team looks to nature for solutions to some of medicine’s greatest challenges. From the tiny extracellular vesicles that shuttle molecules between cells to the remarkable ability of living tissues to repair themselves, the Yerneni Lab explores how billions of years of evolution can inform a new generation of medical technologies.
What makes the Yerneni Lab distinctive is its ability to apply this philosophy across a remarkable range of medical challenges. The team brings together engineers, materials scientists, biologists, and chemists to develop new ways of delivering genetic therapies across biological barriers, targeting hard-to-treat cancers, and engineering materials that help the body rebuild damaged organs from within. By translating nature’s design principles into new therapeutic technologies, the lab is working toward a future where diseases once considered untreatable can be addressed with greater precision, fewer side effects, and better outcomes for patients.
Brand design for the Yerneni Lab at UT Austin
The brand was designed to be:
Curious, Bold, and Collaborative
Curiosity is at the heart of the Yerneni Lab’s approach to science, and we wanted the visual identity to invite that same sense of exploration.
The logo takes inspiration from the organic forms and layered structures found in biology, using overlapping, translucent shapes to create a mark that feels almost microscopic. Rather than representing a single cell, molecule, or organ, the abstract design leaves room for the many directions the lab’s research can take.
Sai also wanted to build a lab where researchers feel empowered to pursue ambitious ideas, even when those ideas take them into unfamiliar territory. We brought that boldness into the identity through oversized, tightly composed typography, rich forest greens, and an unexpected burst of golden yellow. The combination feels energetic and contemporary without losing its connection to the natural world.
Throughout the website, expressive layouts and large-scale scientific imagery give the research a sense of momentum, capturing the excitement of a lab that is constantly asking what might be possible next.
Collaboration is fundamental to a research program that sits at the intersection of so many disciplines. The overlapping forms of the logo offer a visual expression of that philosophy, with individual elements coming together to create something more complex and interesting than any one shape alone. We carried this thinking into the website, organizing the lab’s diverse research areas around a shared mission rather than presenting them as isolated projects.
Together, the brand and website communicate an open, interdisciplinary research culture that welcomes new perspectives and brings people together to tackle some of medicine’s greatest challenges.
Project deliverables
Brand discovery and strategy
Brand naming and positioning
Mission, vision, and tagline development
Primary and secondary logo design
Custom illustrated brand marks
Color palette and typography system
Custom graphic elements and brand patterns
Brand guidelines
Website strategy and sitemap
Website copywriting and content development
Custom website design and development
Scientific illustration
Branded merchandise and collateral
Color palette for the Yerneni Lab at UT Austin
Typography design for the Yerneni Lab at UT Austin
web design — home page
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