From AI2 to Ai2: Navigating the joy and envy of a designer’s long-awaited change

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By Nick
 · 
August 10, 2024
 · 
3 min read
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Just the other day, I was reading a GeekWire article about Seattle's Mayor Bruce Harrell speaking at the opening of the "AI House" in downtown Seattle. In the cover photo's background, I noticed the logo I had created for the AI2 Incubator.

Image is courtesy of Geekwire, from: ‘AI House’ in downtown Seattle will serve as a hub for AI startups and entrepreneurs

As I read the article, I immediately noticed the abbreviated usage of the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence as "Ai2". Having been a long-time GeekWire reader, I found it odd that they would use this incorrect spelling instead of the official "AI2".

You see, in 2019 to 2020 I worked for AI2 as their Lead Brand and Product Designer, and alongside the Director of Communications, Carissa Schoenick, we went through an extensive rebranding process for AI2. One of my tasks was to avoid having the logo read as A12. To achieve this I strongly advocated for using "Ai2" due to its visual clarity, but was ultimately unsuccessful. The argument against this was that "Artificial Intelligence" should not be incorrectly abbreviated, emphasizing our identity as a scientific research company committed to accuracy.

Fast forward to today, while reviewing my LinkedIn page, I noticed a strange pink logo in the AI2 portion of my work history. Confused, I refreshed the page, but it persisted. Things started to click.

I clicked through to Ai2's LinkedIn page and started scrolling through their posts and there it was. A brand refresh announcement, not only explaining the shift from AI2 to Ai2 but the overall brand refresh.

Link to brand refresh

As a designer, seeing something like this evokes mixed emotions. There's elation that changes I felt were necessary have finally happened, even though I wasn't part of this particular update. The other emotion is trickier. Is it Anger? Jealousy? RAGE!? Definitely not rage. It's probably closer to envy.

Maybe I am also feeling a bit of self-doubt. Was I not good enough of a designer to be able to advocate for my opinion to be heard? And then the envy comes from being jealous that this agency, who was tasked with the redesign, wasn’t saddled with the same restrictions and burdens that I faced. Maybe they were in the beginning, but that's not how things ended up.

But either way, it’s silly to sit here and think about things that transpired almost 5 years ago under different leadership and different industry environments. A designer should never try to compare their work from the past to the work of others today, unless it’s to see how you’ve grown. If Ai2 was going to continue to compete in this new landscape, they definitely needed to rebrand past what I once created.

So with that, I'm genuinely pleased that Ai2 has rebranded and evolved from our previous design. The AI2 logo we created was a catalyst for change. While not perfect, it moved AI2 away from its original logo to something fresher that made sense, at that time and in that environment.

Ultimately, I’m proud to see Ai2 evolving. The logo we created served its purpose then, just as the new design will now. It’s a reminder that design is never static—it's about creating what fits the moment and the future. And in that journey, I’m glad to have played a part.

For those curious, here's a mockup of the 40 logo concepts I created back in 2019 during that rebranding process:

And if you are curious about the rest of my work at Ai2, you can read about it here on my portfolio.

Tagged: Branding · Design · Navigating Change
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