Materials with flow & form
The sustainability startup Rheom is pioneering the bio-based materials market. They partner with companies to discover innovative, sustainable solutions across the fashion, home goods, automotive, and electronics industries.
Rheom Materials, former Bucha Bio Inc., is revolutionizing the way consumer goods are fabricated. Melt extrusion technology enables them to create sustainable solutions with bio-based materials: alternatives for animal leather, plastic leather, and other nonwovens, as well as for plastic and synthetic pellets, among others. The startup approached us to craft an appealing brand identity and website that would highlight their value proposition and help them establish their new brand.
Concept & Strategy
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The company name was the guiding principle for the branding exercise: “Rheom” is a combination of the Greek word “rheo”, meaning “flow”, and “form”. Representing the mixing and melt processing of the composite materials and the multiple product lines that can be made out of them, the visual identity is all about communicating this harmony between flow and form. As one of the key differentiators of Rheom is their close collaboration with suppliers, manufacturers, and customers, the brand needs to convey approachability, while also being innovative and disruptive.
Logo
The logo is based on the idea of representing Rheom as the union, the flow, the origin of something new and genuine created in close collaboration. Reminding of the shape of a leaf, the isotype directly relates the company to the sustainability sector. Its organic shape refers to life, accentuating vitality, dynamism, and collaboration. Additionally, the intertwined leaves remind of collaboration and of the process of melting pellets to create new material. The typography of the logotype is compact and recognizable. The “R” and the “m” have been customized for uniqueness, with their smooth shapes representing continuous flows.
Colors
Two shades of green as the primary colors of Rheom remind of sustainability and connect the brand to the biotech sector. Earthy, natural tones strengthen the idea of nature and the use of a light blue gives off a tech vibe where necessary, reaching an engineering look and feel. An energetic orange is used for links and highlights as an accent color, standing out among the otherwise modest tones.
Typography
The sans-serif Bai Jamjuree features clean and modern lines, providing high legibility and versatility, also due to its six weights and italic version. With its rounded corners in letters such as A, B, D, E, v or w, it has similarities with the logotype and conveys approachability. Its square letter structure gives the font a unique personality and transmits a technological look and feel with a futuristic hint, contrasting with the nature-related color palette. Although not a monospaced typeface, it resembles this style slightly, reminding of technical documents that require clarity and straightforwardness.
Imagery
By combining realistic images, lines, and texture, we reach a branded imagery style that makes the value proposition more tangible and biotechnology more approachable. Leveraging photographs of Rheom's laboratory and materials, we created engaging visuals that showcase the various steps of the technology and collaborative process. All of the realistic images are strategically chosen to harmonize with the brand colors.
Illustration
The illustrative style of Rheom communicates the melt extrusion technology and the collaborative process in an easy-to-understand way. From icons to animations, every element relates to the brand. The icons connect to the flow and form concept by clever details: the melting concept is represented by the seamlessly merging lines of corners. Branded animations showing photographs fused with fine, lightweight illustrations explain every step of the process. For header images of blog posts, we also leveraged this style, ensuring consistency and brand recognition.
Website
Rheom's website is characterized by its lightweight style and subtle animations that breathe life into the web and engage users. To achieve balance, we use uppercase letters for headings, overlines, and CTAs to make a bold statement and give authority to the brand. Dark green CTAs and orange elements add disruptive highlights to the web experience. Branded animations explain the business model of the sustainability startup effectively. The animated above-the-fold of the homepage depicts Rheom's value proposition at first sight: it shows the evolution from bio-based components to composite materials and, finally, to the end product.
Industry Recognition
Just a few days after their website launch, Rheom Materials presented their company at the Biofabricate Summit in Paris for the first time. With their new brand and website settled, Rheom displayed their bio-based composite materials successfully.
"It was just what we needed."
Their ability to simplify complex technical explanations into simple animations was vital for this project. The Branx went above and beyond for us and did a great job communicating. We love our new website and branding!
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