ICSPI Rebrand

ICSPI designs and manufactures nanoscale imaging tools that transform the development of tomorrow’s materials and devices.

Traditional AFM instruments come with high costs, which makes it nearly impossible for Universities around the world to provide the equipment needed for students to make their next scientific discovery. In most cases, the labs within these universities only contain one single AFM instrument for students to share. This comes with long wait times, and more often than not, these complex instruments are usually broken down. The repairs alone can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and most schools or labs are unable to afford these costs.

With ICSPI’s new approach to AFM technology, research labs and universities across the world now have access to multiple AFM instruments in one lab space. Now researchers and students are even closer to unlocking scientific discoveries. Simply put, ICSPI is greatly contributing to a world where tomorrow's devices and materials are contributing to a better human experience and a greener environment for all.

ICSPI approached Mandy to create marketing assets for an upcoming tradeshow. After multiple conversations about the current brand and upcoming product launches, Mandy came to the solution that a brand sprint workshop with ICSPI would provide brand clarity to all employees. Mandy’s challenge was to conduct a three-hour brand workshop and strategically determine how the brand needed to evolve to generate leads for the current and future product launches.Once the brand sprint workshop was completed, the team at ICSPI was now aligned. From purpose, mission and vision–values, differentiation from competition and project priorities for a future product launch success.

In collaboration with digital marketing expert, Maen Hadid from decodid, it was determined that ICSPI would need:
–a visual brand refresh and brand strategy
– intuitive brand templates for non-designers (sales deck PowerPoint templates, one pagers, social templates and more)
– a product naming strategy workshop
– new website to generate quality MQL’s
– and a professional digital marketing strategy to generate and convert leads.

Mandy and the ICSPI team explored the possibility of a potential name change. After lots of consideration, it was decided the company name would remain ICSPI Integrated Circuit Scanning Probe Instruments. The new ICSPI logo uses the google font Poppins, while also eliminating the graphics that border the wordmark. The new logo remains recognizable by current customers while also connecting with new leads through the modernized and clean logo. The new logo subtly communicates the ease of use of ICSPI’s products.
After completing the competitor analysis, it was clear that the old brand colour palette was blending in with ICSPI’s top 3 competitors. The new colour palette was created to help new leads quickly differentiate ICSPI from other products they may be considering. The colour palette is diverse and can be used in flexible ways to promote a number of different products–from low to high costs.
The versatile google font, Poppins, was chosen in order to create consistency across all marketing applications. The font consists of many weights which create clean contrast between headlines and body copy. Poppin’s was strategically chosen for an early-stage startup where non-designers would need to be able to execute marketing materials. This font is friendly, but can also be used for professional scientific application documents.
Since ICSPI’s competitors use product-focused photography, it opted for the direction to use human-centred imagery within the brand. The imagery is clean to play off the concept of clean lab spaces. The imagery also communicates wonder for scientific discovery.
With the AFM (atomic force microscope) industry lacking in innovation and accessibility, Mandy has created a brand strategy and visual identity for ICSPI, which will appeal to early adopters searching for new technologies to support their scientific breakthroughs.