Research Corporation

Research Corporation isn’t really a corporation at all – nor do they actually perform research. For nearly a century, Research Corporation has served quietly as a foundation that supports the achievements of emerging scientists.

The confusion caused by their well-worn misnomer became compounded if you attempted to decode the organization’s vintage logo – a series of three interlocking gears, each portraying the worlds of education, government and industry. While the visual metaphor of mechanical precision and utility perfectly captured the spirit of mid-20th-century America, this symbol served as the visual antithesis of the fluid, organic and digital collaboration that defines scientific research today. The president of Research Corporation quickly acknowledged these gaps and set a priority to reinvent the organization’s identity in anticipation of its centennial in 2012. Godat Design was chosen to help with this important effort.

By incorporating their tagline into a new longer name, "Research Corporation for Science Advancement", it became the role of the new tagline "A foundation dedicated to science since 1912" to define the organization's structure, purpose and provenance. At first, it was assumed that there was no value in their gear/structure icon – but Godat Design saw its potential. Any organization with such a deep and rich history, must make a real effort to build a visual bridge between the past and future.

After many significant conversations, it became clear that the interrelationships implied by the gear icons resonated just as much with the foundation's mission today as ever. By distilling the forms to represent the energy and dynamism that takes place between the gears (rather than the gears themselves), the message shifted to "evoke the complexity of science and its promising future of organic, collaborative growth based on creative interconnections."

Supporting this rebranding, Godat Design redesigned and rebuilt the rescorp.org website to serve as a base for research and funding information. To complement the organization's outreach to its funders and partners, a message-driven annual report was designed as a platform for the new identity’s debut. And recently, Godat Design helped the foundation re-launch another nascent activity with an adapted mark and print format for its publishing-related activities. Finally, a proposed series of new scientific symposia received a name and identity with the help of Godat Design. This new program, "scialog" has been created as a venue for convening top thinkers to collaborate on grand scientific challenges.

Research Corporation for Science Advancement is proud to state that "tomorrow’s science will be driven by the courage to pursue bold visions". Today, that basic insight is gaining additional power as research grows increasingly complex, and as the scientific challenges facing humanity grow more urgent. Godat Design is proud to have helped this vital (and venerable) foundation rededicate itself to the advancement of science.