Alexandria
Category: Web3, Technology
Roles : Identity, Brand Design, Product MVP, Art/Creative Direction
Company Background ↓
Alexandria Labs is an early-stage web3 startup building a decentralized library. Their “moonshot” is an interplanetary library system, where authors retain rights over their work, lend out their books, and down the line, outsource their data to train AI algorithms.
Their first step is making a publishing flow where authors can publish their books as NFTs.
Alexandria addresses the problem of Web2 (lack of security and privacy where user-generated content is owned by the platform/company) by utilizing the fundamentals of web3 (open-source, permissionless, and trustlessness ) which allows users full control over their data and content.
Identity
The Alexandria Labs name was inspired by The Great Library of Alexandria (Alexandria, Egypt), one of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient world from around 4th century (BC). It was considered the “universal library” where it housed anywhere from 40,000 to 400,000 scrolls at its height.
The librarians also collected the work of other cultures: Babylonian, Persian, Assyrian, Jewish, Buddhist and Indian texts were included in the library. The Museum was a shrine of the Muses modeled after the Lyceum of Aristotle in Athens. The inclusive nature of this ancient library is synonymous with the “open source” web3 fundamental.
After submitting the brief, a down the line plan from Alexandria was to outsource their data to train AI algorithms. As it was indicated their would be 2 sides of the company, I proposed removing “Labs” from the consumer side (artist platform) as the playful and “whimsy” side to storytelling isn’t synonymous to a tech sounding name. This also allows Alexandria to stand out from many of their web3 counterparts.
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1. The Alexandria logomark (symbol) features a circular archway, like what we be found in a coliseum (The Great Library of Alexandria), but also acts as a portal. The negative space to the side is reminiscent to a stack of books, but also acts as a stairway. The stars in the upper right corner are elven stars (heptagrams) which historically are a gateway symbol or entrance to allow humans to reach the faerie realm (parallel dimension). The overall concept is that through books, you’re being taken into another world by the author.
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2. Minimum spacing for elements next to the wordmark are defined by the stairs of the logo on each side in relation to the logo size.
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3. Further construction of the logo w/ spacing and breakdown of variations.
Branding
Color in Use
The color palette for Alexandria Labs features rich colors which evoke a sense of “magic” and embodies the essence of the different worlds that books and authors create. This concept reflects throughout Alexandria’s identity, and mission.
The shade and tint variations (secondary colors ranging in 10-25% brightness differences) allow for greater flexibility when designing with accompanying brand assets and general usage.
