Kendall Square is one of the most concentrated innovation districts in the world. Research labs, technology firms, biotech companies, and academic institutions define the neighborhood. Yet until ViVO, few residential environments reflected the culture of the people who work there. The building needed a brand that could translate the intelligence and energy of the Square into somewhere people actually wanted to come home to.

The challenge was specificity. The audience is international in character and diverse in background: researchers, engineers, scientists, and creative professionals drawn to Cambridge by some of the most consequential work of their generation. The brand needed to speak to that community directly without becoming technical or exclusive. It had to connect science to daily life.

ViVO became the foundation for everything. Drawn from scientific and laboratory language, the name suggests life, energy, and experimentation. These are concepts immediately familiar to the Kendall Square research community, but equally resonant in a residential context. It bridges professional identity and personal experience, positioning the building as a place where curiosity, work, and everyday living coexist.

The identity system builds on the same logic as the name. Geometric forms abstract laboratory vessels, measurement markings, and scientific notation into a flexible visual language that feels intelligent without becoming clinical. A bold palette of orange-red, chartreuse, white, and deep navy gives the brand immediate presence while maintaining warmth and approachability.

Working with illustrator Jody Hewgill, we developed a body of original artwork capturing the pace, diversity, and energy of Kendall Square. The illustrations depict a genuinely multicultural community, bringing warmth and human connection to a brand rooted in research and precision. Rather than relying on lifestyle photography, which often narrows rather than expands a sense of community, illustration allowed us to represent Kendall Square as it actually is: dynamic, international, and shaped by people from everywhere.

The brand was deployed at scale through subway posters and building signage, placing the identity directly into the daily rhythm of the city. Installed throughout the MBTA system used by the neighborhood’s residents and workforce alike, the campaign connected the brand with a young, mobile audience within their everyday environment rather than inside a traditional leasing office.