A New Look: Celebrating 10 Years of Nanoscale Chemical Analysis

This year marks the 10-year anniversary of Molecular Vista. We started with a vision to make optical AFM experiments easy and more powerful. In our last decade we have pioneered the world’s most capable nano-ir spectroscopy technique, PiF-IR. We also created the easiest and highest-resolution nanoscale chemical mapping technique, PiFM.

To mark this milestone, we are rebuilding our brand to accurately represent both our achievements and our vision for the next decade.

We are still the agile and independent company that you have known and worked with. We are still a science-focused company that offers solutions for nanoscale problems to researchers and multinational corporations alike. However, we are also evolving and so our identity is as well.

Our core

Here at Molecular Vista, we have five core principles. These are not only the things we value as a company, but also what we want to share with the world. Therefore, these are the guiding standards for our new identity.

Excellence

We pride ourselves on our work, and there is a level of care, thought, and craftsmanship that must go into each design, each instrument, and each decision to make a product that lives up to our standards. We take pride in building our microscopes with care and precision to make sure they live up to our name.

Ingenuity

We believe that our team has created the most advanced scientific techniques available for getting chemical information at the nanoscale. We want to share these capabilities and empower customers to solve problems with an unprecedented understanding. We aren’t looking to make a quick profit; we are trying to become leaders in nanoscale characterization and open up new scientific horizons that wouldn’t otherwise be available.

Care

Part of sharing our technology with the world is building a community of people who are as excited about nanoscale analysis as we are. We want to build a space where customers can engage with us in a meaningful way. Therefore, we always work with our customer’s best interests in mind. Whether it is working with people to find the best solution for their application or being partners in AFM-IR analysis, we want to do it right. Scientific pursuits are very human activities, and that is part of what we are here for.

Integrity

The core of all good research is to accurately represent methods and data. Personal and business interactions should be no different. Without morals, any success or achievements become cheap. Integrity is a key value to creating a space that fosters sustainable innovation and community.

Agility

As a problem-solving company, it is very easy for us to adapt or innovate on new ideas quickly. Regardless of whether you need a purpose-built problem solving machine or an infinitely flexible system, we are prepared. This dedication to pushing the limits of nano-ir spectroscopy and microscopy is part of what makes us great. No suggestion is too insignificant to make a difference.

Our surface

With these core values in mind, we went about creating a brand that accurately reflects us.

Logo

Is it a heart? A collection of pixels? An AFM tip? People have connected with our logomark in many ways over the years, and it is here to stay.

We did make some slight adjustments to bring it up-to date for our current needs. For example, we have added a little more space between the “pixels” to facilitate better legibility on microscope surfaces. Additionally, the corners of each pixel are clipped to maintain the soft feel while still being precise.

These small changes add up to create an updated version that will serve us for years to come.

The largest change we have made is to update our logotype or wordmark. Our new logotype has been redesigned to be as clean and precise as our products. If we put them together, this is our new identity:

Type

Sans-serif fonts have become standard on the web. However, they can lack the warmth of well-designed type in a book. For our brand, we wanted our type to be inviting, clean, and still feel like reading a good journal.

After many iterations, we eventually settled on a powerful combination. Alegreya Sans offers body text that is easy and enjoyable to read while Raleway keeps our headings clean and precise. The combination captures attention and invites the reader to stay. Reading scientific information online doesn’t have to by synonymous with eyestrain.

It even looks good in print!

Colors

With our new logo also comes new colors. We now have a standardized pallet to help us keep the look and feel of our brand consistent.

Our colors have evolved to be more vibrant. They are bold and strong, just like our nanoscale analysis capabilities.

This is the beginning the of our next decade of innovation. We are excited to continue serving our community and customers. Stay tuned, this isn’t the only big announcement we have planned this year!

In the meantime, check out some of our new articles on the scientific principles of PiFM or a comparison between PiF-IR and nano-FTIR.