Synthetic Society Lab

Synthetic Society Lab is a new research lab at the Oxford Internet Institute making the invisible infrastructure of algorithmic power visible to researchers, policy makers, and the public. Their work sits at the intersection of technology and society, studying how algorithms shape human lives. The identity had to reflect that duality: rooted in computation and science, but never losing sight of the people on the other side of the systems. The icon draws from the very first representation of an artificial neuron in scientific literature, published by McCulloch and Pitts in 1943. Four of these abstract neuron shapes are composed into a single mark, connecting the lab's research to the origins of the field it studies. The visual system pushes the concept further. I worked with the researchers to collect the abstract symbols they actually use in their work: mathematical operators, logical notation, set theory glyphs. These became the raw material for a custom pattern generator: feed in any image and it outputs a version built from the researchers' own notation. A small metaphor for the lab's work of revealing the mathematical logic hidden inside algorithmic systems. The rest of the identity stays restrained: black type on white, with accents of purple and yellow sitting at the intersection of technology and humanity.