UNINOVA

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Uninova is a novel medical research center for drug therapy in St. Petersburg. It offers a high standard of medical care for patients with cancer and autoimmune diseases, and runs clinical trials of innovative drugs in line with global standards. The project was launched in partnership with one of our long-time clients, the biotechnology company BIOCAD.

Our challenge was to develop a name and visual identity for the center. We needed to create a trustworthy image that would appeal to patients, doctors, and the scientific community.

More about the challenge

The scientific and medical community is conservative, so it was important that our solution was not provocative. The tone needed to inspire confidence rather than alarm. We researched the market for medical companies and divided them into three groups: traditional corporations, which strive for a dominant market position and are inward-looking; humanized corporations, which focus more on the public good (they talk about people and about how they benefit the world); people-focused corporations, which create infrastructure and respond to demand. They seek to blend into people’s lives rather than dominating them.

We decided to run with the concept of people-focused corporations, where the patient and doctor take center stage. The aim is for the company to be on the patient’s level, not dominating the relationship.

Name

We chose a neologism for the company name: Uninova. It comprises two parts: “uni,” denoting the humanitarian principle, being a link in the chain, universality, harmony and union; and “innova,” denoting scientific ambition, novelty, innovation and progress.

Visual identity

Eternal life is a unifying concept that both science and medicine strive toward. The visual concept is based around a DNA-style double helix. We used this closed shape as a symbol of humankind’s shared desire to conquer disease.