Matū
An intelligent brand investing in scientific innovation in Aotearoa.
When first engaged by Matū, we immediately recognised the significance and efficacy of their work – supporting innovation in the scientific industries and deep technology, with a focus for a better future.
Our workshops unpacked their organisational values and revealed opportunities to position their brand with a revived visual identity and messaging framework that would recognise and live up to their already impressive reputation in industry.
Through understanding their core audiences and the services they provided, we developed an unmistakably Aotearoan identity that not only honoured the gifted Te Reo name ‘Matū’ and their kaupapa, but one that resonated and connected with their industry stakeholders and prospective audiences, both new businesses and financial backers. Matū indirectly translates as ‘Of scientific matter and substance’ – and we’re proud to have delivered a brand that reflects exactly that.
Importantly, this identity needed to convey trust and professionalism – to uphold the standard expected of an organisation that at the time of writing, has raised nearly $100m in funding for it’s portfolio of clients.
In the same way they value investment in their clients, Matū recognised the significance of investing in their own brand.
Brand Identity
Obvious had the pleasure to refresh the visual identity of Matū, a venture capital fund that invests in science and deep tech. Together with the client, we embarked on a creative journey to lift the strategy and visual tone and communication of the brand in order to align it with the impressive reputation Matū holds in the industry.
Our main objectives were to modernise the brand, align the visual identity more closely with the Te Reo name and organisational values, as well as giving the Matū team effective tools for representing their key stakeholders and growing organisation.
The Matū brand icon was inspired by a number of concepts including:
Koru
- Signifying new beginnings and growth, this symbol reflects Kaitiakitanga; an important part of Matū’s brand essence
- Reinforcing Matū’s place as a quintessential Aotearoa organisation
- Pays reference to the Te Reo Māori origins of the name
The Atom
- Visual reflection of the name:material, matter (science), substance
Collaboration
- The woven, interlocking features of the icon speak to the collaborative, supportive nature of investment.
Community
- Matū’s role within New Zealand’s highly productive and creative scientific community.
As always, our goal as a brand partner is to provide a solution for our clients that empowers their communication efforts. As part of the branding process, we created a guide for Matū that ensures they know how imagery, typography, colour, pattern and extended brand elements can work holistically together. We then help with brand applications such as social media graphics, clothing and collateral.
An important application of the Matū brand is on official documents that are shared both internally and with external stakeholders. We worked on a solution that adheres to and celebrates the brand, while ensuring that the client was able to repurpose and edit content within the designed templates. We’re all about functional and well-crafted solutions!
Pattern
A key element of the new brand identity for Matū are the integrated custom patterns.
We wanted to create a graphic pattern system that complimented the themes and subject matter that is so visually rich with Matū.
The pattern system for Matū is inspired by molecular structure and DNA with repeating elements and organic shapes.
The patterns created lend themselves to a variety of scales and use cases from documents to websites. They can be layered or used in isolation with varying opacity to create soft or strong contrast. New patterns can be created within the same aesthetic style. This is to ensure the patterns continue to hold relevance as the brand evolves and grows.
Website
Along with the new brand identity roll out we designed and built a new website for Matū
The main goals for the Matū website design update were to:
- Apply the new brand across the site so it feels modern and professional, focusing on colour, typography, graphics and imagery
- Present information in a visually engaging and accessible way
- Present the portfolio in a more evocative way
- Create an engaging website experience that presents an accurate first impression of Matū online
- Create a design that works dynamically across all devices
New Zealand has a highly productive and creative scientific community which produces a plethora of ideas and projects. With the help of energetic engineers, passionate entrepreneurs and capital investment, these scientific concepts can quickly turn into successful start-ups.
Matū supports these young companies to grow with strong, strategic, commercial governance, guidance, and management.
We really enjoyed working on this brand and getting to understand the passion and drive that underpins Matū. They understand that the investment in science and deep tech is an asset class in the long-term and we definitely agree!
“Our team is really happy with how the rebrand has turned out – one of our team members, with 25 years experience in marketing and sales, said that the brand guideline document was one of the best he’d ever seen! Very concise and clearly communicates to the whole team how we should and shouldn’t use the brand, while also being practical and giving a variety of options.”
