COSMOS
2026
Identity, Typeface
Collaborations to Study Materiality and Objects(COSMOS) is a constellation of scholars, practitioners, and students reimagining approaches to materiality and objects across the world. Through object-based research, the program aims to rethink the past and transform our visions for the future.
Not long after the program launched as part of Yale MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies, COSMOS approached me with a need for a new program identity that could reflect its diverse, dynamic, and collaborative structure.
Through close joint effort with the COSMOS team, we developed a holistic identity plan including an arabesque-inspired mark to symbolize the intersections of varying research fields, a custom typeface, and a pattern-generating system.
COSMOS Team:
Ayesha Ramachandran
Hira Jafri
As a visualization of the distinctive voice of COSMOS, the program’s own custom typeface, COSMOS Serif is the pillar of the identity.
With sharp edges cut in sturdy angles, the capital letterform hints at the historied stone engravings, whereas the skeleton of lowercase takes on a more modern proportion.
The symbol grew out of an initial sketch shared by the COSMOS team: a radiohexagonal array of overlapping polygons inspired by the patterns of Arabic tiles. It was a fitting visual origin for a program that values the diversity of its members as much as the diversity of its disciplines and perspectives.
Expanded from the initial logo sketch, a custom pattern system is devised in two different types: Type A, a group of repeating hexagonal arrangements of the polygon petals, and Type B, a freeform, chance-based pattern which communicates the idea of collaboration through overlapping shapes.
For Pattern Type B, a custom pattern generator is constructed for efficient practical use.
See also: Yonsei Dept. of Integrated Design