Recently, another brand designer came to me for help with an icon for a stem cell treatment lab, called Adler.

I cross-referenced images provided by the client and a written description of the brand with my own deep dive into stem cell research to ensure my designs, or interpretations, would accurately reflect the spirit of their work. The results were both technical and tactical.

I wanted to employ forms that were authentic to the cellular regeneration process on a microscopic level.

I chose to represent three cells to harness the power of the rule of three and create a semi-organic shape that nodded to a lowercase “A” for Adler.

Combining perfect circles with imperfect connections implies organic growth. While engineered in a lab, stem cells are native to our bodies and help tissues renew themselves and regenerate. They are the foundation of our being. This makes this process seem professional and organized, yet rooted in medical that feels less like science-fiction and more like a a state-of-the-art hack.

We also tried this form with an outline, implying a shared cellular membrane.

Lastly, I complemented this form with a custom repeat pattern resembling a DNA strand.