Neo.Life
Launched earlier this year, Neo.Life is a new media company that aims to “[make] sense of the Neobiological Revolution”:
Mapping the brain, sequencing the genome, decoding the microbiome, extending life, curing diseases, editing mutations. We live in a time of awe and possibility — and also enormous responsibility. Are you prepared?
Following Nicholas Vokey’s art direction, the website was designed by Nathan Hass and team at Upstatement. Three different grotesks have been paired for the typography. What might sound like a recipe for disarray works remarkably well here. Each of the typefaces has been assigned a clear role.
Px Grotesk (Optimo) was chosen for the logo – where its O with the straight-sided counter can shine –, in oversized caps that exceed the bounds of the canvas. It appears for infographics, too. Klim’s Untitled Sans Regular is the text face, with the Medium weight used to mark article beginnings. Caps from the Black weight lend their heft in headings. It’s often dialed down a notch again by the use of outline effects.
The secret star is Dinamit (Revolver Type), which is used for everything between and beyond, like teasers, subheadings, drop caps, bylines, category links, forms, and more. Lukas Schneider’s contemporary re-evaluation of DIN Breitschrift, the extended member of the German standard typeface, is used in three of its seven weights (Extralight, Regular, Bold), plus occasional italics.
Neo.Life was founded by Jane Metcalfe, who previously started Wired and Tcho. The website was a Digital Medal Finalist in the Society of Publication Designers’ competition, and
was awarded the Society of News Design bronze medal for website design.
Logo in Px Grotesk, with Untitled Sans Black below, both in all caps.
Discover menu with big text in Untitled Sans Light. The red words are in Dinamit Bold.
Headline in Untitled Sans Light with author byline and marginal links in Dinamit Regular. The amply padded drop cap is from Dinamit Bold. Article text in Untitled Sans Regular, with the first line highlighted by the bolder Medium.
Pull quote in Dinamit Extralight and Regular. The enlarged purple quote mark is taken from Untitled Sans Black.
Px Grotesk with its crisp numeral 1 in use for infographics. Also note the use of hanging punctuation in the body copy.
