ODA’s identity for Cartesia finds the perfect meeting point between the past and the future

Cartesia’s work is seeped in research. The company was founded by a team of PhDs from Stanford’s AI Lab, where they pioneered State Space Models (SSMs) – a new approach for training large-scale foundation models. After having published world-class papers that have steered advancements in the AI field, Cartesia is now bringing its research to life with practical tools for today’s world. As the company shifted into this chapter of tool-building, it began looking for an identity that would tell its story, and tapped into the creative brainpower of ODA, led by Barcelona-based designer Ennio Dybeli. For Dybeli, the company’s name itself was a springboard of inspiration. “The name ‘Cartesia’ references René Descartes and the Cartesian grid. Naturally, we began exploring how the Cartesian grid could be incorporated as a foundational principle underlying all visual elements,” he tells us. Another key element of the identity, related to the Cartesian grid, as Dybeli points out, was dithering algorithms. “The ‘C’ monogram is constructed within a Cartesian grid, echoing a dithered effect on a small scale.” Even to the uninitiated, the bit-map-like textures and the techy overtone of the identity are enough to hint at the company’s scientific, technological roots. On the one hand, there is the ‘C’ monogram, constructed of square units, and on the other hand, there are the dithered patterns overlaid on imagery, creating a unique, ownable house style. “The identity of Cartesia rests on two pillars – academic heritage and the history of computing, and the current generative AI zeitgeist and cutting-edge software. During our research, we sought elements that could bridge these two worlds and build an authentic narrative,” explains Dybeli.