"Science is Culture," professes the Seed Media Group's online homepage, in a spirited statement that successfully communicates the company's passion for science and technology. Founded by Adam Bly in 2005, the company is young, and its main focus is the future. Based on the conviction that the impact of science is pervasive, "shaping markets, informing policy, and inspiring the arts," and that "science is a powerful tool for solving global problems," from climate change to poverty, Seed Media Group advocates that science literacy in the 21st century should be just as widespread.
The company's portfolio includes Seed, an award-winning magazine credited for treating science as a lens for viewing culture, ScienceBlogs, an ongoing conversation rallying a diverse online community, and other initiatives, such as conferences and museum exhibits. In a recent partnership with MoMA, Seed Media Group co-organized MIND08, a conference exploring the intersection of science and design. The conference, inspired by MoMA's "Design and the Elastic Mind" exhibition, brought in forward-thinking scientists, designers and architects to cover a wide range of topics including the personal genome, brain visualization, generative architecture and collective design, to name just a few.
Seed Media Group's logo, like the company itself, champions the convergence of design and science, and was actually exhibited as part of the "Design and the Elastic Mind" exhibition mentioned above. Designed by Stefan Sagmeister, the logo takes its inspiration from nature's phyllotaxis structure, a Fibonacci-derived algorithm, closely related to the Golden Ratio, that is present in the face of a sunflower, the alternating leaves on a branch, and the spikes of a cactus head, as well as man-made settings, such as the architecture of highways. Depending on its context, the logo adapts and changes color to reflect its cultural surroundings, visually bringing the "Science is Culture" motto to life. Seed Media Group's logo has even inspired the creation of a new media resource. Phylotaxis.com, developed by interactive designer Jonathan Harris, scours the web daily to deliver news stories and images that explore the space where science meets culture and society.
Appropriately enough, this logo is the visual focus of the Moleskine notebook created for Seed - it is stamped on the cover and reinterpreted across the paperband. The books were given as gifts to friends of Seed Media.
