(01) Project Definition
Marking the 550th anniversary of Nicolaus Copernicus’ birth, the World Copernican Congress brought researchers together in Toruń, Kraków and Olsztyn. It was organised by Nicolaus Copernicus University, Jagiellonian University, the University of Warmia and Mazury and the Institute for the History of Science of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Our design won the visual identity competition unanimously.
(02) Challenge
The Congress comprised a multi-part programme delivered across three cities by four institutions, with the participation of partners, sponsors and media patrons. It needed a symbol and identity system that would connect the different parts of the event, accommodate changing configurations of accompanying logos and remain recognisable across materials prepared by the organisers.
(03) Big Idea
The starting point was the boundary between light and darkness. In astronomy, the terminator is the line separating the illuminated and unilluminated sides of a celestial body. In the identity, it represents the moment when something previously invisible enters the field of observation – a fundamental gesture of astronomy and discovery.
(04) Visual Mechanism
The terminator line divides a circle to create the Congress symbol. Full and fragmented forms evoke successive phases, frame images and establish compositional structures. The colour palette references the cosmic microwave background map recorded by the Planck mission – an image of the oldest light we can observe in the Universe.
(05) Activation
We designed the logo, visual identity and guidelines for its use. The system was prepared for presentations, animations, posters, social media materials, signage, flags, banners, badges and conference materials. This enabled the Congress visual identity to be developed by different teams and across multiple locations.
