Accel Atoms

STRATEGY + BRAND IDENTITY + TONE OF VOICE + VISUAL SYSTEM + UX&UI

Atoms is an accelerator program for early-stage and pre-seed founders by the Indian arm of esteemed American VC firm Accel.

We repositioned it as a catalyst for 0–1 journeys and rebranded it in its fourth edition.

We conceived a singular identity for Accel Atoms that is Authentic, Founder-centric and Hypercontextual.

A community of founders helping founders hit escape velocity, Accel Atoms exists to support India’s startup community to build meaningfully and better.

This being our first foray into the world of startups and venture capital, our first step was education.

6 books, several 100 hours of secondary research, 80+ hours of interviewing founders and investors, several days of relentless pursuit later:

We found our answer in Peter Thiel’s distinction between technology  and globalization.

Groundbreaking innovations that transform markets move from 0 (non-existence) to 1 (existence), before moving from 1 to n (scaling up).

Paired with a crucial insight from our primary research, that no two founders’  0–1 journeys are alike, meet Atoms.

0 and 1 become framing elements that establish the canvas of an early-stage founder’s journey.

The arrow moving from 0 to 1 becomes an illustrative tool that keeps all brand communication contextual by responding to content.

Beside three accents, colour is brought into the identity by the usage of icons, symbols, and motifs from popular culture and the world of startups.

Drawing visual cues from whiteboarding, a staple of early-stage journeys, we shaped the identity devoid of colour, which lent it a distinct visual footprint.

Seeded right with the strong positioning of 0-1 journeys and an extremely versatile visual language that accommodates fresh and diverse modes of expression, Accel Atoms took flight after the design phase, as we created cohort-specific communication pieces and event collaterals.