EllipticCopied

Elliptic detects and investigates crime enabled by cryptocurrency, such as terrorism financing, ransomware and child abuse material, working with crypto companies, financial institutions and government agencies. Because crypto transactions are so hard to trace, its job is to decipher what others want hidden. In April 2018 Superunion gave it a new identity built on the idea of revealing 'truth in data', Creative Review and It's Nice That reported.

The core is a custom negative-space typeface inspired by the blocks of data that make up a blockchain. Letterforms break into chunky, Tetris-like pieces, three-dimensional and thickset, rendered with tight horizontal white lines meant to evoke the raw digital look of data lines. Set large, the type deliberately drifts towards illegibility; Superunion said that echoes the difficult task Elliptic undertakes. The palette is strictly black and white, which the agency said reflects the seriousness of the subject and of the legal cases that rely on Elliptic's intelligence. The logo inverts the typeface for Elliptic's E.

It's Nice That singled out a poster in which words such as fraud, extortion and terrorists hide in a disorienting background, while 'truth' sits in the middle in a lighter grey. The system runs across confidential presentations, printed documents, screen animation, a new website and stationery, and was meant to help Elliptic stand out from competitors while hinting at what it does.

Creative Review found the result a beguiling mix of complex new technology and a charmingly 1990s hint of a fuzzy VHS tape on rewind. That is a fair description, and the retro scanlines date it slightly. But making the reader work to decode the type is a rare case of illegibility with a genuine reason, and for a forensic firm it says exactly the right thing.