Time jump: Yaay becomes Superdot
Basel, 18 June 2020 – The Basel agency «Yaay – Visualizing Complexity», specialized in information design, becomes «Superdot – Visualizing Complexity». The rebranding is also supported by a new website. Superdot.Studio presents the three new key areas of the agency: information architecture, information visualization and information aesthetics.
It all began with information design when nobody was talking about this discipline. Now, these simplified and condensed forms of conveying complex information by using graphics, visual grammar and animation as well as little text are on everyone's lips and characterize everyday media life as well as corporate publishing. The Basel agency Yaay has already anticipated this trend early on in 2011. Now the six makers are going one step further. «Yaay has moved in the national niche of information design over the last eight years. We are now ready to position ourselves internationally with a sharpened offer. It focuses on three specializations,» says Darjan Hil, co-founder of Yaay and Superdot.
The new website of the Basel studio illustrates the three central fields of action, including concrete cases of projects for the Swiss Tropical Institute in three African countries, for UNICEF or Roche. «This puts us on the cutting edge of scientific discussion. The three areas; information architecture, information visualization and information aesthetics; basically define the findings of the project and teaching experience of the last eight years. This way of thinking is a worldwide trend when it comes to crystallizing and compressing complex matters. We always take a data-based perspective and strive for a social and educational impact,» explains Nicole Lachenmeier, founding partner of Yaay and herself teacher of information aesthetics in the Digital Ideation program at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts HSLU in the design & art department.
The first area, information architecture, deals with the structure and analysis of information. In information visualization, the explorative visual translation of content is required, while information aesthetics is about the creative forms of the final product. As a consequence, the Basel team clearly shows on their website why Yaay is outdated and a new name is called for. «It's always nice to put the old notebook into the archive and start over with a white sheet of paper, isn't it? One part of the design practice consists precisely in this - namely, making a design or sketch over and over again. Why don't we do the same at business level, why don't we reinvent ourselves again and again» - this is how Darjan Hil describes the reasons for the name change - from Yaay to Superdot.
In its history to date, Yaay has served well-known customers from the banking, pharmaceutical and insurance industries as well as public sector clients in education, art and science. Yaay is engaged in Basel, Vienna and Berlin with the self founded community OnDataAndDesign.com. The agency has also won a Pro Helvetia concept grant in 2020, the Information is Beautiful award in 2016 (in the Commercial Projects category) and the DPA Infographics Award in 2015. The interdisciplinary team consists of data analysts, graphic designers, developers, illustrators, storytellers, UI/UX designers, unconventional thinkers and idea generators.