Conception

Conception is a stem cell biology company working to turn human cells into eggs. We built their brand strategy, identity, visual system, and launch website. We also hired one of our moms to paint it.

Some of the most important work happening in science right now doesn't look the way science usually looks.

Conception is building the technology to turn a blood cell into a human egg. It means age limits, biology limits, and circumstance limits all become negotiable. The implications are enormous and the science is genuinely hard. Getting both of those things across, honestly and without hype, was the challenge.

Matthew Krisiloff and his team came to us with years of foundational research behind them, a clear sense of what they were building, and wanting a warm, but scientifically credible presence.

Conception had to speak to three different audiences at once. Scientists, who want rigor and proof, not promises. Investors and regulators, who need credibility signals and milestone clarity. And future patients, people who are vulnerable, hopeful, and deserve honesty above all.

These audiences don't necessarily read the same way, nor trust the same signals. The visual and verbal system had to work across all of them without flattening the message for any of them.

We had an epiphany on a way to show the business differently; we asked one of our mom’s to create original watercolor compositions for the project. We had an idea the textures, color fields, and abstract washes would warm up the brand, and emotively connote the love around starting a family.

Additionally, we wanted to bring the artwork into our generative workflows to explore and experiment a variety of scenes and situations.

Our mom/artist painted palettes, washes, colors, and scenes - we landed on warm oranges and mustards, soft reds and blushes, and the occasional lilac. She scanned them as she went, and the Little Plains team took those originals into custom node-based generative pipelines, iterating, compositing, building new scenes, getting feedback, repeating.

The result is a visual system that is handmade at its root, while dynamic and responsive. With generative tools used to scale the work, the origin stays human. That felt right for a company whose mission is about human possibility through technology.

Photography of stem cell biology is real and important, yet it can read cold with microscopy images, lab equipment, technical detail. The watercolors put you somewhere transportive, and emotional. The washes help you recall the feeling of a parent lifting a child, a family together, and the warmth of what becomes possible with life.

The generative workflow let us build volume: dozens of compositions, variations, motion treatments, while keeping every output anchored to the original painted material. It's a model we're now developing further: hire artists first, use generative tools to extend what they make, never lose the human origin.

The color system is primarily navy and cream, with illustration colors of orange, mustard, light yellow, blush, and lilac, reserved for the watercolor work.

We used PP Museum for headlines which helped carry confidence in a classical way. The team chose Graphik for secondary type to help keep the brand modern and clean. Overall, the typographic and color system together signal institutional seriousness without institutional coldness.

Lastly, the illustration palette is drawn directly from the painted originals.

The website is built around a single organizing discipline of don’t overclaim. Each section flows into the next to introduce the reader to the space, qualify Conception, explain the mission, share how it’s being done, and show the people behind the business. The blog serves as the engine of truth for updates, milestones, and team perspectives.

Conception launched with a brand that is warm enough for potential patients, rigorous enough for scientists, and clear enough for everyone else. It was also designed, at its heart, by a painter in her studio.