Cornell Tech is a campus of Cornell University that prides itself on being a revolutionary model for graduate education, fusing technology with business and creative thinking.Established jointly by Cornell University and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, their mission is to transform key industries through technological innovation, deep-tech startups, and uniquely skilled talent. The Jacobs Institute fosters radical experimentation at the intersection of research, education, and entrepreneurship. As Cornell Tech has expanded its academic offerings, Barrel has been by its side to support new web initiatives around them.

Barrel was tasked with creating a unique design system for the Jacobs Institute to not only expand on the Jacobs brand, but give it a unique place to live on the Cornell Tech site. This initiative was in preparation for the announcement of the Urban Tech degree, a program in partnership between the Jacobs Institute and the New York MTA. It was announced at the end of September by Governor Cuomo.

The new design system aims to keep the tech and future-forward branding while giving Jacobs a distinct style on the site. We applied a new treatment to common elements across the main site, such as using an outlined DIN to add character to the new system. While we worked on illustrations for the secondary pages of the site, we worked in parallel with illustrator Andrea Mongia who added complimentary illustrations to multiple sections of the landing page.

Check out the site here.