BRAND & IDENTITY

Who We Are

Our project identity is more than just a name or a logo, it is a reflection of who we are as a team. As a diverse group of young students with roots in different cultures and backgrounds, we wanted to build something bold, unconventional, and connected. Our design needed to capture that spirit of creativity and unity. At the University of Calgary, iGEM teams change every year, but we wanted to create something that lasts. For us, Rumino is not just a project for this season, it is a name and an identity with real potential to grow. Even after the competition, we see Rumino as a foundation we can carry forward, with possibilities that extend far beyond the scope of one year.

How The Name “Rumino” Came About

Finding a name took more than a quick decision. We held multiple brainstorming sessions with the goal of inventing something unique. After testing different directions, we landed on Rumino, a name that is new, short, and catchy.

While the scientific design of our project evolved through a few engineering cycles, the identity of Rumino remained powerful. For us, Rumino symbolizes originality, fresh thinking, and a voice that stands out. It has become the foundation for our outreach, media presence, and team culture.

The Logo Story

Our logo began with the font Legistha, but the standard version seemed too plain. Using Adobe Illustrator, we reshaped it, stretching, and connecting each letter. This deliberate distortion gave the word “Rumino” its own personality:

• Connected letters represent teamwork and unity.
• Crooked, irregular letters reflect our fresh mindset and that we are not bound by convention.
• The “O” is stylized as a viral particle encircled by a double helix, symbolizing both our synthetic biology foundation and our detection technology’s ability to surround and target viral threats.

In short, our logo reflects both our science and our generation: connected, creative, and bold.

The Color Palette

Our palette combines three shades of blue with contrasting warm accents in orange and yellow.

Blues (Pacific Blue, Bowder Blue, Steel Blue, and Dark Cerulean) were chosen to reflect water, the environment at the heart of our surveillance vision. Using different shades conveys the diversity of real-world water bodies, which are never just one “flat” color. Blue also communicates trust, science, and stability.

Orange (Flame) was added as a strong accent. In design psychology, orange is associated with energy, action, and urgency, qualities that mirror the importance of rapid detection.

Yellow (Sunglow) serves as a complementary highlight. Yellow often provokes alertness and grabs attention, ensuring our visuals never fade into the background. It balances the calm of blue with a note of caution and dynamism.

This palette is fresh and modern, but also rooted in science — a visual identity that communicates clarity, accessibility, and urgency.

Brand Overview

SPONSORS

Rumino's journey has been built on a foundation of support, from donors, granting agencies, and community partners who believed in us at every step. Each contribution, whether financial or in-kind, made a tangible difference in helping us transform ideas into reality.

Community Support: Giving Day

One of the most meaningful milestones was our participation in UCalgary's Giving Day. Our campaign wasn't only online, it was personal.

• Two of our members volunteered as part of the university's phone service, reaching out to our community to encourage donations.
• Every team member contacted family and friends, asking them to also encourage donations.
• On social media, we created a full Giving Day campaign: a reel to capture attention, a carousel infographic designed in Rumino's style, and finally, a thank-you post.

Together, these efforts raised over $1,700 in direct donations. Some of these gifts were matched through the university's program, though the final matched total is not yet confirmed. Regardless of the amount, we are proud that Giving Day allowed us to share our story, invite community into our journey, and show that Rumino is supported by people as much as by institutions.

Awards & Recognition

We were honored to be recognized by MindFuel, whose Seed Funding helped us move our ideas forward early in the year. Later, Rumino received the MindFuel Prototype Award, an acknowledgment of the innovation and promise in our project. These awards reminded us that what we are building is not only technically sound, but also resonates with organizations committed to shaping the future of science education and technology.

Overall Project Support

University of Calgary (Platinum)

Faculty of Science - Ideas Fund

SU (Platinum)

Mindfuel (Bronze)

Wet Lab Support

Twist Bioscience

SnapGene

IDT

New England Biolabs

Partners & Organizations

We also reached out to external organizations by preparing professional sponsorship packages, coded in Rumino's brand. These packages outlined who we are, what we are building, and the ways partners could support us. From this outreach came the support of:

• AWSN
• Genome Alberta
• Egg Farmers of Alberta
• Alberta Women's Science Network

We are grateful to each of these organizations for believing in our mission. Their support wasn't only financial; it was a sign that established institutions in science and industry were willing to invest in young innovators.

AWSN (Silver)

Genome Alberta (Bronze)

Egg Farmers of Alberta (Bronze)

Event Support: JulyGEM

For JulyGEM, we created a dedicated sponsorship package designed specifically for the event. This made it possible to bring in targeted support.

• MindFuel contributed directly to JulyGEM, ensuring that the event had the resources it needed.
• Foodyard supported us with catering discounts that made our gathering more welcoming and inclusive.
• Red Bull provided product donations, fueling participants and judges alike through the 12-hour hackathon.

These partnerships made JulyGEM feel professional, energetic, and accessible, while reinforcing the idea that community-driven science is worth investing in.

Foodyard

Redbull

Project Sponsorship Package

Our Reflection

For us, sponsorship has always been more than funding. Every gift, award, and package represented a moment of trust, a vote of confidence that Rumino's work matters. Giving Day showed us that our community stands behind us. MindFuel reminded us that innovation can be recognized at any stage. Genome Alberta, IDEAS Fund, and the Egg Farmers of Alberta demonstrated that industry and science partners value what student teams can contribute. And Foodyard and Red Bull made JulyGEM a vibrant, energized event that participants will remember.

We are proud to carry Rumino forward with the knowledge that we are not alone. Each sponsor and donor is part of our story, and we are grateful to have shared this journey with them.

Looking Ahead

This year, we were fortunate to have the trust and support of incredible partners, donors, and organizations. As Rumino grows, we hope to continue building these relationships and invite new ones. Sponsorship is not only about funding, it is about shaping a future where innovation in synthetic biology is paired with education, community, and real-world impact.

If you share that vision, we would be honored to have you join us in the journey.

MEDIA & OUTREACH ACHIEVEMENTS

Launching Our Team

We introduced ourselves to the community with a simple group photo alongside our supervisor (Dr. Mark Ungrin). This wasn't meant to be flashy, but foundational. Doing this, we anchored our audience in people first. Before the science, before the branding, we showed the faces behind Rumino. This built trust and made our journey feel personal from the beginning.

Tying The Team to Giving Day

Our very first campaign, as a team, was tied to UCalgary's Giving Day. By aligning the team's online debut with a university-wide initiative, we positioned ourselves not just as a part of a large culture of impact.

We started the campaign with a lighthearted reel (aka, a short clip) to attract audiences from the universities' communities and the iGEM community. Then, we followed the social media guidelines proposed by the UCalgary Giving Day team, as we posted an infographic, and finally a thank-you note for our donors featuring a group picture. The final thank-you note was intentional — we wanted to express genuine appreciation, and a simple text note felt insufficient. By showing our whole team with our supervisor, we highlighted the human side of giving: donors were not just supporting a project but real people.

Building an Identity

When it came time to unveil Rumino, we knew a single square post would not capture the full moment. Instead, we turned our Instagram feed into a canvas—three connected posts stretched across a row, forming one complete visual. From that point onward, each row became a story, not just an update. This artistic approach gave our page a sense of cohesion and made the identity itself feel deliberate.

Additionally, we held back from posting casual and behind-the-scenes content until the brand was revealed. We wanted to establish a clear line between before and after Rumino. Doing that, we gave our new identity space to stand on its own.

Fun Moments

Not every post was about awards or outreach. Sometimes, we simply joined in on popular formats—a dance, a trending sound, or a playful science meme. They were about enjoying the creative side of being a team and sharing small, funny moments with the people who follow us.

These posts gave our page balance. They reminded us, and anyone watching, that behind the research and science, Rumino is a group of students learning, laughing, and creating together.

Outreach

After introducing our new identity, we focused on sharing moments that connected Rumino with both the broader community and our supporters.

• Winning the MindFuel Tech Future Challenge was a highlight for our team. The award for Best Prototype reminded us that the work we do in the labs resonated outside of it. We were grateful to share that recognition on our platform as a documentation for us and future UCalgary iGEMers.



• We brought synthetic biology into the classroom at Joanne Cardinal Schubert High School. Through a hands-on activity, students explored DNA, proteins, and the idea of stopping an outbreak. We posted a school-coded carousel highlighting the best moments captured during the visit.



• The visit to the W.A. Ranch gave us another perspective. Hearing from their team reminded us of the people who might use tools and devices like ours. Our reflection from that visit, shared online, documented the experience meaningfully.



• We took time to thank our sponsors. Individual posts were created so each sponsor could see their support reflected in our journey.

These posts gave Rumino a sense of balance. Recognition showed that our work is meaningful, outreach helped us inspire and learn from others, and sponsor acknowledgement expressed the gratitude that keeps us grounded.

Event as Media

We documented JulyGEM through six posts that highlighted both the competition and the community: three focused on projects and judging, and three on the atmosphere, participants, and keynote talks. The carousels are styled within Rumino's branding, keeping the event connected to our overall media presence.

JulyGEM became part of our media story, showing how we used design and documentation to capture not only our work but also the energy of the wider iGEM community.

Podcasting as a Platform

We launched a podcast, “Does Science Really Work”, to create longer conversations around science and society—topics that are part of iGEM and its community. Three highlights from each episode were posted in the form of reels that are subtitled and focused on key points mentioned in the podcast. The highlight reels directed audiences to the full episodes on YouTube and Spotify.

The podcast expanded Rumino's presence beyond updates. It positioned our team as part of wider conversations, reflecting our interest in questions and dialogue as much as in technical progress.

Intro Posts

Looking back, our media work was less about volume and more about intention and strategy. Each stage was chosen to tell part of a story: who we are, what we value, and how Rumino connects with our community. We experimented with styles, balanced humor with professionalism, and learned what resonated with different audiences.

The media became a tool for building identity and trust. It helped us share science in ways that felt approachable while also reinforcing that Rumino is a team thinking about impact on multiple levels.

Media Recognition

What others saw in Rumino

• Local journalism (LiveWire Calgary, May 29, 2025): Focused on our pivot from a single-use test to a continuous, automated water-monitoring system, plus the real-world angle (farm water, transport trucks) and quotes from team leads explaining the design choices.
• Institutional coverage (UCalgary News, May 27, 2025): Framed Rumino as an early-warning system for farms, explaining continuous monitoring, alerts to farmers/health workers, and the outreach we did with producers to align on needs.
• Sector trade press (Canadian Poultry Magazine, June 5, 2025): Signaled relevance to the poultry industry by spotlighting our plan to “catch bird flu early,” placing Rumino in context of ongoing HPAI risk for producers.
• National science wire (myScience.ca, May 27, 2025): Picked up the story as a science/innovation item, summarizing the continuous detection concept and national interest in early-warning approaches.

Why this coverage matters to us

Media attention didn't just amplify our posts, it validated the problem framing and the use-case fit we've been building toward with farmers and end-users. We're grateful for each perspective: local reporters who told the human story, our university's newsroom that explained the science, trade press that spoke to producers, and national wires that placed Rumino in Canada's broader innovation landscape.

JULYGEM

JulyGEM was one of the biggest stages for Rumino this year, and we treated it as both an event and a media project. Beyond the biohackathon format itself, our focus here was on how the experience was designed, documented, and communicated. Every detail was styled in Rumino’s visual language. Six Instagram posts, along with a full photo archive, captured the atmosphere and gave JulyGEM a presence that reached far beyond the room.

Design & Branding

We treated JulyGEM as a living extension of Rumino's identity. Every material, from registration to closing remarks, was designed in our style.

• Participant Package: 15 pages including event details, itinerary, resources, tools, and clear instructions.
• Judge Package: 15 pages covering rubric, presentation outline, tie-breaker protocols, and a curated bio section introducing our diverse panel of judges.
• Certificates & Flyers: Awarded to winners and distributed on-site, all styled in Rumino's palette.
• Food & Logistics: Dietary labels, check-in banners, even reminder emails were Rumino-coded.
• Navigation Video: We filmed a short walkthrough from the bus stop to the venue—a small but thoughtful gesture to make the event accessible.

These details worked together to give participants a sense of cohesion and care.

Hybrid & Technical Setup

• Professional livestreaming gave online teams an equal presence.
• Discord channels were used for team rooms, announcements, and tech support.
• In-person atmosphere was documented by a professional photographer, ensuring the energy of the day was captured for archives and social media.

Media & Documentation

• Six Instagram posts: 3 focused on projects/judging, 3 on community/keynote moments.
• Dedicated gallery: Photos and video clips capturing the event's highlights.
• Packages: Participant and judge materials remain accessible as open resources for future iGEM and biohackathon events.

Impact

• For Participants: JulyGEM was a hands-on, time-limited challenge that sharpened communication and design skills under pressure for North American iGEMers.
• For Rumino: It validated our ability to run a high-profile, professional event while staying true to our identity.
• For the Community: It introduced a new format the biohackathon to iGEM, sparking conversations about how innovation and ethics can be explored together.