Logo based on seismic data

Generative logo

I'm using realtime seismic data to generate the logo of the company. The shape is computed using the amplitude and frequency information. The color reflects the largest magnitude of the recent earthquakes.

This is the first outcome of my exploration of scientific data and methods by means of art and design. I’m generating the logo using the realtime seismic data of a nearby station and the recent earthquakes.

The basic shape is an circle. This combines basic elements of seismogram visualizations: the line and the drum of a helicorder.

Example of an analog seismogram registration using a helicorder drum (source: <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Seismogram_at_Weston_Observatory.JPG' target='_blank'>wikipedia</a>).

Example of an analog seismogram registration using a helicorder drum (source: wikipedia).

Along the circle nodes are distributed. Each node acts as a damped spring-mass system. The position of the nodes is altered by radial forces correlating with the frequency content of a seismogram and the temporal distribution of the amplitude maxima of the seismogram. The color of the resulting shapes is determined by the maximum magnitude of the worldwide earthquakes which happended during the timespan of the processed seismogram. For the color mapping I’m using a rainbow colormap:

The color mapping of the magnitudes. The number represents the earthquake magnitude. Logos in grayscale indicate that no earthquake happened during the computed timespan.

Currently a new logo is computed every hour using the data of the station ARSA of the Austrian seismological network. The computation is triggered 20 minutes after each full hour to account for delays in the reporting of earthquakes. The online data portal www.seismicportal.eu is used to collect the global earthqukes. The updated most recent logo is displayed in the navigation bar on top of this site.

Here a the last 10 computed logos:

2017-01-07 DESIGN