Fluidigm Ushers in a New Era of Customer Experience

Fluidigm Corporation (NASDAQ:FLDM) today announced a transformative rebranding, including a completely redesigned website and industrial design approach that collectively signals the advent of a new era of customer experience in the life science industry.

The Juno system design was inspired by Fluidigm’s mission to “simplify the complex quest to understand and apply biology.” The instrument’s form factor is both contemporary and accessible, with an elevated screen for ease-of-use. (Photo: Business Wire)

“The work that our customers undertake is simply amazing, and we decided that our customers’ experience of everything related to Fluidigm should be similarly exceptional. For years we have made enabling products that, among other things, have pioneered the field of single-cell biology, and today we unveil the first set of major changes to our customers’ experience in the physical and digital realms. This includes the industrial design of our products, our website, and even our logo,” said Gajus Worthington, Fluidigm President and Chief Executive Officer. “We have been working on this activity for the past two years and look forward to adding zest and maybe even some joy to our customers’ work,” Worthington added.

In addition to modernized industrial design and groundbreaking engineering in new instruments, the effort has spawned an innovative, ‘dynamically morphing’ logo for Fluidigm and the creation of a new company website that seeks to provide a platform for life scientists to learn, share and comment on the latest developments in life sciences research. “The new Fluidigm website is not the traditional portal where one goes to only download a product brochure. Instead, we will be posting important scientific discoveries, features on awe-inspiring individuals, findings and messages from the life sciences community, and collecting and displaying that information in ways that are easy to get at and easy to understand,” said Worthington. “We believe it will be the first of its kind for a company website in life sciences.”

Partnering with fuseproject

To bring a completely new approach and aesthetic to Fluidigm’s ambitions, the company enlisted the help of fuseproject, an award-winning integrated design and branding firm founded by acclaimed industrial designer Yves Béhar.

Béhar’s designs are known for their focus on the human experience, and creating compelling narratives and storytelling through design. Covering industries from furniture to wearable technology, the industrial and digital designs and branding work done for Fluidigm will be fuseproject’s first foray into life sciences.

“There is a very sticky view inside the life science industry that products are just about the data, and everything else is not important. We believe differently,” explained Worthington. “We believe tools that enable scientific discovery aren’t optional, they are a requirement. And we also believe those discoveries are made by people who value attention at many levels of detail. Our customers are people who appreciate good design, intuitive user interfaces, provocative information, and a company that is willing to strive to go beyond satisfaction. So we sought a partner that was very progressive in their own thinking, and that was a learning machine -- so they could appreciate the nuance of how to project our expertise to our customer base. fuseproject is clearly one of the top industrial design firms on the planet, and it also is a leading strategy firm. We have already enjoyed a really productive partnership with fuseproject, and there is more to come,” Worthington added.

The JunoTM System is the First Manifestation of this Effort

The new JunoTM system is the first Fluidigm product to be developed under this new approach. Introduced on September 16, 2014, the Juno system enables production genomics scientists to genotype low-concentration DNA samples from tissue, buccal swabs, formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded samples, and polyploid organisms in less than three hours. In addition, Juno handles the control and cycling of all existing Fluidigm genotyping integrated fluidic circuits (IFCs) and features a “walk-away” workflow that takes just 15 minutes to prep, while producing data in less than three hours.

The design for Juno was inspired by Fluidigm’s mission to “simplify the complex quest to understand and apply biology.” The instrument’s form factor is both contemporary and accessible, with an elevated screen for ease-of-use. Textured lines running from the front to the rear of the instrument were motivated by the myriad of microfluidic channels in IFCs. Additionally, the user experience is enhanced by simple and clear instructions for use. With bold colors and fonts to parallel the website, the instrument guides users step-by-step to perform tests in a seamless and intuitive way.

“Juno, in conjunction with the BioMarkTM HD system, provides data for a massive number of samples but with a very simple workflow, enabling our customers to do important biological work well beyond sample prep - again, all wrapped in an inspiring design,” Worthington said.

A Logo to Embody our Customers’ Challenge

As Fluidigm looked to bring distinction to its customers’ experience, it decided to refresh its logo. “Our company logo is near and dear to all of us within the company, but it is an abstraction of a microfluidic device. We had to ask ourselves if it was relevant to our customers,” said Worthington. “The answer was ‘no,’ so we decided to push the state-of-the-art of company logos and selected a new logo that represents the bond we have with our customers. It is mutable, yet the core symbol remains the same. In many ways it is a representation of the dynamic work our customers do every day. The ‘F’ in our logo is actually negative space surrounded by an ever-changing shape. This combination represents both the complexity of our customers’ biological endeavors and the simplicity and elegance that we strive to bring to that work.”

A New Website for a World-Changing Industry

Fluidigm’s new website is an embodiment of an artisan approach to the web and digital communications. It is designed to make Fluidigm’s interactions with customers more informative, specialized and individualized, with the ultimate goal of creating a scientific community. The new Fluidigm website is focused on delivering important content that creates dialogue instead of one-way communications.

In addition to Fluidigm-created content, the website will feature some of the best scientific discoveries, highlight compelling new research by Fluidigm customers, and showcase some of the most uplifting stories of life scientists changing the world.

One example of embracing new frontiers is the website’s attention to art. “Almost everyone cares about art, but for some reason it is largely ignored in the workspaces of scientists. There is so much beauty in what our customers are doing, we decided to curate art that we think can be uplifting, maybe even inspiring to our customers,” explained Worthington. To begin with, the website will be featuring organic and vibrant animation from artist Emrah Gonulkirmaz, and some transforming photography from Swiss artist Fabian Oefner whose pieces are suggestive of biological systems.

“Fluidigm’s new effort boils down to providing our customers with an incredible experience in every aspect of their dealings with us. They have a really important job, which if successful, will change the world. We have embraced as our challenge to do everything in our power to help them be successful,” concluded Worthington.

Use of Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements relating to Fluidigm’s new website and logo. Forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from currently anticipated results, including challenges inherent in launching a new website and logo. Information on these and additional risks affecting Fluidigm’s business are contained in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof and Fluidigm disclaims any obligation to update these statements except as may be required by law.

About Fluidigm

Fluidigm (NASDAQ:FLDM) develops, manufactures, and markets life science analytical and preparatory systems for growth markets such as single-cell biology and production genomics. We sell to leading academic institutions, clinical laboratories, and pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and agricultural biotechnology companies worldwide. Our systems are based on proprietary microfluidics and multi-parameter mass cytometry technology, and are designed to significantly simplify experimental workflow, increase throughput, and reduce costs, while providing excellent data quality. Fluidigm products are provided for Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.

For more information, please visit www.fluidigm.com.

Fluidigm, the Fluidigm logo, BioMark and Juno are trademarks or registered trademarks of Fluidigm Corporation.

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