Vtool is a global EDA verification company that designs, simulates, validates, and accelerates semiconductor development processes. Its cutting-edge Cogita-PRO debug solution delivers faster, more reliable chips using intuitive AI. With a team of 150 professionals, Vtool operates out of Serbia, France, Poland, Greece, India, and Israel, serving leading chipmakers worldwide.
Year: 2014 – 2023
Website: thevtool.com
Dan Alexander + Co. is Vtool’s creatives house, and has been responsible for its tech-innovation strategy and identity design since its inception in 2014. For over a decade, we have taken Vtool and its high-end solutions from an early-stage startup company all the way to being a global semiconductor powerhouse.
Humanistic Technology, Strategy
Dan Alexander + Co. defined the overarching perception for Vtool, grounding its high-tech operation to be in service to humanity. It brings together cutting-edge technology and philosophy-of-science perception, ensuring that Vtool, a debug company at the heart of technological advancements, will operate from a human-driven, broad intellectual perspective. Vtool continuously implements this perception on a daily basis, so that both its R&D and company culture are people-oriented.
For example, its EDA solution, Cogita-PRO, was specifically developed to transform the way debugging is done using intuitive AI. On the human-capital side, Vtool community is a growing ecosystem of people who are openly encouraged to share knowledge, bring new ideas to the table, and fuel each other’s passion for teamwork.
Empowering People, Visual Language
We use the power of design to drive Vtool’s evolution. Over an entire decade, Dan Alexnader + Co. has crafted a string of visual languages that empowered Vtool to leap forward at each of its milestones. Initially, when the company was first incepted, we wrapped this high-tech venture with an animated and optimistic flair that drew from the world of comics, making Vtool stand out in a niche already saturated with the generic tech-oriented graphic vibe. Our memorable visual language also proved impactful in attracting talented engineers who quickly joined Vtool, and as more locations opened worldwide, we shifted from this initial visual language into one that highlights its team, putting the spotlight on the growing Vtool community.
Inspired by Andy Warhal, each employee was photographed and styled in pop-art fashion, as an individual within a group of creatives whose artform is debugging. The new visual language is applied to the interior of Vtool Factory and its different global sites, which we designed, creating a space where technology meets art. It so happened that our visual pop-art interpretation of the teammates’ faces coincided with the pandemic, infusing the entire Vtool staff with a powerful sense of togetherness.
Cogita-PRO Radical Verification, Innovation Development
Our insight into intercepting technology, philosophy, and design, opened the way for us to also serve as Vtool’s creative-technology strategists who are deeply involved in its R&D and technological roadmap. We guide the evolution of the company’s innovation in alignment with the humanistic spirit of Vtool’s strategic perception. Based on René Descartes’s famous phrase: Cogita ergo sum (from the Latin, “I think, therefore I am”), the company’s flagship solution, Cogita-PRO, offers an intellectual/technological engine that continuously drives thinking. It remains fresh, always pushing a step further, looking to constantly discover debugging in new ways, and bring the future of semiconductors.
As a result, Cogita-PRO is transforming the way verification is done. Instead of traditional code-based debugging where engineers scan thousands of textual log files, Cogita unifies mountains of data from multiple sources and presents it all visually using patterns and charts, making it radically easier and more intuitive for engineers to ensure no bugs escape into silicon. This positions Vtool as a trailblazer who is immensely crucial for semiconductor companies, slashing debug time and accelerating the release of new bug-free technologies.
Collaborative Community, Marketing and Media
Dan Alexander + Co. is responsible for communicating Vtool outwards, establishing the company’s market presence by developing diverse avenues for its effective exposure. From social media, to long-term collaborations with universities, participation in conferences, knowledge-sharing of a vast online repository, and more, we participate in the decision-making processes to ensure constant evolution for Vtool, and adapt the visual language with its key messaging assets to go beyond aesthetic representation.
Our continued work with Vtool had fortified its market presence and perception as a company that does things differently, always seeking new ways to impact people and take technology higher.