Eternal Research

The Eternal Research logo is a custom-drawn wordmark based on Trust, an engraved sans-serif by MCKL Type. Heavily customized and unique, its precision-cut forms and subtle irregularities evoke the tactile permanence of engraving, providing a refined counterpoint to the brand’s more experimental visuals.

To develop the broader typographic system, Cotton studied numerous typographic references from the Victorian era—a period defined by an openness to experimentation and an embrace of stylistic variety. Drawing from this, the brand uses not one, but eleven header typefaces—a deliberate decision that mirrors the diversity of typography from the time.

For the instrument’s knob interface, founder Alexandra Fierra asked Cotton to study the interfaces of space shuttle control panels for inspiration. She wanted the brand to feel universally accessible; taking cues from systems designed to be unmistakably clear in the most urgent situations was the solution. To make it effortless for users to switch modes and recall settings, Cotton also carefully considered the player’s posture, reach, and interaction with the instrument in use.

Ornamental motifs from the Victorian era mark a distinct moment in design history: attention to detail was celebrated, creation was deliberate and often slow, and intricacy conferred value. As a result, and perhaps most strikingly, every creation was truly unique.

For founder Alexandra Fierra, “process” at Eternal Research—both the act of building an instrument for the community and the act of making music through it—embodies that same spirit of care, detail, slowness, invention, and individuality.

Cotton studied hundreds of archival Victorian patterns, analyzing the systems that bound them as a family and the nuances that made each one singular. The result is an infinite array of historically accurate patterns—all ornamental, all intricate, all echoing the era’s devotion to craft—and, most importantly, all unique, like the musicians and makers who form the Eternal Research community.

A company whose output is primarily sound, Eternal Research is, at its core, an auditory experience. Their instruments produce sounds of immense depth and complexity—tonalities that founder Alexandra Fierra believes carry far more richness, emotion, and information than we often recognize. Preserving the integrity of that complexity became central to the audioreactive component: every nuance, vibration, and imperfection matters.

Visually, the pattern needed to express that same intricacy. On one hand, the visuals had to feel like an objective reflection of the sound itself; on the other, they needed to be different every time—capturing how no two experiences of listening are ever the same.

Cotton created a truly audio-reactive visualizer for the Demon Box instrument—one that authentically responds to the nuances of sound. Rough tones are rendered as sharp and textural; airy sounds become smooth and diffuse; and everything in between. To achieve this, Cotton studied timbre and the anatomy of sound—going beyond amplitude to analyze high mids, low mids, frequency ranges, and relative extremes—and translated those qualities into distinct visual features within the generator.

Explore the features here.