ReEDS (Regional Energy Deployment System) is NLR's flagship capacity planning model for the power sector — a tool researchers and policymakers use to project how the U.S. electricity grid might evolve from today through 2050. Cited in more than 100 publications, it has informed some of the most consequential energy policy analysis in the country, including the Congressional Budget Office's assessment of the Inflation Reduction Act, the DOE's National Transmission Planning Study, and the Solar Futures Study. The ask was to design a logo for it.

The logo needed to convey both technical excellence and accessibility. The lightning bolt — reversed out of the R — signals electricity while the negative space foregrounds "Re," reinforcing the tool's regional focus. The rounded quality of the R counters the sharp geometry of the lightning bolt, giving the mark a humanistic quality — a reminder that the tool, for all its complexity, is built for people to use. Developed within NLR's visual identity system, it is unique while remaining clearly part of the lab's suite of analytical tools.