Impact Media Lab

What Impact Media Lab does

Impact Media Lab is a woman-owned, women-led, science-focused full-service creative studio that provides brand design, website design and development, documentary film production, and science communication strategy services. It is positioned as "strategy-driven" and serves primarily scientific and research clients, including academic researchers, research laboratories, universities, and mission-driven scientific nonprofits and agencies. The firm is registered under the Impact Media Lab® trademark and operates as a small, distributed US-based team composed of scientists-turned-creatives, with founder Kika Tuff as the principal.

The studio's core offerings are delivered as project-based professional services rather than packaged software products. Brand and website work is built primarily on the Squarespace platform, and film and communication engagements are scoped per client. Commercial motion is consultation-led: prospective clients are routed through discovery calls before receiving project quotes, and no standardized pricing is published. In parallel, the firm operates a content and community layer — the SciComm Blog, a SciComm Tools & Resources Guide, and the League of Science Communicators membership community — which both markets its core services and constitutes a modest standalone community product.

Impact Media Lab's client roster includes NASA, HHMI, AAAS, Princeton, Yale, Stanford, UC Berkeley, Washington University St. Louis, UC Boulder, UC Davis, NEON, the Cary Institute, Schmidt Sciences, and others. Revenue, funding history, and headcount are not publicly disclosed; no institutional capital, M&A activity, or AI/ML capabilities are mentioned in the source material. The operating model is consistent with a bootstrapped, specialist creative studio whose competitive position rests on domain expertise in science communication rather than on proprietary technology or scale.

Name

Impact Media Lab

Legal name

Impact Media Lab

Website

https://impactmedialab.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Impact Media Lab is a woman-owned creative studio providing brand design, website development, and documentary film production to scientists and research organizations. It serves academic researchers, research labs, and scientific institutions, with marquee clients including NASA, HHMI, AAAS, and major universities.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Science Communication Creative Services

NAICS

Motion Picture and Sound Recording Industries (512)

SIC

Services-Motion Picture & Video Tape Production (7812)

akta.pro primary industry

Medical Affairs Scientific Communications (MSL Support/Scientific Response) (HLAGALAF)

Keywords

• Science communication services
• Brand design for scientists
• Research lab websites
• Science documentary films
• Creative services for research

Headquarters

HQ city

Boulder

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Creative Agency Services: Full-service creative studio providing brand design, website development, and documentary film production to scientists and research organizations. Services are customized and quote-based, delivered through collaborative project engagements.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Impact Media Lab is a science-focused, strategy-driven, full-service creative studio that creates bold brands, websites, and documentary films for scientists and research organizations. Services include brand strategy and visual identity design, custom website design and build (using Squarespace), documentary film production, and broader science communication strategy. Engagements are custom, project-based, and quote-priced for academic labs, universities, and scientific non-profits.

Product overview

Impact Media Lab is a science-focused, strategy-driven full-service creative studio that creates bold brands, websites, and documentary films for scientists and research organizations. The company operates as a service-based business rather than a software product company, offering four core service lines: Brand Design Services, Website Design & Development (built on Squarespace), Documentary Film Production, and Science Communication Services. Additionally, they operate two supplementary programs: the League of Science Communicators (a membership community with training and co-working offerings) and the SciComm Blog (an educational content platform). The company works with academic research labs, scientific organizations, and individual scientists to help them communicate their work effectively to funders, colleagues, and public audiences.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Brand Design Services Strategic brand development for research labs and scientific organizations, including brand strategy, logo design, visual identity systems, and brand guidelines tailored to science communication needs.
• Website Design and Development Custom website design and build services for scientists, research labs, and scientific organizations, using Squarespace as the preferred platform to create responsive, user-friendly scientific websites.
• Documentary Films Science documentary film production services including planning, footage capture, post-production, and promotional content for academic and research-focused media campaigns.
• Science Communication (SciComm) Services Science communication strategy and content creation services including story design, visual storytelling, and media production to help scientists share knowledge with public audiences.

Quantifiable outcome

• Clients report increased applications and interest from potential lab members

Named customers15 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Open to All® CoalitionminorOthersImpact Media Lab is a member of the Open to All® coalition, a stand against racism and discrimination where businesses commit to creating safe, inclusive spaces for clients, collaborators, and team members.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Vox Media: Large digital media company whose editorial brands (Vox, The Verge) produce science explainers, documentaries, and branded content; relevant as a broad incumbent producing science storytelling at scale, beyond IML's boutique agency model.
• Mighty Citizen: Branding, web design, and digital agency serving nonprofits, associations, and member-based organizations including academic and research clients; comparable as a creative services peer serving similar institutional buyers, though not science-specialized.
• Curiosity Stream: Subscription streaming service focused exclusively on science, technology, and nature documentary content; a broad incumbent producing commissioned science films and series that competes for talent and attention in the same science media category.
• PBS NOVA: Long-running public television science documentary series and production unit producing flagship science films and digital content; relevant incumbent that operates in the same science documentary category as IML's film work but at public-broadcaster scale.
• Science Friday: Public radio program and multimedia company producing science stories, videos, and educational content; overlaps with IML's SciComm mission of making research accessible to broad audiences but operates at media-publisher scale.
• Discovery Science: Cable network and production operation dedicated to science programming, producing series, specials, and digital science content; overlaps with IML's documentary and SciComm offerings at major-media scale.
• National Geographic Studios: Documentary and media production arm of National Geographic, producing large-scale science, nature, and exploration content; overlaps with IML's documentary work but operates at much greater scale and as part of a broader media portfolio.

Direct peers

• COMPASS: Science communication agency specializing in marine, climate, and environmental science outreach; offers strategic communication and content services for scientists, directly paralleling IML's brand, web, and SciComm offerings for research clients.
• HHMI Tangled Bank Studios: Science-focused documentary production arm of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which is also an Impact Media Lab client; produces long-form science films and overlaps directly with IML's film and SciComm services for the research community.
• Sandbox Films: Independent documentary production company focused on science and nature storytelling; directly comparable to Impact Media Lab's documentary film service line and shares the niche of producing feature-quality science films for researchers and science-driven clients.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/impactmedialab

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Impact Media Lab