FWIW - I think that's a great reason. Anything where the secondary, subconscious effects of the communication are considered and intentional is perfectly valid

FWIW - I think that's a great reason. Anything where the secondary, subconscious effects of the communication are considered and intentional is perfectly valid from my POV. It's part of my job to walk through these questions with clients who get attached early in brand development to certain themes or colors or typography, and they usually don't have an answer. But if it's like "we want to convey that we're too busy working on this amazing platform to worry about trying to look like every other digital biotech startup, most of whom use the same boring icon sets, so let's just throw out some fun subcultural art in the meantime," then your choice is well tuned to presenting the company culture you're trying to get across, and I withdraw my crit. In fact, I'd be overjoyed to hear that from any client.