The Intelligence Factory

Revealing a secret hiding in plain sight

Brand identity
Brand campaign
Brand assets
Brand activation
Signage and wayfinding
Art direction
Tone of voice

Client

During WWII, the need to decrypt messages and gather intelligence was vital to the war effort. Anyone working at Bletchley Park – the home of the codebreakers – was sworn to absolute secrecy through the Official Secrets Act, and unable to tell even their loved ones of their true involvement in the war effort. So while people knew of Bletchley, the Park remained one of Britain’s best kept secrets, for over 50 years.

Brief

Bletchley Park had completed the restoration of Block A, to house a major new permanent exhibition and a key part of their story. The operational demands at Bletchley Park from 1942 had escalated at such a rate that by 1945, they had a workforce of 9,000 people, working discretely around the clock, without anyone knowing. This incredible achievement was secretly referred to as ‘The Intelligence Factory’. Bletchley Park asked Rose to create a distinctive brand identity for their major new permanent exhibition, to help tell this important chapter in their story. They wanted the identity and resulting campaign to stand out, ignite curiosity, and encourage people to visit.

Solution

Rose loved how the name of the exhibition – The Intelligence Factory – suggested an everyday work place for so many. So they took inspiration from factory signage, typography and colours from the period, to create the logotype. Also inspired by the chevron patterns used in factories for high visibility and directional clarity, Rose combined them with pictorial symbols from the period signage, to create a light and dark diagonal pattern. From a distance, the composition of the pattern is simple and industrial. But up close, it reveals the 9,000 people walking in and out of the factory in shifts - essentially hiding in plain sight. Rose rolled out the brand identity for The Intelligence Factory across a major national digital and print campaign, exhibition trailer, signage, merchandise and promotional items.

Results

Within the first year of launching The Intelligence Factory brand and opening the exhibition in 2022, almost 200,000 people had visited the permanent exhibition and discovered this essential part of the Bletchley Park story.¹

¹ Figures courtesy of the Bletchley Park Trust

The Intelligence Factory

Revealing a secret hiding in plain sight

Client

Brief

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