Education / College Branding

The UK government announced a new, innovative educational programme set to launch in 2020 – employer-led ‘Institutes of Technology’ – designed to offer higher-level technical education to provide employers with a skilled workforce & students with a clear route to technical employment.

Backed by £170million of government investment, there would be 12 ‘institutes’ established across the country, set up as collaborations between further education providers, universities & employers.

As part of the programme, interested parties were invited to pitch to become one of the 12 ‘Institutes’, with Milton Keynes College one of the further education providers to put themselves forward.

We formed part of a highly-impressive delivery team; supporting Milton Keynes College would be Microsoft, KPMG, McAfee & ourselves, all helping to drive the project forward & ensure a successful outcome by winning the bid.

Fable&Co’s role was to bring the ‘Institute of Technology’ to life, tasked with thinking up an appropriate brand name & creating a compelling visual identity that would capture the hearts & minds of not only the governments judging panel, but real-world students, parents & teachers for when the brand would unveil itself to the eagerly-awaiting public.

The Name

Milton Keynes is famously home to Bletchley Park, an extraordinary building that housed the code-breaking operation during World War Two & was the birthplace of modern computing.

Many historians estimate that their efforts helped shorten the war by up to two years, saving countless lives. This revolutionary code breaking has presented an opportunity for future generations to aspire, create & thrive.

Where once housed & produced the intelligence of the codebreakers, will now lie home to the next generation of digital visionaries – the code makers – thus, the Code Makers Academy was born.

The Concept

The code breakers of Bletchley Park faced the complex & exhaustive task of decoding millions of mixed messages but were able to decipher many back into a common form, a language, they could understand.

Coding is a universal language. It’s inclusive & built upon to create – much like how the Academy will bring students, leaders & brands together in an environment that encourages collaboration & inspires creativity.

People from different backgrounds with eclectic personalities will come together, unified by their similar mindsets – ambitious, thoughtful, new thinkers – speaking the same language to achieve incredible results.

The logo symbolises this universal language, consisting of coding symbols abstractly forming the letters ‘CMA’. Throughout the identity, these bold & memorable visual assets are utilised to house content, working well with imagery & supporting text, also carrying great impact as standalone graphics, helping to build brand equity.

The tone of voice reflects the Academy’s prestigious & revolutionary personality – engaging, characterful, intelligent, visionary & professional.

Project Deliverables

Quantitative Research
Qualitative Research
Brand Strategy
Brand Architecture
Logo Design
Brand Identity
Animation
Brand Guidelines
Brochure Design
Corporate Stationery Suite
Offline Marketing Materials
Campus Signage
Project Management

The Colour Palette

The colour palette used throughout the identity consists of several tones of blues & greys.

Tones of blue are used throughout for its ability to improve mental clarity & inspire creativity. It also instils confidence & trust, whilst also being associated with intelligence.

Tones of grey are also used to give association to the modern, reliable & dependable nature of the Academy.

The Imagery

We wanted to demonstrate diversity by capturing students coming together from different backgrounds with varying interests, with equally ambitious personalities.

The Academy is collaborative & unites aspiring individuals. Our imagery depicts students in the moment; natural, positive, expressive & off-guard – engaged in conversation with one another & interacting with their surroundings.

These students are serious, committed & open-minded, taking on real-world challenges set by multinational technology businesses. The imagery looked to capture students feeling relaxed, content, interested & focused.

Managing The Brand

The Code Makers Academy will collaborate with a number of different partners & suppliers, so to ensure brand consistency in application, we produced a comprehensive brand style guide.

This document was designed to help & support partners, rather than straight-jacket, evolving over time, demonstrating best practice & flexibility with various elements of the new brand identity across online & offline applications, including logo, brand icon, graphic assets, colour palette, key messages, tone of voice, imagery & iconography.

As part of the project, we created a suite of stylish yet practical corporate stationery & merchandise that would be distributed & used by students at the Academy. This included notepads, tote bags, lanyards, brochures & business cards.

The opportunity to collaborate once more with Milton Keynes College on such a significant & high-profile branding project was incredible. Lee & the team fully supported our creative vision, backed up by thorough research, to develop something unique, memorable & plays homage to the heritage of Bletchley Park. Everyone is thrilled with the outcome & excited about the roll-out in 2020.

– Jack Archer, Account Director, Fable&Co.

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