National Counter Trafficking Centre
Barnardo’s launched the National Counter Trafficking Centre in response to a growing need to protect children who have been trafficked. Specialist care and support for child victims of trafficking is more vital than ever, and Barnardo’s as the UK’s largest children’s charity is well placed to provide that support.
Since its launch in 2014, the National Counter Trafficking Centre (NCTC) has managed the Independent Child Trafficking Guardianship Service (ICTGS) – a home office funded programme – in England and Wales.
The programme looks to help key stakeholders identify child victims of trafficking, then support (directly or indirectly) those children so their voices are heard. The programme looks to build a strong evidence base that can guide future training and advice for professionals who work with children.
After the initial brand was created in 2017, Barnardo’s asked us to firm up the communication around the differences between the National Counter Trafficking Centre and the Independent Child Trafficking Guardianship Service. We undertook a brand extension, with a bank of assets that could be rolled out over time to clarify the centre’s purpose, mission and values.
Website design
One of the main requirements to ensure increased visibility of the NCTC was a website. The Independent Child Trafficking Guardianship Service is a programme that runs off referrals, with key stakeholders (police, social workers, foster careers, etc) identifying potential victims of trafficking. Therefore, we wanted to develop a site that made this process as simple as possible, reducing the burden on the first responder. Spotting the signs that a child has been trafficked is often complex and confusing. The site therefore needed to provide enough scaffolding around spotting potential signs as well as information on various types of trafficking.
Brand extension
Often, the centre works with young people and teenagers rather than children, so we took the opportunity to ensure the wider brand felt more appropriate for the target audience. A mix of photographs and illustration could sit well alongside the wider Barnardo’s brand, whilst ensuring the National Counter Trafficking Centre established its own identity. We have enjoyed creating a bank of assets that will establish the brand over time, both on social media and through presentations and documents.
At the heart of the brand is a font called Noto. A typeface that has been created by Google and Monotype which has been created in more than 1,000 languages and over 150 writing systems – a global font for a global subject. We’ve written a blog post about the use of Noto within the project if you are interested in exploring more.
