STOP THE TRAFFIK Rebrand Draws Focus to Its Prevention Mission

STOP THE TRAFFIK, the global charity dedicated to bringing an end to human trafficking worldwide, is unveiling its new brand identity, designed by Fold7 Design.

The organisation has succeeded in helping millions of people around the world over the past two decades but, after operating under the radar for much of that time, STOP THE TRAFFIK brought Fold7Design in to work on a new brand identity, bringing the charity into the spotlight, grabbing attention and reflecting its primary activities of prevention and intelligence gathering.

Fold7Design created a distinctive holistic design system, with a striking new branding device at its heart: the ‘Stop Arrow’.

Straying from the common upward or forward direction arrows used in branding, the Stop Arrow points backwards providing a memorable distinction to a common visual trope by focusing on the ‘before’, not the ‘after’.

Acting to represent the importance of prevention, the arrow has been designed to be a universal symbol for STOP THE TRAFFIK that can adapt to embrace the charity’s partners, connect their different initiatives and focus everything on the core mission; preventing trafficking before it happens.

The symbol replaces a distressed handprint. The new brand continues to affirm that people are behind everything the organisation does but is also suggestive of their more modern, data-driven approach to tackling the issue.

The symbol combines with an immersive visual toolkit including a sub-branding system, modern typographic voice, refreshed colour palette and a human-centred collage-style illustration attitude – allowing the organisation to tackle even the most complicated or sensitive subject matter in a distinctive way.

The new branding is being rolled out across all STOP THE TRAFFIK marketing channels, including the STOP APP, which allows anyone with a smartphone to report suspected human trafficking, including video and images, from anywhere in the world. 

Ruth Dearnley, CEO of STOP THE TRAFFIK, said, “A brand is so much more than a logo. It has to capture character, share the story and importantly build a sense of belonging. As we approach our 20th anniversary in 2025, Fold7Design has gifted us exactly what we needed. This exceptional team listened, created and delivered a solution that will put a spotlight on our work to prevent trafficking. By focusing on the STOP ARROW pointing backwards our brand will accelerate us all forward to predict, prevent and STOP THE TRAFFIK."

Tom Munckton, creative director at Fold7Design, said, “The team at Fold7Design are incredibly proud to have created STOP THE TRAFFIK’s new brand identity. STOP THE TRAFFIK’s work is almost entirely prevention focused – using technology, data and partnerships to provide the necessary steps to stop trafficking before it starts. ‘Prevention focused, intelligence-led’ became a brand idea that encompassed this – creating a modern, approachable and importantly, flexible new visual identity that can clearly showcase each distinct strand of their important work.”

The wider Fold7 agency is now working on a creative campaign featuring the new visual identity, which will go live later in 2024.

The identity has been applied to the Stop The Traffik website by the organisation's web agency Chops Digital.