Spyscape

Arts

Here: Lies, truth.

SomeOne has created the branding for SPYSCAPE, a new brand on a mission to empower people to see themselves and the world more clearly. To do this,SPYSCAPE creates content and experiences that educate and entertain across physical and digital channels.

The brand’s first public expression will take the form of an epic museum located in New York.

Opening early 2018, the 60,000sq ft museum, in midtown Manhattan, immerses visitors in the secretive worlds of espionage and hacking through one-of-a-kind exhibitions featuring dynamic storytelling and individualised experiences.

2018 Creative Pool — Best Brand Typography

2018 Best Brand Awards — Best Agency

2018 Transform Awards — Best Brand Typography

2018 Transform Awards — Best Retail Brand

2018 Drum Design Awards — Best Brand Typography

No. 928

The museum is on 8th Avenue, New York.

Adjaye Associates created a diverse range of exhibition spaces housed within bespoke pavilions, each concentrated on 7 distinct themes. the galleries also include numerous fully immersive, experiential environments. Each pavilion, including a weathered steel drum with bespoke curved paneling, features a distinctive design and a material palette crafted around its unique content.

This is a brand that is tackling one of the greatest topics of our time. Privacy. Their approach is both erudite and entertaining. The new branding helps manage their reputation and stimulate curiosity in the audience.

Simon ManchippFounder, SomeOne

SomeOne worked alongside OneDotZero, who ran the creative pitch and helped advise and curate the project. And with the SPYSCAPE design team headed by Ross Phillips.

Architecture
Adjaye Associates’ design for the 60,000 sq ft space draws from the architectural language of the most significant spy organizations, and inverts the traditional relationship between building and town – essentially establishing a small town within a building. Varied strategies establish spaces that continually shift the visitors vantage point and prioritize the experiences of discovery and observation, using lighting, screens and transparencies between floors.

“It has been exciting to work with a client as truly innovative as SPYSCAPE,” said Lucy Tilley, Associate Director of Adjaye Associates. “Thanks to their forward-thinking vision, we have been able to challenge the traditional museum typology with a design that embraces state-of-the-art interactive technology to create a visitor experience that truly straddles the physical and digital worlds.”

60,000 sq ft

The new site is being described by visitors as 'a gift to NYC' and features one of the largest elevators on the planet where people receive their first briefing...

Strategy
‘The branding centres around the strategic position of taking nothing for granted. SomeOne developed the brand’s ‘Question Everything’ tagline and designed a bespoke font with typographer Gareth Hague that embodies this thinking.’ Jamin Galea, Digital Design Director, SomeOne.

The typeface is unusual as it consists of three cuts that can be connected. Two ‘redacted’ cuts show only part of the letterform, but often enough to distinguish what character it is. The third cut is a complete letterform that can either be used to hint at the remaining stroke, or used in its entirety for total clarity.

Emily JamesProject Lead Designer, SomeOne

SomeOne also developed the way finding systems for use in the museum, and the bespoke typefaces run as a theme throughout the experience, from informative panels to decorative additions to the architecture.

‘New York is getting the ultimate spy attraction.’

Wall Street Journal

The brand messaging was developed by SomeOne and ReedWords, and has been deployed across a wide selection of merchandise for sale in the museum and online. The online experience has been developed by SomeOne, Else & the SPYSCAPE Studio.

SPYSCAPE is not just a museum, it’s a mission.
A mission to empower people, through education and entertainment, to see themselves and the world more clearly.

With expertise from top-level hackers and spymasters, SPYSCAPE has created an immersive world which uses state-of-the-art technology to create changing and individual visitor experiences.

Inside the cutting edge architectural design, visitors can explore over 60,000 square feet of amazing spy stories, artifacts, characters, and learn how their own spy skills and aptitudes are transferable to everyday life.

Using a bespoke and authentic profiling system (developed by a former Head of Training for British Intelligence) visitors can discover what kind of spy they’d be…

‘The most interactive spy museum ever.’

Thrillist