The Stephen Hawking Foundation

A great privilege

It has been a great privilege and honour to work for the Stephen Hawking Foundation, which was set up to further the work of Professor Stephen Hawking, and to work for one of the greatest minds of all time, a national hero for his scientific achievements as well as for his perseverance in battling Motor Neurone Disease.
We created the original logo and brand for the Foundation and have worked on many projects since. Here are just a few of them.
 

Video for the launch of Stephen's List

We created this short video for the launch of Stephen’s List event at the Bank of England. Governor Mark Carney invited Professor Hawking to give a talk to a small group, who were then able to ask questions.

The video was designed to give an introduction to the event so that Professor Hawking could then give a speech outlining his vision for The Foundation and its work. The event was held in the Governor’s drawing room and was the last special event Professor Hawking was able to do for The Foundation.

Using the Professor’s own words and voice, we created a slideshow style video using photographs supplied by the Professor and his family and graphics from our Isle of Man Stamps project layered over video clips, to produce a beautiful and engaging story.

The video has been used in many forms to promote the work of the foundation and currently has several hundred thousand views.

The Foundation Brand and Logo

Our work started with the Foundation logo, created for the launch of the Foundation at The Royal Institution. Our brief was that Professor Hawking and the Trustees of the Stephen Hawking Foundation wanted a simple, unfussy logo that represented the values of the Foundation and could be used on invitations for a small event..

The event turned out to be a private dinner at the Royal Institution where Eddie Redmayne and Professor Hawking launched the Foundation to a select audience of founding members.

Our approach was indeed simple – a single thumbprint supported by a classic font and style. The logo was immediately used on the invitations for the event, printed white on a black background.

The thumbprint moon on the dark background of space is highly symbolic. Having lost the ability to write many years before, Professor Hawking authenticated decisions using his thumbprint. The print, (suitably altered for obvious reasons) has been trimmed and shaped to represent a moon; the background is the great void of space; light shining out of the dark.

Foundation Christmas Cards

We have created several Christmas cards for the Foundation, however the card that meant most to us was a personal card from Professor Hawking to the crew aboard the International Space Station. We adapted the Foundation card and addressed it to all the crew by name. The card was sent by email up to the ISS, where it was received by Major Tim Peake during his mission aboard the ISS.

 

Stephen Hawking Stamps for Isle of Man Post

Creating this set of stamps with Professor Hawking, Professor Perry and PHD Researcher Sasha Haco was the most in-depth project for the Foundation. Although officially commissioned by The Isle of Man Post Office, we took the idea for a set of stamps celebrating 100 years of Gravitational Theory to IOM PO to create wider awareness of and to benefit the Foundation. The stamps received Royal Approval in 2016 and are still being used today. They have become collectors items.

 

We have had the honour of creating a set of stamps based on the life work of Professor Stephen Hawking – a name known to everyone.

Working with The Isle of Man Post Office, the Stephen Hawking Foundation and Professor Hawking’s cosmology team at Cambridge University, we have created a set of six stamps that look at 100 years of Gravitational Theory and the recent work that has so recently been in the news with the detection of gravitational waves.

The Stamp Designs

Our stamps are designed in pairs, with foils on opposing edges – slightly revolutionary in itself. The first two stamps feature the father of Gravitational Theory, Albert Einstein and Professor Stephen Hawking, whose work on the black hole information paradox is lighting up the world of cosmology.

The next stamp features Gravitational Waves, which have featured heavily in the news recently with the second detection of them occurring only recently after the issue of the stamps.

The fourth stamp features Hawking Radiation – our diagram is based on a blackboard sketch sent to us from Cambridge, where Professors Hawking and Perry, and PHD researcher Sasha Haco work.

The fifth stamp features the famous ‘Trousers’ diagram representing two black holes colliding and the sixth stamp features the Black Hole, the study of which has made Hawking so famous.

Launch of Stephen's List

At the Bank of England, Professor Hawking launched ‘Stephen’s List’, a set of aims and objectives that he wanted to see achieved. They ranged from funding space camps for UK school children, to developing further research into MND and Voice Banking.

We created a beautiful folder, adorned with our Stephen Hawking Stamps, that profiled each of the aims to an audience of guests who would be capable of funding them.

Stephen Hawking Special Edition Book Signed by Eddie Redmayne

A few months ago we had the honour of working for one of the greatest minds in science; we created a set of stamps to celebrate 100 years of General Relativity, focusing on the work of Professor Stephen Hawking; Today, a special hard back silk covered book has been released to mark Professor Hawking’s 75th birthday.

The special silk-bound book has a foreword from and is personally signed by the Oscar winning actor Eddie Redmayne, who played the Professor in the film The Theory of Everything.

The issue of just 100 books is individually numbered from 1 to 100. #1 was presented to Professor Hawking on his birthday, January 8th. The remaining books will be sold by the Isle of Man Post Office, with proceeds donated to The Stephen Hawking Foundation.

The hardback edition in silk slip case is a special edition of the book that was released with the stamps, featuring Professors Hawking and Einstein and the major scientific works of Professor Hawking’s career.

Each book contains two full sets of the stamps, which are legal issue Isle of Man Stamps, bearing the head of Her Majesty the Queen. The successful issue was launched in 2016 to mark 100 years of the theory of General Relativity, but specifically the life work of Professor Hawking.

Buy the book here: www.iompost.com/hawking

How do we feel?

Amazing! It was such a great honour to work with Professor Hawking, but to be able to create a project like this has been a career highlight for any of us. We are an agency with a strong focus on charity, so this is a great achievement for us all.