Customs-made: Brexit passport finalists announced

Variety: entries came in from all over the globe. Photograph: Dezeen

Prime Minister Theresa May’s triggering of Article 50 last month means the iconic EU passports carried by British citizens will soon be obsolete.

With that in mind, Hackney-based Dezeen magazine encouraged creatives to come up with ideas for what UK travel papers should look like after Brexit.

The unofficial contest attracted over 200 entries from both amateur and professional designers across the world, ranging from an 83-year-old to a child as young as 12.

An expert jury including Design Museum director Deyan Sudjic, former political aide Rohan Silva and graphic design legend Margaret Calvert has now whittled the submissions down to just nine.

Flash forward: a modern entry to be worn around the neck. Photograph: Dezeen

The shortlist includes a passport with an iridescent cover that you hang around your neck, another with transparent pages decorated with X-rays of quirky items, and even a proposal based on the famous British weather.

The finalists will battle it out for a top prize of £1,000 and the chance to exhibit their concepts at London’s prestigious Design Museum.

Symbolic: a fading design representing Britain’s exit from the EU. Photograph: Dezeen

Dezeen’s founder and editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs said: “Many people have been calling for a return to the previous dark blue design. However, we feel that a more imaginative passport could help forge a new, forward-looking identity for the nation.

“The shortlisted designs show how the humble passport could be reinvented as a striking symbol of national identity.”

The winner and two runners up, who will receive £500 and £250 respectively, are to be announced on 11 April.

A wider selection of the passports will be on show at Clerkenwell Design Week in May.

For more information about the competition, and to see more designs, please visit Dezeen’s website here

5 Comments

  1. Jean Baptiste on Friday 7 April 2017 at 02:31

    None of the ones pictured are suitable!



  2. Edward on Friday 7 April 2017 at 11:01

    The current colour was a requirement forced on us by the EU & now that we’re leaving it’s only right that the colour should return to dark blue.



  3. Max on Friday 7 April 2017 at 15:30

    Dezeen’s entries wont get them the govt contract to design the new passport! They all look like Building Society saving account books! Whoever wins the contract to design the new passport need to focus on the counterfeit / security features. The cover should in my opinion return to blue!



  4. Bertra on Sunday 25 June 2017 at 15:34

    Wondering who the Home Office has given the contract to & how soon after we leave the EU this will be issued.Agree with the above comments that none of those design’s would be suitable! Hadn’t really given the subject any thought but it won’t have any EU wording on cover or inside pages that’s for sure.Very interesting topic!!



  5. Jean Baptiste on Thursday 4 January 2018 at 21:51

    So it’s official then from October 2019 the British Passport will be the Iconic Blue Colour the Country had before it adopted the EU’ s Burgundy! So none of the designs pictured above were ever a consideration for the Home Office!
    https://www.gov.uk/government/news/blue-uk-passport-to-return-after-eu-exit



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