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