Swiss Tenth Series Banknote Design Competition: A Tribute to Switzerland’s Topography
The Swiss National Bank (SNB) is launching a new design competition to redesign Swiss Franc Banknotes that is exclusive to local designers. This competition is intended to ensure that the banknotes’ design is continuously updated and adheres to its long-term standards of security, functionality, and aesthetics. Unlike ever before, the SNB plans to have an official advisory board and the inclusion of public opinion to judge its competition.
In this year’s run, the SNB introduces a new theme to commemorate its tenth series under the name of “Switzerland and its altitudes.” The theme pays tribute to the nation's topographies- spanning from the Jura Mountains and Central Plateau to the majestic Alps- as distinct characteristics that have shaped Switzerland’s identity.
The design competition consists of two phases: a drafting phase and a collaborative proposal phase. In this first stage, participants are required to submit initial banknote design drafts. These drafts will then be assessed by a joint panel that includes: an advisory board composed of experts within the fields of art and design and banknote research and development, as well as the Swiss residents through the distribution of a public survey. Based on the collection of evaluations amongst the following parties, the SNB will select six participants to advance to the second stage, who will be required to submit a more detailed proposal for further development; covering the execution aspect of their proposed work and discussing potential collaboration frameworks upon working with the SNB. The second assessment will determine their progression into the final stage and its assessment will be based on the evaluations gathered amongst the joint judging panel that will factor 60% of the final score and the SNB with 40% into the final score; the former depending on design evaluation and the latter determined by proposal quality and compatibility review.
Between February and July 2025, participants will have the opportunity to develop their banknote designs and its final output will be evaluated by the advisory board and - panel of experts, according to the official announcement by the SNB. The winner will eventually be revealed in 2026 and they will be commissioned to further develop the chosen banknote design.
The SNB’s official website lists selected twelve participants for the first stage of the competition: Alltag Agentur GmbH, Bienvenue Design Studios GmbH, Custer Waller Sagl, C2F AG, Emphase Sàrl, Maximage (Maxitype Sàrl), Norr Design AG, Moiré Grafik GmbH & Offshore, Skala Design GmbH, Studio Daniel Peter, Studio Marcus Kraft, and a collaboration between Blaise Magnenat, Delphine Passaquay, and Olivier Weber.
The SNB establishes that the winning design must answer to 3 components: security, functionality, and aesthetics. Firstly, the security element is determined by the security features that are imprinted into the banknotes, which allow users to easily determine its authenticity and protection (against forging). Secondly, functionality refers to the simplicity and durability of its design and its compatibility for machine processing. Lastly, its aesthetic quality refers to the overall ‘look-and-feel’ of the bank notes.
Similar to its previous iterations, the design competition is a multi-pronged and multiparty affair that requires the involvement of multiple stakeholders. It was established to encourage innovation amongst the Swedish creative scene whilst simultaneously providing assistance for the SNB in selecting the banknote design. In this context, the function of graphic design must tend to rigorous security standards whilst remaining user-friendly.
The SNB always plans in advance. This is evident in their running of the ninth banknote series, which was introduced between 2016 and 2019. Despite the banknotes’ compliance to the current security standards, it is now roughly halfway through its intended lifecycle. Typically, new banknotes series are launched every 15 to 20 years. The banknotes that were chosen during this series were designed by Manuela Pfrunder, who was a second-place finalist of a competition held in 2005. The appointed winner, Manuel Krebs, had his design set aside due to public concerns about its provocativeness for Swiss sensibilities, which led for the SNB to opt for Pfrunder’s (that appeased to the broader Swiss public).
The ninth series answered to the theme of “The many facets of Switzerland”, where its design approach departed radically from earlier iterations by removing the central design element in the bank notes: the portrait of national figures. In this newfound approach, each denomination must highlight a distinctive characteristic of Switzerland by incorporating key visual motifs such as hands, globes, landmarks, and objects that represent distinctly-Swiss activities. The current banknotes that are circulated possess qualities that the nation prides on: organisational talent, creativity, wealth of experiences, humanitarian tradition, scientific expertise and communicative flair.
At a press conference held in Bern on October 30 2024, the SNB officially announced their tenth banknotes design project and projected that the new banknotes would begin circulating no earlier than the early 2030s. "The SNB is convinced that cash will continue to play an important role as a payment method and store of value in the future," said Martin Schlegel, President of the SNB’s Governing Board. "Therefore, ongoing development in terms of security technology and the redesign of the banknotes is of pivotal importance."
