What do the new euro designs say about Europe?
Money design is an exercise in “soft power and brand positioning on a continental scale”, says Design Bridge and Partners’ Ben Thrasher. So what messages can we glean from the proposed new designs for the euro?
11/08/2026 3:04 am
A banknote is arguably the most widely circulated, heavily scrutinised piece of design a culture produces. For the euro, this means attempting the near-impossible: creating a new cohesive visual language for hundreds of millions of people across 21 countries that have different context and also different ideas of what Europe should be.
Right now, the European Central Bank (ECB) is navigating a central tension of public design: how do you create something that belongs to everyone without flattening what makes them different? The official brief demands something recognisable and trustworthy, accessible yet distinctive, and shared without becoming generic.
Make no mistake, this is one of the world’s most complex identity challenges, and the public is helping the ECB make the final decision on the design of the new notes. Design via democracy: how excellently European.