The Turner Prize has landed in Bradford this 12 months, marking the primary time one of many world’s most recognised modern artwork awards has been hosted within the metropolis. It is becoming, then, that it is also the primary time its id feels so distinctly influenced by its environment.
Created by Yorkshire and Glasgow-based inventive studio Rabbithole, the 2025 Turner Prize id celebrates what the studio calls “fragmented magnificence” in a design idea that rewards those that take a better look. Somewhat than chasing polish or symmetry, Rabbithole has constructed a visible system that thrives on rigidity and imperfection. Round cut-outs, layered compositions, and vibrant bursts of color give the work a way of motion and depth, inviting viewers to look beneath the floor.
“The model id for this 12 months’s prize attracts immediately from conversations with native folks, together with a robust picture shared in a model workshop by a younger participant: ‘a flower slowly blooming out of a crack within the pavement,'” the group at Rabbithole explains. “This concept – of one thing quietly lovely rising from an ignored place – grew to become the emotional and conceptual anchor for the visible id.”
A prize meets a spot
Balancing the status of the Turner Prize – a Tate-led award identified for its crucial rigour – with the persona of Bradford was no small process. The studio needed to create one thing that felt each severe and accessible, participating not solely the artwork world but in addition those that could be discovering the prize for the primary time.
“The problem was clear: converse to each the artworld-initiated and the casually curious,” says Rabbithole. “By avoiding lofty or overly polished design tropes, the joyful Turner Prize 2025 visible id invitations and welcomes all who encounter it.”
Accessibility is essential to the mission’s success, so the brand new id embraces the nuances of the host metropolis via its kind and philosophy. Bradford, because the 2025 UK Metropolis of Tradition, is a metropolis of contradictions and contrasts that is happy with its industrial previous, formed by migration, and brimming with cultural power. Within the id, layers of shapes overlap and reveal fragments of what lies beneath, mirroring the town’s hidden magnificence and the prize’s status for surfacing the surprising.
Sort, color and character
Typography performs a defining function in grounding this expressive world. Rabbithole opted for a heavier, extra sturdy reduce of Denim by Displaay Sort Foundry, contrasting with the softer Denim Ink used within the broader Bradford 2025 id. The Turner Prize emblem is constructed round a daring “T” formation, which separates “Turner Prize” and “2025” to create respiratory area—each actually for layering and movement, and conceptually for interpretation.
The color palette evolves from the acquainted tones of Bradford 2025 – inexperienced, pink and gold – however pushes them additional. Gradients, larger saturation, and a broader spectrum of hues create a way of power and unpredictability. The gradients additionally echo the thought of discovery, as colors mix and shift relying on mild and scale.
In brief, the id feels tactile and human. It isn’t a static system, however one thing that lives, strikes and divulges itself over time.
Design you may contact
Whereas a lot of the ultimate work interprets fantastically into digital and 3D purposes (developed in collaboration with artist Joseph Töreki), Rabbithole positioned particular emphasis on making the id bodily.
“With paper cut-outs particularly, we needed the id to really feel humble and accessible in its simplicity,” the group explains. Exhibition brochures characteristic die-cut holes that reveal glimpses of layers beneath, wall panels that overlap, and a timeline show constructed from stacked supplies fairly than a single flat graphic.
The intention was to offer the id dimension, so it is nearly like you may stroll via it, not simply view it on a display.
Harriet Hudson, head of name and advertising at Bradford 2025, describes the collaboration as “a pleasure.”
She says: “They’ve performed, tailored and had enjoyable with the model they initially created throughout a variety of initiatives, from the id of pop-up venues to merchandise.
“For Turner Prize 2025, they’ve cleverly developed an interesting, punchy and distinctive id that works on a number of ranges: as a marketing campaign it turns heads, in an ornate historic gallery it instructions presence, and when wanted it might sit again and permit the artist’s work to shine.”
Balancing playfulness and precision
A capability to shift gears from full-volume marketing campaign to delicate exhibition assist was central to the success of the design system. “When representing shortlisted artists and their work, the id strips again to easy, minimal parts,” Rabbithole explains. “In distinction, occasion advertising posters crescendo at full quantity with expressive fragmentation and color with gradients and pushed saturation.”
Having this dynamic vary permits the id to maneuver simply between audiences and contexts. Playfulness emerges in interactive particulars, comparable to pop-out parts on household guides and daring movement graphics for social media, whereas precision exhibits up within the meticulous typographic hierarchy and accessibility requirements used throughout signage and print.
The stability, Rabbithole says, “creates one thing that feels open and energetic, resonating with Bradford’s native character, whereas remaining refined sufficient for nationwide media and curatorial audiences.”
A residing, respiratory id
One of the vital vital parts is that the id works as a result of it does not really feel overly “designed.” There’s room for humanity, for spontaneity and for the imperfections that make each artwork and cities fascinating.
“Somewhat than chasing symmetry or pristine polish, the id favours surprising alignments, quirky overlaps, and unpredictable gaps,” the group says. “This method creates depth, rigidity and richness, echoing the multifaceted actuality of Bradford and the often-challenging but hopeful nature of up to date artwork.”
That sentiment performs out in pleasant methods. One among Rabbithole’s favorite moments got here not from a poster or a billboard, however from watching youngsters come out the cut-out glasses from a household leaflet. “Seeing them participating with the model like that basically introduced it to life,” they are saying. “That interplay – that curiosity – is precisely what we hoped for.”
The Turner Prize 2025 exhibition is now open at Cartwright Corridor Artwork Gallery, and Rabbithole’s id has already carried out its job by sparking curiosity, inviting dialog, and giving one among Britain’s most prestigious artwork prizes a distinctly Bradford soul.
Very similar to the prize itself, it rewards those that take a re-assessment.
