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the design brief… in brief  
 
“Ages and styles of Europe” and “abstract/modern”  
Aims

One of the main challenges of banknote design is to successfully combine security features with artistic creativity. Banknotes should be:

• easy to recognise;
• secure against counterfeiting;
• visually attractive.

The euro banknotes must be clearly identifiable as European and should embody a cultural and political message that is readily acceptable to all European citizens.
 
Design features

“Ages and styles of Europe”
Each banknote must depict a particular historical period (“age”) and an architectural feature (“style”) from that period to illustrate the “Ages and styles of Europe”. Ages are assigned to the denominations as follows:

EURO  5 classical
EURO  10 Romanesque
EURO  20 Gothic
EURO  50 Renaissance
EURO  100 baroque and rococo
EURO  200 the age of iron and glass
EURO  500 modern 20th century architecture“abstract/modern”
Each banknote must show a contemporary or modern depiction of abstract and figurative elements.
All designs must ensure gender equality and avoid any national bias.
 

Words and numbers

The name of the currency – euro – must appear on both sides of the banknotes, in both the
Latin and Greek alphabets.
• The denomination must appear at least twice on both sides of the banknotes.
• The initials of the European Central Bank in the five linguistic variants – BCE, ECB, EZB, EKT and EKP – must appear on the front of the banknotes.
• The signature of the President of the European Central Bank must be positioned close to the ECB’s initials.
• The “12 stars” symbol of the European Union must be included in the design on the front of the banknotes, but could also appear on the reverse.



Size and colour

The euro banknotes must be the following sizes and colours:

EURO  5   120mm x 62mm grey
EURO  10  127mm x 66mm red
EURO  20  133mm x 70mm blue
EURO  50  140mm x 74mm orange
EURO  100  147mm x 78mm green
EURO  200  153mm x 78mm yellow-brown
EURO  500   160mm x 78mm purple

 

 

 
 
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