This year, the Turner Prize – Britain’s best-known modern art award (and regular tabloid fodder) – has travelled to Bradford, the UK’s 2025 City of Culture.
The Turner Prize headlines the city’s year-long programme of cultural events.
The identity for the latest edition of the prize was developed by Rabbithole, the Leeds-based studio which also created the wider Bradford 2025 brand.
As the award is always accompanied by a major exhibition of the shortlisted artists, the identity had to work on two levels.
“We wanted a brand bold enough to turn heads in the city, but subtle enough in the exhibition to let the art speak,” says Harriet Hudson, head of marketing at Bradford 2025.
Rabbithole’s brand for the Turner Prize 2025
For Bradford 2025, the studio had already navigated the city’s complexities and dualities to deliver a brand that speaks to its soul, meeting a demanding brief with clarity.
“From the very beginning, they demonstrated that they could respond to challenging, even contradictory briefs,” says Shanaz Gulzar, creative director of Bradford 2025.
The identity for the award had to reflect the prestige and the purpose of the Turner Prize while also capturing the character and richness of Bradford as the host city.
“In an early workshop, someone described Bradford as a flower growing out of an overlooked patch of pavement – beautiful despite the cracks around it. That image of defiant beauty became our north star for crafting the identity,” says Mark Martin, strategy director of Rabbithole.
The cut-outs as seen on the brochure
This analogy led the team to the central idea of “fragmented beauty,” expressed visually through layers of scattered circular cut-outs that reveal glimpses of what lies beneath – a burst of colour, artworks, a piece of text.
“We took up a simple piece of paper, punched holes through it and layered it. Every cut-out creates a moment of unexpected discovery for those who linger and take a closer look,” says Tim Dee, creative director of Rabbithole.
The idea of a “second glance” also resonated with the spirit of the Turner Prize itself.
As an award that recognises artists pushing boundaries and offering new perspectives, it often asks audiences to look beyond first impressions. By unveiling only fragments at first, the identity encourages visitors to slow down and spend time with work that reveals itself gradually.
The Turner Prize 2025 Family Guide
Beyond anchoring the concept, the cut-out circles also become a flexible device. In nearby Lister Park, they became wayfinding markers for a community trail, guiding visitors with bite-sized introductions to the Turner Prize as they approach Cartwright Hall, the venue for the exhibition.
In the Family Guide, the cut-outs were turned into a pair of playful, bespectacled eyes that children could pop out – an interactive detail that makes the identity feel hands-on and inclusive.
“There are audiences engaging with the Turner Prize in Bradford who might never have set foot in Tate – not because of distance, but because it never felt accessible to them. This brand helps bring the prize into their world,” says Gulzar.
This democratic sensibility was also important for Rabbithole.
Rabbithole’s brand for the Turner Prize 2025
“The prestige of the Turner Prize could easily have led to something austere and serious,” says Martin. “What’s refreshing here is that the identity doesn’t take itself too seriously.”
Visually, the identity builds on the bones of Bradford 2025’s brand – the pink, green, and gold colours have been brightened and expanded into a broader palette. The team retained Displaay Type Foundry’s Denim INK, choosing a cleaner cut for the Turner Prize.
The wordmark, which is stacked to form a ‘T’ shape, benefits from the sturdiness of Denim INK’s letterforms. The ‘2025,’ which forms the stalk of the ‘T,’ gave the team more room to experiment. “Pulling the ‘2025’ apart from ‘Turner Prize’ allowed us to stretch things, draw elements, and even place things in the middle, opening up more space for play,” says Dee.
Rabbithole’s brand for the Turner Prize 2025
The resulting identity confidently bridges the worlds of Bradford and the Turner Prize. “The identity feels like Bradford 2025 presenting the Turner Prize, not being overshadowed by it – and that balance was crucial,” says Gulzar.
By tying the Turner Prize 2025 identity so closely to the Bradford 2025 system, Rabbithole created a brand that carries the prestige of the prize while remaining an unmistakable part of the City of Culture year.
That shared DNA means the prize benefits from the same recognition and resonance Bradford’s brand has already built at home and abroad, and across touchpoints.
As Gulzar puts it, “Even something as small as a pin badge stands out. When someone wears it, they can be on the other side of the world, and people will still ask, ‘What’s that?’ That’s when you know you’ve got a great brand, and great design.”
The Turner Prize pin badge
The Family Guide
Rabbithole’s brand for the Turner Prize 2025
Rabbithole’s brand for the Turner Prize 2025
The brand as seen at the box office and cloakroom