EUROPE REIMAGINES THE MONEY IN ITS POCKETS
The European Central Bank has revealed ten shortlisted proposals for the next generation of euro banknotes, opening an unusually democratic chapter in the design of everyday money. Divided between the themes European culture and Rivers and birds, the concepts rethink the notes through portraits, landscapes, public spaces, wildlife, and European institutions. Citizens can examine the competing series and share their preferences through an online survey open until 21 September 2026.
The project will deliver the first complete redesign of euro banknotes since the currency entered circulation in 2002. It follows an EU-wide competition that attracted 1,241 applications, from which 25 designers were invited to develop proposals for one or both themes. They eventually submitted 39 complete series, assessed anonymously by an independent jury of 21 specialists working across fields including graphic design, communication, history, and neuroscience. Ten survived, proving that even money must endure several rounds of creative direction.
Maria Callas on 5 euro banknote by Studio Joost Grootens | all images courtesy of European Central Bank
CULTURAL ICONS WITHOUT THE MARBLE DUST
For the European culture theme, the banknotes pair six influential figures with the shared spaces in which culture continues to circulate. Maria Callas represents performing arts, Ludwig van Beethoven music, Marie Curie education, Miguel de Cervantes, Leonardo da Vinci museums, and peace campaigner Bertha von Suttner public squares. Their reverse sides move away from solitary genius to show choirs, classrooms, readers, exhibitions, and people gathering outdoors.
Five proposals interpret this cultural script. Studio Joost Grootens crops the historical portraits around eyes and mouths, connecting observation with expression; Neue Gestaltung GmbH combines recognisable colours, constellations, and deliberately featureless contemporary figures; and Myrsini Vardopoulou surrounds each personality with circular symbols related to their work. Jan Robert Dünnweller takes a more tactile route with hand-drawn portraits and collaged textures, while Spanish studios Rubio & del Amo and Cruz más Cruz construct the notes around central gazes and vertical forms derived from the letters E, U, R, and O.
10 euro banknote by PunktFormStrich
WHEN BIRDS BECOME MONETARY POLICY
The alternative theme, Rivers and birds, traces water from a mountain spring to the sea while assigning a bird and a European institution to every denomination. The journey begins with a wallcreeper and the European Parliament on the 5 euro note, followed by a kingfisher and the European Commission, bee-eaters and the ECB, a white stork and the Court of Justice, an avocet and the European Council, and finally a northern gannet flying above the ocean alongside the European Court of Auditors. Nature occupies the front; bureaucracy waits patiently on the back.
The five nature-led series approach this unlikely pairing from markedly different angles. PunktFormStrich transforms birdsong and flight speed into graphic data, while Rudy Guedj and François Girard-Meunier connect abstract landscapes through an evolving band of light. Atelier Goppel-Toperngpong uses water as a metaphor for collective European power, Isabelle Daëron overlays hand-drawn and vector patterns to express movement and interdependence, and Ville Tietäväinen turns the full set into a sequential river journey in which the imagery moves progressively closer to the sea.
Marie Curie on 20 euro banknote by Neue Gestaltung GmbH
EUROPE GETS A VOTE (SORT OF)
The public survey allows participants across Europe to review all ten proposals and indicate which designs they prefer. In parallel, an independent research company will conduct an equivalent study among a representative sample of euro-area citizens. The exercise is not quite a continental design referendum: the results will form one part of the final assessment, alongside the jury’s conclusions and a technical evaluation covering functionality, production, accessibility, and security.
The ECB’s Governing Council is expected to select the winning proposal around the end of 2026. The chosen series will then be refined, tested, and equipped with improved security and accessibility features before entering production, with more durable materials and processes intended to reduce its environmental footprint. The notes will not appear in wallets immediately, and existing euro banknotes will remain valid and circulate alongside the future series.
50 euro banknote by Rudy Guedj and François Girard-Meunier
Leonardo da Vinci on 100 euro banknote by Myrsini Vardopoulou