CR Blog
A passport to Albion
Posted by Mark Sinclair, 26 August 2010, 9:24 Permalink Comments (35)
The new-look UK passport, unveiled yesterday, features a host of charming images of the isles and its weather systems. But far from reflecting an urbanised modern Britain, the new designs refer to the folklore of the past...
The psychedelic village scene above, for example, might look more at home on the sleeve of a folk rock album from the early 70s, but it forms the bottom half of the opening page of the new UK passport.
From the small selection of pages that we've seen, as issued by the UK Home Office press centre, it's clear that a range of illustrative elements designed to evoke rural Britain have been incorporated into the document, which was created by the Identity and Passports Service's product design team. Alongside the cottages above, there's also some oak leaves and a native Chalkhill Blue butterfly (though any CR-reading lepidopterists, do correct me if I'm mistaken).
Of course, there are plenty of advancements in security features, too. For example, there's a new transparent covering, which includes several holograms to protect the holder's personal details, and there will now be two photographs of the passport holder on the official observations and personal details pages, shown below, which will move to the front of the document.
But check the detailing: it's folk rock again – with a sea-faring lean! There's a compass, cryptically placed on top of the passport bearer's face, some gulls and a tern, and even an illustration of some rather choppy seas.
This being Britain, the weather is also a running illustrative theme across the passport's 28 pages. Ahh, it appears to be cloudy again.
Other pages also feature well-known scenic gems including the white cliffs of Dover, the Gower peninsula, Ben Nevis and the Giant's Causeway.
The new 10-year passport is set to be issued in October, produced under a £400 million contract by commercial security printers De La Rue.
35 Comments
I think it's great. Who designed it?
2010-08-26 11:27:50
@Ben
Just waiting to hear from the Home Office. UPDATE: it was the Identity and Passports Service's product design team, apparently, in conjunction with De La Rue
Mark Sinclair
2010-08-26 11:34:00
The magical effect of the images as they are drawn together in the composition is really beautiful evoking myths and legends. That's appropriate for a country like ours that has so much history. The colour palette is very cleverly chosen and the cobalt blue used on the cottages is a brave move. As an interior designer I enjoy pattern and here all the backgrounds carry movement and texture. Love it!
2010-08-26 11:59:05
It is really so impressive in design and in security level ... hats off to the designer ...
2010-08-26 12:06:00
So we're going to have the words GEOLOGICAL FORMATION on our passports for the next 10 years or something?
2010-08-26 12:07:13
Mark – you're right to note the 70s folk-rock ambience. You say it's a compass superimposed over the bearer's face. I can’t help seeing it as a blissed-out psychedelic mandala. What's going on at the passport office?
2010-08-26 12:12:58
Can we opt out of the stupid sundial on our faces?
2010-08-26 12:20:43
@Adrian
Haha. Perhaps the new design is a long overdue response to the Stones' namechecking passports in 1967?
http://www.vinylrecords.ch/R/RO/Rolling_Stones/Their-Satanic/rolling-stones-satanic-majesties.html
Tony Meeuwissen was rocking some waves in his design, too:
http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2009/november/tony-meeuwissen Mark Sinclair
2010-08-26 12:22:00
Still wish it didnt have French in it.
Grr
2010-08-26 13:58:18
I think those houses are the ones near my hometown in Bibury.
http://www.selectstone.com/wp-content/gallery/historic-masonry-cotswolds/cotswolds-0045.jpg
I can't remember them being that colour though …
2010-08-26 14:03:35
Is she holding a bag of chips out of frame?
She seems to be being attacked by seagulls.
2010-08-26 14:17:04
Interesting design and selection of themes/imagery — especially when you'd expect something more hi-tech, certainly with modern passports (like my Belgian passport having a plastic insert page with holographic elements and whatnot).
2010-08-26 14:17:20
Looks a little messy to me, I prefer the current design.
2010-08-26 14:53:47
A graphic designers dream job!
It's also a rare example of a very ornate not so cost effective piece of modern design being used for serious practical reasons. Wouldn't it be great to have an Oyster card and what not designed with this much love.
2010-08-26 15:02:38
Seems dated to me, why not show modern Britain; our technology, architecture, multiculturalism. Instead we have white cliffs of Dover a street that yearns for the Britain of yesteryear and darn seagulls, which are a nuisance.
A
2010-08-26 20:01:21
Britain, Britain, Britain. Why does everything always have to be looking back, we have an amazing country, yes steeped with history, but why can't we also look forward a little more, in the same way Scandinavian countries do, or Japan. Alongside our great history and magnificent nature we also have great modern designers, amazing engineering and architecture, multiculturalism etc etc, when will these areas ever be openly respected and shouted about in something truly British, like our passports. If no-one agrees with such thinking (other than myself and 'A') perhaps we should just go the whole hog and put '1966' on the cover of the passport and then inside we'll have some stale, xenophobic opinions on France and Germany and we'll all go throw up outside Wetherspoons in the rain to celebrate the new design.
2010-08-27 07:40:39
I personally don't hang my (withered) sense of national identity on the design of the passport. In any case, people are already well aware of our modern designers, amazing engineering etc. Even if they're not, they're not going to learn about it by flicking through the passport.
Incidentally I quite like the design, but I can't see that it's any more a symbol of our culture than a bus ticket.
2010-08-27 10:25:57
Oh dear......a row of cottages in Bibury, Oxfordshire........chocolate box England, great just what we need....
2010-08-27 11:40:08
Not sure why faces have to be obscured by the compass.... defeats the purpose of identification surely??
2010-08-27 11:41:31
People are arguing that this should show our 'modern' Britain. But what is that? I certainly couldn't illustrate that - So much would be left out and the specificness of it would be challenged even further.
The problems with associating ourselves with something as changeable as our technology and cultural references is that it dates too quickly. The things which have been included here are mainly natural or have been long established in our topography.
The purpose of these illustrations isn't about defining Britain and its culture on a few pages. From a human perspective, our Island is and always has been too transient to pigeon hole.
Anyway who wants to be like Japan and Scandinavia? I don't.
2010-08-27 11:46:53
We live in a world of nostalgia for the vision of the future and a love of times past but appear to be terrified of the present day. Cracking lecture material so thank you passport designer(s)/commissioner(s).
2010-08-27 12:18:43
hmmm ... Im not convinced about it. All seems a bit random.
2010-08-27 12:29:17
Well done to the British passport team - how refreshing.
Seems to me we already hear plenty about 'modern' designers, multiculturalism, amazing engineering and architecture in Britain. Trouble is, these things have become global in nature - are there any other countries which don't also claim them?
Celebrating the natural environment is hardly 'looking back', and while I'm all for a global culture, I don't think that means we can't appreciate local as well. Perhaps now is a good time to start thinking harder about living with what we've already got rather than tearing it all down and starting again... again.
2010-08-27 13:57:33
I object to the glorification of the villainous seagulls. They are a growing menace and the reason for many an night's lost sleep! Nice designs though. Less seagulls next time please.
2010-08-27 15:49:52
It certainly is a vast improvement on the previous design. I just love the nod to our obsession with the weather (the weather symbols and fronts). Then we have the compass design, the birds symbolising air travel, ships and waves recalling our great maritime tradition, then there are the scenic scenes from all four corners of our Kingdom as well as an outline map of the United Kingdom (being pedantic here but it shouldn't include the Isle of Man which is obviously British but not part of the UK).
My passport runs out next year, I can't wait to get one of these!
Well done the designers!
2010-08-28 22:39:30
The Isle of Man is not 'obviously British'. We have our own passports.
2010-08-30 01:49:23
chattel
2010-08-30 10:33:33
@Matt
Of course the Isle of Man is British, your passport is still a BRITISH passport but the Isle of Man IS NOT a part of the United Kingdom. The new design if for the United Kingdom passport. Think the IoM get a version of this in 2012.
2010-08-30 11:50:37
@Matt
I think you need to re-check what is printed on and in your 'Manx' passport.
On the front:
'British Islands'
'Isle of Man'
2010-08-30 12:01:32
Oh perfidious Albion. How we adore thee.
These designs (as stunning and as accomplished as they are) happen to be very significant because of what they represent. They show the manner in which this country's political elite want the 'United' Kingdom to be perceived on an international stage.
As the only genuine internationally received public document the passport is a subtle (yet very important) portrayal of a country's attitude and self-comprehension. I recognise that I really ought to reserve judgement until I see the full document but I can not help but feel extremely cynical about what we are being shown. The establishment here have proven themselves highly adept at historical revisionism and propaganda of late. This passport will no doubt be another subdued manifestation of this policy.
Crushing (and increasing) inequality, inner city poverty, pseudo-colonial projects overseas and a highly acquiescent population. These are some of the presently defining aspects of this nation. And as for its past! My god, we won't go there.
Of course, I am not making the absurd suggestion the designers should have focussed on actual negative aspects of life here (from the present or the past). I am merely suggesting the rural idyll shown is a wholly alien concept for most of this country's inhabitants. Indeed, the unpleasantnesses I have listed are far closer to home than pictures of maritime grandiosity or iconic landscapes.
As I write, from my window, I can see rows of poorly maintained local authority housing of various eras meandering off into the distance. beyond that, the ever present blinking vista of Canary Wharf. In summation: Real poverty and zero social mobility accompanied by high finance at the behest of a transnational banking class. Surely this is a tableau far more suited to any representation of modern Britain.
2010-08-30 23:47:34
Why is it written in French? Can't they read English in France?
2010-08-31 13:48:11
I'm not a fan. It's still very... olde world. I think that Britain could be represented jut as well with a 21st century design rather than a 19th century looking one. This merely shows the viewer how out of touch the Government is with the modern age.
2010-08-31 14:10:56
@Dave/Anthony
The Isle of Man issues its own passports (confusingly) under the auspice of the UK authority. At present they are of a different design to those of the United Kingdom. This may indeed be due to change - I don't know. This is hardly a forum to discuss the legal implications of having, yes, a "'Manx'" passport but I assure you it is different for various reasons. Lets leave it at that.
2010-08-31 17:04:54
@ Feargal
I agree with your critique of modern Britain pretty much whole heartedly. However the suggestion that the rural idyl is alien to most of us is absurd. The beautiful countryside, coastline and historic archetecture of Britain are about the only thing I can ever feel genuine warmth towards. Perhaps it's time you spent a weekend in the lake district to re-connect with the Mother land.
I like the passport...and I'll still like it in 10 years time. If you had an "on trend" modern representation of the dynamic industries of today's Britain it would be embarrassing within 5 years. If these had been commissioned 3 years ago people would probably be suggesting we picture our great economic success story of the time - financial management.
2010-09-07 10:01:25
@ Feargal
I agree with your critique of modern Britain pretty much whole heartedly. However the suggestion that the rural idyl is alien to most of us is absurd. The beautiful countryside, coastline and historic archetecture of Britain are about the only thing I can ever feel genuine warmth towards. Perhaps it's time you spent a weekend in the lake district to re-connect with the Mother land.
I like the passport...and I'll still like it in 10 years time. If you had an "on trend" modern representation of the dynamic industries of today's Britain it would be embarrassing within 5 years. If these had been commissioned 3 years ago people would probably be suggesting we picture our great economic success story of the time - financial management.
2010-09-07 10:04:55
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