Isabel Seiffert

Together with Moiré, Offshore were among the 12 selected studios invited to propose a design for the upcoming Swiss banknotes as part of a competition under the theme “Switzerland and its Altitudes”, organised by the Swiss National Bank in 2025.
 
Each denomination represented a specific altitude, starting with the lowlands on the CHF 10 note and ascending to the highest altitudes on the CHF 1000 note. These altitudes and their corresponding landscapes, flora and fauna were represented not only through the imagery on the front and back, but also through a scale along the edges and an unfolding altitude line on the reverse. The window of each denomination offers an outlook onto the landscape of the following denomination, connecting the notes and referencing the experience of a train ride or road trip, when you can already see the mountains rising in the distance.
 
We decided early on not to work from or with photographs, but rather to put imagination and openness at the forefront of our design proposal. The intention was to give the viewer something to explore, leaving room for personal interpretation rather than prescribing a fixed meaning or reading. A sense of joy, vibrancy and lushness, of rediscovering old and new aspects of the country, and of being serious but not austere, was important to us. We wanted the landscapes, animals and plants to be animated, to move, to have agency rather than serve as a passive, lifeless backdrop to our human-centric world.
 
This post showcases the front sides: dynamic landscapes in transformation, entangled, moving, in process.
 
CHF 10: Lowlands—In the Flow of Research
CHF 20: Central Plateau—At the Heart of Urban Life
CHF 50: Jura—From Arrowhead to Precision Tool
CHF 100: Pre-Alps—Languages Through Mountain and Valley
CHF 200: Alpine Mountains—From Source to Current
CHF 1000: High Mountains & Glacier—Weather of the Peaks

Concept, design, images and illustrations, custom font:
Offshore/Moiré: Isabel Seiffert, Dominik Huber, Marc Kappeler
@offshore________ @moire.grafik

Warm congratulations to @emphase_lausanne_bern for winning the competition!