NOT Wieden+Kennedy has created a state-of-the-heart visual identity system for the 69th Eurovision, which kicks off this weekend. It was made in partnership with Eurovision art director Artur Deyneuve for Swiss broadcaster SRG SSR. Deyneuve was an art director at Wieden + Kennedy in London from 2013 to 2017. NOT Wieden+Kennedy, which was set up by W+K London in January 2023 as its design and branding arm, won the work after a creds presentation. Deyneuve wanted a design that made people feel heard and valued. He and the team took inspiration from the Swiss tradition of direct democracy, which revolves around open dialogue, and focused on listening as the branding guiding theme. “The concept emerged from a simple yet powerful visual insight: when two ears are placed side by side, they form a heart,” he says. “This became our metaphor for unity through listening, an act that transcends hearing to become a gesture of empathy, connection and love.” The stage design is by production designer Florian Wieder The Eurovision heart logo was designed by London-based agency JM Enternational in 2004, as a symbol to be used consistently from one contest to the next. Since then, it has been refined and is brought to life in a different way every year. NOT W+K took the heart logo and transformed it into many small pulsating Eurovision hearts. These are choreographed to make up elements including images, typography and flags. At the same time, they’re intended to represent the contest’s many viewers. According to The European Broadcasting Union, Eurovision 2024 reached 163 million people over its three live shows. To articulate this audience, Deyneuve posed the question: What happens when millions of people come together? “From that question, the grid was born, a modular, scalable design system that empowers every touchpoint,” he adds. The headline typeface is serif, with sans serif in a supporting role NOT W+K head of creative & design Adam Rix didn’t want to create an homage to Swiss design, with Helvetica or a similar typeface. “We wanted to create something more flexible and joyful,” he explains. The grid of hearts system had three roles. First, it needed to create a feeling – that Eurovision is “a brilliant party with amazing outlandish acts” with patterns that reflected that sense of fun. Secondly, it needed to bring things to life, from flags to mountains. Thirdly, it had to work for broadcast elements such as the transitions from live footage to pre-recorded elements and graphics. The vibrant colour palette and typeface were designed by typographer Ian Party, CEO of Swiss type studio Newglyph, which worked on the recent redesign of the Swiss passport. The headline typeface is serif, with sans serif in a supporting role. “It was really important, thinking about the Swiss heritage in typography,” says Rix. “We didn’t want to fall into tropes, hence the left turn to serif.” The identity will appear at the series of Eurovision events which starts with the opening ceremony on Sunday and ends with the grand finale a week on Saturday. https://d3faj0w6aqatyx.cloudfront.net/uploads/2025/05/Euro-identity.mp4 Design guidelines have been given to local council, stage design and event partner teams. These will be translated into the dressing of Basel itself including local landmarks, and tram wraps, as well as the stadium itself, broadcast graphics, social media content and the interactive voting systems. Deyneuve believes this year’s design thinking is unlike anything done for previous Eurovisions. Traditionally, the visual identity has been applied uniformly across all platforms, with little variation between city branding, stage design and media assets. “We set out to change that,” he explains. “This year, every touchpoint, from city dressing to digital channels, has been designed with its own flavour, yet all remain connected by a shared visual language,” he says. For the first time, each country was given the tools and freedom to localise the identity through the grid-based system. “This system enables true creative autonomy within a coherent framework, something never before attempted at this scale in Eurovision’s history. “It’s a design approach that embodies Swiss values: structure with freedom, individuality with unity,” he adds. Meanwhile, the stage design is by Florian Wieder – the eighth time he has overseen the production. For this year’s event at the St Jakobshalle, Wieder took inspiration from the Swiss mountains and the country’s linguistic diversity. The identity will be found across a number of different touchpoints including on social media NOT Wieden + Kennedy recreated the Swiss mountains with tiny hearts