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Artbank Prize identity
rtbank was established in 1980 as an Australian federal government initiative with two core objectives: to support Australian contemporary artists by acquiring their work, and to build public appreciation for that work. For more than four decades it has done exactly that, funding its operations through the leasing of its own collection.
In early 2026, Artbank launched the Artbank Prize, and we developed the brand.
The Prize is an open-call, acquisitive award for Australian artists not yet represented in the Artbank collection. It carries a $20,000 acquisition award, though the greater value is entry into a collection that has helped shape Australia’s art ecosystem for generations. Our task was to make a brand-new prize feel credible and established from day one, while signalling openness and discovery rather than institutional distance.
Design apporach
The identity draws directly on Artbank’s own visual language, a kit of primary shapes, so the Prize reads as a genuine extension of the institution rather than a separate venture. That logic resolves into the AP monogram: a triangle and a half circle that together read as A and P, primary forms standing in for the prize itself. The same vocabulary of triangles, circles, arches and quatrefoils scales up into bold modular compositions, each one different yet unmistakably part of one family. Type is Die Grotesk, a robust sans serif that holds authority and clarity at every size. The palette is primary and high energy, taken from Artbank’s own colours, signalling an institution with confidence rather than caution.
We applied the system across the full life of the Prize: the open-call social media campaign, print advertsiing, banners and outdoor, signage and wayfinding, the finalist exhibition design, and the printed catalogue. The shape language does the heavy lifting throughout, flexible enough to build a poster or an exhibition wall from, and disciplined enough that the artwork always leads.
outcome
The response was strong. The Prize drew over 740 entries in its first year, spanning painting, photography, sculpture, installation and digital media, from artists in every state and territory. For a prize with no reputation to trade on yet, that is a remarkable start, and it suggests the identity did its job: it made the award feel worth entering from the moment it launched.