Our approach for the Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture brand was to create something ‘unapologetically Bradford’. Successfully uniting and energising an entire district around a renewed visual and cultural identity, and boosting local pride, confidence, and optimism for the district’s future.
On May 31st 2022, a packed, hushed crowd in Bradford City Park erupted with jubilation and shock—the then UK Culture Secretary announced on the BBC One Show that Bradford had won the UK City of Culture competition and would be the UK City of Culture in 2025.
Bradford had a brand identity for the bid phase of the competition that had built momentum and stakeholder support, but now that the city had won, the Bradford 2025 leadership decided on a complete brand reboot— something much more ambitious and distinctly Bradford.
Rabbithole won the open tender to rebrand Bradford 2025 in 2023. The challenge was to create a brand and visual identity that would unite and energise the district of Bradford behind the 2025 UK City of Culture project. This was the first time a district, rather than a city, had won; Bradford district covers 141 square miles and includes the city of Bradford, as well as market and mill towns such as Keighley, Ilkley, and Saltaire. The population is incredibly diverse, from rural farming communities to the dynamic youth of the UK’s youngest city. Uniting 650,000 proud locals behind a single brand became an exciting and immensely daunting task.
Other objectives were to create a brand identity system flexible enough for the enormous number of implementations across Bradford district, the marketing of thousands of events, and the many teams that would need to use it; and to ‘flip the script on Bradford’, which had low national perceptions (due to a long-running stream of unfair and overly-negative press).
Our response to the brief was to create something ‘unapologetically Bradford’. The first couple of months of the project timeline were dedicated to an extended research and discovery phase. We spent many days in the district, speaking to Bradfordians and running workshops with local young people, business leaders, cultural leaders, and project stakeholders. By the end of the Discovery phase, we were in love with Bradford—it’s eclectic, unfiltered, thrilling, and full of surprises; its people direct, sharp, and warm. This affection and appreciation for the district and its people laid the emotional foundation for our design approach.
The logo
The need for a logo symbol was initially challenged by some stakeholders, but we pushed and persuaded. Our reasoning was that Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture would have to change its name after the 2025 year at ended, and an established and recognisable logo symbol would smooth this transition (the brand has since changed its name to Bradford Culture Company). The resulting symbol design is a heart shape made up of a ‘B’ and a ‘d’ (Bradfordians colloquially use postcodes, like BD4, instead of place names) to symbolise that it is time to give Bradford some love. The symbol is designed with a mix of right angles and curves, a nod to the district’s thrilling contrasts and diversity.
Brand colours
Central to the identity design was a distinctive tricolour palette that Bradford could own and be recognised for. Inspired by tricolour flags, we clashed the gold from Bradford’s sunlit sandstone architecture and local football team (Bradford A.F.C), green from the district’s rural landscapes and domed mosques, and pink, representing Bradford’s sharp humour (also, local cafes serve bright pink tea). This simple and limited colour scheme was intentionally designed to be adopted and appropriated by the people of Bradford. The district was painted gold, green, and pink, not just by the Bradford 2025 team, but by the people of Bradford themselves.
Impact
The branding project successfully brought the district together under a unified visual and cultural identity. 80% of surveyed residents reported a significant increase in civic and place pride. The brand identity helped the Bradford 2025 team secure backing from 50+ corporate partners and sponsors, recruit 2,700+ volunteers, and draw 3 million visitors to Bradford.
Perceptions of Bradford have shifted significantly due to the 2025 UK City of Culture, with the year hailed as empowering, energetic, and a way to tackle negative stereotypes through a celebration of diversity and creativity.
The Bradford 2025 brand identity has helped to reshape how Bradfordians see themselves and how the nation views Bradford (Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said Bradford 2025 had made her “proud to be British”). It’s unified the city with a new cultural confidence, optimism, and sense of pride.
Rabbithole continues to work with Bradford’s leaders to build on the success and legacy of 2025.
