Ethiopia’s new ePassport, designed and manufactured by TOPPAN Security, has been awarded the 2025 Red Dot Award in the Brands & Communication Design category, a prestigious international competition that honours outstanding achievements in communication design and enables winners to use the Red Dot quality label in their communications.
The award recognises not only the document’s aesthetics but also its innovation in secure document design, materials engineering and cultural symbolism.
The new ePassport features a durable polycarbonate data page and integrates a range of security features into a distinctive visual framework.
This both marks an evolution in Ethiopia’s national identity, and sets a benchmark for the regional secure document landscape.
At the heart of the document’s design is a celebration of Ethiopia’s unique heritage and global contribution.
The design elements include the Walia ibex – a critically endangered wild goat species found only in the Simien Mountains – which symbolises resilience, national pride, and the country’s rich biodiversity.
A coffee bean is also prominently displayed on the ePassport’s polycarbonate data page, honouring Ethiopia as the birthplace of Arabica coffee and paying tribute to its role as a cultural and economic centre, where coffee ceremonies, unique regional flavours, and genetic diversity have shaped global appreciation of the coffee for centuries.
Adding a deeper layer of significance, the passport includes an image of Lucy – the famous 3.2 million-year-old fossil that was discovered in Hadar, representing Ethiopia’s pivotal place in the history of human evolution. These elements are not only visually striking but also deeply meaningful.
Lucy, 3.2-million-year-old fossil.
Yet the ePassport is more than a tribute to culture – it’s an invitation to exploration. Under ultraviolet light, the visa pages unveil hidden design elements such as Amharic numerals – one of the few indigenous scripts of Africa still in use today and one of the world’s few remaining ancient numeral systems. Another distinctive feature revealed under ultraviolet light is the jebena – a traditional Ethiopian coffee pot, emblematic of the country’s rich coffee heritage and cultural rituals.
Under UV illumination – Amharic numerals and jebena.
According to the manufacturer, Ethiopia’s ePassport is the first and only in the world to feature a dynamic gold foil image, in the shape of Ethiopia’s national flower Adey Abeba, on the cover. The image shifts when viewed from different angles, allowing for immediate and intuitive authentication by border authorities.
The overall result is a passport that blends cultural heritage, scientific legacy, and advanced design, making it not only a secure identity document but also a symbol of Ethiopian identity and aspiration.
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Dynamic gold foil representation of national flower.
