When you think about passports, “gorgeous” may not be the first word that comes to mind. Government, bureaucracy, pain-in-the-butt — maybe. But Norway, in its inimitable way, has likely changed the language around passports forever with the announcement of its new — and arguably beautiful — new passport design.
The Oslo design studio Neue — which created the winning entry as part of a national competition — based the visual presentation on the Norwegian Landscape theme, which might partly account for its allure.
If Norwegians are inspired to start making travel plans with their brand new documents, they’ll have to wait for a bit. There is no set date for the passport’s release, but it is expected to be sometime in the next two years.
The new passport documents come on the heels of yet another Norwegian design coup involving a new bold and colorful rendition of the nation’s kroner bills sporting a “sea” theme, due for release in 2017.
Despite the aesthetic conversation around the new passport design, the entire project, alas, had a much more utilitarian purpose: to increase security in Norwegian passports, ID cards and travel documents. I’d say mission accomplished — but so much more.
➤ Neue [via The Guardian]
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