By John O'Ceallaigh
Distinctly Norwegian: The new passports. Credit: neue.no
Norway's new passport hides a unique feature that may make travellers from other nations green with envy.
Expect Norwegian travellers to cut a dash as they travel across the globe.
While EU citizens' passports are coloured an inoffensive but indistinct burgundy, the Scandinavian nation's new passports are distinctly finished in white, turquoise or red – and contain a surprising feature that should brighten up proceedings for passport controllers the world over.
Designed by local agency Neue Design Studio, who won a competition to redesign the documents and national ID cards, the passport is based on the theme: The Norwegian Landscape.
Pages feature minimalist interpretations of the country's most striking landscapes, and show one of its most mesmerising phenomena only under specific circumstances.
Passport pages feature the Norway's most striking landscapes.
Should airport security staff – or anyone else – shine the passport's pages under UV light, the otherwise elusive Northern Lights will instantly appear as iridescent trails on the paper.
Speaking about the firm's inspiration for the passports design, Neue Design Studio said: "Nature has always been an essential part of the Norwegian identity and tradition, as well as being a key fundament for our welfare.
The landscape with its vast variation from the south to the north, is the starting point for the design concept."
Under UV light, The Northern Lights become visible on the pages of a Norwegian passport.Credit: neue.no
The new Norwegian passport is expected to enter circulation in about two years, so for now it is perhaps left to the Finnish passport to fly the flag for Nordic design nous. It features an elk on the bottom of each page and bored travellers who flip them rapidly will see the animal amble across the document.
The Telegraph, London
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