Design
Norway's New Passports Are Designed to Make Every Other Country Feel Inferior
The travel documents come on the heels of those super-cool new banknotes, too.
Norway has apparently discovered an untapped public realm that is a perfect subject for design. Not monuments, memorials, or parks, but civic documents.
First, the Norwegian architecture firm Snøhetta and the design group The Metric System gave Norway's currency, the kroner, a bold and glitchy new look. The Norges Bank even overruled the jury it had empaneled to choose the design for the nation's money in order to pick the more innovative options.