Estonian Youth Work Centre: Business Cards on Recycled Paper
In 2019, I designed a new set of bilingual business cards for the Estonian Youth Work Centre (ENTK), a government agency operating under the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research.
The starting material was fairly minimal. Apart from the existing logo, there wasn't much of a visual identity for me to work with, so the business cards became a small exercise in extending what was already there without trying to turn it into something it wasn't.
Building Around What Already Existed
The client wanted the cards to feel more youthful and distinctive, while still remaining appropriate for a government organisation.
Since there was little existing visual identity beyond the logo, I took its colours as a starting point and built a simple graphic language around thin lines, geometric shapes and plenty of empty space.
I then introduced red, green and dark blue to make the layouts more playful and give the individual cards some variation while keeping them clearly part of the same system.
#32a6df
#313239
#dd5616
#e52823
#009346
#3760aa
The cards were bilingual, with Estonian on one side and English on the other.
Letting the Material Do Some of the Work
The material was an important part of the design. We used 300 g/m² Keaykolour 100% Recycled Chalk, made entirely from post-consumer recycled fibre.
That also influenced how I approached the layout. Printing an environmentally friendly recycled stock full of ink seemed somewhat beside the point, so I deliberately kept the design minimal and allowed the natural texture and colour of the paper to remain visible.
The cards were digitally printed in Tallinn, while I was living and working in Bucharest. Designing something in one country and having the finished product manufactured almost 2,000 kilometres away and handled by the Walgus office had become quite normal by then.
Bringing a Little Nature to Bucharest
Once the finished cards reached me in Bucharest, I photographed them for the Walgus portfolio.
For the product photos, I wanted to continue the natural theme rather than simply placing the cards on a studio background. So my family and I went for a walk in a local park looking for leaves that would work with the cards and the deep green background I had chosen.
The project didn’t end with the first print run. Over the following months, ENTK ordered additional batches for existing and new employees, so I returned to the files several times to update names, titles and quantities while keeping the system consistent.
