Young Painter Prize: Catalogue & Brand Design
Art directing the visual identity and print catalogue for an international open-call painting competition, now in its 18th year.
Print & Brand Design
Giedrė Miller, Organiser
Context and Goal
Young Painter Prize (YPP) is an international open-call painting competition that has run since 2009, discovering emerging painters from the Baltics, the wider region and the Ukrainian diaspora. For its 2026 edition, an international jury selected 25 finalists from open submissions, with the resulting exhibition travelling through Tallinn, Riga and Klaipėda. My goal was to give this year's edition a cohesive visual identity, from the open-call poster to the printed catalogue, confident enough for an international jury and patrons, and inviting enough for young artists submitting for the first time.
Challenge
The identity needed to travel across very different formats: a printed poster, Instagram Stories, a QR-linked application flow and a 70-page catalogue, while staying instantly recognisable. The catalogue itself had to hold 25 painters working in very different styles and formats inside one consistent editorial structure. YPP also runs as a nonprofit and, this year, without state funding, so every asset had to be designed to be produced efficiently.
Audience
The identity speaks to two audiences at once: the international jury, sponsors and patrons who lend the prize its credibility, and the young painters across the Baltics, the region and the Ukrainian diaspora applying, often for the first time. The printed catalogue then carries that same work to exhibition visitors as the show travels through Tallinn, Riga and Klaipėda.
My Role: Art Director
As Art Director, I directed the poster system and campaign assets, and the layout of the 70-page finalist catalogue, working alongside Creative Director Karol Kalmár and Organiser Giedrė Miller.
Brand Identity
The 2026 open call announcement poster.
Carrying the identity across formats
The identity centers on an interlocking monogram built from the competition's initials, rendered in a signature pink and magenta palette against a textured teal ground. My work was extending that mark across the open call announcement poster, a repeating brand pattern for print collateral, and Instagram Story templates for the open call and finalist announcements, keeping the deadline, hashtag and QR-linked application details legible from a small social avatar up to a full A2 print poster.
Editorial & Catalogue Design
A 70-page finalist catalogue
The cover carries the brand's textured teal ground and pink wordmark, setting the tone for the catalogue's recurring spread template used across all 25 finalist profiles, the jury and prize pages.
Reflections
YPP has spent 18 years discovering young painters, from first winner Andrius Zakarauskas in 2009 to more recent winners Sandra Strēle (2019) and Linas Kaziulionis (2022), who have gone on to build established practices. Directing this year's identity and catalogue without state funding, and seeing it carried into an exhibition travelling through Tallinn, Riga and Klaipėda, made clear how much a consistent visual language can do for a nonprofit competition run largely on volunteer effort.