Story Summary
Jokerit will take the ice in an unusual special jersey when they face HIFK in Thursday’s Helsinki derby.
The Liiga club’s design takes its main inspiration from a deck of playing cards. All four suits, hearts, spades, diamonds and clubs, feature on the jersey, while the player numbers and lettering use a typeface modelled on playing-card typography.
It is the first time Jokerit have used a playing-card theme so prominently on their jersey. The design also reaches back into the club’s visual history, with its colour scheme and arrangement of elements influenced by Jokerit shirts from the 1970s and 1980s.
Ville Leino, Jokerit’s Creative Specialist and the designer responsible for the shirt, said the aim was to produce something that immediately felt like Jokerit for a local derby while looking markedly different from a traditional jersey.
Key Facts
- Jokerit will wear a special jersey for Thursday’s Helsinki derby against HIFK.
- The jersey is built around a playing-card theme featuring hearts, spades, diamonds and clubs.
- Its player numbers and lettering use typography inspired by playing cards.
- The design is Jokerit’s first jersey to use the playing-card concept so visibly.
- The colour palette and layout also draw influence from Jokerit jerseys of the 1970s and 1980s.
- Jokerit Creative Specialist Ville Leino was responsible for the jersey design.
IHM Discussion
Special-event jerseys can give a derby a distinct visual identity without changing the competitive stakes on the ice. Jokerit’s concept is deliberately rooted in club imagery rather than being a complete departure from the team’s established look: the card motifs provide the novelty, while the references to older shirts maintain a connection to the club’s past.
That balance is central to Leino’s stated design objective. The shirt is intended to be recognisably Jokerit at first glance, but sufficiently different from the standard kit to mark the occasion. The detailed use of card-style lettering means the theme extends beyond a single crest or shoulder patch and runs through the full presentation of the jersey.
Why It Matters
The HIFK fixture gives Jokerit a high-profile local setting for the special design. By combining a new playing-card identity with visual cues from the 1970s and 1980s, the club is presenting the jersey as both an occasion-specific look and a nod to its own history.