Two different designs for single post

I understand how to create two (or more) different category page designs, playing around with the template hierarchy… But can I also make two different designs for a single post?

My plan is to give the posts to certain sub-categories a different look, by adding a background color. So if you click on the parent category page, you’ll see ‘normal’ posts AND posts with a background color listed.

Is this possible?

Marije
Amsterdam