The making of the Independence Day of Ukraine poster (2014)

Despite all that’s happening, the independence and the holiday are still there. Let’s try to make a poster without bringing in all that political nonsense, especially since some of our guys will be in Kiev the day before the holiday with the best intentions of teaching people some good design. Looking at the subject from different angles: how can we speak about independence when any word we use might be used against us? Maybe treat it as independence from bullshit from both sides? That would be a nice principle for all normal people.

Designer: What I mean is we have to carefully navigate the situation without getting dirty.

Art director: It will be easy to chastise us with such a sketch: it’s like we’re saying Ukraine is always full of shit.

That’s true. Better try something else then.

Art director: Maybe draw a bunch of flags with the Ukrainian one slightly aside? It’s like independence and indifference at the same time.

Designer: I want it to be more about people than politics. Here is an arsenal like the ones they show in movies when the hero is about to arm himself, only instead of weapons there are peaceful tools.

Art director: It’s difficult to understand.

Designer: Noodles (an allusion to the Russian saying “hang noodles on one’s ears,” meaning to mislead somebody). With an eraser. Or maybe with a hand holding a mop.

Art director: Sure, and cotton wool on the background :-) (a reference to Russian patrioteers who are sometimes described as made of cotton-wool, like the traditional Soviet winter jackets)

Designer: Wow.

Art director: No, it was a cruel joke.

Designer: How about personal hygiene? Eyes, ears, mouth.

Art director: What does it have to do with independence? Maybe something about teenagers running away from home? Smoking, drinking, pills?

Nope, that’s absolute paternalism. Let’s try more formal devices. Everybody is independent from everybody. Like letters from each other. Ukraine is on it’s own.

Art director: Go with Ukraine.

Sending the idea to type designer and the typesetter.

— All right, what style should I use?

— Entirely up to you.

Maybe just write it by hand?

Art director: Let’s try something different.

Then we can use the style of old Soviet postcards to create a curly text. Something like this:

Or just use our Artemius typeface.

Art director: The first one. Just color it in flag colors.

All right. Adding color, sending to the typesetter. Done.