Ukrainian Crucible in Color: War Through the Lens of Visual Art and Design
Intro
The Russian aggression against Ukraine has shaken the planet to its core and stunned millions worldwide.
Both in Ukraine and all over the globe, people were astonished by the baseness and savagery of Russia. But even more than that, they were surprised by the bravery of the Ukrainians. Virtually nobody expected our nation to show such commitment to freedom and heroism in defending it.
So, paraphrasing the well-known TV show title, after the 24th of February “blue and yellow is the new black” for sure. Buildings of the largest cities on the planet are illuminated with these two colors. Streets are covered with epic murals dedicated to Ukraine. People from ordinary workers to high-profile officials wear t-shirts and badges with Ukrainian national symbols, even at places where this is formally inadmissible like the British parliament.
It can be safely assumed that increasing enthusiasm for Ukrainian colors and themes has become a new cultural trend in the world.
Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/701717185701540565/
Graphic design was not left untouched either. In fact, designers were among the first to come to their senses and meaningfully react to this disaster, due to their natural empathy and disposition to make an order of chaos. In only a few weeks, visual art exploded with rich imagery depicting this make-or-break period in Ukrainian history.
We have traced the key trends and patterns shaping this growing realm, and you are welcome to discover them in this article.
Major Themes
The response of the artists, graphic designers, and illustrators from Ukraine and globally was strong and versatile. For a little over a month, they have created thousands of digital paintings, comics, collages, prints, and posters filling the social media of the free world.
As an epic drama of the war unfolds on this multifaceted canvas, it brings to life the universe of new meanings, symbols, archetypes, heroes, and emblematic stories.
Tragedy
The humanitarian catastrophe of the scope and form unthinkable for the 21st century has certainly evoked the most powerful emotional and artistic response among the design community.
The enthusiasm of the first victorious days, when the invaders were stopped in every direction, was soon replaced with shock and desperation. As the Russian military turned its arms against the civilian population, its tactics of overt terrorism and intimidation scaled up with each passing day.
Source: https://www.mid-day.com/
Ukrainians suddenly realized that the price they are going to pay for their freedom and their victory will come at a heavy, unbearable cost. In silent awe, the nation was watching how a dark, terrible shadow of genocide grows to cover the sky over the country.
Source: https://www.instagram.com/lucille_clerc/
The themes and motives of the artistic reflection on the tragic plight of Ukraine are countless, but here are the most prominent and recurrent among them.
Deadly sky
In its brutal and dehumanizing manner, Russia focused on air bombardments and missile shelling to sow death in Ukraine. From the first hours of the attack to the present, the sky lost its radiance and became a sinister source of danger to everyone and everything. An “Achilles heel” in the national security contour.
Source: https://ukrainer.net/
Nobody from Uzhgorod to Kharkiv and from Kyiv to Mykolayv feels safe anymore, day or night. So rockets over destroyed cities are the key motive of many visuals.
Children
The greatest and never-to-recover pain of the nation brought by this damned war is the loss of our children. The rate of killed under-aged Ukrainians is increasing daily, and underneath each digit, in this number, there is always a heartbreaking and often maddening story.
Source: https://www.instagram.com/marta_koshulinska/
Little Ukrainians perish not only from an instant hit of a bomb or a cruise missile: they are shot point-blank in their houses and cars, die of thirst and starvation, bleed to death from injuries on operating tables, get raped and throat cut in occupied villages, or just go missing being kidnapped in hundreds.
That is why an image of a little unprotected child often serves as a key visual reference to the tragic destiny of Ukraine.
Source: https://www.picamemag.com/
Refugees
Millions of Ukrainians lost their homes. They were forced to flee to other cities or even other countries.
Source: https://telegraf.design/
Losing home and relocation is a deep and often underestimated drama because it means total loss of reference points in life, uncertainty for the future, and the need to re-establish livelihood from scratch. Visual art conveys this colliding condition very well.
Source: https://www.instagram.com/marta_koshulinska/
Mariupol
Many cities and towns of Ukraine are enormously destroyed or totally blocked by the enemy, with a clear intent to provoke an artificial humanitarian catastrophe. Some of them already actually ceased to exist.
But it is Mariupol that became a symbolic reference to them all, as a half-million martyr city being demolished and terrorized with particular cynicism and ferocity.
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/comments/tmp5rf/save_mariupol/
Now, most people on Earth know this name, for a very sad reason.
Source: https://telegraf.design/
Bucha
The most painful memo of this war for all the Ukrainian nation, a small town in Kyiv’s suburbs is a reality but also just a symbol referring to a broader horrible picture of torturing, massacring, and insulting the people of Ukraine in most perverted, insane forms.
Source: https://telegraf.design/
Although there are dozens of such “buchas” in the North, East, and South of Ukraine, with many of them having an even graver extent of the tragedy, this town was the first to expose the savage face of russian invaders and to acquire the notorious fame worldwide.
Source: https://telegraf.design/
Nation
The heroism that Ukrainians showed during this war has surprised and amazed the entire world. It triggered a remarkable revision of the image of Ukraine as a political nation.
In the blink of an eye, in the eyes of both the world and ourselves, the perception of Ukraine shifted from a second-rate European state pursuing a painstaking path of democratic and economic reforms to a new guiding light of the planet.
Although disastrous in every sense, this war has nonetheless awakened people to their true full potential and gave them a global mission to protect the civilized world.
In the mirror of graphic design, the nation of Ukraine was rediscovered as:
- incredibly strong (powerful enough to cope with “the second-mighty army of the Earth”);
Note: A two-headed cock is a satirical allusion to the coat of arms of the Russian Empire — a two-headed eagle.
Source: https://birdinflight.com/
- globally significant for the future of international security, democracy, human rights, and other universally cherished things;
Source: https://telegraf.design/
- absolutely united as the nation, regardless of all the political and sociocultural undercurrents.
Source: https://www.instagram.com/nina_dzyvulska/
People
Besides conceptualizing the nation as a whole, designers capture the new vision of Ukrainians as the people, reflecting on their best traits and qualities.
During these trying days, Ukrainian citizens showed who they really are and what they are worth, outside of stereotypes and formalistic estimates.
First of all, this is true for the Ukrainian warriors in a broad sense, including servicemen of the regular army, national security agencies, police, and emergency officers. Their mastery on the field, self-sacrifice paired, and exceptional bravery paired with modesty became so vibrant and obvious for everyone, that this immediately impacted the informational front.
Caption: “Fame and Freedom”
Source: https://telegraf.design/
Ukrainian civilians support the military as volunteers or fight side by side with them in ranks of the territorial defense, partisan detachments, peaceful protests, or simply in individual spontaneous acts of individual heroism. The prominence of their efforts is highlighted by our designers as well.
Caption: “Go away, Russians! Don’t you have plenty of your own land?”
Source: https://www.instagram.com/bright_arts/
Thousands of peaceful citizens conducted rallies and demonstrations in cities occupied by Russia in the first days of the war, often at great risk for their lives. These peaceful protests against armed and merciless enemies became a true symbol of Ukrainian civil resistance.
Caption: “Freedom can’t be bought by a can of stew!”
Source: https://www.instagram.com/bright_arts/
The events in Ukraine also prompted the true flourishing of feminist illustrations. Designers explore various dimensions of the mysterious soul of a Ukrainian woman as they unfold in times of crisis.
Source: https://www.instagram.com/vikashumko.art/
A few among many peculiar perspectives on the femininity of Ukraine include:
1. A brave Amazon fighting shoulder to shoulder in fierce vengeance for all the raped, tortured, kidnapped, and killed women and children, as well as for their killed men.
Caption: “You wanted this land, didn’t you? So now got messed with it!”
Source: https://twitter.com/art_prosto___
Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/417357090471431454/
2. A sad yet careful mother protecting her child and securing her family amid all the dangers and ordeals of war.
Source: https://www.instagram.com/lenevanh/
Source: https://www.picamemag.com/illustrazioni-contro-la-guerra-in-ucraina/
And, perhaps, the most famous piece dedicated to this theme is “Madonna with baby in Kyiv metro”. The real scene of a mother keeping her child in the underground shelter amazed a photographer with its proximity to an archetypal Christian subject of the Virgin Mary and Jesus. It further inspired a Ukrainian artist to make a painting of it.
Source: https://www.reddit.com/
3. A little scared girl, our “inner child” that mirrors feelings of fear, pain, confusion, and speechless protest against brutal masculine violence;
Source: https://www.instagram.com/saskia_diederichsen/
4. An archetypal Ukrainian woman with distinct ethnic and cultural features, as a soul of Ukraine. This is a twofold symbol representing the national sorrow and sacrifice, but also reminding all men of what they are fighting for;
Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/48061921073837145/
It is also a reminder of love. preventing society from lapsing into fear and hatred.
Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/43136108922496085/
Enemy
Please consider that although Russia wages military aggression against our country for already 8 years, we have never expected the extent of cruelty, savagery, and atrocity that it has demonstrated during the last several weeks. Nobody in the world did, actually.
But neither anyone had expected that so loudly touted Russian army would show such low-quality performance on the battlefield. The entire world was an eye-witness to its ridiculous fiasco on all the fronts against the Ukrainian military, despite manifold superiority in both numbers and firepower.
Moreover, when unable to cope with real men, Russian soldiers started “fighting” against women and children, they finally cemented their status of suckers and jerks.
Therefore, the portrayal of the rival military machine in Ukrainian visual design is twofold.
On the one hand, it is depicted as an incredibly ruthless and definitely evil force, blind and indiscriminate in its ruinous hellish pace, the Lucifer in the flesh that would not stop at any crimes against humanity.
Caption: “We’ll make you love Russia, bitches!!!”
Source: https://uapress.info/
Yet, on the other hand, illustrators wholeheartedly make fun of the enemy as such that looks like a monster only at the distance, but on close examination turns out to be just an ugly bug that can evoke not fear but only disdain. This mood was especially explicit in the first weeks of the war.
Caption: “Hunting Season — 22”
Source: https://www.instagram.com/bright_arts/
Friends
The assistance of foreign allies and friends is critical for Ukraine to successfully confront a much more powerful enemy, as well as to support the millions of Ukrainian people in need. Without this support, it would be much harder for us to wage this struggle, and at an incomparably heavier price.
Ukrainians feel the shoulder and the helping hand of other nations and appreciate it deeply. This really inspires and gives hope to win any enemy against all odds, while designers capture this feeling in their works.
Source: https://www.instagram.com/va.le.ria.art/
And still, some powerful institutions continue to turn a deaf ear to the most urgent needs of Ukraine.
This is mainly about our plea to NATO about closing the sky for Russian jet fighters and missiles or at least empowering the Ukrainian army to do it itself by giving us effective air defense systems.
Source: https://telegraf.design/
What hurts citizens in Ukraine and friendly countries the most in this issue is that the Western leaders can do this easily and without strain, while for Ukrainians this is a question of life and death. While offices and committees protract with bureaucratic procedures, Russian bombs kill more and more of our men, women, and children day by day.
Source: https://ukrainer.net/
Illustrators do their best to send this message to a foreign audience, in both serious and satirical forms. They shame NATO for irresolution, unjustified fear of Russia, and political weakness.
Source: https://ukrainer.net/
In this plea, artists and designers also convey a message that NATO states should do this not only for our sake but primarily for their own security, because if Ukraine fails putin’s aggression would spread further in Europe.
Source: https://telegraf.design/
Another direction where visual art is assertive and critical is the presence of international business in Russia. It appeals to decision-makers to withdraw from any commercial relations with the aggressor.
Source: https://telegraf.design/
Designers try to communicate that the Moscow regime will continue this violent war as long as it has the financial resources to proceed. That is why any money earned in Russia today is literally stained with the blood of Ukrainian peaceful citizens and children.
New symbols and new legends
As an event of universal significance, the struggle of Ukraine has inspired the emergence of new emblematic images and characters in visual art.
Many things that were ordinary and hardly known by the general audience under normal circumstances have received a new birth and a new meaning in wartime realities.
And what is really amazing is that the new set of symbols is not occasional and sporadic. Rather, they are all parts of a single engaging plot, capable of competing with any Hollywood blockbuster.
Let’s trace the key elements of this archetypal story, step by step.
A superhero and a supervillain
In any good epic movie, the plot centers around some fateful struggle between justice and villainy. The war in Ukraine indisputably falls within this criterion.
Then, there is no way to dispense without an archetypal hero and his antagonist.
For the former, meet The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky who won the hearts of the global community within days. And even more so, he has garnered absolute recognition and support from the Ukrainian nation.
Source: https://www.deviantart.com/
In all respects, Zelenskiy fits to be the main hero of this real-world legend. Starting from his courageous refusal of evacuation at the outbreak of war, and ending with a hard-edged style of communication with both enemies and allies, he is tougher than any character from marvel comics. Besides, he is real.
Source: https://ukrainer.net/
In turn, vladimir putin who is already hailed by the world as the new Hitler is ideally suited for the role of a global villain, — mean and despicable evildoer, yet also quite a dummy.
Source: https://www.instagram.com/confituredefigue/
So designers and artists don’t hesitate to portray this notorious figure as the manifestation of pure evil.
Source: https://www.instagram.com/maravillasdelgado/
Forces of Light and Darkness
Now, as befits an epic story, a hero is never alone. He or she usually leads a team of other evil fighters and supporters. In the case of our story, this is the entire Ukrainian nation, who in designers’ imagination are warriors of light and no less.
And similarly, a supervillain has his own hellish army, totally impersonal and dehumanized, but extremely numerous and destructive.
Designers from countries with a strong Christian legacy often treat this war as the struggle between light and darkness, good and evil, and life and death. With all seriousness. And this is not a metaphor for people of the free world.
Source: https://ukrainer.net/
Subconsciously, and often consciously, most of us feel that Ukraine fights not against the Russian nation, but against another civilizational paradigm based on tyranny, abuse of force, total disregard for human life, and denial of individual freedom.
This is why, in the discovery of war illustrations, you will come through expressive binary “good/evil” motives at every step.
Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/438115870001407527/
Second-plan heroes
As the story unfolds, other prominent heroes usually come to the stage and help the protagonist to ensure the triumph of good over evil.
The Ghost of Kyiv is an iconic exemplar of such a hero inspiring our designers today. This name is used with respect to both a half-mythical fighter plane MIG-29 and its incredibly skillful pilot that has become a guardian angel to the Ukrainian capital and had enormously encouraged the nation when this was most needed. Already on the first day of the war, it has shot down six enemy jets, and now this number already exceeds twenty.
Source: https://www.facebook.com/AndriyDankovych/
Artifacts
As a rule, “good guys” have their superweapons.
For example, the Turkish UAV Bayraktar and the U.S. anti-tank rocket launcher Javelin received global popularity and moved from specialized mil-tech magazines to leading media headlines and social networks exactly after the 24th of February.
Source: https://www.deviantart.com/polishtrooper/art/Bayraktar-Tb-2-908413695
Caption: “You will be cursed by ourselves, our grandsons, and the entire world!”
Source: https://www.instagram.com/bright_arts/
In the capable hands of Ukrainian warriors, they became symbols of David’s sling in the battle against Goliath.
Molotov Cocktail, already largely popularized by Ukraine during the Revolution of Dignity in 2014, as a token of the grassroots fight for freedom, further enshrined its status these days.
Caption: “Ukraine!”
Source: https://www.picamemag.com/
The world has witnessed how thousands of people from all parts of Ukraine prepared and stored piles of this hand-made weapon, and how ordinary men from self-defense militias effectively used it to burn Russian combat equipment. So the art reacted accordingly.
Source: https://ukrainer.net/
Magic words
And, of course, a good tale engages a powerful spell or mantra taking down the forces of an enemy when ordinary means do not work.
Millions of people already know and love the most popular one. This is an already proverbial appeal of Ukrainians to a Russian warship with a proposal to head in a distant and unpleasant direction.
Source: https://www.newstatesman.com
These words, said by Ukrainian border guards in response to the order to surrender, have become a tagline of our liberation movement against the Russian aggressor.
Another proverbial statement more popular inside Ukraine states “Good Evening! We are from Ukraine!”. Originally a title for a dance music track, this slogan has soon became viral as a new form of greeting used by Ukrainians to emphasize their identity and solidarity with the nation.
Caption: “Good Evening! We are from Ukraine!”
Source: https://telegraf.design/
Magic places
If there are magic objects and magic words, places of power with extraordinary happenings are also a must.
Chornobayivka is a name hard to pronounce for a foreign tongue. And still, people worldwide had time to learn it very well as a little town in Ukrainian South where Russian heavy-armored troops were totally smashed 12 times in a row. By now, this is maybe 13 or more already. Magic…
Ukrainian illustrators have contributed to spreading the fame of this place.
Source: https://uapress.info
There is no doubt that dozens of other similarly popular hallmarks and emblems of a heroic struggle in Ukraine will be brought to life and staged in “imaginariums” of designers both in Ukraine and abroad.
We’ll be waiting and updating you along the way.
Situational Content
In visual responses to the Ukrainian events, it is often hard to separate cross-cutting themes, on the one hand, and situational content deriving from a particular event, on the other hand.
They are closely interconnected. For example, a designer can apply a particularly tragic incident as grounds to urge the West to close the sky over Ukraine, while an act of personal bravery can feed the general theme of national heroism.
At the same time, some pieces of situational content are so prominent and emotionally resonant that they are worth your particular attention. Without a doubt, these stories will add to the collective memory of mankind.
1. A man fearlessly trying to stop a tank. This case was broadly spotlighted by the world’s media, and it is not accidental. An empty-handed aged man standing unarmed against a huge killing machine, with the risk to his life, is a living embodiment of everything that the free world cherishes the most. Freedom. Courage. The invincibility of the Human Spirit.
Source: https://www.picamemag.com/
2. A tractor driver hijacking a Russian fighting vehicle.
And now let’s try to work a few laughs. The anecdotal story of the Ukrainian gypsy having stolen a Russian tank and brought it to his garden became viral in the first days of the war. But for now, there are already dozens of cases when local farmers steal and take abandoned Russian equipment to deliver it to Ukrainian soldiers. Such nice funny features are all the pieces of our invincibility as a nation.
Source: https://stock.adobe.com/
3. A baby having died from dehydration in besieged Mariupol. This was the first resonant case in the war record when a child died not from shelling or direct shooting by the enemy but from artificial deprivation of basic necessities. Genocide in its purest form.
Source: https://ukrainer.net/
4. An airstrike against the Mariupol Drama Theater which was used as an air-raid shelter by hundreds of civilians. Russians attacked it despite a giant sign “CHILDREN” visible in an aerial view. This event has particularly horrified the whole world.
Caption: “Kids”
Source: https://telegraf.design/
Designers inside and outside Ukraine: any difference?
Well, perhaps the key difference between the Ukrainian and foreign designers and artists is the amount of work done to portray the wartime realities in Ukraine.
Ukrainians create incomparably more visual content on this subject, and the lion’s share of works present in this article are created exactly by authors from Ukraine or Ukrainian diasporas.
And this is not surprising at all: most of them are immediate witnesses, participants, and/or stakeholders of the drama unfolding in our country. So this category is the most motivated to express their feelings and convey messages about the situation in the motherland. This really hurts them.
Of course, many Ukrainian artists took up arms to defend their families on the front line. But since weapons are not enough (give link to our video) for everyone, many more found another front to fight at, striking with the power of artistic expression.
Besides that, designers from all countries of the free world including Ukraine mostly share their vision of this disaster, by responding to the Ukrainian disaster with intense sympathy for our people and uncompromising harshness toward the aggressor. This includes contempt for Russian actions, admiration for Ukrainian valor, and compassion for the war victims.
However, some thematic distinctions do exist. Many works of Ukrainian illustrators are very context-specific, with historic and cultural references that neither a foreign artist nor audience is capable of grasping without explanation.
For instance, this visual story is a satirical allusion to an old Ukrainian tradition to refuse a young man asking for marriage by giving him a pumpkin. This means Ukraine says “no” to Russian violent attempts to bring it back under geopolitical control.
Source: https://life.liga.net
And this deeply touching poster elaborates on the Ukrainian folk tradition to explain to children that it is a white stork who brings them to future parents. Here, on the contrary, a stork takes away the soul of an infant baby killed in Mariupol.
Source: https://telegraf.design/
Also, domestic authors think more about our victory and our future. Despite every horror of this eerie period of our history, most Ukrainians have distinct cheerful anticipation that the country will come out of this war completely transformed. Visual art conveys this latent hope very well.
Source: https://telegraf.design/
As to the non-Ukrainian designers, the difference is that they oftener tend to be emotionally more neutral without delving deep into moral assessments.
Source: https://www.instagram.com/mirakazumi/
In contrast to the specific storylines and peremptory visions of what is good and evil in the vast majority of Ukrainian works, some pieces by foreign colleagues are more universal and abstract.
Source: https://www.instagram.com/andrea_ucini/
The only “hub” where politically correct Western illustrators take the liberty to go out of control in their imagination is the depiction of putin. In their mockery and demonization of this person, they are often even more inventive and merciless than Ukrainian artists.
Source: https://www.instagram.com/chrischuckry/
Maybe, this is because we distribute our rage among all the 200 000 Russian soldiers that have come to our land, as well as tens of millions of Russians supporting this war from their homes. Yet to many people in the world, putin was made a scapegoat for all the crimes of his nation.
Source: https://www.instagram.com/strautniekas/
Sometimes, overseas artists propose interpretations that you would find nowhere in Ukraine. Some still believe that it is a conflict rather than a treacherous genocidal war supported by the majority of the Russian population, and are caught in illusions that some kind of reconciliation between the two nations is possible.
Source: https://www.instagram.com/nadinesilva.art/
For Ukrainians, such a vision of the outcome of this homicidal war is absolutely inappropriate. After revelations in Bucha and Irpin, after the demolition of peaceful Kharkiv and Mariupol, and other enormous atrocities against the civilian population, any residual sentiments vanished in the design community of Ukraine, for the next several decades at least.
No hope for reconciliation. No more aspirations to understand the enemy’s logic. Only utmost aversion to russians as the nation of robbers and murderers.
Source: https://twitter.com/uamemesforces
Additional formats
Along with exuberant paintings, digital art, and graphics, artistic interpretations of modern Ukraine have taken a firm place in other physical media. Some examples of the most notable and creative approaches include:
1. Covers of the leading print media whose creative teams get ahead of themselves to raise the bar of public attention to the Ukrainian tragedy;
Source: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/03/21
Caption: “Life will defeat death, and light — darkness”
Source: https://twitter.com/time/status/1499186523056521218
2. Clothes with prints on Ukrainian themes whose popularity skyrocketed in light of the recent events in Ukraine.
Source: https://www.amazon.com/
Source: https://yourteeshirts.com/
The trend to wear such clothes is expected to gather momentum as world-famous celebrities show an example to their fans. Emilia Clarke, for instance, got it not only on herself but also on her pet to show solidarity with Ukraine.
Source: https://www.instagram.com/emilia_clarke/
3. Murals on road surfaces, pavements, building walls of the cities worldwide with great, touching visual narrative.
This beautiful mural decorates the Czech capital Prague.
Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-war-mural-czech-republic/31763256.html
And these already famous allusions to Harry Potter and his nemesis Voldemort are on view in Gdansk, Poland.
Source: https://dr-pisoglou.medium.com/
If you like to see more beautiful murals that covered the walls of major cities all over the world within weeks, you can for our feature article on this topic, or better just google it!
If you ask why this genre is not that popular in Ukraine, well, maybe because it would be too short-lived on our permanently ruined roads and houses.
4. Techno-art. Russian soldiers already left hundreds of their heavy armor units on the Ukrainian fields. Some of them replenish our own military arsenal, while others are already used by most inventive artists as media for tech masterpieces.
Source: https://www.cbc.ca/
5. Stamps. Not to go too far, the Ukrainian postal service Ukrposhta recently announced a competition for the most original stamp depicting a Russian warship with a famous address by the Ukrainian border guard.
Source: https://telegraf.design
You can see more examples from this contest here.
6. Equities. The Czech republic recently released a limited edition of collectible banknotes Slava Ukraine, of approximately $70 value. Revenue from their sale is delivered directly to support programs for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Source: https://risu.ua/en/
Depiction of War from That Side
Caution! Russian Propaganda: be careful to avoid contamination!
This is what we were going to say… but alas! No need to be cautious in the absence of the subject. We did our best to find at least something related to visual art to show you what our enemy creates to convey their perspective of this war.
During the last 8 years, they made some feeble attempts at satiric visualization of Ukraine as they see it, full of hatred and lies. But these days, the landscape of Russian illustration is bare and barren. The designers in this country have been unable — or unwilling — to create at least something new in this realm.
The only plausible explanation is that not a single creative person in Russia wants to deal with Putin’s regime. So it looks like now Russia has confined its stream of lies exclusively to TV channels.
A few examples of works that can be categorized as illustrations with a great reserve are submitted here for your consideration.
Caption: “The mission will be complete”.
Source: https://ru.krymr.com
Source: https://www.trendsmap.com/twitter/tweet/1499157610032816129
Yes! These are allusions to quasi-swastika Z and V that the Russian regime has suddenly made symbols of its insane policies in Ukraine, placing them everywhere from tanks to school uniforms.
And this is a poor imitation of an old Soviet alcohol prevention poster.
Caption: “No!”
Source: https://www.msn.com/
Hatred to the Western modernization, artistic squalor… what else can be found here? It seems like nothing.
Compare it with the original created in the 1960s to make sure they invented nothing new:
Source: https://worldwarera.com/products/het-no-poster
You can see the difference. In the visual interpretations produced by Ukrainian designers and their like-minded colleagues worldwide, the themes and forms are grassroots, unambiguous, emotionally charged, and clear to any person. And the message of these “artworks” is so vague and obscured that I bet even their authors have problems figuring out their exact meaning. Let alone their zero-point aesthetic value.
UI/UX Design
By the way, if you think that only illustrators and cartoonists managed to keep themselves busy in war, you are terribly wrong.
Ukrainian UI/UX designers have also got some extra work. Within a short time frame, they were to create dozens of digital products and online platforms, with completely new purposes and features that would never be needed in peacetime.
For instance, most Ukrainians remember the rough and low-quality, but incredibly valuable and life-saving application Air Raid Warning designed by the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine in the first 24 hours of the war.
Many new websites emerged for providing military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine. We’ve picked up some most interesting of them.
This platform is one of the earliest digital “children of war”. It was created in support of the Presidential Decree about establishing the International Legion of Ukraine. It lets willing foreigners from all over the world join Ukrainian Army on the battlefield.
Source: https://fightforua.org/
Another project has a very sad reason to appear. The Procurator-General’s Office created a special site to collect and consolidate evidence on war crimes of Russian command and soldiers. Their number already reached a four-digit scale, while the extent of atrocity and destructiveness is immeasurable. Every witness of a crime can upload their account and empirical evidence that will be further used at the International Court of Justice in the Hague.
Source: https://warcrimes.gov.ua/
Since the first hours of the war, the Ukrainian civil society was galvanized to help both the military and citizens with humanitarian aid. And so did millions of people from other countries. They demonstrated incredible volunteering activity in the acquisition, packing, and delivery of food and other basic necessities to front lines and affected regions in Ukraine. However, mainly sporadic, non-systemic, and trust-based patterns of such incentives often impeded their efficiency and even made volunteers victims of fraud.
That is why recently the Ukrainian government has run the Humanitarian Help website to streamline all the processes and make them transparent. Any person can either request or offer a helping hand by using a clear intuitive algorithm.
Source: https://help.gov.ua/en
Remarkably, the U.S. government has also created a special online platform aimed “to counteract Russia’s propaganda and disinformation regarding aggression in Ukraine”, according to the Ukrainian Ambassador to the USA.
Source: https://dos-cso.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.htm
Although its UI/UX leaves much to be desired, this site is pretty informative about the true situation in Ukraine, expressed in facts, numbers, maps, and charts. This is a very valuable contribution of our American partners, given the number of poisonous lies and the amount of aggressive disinformation with which Russian propaganda is permanently trying to poison the foreign audience.
Brand/Logo Design
From the very first days of the war, most Ukrainian companies have revisited their brand identity and added elements emphasizing they are a part of Ukraine and showing that they stand with Ukraine.
This was manifested in quite discernible updates of online platforms, changes in logo design, and refreshment of social network pages.
Source: https://www.grammarly.com/
In most cases, such amendments were unobtrusive and limited to a logo or/and a particular tagline. But sometimes, the national platforms showed their patriotic spirit more defiantly.
Caption: “We are free”
Source: https://www.lifecell.ua/en/
Not so extensively, but the foreign brands also reacted to the war and demonstrated support for Ukraine in their brand policies.
Some of them followed the pattern of adding a special tagline on the landing page of their product as, for example, a popular Israeli web development platform Wix did.
Source: https://www.wix.com/
Others updated some components of their branding packages in to show support for Ukraine. Perhaps the most notable example is a range of the leading e-sport organizations that changed the color scheme of their logos on social networks to show solidarity with the Ukrainian people.
Source: https://thebusinessofesports.com
Summary
Transformational shifts and clashes in human history always induce a powerful response among the intellectual classes, including designers.
In the Russian war against Ukraine, the paradigms of autocratic imperialism and real democracy went head-to-head in a deathmatch. The leading think tanks of the planet already acknowledged that this confrontation would change the world completely and utterly. For good or bad, depending on its outcome.
Illustrating and visual reflection on this event helps people to sort through their own feelings and articulate their opinions. Most powerful themes developed in graphic design include the tragedy of war, the new destiny of Ukraine, the nature of the Ukrainian people, the image of an enemy, relationships with allies, and the new heroes and symbols that became iconic in the course of events.
The geopolitical changes also affected the realms of UI/UX design, due to the demand for new products and platforms, and brand design, as companies worldwide want to make their commitment to Ukraine more visible.
Closing Remarks
The illustration was an important part of military propaganda at all times. But if you look attentively, you would not find much propaganda in visuals about this war. For the most part, capturing these life-changing days is just a sincere manifestation of what designers really feel and think about them. Real fear and pain of losing dear people. Sincere admiration for the heroism and bravery of defenders. And genuine hatred for the abuser.
Why so? Maybe this is because today the world grew more liberal and nowhere, except for a few countries, officials can dictate to designers what and how to sketch. And also, this is because there is no need for Ukraine to use propaganda.
The cause of Ukraine in this struggle is the right cause, and the truth is on our side. God is on our side. Ukrainians feel it, and so do people worldwide. So designers just need to tell the truth in their pictures and cartoons, and that is enough. The truth is more powerful than any intentional advocacy and campaigning.
Source: https://telegraf.design/
Join this rally of artistic honesty, and offer your own vision of the Ukrainian fight in graphic format. You can choose any theme, genre, and medium, as now you are quite familiar with their spectrum.
We’ll look forward to seeing your work!
