The history of the magical Ukrainian island of Khortytsia completely immerses the viewer in the world of sounds and primitive nature with the help of design solutions.

This project is about man's connection with nature, about our roots and history that no one knows.

It's like reading a ukrainian fantasy novel full of magic and discover yourself. All this is possible thanks to the design that goes along with the mysteries of the island.

This is the island of Khortytsia, the place where Ukrainian history was born. This is the island of centuries-old history, amazing nature, breathtaking secrets, myths, and legends that have been forgotten for many years.

Khortytsia Island occupies a special place in the history and geography of Ukraine. Its age is 3 billion years. This is the home of the legendary freedom fighters - Ukrainian Cossacks. And much more ... But no one knows what exactly. The association of the Museum of the Cossacks firmly established itself behind the island and supplanted all its other attractive aspects. As a result, only those people who are interested in the Cossacks come to the island.

We were challenged to develop a tourism brand that would open the island to internal and external tourism, show its diversity and encourage people to explore Khortytsia.

Yes, Ukrainians don‘t know a lot about the island of Khortytsia, but what if this is an advantage, not a disadvantage? What if a travel brand wouldn’t talk about the delights of the place, but will rather create intrigue and will become an incentive for a person to explore the island himself?

The Khortytsia Island brand is a graphic journey. Some elements are fully visible and some are hidden behind a cloak of secrecy. The more you immerse yourself in the world of the island, the more the identity is revealed. Abstract knowledge about the island becomes a personal experience: visual, tactile, sound, aromatic. The identity invites you to look behind the scenes, learn more and explore.

The most important task for us was to tell the story of our Khortytsia to other Ukrainians and to the whole world. We actively involved the media, and we were also supported by the Office of the President of Ukraine.

Our merch became recognizable and the administration of Khortytsia for the first time launched its social networks, where the audience began to become more involved in the history of the magical island.

All design elements were created based on the real attributes of Khortytsia: flora and fauna, historical artifacts, images from myths and legends, bronze, water, stone and other materials that make up the inner world of the island.

The X sign is the first letter in the name of the island in Ukrainian and is also a symbol of mystery, its meaning may be different for everyone. We took X as a basis and created 24 different logos.

Additionally, we have developed a accidental font based on the shape of the roots to highlight the ancient history of the island.

The “curtain” effect, that reveals the deep essence of Khortytsia to a person is easily scalable and works with graphics, illustration and photography in typography as well. This principle unites all parts of the identity and makes the island’s brand recognisable.

For the first month the project has got 8M media impressions with 0$ media budget.

51 media mentioned us.

Thousands of people discussed it on social nets. It appeared in the news reports on TV all over the country with the participation of the president and the First Lady.