Kate Drozd
is a brand and graphics designer from Ukraine. She specialises in calligraphy and illustration, spending the past 3 years developing visual identities for various businesses and projects in Kharkiv. She also developed a free font, Kharkiv Tone, which can be found on Behance.
Kate (born in Bahmut, Ukrain) graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the Kharkiv Academy of Design and Arts. She has been working as a freelance designer since 2018, participating in the following international artist events: Banda and Reface creative tabir (2021), Pole Makiv (2021), UkrArtNFT, Broadway Market London, Cultural Traffic Ukraine (2022), and Urban Sketchers Kharkiv.
She currently works with Lyuk.media, creating visuals for articles. As part of this cooperation, she made a printed newspaper and a guide to Kharkiv. She has also developed layouts and illustrations for the magazine PlyusMinusNeskinchennist (+-8), which writes about the local culture of Donbass. They are currently working on 2 issues about the creativity of Ukrainian artists during a large-scale war. In her free time, Kate volunteers, making fundraising visuals and posters for humanitarian aid projects.
She is engaged in visual studies of cities:
- about Kharkiv: Find her gallery of street art, 2 zine issues, sticker packs on instagram @kolo_kh and Kharkov’s underground merch @kharkiv_tone
- about Vyzhnytsia: zine, in diary format.
- about Lviv: zine with shop signs and the Virgin Mary.
Works
“Illustrations”
My special love is unconscious drawing. I draw dynamic images and develop the story as I go. I mostly don’t plan the final result so that I can be surprised and get dopamine later.
This is a great practice that allows you to build friendships because going out to sketch is a cool, productive and fun pastime.
“Kharkiv Pride”
The world is changing rapidly, and the identity of KharkivPride is becoming more relevant and confident. KharkivPride aims to attract the attention of a wide audience aged 25 to 60+. Therefore, there is a need to make the design more serious, but leave the brightness and mood of the holiday.
Therefore, I decided to convey more of the cultural context of Kharkiv, its geometry, constructivist heritage, and monolithic architecture. The design is based on simple geometric shapes that can be combined to create endless variations of compositions and patterns.
Kharkiv Tone (font)
This font was created as a result of my love for Kharkiv. For a whole year, I analyzed city aesthetics, architecture and street art. I tried to convey the character of the city and its cultural code.
The city needed a visual style, so I decided to present the font in the identity format. The people of Kharkiv very warmly accepted this idea, perhaps in the future this visual will be implemented.
The font is absolutely free for personal projects and commerce, it can be downloaded from Renta.font and Fontesk. This was done so that the whole world would learn about the beautiful city of Kharkiv.
PlusMinusNeskinchennist Magazine
The magazine was created to reveal the potential of creators from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The artists found themselves in a difficult situation because of the war that has been going on for 8 years in Ukraine. Nonetheless, art continues to be created in these Ukrainian regions, and it is important to share it with the rest of the country.
The final work in issue No. 3, which covers the work of artists from all over Ukraine, is currently underway. The number is dedicated to creativity from the period of February 24, the large-scale war of the Rashists against Ukraine. This is a collection of reflections in various formats: art, video, audio, photo, verse, tattoo, etc.
The next No. 4 issue of the magazine will be devoted to the creativity of volunteers and military personnel.
The magazine can be ordered for free. Because information about local culture should be available to everyone. You can find the No. 2 issue Here
