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 is-land becomes a personal experience: visual, tactile, sound, aromatic. The identity invites you to look behind the scenes, learn more and explore. 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.
SECRET TOURISTIC BRAND OF UKRAINIAN ISLAND KHORTYTSIA 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. This year, according to President’s initiative, is the year when the island of Khortytsia started its renovation. Bickerstaff.738 creative agency accepted a challenge to tell everyone about all of the reasons to visit Khortytsia and decided… not to practically say a word to leave its mystery to the island and, moreover, make it the key feature. The X sign is the symbol of mystery, while the sense behind it uniquely uncovers to everyone who sees it. So does the identity that develops along with people’s knowledge of it. This progressive disclosure principle works for any type of visual language: photos, typography, illustrations, and any static or dynamic types of content. Quite literally, the new touristic brand of Khortytsia invites everyone to discover their own stories about the island. The new brand of Khortytsia is a graphic journey that grows along with people’s increasing knowledge of it. Here the heart of the island opens wider, the deeper you get to know it. Centuries-old secrets are hidden here behind abstract facts, and they do open up to people uniquely as soon as they are ready. And if you are ready to open the island of Khortytsia in your own way, just take a deep breath and go for it to meet the mystery.
Philosophy
Khortytsia Island occupies a special place in the history of Ukraine, but it’s mostly unknown for Ukrainians because the Museum of the Cossacks supplanted all its other attractive aspects and became the only symbol of the island
Problem
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.
Result
We use the island’s mystery as an advantage and create an intriguing brand, a graphic journey to become an incentive for a person to explore the island. We created 24 different logos from the X sign as a symbol of mystery and the first letter in the name of the island, accidental font and a lot of design elements based on the real attributes of Khortytsia. The “curtain” effect, that reveals the deep essence of Khortytsia is easily scalable and works with graphics, illustration, photography and typography as well, it unites all parts of the identity and makes the island’s brand recognisable.