Ukrainian Typography in Times of Change: From Personal Practice to the Classroom
Ukrainian Typography in Times of Change
From personal practice to the classroom, exploring the Ukrainian Cyrillic tradition and its place in contemporary design and teaching.
For Whom: All Creatives
Language: English
This session introduces participants to Ukrainian Cyrillic as a living design tradition shaped by history, culture, and the work of generations of artists and type designers. Starting from the structure and development of Cyrillic as a writing system, the lecture explores how Ukrainian Cyrillic diverged from other Cyrillic traditions, including Russian Cyrillic, and developed its own distinct visual language over the 20th century and into today.
A special focus will be placed on how this professional and creative practice, from wall lettering and calligraphy to graphic compositions and typeface design, translates into teaching, drawing on classroom experience of our hosts in Kyiv and Vienna where typography and lettering become tools for exploring history, identity, and social change.
What you will learn:
How Cyrillic developed as a writing system and how its various traditions differ, including Ukrainian Cyrillic;
What distinguishes Ukrainian Cyrillic from Russian Cyrillic, and the artists and designers who shaped its visual identity;
Through examples from Victoria and Vitalina's practice, how an idea moves from sketch to finished project across lettering, calligraphy, and type design;
How professional practice in lettering and typography can be adapted into classroom teaching to explore identity and contemporary social topics.
Hosts of the webinar:
Victoria and Vitalina Lopukhina are graphic designers, type designers, calligraphers, and letter artists. Their Kyiv–Vienna based practice works internationally across typography, calligraphy, lettering, fonts, and visual systems for print and digital media.
Since 2014, they have worked with international brands and agencies including The Economist, Nike, Louis Vuitton, Dior, Tiffany & Co., McDonald's, and Zirkova (Canada). From 2022 to present, they collaborate with Glyphs, creating type and graphic-related design and representing the company at international events.
Alongside their professional practice, Vika and Vita have been teaching typography and graphic design and researching Cyrillic letterforms, rooted in Ukrainian traditions. Through extensive archival research and work with historical sources, their practice is grounded in respect for letter history while actively contributing to contemporary Cyrillic type design.