It is impossible to talk about the war in one's own country without emotions. It is hard not to see behind the dry numbers the lives of thousands of people. However, the aim of the project is first and foremost a deep analysis and study of the complex present for the sake of a better future.

Therefore, my goal as a creator of visual communication was not only to show the memory emotionally, but also to rationalize it, to go beyond the painful personal and collective experience.

The project included a series of panel discussions and a book containing statistics on those who died in the war. Therefore, an important part of the design system had to be infographics.

The official symbol of the Day of Remembrance of the Defenders of Ukraine, which had to be visualized in the identity, is a sunflower. This popular crop in the east of our country always ripens in late August. But since 2014, the harvest time has been terrible: flowers burnt in the fields, hundreds of dead. A sunflower burnt by a brutal war and still reaching for the sun is a beautiful metaphor. In my opinion, it carries the necessary charge – we must survive, but not lose our identity. That is why its visual embodiment should be clean, clear, devoid of unnecessary decorative elements that distract from the main point.

The second important insight that influenced the conceptual decision when developing the identity was people's fatigue with the Soviet tradition of sacralizing some Unknown Soldier. He is not a person, but only a part of the myth of the Great Invincible Empire. And this is not surprising, because such a fighter is objective, impersonal, and difficult to feel empathy for. Whereas our real, heaviest losses are specific people, individuals, and each of them was an important part of the community. So, as a creator of visual communication, I was looking for a way to show everyone in our design system. Nature and mathematics helped us find a solution, namely the Fermat spiral pattern. It is widespread in natural formations and, in particular, underlies the structure of the sunflower's kernel.

The memory of our species is short-lived. Over time, details are generalized and memories of trauma are erased. At the level of the individual, this is a blessing given to us by evolution. However, collective, social memory should not neglect anything. After all, it is in the details that the most important things for understanding and analyzing the past often lie.

Therefore, the lettering for the project's logo reflects that we as individuals tend to forget what we should remember as a nation. The letters are generalized, devoid of details. So the meanings remained recognizable, but not complete. Our urgent need is to fill in these gaps through the practices of commemorating the dead and open public dialog.

For the clean visual presentation, a monochrome black and white color scheme is used and accent red is used to emphasize the emotional part. In addition, the infographic elements themselves also work to contrast textures in the composition.

The font and graphic shapes are contrasting and monolithic, so they are resistant to various materials and application techniques. They can be used as a counterform without auxiliary elements.