A UKRAINIAN DESIGNER AGAINST A BACKGROUND OF WILD CAPITALISM

Design by Oleg Shishkov and Alex Tavrin (Ukraine)
Ukraine
is most widely known for the Chernobyl disaster and perhaps for their
football team, Dynamo Kiev. Designers from this central European
country are virtually unknown. If in the 1980's and 1990's Ukrainian
poster artists took part in international events such as the Poster
Biennale in Lahti (Finland), Colorado (USA) or Brno (Czech Republic)
they were usually considered as Russians. Ukraine is still 'terra
incognita' for designers around the world.
Much of
Ukrainian design is omnivorous, indecipherable and amenable. It is
geared for profit, a manipulated product catering to the wild tastes of
the consumer. Most of the new generation of graphic designers in
Ukraine know very little about the hows and whys of the greater system
that inspires professional designers and builds the foundations of
design education. With little in-depth knowledge, even with talent and
good taste, a Ukrainian graphic designer cannot resist the stifling
pressures of consumerism.
The demand for design services
in the Ukraine comes from foreign manufacturers selling their
commodities in the country. These manufacturers spend approximately 70%
of their budget on production, communications, and advertising. About
10,000 company agents are currently involved in the advertising
business. The number of employees directly involved in advertising
design is around 5,000 people (about 1,500 of them are in Kiev). The
average salary of an advertising designer in Ukraine is $200 USD per
month.
The Ukrainian graphic design sector is divided into the following fields:
Printing/publishing, edition adaptation, packaging - 44%
Mass media back up, edition design, advertising layout, TV airtime - 28%
Visual advertising - 21%.
Creative design, advertising campaigns - 7%
The
web design market is currently run by non-professional designers. The
demand for elementary web design and the lack of professional
competition enables programmers without design backgrounds to deliver a
wide range of services in this market. According to Rambler
ratings there are over 1,000 agents in the Russian speaking Internet
zone actively promoting their services. Approximately the same number
deliver web design services. The web design market represents a
turnover exceeding one billion US dollars and is a significant
component of the Ukrainian economy. These figures attest to the degree
of commercialism in the country and its impact on Ukrainian design and
designers.
Nevertheless, in this vast ocean of commercial
design, there are still islets defying the pressures of consumerism,
designers finding their own niche where they can freely express
themselves. You may find their work in artistic, cultural or social
events not related to moneymaking. These individuals are unselfishly
devoted to creative work, and are not focussed on material things.
Rather, they are searching for the essence of the things around them.
Eventually, they may find themselves stepping from the background of
capitalism and into the foreground of international design.