Stamps Of Freedom

Creative Director — Ihor Finashkin Art Director — Pylyp Bilianskyi Senior Creative Copywriter — Dmytro Horbenko Junior Copywriter — Asia Ponomarenko Account Manager — Ania Zhdan Head of Design — Dasha Shabliienko Senior Designer — Kyrylo Liesnoi Designer — Anastasiia Herulia Designer — Yeva Hodvan

In September 2022 happened the first successful large-scale counteroffensive by the Ukrainian army in the Kharkiv region. Hundreds of places and thousands of people were liberated. In September 2023 marking the anniversary of this significant event, Ukrposhta - the national postal service of Ukraine, decided to honor this victorious counteroffensive with a series of postage stamps.  The challenge was to capture such a significant event within the small format of stamps.  We reviewed hundreds of photo and video materials, finding a common thread. Every liberated place had a moment of Ukrainian soldiers at the city’s entrance sign, symbolizing their complete de-occupation. We focused on the major cities: Kharkiv, Balakliia, Kupiansk and Izium and on the one shared moment where the Ukrainian flag was raised by the welcoming city signs. Our next challenge was to find the perfect illustration style. Among many options, we settled on the most fitting one. Stamps are crafted in a sketch style to convey the swift liberation of the territories to make us feel like we're right there, capturing the events. The stamps are framed in the shapes of the coats of arms of the de-occupied Ukrainian cities. The other stamp set elements represent real stories of Ukrainians, both soldiers and civilians, who made liberation possible. With zero media budget the campaign media coverage reached 4,5 millions  The stamp blocks were sold out in nearly half of the Ukrainian post offices during the first two hours. The "Heroes Cities: Kharkiv Region '' stamps kickstarted a series of thematic issues. So, the more cities that are liberated, the more new monumental stamp designs we will see!