Aliona Solomadina
is an independent graphic designer, artist, and researcher, as well as a creative and strategic art director with extensive experience in branding, exhibition design, and editorial projects.

She specializes in book and editorial design, visual identities, and design curation—collaborating with cultural institutions, fashion and tech brands, and commercial clients. Her practice includes crafting original artwork, custom typefaces, and motion graphics.

Co-author and editor of Znak. Ukrainian Trademarks of the 1960s–80s (2019), created as part of the U,N,A collective.

Originally based in Kyiv, she worked with leading cultural institutions in Ukraine and continues to collaborate internationally. Since 2022, she has been based in Chicago, following her relocation due to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Clients
Center for Architecture (AIANY)
School of The Art Institute of Chicago 
Albertinum Modern Art Museum in Dresden
Ukrainian Book Institute
Goethe-Institut Ukraine
Kultur Shtiftung Ukraine
Mac Paw
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine
PinchukArtCentre  
Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna
Dnipro Center for Contemporary Culture
Bettter. Upcycling System 
Marie Claire Ukraine
Dovzhenko Centre
Osnovy Publishing
Rodovid Publishing
Ukrainian Film Industry Association


EDUCATION

Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Arts (Ukraine).
MA in graphic design.


WORKING EXPERIENCE


Design and Art direction

Chief designer, Mystetskyi Arsenal.
The National Culture and Museum Complex
Kyiv,  2013–2017

Art director, ArtUkraine magazine
Kyiv, 2013–2014

Designer, Karandash Design Bureau
Kyiv, 2012–2013

Design Curation and Research

Znak. Ukrainian Trademarks 1960-80's
The exhibition at the Mala Gallery of Mystetskyi Arsenal,
Kyiv, 2017

Znak. Ukrainian Trademarks 1960-80's. – Kyiv:
Ist Publishing, 2019. – 160p.
ISBN 978-617-7948-24-6

Between Tradition and Innovation
Exhibition of Ukrainian Designers at the 
Dutch Design Week (Eindhoven, Netherlands, 2017)

Talks and Lectures

Spring Speaker Series RISD GD with U,N,A collective, 2024︎︎︎

Roundtable: Decolonizing Ukrainian Design.︎︎︎
The Cooper Union x The Ukrainian Museum
New York, 2023

Shuba
Design Conference
Dnipro, Ukraine, 2017

Summer Academy for Publishers
organized by Frankfurter Buchmesse
Kyiv, 2017

Ephemeroids. Twentieth-century in posters
Kyiv, Mystetskyi Arsenal, 2016


Awards

The Best Book Design in Ukraine, 2020 – Grand Prize 
The Best Book Design in Ukraine, 2021 – Special Jury Award
The Best Book Design in Ukraine, 2022 – The Best Visual Book


EXHIBITIONS /Selected/


Kaleidoscope of Histories. Ukrainian Art. 1912-2023
(Albertinum, Dresden, Germany, 2023)

Formation of Time, 
solo show
(The John David Mooney Foundation, Chicago, USA, 2023)

One alphabet and project compositions,
solo show (Artsvit Gallery, Dnipro, Ukraine, 2020) 

Furora x PosterWomen (Berlin, 2018)

International Triennial of Eco-posters 4th Block
(Kharkiv-Kyiv, Ukraine, 2006, 2009, 2012)

The 4th United Designs. International Design Exhibition
(Los Angeles, USA, 2009)

Poster Festival (Ljubljana, 2009)

Visual Energy (Berlin, 2006)

International Triennale of the Political Poster
(Mons, Belgium, 2004)


SCHOLARSHIPS and RESIDENCIES

The John David Mooney Foundation,
Chicago, USA, 2022-23

ArtSvit Gallery, Dnipro, Ukraine, 2021

Kunsthalle Praha, Exter programme
by Ukrainian Institute, Prague, 2019

Golden Bee Academy, Kotor, Montenegro, 2016

Centre d'Art Marnay / CAMAC,
Marnay-sur-Seine, France, 2011

Fabrica Communication Research Centre,
Treviso, Italy, 2008


PRESS and MEDIA

Chicago ReaderTimes of Uncertainty. Ukrainian artist Aliona Solomadina creates an homage to Chicago.︎︎︎

Canvas Rebel: Meet Aliona Solomadina︎︎︎

Canvas Rebel: Life & Work with Aliona Solomadina︎︎︎

ProblemataInterview with U,N,A CollectiveOn the graphic commission and the Soviet influence in Ukraine. Contemporary points of view ︎︎︎

Creative Boom'I only want to make clear visual messages, which may prevent or inform': Aliona Solomadina on the role of design in wartime ︎︎︎

Kunsthalle PrahaAliona Solomadina: Lightness ︎︎︎

Artsvit GalleryOne Alphabet and Project Compositions.
Aliona Solomadina︎︎︎

AIGA Eye On Design: One Woman’s Powerful Response
to a Lack of Female-identifying Designers ︎︎︎








︎ alionasolomadina@gmail.com

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   Aliona Solomadina / graphic design