WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?
I’m Margarita, a fourth-year Communication Design student at HSE University, based in Russia.
I’m interested in exploring unconventional approaches to visual communication and finding unexpected ways to tell stories through design.
I believe that good design should do more than simply look appealing—it should catch the eye, evoke emotions, and make people stop and think.
MY PRINCIPLES
01 / THINK BEYOND THE OBVIOUS
I enjoy questioning familiar approaches and searching for unexpected visual solutions. The most interesting ideas often begin where the obvious ones end.
02 / DESIGN IS AN EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE
I want my work to evoke emotion. A visual message shouldn’t just be seen—it should leave an impression.
03 / MAKE PEOPLE LOOK TWICE
I’m drawn to ideas that catch attention, spark curiosity, and encourage people to reconsider how they see the world.
HOW I SEE DESIGN?
For me, communication design is a way to create a dialogue between an idea and its audience.
I’m interested in projects that have something to say—especially those that explore unusual subjects, challenge perceptions, or reveal something people might otherwise overlook.
I aim to find a visual language that makes each idea impossible to ignore.
PROJECT 01 — OKOLO
What if the things we try not to notice are closer than we think?
OKOLO is built around the feeling that darkness is never truly distant. It exists alongside us, hiding in familiar places and ordinary moments.
I approached the project as an opportunity to translate this unsettling idea into a visual identity that creates tension, curiosity, and emotional involvement.
02 / THE PROBLEM
People often try to distance themselves from uncomfortable thoughts, fears, and emotions. We tend to ignore what frightens us, as if the things we cannot see cannot affect us.
But what if the things we try to avoid are much closer than we think?
The challenge was to express this tension and make an abstract emotional subject feel immediate and tangible.
03 / VISUAL APPROACH & DESIGN DETAILS
The contrast between light and dark, visibility and obscurity, became a means to express the central idea. Rather than illustrating fear directly, I focused on creating a visual atmosphere that suggests uncertainty, tension, and the presence of something concealed.
The visual language is intended to make the audience feel that there is more beyond what can be seen at first glance.
The identity can be explored through its graphic language, typography, imagery, and visual applications.
Each element contributes to the project’s atmosphere and supports the contrast between the visible and the hidden. Together, these details form a visual world that reflects the theater’s central theme.
04 / RESULTS
OKOLO is an exploration of fear and the things people choose not to see.Through the language of shadow theatre, the project transforms an abstract emotional theme into a visual experience—one that invites people to pause, look closer, and reconsider what usually remains unnoticed.
PROJECT 02 — THE MUSEUM OF VANISHED VILLAGES
BRANDING · CULTURAL INSTITUTION · 2026
The Museum of Vanished Villages is dedicated to places that have disappeared from the map but continue to exist in people’s memories.The project focuses on the cultural and human stories behind vanished settlements: the lives, traditions, crafts, and personal histories that are often lost along with the places themselves.The project is built around the idea that a place can disappear physically without vanishing from memory.Even when a settlement is no longer on the map, traces of its existence remain in photographs, objects, sounds, archival documents, and personal memories.These fragments become a connection between the past and the present. The museum is imagined as a space where these traces come together, allowing forgotten stories to be remembered.
