Katya Slobodskaia | Rave Culture

Katya Slobodskaia’s self-directed practice is a combination of “emotional/intuitive” design, mixing concepts of the graphic diary, art therapy, and visual poetry. “For me, this is the most natural way to process my emotions and feelings ‘on the tip of my fingers’, and reflect on everyday events,” says the designer.

Currently, Katya is working on an ongoing personal project where she aims to create a poster everyday. She tells us; “It is my way of allowing myself to process my day visually and to let myself have an hour every evening just for myself to do something that I truly enjoy doing.”

One of her most recent personal projects is Rave Culture. The starting point of the project was a series of posters, but as Katya has recently been working with branding, it soon evolved into an experimental identity concept. The series reminisces of summer memories, aiming to translate the emotions she felt during that summer into graphics.

Rave Culture is a dance experience/music festival concept that transports the visitor to the epicentre of the very essence of a rave party. Essentially, it is an attempt to transform the feeling one gets at such events into visual language and invite the viewer to experience the feelings through graphics.

“One of the boldest memories from Rave Parties is always a string of faces that are right up in one’s space, always moving, never stopping. The curious thing is that one usually never sees these people again, and after a number of such nights, strangers start to morph together, forming curious images stripped of their identity, and the memories blend into a single night.”

The main characters of the identity – much like the main characters of the parties – are people, constantly on the move, in action, distorted by the lights and their own movement. The original portraits were generated by AI based on certain keywords that are associated with such parties, eg. ‘happy’, ‘smile’, ‘woman’, ‘man’, ‘person’, etc. Then, through a series of experimentations, distorted through a scanner and digital software to mimic the memories left from the parties.

Rave Culture’s visual language is bold and emotional, messy and multilayered, filled with complex imagery, and overall resembles a chaotic moment frozen in time. The identity takes the form of posters, merchandise (hoodies, t-shirts, stickers in form of distorted faces), flyers with artists, and social media imagery.

The starting point for Katya’s work is often a reflection on whatever piece of information evoked any kind of special emotion in her that day or week. It could be a phrase from a passing stranger that made her laugh, song lyrics that made her cry, or a quote that annoyed her etc.

Visual material also inspires Katya’s projects, anything from an oddly shaped puddle, to some strange letterspacing on a random street sign. She comments; “I like to strip off all design decisions and work with what’s left. The main goal of which is to challenge and surprise myself”.

However, the designer tell us that most often the starting point of a project is “the need to express a kind of emotion that cannot be translated into words or a desire to talk about something that I cannot express. It’s always about this feeling at the very tip of your fingers, a phrase on the tip of your tongue, something that you can almost put into words but not really, so I do the next(or first) best thing and talk about it through visuals.”

Katya graduated from BA (Hons) British Higher School of Art and Design, and recently took a Creative Direction class at Central St.Martins, UAL. She currently works on self-directed personal projects, including the ongoing poster diary, as well as teaching a graphic design course at BBE (art & design online school) and working as an Art director at BBDO Branding studio.

The designer is hoping to organise a small collective/studio where she can collaborate with like-minded people and create interesting and unexpected work; “In all honesty, it’s quite a selfish desire to have a space to do silly things, challenge myself, and have fun with my artists-friends.”

www.slobodskaia.work
@intkatgd

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