Tatiana Ermolaeva's coherent “but not too slick” work for the Strelka Bar

After graduating from Central St Martins last year and studying contemporary phiosophy, graphic designer Tatiana Ermolaeva returned to her native Moscow to work at the Strelka Institute. Mixing the artistic and the academic has allowed the designer to develop her very own approach to design, “although I am still figuring out how to combine it all,” she tells It’s Nice That.

In our eyes, Tatiana appears more than capable at mixing both of her practices by constantly creating new challenges for herself in designing work for the Strelka Bar, writing her own design theory blog, and teaching on the side too. Following in the footsteps of her colleague, the now New York-based Anna Kulachek, Tatiana creates a “mostly intuitive interpretation,” of the Strelka Bar’s identity and guidelines, but also tries to communicate the music of a DJ’s set coming up that week. “It can be a visual response to their names, or some inside references. I try to juggle Strelka’s institutional integrity and the uniqueness of every event held at the bar.”

By using a diverse range of colours, typefaces “including some custom typefaces, like the Ideology typeface by Lars Høie” and alternative layouts, Tatiana’s work displays “a conscious choice to not make it too coherent and slick,” she says. “I’m glad that I don’t have many restrictions in my work for the Strelka Bar,” the designer explains. “The main challenge is lack of time and pace of work, sometimes having just a day or two to make a poster.” On top of time constraints, Tatiana’s main concern is continuing the Strelka’s iconic design history and values, while applying her own lick of paint to the work, developing her own “concept of design authorship and personal style”.