Proposal to replace Russian font at bus stops in Ukraine

Kyiv-based graphic designer Bohdan Hdal has proposed replacing the Russian font Izhitsa on bus stop pavilions in Ukraine. He wrote about this on his Twitter page.

The Izhitsa font was designed by Svitlana Yermolaeva in 1988. According to Hdal, the font has been in use since the early 1990s, and it spread across Ukraine due to “ignorance and lack of adequate alternatives.”

Про боротьбу з блювотною російською “Іжицею” на магістралях країни і маленьку перемогу на дорозі “Київ-Бориспіль”. 2020 рік. Мене зачепили вивіски з цим шрифтом на зупинкових павільйонах, і я вирішив з цим боротися. Біла ЦЄрква, ПшЄничнЄ, ЧубинськЄ зовсім не задовольняли. 👇 pic.twitter.com/3gzIzJXcez

— Богдан Гдаль (@viterzbayraku) June 14, 2023

“About the fight against the vomitous Russian Izhitsa on the country’s highways and a small victory on the Kyiv-Boryspil road. 2020. I was bothered by the signs with this font on the bus stop pavilions, and I decided to fight it. Біла ЦЄрква, ПшЄничнЄ, ЧубинськЄ did not satisfy me at all.” (These Ukrainian words should be spelled with a different letter)

Bohdan Hdal began his fight against Izhitsa back in 2020. He signed a memorandum of cooperation with Ukravtodor (State Agency of Automobile Roads of Ukraine), and then began to generate a Ukrainian font based on the Vernyhora font. This option was approved. However, the contractor replaced the font with Izhitsa again without agreeing on the layouts, but after the Ministry of Infrastructure intervened, the font was corrected.

Це стало можливим завдяки сприянню Саші Азархіної, яка працювала тоді в Міністерстві інфраструктури. Вона ж несподівано запропонувала попрацювати над магістраллю Київ-Бориспіль. Тому я почав генерувати бачення. pic.twitter.com/YMKuXtDnWh

— Богдан Гдаль (@viterzbayraku) June 14, 2023

“This became possible thanks to the assistance of Sasha Azarkhina, who was working at the Ministry of Infrastructure at the time. She unexpectedly offered to work on the Kyiv-Boryspil highway. So I started generating a vision.”

“So far, this road is the only place in Ukraine where the approach to the font on bus stop complexes has been consciously changed. I have evidence that the same Izhitsa is used on the rest of the roads. But I have not given up on this topic. I will keep pushing. It’s just that the war has suspended these processes,” the designer said.

Read also: Fonts for export: the most interesting Ukrainian fonts that the world should know about

Image: twitter.com/viterzbayraku