KaterynaPopravkina

Designer · Filmmaker · Marketer

I help people tell their story in a way that actually feels like them — and finds the right audience.

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Portrait of Kateryna Popravkina
Katya · Designer & Filmmaker
About

Hi, I'mKatya.

A designer, filmmaker and marketer. Somewhere between the three I found what I love most: helping people tell their story in a way that feels like them and finds their true audience.

I work with businesses and educators on the things that matter to them, always thinking about who's on the other side. Outside of client work I make art about sensitivity and trauma — the human experiences that don't always have easy words. I moved to the U.S. from Ukraine and earned my BA in Film and Graphic Design; I also hold a Master's in Speech Therapy and Special Psychology, which shaped how I see design — not just as visual, but as a way of making things understood.

  • Brand Identity
  • Packaging
  • Illustration
  • UX / Interactive
  • Film & Direction
  • UGC & Content

Design that doesn't just look good — it communicates, and finds the people it's meant for.

10
Selected projects
4
Disciplines
70+
Brand collaborations
1
Awarded short film

Selected work

01

Identity & Branding

Wordmarks, packaging and brand systems — sketch to applied finish.

Quest

2025
Brand Identity · VR

Description

A virtual-reality experience brand built around exploration and interaction inside digital worlds. The goal: a mark that feels intuitive, dynamic and instantly readable on screen.

Concept

The symbol is a lantern — guidance and discovery. In a VR quest it acts as a companion: every step reveals something new. Minimal form keeps it clear; the light suggests direction and curiosity.

Quest branded box held on a patterned rug

Logo exploration

I explored several directions first — structural typography and a navigation arrow among them — before choosing the lantern as the final mark.

Quest structural wordmark direction
Direction 01 — structural typography
Quest arrow-based logo direction
Direction 02 — movement & navigation

The lantern — final mark

The chosen symbol: a lantern for guidance and discovery, and its final lockup.

Quest lantern logo mark
Lantern mark — the chosen direction
Quest final lantern lockup
Final lockup

Applied identity

Quest identity on a watch and gift packaging
Applied identity — gifting
Quest branded retail carry bag on a city street
Retail — branded carry bag
Quest product packaging system
Packaging system

Grind

2025
Brand Identity · Café

Description

A student-centred coffee brand — more than a place to grab a drink. A social hub built on energy, connection and creativity where students work, recharge and build community.

Concept

The circular mark reflects movement and continuity — a swirl of coffee, a moment of recharge. Lettering is bold, playful and slightly irregular: human, expressive, imperfect.

Espresso pouring into a branded Grind cup

Logo exploration

A wide sketch exploration — wordmarks, symbols and hand studies — before the swirl emerged as the mark.

Grind early logo sketch exploration
Early hand sketches
Grind further logo sketch studies
Wordmarks & symbols

Further explorations

Refined typographic directions explored along the way — a steam-cup wordmark and a circular badge. Neither became the final mark; the project resolved on the bold coffee-swirl symbol you can see on the storefront and in the guidelines.

Grind steam-cup wordmark exploration
Steam-cup wordmark
Grind circular badge exploration
Circular badge

Brand guidelines

A short brand guide for the team — an overview and clear-space rules to keep the mark consistent.

Grind brand style guide — overview
Brand style guide — overview
Grind brand guide — clear-space rules
Clear-space & usage

Applied

Grind café storefront signage
Storefront signage

Chocolove

2025
Packaging · Redesign

Description

A redesign of the Chocolove chocolate brand — bold, modern and emotional, still tied to the original idea of love. Rich colour, expressive pattern and large type make the bar feel personal, warm and giftable.

Concept

Chocolate as a small love note. “XOXO” connects to hugs and kisses; the swirling pattern moves like melted chocolate or a handwritten message. Deep red gives the bar a rich, romantic feeling.

Chocolove XOXO Dark Rich chocolate bar floating on cream

Concept & sketches

I started wide — a full set of rough hand sketches exploring the XOXO idea, flow and love messages.

Chocolove rainbow swirl concept sketch
Chocolove geometric diagonal-split sketch
Chocolove XO-tile sketch with Chocolove 1995 stamp
Chocolove red swirl brush study
Chocolove flow-and-love diagonal sketch
Chocolove woodgrain swirl sketch

Digital refinements

From rough sketch to finished mark — the next step, refining the XOXO swirl digitally.

Chocolove digital iterations — XOXO bar explorations
Digital iterations — finding the swirl

A flavour family

The swirl system carries across flavours — the same mockup, front and back, in a different palette for each bar.

Chocolove XOXO Dark Rich packaging — front
XOXO Dark Rich — front
Chocolove XOXO Dark Rich packaging — back
Dark Rich — back
Chocolove XOXO Pistachio & Sea Salt packaging — front
XOXO Pistachio & Sea Salt — front
Chocolove XOXO Pistachio & Sea Salt packaging — back
Pistachio & Sea Salt — back
02

Posters & Illustrations

Editorial print and illustration — cinema, fragrance and quiet emotional states.

Diogenes Film Fest

2024
Print · Film Festival

Description

Posters for the Diogenes Film Festival at Pacific Union College — an annual student showcase that gives emerging filmmakers a professional stage for their work.

Concept

Both posters explore cinema as a way of perception. One centres the camera lens — control and framing; the other shifts to light and blur for an emotional, immersive read. Together: film as precise and subjective.

Two Diogenes Film Festival posters framed on a wall

The Scent of the Soul & Train Girl

2024
Illustration · Editorial

The Scent of the Soul

Inspired by a close friend with a deep passion for fragrances. Her personality is layered and rich — that became the core idea behind the piece.

Train Girl

A quiet emotional state during travel. The character is physically moving but mentally elsewhere — present and distant at once, contrasting environment with inner experience.

Two framed illustrations — The Scent of the Soul and Train Girl
03

Interactive Design

App and web prototypes that turn intangible feelings into navigable space.

Bottle

2025
Mobile App · Concept

Description

A mobile app from a simple idea: write a message, seal it in a bottle and send it into the sea for a stranger to find.

Concept

Release a virtual bottle into a digital ocean; another user discovers it, reads it, replies or sends it forward. The whole experience is built around mystery and an unexpected way to connect.

Visual style

Soft oceanic gradients tie the design to water, mystery and a calm mood. Each bottle is customisable — the message feels like it carries part of the person who made it.

Bottle app screens floating on a soft gradient
Bottle app onboarding and feed screens
Onboarding & feed
Bottle app — log in, bottle detail and feed screens
Log in · bottle · feed
Bottle app collections and create-your-bottle screens
Collections · Top 3 · create
Bottle app — create your bottle, Top 3 and home screens
Create · Top 3 · home

HSP — Highly Sensitive Person

2025
Web Prototype · Interactive

Description

An interactive prototype that turns the inner world of a highly sensitive person into a sensory journey — emotional intensity, overstimulation, and the difficulty of putting internal states into words.

Concept

The site guides you through aspects of high sensitivity with motion, atmosphere and visual metaphor. Instead of only explaining HSP, it lets you feel it from the inside — sensitivity as deep perception, not weakness.

Prototype

The universe became the metaphor for inner depth — endless, layered, mysterious. Built as a parallax site so movement and depth hold attention in a fast-scrolling world.

HSP wordmark on a laptop resting on a stone pedestal
HSP prototype — the universe metaphor screen
The universe metaphor
HSP interactive site shown on an outdoor billboard
Out-of-home concept
HSP scroll state — “You are just too sensitive.”
“You are just too sensitive.”
HSP scroll state — high sensitivity is not an illness
Not an illness
HSP scroll state — emotional intensity
Extreme emotional intensity
HSP scroll state — intolerance to loud sounds
Reaction to loud sounds
HSP scroll state — natural politeness
Natural politeness & care
HSP scroll state — depth of perception
Depth of perception
HSP scroll state — sensitivity to subtle content
Sensitivity to subtle content
04

Film & Marketing

Commercials, content and short-form film — written, directed and shot.

Dina Saalisi

2025
Commercial · Brand Film

Concept

Two short commercials for Dina Saalisi — a brand spot and a product spot. A calm, natural, emotionally warm visual story rooted in healing, nature and inner balance.

Process

Built from natural textures, soft light and quiet close-ups that help the viewer slow down. Gentle natural sound design creates a sense of presence, calmness and restoration — the film lives in the natural world, not a typical product ad.

Dina Saalisi commercial on a city bus-stop billboard

The films

Two short commercials — a brand spot and a product spot. They play silently here; tap either for sound.

Visual Poem — brand spot
Visual Poem — brand spot
Creative Tools — product spot
Creative Tools — product spot

Stills

Dina Saalisi brand spot — title card
Brand spot — title
Dina Saalisi — portrait in the garden
Portrait in the garden
Dina Saalisi still — garden with hanging lamps
Dina Saalisi — The Art of Flower Therapy book
The Art of Flower Therapy
Dina Saalisi still — natural texture
Dina Saalisi product still — sound bowls
Sound bowls & restoration
Dina Saalisi — a breath in the garden
Dina Saalisi — inside the Art of Flower Therapy book
Inside the book
Dina Saalisi — touching wild periwinkle
Dina Saalisi — stillness and restoration
Stillness & restoration

UGC — Content Creator

2024
Content · UGC · 70+ brands

Description

A personal platform for content-creator and visual-storyteller work. A big part is UGC — natural, relatable photo and video that feels authentic and close to real customer experience.

Concept

Built after 70+ brand collaborations to make the process easier for clients — video and photo work, a video intro, service options and pricing in one place.

Visit katyashares.com
katyashares.com content-creator site shown on a laptop

Reels — by niche

Short-form video and photo across fashion, beauty, wellness and digital products.

UGC reels — fashion & style
Fashion & Style
UGC reels — skincare & beauty
Skincare & Beauty
UGC reels — style & wellness
Style & Wellness
UGC reels — digital products
Digital Products

Photography

UGC product and lifestyle photography
Product & lifestyle photography

Albedo

2025
Short Film · Writer · Director · Producer

Description

A psychological short film about grief and the inner parts of us that try to protect us from pain. After her sister's death, Emily shuts down and enters her subconscious — where she meets the protector that once helped her survive.

Concept

I developed the story from a personal concept into a finished short. Through dark atmosphere, intimate imagery and a subconscious setting, Albedo presents healing as the beginning of awareness and reconnection.

Process

Developed over a year and awarded a grant at the Sonscreen Film Festival pitch competition. As writer, director and producer I led a team of 20+, and designed the full marketing package — press kit, synopsis, director's statement and festival strategy.

Albedo film poster on an illuminated bus stop at night
Albedo film still — two figures in the garden

Film stills

Albedo — Emily, the title character
Emily — title character
Albedo film still — Emily, a quiet tear
Albedo film still — the protector behind the curtain
Albedo film still — the funeral
Albedo film still — alone in the subconscious
Albedo film still — face to face in the dark
Albedo film still — roses for Luci
Albedo film still — at the grave
Albedo film still — Luci's headstone
Albedo film still — holding hands
Albedo film still — Emily and the protector
Albedo film still — daisies at the headstone
Albedo film still — grief at the graveside
Albedo film still — an embrace in the subconscious space
Albedo film still — grief shared
Albedo film still — the protector in profile
Albedo film still — Emily face to face with the protector
Albedo film still — confrontation
Albedo film still — a memory in the bedroom
Albedo film still — Emily in the park
Albedo film still — the protector
Albedo film still — comfort

Marketing package

The full press kit I designed for festivals — synopsis, director's statement, crew, cast, press release, Q&A and festival strategy sheets.

Albedo press kit — medium synopsis
Synopsis
Albedo press kit — director's statement
Director's statement
Albedo press kit — crew bios
Crew bios
Albedo press kit — cast
Cast
Albedo press kit — press release
Press release
Albedo press kit — festival strategy sheet
Festival strategy sheet
Albedo press kit — film festival guide sheet
Festival guide sheet
Albedo press kit — filmmaker Q&A
Filmmaker Q&A
Albedo press kit — thank you
Thank you

Behind the scenes

Albedo behind the scenes — cast and crew on location
Cast & crew on location
Albedo behind the scenes — directing on set
Directing on set
Albedo behind the scenes — setting up the shot at the headstone
Setting up the shot
Albedo behind the scenes — camera and the disc prop on location
On set in the cemetery
Albedo behind the scenes — at the camera
At the camera
Albedo behind the scenes — blocking a scene with the cast
Blocking a scene
Albedo behind the scenes — giving a note to the cast
Giving a note
Albedo behind the scenes — adjusting the camera rig
Adjusting the rig
Albedo behind the scenes — on location with the crew
On location
Let's make something Tell your story
with me
kapopravkina@gmail.com