He formed the basis of graphic design for the newly born Ukrainian state. He was one of the founders and first professors of the newly created Ukrainian Academy of Art, becoming its rector in 1918.

The most brilliant graphic artist of his time, he had students and a school and influenced all of twentieth-century graphic design. He was the center of Kyiv’s art life and left behind the inimitable style of a world-class artist.

Narbut stood on the shoulders of ancient Ukrainian art, but was an innovator and created a new visual language for his time. The contemporary generation of designers is engaged in the same search, only in a globalized world. For Ukrainian designers, it is as important to find their own roots in design as it is to move beyond them in creation and their everyday work. In the history of Ukrainian design, Narbut occupies a key position, much like the Bauhaus in the history of European design.

The graphic design of Narbut’s 1917–1920 Kyiv period was first and foremost the creation of a brand for the newborn Ukrainian state: its crest, money, fonts, insignia for national institutions, stamps, and so on.

Today, one hundred years since Narbut’s death, the artist’s outstanding legacy can finally occupy a relevant place in the contemporary ethos of the new, independent Ukraine. Now, with Ukraine’s future uncertain and the state’s identity under threat, a retrospective look at Narbut’s national branding is more relevant than ever. It concerns an urgent question: what is modern Ukrainian culture and who are contemporary Ukrainians?