Ukraine and UK are at the heart of Superunion's visual identity for Eurovision 2023

The countdown to the 2023 edition of the European Song Contest is underway as today sees the launch of its official visual identity. Due to Russia's ongoing war on Ukraine, this year's music competition will be hosted by the UK, and this sentiment of solidarity is captured in the branding.

Using the colours of the respective country's flags as its basis, the visual identity features overlapping navy, blue and red hearts on a striking yellow background. The branding will soon roll out across Liverpool's St George's Hall, and Liverpool ONE - the city was chosen to hold the contest last year - and will make its first appearance this evening during an official handover and allocation draw programme hosted b Rylan and AJ Odudu.

Supported by a typeface called Penny Lane – a clever nod to both the twentieth-century cast-iron signs displaying Liverpool street names and the city's most famous musical export, The Beatles – the visual identity strikes an effective balance between the contest's new host and last year's winning country.

According to Eurovision Song Contest 2023 Managing Director Martin Green CBE, this year's competition promises to be an extraordinary event. "The creative look is a big part of creating that magic," he explains. "This year's identity sums up perfectly the amazing partnerships across the Contest and, more importantly, the power of music to bring people together across the world."

Meanwhile, Superunion Executive Creative Director Stuart Radford and Creative Director Katherina Tudball revealed that the project was a special commission for them to work on. "We are thrilled to create the 67th Eurovision Song Contest visual identity in partnership with Ukrainian agency, Starlight, and the BBC," they explain.

"For this year's theme, United By Music, our solution was inspired by research showing that when experiencing live music together, human hearts synchronise to beat in unison. This insight led to the creative concept of 160 million hearts beating as one, an idea that captures the universal spirit of Eurovision."

The visual identity wouldn't be complete without the input from Starlight Creative, though. And CEO Olena Martynova adds that the ability of creativity and music to unite and inspire form the foundations of the branding. "We are so proud to be part of the creative concept for such an important musical event when more than ever, we need to come together as a global community," Olena concludes.

"For Starlight, it is an opportunity to represent Ukraine on an international stage, showcase our creative and musical ability, and create something that honours our strength and the power of unity."