Meet the student behind the HEROES mascot

VIKO Graphic Design second-year student Anastasija Kotelnikova has won the HEROES University Alliance mascot design contest. Her creation, Kubicus — a curious, transformable character inspired by the Rubik’s cube — will soon appear across HEROES social media, events, and the website. But this story almost didn’t happen. 

Anastasija has been drawing for as long as she can remember. After finishing art school, she was looking for a study programme that would combine illustration with a broader design field. VIKO’s Graphic Design programme felt like the right fit — friends recommended it, and a visit to the campus sealed the deal. “I liked the whole building, the atmosphere,” she recalls. 

She first heard about the HEROES mascot design contest from her lecturer. “I read the contest guidelines and creative brief, counted how many universities are involved, and it seemed like a really big contest. I figured there probably wouldn’t be any result for me, so maybe it wasn’t even worth entering,” she says. What changed her mind was her lecturer’s encouragement — and the fact that she actually liked what she had created: “I looked at it and thought — that’s pretty cool, so why not?” 

How Kubicus was born 

The creative process started with refining the concept through associations. Anastasija was looking for a shape connected to science and education, but one that wouldn’t be obvious. Her first sketches featured little robots, but she scrapped them. 

“A Rubik’s cube is a puzzle — it’s close to university and science. And I liked that it can move and transform,” Anastasija explains. Visual consistency also mattered: the HEROES Alliance identity already uses pixels and geometric shapes, so a cube naturally fits the existing style. 

That’s how Kubicus was born — a character whose body works like a screen: it changes colours, shows emotions, and conveys different moods. It can transform into a simple cube, making it suitable for animation and various formats. The designer deliberately chose an abstract, geometric shape rather than a specific character, allowing the mascot to work in many different contexts. And what kind of personality does Kubicus have? In Anastasija’s words, he’s curious, optimistic, and wants to try everything. But there’s a flip side too: when you’re interested in everything, your focus tends to scatter. “Too much energy and not enough concentration,” Anastasija laughs. “But maybe that’s just what we students are like these days.” 

The creative process: pushing through the rough early versions 

From first idea to final version, the whole process took about a month. It started with hand-drawn sketches on paper, then moved to a graphics tablet. The hardest part, she says, wasn’t the drawing itself but finding the right concept — she had to consider the HEROES values, key messages, and visual style. “Once you’ve figured it out and know what you’re doing — the actual drawing isn’t that hard,” she says. 

Were there moments when she wanted to give up? “That always happens,” Anastasija smiles. “At the beginning everything looks rough and you just want to quit. But by now I know that’s just how it goes — it’s unavoidable. You have to push through that feeling and keep going. You just have to get past that barrier.” 

That approach paid off — out of 26 entries, Kubicus won the most support from the Alliance team and jury and was selected as the official HEROES Alliance mascot. Anastasija is now working on new sketches together with VIKO lecturer Beata Borisovaite to develop the character further. “It would be really interesting to see how he’ll live and what comes next,” she says. 

HEROES (Higher Education and Research for Regional Resilience and Sustainability) is a European University Alliance bringing together nine universities of applied sciences from nine countries. Funded by the Erasmus+ programme, the Alliance develops joint study programmes, promotes student and staff mobility, and strengthens regional resilience through education, innovation, and international collaboration.