Systems, Made Visible
In 2026, Cascade Systems needed a presence worthy of its technology — a Ukrainian defence-tech company turning frontline experience and engineering into electronic-warfare systems like its flagship, Lima. I delivered the full package: website, brand, custom iconography and visualizations, a guidelines book, and the assets for its debut at Eurosatory 2026.
about:
Cascade Systems is a Ukrainian defence-technology company building asymmetric, intelligent electronic-warfare systems — merging frontline combat experience with local engineering to neutralize advanced aerial threats. Its flagship strategic EW system is Lima.
industry:
Defence Tech, Electronic Warfare
duration:
2026
Contents
Overview
In 2026, Cascade Systems came to me to build their presence from the ground up. It was a full-stack engagement — design, front-end development, and branding — spanning the website, a complete visual identity, custom iconography and visualizations, and the physical assets the team would need for its debut at Eurosatory 2026.
The work was a collaboration with Calibrated, the strategic communications agency whose own brand I built earlier — pairing their defence-sector expertise with my design and development.
Roles & Responsibilities
One person across the whole engagement — design, front-end build, and brand.
| Web Designer | Designing a responsive, accessible, content-driven website. |
| Front-End Developer | Building the site with Astro, Tailwind, and DaisyUI, backed by a Sanity CMS. |
| Brand Designer | Brand identity, documented in a full branding guidelines book. |
| Graphic & Motion Designer | Custom icons, animations, and data visualizations, plus banners and assets for conferences. |
Platform
Designed desktop-first, then made fully responsive down to mobile.
| Desktop Web | A content-driven marketing site presenting Cascade's technology with clarity and credibility. |
| Mobile (Responsive) Web | Fully responsive layouts optimized for readability on smaller screens. |
The Challenge
Defence is a high-stakes, high-trust field, and Cascade Systems needed to look as advanced as the technology it builds — credible enough to stand beside established players at Eurosatory, yet distinctly its own. The brand had to feel precise and engineered, make genuinely complex systems legible at a glance, and hold together across the website, print, and a conference floor.
Design & Brand
Before the website, I had to develop the full brand identity and document it in a branding guidelines document — a single source of truth for a fast-moving team. To make complex electronic-warfare concepts legible, I designed a set of custom icons, animations, and data visualizations that turn dense capability into something an audience can grasp in seconds.
Identity
The identity had to feel engineered, not decorative — precise enough for a defence-tech audience, and distinct enough to own. It's built from a monogram and wordmark on a strict grid, a single acid-green accent against near-black, and a custom type and icon system.
The wordmark — each 'E' rebuilt from stacked bars that read like a signal trace.
The monogram is a 'CS' formed from two interlocking rounded shapes, drawn on a strict grid so it holds its shape everywhere — from a browser tab to a building sign.
At first the client cared more about the wordmark than the mark — until it became clear their hardware product would need a symbol that could live on the device itself, etched or stamped at any size. It clicked while I was designing the favicon, and the stripped-back simplicity of what emerged is exactly what won them over.
Typography paired with a custom icon set built for the brand.
The whole color system is tokenized — every color is a semantic role rather than a raw value — so the brand stays legible and consistent on any background, document, or format.
The client's team was new to working with design systems, so everything had to be genuinely easy to pick up. I gave them a framework for every scenario — including ready-made document and presentation templates — so the brand holds together no matter who's using it.
Lima EW — System Visualizations
To explain electronic warfare without a manual, I built a set of interactive diagrams showing how Lima defends against different threats — jamming, GPS spoofing, and cyber-breach. Switch between them below.
Eurosatory 2026
The brand extended off-screen, too — banners and assets designed for Cascade Systems' debut at Eurosatory 2026, one of the world's largest defence exhibitions.
Development
The site is a fast, content-driven Astro build with a headless Sanity CMS, so the team can publish and update content without touching code. Tailwind and DaisyUI keep the interface consistent, and the icon system builds on Material Icons, extended with custom, on-brand additions.
Tech Stack
A modern, content-driven stack the team can maintain without a developer.
| Astro | Content-driven static-site framework for a fast, SEO-friendly build. |
| Tailwind CSS | Utility-first styling and design tokens. |
| DaisyUI | Component layer on Tailwind for consistent UI. |
| Sanity CMS | Headless CMS for structured, client-editable content. |
| Material Icons | Base icon set, extended with custom-designed icons. |
Finished Product
The result is one coherent system — a fast, editable website, a documented brand, custom visualizations, and a set of assets that carry Cascade Systems from the browser to the show floor.
View Live Website