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Press Release

DesignNewswire · COMO, Italy ·

Ofen Hu Is Honored with the Golden A' Design Award for Johnnie Walker Limited Edition Packaging in Packaging Design

Ofen Hu honored for packaging design by the international grand jury of the 2021 - 2022 A' Design Award & Competition

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

COMO, Italy, April 22, 2022 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has announced that Johnnie Walker Limited Edition Packaging by Ofen Hu, designed for Diageo Foreign Wine Trading (Shanghai) Co., Ltd, has been granted the Golden A' Design Award in the Packaging Design category. The award was conferred within the 2021 - 2022 A' Design Award & Competition and was reached through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who scored anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.

What the Golden A' Design Award Means

The Gold A' Design Award is granted to designs that demonstrate a high level of innovation and a significant impact on their intended audience. Recognized as a major achievement by the A' Design Awards, these designs are characterized by their visionary approach and the exceptional skill of their creators. Winners of the Gold A' Design Award are noted for their ability to push the envelope in art, science, design, and technology, delivering solutions that not only meet but exceed expectations. These designs serve as benchmarks for excellence, encouraging further innovation and inspiring future generations of designers.

About Johnnie Walker Limited Edition Packaging

Johnnie Walker Limited Edition is a gift packaging design for a whisky bottle released for the Mid-Autumn Festival in China. The Mid-Autumn Festival is an important time for family reunion, so the themes are home, reunion and emotion. The design draws on the doors and windows of traditional Chinese architecture. The outer box opens as a double door, held closed by a magnet button in the centre, and reveals the bottle inside. Orchids, butterflies and auspicious clouds are depicted. Gilding and laser cutting are used on the box, and sandblasting is applied to the bottle.

Award Record

Ofen Hu is a winner of 1 A' Design Award, including this recognition.

About the A' Packaging Design Award

The A' Packaging Design Award is an international packaging competition that recognizes outstanding packaging designs by talented packaging designers worldwide. It is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to packaging designers, graphic designers, branding agencies and product manufacturers from all countries. Typical entries include bottles, boxes, cans, pouches, tubes and cartons. The awarded packaging designs are published at https://desingers.org/design-category/packaging

About A' Design Award & Competition

Organized annually since 2008, A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The philanthropic mission of the A' Design Award is to advance society through good design, by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Nominations are peer reviewed and evaluated anonymously by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. Eligible laureates receive the A' Design Prize, which includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, uploading a work and receiving a preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. More information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com

Press Resources

Media Contact

Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953

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Fact Sheet

The Work

Project
Johnnie Walker Limited Edition Packaging
Function
Packaging
Category
Packaging Design
Discipline
Communication Design
Industry
Packaging & Retail, Branding & Advertising and Manufacturing
Colors
Dark Slate Gray, Black, Dim Gray, Dark Khaki and Dark Gray
Images
5
Client
Diageo Foreign Wine Trading (Shanghai) Co., Ltd

The Recognition

Laureate
Ofen Hu
Country
China
Recognition
Golden A' Design Award
Edition
2021 - 2022
Design ID
#138822

Credits

Team
Chushan Chan and Aha Chan
Image Credits
Image：Diageo Foreign Wine Trading (Shanghai) Co., Ltd

Design Details

Unique Properties
This is a Johnnie Walker Blue Label 2021 Mid-Autumn Festival Limited Edition gift. The Mid-Autumn Festival is an important festival for family reunion in China. The key words are home, reunion and emotion. Slogan is "EMOTIONS COME FROM BLUE". The design inspiration comes from the door and window in traditional Chinese architecture. The outer packaging design adopts double-door opening box, when the door is opened, you can see the home directly, expressing reunion and emotion. When the lid opened, the picture of orchids blooming in the courtyard is also similar to the "Chinese Pingfeng".
Inspiration
"EMOTIONS COME FROM BLUE" comes from the Chinese idiom “blue is extracted from the indigo plant, but is bluer than it”. By creating through such themes, and adopting the culture of Mid-Autumn Festival, the designer temps to reflect how the people are becoming better and better by generation. The scene of the moonlight flattering some orchids in a courtyard is observed by looking through the gaps of the wooden windows that are traditionally built in Chinese courtyards. This helps presenting an intriguing experience of the traditional Chinese festival.
Research
In the packaging design, traditional Chinese wooden windows are used as the main vision of the outer packaging. Orchids, butterflies and Chinese auspicious clouds are the main depicting objects. Towering pavilions are built near the moon. The designer wishes to combine the auspicious cloud patterns with the lines of cake rolls, providing an unique visual experience. Blue is the brand symbol of JOHNNIE WALKER. Blue and orchids have the same pronunciation in Chinese, and are equated in the depiction. Orchids also symbolize “gentlemen” in Chinese culture since The Book of Songs is created.
Challenge
The most difficult parts of this packaging design are the size of the windows and the hardness of the paper, which needs to be aesthetic while taking supporting and protecting function that is critical during shipping into account. During the design process, the design of the windows was repeatedly adjusted and packaging production attempts were made.
Realization and Technology
The packaging uses gilding and excitation techniques, as well as laser cutout technology to handle the visual senses of the packaging. Sandblasting technology was used on the bottle
Operation and Interaction
The package is opened to the left and right. There is a magnet button in the middle, which lets the package open after it is unbuttoned. Expanding the outer package reveals the inner bottle design.
Project Duration and Location
Started on March 17, 2021, completed in Shenzhen on April 30, 2021, entered the market in October 2021
Specifications
Length 15cm width 11.5cm height 36cm
Keywords
Whisky, Packaging, Packaging Design, JOHNNIE WALKER BLUE Lab, Mid-Autumn Festival, China, Art, Painting

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