世界焦点！13 Unique Gift Box Designs | MA 2022 Works Feature

If the packaging on the shelf is an everyday garment, the gift box packaging is like a costume that is worn for a particular occasion. Gift boxes are a ritualistic way of packaging food, whether it"s for someone else or to please oneself, as life always requires some care and novelty.

Gift boxes are more of a focus on aesthetics and subtlety than the usual packaging design. Whether it"s a themed design for the New Year or an IP co-branded creation, each gift box has its own "dress code", with the "styling team" dressing up the products in creative designs to catch the eye of consumers. This issue of the Marking Awards features some of the entries and shows you how to make creative gift boxes.

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MarkingAwards Entries

Image source: Marking Awards

01、Appreciation of works

1、Wo XiaoyaCheese Sticks Gift Set

Wo XiaoyaCheese Sticks Gift Set | MarkingAwards Entry

Image source: Woxiaoya

The brand portrays the IP image of the curious baby explorer with starry eyes and a warm heart. This cheese box is inspired by the story of Woxiaoya: Woxiaoya has two friends, the tiny mouse bud who can"t grow tall enough and the cat bud who can"t get full enough, both of whom want to be taller and grow up to be number one, and Woxiaoya pilots a milk spaceship to the cheese planet to find the secret to growing taller and stronger for his two friends. The packaging is a break from the traditional box shape, with the original Woxiaoya brand milk spaceship shape, which brings joy to children and gives the packaging a deeper value. The Milk Spaceship box has an interspersed structure that combines the theme of the product, fully satisfying children"s intellectual development and the interactive experience between parents and children.

2、Fancci Planet Mooncake Gift box

Fancci Planet Mooncake Gift box | MarkingAwards Entry

Image source: Innolabx (Guangzhou) Design Consulting Co., Ltd.

The Generation Z are independent and brave. They tend to live outside boundaries and never conform to the old set of rules. As consumers, they take advice from nobody but themselves. Fancci Food is a brand that’s brave enough to glide past the unconventional path and develop creative mooncakes for Gen Z. All mooncakes are reshaped into the appearance of a unique planet, representing the different flavours we offer and also the uniqueness of every Gen Z . “I’m not a mooncake, I’m Fancci”, a statement that perfectly reflects the independence of Gen Z. The opening form of the blind box concept enables consumers to have a different opening experience, which is interesting and creative. The inner bag is made of metal material to increase the quality sense of the product. At the same time, it can be used twice as a storage and children"s toy to reflect the environmental protection attribute.

3、2021 Moonlight Mid-Autumn Festival Gift Box

2021 Moonlight Mid-Autumn Festival Gift Box | MarkingAwards Entry

Image source: ACCESS CORPORATE GROUP Pty. Ltd

Mid-Autumn Festival is a living cultural heritage of traditional Chinese festival. The streamer collection was designed to satisfy the tradition of Mid-Autumn"s high end gift market by pinning consumers" emotions of homesickness, the love of their relatives, the best wish to harvest and happiness. The design combines innovative tastes with traditional ingredients to interpret the "taste of time" and solves the market fault phenomenon between traditional recipes and creative flavors. Presented on the gift box with inspired designing language and exquisite craftsmanship techniques, the main visual draws the form of "clock, roulette, and universe". Connecting three elements with circular geometric radial designed techniques to visualize the theme of "taste of time". The structure of the gift box refers to the form of the traditional Chinese imperial court royal food box, and extracts the structure of the octagonal box, which means four flat and eight stable, stable and auspicious holiday wishes. The visual color of "orange" is a blend of traditional Chinese colors "fei" and "yan", which means the vision of a beautiful life that is bright and gorgeous, rich and prosperous.

4、The Walnut- Mid Autumn Moon Cake Gift Box

The Walnut- Mid Autumn Moon Cake Gift Box | MarkingAwards Entry

Image source: inDare Design Strategy Limited

This is a moon cake gift box for the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is inspired by the brand"s vision of "Four generations under one roof". The traditional festival is no longer just a time for four generations to be together, but also a time for every traveller to reunite after the exhaustion of work. inDare has incorporated a strong musical atmosphere into the design of this mooncake box, aiming to use music as a medium to connect every generation during the Mid-Autumn reunion. Breaking away from the traditional festive colour scheme, this design uses a premium, vintage sense of black and gold as the main colour scheme to restore the vinyl design, combining fashionable and classic elements to create a new style of mooncake gift box design that meets a popular aesthetic. The gift box is structured in a handheld format, making it easy for others to give gifts. The recess where the mooncakes are placed is also designed as a jewellery container for reuse; in addition, the packaging reduces the traditional way of greeting cards and is replaced by a scanning code to obtain blessings, responding to the concept of paper reduction and environmental protection at the same time.

5、Guanghe Limited Edition Giftbox

Guanghe Limited Edition Giftbox | MarkingAwards Entry

Image source: Design Bridge Shanghai

Guanghe is a beloved heritage brand in China that has been in existence since the Qing Dynasty. Its single-minded focus for the past 100 years on producing just one product - fermented beancurd - has won it admirers, but also limits the brand. As part of a wider re-positioning campaign to allow the brand to stretch into the condiments category, the brand asked Design Bridge to rebrand this old heritage brand and emotionally resonate with younger consumers. Design Bridge presented the solution "A TASTE OF CHILDHOOD MEMORY" in an illustration and installation packaged format. The familiar residential lanes of old Chinese cities are quickly disappearing. In place of what were once bustling community centres lie piles of brick and rubble, demolished in the name of progress. For the post-80s and post-90s generation, it is becoming harder and harder to hold on to the past in modern China. With change comes an aching nostalgia for the simplicity of childhood. Guanghe’s brand proposition is hinged on this nostalgia - promising a taste of childhood… a taste that will bring memories flooding back of a simpler time. Inspired by influential Chinese painter Feng Zikai who often painted scenes of childhood, the design created a collection of limited edition packaging that invites people to take a stroll down memory lane. The launch campaign was successfully met with heartfelt enthusiasm on social media and helped to reintroduce an age-old brand to a new audience.

6、Godiva 2021 Mid-Autumn Festival Limited Edition chocolate gift box

Godiva 2021 Mid-Autumn Festival Limited Edition chocolate gift box | MarkingAwards Entry

Image source: Wisdom Ocean

Godiva 2021 Mid-Autumn Festival Limited Edition chocolate gift box adopts the creative concept of "full moon, flowers bloom, before flowers and under the moon". The main picture of the gift box presents a golden full moon, and the brand logo is printed on the full moon, highlighting Godiva"s brand power in the chocolate category and giving the gift box its own high-end and rich temperament. It is the traditional feeling of the Chinese people that the moon is full and the flowers are blooming and rich. The golden autumn moon is full, full of love, birds and flowers, wealth and glory. Oriental traditional elements deduce fashion art style under modern art techniques. The entire collection of gift boxes has a design sensibility that reflects both the joyful western New Year and the added value of the limited Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival.

7、Wu fang zhu qing

Wu fang zhu qing | MarkingAwards Entry

Image source: Shenzhen YUTO Packaging Technology Co., Ltd.

The design elements are based on the "Secret of Rice Dumpling Technique" of Wu Fang Zhai. The main body of the box is made of eco-friendly sugar cane, and the design concept of the carrying handle comes from the interspersed art of wrapping rice dumpling leaves, combined with the "Secret of Rice Dumpling Technique" content, which is clearly layered. The excessive packaging of festive food has always been criticised, and the packaging waste after use is difficult to degrade and dispose of, which has a serious impact on the ecological environment. Unlike traditional festive food packaging, the main body of the dumpling box is made from bagasse, a natural plant source, which does not contain plastic and can be 100% degraded to carbon dioxide and water in the natural environment after use, thus not adding to the burden of the earth. At the same time, the humanised packaging, minimalist structural design and diversified functions also carry out the 3R"s environmental protection concept, which is refreshingly elegant and refreshing.

8、Mid Autumn Festival gift box

Mid Autumn Festival gift box | MarkingAwards Entry

Image source: Guangzhou Thinkplus Communication Co.Ltd.

Guangzhou Restaurant has two brands of "food culture" and "traditional festivals". However, it is not only the Mid Autumn Festival in Guangfu, but also the mid-autumn festival that people all over the country attach great importance to. Therefore, the brand puts forward a business topic: how to radiate the Cantonese food culture to more regions and different groups, especially the young groups with great consumption potential. In 2021, the joint gift box design of the two brands focused on visual presentation and replaced the words of Guangdong slang with the urban night view viewing route of the night tour of the Pearl River. Simulate the scene of people taking a boat with their relatives and friends to watch the night scenery of the city, drink Coca Cola and eat delicious moon cakes during the Mid Autumn Festival. According to the tour route, the illustration presents different night view wharf signs, with different degrees of full moon radian. The gift box is designed to be able to be combined at will, reorganize the packaging copy, and combine two or more gift boxes at will to create hundreds of different Mid Autumn Festival puzzles. Consumers can turn the gift box into a unique Mid Autumn Festival gift that can be combined according to their creativity, so as to stimulate consumers to buy more gift boxes to increase more creative combinations, Meet consumers" more sharing and social attributes.

9、Seesaw 2022 CNY Drip Bag Coffee Gift Box

Seesaw 2022 CNY Drip Bag Coffee Gift Box | MarkingAwards Entry

Image source: Seesaw Coffee

2022 is the Chinese lunar year of the tiger, and the product is designed with "tiger" and "CNY" as the background. Seesaw wants to make the drip bag coffee into a gift box that combines traditional CNY features and fashion trends. Expresses the attitude of contemporary youth: "The Year of the Tiger is coming, and the good luck is coming, but don"t be intimidated by life"s difficulties." The gift box design in the shape of a tiger head combines more trendy cultures and lifestyles while using traditional Chinese cultural symbols. Following the environmentally friendly brand concept. The rope handle is convenient for carrying, and it reduces the tote packaging waste. The inner box drawer design can be used for daily storage after use. It also can be transformed into a night light or a small portable lantern with a built-in LED light.

10、Lantern Moon Project · Moon Gift Box

Lantern Moon Project · Moon Gift Box | MarkingAwards Entry

Image source: SHUDAO

The gift box consists of two middle cylinders as the main storage structure, connected by a hinge structure between the two cylinders, and half a traditional paper lantern is stored between the two cylinders, and the lantern will be unfolded with the rotation of the two middle cylinders. Users can order one for their distant relatives and one for themselves. The concept of the half lantern lies in the sense of incompleteness caused by the separation from relatives, which corresponds to the full moon in the night sky. In the visual aspect of the gift box, the moon rabbit guards the lantern as the theme, using hot silver and special paper to create a festive atmosphere. The overall style is dominated by simple white to reflect the bright white moon on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival in the East. In the gift box, a set of corresponding lantern riddle cards can be attached to guess lantern riddles online with distant relatives.

11、The Mountain-cutting Zongzi – Interactive gift box for the Dragon Boat Festival

The Mountain-cutting Zongzi – Interactive gift box for the Dragon Boat Festival | MarkingAwards Entry

Image source: Hangzhou Song Y Song Culture Development Co. Ltd.

In Chinese, “mountain-cutting” means anything pioneering, hence the name of the creative zongzi in our gift box. The launch of the new product is expected to through the Dragon Boat Festival ceremony, and users went to a song Dynasty aesthetic roots of the journey. Meanwhile, “Mountain-cutting Zongzi” also conveys the brand message of Song Y Song: to present traditional Chinese food products in novel forms, as “tasty and healthy treats for festivals and special occasions”. The five themes – “seeing the mountain,” “cutting the mountain,” “meeting the mountain,” “finding the mountain” and “building the mountain”, delineate every step of user experience. Opening the zongzi gift box is like a ritual and “cutting the mountain” bodes well for our corporate customers, meaning blazing a new trail toward success. Upon opening the gift box, one is greeted with four mountain-shaped zongzi, individually wrapped in pyramid boxes of four colours, namely “golden mountain,” “silver mountain,” “black mountain,” and “green mountain”. There is an additional mystery box called “mystery mountain”. The four mountain-shaped zongzi each speaks of good blessings: the gold one wealth, the silver one happiness, the black one successful career, and the green one harmony with your family and friends. The “mystery mountain” contains a mountain-shaped bottle opener that hopefully will open up a new world of wealth, health and happiness.

12、Cha Cha Nutsism Daily Nuts Gift Box

Cha Cha Nutsism Daily Nuts Gift Box | MarkingAwards Entry

Image source: ChaCha Food Co.,Ltd.

The brand rethinks the meaning of nuts in people"s diet life, and proposes the concept of nuts foodism - "eating the food from trees" is the origin of human life, has a long history of eating, and gathers the natural nutrition essence from nuts, which is one of the healthy lifestyle inherited from ancient times. As a result, this ChaCha nutsism daily nuts gift box was designed----a tree green stump shape gift box, with four small life trees growing upwards inside, and each small tree consists of three green nuts jars. At the same time, the small nut jar can also become the base of the sharing tray, which makes the nuts can be shared more ceremonial. Whether it is daily life or high-end business scenarios, this gift box can make the meaning behind nuts foodism more visible. The brand hopes that people will be happy to explore the story behind the growth secrets of nuts in this packaging way. And further experience the importance of nuts in our life.

13、Gusu Tea Gift Box with Creative Structure

Gusu Tea Gift Box with Creative Structure | MarkingAwards Entry

Image source: Shanghai Young Sun Printing Co., Ltd.

Based on Tea’s culture and location feature, we combine the construction features of Suzhou Yuanlin (gardens) with the packaging box. In this way, we can use tea packaging structure to display the profound depth and beauty of Suzhou gardens. For the graphic design, the box also reveals the exquisite scenery and esthetic charm of Suzhou Pingtan, a storytelling and ballad singing in the Suzhou dialect. The design also tries to create a kind of artistic synaesthesia for consumers- not only seeing the picture of the box with eyes, touching the art paper texture by hand, but also have an association of hearing the singing by ears. Core construction characteristics of Suzhou Yuanlin (Gardens): blending pavilion, terrace, rockery, flower, stone, spring, tree by sizes changing, depth arranging, sense introducing etc. This gift box mainly uses structure to reflect this core feature. We print on several sheets distinctive construction units, i.e. flower, stone, pavilion, Suzhou Pingtan Singers etc. and bond them together to form a whole painting of the Suzhou garden. When the consumer pulls and opens it, the different layers of printed sheets will be gradually apart from each other and form depth- of- field effect. Meanwhile, there is a warm light appearing. The consumer can observe from the transparent window on the side of the box. A melodious and beautiful scenery with a garden and singers appears. The whisper-like ballad singing also seems to be haunting around. In this way, the box is not only functional but also meaningful and aesthetic.

02、Epilogue

From traditional New Year themes to IP co-branding and then the popular interactive experience, meta-universe and other concepts, to some extent, the development of gift boxes has also reflected the development of the trend of the times. Compared to everyday packaging, the design of a gift box is like a defined theme essay, which is a challenge as well as an opportunity for designers to explore a deeper theme and present the product more creatively and interestingly.

Despite the fact that gift boxes are often criticised by the public for being "over-packaged", we have seen the efforts of many practitioners to make packaging sustainable today. The ritual of the gift box is never about "wastefulness", it is about the anticipation of the unknown, the surprise of receiving a gift, the fun of opening and interacting with the gift box, and the love of the person giving the gift. The above is what gift boxes are for, and Marking Awards welcomes more great gift box designs in the future!

03、MA Gallery

In keeping with the theme of FBIF 2022, food packaging is also evolving in a rapid wave of development, with a wide range of new and innovative packaging designs emerging. This year"s FBIF iFood Show also features the MA Gallery, showcasing the global trend of innovation in food packaging design. The MA Gallery emphasises the competition value of the Marking Awards, highlighting the aesthetic value of packaging design, communicating the brand concept of packaging design and leading future design trends.

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2021 MA Art Museum site photos

Image source: FoodInnovation

04、About Marking Awards

Marking Awards（MA） initiated by FBIF (Food & Beverage Innovation Forum), is a food and beverage packaging design contest organized in Shanghai since 2016 and targets the global. In a forum platform that attracts worldwide attention, Marking Awards was born to discover and praise brilliant F&B package designs, and to encourage communication between local and global design power. In doing so, the awards committee aims to speed up F&B brands’ packaging innovation, package functional optimization, and improve their aesthetic standards, thus finally all the stakeholders can build a creative packaging ecosystem together.

05、MA Application Enquiry & Cooperation:

For more information about Marking Awards or if you are interested in the business cooperation with the MA Gallery at FBIF iFood Show, please contact us on WeChat below.

Doris

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