Gold Graphics, Illustration and Visual Communication Design · 2023
Chinese Style Coffee Packaging And Posters
by Weina Xiao
- A' Design Award 2023 Gold Winner in Graphics, Illustration and Visual Communication Design
- Awarded April 15, 2023
- CLIENT: Manta Ray Coffee Roasters
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 126,883
- Verification code 3900A3A3D3 · Verify this award
About Chinese Style Coffee Packaging And Posters
Chinese Style Coffee is a series of illustrations created for a coffee bean brand and applied to packaging and posters. The illustrations combine coffee culture with traditional Chinese culture. Characters from Peking Opera and Chinese swordsmen replace the usual figures of coffee advertising. The poses come from Peking Opera performance and recall the gesture of lifting a coffee cup. Each illustration is drawn in a pencil style with the Procreate application, which keeps a handmade feel and fine detail. The size of each illustration is 21 by 29.7 centimeters.
WeinaXiao's Chinese Style Coffee Packaging And Posters represents a remarkable achievement in contemporary visual communication, synthesizing centuries-old artistic traditions with modern commercial design imperatives in a manner that honors both domains with equal reverence. The work participates in a venerable tradition of figure illustration that traces lineages through classical woodblock printing, scholarly painting manuals, and theatrical costume documentation, yet reimagines these conventions for contemporary brand storytelling. The artist demonstrates exceptional command of monochromatic rendering techniques, building complex tonal architectures through disciplined hatching and cross-hatching that recall both Western engraving traditions and East Asian ink painting practices. Particularly notable is the textural differentiation achieved through mark-making variation—the scalloped patterns suggesting embroidered cloud motifs read distinctly from the softer cross-hatching of flowing silk, while stippled passages create the luminous quality of pearl ornaments. The conceptual brilliance of positioning classical theatrical figures as coffee connoisseurs creates productive cultural dialogue, suggesting that contemporary rituals of taste and appreciation carry the same ceremonial weight as traditional performance arts. The compositional strategy balances asymmetrical placement with careful visual weight distribution, the dynamic diagonal energy of the warrior's pennant flags finding counterpoint in the serene verticality of the feminine figure. The inclusion of a modern coffee apparatus alongside traditional furniture creates temporal layering that speaks to cultural continuity and evolution. The restrained elegance of accompanying typography enhances rather than competes with the illustrative content. Viewers might contemplate how this work invites reflection on the ways cultural traditions remain vital through thoughtful adaptation and how everyday pleasures can be elevated through artistic framing that connects present practices to historical precedent.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- The illustrations contain elements of traditional Chinese culture. It shows the characters in Peking Opera, Chinese swordsmen and so on.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Illustration size:21cmx29.7cm,300pdi
- Tags
- China, Coffee, PekingOpera, PencilDrawing, ChineseCulture, ChineseStyle
- Production Technology
- Illustrations in this series are drawn by Procreate software. Good detail and tactility are maintained.
- Design Challenge
- The difficulty of this project lies in the combination of Chinese and Western cultures. Keep the interest and the relevance of things, the depiction of the details of the picture, and the visual effects used in the packaging of the poster.
- Project Duration
- The project started in China in October 2020 and was completed in China in January 2021.
- Operation Flow
- The key to this design is the ingenious combination of Chinese and Western cultures. Add elemental features with identification and memory points. Keeping the details detailed while generating interest.
- Research
- In order to combine Chinese culture with coffee, I chose Peking Opera characters instead of the protagonists in the advertisement. Their movements are the special movements in Peking Opera performances. People can find familiar coffee in the illustrations, and at the same time, it can also make coffee lovers in the world interested in traditional Chinese culture.
- Inspiration
- This is an illustration for a Chinese-owned coffee bean brand. The design is inspired by traditional Chinese culture. The movements of the characters in the Peking Opera characters are very interesting, similar to the movements of people picking up a coffee cup. The style of pencil drawing can give people a handmade feel. It is an interesting attempt to combine coffee elements with traditional Chinese elements.
- Image Credits
- Image#1:illustration Weina Xiao,2021
Image#2:illustration Weina Xiao,2021
Image#3:illustration Weina Xiao,2021
Image#4:illustration Weina Xiao,2021
Image#5:illustration Weina Xiao,2021