Iron Graphics, Illustration and Visual Communication Design · 2026
Yin Yi Hu Branding Design
- A' Design Award 2026 Iron Winner in Graphics, Illustration and Visual Communication Design
- Awarded April 15, 2026
- CLIENT: Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 4,783
- Verification code B5E4DFF55F · Verify this award
About Yin Yi Hu Branding Design
Yin Yi Hu is a brand identity and packaging design created for a contemporary gin. The design translates the folk art of Yichuan paper cutting into a geometric visual system applied to the logo, the label and the packaging. The motifs are built on a parametric grid and align into a complete symbol when the bottle is held upright. The bottle holds 500 ml and is made of high clarity flint glass. Labels are printed by offset with matte lamination and selective varnish. The intent is to connect the cultural heritage of the Yellow River with modern design.
Ma Lan's Yin Yi Hu Branding Design demonstrates sophisticated integration of contemporary visual identity principles with cultural heritage celebration, positioning the work within the rich lineage of environmental graphic design that transforms commercial spaces into distinctive branded experiences while honoring traditional visual vocabularies and typographic systems. The design achieves notable compositional clarity through bold chromatic decisions, deploying a vibrant magenta-crimson field as the primary brand color that commands attention within urban commercial contexts while establishing immediate memorability and differentiation, this confident color choice suggesting both contemporary design sensibility and cultural associations with celebration, vitality, and auspicious energy. The typographic system demonstrates accomplished bilingual integration, balancing substantial traditional script characters with clean romanized transliteration in a geometric sans-serif that ensures accessibility across diverse audiences while maintaining visual hierarchy and legibility at multiple viewing distances and scales, the letterforms exhibiting crisp execution and proportional refinement that speaks to careful typographic consideration. The environmental application reveals thoughtful brand architecture, extending the core identity elements across multiple surfaces including suspended textile banners, applied counter graphics, and glazing treatments, creating cohesive visual experience that guides customers from exterior threshold through interior space while maintaining consistent brand presence without overwhelming the human-scaled environment. The decorative vocabulary of stylized botanical and floral motifs enriches the brand expression with warmth and organic vitality, these elements appearing to reference traditional paper-cutting aesthetics and folk ornamental traditions while rendered in simplified contemporary linear forms that integrate harmoniously with the modern typographic approach, suggesting design practice that values cultural continuity alongside innovation. The chromatic strategy beyond the signature magenta demonstrates sophistication through the introduction of chartreuse-lime accent passages that provide complementary vibrancy and contemporary energy, these bright interventions balanced against extensive warm neutral zones of natural wood materiality that ground the composition in tactile reality and domestic warmth, the resulting palette achieving both visual excitement and environmental comfort, stimulating yet inviting. The lighting design contributes substantially to the overall experiential quality, warm-toned artificial sources creating pools of amber radiance that model surfaces, activate wood grain, and generate atmospheric depth while supporting the brand's hospitable positioning, the illumination suggesting care, craft, and welcoming intention. The work invites consideration of how contemporary branding practice can honor cultural heritage and traditional visual languages while employing bold modernist strategies of color, simplification, and graphic clarity, creating commercial environments that function effectively within competitive contemporary contexts while maintaining distinctive cultural identity and human-scaled warmth, one might observe how successful brand environments balance immediate visual impact with sustained experiential quality that rewards repeated encounter and extended inhabitation.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- Yinyi Hu is a contemporary brand rooted in the cultural heritage of the Yellow River. It transforms the traditional art of Yichuan paper cutting into a refined geometric visual system expressed through its logo, packaging, and brand environment. Unlike conventional gin brands, it integrates regional storytelling with modern aesthetics. Its strength lies in turning intangible cultural heritage into a distinctive, premium identity that unites craftsmanship, culture, and contemporary design.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Bottle capacity 500 ml. Bottle dimensions 75 mm x 75 mm x 230 mm. Glass thickness 3.5 mm, high clarity flint glass. Aluminum screw cap 30 mm diameter with tamper evident seal. Label 210 mm x 90 mm, 120 gsm coated art paper with matte lamination and selective UV. Secondary carton 160 mm x 80 mm x 260 mm, 350 gsm FSC certified board. Transport carton 400 mm x 330 mm x 280 mm, double wall corrugated board.
- Tags
- Yellow River Culture, Contemporary Gin, Cultural Branding, Packaging Design, Yichuan Paper Cutting, Geometric Visual System, Premium Spirits, Heritage Innovation
- Production Technology
- The visual system was developed through parametric grid construction and modular geometric reduction derived from Yichuan paper cutting motifs. Vector based refinement ensured scalability across formats. Packaging utilizes CMYK plus spot color offset printing with high density inks, combined with matte lamination and selective UV varnish to enhance contrast. Structural packaging prototypes were tested using digital mockups and 3D render validation prior to mass production.
- Design Challenge
- The primary challenge was translating profound Yellow River cultural symbolism into a contemporary gin brand without falling into superficial decoration. Historically and socially, the risk lay in misinterpreting intangible heritage or reducing it to visual ornament. Externally, constraints included alcohol packaging regulations, production tolerances, material limits, and cost control. Balancing cultural authenticity, premium positioning, structural feasibility, and scalable manufacturing required continuous refinement and cross disciplinary coordination.
- Project Duration
- The project commenced in March 2025 in Xi'an, China, and was completed in January 2026 in Xi'an. All phases, including cultural research on Yellow River heritage, concept development, visual system construction, packaging engineering, prototyping, and production supervision, were carried out locally. The final outcome was prepared for professional presentation and industry exhibition in 2026.
- Operation Flow
- The Design is designed for an intuitive and engaging experience. The bottle opens with a smooth twist cap and a controlled pour neck to ensure precise serving. The visual system guides interaction, as the geometric motifs align when the bottle is held upright, creating a complete cultural symbol. The structured gift box unfolds in layers, revealing the bottle gradually, enhancing anticipation. This layered interaction elevates ritual, strengthens brand memory, and creates a refined tasting experience.
- Research
- Cultural and design driven applied research. Research Objectives: To translate Yellow River heritage into a contemporary gin identity. Methodology: Visual analysis and iterative prototyping. Data Collection and Research Tools Used: Field studies, archival review, sketches and digital modeling. Participants or Experiments: Designers and local cultural references. Results: A coherent visual and structural system. Insights and Impacts: Heritage can drive premium branding. Effect: Strengthened cultural value in business and design practice.
- Inspiration
- The project was inspired by the cultural heritage of the Yellow River, particularly the folk art of Yichuan paper cutting. I aimed to transform traditional cultural symbols into a contemporary beverage brand that integrates taste and visual experience. My motive was to create a cultural carrier that connects tourism with local identity, allowing consumers to experience regional culture through modern design and packaging.
- Image Credits
- Image #1: Designers Ma Lan and Jinyuan Zhang (Product Designer / Visual Designer), Zhanlu Sweet and Moisturizing Tea Main Packaging, 2026.
Image #2: Designers Wang Yinghua and Huang Wanhui (Illustrator / Graphic Designer), Botanical and Han Inspired Illustration Series, 2026.
Image #3: Designers Xu Lianfa, Xinyan Shen and Tang Guangyi (Packaging Engineer / Visual Designer), Light Luxury Gift Box Structure and Visual System, 2026.
Image #4: Designers Ma Lan, Wang Yinghua, Wenjie Zhong, Aiwen Shen and Huang Wanhui (Product Designer / Illustrator / Graphic Designer), Ingredient Visualization and Cultural Motif Development, 2026.
Image #5: Designers Ma Lan, Tang Guangyi, Xu Lianfa (Product Designer / Visual Designer / Packaging Engineer / Design Coordination), Integrated Packaging and Structural Realization, 2026. - Patents
- Copyrights belong to Lan Ma
Trademark (2026) Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts.
Patent Pending. Patent Holder: Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts. 2026. China.
Colors of Yin Yi Hu Branding Design
Design Interview about Yin Yi Hu Branding Design
The core design concept of this "Yinyihu" brand and packaging design is "intangible cultural heritage revitalization, regional empowerment, and cultural tourism preservation," consistently adhering to three design principles: cultural authenticity, local innovation, and scenario practicality. The design inspiration is entirely derived from the dual intangible cultural heritage of Yichuan, deeply drawing upon the brewing techniques of Yichuan thick rice wine and the traditional art of Yichuan paper-cutting, while also incorporating the unique Yellow River regional cultural charm of Hukou Waterfall. I uphold the creative philosophy of "letting intangible cultural heritage step out of the countryside and letting the scenery carry away the culture," rejecting the empty piling up of traditional Chinese symbols. Rooted in local folk customs and the atmosphere of daily life, I integrate Yellow River culture, paper-cutting aesthetics, and the folk customs of thick rice wine, creating a regional cultural tourism brand design that combines local warmth with modern aesthetics.
During the design process, I focused on balancing **cultural fidelity, visual recognizability, and cultural tourism suitability**. On the one hand, I accurately reproduced the original artistic texture of Yichuan paper-cutting and the folk attributes of Hukou wine, preserving the purity of local culture; on the other hand, I optimized visual expression to suit the aesthetic preferences and cultural tourism consumption scenarios of contemporary tourists. My core design objective was to break away from the outdated and homogenized packaging of local specialties, allowing traditional intangible cultural heritage to enter the public eye in a simple and modern way. At the same time, I aimed to make the packaging not just a product shell, but a portable and communicable carrier of Yichuan culture, so that tourists would take away not only Hukou wine products, but also cultural memories and best wishes unique to the Hukou region.
Based on the award-winning design, I will continue to improve the overall visual system of the Yinyihu brand, extending it to more product categories of packaging, related cultural and creative products, and offline brand visual applications, achieving a systematic and unified upgrade of the brand's visual identity. Simultaneously, I plan to integrate the design with the cultural tourism development of the Hukou Waterfall scenic area, promoting its implementation in more public spaces and cultural tourism exhibitions, thus broadening the reach of Yichuan's dual intangible cultural heritage. Furthermore, I will continuously iterate on design details, optimizing them to suit different consumption scenarios based on market feedback, ensuring this intangible cultural heritage tourism design effectively empowers the local cultural tourism industry and becomes a landmark visual IP for the external dissemination of Yichuan's regional culture.
The entire design and creation cycle for the Yinyihu brand and packaging took nearly a month. In the early stage, I spent a week conducting research on Yichuan intangible cultural heritage, collecting paper-cutting patterns, and sorting out regional cultural materials to solidify the cultural foundation of the design. In the middle stage, I spent two weeks completing the brand IP image conception, color system customization, pattern reconstruction, and multiple iterations and refinements of the packaging layout. In the final week, I focused on detail optimization, color calibration, adaptation to practical processes, and scene testing to ensure that the design takes into account cultural texture, visual aesthetics, and practicality, with every detail fitting the core of regional culture and cultural tourism usage scenarios.
This design was commissioned specifically to align with the cultural tourism development of Yichuan. I tailored this exclusive design concept by combining the unique characteristics of local intangible cultural heritage with the needs of the scenic area's cultural tourism market. The core concept of "integration of intangible cultural heritage and modernization of local culture" stems from the fact that current packaging for beverages and cultural tourism in many places suffers from cultural ambiguity, stylistic homogenization, and a lack of regional distinctiveness. Hukou Waterfall possesses unique Yellow River culture and Yichuan's intangible cultural heritage resources, yet it lacks a corresponding exclusive brand visual system. Therefore, I hope to delve into the highlights of local culture through design, transforming niche intangible cultural heritage into a cultural tourism visual language that is perceptible, consumable, and easily disseminated by the public, filling the gap in local characteristic brand design.
Currently, this "Yinyihu" brand and packaging design has been exclusively applied to the Yichuan Hukou Waterfall Scenic Area's corresponding thick liquor cultural tourism products, serving the official production and sales of the local brand. It is exclusively authorized for use by the local official brand and has not been authorized for reuse by other companies. I currently have no plans to sell or lease the design copyright. The core value of this design is to empower the development of local intangible cultural heritage and cultural tourism, rather than to monetize commercial copyright. In the future, I will continue to cooperate with the local brand to deeply refine the design implementation and system upgrade, uphold the public cultural value of the design, continuously empower Yichuan's cultural tourism and intangible cultural heritage dissemination, and ensure the design's exclusive regionality and cultural purity.
The core driving force behind this design is my sense of mission to revitalize local intangible cultural heritage and the social responsibility of cultural tourism design. Yichuan Thick Rice Wine and Yichuan Paper-cutting are both precious local intangible cultural heritages, but for a long time they have lacked modern visual packaging and dissemination platforms, remaining hidden in the countryside and little known, making them difficult to adapt to the contemporary cultural tourism market. At the same time, Hukou Waterfall, as a well-known cultural tourism scenic spot, lacks a landmark cultural and creative brand that can represent the unique characteristics of these two local intangible cultural heritages. I hope to use design as a bridge to break down the barriers between traditional intangible cultural heritage and modern cultural tourism, revitalizing local culture with youthful and modern visual language, allowing niche intangible cultural heritage to transcend regional limitations and be seen, recognized, and disseminated by more tourists and the general public.
The creation of this series was deeply influenced by my long-held belief in multicultural design thinking, while also drawing inspiration from Hugh Miller's humanistic narrative design and Temi Coker's fusion of diverse folk customs. Hugh Miller's approach of combining local culture, material textures, and modern minimalism inspired me to balance rustic textures with a modern minimalist visual style, avoiding designs that appear outdated or tacky. Temi Coker's method of integrating regional folk aesthetics with modern design taught me to deconstruct traditional paper-cutting patterns and reconstruct a visual language that fits contemporary aesthetics. I adopted their people-centered, locally rooted creative logic, combined with the essence of Eastern aesthetics, to create cultural tourism design works that possess both local characteristics and an international aesthetic vision.
The core target audience for this design is primarily domestic and international tourists visiting the Hukou Waterfall scenic area, as well as consumers of cultural and tourism souvenirs. It also caters to young consumers who appreciate intangible cultural heritage-themed creative products and regionally distinctive items. On one hand, it meets the souvenir needs of short-distance travelers, offering lightweight, aesthetically pleasing, and meaningful gifts suitable for travel mementos and gifts to friends and family. On the other hand, it aligns with the aesthetic preferences of contemporary young consumers, breaking away from the outdated visual appeal of traditional rural products and combining both aesthetic appeal and cultural connotation. Furthermore, its simple yet sophisticated visual style also caters to the aesthetic and collecting needs of tourists, cultural enthusiasts, and cultural researchers, covering both mass consumption and cultural dissemination scenarios.
Unlike most cultural tourism packaging designs on the market that simply pile up folk elements and follow the trend of traditional Chinese style templates, the biggest difference of this work is that it achieves a deep integration of two intangible cultural heritages and a precise expression of culture, rather than a superficial patchwork of symbols. Most rural cultural tourism designs are either too outdated and rustic or too modernized and lose their local heritage, while this design precisely balances the rural texture with modern aesthetics. It features an original paper-cutting old man IP image, with a regional color system exclusive to the Yellow River yellow, paper-cutting red, and soil black, accurately anchoring the unique cultural label of Yichuan, and possessing a strong sense of uniqueness and recognizability. At the same time, the design takes into account auspicious meaning, practical function, and cultural tourism communication attributes, truly achieving one culture per package, distinguishing it from homogenized general cultural tourism designs.
The brand name, "Yin Yi Hu," is a unique name crafted by combining regional characteristics and cultural charm. The homophone "Yin Yi Hu" (meaning "drink a pot") is colloquial, friendly, and easy to remember and spread among tourists. The name evokes a sense of place and everyday life, fitting the product's attribute of drinking thick liquor, while also incorporating the regional name "Yichuan" to strengthen its local identity. The name not only conveys the relaxed experience of "drinking a pot of local good liquor and experiencing the local customs," but also embodies the warm hospitality and simple folk customs of the people of Yichuan. This simple and unpretentious naming approach matches the brand's core values of local flavor, sincerity, and warmth, giving the brand an inherent warmth and a strong sense of regional identity.
The entire project adopts a creative model that combines digital design with traditional cultural research. In the initial stage, relying on on-site research, hand-drawn pattern sketching, and the collection of intangible cultural heritage materials, original patterns and folk elements of Yichuan paper-cutting were gathered and organized. In the mid-stage, the core design work utilized Adobe's full suite of professional design software to complete brand IP creation, color system customization, layout design, packaging rendering, and visual refinement. In the later stage, visual design tools were used to optimize the overall visual proportions and adapt to the different packaging media and application processes. Digital tools ensured the standardized and refined implementation of the design, while hand-drawn research and polishing preserved the original warmth and unique texture of the intangible cultural heritage art.
The most unique core highlight of this design is the **original visual system that integrates two intangible cultural heritages with a balance between local and modern aesthetics**. First, the original paper-cutting style elderly IP image deeply recreates the essence of Yichuan paper-cutting art, serving as a unique visual symbol exclusive to Yichuan Thick Wine, distinguishing it from common traditional Chinese elements. Second, the exclusive three-color system—Yellow River yellow, paper-cutting red, and earth black—precisely echoes the Yellow River landscape, paper-cutting intangible cultural heritage, and the local landscape, resulting in strong regional recognition. Finally, the design achieves a high degree of unity between cultural connotation, visual aesthetics, and cultural tourism functions. Every paper-cutting pattern carries the beautiful blessing of happiness and prosperity, making the packaging not only a product carrier but also a disseminable and enduring intangible cultural heritage artwork.
I led this project, guiding the team to complete the core creative concept, cultural positioning, and overall design system, while also engaging in multi-faceted professional collaboration. During the creative process, I communicated extensively with local Yichuan intangible cultural heritage paper-cutting inheritors to ensure the cultural authenticity and folk accuracy of the paper-cutting patterns; I also interacted with local artisans specializing in Choujiu (a type of rice wine) to understand the product's attributes and the core of local culture; and I collaborated with local craft technicians and cultural tourism project leaders to address professional issues such as packaging materials, printing processes, and mass production. Through multi-faceted cross-disciplinary collaboration, we balanced the cultural professionalism, artistic innovation, and feasibility of the design, ensuring the complete successful implementation of the entire project.
In this intangible cultural heritage tourism design, technology serves as a core support for **empowering expression, ensuring implementation, and optimizing presentation**, rather than being the core of creation. Digital design technology helped me accurately reconstruct traditional paper-cutting patterns, optimize color matching and layout proportions, and solve the problems of traditional intangible cultural heritage patterns being rough and unsuitable for modern packaging. Printing and process implementation technologies allowed the original hand-painted textures of intangible cultural heritage to be presented in a standardized and refined manner, adapting to mass production needs. Technology effectively compensates for the shortcomings of traditional folk art in terms of modernization and large-scale dissemination, but it serves the expression of the cultural core throughout the process, without replacing humanistic creativity and cultural reflection, truly realizing the revitalization of intangible cultural heritage through technology.
This design was completed based entirely on solid field research and industry analysis, possessing strong practical basis. In the early stages, I conducted a special study on Yichuan's intangible cultural heritage, systematically sorting out the symbolic meanings, color systems, and artistic characteristics of Yichuan paper-cutting, as well as the folk cultural background of Yichuan rice wine. Simultaneously, I surveyed the Hukou Waterfall cultural tourism market, analyzing the design pain points and consumer aesthetic preferences of similar local specialty product packaging. Combining cultural tourism consumption data, tourist aesthetic trends, and the needs of local cultural dissemination, I avoided the problem of industry homogenization, establishing a design positioning of "rustic + modern," ensuring that the design is both rooted in local culture and aligns with market demands and public aesthetics, achieving a two-way fit between culture and the market.
The biggest challenge in creating this project was balancing the **original texture of traditional intangible cultural heritage with the minimalist aesthetics of modern cultural tourism.** Traditional Yichuan paper-cutting patterns are intricate and rustic; directly applying them would make the packaging look old-fashioned and heavy, not aligning with contemporary cultural tourism aesthetics. Oversimplification, on the other hand, would lose the core of intangible cultural heritage and damage the integrity of folk customs. Simultaneously, how to naturally integrate the folk customs of thick rice wine, Yellow River culture, and paper-cutting—two intangible cultural heritage elements—while avoiding element piling up and visual clutter, was also a core challenge. Through repeated deconstruction and reconstruction of intangible cultural heritage elements, multiple color iterations, and layout simplification and optimization, I ultimately found a balance between tradition and modernity, preserving the authentic essence of intangible cultural heritage while creating a simple, sophisticated, and new visual effect suitable for cultural tourism scenarios.
My core purpose in submitting my work to international design competitions is to bring the niche intangible cultural heritage and rural tourism designs of Yichuan to the world stage. Most regional intangible cultural heritage creative products remain confined to local dissemination, struggling to gain international recognition. I hope to use an authoritative international competition platform to examine the professional value of local rural designs, proving that intangible cultural heritage in eastern counties also possesses international aesthetic and innovative value. Simultaneously, leveraging the global reach of the competition, I aim to promote Yichuan paper-cutting, Yichuan thick rice wine (a type of rice wine), and Yellow River regional culture to the world, breaking down international stereotypes about Chinese rural design and showcasing the unique charm and innovative vitality of Chinese county-level intangible cultural heritage to the world.
This project allowed me to deeply refine my core competencies in the **modern translation of regional intangible cultural heritage and cross-border design for cultural tourism**. I became more proficient in deconstructing, reconstructing, and innovating traditional folk elements, learning to adapt them to modern aesthetics and commercial applications while upholding cultural orthodoxy. It also enhanced my comprehensive abilities in cultural research, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and market adaptation, and deepened my understanding of the core value of cultural tourism design: "serving industry, disseminating culture, and preserving memories." Furthermore, it strengthened my initial commitment to deeply cultivating rural intangible cultural heritage design, recognizing that high-quality regional design can truly empower local cultural dissemination and rural cultural tourism development.
I would like to add that Yinyi Teapot is not just a brand packaging design, but also a replicable solution for revitalizing county-level intangible cultural heritage and upgrading the visual appeal of cultural tourism. Compared to mere visual creation, the greatest value of this design lies in providing a modern and innovative path for niche regional intangible cultural heritage and local cultural tourism products, proving that local culture does not need to follow trends; it inherently possesses unique and sophisticated aesthetic and communicative value. In the future, I will continue to delve into county-level intangible cultural heritage and cultural tourism design, using more original, practical, and engaging works to revitalize local folk customs, empower the upgrading of the local cultural tourism industry, and allow more traditional culture hidden in the countryside to reach the public and the international community through design.