Press Release
Tiantai Huangcha Brand Identity by Zhejiang Gongshang University Is Granted the Silver A' Design Award in Graphics, Illustration and Visual Communication Design
Zhejiang Gongshang University honored for graphics, illustration and visual communication design by the international grand jury of the 2024 - 2025 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 21, 2025 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has announced that Tiantai Huangcha Brand Identity by Zhejiang Gongshang University, designed for 天台县人民政府, has been granted the Silver A' Design Award in the Graphics, Illustration and Visual Communication Design category. The award was conferred within the 2024 - 2025 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.
The Silver A' Design Award Explained
The Silver A' Design Award celebrates top-tier designs that embody excellence and innovation. This award acknowledges creations that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also highly functional, reflecting the designer's deep understanding and skill. Silver A' Design Award recipients are recognized for their contribution to raising industry standards and advancing the practice of design. Their work often incorporates original innovations and elicits a strong emotional response, making a notable impact on the improvement of everyday life.
About Tiantai Huangcha Brand Identity
Tiantai Huangcha is a brand identity and packaging design created for a regional yellow tea. The logo combines dot and leaf shapes in a simple graphic language. One circle symbolizes the essence of tea. Two circles express the interaction between people and nature. Three circles represent friends seated around a table to share tea. A tea lotus graphic below echoes the three dots and completes the mark. The packaging uses matte ceramic with metal handles, and the tea canister form follows the shape of the logo.
About Zhejiang Gongshang University
Associate Professor / Master's Supervisor, Zhejiang Gongshang University Responsibilities: Brand Design / Visual Design, etc. Mr. Zhao graduated with a master's degree from Tongji University. He currently works as the Design Director at Hangzhou Big Soundwave Culture Creative Co., Ltd., and has been engaged in brand and VI design for 18 years. He has served various brands including Alibaba Group, Ant Group, Zhejiang Natural Museum, Zhejiang Wuzhen Internet Conference, Louwailou, and has completed nearly 50 projects. He has won awards such as the Red Dot Award, IF Design Award, Hong Kong Global Design Award, and Hiiibrand Award.
Award Record
With this recognition, Zhejiang Gongshang University is a winner of 6 A' Design Awards. The awards span the editions from 2023 - 2024 to 2024 - 2025 of the A' Design Award & Competition.
About the A' Graphics, Illustration and Visual Communication Design Award
The A' Graphic Design Award is an international graphic design competition recognizing good graphic designs by best creative agencies and designers worldwide. The competition is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to graphic designers, communication designers, graphic artists and illustrators from all countries. Entries typically include logos, posters, infographics, brochures, packaging designs and business cards. Awarded graphic designs are published at https://designers.org/design-category/graphics
About A' Design Award & Competition
A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade organized annually since 2008. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The A' Design Award has a philanthropic mission 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. Entries are peer reviewed and anonymously evaluated 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. The A' Design Prize granted to eligible laureates 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, the upload of a work and the 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. Further information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://designers.org/152976
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/152976
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!152976
- Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/346698
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
- Tiantai Huangcha Brand Identity
- Function
- Brand Identity
- Category
- Graphics, Illustration and Visual Communication Design
- Discipline
- Communication Design
- Industry
- Branding & Advertising and Arts
- Colors
- Light Gray, Dark Slate Gray, Black, Silver and Dim Gray
- Images
- 5
- Client
- 天台县人民政府
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Zhejiang Gongshang University
- Country
- China
- Recognition
- Silver A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2024 - 2025
- Design ID
- #152976
Credits
- Team
- Designer：Kan Zhao
- Image Credits
- Designer：Kan Zhao
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- The combination of dots shapes and leaves condenses the Buddhist meditation into a logo graphic with multiple meanings. The circle symbolises the essence of tea; the arrangement of two circles shows the interaction between man and nature; and the arrangement of three circles signifies the sharing and gathering of friends who are seated around a table to drink three cups of tea together. The tea lotus graphic below the logo echoes the three dots above, ultimately constituting the complete logo.
- Inspiration
- We were commissioned by the government of Tiantai County, Zhejiang Province to design the brand identity and packaging for the local speciality tea 'Tiantai Huangcha.' As the birthplace of yellow tea, Tiantai Temple was asked to incorporate its concept of 'Tea Zen and One Taste' into the design; to transform the traditional process of sun-drying and drinking tea into visual symbols; and to integrate a variety of cultural imagery through geometric shapes that are easy to recognise and remember .
- Research
- This project creates a brand image and packaging system for "Tiantai Yellow Tea". Centered on "Buddhist culture," the design blends Zen aesthetics with tea-making traditions. The main graphic combines dots and leaf shapes. The tea lotus below forms a "poet monk with clasped hands," reflecting the "tea and Zen" philosophy. The design balances cultural richness with efficiency, emphasizing the tea's rarity and premium status. The brand gained government recognition and media coverage.
- Challenge
- Cultural abstraction: how to transform Buddhist Zen into a universal symbol? This can be done by lowering the narrative cognitive threshold through a simple graphic with different numbers of circles, one circle, two circles and three circles; Breaking barriers: how to balance high-end positioning and mass communication? Minimalist design of gifts and everyday scenes to strengthen the ‘scarcity + cultural value’ label; Production: process cost control for complex shaped tea canisters, using modular moulds to reduce customisation costs.
- Realization and Technology
- Material Selection: The packaging is made of matte ceramic and metal handles, echoing the natural texture; balancing a sense of high-end with sustainability; 3D modelling: The tea canister form was modelled based on the logo graphic to ensure that the shape was consistent with the brand symbol. This creation, through the simple design, helps the brand to show the rich connotation, and leave a deeper memory and sense of identity in the user's mind.
- Operation and Interaction
- Unpacking Ceremony: The layered structure of the gift box needs to be opened in a specific order, simulating the Zen tea ceremony; The combination of the tea canister and the tea tray enhances the sense of opening ceremony, which fits the needs of gift-giving scenarios, and the minimalist graphics reduce the cost of recognition, helping the brand to quickly enter new markets and strengthen the brand's memory. This minimalist symbol system can be expanded to tea utensils and cultural tourism products (such as meditation experience periphery) to continue the brand life cycle.
- Project Duration and Location
- The project started its design phase in October 2022, was completed in April 2023 and officially released in May 2024.
- Specifications
- Round, crescent shaped tea canister: diameter 120mm*height 150mm (capacity 150-200g); Tea tray: leaf-shaped design, length 200mm*width 100mm. In packaging design, round tea canisters, crescent-shaped tea canisters, diagonally placed tea cups and leaf-shaped tea trays are the basic apparatus for tea tasting. At the same time, through the clever combination of the tea canister and the tea tray, it forms an isomorphic design that echoes with the logo graphic, which effectively strengthens the brand impression.
- Keywords
- Brand Narrative, Brand Design, Symbolic Design, Sustainable Packaging, Regional IPs
