Cansu Dagbagli Ferreira Is Honored with the Silver A' Design Award for Zona Branding and Packaging in Advertising, Marketing and Communication Design

Cansu Dagbagli Ferreira honored for advertising, marketing and communication design by the international grand jury of the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

COMO, Italy, April 22, 2026 /DesignNewswire/ Zona Branding and Packaging by Cansu Dagbagli Ferreira, designed for Cansu Ferreira, has been granted the Silver A' Design Award in the Advertising, Marketing and Communication Design category, A' Design Award & Competition has announced. The award was conferred within the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition and was decided through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who evaluated anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.

What the Silver A' Design Award Means

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 Zona Branding and Packaging

Zona is the first hard seltzer of Angola, bridging local heritage with a contemporary aesthetic, featuring a brand identity inspired by the Huambo springs and the Okavango River. The design centers on a contemporary, bold aesthetic that uses monochromatic fruit based palettes and geometric icons to draw focus. A custom logotype incorporates a hidden water splash, symbolizing the essence of life and flow of the rivers. By combining vibrant colors with a clean, white based layout, Zona offers a fresh, uplifting visual experience that celebrates its origins through a young, design forward lens.

About Cansu Dagbagli Ferreira

Cansu Dagbagli Ferreira is a designer specialized in brand design since 2014. She focuses on providing high quality and boutique brand strategy, visual identity, packaging and web design services. Recognized as an award-winning designer, Cansu Dagbagli Ferreira delivers exceptional quality work that elevates brands to new heights. A 360° brand approach, developed by her, has enabled her to forge brands that resonate and captivate. She has a credible portfolio, with esteemed international clients such as Johnson & Johnson, Jeep, Snapchat, Hallmark, Ambev. With a decade of international experience, she prioritizes client satisfaction above all.

Award Record

This recognition makes Cansu Dagbagli Ferreira a winner of 8 A' Design Awards. The awards span the editions from 2022 - 2023 to 2025 - 2026 of the A' Design Award & Competition.

About the A' Advertising, Marketing and Communication Design Award

The A' Advertising Design Award is an international advertising design competition recognizing good advertisement designs by designers and agencies worldwide. The competition is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to advertising designers, marketing professionals, communication designers and creative directors from all countries. Entries typically include advertisement campaigns, billboards, commercials, print ads, social media campaigns and direct mails. Awarded advertising designs are published at https://designers.org/design-category/advertising

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/181114
A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/181114
Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!181114
Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/340188
Further Information from the Laureate: https://shorturl.at/y13wm

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: Zona Branding and Packaging
Function: Branding and Packaging
Category: Advertising, Marketing and Communication Design
Discipline: Communication Design
Industry: Branding & Advertising
Colors: Black, Dark Green, Dark Slate Gray, Steel Blue and Cornflower Blue
Images: 5
Client: Cansu Ferreira

The Recognition

Laureate: Cansu Dagbagli Ferreira
Country: France
Recognition: Silver A' Design Award
Edition: 2025 - 2026
Design ID: #181114

Design Details

Unique Properties: Zona is the first hard seltzer brand of Angola, bridging local heritage with a contemporary aesthetic. The identity is defined by a "flow" concept, utilizing a hidden water splash symbol within the logotype. Each flavor is identified by a unique geometric icon and a monochromatic palette derived from the fruit's internal and external colors. This system creates a high-impact, clean look that communicates premium quality while remaining approachable and energetic for a young demographic.
Inspiration: The design is inspired by the life-giving springs of Huambo, which feed the Okavango River and sustain a diverse ecosystem. This "spirit of beginnings" and the concept of rivers as connectors served as the foundation for the brand. The geometric icons represent the structured yet fluid nature of water systems. Culturally, the brand draws from the vibrant energy of modern Angola, seeking to create a constructive and uplifting narrative that fosters positive community impact.
Research: Type: Market and Cultural Ethnographic Research. Objectives: To establish the first hard seltzer identity in the Angolan market. Methodology: Analysis of local fruit profiles and water-source symbolism. Tools: Color theory mapping and competitive visual audits. Participants: Local youth and community stakeholders. Results: Identified a gap for a wellness-oriented, low-alcohol beverage with local roots. Insights: Users preferred minimalist, non-busy designs that emphasize "freshness." Impact: The research influenced a visual language that promotes Angolan origins as a mark of premium quality.
Challenge: The primary challenge was introducing an entirely new product category: Hard Seltzer to a market while ensuring it felt authentically Angolan without relying on visual clichés. Balancing the constructive narrative of the brand's mission with the functional requirements of beverage packaging was critical. We overcame this by using the river metaphor, a symbol of life and unity, to create a sophisticated logotype and icon system that feels both globally competitive and deeply rooted in the local landscape of Huambo.
Realization and Technology: Design printed directly on the cans with Pantone system inks.
Operation and Interaction: The design process utilized a "Diverge and Converge" methodology to translate ecological concepts into a modern branding system. Initial sketches explored fluid river patterns, which were then refined into precise geometric symbols using Adobe Illustrator. A dual-tone color strategy was developed to ensure flavor distinction and shelf-standout. High-fidelity 3D renders were created in Adobe Dimension/Photoshop to simulate light-play on the metallic cans and test the visibility of the textured "a" logotype in real-world environments.
Project Duration and Location: 6 months, Angola, USA and France
Specifications: Aluminium 330 ml drink cans
Keywords: drink, alcohol, colorful, cocktail, angola, fruits