The Dark Side of the Moon Litir Gaoil by Maria-Luisa Uth

The Dark Side of the Moon Litir Gaoil by Maria-Luisa Uth is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2023 Duais Umha A' Design Award in Dealbhadh Grafaigean, Dealbh-mhìneachaidh agus Conaltradh Lèirsinneach Competition Category.

UmhaGrafaig· 2023

The Dark Side of the Moon Litir Gaoil

by Maria-Luisa Uth

Client: Fortuna Design Studio

Duais Umha A' Design Award Winner in Grafaig Category

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View at A' Design Award Press Release Award Badge

Colors

The Design

About The Dark Side of the Moon Litir Gaoil

'S e litir gaoil a th' ann an Taobh Dorcha na gealaich ag innse sgeulachd gaoil Sìneach traidiseanta. Tha am pròiseact seo a’ comharrachadh deagh dhealbhadh clò-bhualaidh le fòcas air seòrsa, dealbhan, dealbhadh grafaigeach agus stuthan. Bidh pasgan na litreach a’ fosgladh agus bidh taobh dorcha na gealaich ri fhaicinn. Tha an litir air a pasgadh mar sporan pòcaid, dòigh pasgadh à Iapan a rinn a slighe chun Roinn Eòrpa san 18mh linn agus a dh’ fhàs mòr-chòrdte mar dhòigh pasgadh litrichean gaoil. Tha am pàipear cleachdte, a dh’ fhaodar a phasgadh gun sgàineadh agus a tha tar-shoilleir, a’ leigeil le dà thaobh na litreach leaghadh nuair a chumas iad an aghaidh an t-solais.

The Recognition

About the Duais Umha A' Design Award

Tha The Dark Side of the Moon Litir Gaoil air Duais Umha A' Design Award a bhuannachadh, aithneachadh gu math urramach a bheirear do dhealbhaidhean sònraichte a tha air an comharrachadh le cruthachalachd, innleachd agus geurchuis. Tha buannaichean Umha nan obraichean gu math sgileil agus gu sònraichte cruthachail a dhearbhas eòlas farsaing, mac-meanmna agus tapachd an luchd-dealbhaidh. Thathar an dùil gum bi The Dark Side of the Moon Litir Gaoil na nì air a bheil mòran meas, ion-mholta agus gràdhach, a tha gu sònraichte proifeiseanta agus ùr-ghnàthach. Tha an dealbhadh seo a bhuannaich Duais Umha A' Design Award a' cur nan cleachdaidhean as fheàrr ann an ealain, saidheans, dealbhadh agus teicneolas an gnìomh, agus tha e sàr-mhath airson an aire do mhion-fhiosrachadh. Bidh The Dark Side of the Moon Litir Gaoil a' sàsachadh fheumalachdan gu h-iongantach, a' suathadh ri miannan, a' tàladh faireachdainnean agus a' togail fiosrachd.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: The 'Dark Side of the Moon' is a love letter, telling a traditional Chinese love story, not only with words, but also by the way the package is opend, by the choice of printing technology, the used materials, the graphic design and illustrations. The storytelling begins as soon as the package is opened: the full moon on the front wanes, the dark side of the moon becomes visible. The story unfolds together with the unfolding of the letter, guiding the reader from chapter to chapter.
Dimensions & Packaging: Folded with package: 12 * 12cm
Unfolded letter : 36 * 36cm
Tags: graphic design, illustration, print, type design, package design
Production Technology: Since the letter is folded paper, the paper needs to have the property to be folded and unfolded multiple times without being torn apart, so we chose a kind of DuPond paper, which can't be ripped apart and which is translucent - two attributes love should have. Since The Love Story is about the sun and the moon, the letter also has a sun and a moon side. The translucency of the paper makes the two sides of the letter flow together when held up against the sun. If you hold the letter down while reading, you cannot see the other side.
Design Challenge: Since we are a package design studio, we have an interest in paper. Commercial projects for clients often don't give the opportunity to use more special papers and printing techniques. When visiting package factories we can discover new papers and think about ways to use it and combine materials with stories through design. The used 'pocket purse' folding method, which originated in Japan, but became popular in 18th century Europe as love letter folding method, needed special paper. It made the layout and choice of paper challenging, but also became the designs key component. Since it's not only a creative design project, but also an actual product we sell it was difficult to find a producer who was fit for this folding method.
Research: As a Chinese/ German design studio, we are interested in finding a way of melting those different cultures in a project. The tradition of writing love letters is not that popular in China, throughout its history. So we came up with the idea of a Chinese love letter, using a folding method which also made its way from East to West. The story of Houyi and Chang'e is over 2000 years old and has many versions, but all have an outdated moral. So we rewrote the story first, before we started with the layout. From the beginning we planned this love letters to be a series, so we choose a package which has a CD feeling, since still many of people collect or collected CDs. Like love letters CDs seem from another century, but we think of them in loving nostalgia and hope to revive them in a new way with our design.
Inspiration: In this uncommissioned project we have combined our love for print design, story telling, illustration, graphic design and materials. The goal was to tell a story without the traditional form of a book. On the letter is space for a personal massage, this story can/should be shared with someone and reconnect those old stories with modern life again. The letter itself is folded like a 'pocket purse' - a Japanese Folding technique popular in Europe in the 18th century for writing love letters.
Project Duration: started August in Hangzhou and finished November in Hangzhou
Operation Flow: Telling stories is as old as humanity. Love stories are especially popular. Giving presents to your loved ones is today more a requirement rather than an act of showing love. So we thought about a way to reintegrate old love stories with the rather old tradition of writing love letters. So this design is a present, where personal messages can be added while at the same time it is a documentation of an old love story using new design.
Image Credits: Qianli Ma, Maria-Luisa Uth