Once Upon a Rabbit Hana Nui: Kiʻiʻoniʻoni Pōkole by Jesseter Wang and Hannah Sun

Once Upon a Rabbit Hana Nui: Kiʻiʻoniʻoni Pōkole by Jesseter Wang and Hannah Sun is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2026 A' Design Award Keleawe in Hoʻolālā Kiʻiʻoniʻoni, Wikiō a me Hoʻonaninani Competition Category.

KeleaweKiʻiʻoniʻoni· 2026

Once Upon a Rabbit Hana Nui: Kiʻiʻoniʻoni Pōkole

by Jesseter Wang and Hannah Sun

A' Design Award Keleawe Winner in Kiʻiʻoniʻoni Category

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Verified Award Winner

Verify Award Status for #180467

View at A' Design Award Press Release Award Badge

Colors

The Design

About Once Upon a Rabbit Hana Nui: Kiʻiʻoniʻoni Pōkole

Book Text: ʻO Once Upon a Rabbit he papahana hoʻolālā kiʻiʻoniʻoni i hoʻoulu ʻia e nā hiʻohiʻona moʻomeheu o ka ʻAhaʻaina Kukui a me ka hoʻomanaʻo ʻike maka o ka wā kamaliʻi. Hoʻokumu ka hana i kahi ʻōlelo ʻike palupalu a hōʻike maopopo ma o ka hui ʻana o ke ʻano ana kiʻekiʻe a me ka manaʻo kaha lima, e hana ana i nā kiʻi e ʻike ʻia me ka hoʻonohonoho ʻia a me ka pāʻani. Hoʻohana ʻia nā hiʻohiʻona e pinepine ana e like me ka lāpaki a me ka Tangyuan, nā pōpō laiki, i mau heleuma ʻike, aʻo ka neʻe, ke kani, a me ka haku ʻana e hoʻoikaika i ka ʻano lewa a me ka hoʻomau ʻana, a puka mai kahi ʻike hoʻolālā kūpaʻa i hoʻokumu ʻia ma ka mehana, ka kamaʻāina, a me ka kani moʻomeheu.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award Keleawe

Ua lanakila ka hoʻolālā Once Upon a Rabbit Hana Nui: Kiʻiʻoniʻoni Pōkole i ka A' Design Award Keleawe, he ʻike hoʻohanohano nui loa i hāʻawi ʻia i nā hoʻolālā kūʻokoʻa i ʻike ʻia ma o ka hana noʻeau, ka akamai a me ka makakoho. He mau hana mākaukau a hana noʻeau kupaianaha nā lanakila Keleawe e hōʻoia ana i ka ʻike nui, ka noʻonoʻo a me ka maʻalea o kā lākou poʻe hoʻolālā. Manaʻo ʻia ʻo ka hoʻolālā Once Upon a Rabbit Hana Nui: Kiʻiʻoniʻoni Pōkole he mea i mahalo nui ʻia, hoʻohiwahiwa ʻia a aloha ʻia, he ʻoihana a hou loa. ʻO kēia hoʻolālā i lanakila i ka A' Design Award Keleawe e hoʻohui ana i nā hana maikaʻi loa o ka hana noʻeau, ka ʻepekema, ka hoʻolālā a me ka ʻenehana, a maikaʻi no kona nānā ʻana i nā kikoʻī. Hoʻokō maikaʻi ka hoʻolālā Once Upon a Rabbit Hana Nui: Kiʻiʻoniʻoni Pōkole i nā pono, hoʻopā i ka makemake, hoʻohiwahiwa i nā manaʻo a huki i ka makemake e ʻike.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

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

Unique Properties: Once Upon a Rabbit is an animated short inspired by childhood memories and subtle cultural details of the Lantern Festival. Guided by the recurring presence of the rabbit and tangyuan (rice balls), the film unfolds as a sequence of connected moments that gradually lead toward a shared table. The piece emphasizes emotional flow and visual association over explicit storytelling, capturing the lively warmth of the Lantern Festival.
Dimensions & Packaging: 16x9 video file
Tags: Animation, Motion Design, Illustration, Culture, Year of Rabbit
Production Technology: The project was produced using a hybrid 3D and 2D animation workflow. Core scenes and motion were created in Cinema 4D, with a focus on modeling and animation. The renders were then composited in Adobe After Effects, where textures, graphic details, and subtle motion accents were added to achieve a cohesive, handcrafted visual quality.
Design Challenge: A key creative challenge was achieving a sense of warmth and human touch within a digitally constructed visual environment. The project sought to avoid a rigid or overly polished appearance by introducing texture, softness, and brush-like qualities into form and motion. Balancing control and imperfection required careful visual restraint, ensuring the imagery remained expressive and inviting while maintaining coherence and clarity throughout the animation.
Research: This project is based on exploratory design research focused on visual expression and cultural memory. The objective was to understand how abstract form, color, and motion could evoke familiarity associated with the Lantern Festival without relying on literal depiction. The research was conducted through visual experimentation, reference studies, and iterative sketching using digital tools. Observations were drawn from personal memory, cultural imagery, and repeated motion tests. The results informed a visual language that balances simplicity and expressiveness, demonstrating how motion design can translate shared cultural atmosphere into an accessible and emotionally resonant visual experience.
Inspiration: Once Upon a Rabbit was inspired by childhood memories and subtle cultural details of the Lantern Festival. The project explores the use of 3D techniques rendered with a 2D sensibility, creating a vivid yet dreamlike visual language reminiscent of childhood doodles. By prioritizing mood, memory, and shared cultural experience over literal representation, the work aims to evoke a sense of warmth and nostalgia through motion.
Project Duration: The project was developed and completed in 2023 as an independent animation project, produced remotely.
Operation Flow: Motion unfolds through a sequence of gentle transformations, where shapes, colors, and motifs transition fluidly between scenes. Visual elements expand, contract, and reorganize to guide attention and create continuity, allowing the design to feel cohesive while maintaining a sense of lightness and rhythm throughout the experience.
Team Members: Jesseter Wang,
Hannah Sun
Image Credits: Direction / Design / Animation: [Jesseter Wang & Hannah Sun]
Music / Sound: [Davis Aguirre]