Press Release
Maria-Luisa Uth Receives the Bronze A' Design Award for The Dark Side of the Moon Love Letter in Graphics, Illustration and Visual Communication Design
The international grand jury of the 2022 - 2023 A' Design Award & Competition recognizes Maria-Luisa Uth for graphics, illustration and visual communication design
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 20, 2023 /DesignNewswire/ The Dark Side of the Moon Love Letter by Maria-Luisa Uth, designed for Fortuna Design Studio, has been granted the Bronze A' Design Award in the Graphics, Illustration and Visual Communication Design category, A' Design Award & Competition has announced. The result belongs to the 2022 - 2023 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.
The Bronze A' Design Award Explained
The Bronze A' Design Award is given to outstanding designs that showcase a high degree of creativity and practicality. It recognizes the dedication and skill of designers who produce work that stands out for its thoughtful development and innovative use of materials and technology. These designs are acknowledged for their professional execution and potential to influence industry standards positively. Winning this award highlights the designer's ability to blend form and function effectively, offering solutions that enhance people's lives and wellbeing.
More About The Dark Side of the Moon Love Letter
The Dark Side of the Moon is a love letter telling a traditional Chinese love story. This projects celebrates good old print design with focus on type, illustrations, graphic design and materials. The package of the letter opens and the dark side of the moon becomes visible. The letter is folded like a pocket purse, a folding method from Japan which made its way to Europe in the 18th century and became popular as love letter folding method. The used paper, which can be folded without cracking and which is translucent, lets the two sides of the letter meld when hold against the light.
Award Record
This recognition makes Maria-Luisa Uth a winner of 1 A' Design Award.
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/147779
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/147779
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!147779
- Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/341584
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
###
Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- The Dark Side of the Moon Love Letter
- Function
- Love Letter
- Category
- Graphics, Illustration and Visual Communication Design
- Discipline
- Communication Design
- Industry
- Branding & Advertising and Arts
- Colors
- Black, Dark Slate Gray, Silver, Dark Gray and Gainsboro
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Fortuna Design Studio
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Maria-Luisa Uth
- Recognition
- Bronze A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2022 - 2023
- Design ID
- #147779
Credits
- Image Credits
- Qianli Ma, Maria-Luisa Uth
Design Details
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Realization and 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.
- Operation and Interaction
- 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.
- Project Duration and Location
- started August in Hangzhou and finished November in Hangzhou
- Specifications
- Folded with package: 12 * 12cm Unfolded letter : 36 * 36cm
- Keywords
- graphic design, illustration, print, type design, package design
