Year of Rabbit-Header

Chasing lucky rabbits

Year of the Rabbit

Sector

  • Arts & culture

Disciplines

  • Packaging design

Legend has it, before the creation of time, a great race was organized by China’s Jade Emperor challenging 12 creatures of Earth to quickly traverse a river in order to enter Heaven. The winners were awarded by having a year named after them in the order of victory. The rabbit, craftily jumped across stones in the river, finishing fourth. Ever since, the fourth year of China’s 12-year zodiac cycle honors the rabbit. Thousands of years later, we celebrate that victory again in 2023.

Year of Rabbit-family shot

Hoppy new year

Our creative tradition to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year continues. Also known as Spring Festival, it's China's most important holiday period ushering in the start of Spring. We give a modern spin on an age-old tradition by designing a set of 8 Hongbao (红包). These are envelopes filled with money and gifted to clients, colleagues, family and friends during the festival. Why 8? Because 8 is the luckiest number in China.

Year of Rabbit-family shot2
Video is loading…

兔然暴富

[tù rán bào fù]


A play on the idiom meaning to get rich suddenly – phonetically with the character 突 (tū) and rabbit (兔 tù). In this case, thousands of carrots unexpectedly appearing for the rabbit symbolize luck and prosperity in 2023. An embossing technique creates a tactile quality for the carrots.

Year of rabbit-Carrot
Year of rabbit-Carrot close in
Video is loading…

花团锦兔

[huā túan jǐn tù]


A play on the Chinese idiom which celebrates the splendor of flowers blooming in Spring. In this case the 簇 (cù) is replaced with rabbit 兔 (tù), as the petals become a family a bunnies gathering together to usher in Spring.

Year of rabbit-Flower
Year of rabbit-Flower close in
Video is loading…

兔子回家了!

[tù zi huí jiā le]


Celebrating the journey of hardworking bunnies. Always on the go collecting food, gifts and money to bring home the best as they visit their family during Chinese New Year. The maze outline spells the characters – “回家” (huí jiā) – come home!

Year of rabbit-Come home
Year of rabbit-Come home close in
Video is loading…

饱腹升财

[bǎo fù shēng cái]


Every Chinese New Year, families gather around a heaping plate of dumplings for a traditional holiday meal. The shape of the dumplings resemble a boat-like silver or gold ingot, symbolising home and fortune. "饱腹升财" (bǎo fù shēng cái) means eat more dumplings, raise your wealth and luck!

Year of rabbit-Dumpling
Year of rabbit-Dumpling close in
Video is loading…

其乐绒绒

[qí lè róng róng]


Spring Festival is a time to celebrate the home and family (fluffy or not)! Here we play with typography to create an adorable furry bunny using two exclamation marks to share our festive excitement. An ultra-plush fur print plays on the 绒绒 (róng róng) meaning super soft and comfy, just like home.

Year of rabbit-Fur
Year of rabbit-Fur close in

兔安鱼安

[tù ān yú ān]


Rabbits are known for their big families! And no family is complete without its cast of colorful characters. Deconstructing the Chinese word for reunion 团圆 (tuán yuán) to cleverly craft the phrase - “兔安鱼安” (tù ān yú ān) meaning ‘rabbit safe, fish safe’ – celebrating the safe gathering of families around a holiday meal.

Year of rabbit-Tuanyuan
Year of rabbit-Tuanyuan close in
Video is loading…

静如止水 动如脱兔

[jìng rú zhǐ shuǐ dòng rú tuō tù]


Spring is when rabbits shed their winter coats and run free. Using a dynamic lenticular printing technique, we show the transformation from a contemplative (静 Jìng) winter bunny to an energetic (动 Dòng) spring rabbit as it sheds its worries and charges carefree into the year ahead.

Year of rabbit-Run
Year of rabbit-Run close in
Video is loading…

兔0兔3

[tù líng tù sān]


The Chinese word for rabbit "兔" (tù) sounds like the number "two". Here we show the rabbit’s agility with a graphic typography, striking a series of fabulous poses to form 2023 – the Year of the Rabbit - with a furry print creating elegant depth. We loved this concept so much, we also used it for the outside packaging of the Hongbao set!

Year of rabbit-2023
Year of rabbit-2023 close in
Video is loading…

Need more information?

Contact MetaDesign Beijing +8610 85 88 32 58