Hidden in the far side of the moon, is the unknown mystery unseen by the naked eye.

FAR SIDE OF THE MOON Mandarin Oriental, Macau X INDEGO DESIGN 2021 mooncake packaging project, explores the unknown young, fashionable and innovative side of Mandarin Oriental and discover possibilities for opening up traditional oriental culture to young people.

Mandarin Oriental is an international luxury hotel brand with a history of more than 50 years. It is rich in oriental culture and famous for its luxurious and elegant style. This mooncake packaging collaboration project is the first breakthrough for Mandarin Oriental, Macau to breathe new life into the brand and break its previous image.
The work is based on the traditional oriental culture of the brand, adding in new trendy design, presenting the Chinese traditional Mid-Autumn Festival culture to young people in a new perspective.

Mid-Autumn Festival has a very important position in Chinese festival culture. It is a reunion night when family and friends gather and celebrate the fullest moon of the year. Great importance is attached to Mid-Autumn Festival in Chinese culture. Eating mooncakes with family while enjoying the moon is one of the essential customs of the festival. Mooncake symbolizes reunion. Every Mid-Autumn Festival, we give mooncakes to our relatives and friends as presents to express our blessings.

This Mandarin Oriental, Macau X INDEGO DESIGN 2021 mooncake packaging project is a brand new attempt for the youth’s market. We especially choose “Far side of the moon” as the design concept and tailor-made a mooncake packaging for Mandarin Oriental, including mooncakes, the iconic paper fan of Mandarin Oriental, and the reusable tote bag. Far side of the moon is the side that always faces away from the Earth. As it cannot be seen by the naked eye, humans are curious about this unknown hemisphere of the moon. Mandarin Oriental was known to be luxurious and rich in oriental culture, but this FAR SIDE OF THE MOON mooncake packaging brings people to the unknown side of the brand – young, bold, and interesting, luxurious but trendy with the continuation of oriental culture. The theme Far side of the moon implies that we explore and discover the young, trendy and non-traditional side of Mandarin Oriental. We hope to show the brand’s new concept from the perspective of the art piece, bringing new vitality to Mandarin Oriental. In terms of visual design, we carried out bold creations to take over the public’s traditional impression of the brand. Vibrant colours were applied to the package design, in the form of illustrations, bringing in space and Chinese elements. This combined tradition and modernity ingeniously, presenting a new brand visual experience. For the inner box design, 4 illustrations are selected to be printed with hot stamping, presenting the richness of Mandarin Oriental through young illustrations. The packaging also comes with an iconic paper fan of Mandarin Oriental, which is a limited gift of Mandarin Oriental’s mooncake packaging every year. Generally, mooncake packages would be put inside a paper bag, so that customers can give the mooncakes as presents easily. We abandoned paper bags and especially designed a tote bag. Transparent materials were adopted to fully present the mooncake inside the bag, integrating it visually and enhancing the gift. The avant-garde tote bag design can be used as a daily item, combining fashion and life, redefining the purpose of mooncake gift bags, as well as bringing the concept of fashion and environmental protection into the lives of young people.

This breakthrough enables Mandarin Oriental to break its entrenched traditional stereotype and opens up a new market. Through non-traditional design, a new style of the brand is created. This not only allows people to discover a new side of the brand but also receives unprecedented responses from the market.

Professional or Personal
Professional

Creative Discipline
Graphic Design
Illustration

Role in Project
This project is a brand new attempt for Mandarin Oriental, Macau. It is also a challenging collaboration project for us: how to let the public recognize and accept the young and trendy side of Mandarin Oriental is our target. I served as the main designer in this project, and am responsible for the illustration design of the product and the packaging design, as well as the formulation of the promotion strategy and supervision of the material selection and printing process. The work retains the traditional and understated luxurious culture of Mandarin Oriental, complementing young and bold illustrations and tradition-breaking and environmentally-friendly packaging design. The design aims to “explore the other side of the moon” with the public, explore the diverse, young, and endless possibilities of Mandarin Oriental and oriental culture.

Project Credits
Art director : LAM IEONG KUN
Creative director : LAM IEONG KUN
Illustration : LAM IEONG KUN
Graphic design : LAM IEONG KUN
Photographer : ZERO YOUNG