Happy New Year! Celebrating Lunar New Year with a collection of red envelopes using an artist I respect a lot, Hua ChenYu. I’ve shared my fondness with his talent and music in a previous post HERE. Red envelopes are a Chinese tradition where people put money inside and give them to friends and family. Usually it’s the people who have jobs that give them out. Growing up, the red envelopes I received were more or less the same. Completely red with Chinese characters or images in gold. I tried to give my designs a more modern twist with some details.
For my design I applied graphics from Hua ChenYu’s many songs to my version of red envelopes. The front of the envelope has images from music videos for each song. I tinted it red as a gesture to the name of the custom, ‘red envelope’. The back has corresponding lyrics in black gloss against a matte surface. The flap has the logo of each song printed in silver. I didn’t design the actual song name logos but did add some small elements to them. The sticker is metallic with Hua ChenYu’s signature printed on it. It serves as a seal for the envelope rather than requiring the person to lick or dab water to seal. When you open it, underneath the flap is more lyrics. Two flaps overlap so the money sits in a V shaped cut.