Interview about Wu Xing Package, winner of the A' Packaging Design Award 2022
The series of work Wu Xing use animals as a interpretation and categorize as five elements according to their characteristics. Among them, to emphasize the cycle of symbiosis in Wu Xing, designers added the sunrise and the sunset in each illustration, representing the beginning and the end of the day. The painting box is the main structure development, showing a sense of hardcover and classic. From the book-shaped box to the unfolding to the packaging structure that independently becomes the display rack. In this special package structure, each card can be fully displayed.
View detailed images, specifications, and award details on A' Design Award & Competition website.
View Design DetailsAt its core, the Wu Xing Package is not a reinterpretation of tradition, but a re-engagement. I didn’t want to modernize the five elements—I wanted to invite people to feel their rhythm again. Instead of treating Wu Xing as static symbols, I viewed them as cycles, relationships, and transformations. The package thus becomes a temporal and spatial object, simultaneously holding memory, time, and ritual.
The idea came from the notion that cultural concepts should not only be stored, but displayed—lived with. A book can be shelved, but the five elements should be present, visible, and contemplated. The challenge was structural: how to fold, hold, and support the transformation without adding unnecessary components. It took dozens of paper-engineering mockups to arrive at a mechanism that was both intuitive and durable.
The sunrise and sunset motif frames Wu Xing not just as philosophical ideas, but as daily experiences. Metal and Water might feel abstract—but dawn and dusk are universally felt. By embedding the package in a day’s passage, we’re reminding people that the five elements aren’t external—they’re part of our breath, routines, and emotions.
I wanted it to feel like an object of permanence—something you’d want to keep on your desk or shelf. The hardcover gave it a certain weight and stillness. But it also needed to unfold gracefully, like a ritual. We engineered the hinges, magnets, and grooves to be hidden but effective. The goal was elegance, not spectacle.
The biggest challenge was achieving precision at scale. Paper is a living material—it shifts, warps, and stretches. Designing a structure that folds flat yet stands tall required millimeter-level consistency. We worked closely with our print partners to calibrate every score line, and built more than 15 prototypes before final production.
This aspect was led by illustrator HUYU, whose intricate and narrative-driven drawings transformed abstract Wu Xing concepts into animal embodiments. My role focused on establishing the overall visual framework and rhythm, ensuring cohesion between illustration and packaging language. It was a collaborative process built on mutual trust—where the illustrations weren’t decorative, but central to the design’s soul.
By allowing the panels to stand side by side, the viewer physically witnesses the continuity among elements. The display format encourages a panoramic reading—each element flows into the next. This reinforces the core idea: Wu Xing is not five things, but five movements in a cycle.
The size was driven by a desire for intimacy and presence. It needed to feel like a book when closed, and like an altar when open. W53×H22.5×D9 cm was the threshold where it could sit quietly on a shelf, yet command attention when displayed. Scale, in this case, was storytelling.
HUYU’s illustrations played a decisive role in setting the tone of the piece. His work is intricate and rhythmically powerful, carrying its own narrative weight. My task was to ensure that these illustrations could ‘breathe’ properly within the packaging structure—through whitespace, proportion, placement, and material sequencing. We iterated multiple times to fine-tune the dialogue between artwork and structure so that both could stand alone, yet also elevate each other.
I hope this project can be seen as a quiet proposal—that traditional thinking doesn’t need to be rebranded to stay alive. When handled with clarity and respect, cultural concepts can evolve through form alone. Wu Xing Package is a reminder that heritage can be reactivated, not reinvented.
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