Vichy Canada Lunar New Year Product Packaging Design Project
In the fall of last year we had the pleasure of working with the Vichy team based in Montreal to design a Lunar New Year brand packaging for their flagship products — MINÉRAL 89 and LIFTACTIV HA WRINKLE FILLER.
We were tasked with sourcing a Chinese-Canadian artist to give their packaging design a unique look and feel. While all new year packaging would likely be red, what could we do differently to highlight the strength and spirit of the Year of the Tiger?
After a month and more of searching and interviews, we finally came across with Chinese-Canadian Digital Artists Samuel Lai and Anna Jiang, whose digital art experience brought a modern take to the design but also incorporated key elements of tradition and Vichy’s brand. Together, we collaborated on the design to translate the Vichy brand and vision for the Lunar New Year product into a product packaging design.
To highlight the proprietary Vichy volcanic water source from the mountains, the artist painted the majestic peaks in the background, which is also home to the proud tiger. The digital illustration utilizes a painting style and technique inspired by Chinese landscape paintings (Shan Shui Hua). The artists take this traditional style and add a modern touch, with a soothing colour palette that is low in contrast; the MINÉRAL 89 packaging showcases a pink, purple and blue colour palette, whereas the LIFTACTIV HA WRINKLE FILLER uses a brighter palette where light blue, creamy orange and blush pink dominate.
The artist had provided several postures of the tiger in the draft versions, and to align with the tranquility of the setting and the almost dreamy colours, we selected a post where one can still feel the strength and aura of the tiger with its gaze over its shoulder. A pose where the tiger is prowling would have been too aggressive for the Vichy brand.
The products were intentionally digitally painted as well to align with the overall look of the package design. Traditionally the products would be shown as photos, but the contrast here would be too distracting, hence the decision to have all elements as a digital illustration.
We appreciate the Vichy team giving us this opportunity to design a package to celebrate Lunar New Year. These two limited edition packages are available in stores at Shoppers Drug Marts across Canada and online at the Vichy Canadian website.
Happy Lunar New Year!