Description ONCE UPON A POUNCE is a festive gift set by Fictionist Studio that presents an optimistic leap into the Lunar New Year, encouraging all to seize opportunities in a new world ahead. The paper tiger limbs, representing the Year of the Tiger, are dressed in a textural paper stock, featuring a spin on the gestural stripes of traditional folk tiger toys. The typographic strokes form the Chinese character ? which means ”tiger” when put together. The hand-pleated body is a kinetic art piece that stretches and warps the character for prosperity “?” as it moves — a manifestation of analog variable typography, as well as the sentiment of adaptability in chasing choice and chance.
Brief Every year, we try to disrupt the visual and communication tropes of Lunar New Year festive packaging. For example, 2022 is the Year of the Tiger and the expected copywriting would be in the likes of “Have a tiger-iffic new year!” or “Get ready for a roaring start!”. Red envelopes or money packets would often boast the zodiac animal or conventional, auspicious elements such as flowers or dragons. We wanted to do away with the clichés and have a fresh and contemporary take on the common festive gift set.
Design Solution Tiger is an animal of action, with utmost traction. With the ability to leap forward up to a distance of 10 meters, its signature pounce inspired the design of the gift set. The art of the pounce is not only manifested three-dimensionally as a paper toy, it is also translated on the money packets as auspicious Chinese characters (???????)were visually stretched into pounce-like formations.
