The Ang Bao Design Wars

Some ang baos are more equal than others

Whether you give or receive ang baos, you should know that not all ang baos are created equal. From shabby design work to well-executed works of art, one can easily determine if adequate time has been put in to creating the designs. As most of you might go "oh, this looks nice" or "this is ugly", I would like to propose a grading scale so that we can describe ang baos other than using these two words. 

Let us go through these 4 tiers, starting from the most jialat one:

What were they thinking?

Some ang baos are just no. I am not going to shame brands here, but if they think that by putting their logo on a plain red coloured envelope equals an ang bao, they might as well not design and print them in the first place. Unless you are IKEA.

It's plain outside. Not even sure if there is an IKEA logo on this product

I get it, brands want their logos to stand out. But if the brand image and recognition is not strong enough, the 'minimalistic' design might come off as lazy. Don't expect any kid to be holding these boring ang baos during CNY. 

The reason why IKEA can pull this off is because it sells Scandinavian style products, where is functionality is emphasised. Imagine if you are being asked where you got these plain ang baos from, and you share that they are from IKEA—many of them would remember this story, especially if there is a big reaction from the crowd. Bam! IKEA is now linked to happy family reunions.

On the other hand, there are some ang baos which look like our stomachs after eating a buffet meal. Every single CNY decoration you can think of can be found in the ang bao design. Unless properly arranged, the ang bao would look terribly messy and off-putting. I guess this cluttered design would only work if there is a Where's Waldo (or in this case, 财神爷/God of Fortune) game in the ang bao.

You'll be surprised at how easily you can forget these designs

After the CNY period, people would usually tear up their ang baos so as to ensure that they do not accidentally throw money away. You should find tier 3 ang baos relatively easy to throw away because of how normal they look. If you are a designer, you may find yourself saying "people get paid to design this?"

There is a grey area between tier 2 and 3, and it boils down to personal preference, For me, my pet peeve is when brands ruin a otherwise normal design by slapping their logo on the graphic. No matter how big or small the logo is, as long as there is no good reason for the logo to be there design-wise, the logo is going to stick out like a sore thumb. Many brands make this mistake and it irks me—put it at the ang bao flap if the logo cannot contribute to the graphic!

Your Instagram-worthy ang baos

In this tier, ang baos hit most/all the right notes in terms of design principles. 

Recently, designers started using different colours apart from the traditional red/orange or gold. Now we see bright pink, turquoise and even purple, which makes these designs eye-catching. 

Colours giving off youthful vibes! AXA ang baos 2017 (Source)

A very good example would be OCBC Bank's ang baos for this year. Besides releasing a red colour ang bao, they went avant-garde by releasing a pink/dark blue version which instantly stood out among the many ang baos posted on Instagram. 

Look through your Instagram feed and try to spot the pink OCBC ang bao! (Source)

Frasers Centrepoint Malls also released fashionable ang baos featuring on-point colour combinations. I might want to use the ang bao colour palette as fashion inspiration, I kid you not.

That orange and that blue. (Source)

Many ang bao editions feature 4 to 12 unique designs which, when laid side by side, form a large graphic. Time to show off your #familygoals.  

Reasons for couples to produce mini soccer teams—Bank of China ang bao 2017 (Source)

Even Cai Shen Ye approves

"What? There is a tier 1? I thought everything featured in tier 2 is zai already..." Yes, prepare to be enlightened, for this is the tok kong tier. 

3 criteria: Aesthetically pleasing (A), Branding applied (B), CNY usage only (C).

Using ABC to create an ang bao design is not as easy as you think. Take a look at tier 2—all of them have A, many have C, but where is B? Where is the branding? 

McCafe and CNY...where's the link? McDonald's ang pao 2017

McDonald's ang baos represent the brand effortlessly, but how would people know if this is an ang bao or simply a McDonald's envelope? CNY only comes once a year; if brands want to celebrate the new year with by distributing their ang baos, then they should reflect it via the designs which they come up with. And no, just putting a logo =/= branding! 

Here is a good gauge to determine if your ang bao has B: If you cover the brand logo of the ang bao you have never seen before, are you able to tell what brand (or at least which industry) this ang bao is from? 

Here are some great examples over the years:

Guinness by Kuanth 2016. Not only can you see Guinness beer bottles, there are also little monkeys at the end of each line art! (Source)

7-Eleven 2017. Emoji mascots are clearly in the CNY mood - look at the Gulp cups forming a firecracker (Source)

Swarovski 2017. Nothing says Swarovski more than bling itself (Source)

Hopefully, we will start seeing ang bao designs in a different way in the future! Want to share your thoughts on how you look at and critique ang baos? Let us discuss in the comments box below.

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