In Manchuria, China, a small family business built its reputation on producing high-quality rice. Grown using traditional methods and with extreme care, the product’s generic packaging failed to express the excellent standards of the rice. To change this, the family reached out to graphic designer Marco Arroyo-Vázquez, whose talent and creativity helped contour an identity that faithfully reflects the company’s philosophy.
Challenged to come up with a design that makes the rice stand out on the shelves without compromising on its authenticity, the award-winning Spanish designer developed a concept packaging that’s not only ingenious but also adorable. While documenting for the project, Vázquez discovered that hedgehogs, also known as “the gardener’s friend,” naturally protect the crops from harmful pests, such as insects, by eating them.
Inspired by this, the artist turned the hedgehog into the leitmotif of this visual story, which not only highlights company’s dedication of harvesting the finest grains of rice but also educates them about the role this nocturnal creature plays in the natural system.
Placed at the heart of the new design, the hedgehog is featured on each packaging, which comes in three formats. In the illustrations, the spines are reimagined as grains of rice, symbolically highlighting the guardian role the hedgehog has in protecting the crops. Similar to the spiny creature, which turns into a spiky ball for defense, the newly designed creature that wears a “coat” of rice suggests a figure of protection and authenticity.
Visible across each pack, the different shapes of the grains speak about the type of grain inside the bag: Organic Large Grain, Medium, and Short. Speaking about the concept, the artist said: “The idea was for the main design to be adorable, unique, visually related to the product and to help create brand awareness on the shelf. In addition, the illustrations were refined in post-production with Illustrator, with minimal intervention to remove sharp details.”
Vázquez went beyond designing just the illustrations and carefully crafted each detail of the packaging. The artist developed a custom handwritten typography, used kraft paper as material, and inserted a manual closure across all formats (0.5kg, 1kg, and 2kg bags). Each bag is finished with a cardboard tag revealing more information about the product and the brand.
Together, all these details reinforce the handmade feeling of the product, expressing the authentic spirit of the brand. Yet, what truly makes the concept project unique comes from the fact that the design is more than just packaging, “it educates about the value of hedgehogs as natural protectors of crops,” as the designer concludes.
CREDITS
Concept Idea, Graphic Design, Art Direction & 3D: Marco Arroyo-Vázquez
