- Agency: AnaZeli Design
- Client: Ricey
- Category: Packaging Design — Food & Beverage
- Location: Kyiv, Ukraine
- Project Brief: Create food packaging that gives Ricey a playful and emotionally engaging identity for younger sushi consumers.
A food packaging design cuts through a crowded market when the brand has a personality specific enough to be recognized before the logo is read. AnaZeli Design's identity for Ricey does that by abandoning traditional sushi aesthetics entirely, building something that a younger audience would genuinely want to post before they've even opened the box.
Deep forest green and hot pink do the first pass of communication. The palette is bold enough to stand out on a delivery platform thumbnail and considered enough that the two colors work together rather than fighting, and the kawaii mascot characters, a round sushi roll and a dumpling with their own distinct expressions, carry the emotional range from there.
DesignRush juror Ash Ome singled out the color choices as a particular strength, noting how the schemes and inner layout work together to position the brand at the higher end of its category.
"Magnificent packaging!"
— Lucia Barbaresso, Design Awards Jury
The kawaii mascot characters, a round sushi roll and a dumpling with their own distinct expressions, carry the emotional range from there. The packaging travels consistently from a rigid gift box to a transparent takeaway tray to a folded paper bag. Same mascot, same wordmark, same geometric pattern on every format, which means the brand reads the same way whether someone picks it up at the counter or receives it through a car window.
The execution leans on tactile finishes that signal craft without saying a word. Deboss treatments, metallic emboss accents, and rich, saturated colors give the format the feel of a product that belongs alongside premium goods, not a quick takeaway purchase.
"Elegant and luxurious combination of deboss, metallic emboss and rich deep colors that represent the product perfectly."
- Andrea Owsinek-Brucker, Design Awards Jury
"Rolls That Make You Smile" and "Cute Sushi" confirm the tone in writing, but the visuals said it first. Ricey is designed to be photographed as much as eaten, and the packaging makes that easy without asking the customer to do any work.
