Firelight

This design series continues its exploration of festive communication through a Torch Festival celebration card design. The initiative aims to celebrate a lesser-known festival in China—Torch Festival. It originated as an ancient ritual connected to agriculture, primarily to protect crops from pests, disease and to pray for a bountiful harvest. The fire symbolises purification and the burning away of bad luck.

The project captures the essence of the festival, focusing specifically on bonfires and wooden logs—the burning aspect. Though there are many more elements and design possibilities to explore in the future, this design incorporates 3D elements of various wooden logs, animation with Blender's physics engine, and visual effects to recreate the card's burning effect. Using fire as inspiration, the colour palette centres around the concept of a heat map and warm undertones.

While celebratory, the design leans more heavily toward experimentation, testing foundational knowledge of creative software—from Adobe's Illustrator, Photoshop, and After Effects to Blender for the 3D aspects of the design.