Once Upon a Rabbit by Jesseter Wang and Hannah Sun Wins Bronze A' Design Award

Animated Short Inspired by the Lantern Festival Recognized for Cultural Memory and Expressive Motion Design

COMO, CO, ITALY, June 29, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The A' Design Award has announced Once Upon a Rabbit, an animated short created by Jesseter Wang and Hannah Sun, as a Bronze recipient in the Movie, Video and Animation Design category. The A' Design Award is one of the world's highly respected and well-recognized design competitions, evaluating entries through a rigorous selection process. This recognition acknowledges the thoughtful development and professional execution behind Once Upon a Rabbit, an animated work inspired by childhood memories and subtle cultural details of the Lantern Festival. The honor positions the project within a respected field of internationally reviewed animation and design work.

This recognition holds relevance for the animation industry and audiences interested in culturally grounded visual storytelling. Once Upon a Rabbit reflects a growing interest in motion design that prioritizes emotional resonance, atmosphere, and shared cultural experience over literal narrative. By demonstrating how abstract form, color, and motion can evoke familiarity, the work aligns with contemporary practices that value accessibility and human-centered communication. For practitioners and viewers alike, the project illustrates how animation can translate cultural memory into an emotionally engaging visual experience.

Once Upon a Rabbit unfolds as a sequence of connected moments guided by recurring motifs of the rabbit and tangyuan, or rice balls, gradually leading toward a shared table. The piece emphasizes emotional flow and visual association, capturing the lively warmth of the Lantern Festival without relying on explicit storytelling. A hybrid 3D and 2D workflow gives the imagery a dreamlike, handcrafted quality reminiscent of childhood doodles. Core scenes and motion were created in Cinema 4D, then composited in Adobe After Effects, where textures, graphic details, and subtle motion accents established a cohesive visual language. A key creative challenge was achieving warmth and human touch within a digitally constructed environment, balanced through texture, softness, and brush-like qualities.

This recognition may encourage further exploration of hybrid animation techniques and culturally rooted storytelling in future projects by Jesseter Wang and Hannah Sun. The honor reinforces the value of visual research grounded in personal memory and cultural imagery, supporting continued experimentation with mood, rhythm, and expressive form. As motivation for ongoing creative development, the Bronze A' Design Award affirms the designers' commitment to clarity, emotion, and meaningful visual communication.

Project Members
Once Upon a Rabbit was created by Jesseter Wang and Hannah Sun, who together developed the concept, visual language, animation, and compositing, combining dimensional form with a hand-drawn sensibility to shape the project's atmosphere and continuity.

Interested parties may learn more about the award-winning work, its designers, and its development at the dedicated page provided by the A' Design Award.
https://competition.adesignaward.com/ada-winner-design.php?ID=180467

About Jesseter Wang and Hannah Sun
Hannah Sun and Jesseter Wang are multidisciplinary motion designers and animators working across branding, advertising, and digital experiences. Based in New York, United States of America, their practice combines graphic design, animation, and visual storytelling to create motion systems and narrative-driven visuals for global brands and cultural projects. Their work explores the relationship between design, movement, and technology, with a focus on clarity, emotion, and human-centered experiences. Through both commissioned and independent projects spanning commercial campaigns, interactive experiences, and short-form animation, they contribute to contemporary visual culture by developing accessible and engaging forms of communication through motion.

About the Bronze A' Design Award Recognition
The Bronze A' Design Award is granted to highly regarded designs that demonstrate creativity, practicality, and thoughtful development. Within the Movie, Video and Animation Design category, entries are evaluated on criteria including originality of concept, innovative use of medium, narrative clarity, visual aesthetics, effective character development, cultural relevance, technical execution, and audience engagement, among others. The designation recognizes the skill and dedication of designers whose work reflects professional execution and the potential to positively influence industry standards. Bronze A' Design Award designs combine strong technical characteristics with considered creative skill, offering solutions notable for their attention to detail and meaningful contributions to quality of life.

About A' Design Award
The A' Movie, Video and Animation Design Award is an internationally recognized design competition that welcomes a wide range of participants, including brands, filmmakers, design agencies, companies, and manufacturers operating within the animation and design industries. Entries are blind peer-reviewed and assessed against pre-established evaluation criteria by an expert jury panel composed of design professionals, Movie industry experts, journalists, and academics, ensuring a rigorous and impartial selection process. Organized since 2008 and now in its 18th year, the A' Design Award is open to entries from all countries and across all industries. The ultimate aim of the A' Design Award is to recognize and promote superior products and projects that advance and benefit society, guided by a philanthropic mission to help create a better world through the power of good design. Interested parties may learn more about the A' Design Award, explore the jury, view past laureates, and submit their projects at the following url: https://moviedesigncontest.com

Makpal Bayetova
A' DESIGN AWARD & COMPETITION SRL
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