year of the snake | emily tram

graphic design.

year of the snake.

HERE'S TO CELEBRATIONS — HOW IT STARTED

Every year, my parents give my brother and I a red envelope each in celebration of the Lunar New Year. Being born in the year of the snake, I wanted to give something back to them. Custom-made red envelopes — I wanted to showcase how proud I am of my culture as well as how far I’ve come as a designer. I would design an assortment of graphics, pick the best few, and learn how to use my newly bought Cricut to bring my vision to life.

THE FUN PART — DESIGNING

I had been thinking about creating custom red envelopes for a few months. It started in January 2024, just after I finished watching Naruto Shippuden; some characters used snakes or had snake-like characteristics, and I knew it was the perfect opportunity, given that the year of the snake (2025) was approaching. As I was also born in the year of the snake, I wanted to design something special for me, my culture, and my love for anime.

Before I started the project, I set out some guidelines: the red envelopes had to be designed to fit a bill without holding it, they had to feature themes related to a snake or Lunar New Year, and my last name (沈) had to be somewhere on them.

This design uses common symbols for Lunar New Year, such as lanterns, money, firecrackers, and flowers. My parents would always tell me about their celebrations growing up, and these were always common themes they would bring up. Putting this piece together was like preserving a piece of my parents’ history in a work of art. The back is signed with my Chinese name as a final touch.

These were inspired by the characters Sasuke Uchiha and Orochimaru. The design is inspired by the clothing worn by both characters in the show.

Other designs:

The design I chose to print showcases a large snake with my last name written in Chinese (沈) in the middle. I felt this design most represented me — a proud snake with my last name front and centred.

BRINGING MY VISION TO LIFE — PRINTING AND ASSEMBLY

Once the designs were done and I had gathered all the necessary supplies (gold adhesive film, red cardstock paper, transfer tape, and glue), I narrowed down which design would be the test subject. It took a few prints to fully understand how the Cricut worked, adjust the fold dimensions, and ideate the best way to apply the gold foil. Each envelope took around two hours to print, weed the access gold, and transfer onto the red base; a process I wasn’t expecting to take that long. As Lunar New Year was fast approaching, I made the executive decision to stick to the same design and only make enough envelopes for my parents.

CELEBRATION'S OVER — FINAL TAKEAWAYS

I’m incredibly thankful that the project ended in success and that I could pass my passion on to my parents through something meaningful to all of us. This project was extremely fun to work on and gave me the opportunity to work with physical media; something I don’t do too often. Although I didn’t get to see my other designs come to fruition, I’m excited to grow my skills to better utilize the tools at my disposal.