Give Me Feedback on My Gay Hong Baos

Hello everyone!

Today I have something very different from my usual articles. 😎

I’ve been working on a project for the past couple of months, and would love your feedback/input.

During a wedding a year ago, I noticed that all of the wedding hong baos I was seeing were either straight-coded or just traditional (fertility symbols!). I wanted to see some hong baos that celebrate non-straight marriages, so I made some designs.

The colours I’ve used are super non-traditional (sapphic flag, gay flag, rainbow) so I’m a bit nervous about the public reception of that — I’m aware that hong baos, like most culturally significant artefacts, have deeply rooted iconography and colouring. Rather than trying to take away from that, I’m trying to add to that body so more people within the culture are included and celebrated.

I would really appreciate your feedback, thoughts or advice on design, printing, the project overall, and whether you’d be interested in them if I made a webstore?

Thanks in advance! And please no racism or homophobia ☆ﾟ°˖* ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

A design based on the general rainbow flag! The back could have different pastel colourways.

A design based on the colours of the sapphic flag. I’ve included iconography of a persimmon tree and was aiming for a design that was both soft and strong.

Based on the colours of the gay flag. I wanted a design that celebrated soft wholesome masc, and I think it came out quite “Steven Universe-y”, which I’m not mad at.

There is a style of wedding hong bao that features a dragon and a phoenix pair, representing the masc + femme. Sooo here’s a double dragon design :) I’ve used more traditional colours for those who want to keep those colours.

Thank you very much for looking at my designs! I hope you find this project affirming and supportive of your communities and intersections and I welcome your feedback and advice 💖