EPDA Label Design Challenge — Winner 2026

Jun 12
2 min read

Last week in Helsinki, Studio Zak won the EPDA Label Design Challenge with our label design for Ordre de Malte France.

The brief was simple, but very challenging, summarized into a single phrase:

“Every light, small or grand, creates a ripple of hope.”

Ordre de Malte France has been supporting vulnerable people for almost a thousand years through healthcare, social services, emergency response, and humanitarian aid. When approaching the brief, it quickly became clear that this wasn’t a story about a product. It was a story about people.

The easiest path would have been to rely on familiar symbols associated with hope, charity, or light. Instead, we built our storytelling around the idea that even in moments of darkness, we can choose to carry light forward.

From this came the concept of the Carrier.

What stood out most about Ordre de Malte France was the idea that the people behind the organisation choose, every day, to carry light into difficult situations. To be present when others need them most.

Inspired by the chiaroscuro tradition of oil painting, and built through a geometric framework derived from the Croix de Malte, the illustrations portray a figure carrying and protecting light through darkness.

Hidden messages, reflections, textures, embossing, and multiple foil applications were used to reveal different parts of the story over time. The label changes depending on how the light hits it, reinforcing the central idea that light itself is an active part of the experience.

The final label incorporated eleven different print finishes, developed in collaboration with the partners behind the challenge. Each embellishment was carefully selected during the design process to reinforce the storytelling and create different tactile and visual moments throughout the piece.

Seeing the label produced for the first time was a powerful moment.

Not because of the complexity of the production, but because every element came together to tell a story larger than the label itself.

Partners: EPDA, UPM, KURZ, and CCL