HSE ART AND DESIGN SCHOOL students named among the best at the 2026 DIELINE Awards

Students from the HSE ART AND DESIGN SCHOOL have won top honors in the Best Conceptual Packaging Project category at the 2026 DIELINE Awards, a prestigious international packaging design competition. Alexandra Kashentseva and Pavel Gubin were recognized in the Soft Drinks, Juices category; Ekaterina Minchenok won in Beers, Ciders & Malt; and Anastasia Alekseevskaya and Valeria Gorbacheva took the prize in Beauty & Cosmetics.

DIELINE Awards is a global packaging design competition established by DIELINE, one of the leading media platforms covering branding and consumer product packaging. Since 2007, DIELINE has championed the packaging design industry by celebrating projects that set new standards for creativity, visual communication, and brand engagement. Entries are evaluated by an international jury based on several criteria, including creativity, marketability, innovation, execution, and how effectively the packaging interacts with the brand’s identity.

The NUDE MOOD lemonade packaging project by Alexandra Kashentseva and Pavel Gubin was named the winner in the Soft Drinks, Juices category. NUDE MOOD is a beverage concept inspired by the feeling of a serene seaside getaway, the scorching sun, and the endless horizon. The designers incorporated scenes of sand and sea to convey an atmosphere of freedom, naturalness, and self-acceptance. The visual concept centers around the imagery of a nudist beach — a space free from conventions, where people can feel liberated and comfortable in their own skin.

View project on the DIELINE website

Ekaterina Minchenok’s Noise Beer project took the prize in the Beers, Ciders & Malt category. The project features a collection of craft and dark beers inspired by noise music — an experimental genre where noise, distortion, and overdrive serve as artistic statements. The packaging design translates this idea through optical effects, rhythmic textures, and black-and-white graphic patterns that create a sense of visual noise. This transforms the packaging into an independent manifesto of sound and taste — sharp, intense, and uncompromising.

View project on the DIELINE website

The shy project by Anastasia Alekseevskaya and Valeria Gorbacheva emerged victorious in the Beauty & Cosmetics category. shy is a minimalist cosmetics brand built around the idea of gentle skin protection in the mountains and during winter, when harsh winds meet intense sunlight. The project’s visual identity is inspired by the natural blush that appears on the skin after exposure to frosty air. Soft pink tones serve not only as a core element of the branding but also as an indicator of the product's protection level. The minimalist packaging, delicate color palette, and smooth shapes convey a sense of care without relying on aggressive visual tropes—acting as a soft, almost invisible shield for the skin.

View project on the DIELINE website