A Little World for dm Germany
I had the wonderful opportunity to collaborate with dm-drogerie markt and rayon on a large-scale illustration campaign celebrating the beauty of everyday human connection. Together, we created a colorful, whimsical world filled with oversized botanicals, curious creatures, and little moments of kindness. From shopping bags and postcards to storefront windows and interactive door designs, the project brought this imaginary world into everyday life across Germany.
Here's a little look behind the scenes, from the very first sketches to the finished artwork.
For this specific project, I developed a new visual style inspired by vintage storybooks, lush botanical worlds, and the warmth of ordinary life. From the first sketches to the final drawings, it was such a joy to bring these little scenes to life.
We created a large window mural, three individual bag designs, a door sticker, and a postcard all portraying characters from the same wonderful world.
World Building
Creating a world begins with the little things. Before bringing the final illustrations to life, I explored a playful universe of oversized flowers, fluffy animals, whimsical details, and unexpected proportions. I experimented with shapes, textures, shadows, and color palettes, developing a visual language where everything feels connected.
Each small discovery helped build a world with its own personality, charm, and sense of wonder for dm.
Rough Sketches
Part of being an artist is to deliver several rough sketches to the client for review and let them choose which one they like best..
Here are a few designs for the paper bags that didn’t make the cut.
Paper Bag Design
After three or four rounds of exploring ideas, refining compositions, and making little adjustments along the way, we landed on these final designs for the paper shopping bags. Each illustration celebrates a different moment of human connection, surrounded by the colorful, whimsical world we created for dm. It was a wonderful collaborative process, watching all those early ideas gradually come together into something that would eventually travel home with people all across Germany.
Plastic Bag Design
I started this one with detailed line drawings in Photoshop on a Wacom tablet, carefully building the characters, expressions, and surrounding botanical world. Once the compositions were established, I brought the scenes to life with a vibrant color palette, balancing playful details with moments of warmth and human connection.
The final artwork celebrates the beauty of everyday interactions and the little wonders waiting to be discovered.
Window Design
For the window design, I wanted to bring the entire illustrated world together into one continuous, larger-than-life landscape. Familiar characters, everyday moments, playful animals, and oversized botanicals weave together to create a colorful world full of little stories waiting to be discovered.
Postcard Design
There’s something so special about a postcard. A tiny piece of art meant to travel, be shared, or tucked away as a keepsake.
For this collection, I explored a few different scenes before settling on a quiet moment between a little girl and her fluffy companion.
Surrounded by oversized flowers and curious little creatures, it captures the simple magic of friendship and the joy of noticing the world around us..
Door Stickers
These two characters were designed to interact across the store's sliding doors.
I loved the idea that when the doors closed, their teacups would meet in a little toast, turning an ordinary entrance into a playful moment of connection.
The sketch with the dog was an alternate idea (I’m always trying to incorporate as many animals as possible) but overall the team and I chose the two with the tea cups.
A World Out in the Wild
There's something pretty magical about watching a world that once existed only in your imagination find its way into the real one. After months of sketching, experimenting, and bringing all these little characters to life, it's wonderful to imagine them traveling through Germany, brightening storefronts, and accompanying people home.
A huge thank you to the teams at dm and Yannik, Larissa, and Rosa at rayon for trusting me to bring this little world to life. What a joy to be part of it!