H&M
– Illustration & Print Design
Seasonal print collections and licensed collaborations for
H&M Kids
CREDITS
H&M
Disney
MY ROLE
Illustration Design
Print
Design
Hand Drawing
MORE INFO
I joined H&M's Kids division as an Illustration and Print Designer, working alongside the Creative Director to develop seasonal collections for baby girls and toddlers. Part of that work I collaborated with some of the biggest creative properties in the world like Disney, Marvel and Universal Studios by navigating both the creative and legal requirements that come with licensed design at that scale.
Every season started with a creative session where the team brought references, themes and colour directions for the upcoming Spring/Summer or Fall/Winter range. Some of my proposals made it through. Two of my own hand-drawn illustrations went all the way that I designed, approved, produced and sold worldwide.
ROSE REPEATED PATTERN
Small rose repeated pattern. One of two original prints I designed entirely from scratch that went into production. Hand drawn and digitalised in Illustrator, approved for the collection and distributed worldwide. Seeing this on a physical garment in store for the first time was the moment I understood what print design actually means.
From a sketch in
Illustrator to a garment
on a rail worldwide
MY CONTRIBUTION
Working closely with the Creative Director and Senior Print Designer within H&M's Kids division, I contributed across the full print design process from initial concept and hand-drawn illustration through to production-ready artwork. My work spanned original seasonal designs, licensed collaborations with Disney, Marvel and Universal Studios, and the technical requirements of preparing prints for global garment production.
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SEASONAL PRINT DESIGN
Designed original print collections each season working from creative briefs, mood boards and colour explorations. Two of my own floral illustrations were approved for production and launched worldwide.
LICENSED COLLABORATION WITH DISNEY
Worked on a Minnie Mouse collection alongside H&M's legal team. Disney provided the Minnie artwork.
I designed the floral wreath surrounding her and the coordinating repeat floral print on the pants.
PRINT PRODUCTION AND COLOR MATCHING
Prepared production-ready artwork for suppliers, managing pattern placement, fabric considerations and physical colour matching. Every print went through legal clearance before going into production.
EMBROIDERY FLOWERS
Placement print embroidery design, built in Illustrator as a clean vector illustration. Since this was a single placement print it's positioned deliberately on the garment rather than repeated across it. The embroidery process meant keeping the illustration simple and precise, every line counts when it's being stitched.
COLLECTION SPREAD
The idea behind this print was harmony through variety. Each flower and leaf was drawn at a different scale, mixing solid and soft colours with shadow and brush texture to create a composition that feels both rich and balanced. The palette was deliberately chosen to express autumn and winter tones, warm but sophisticated, layered but never busy. The variation in scale and texture is what gives the print its depth.
“I learned that a good illustration and a good print are not the same thing.”
DESIGN DECISIONS
Making a print that works in production is not the same as making one that looks good on screen. I had to understand how a pattern sits across a garment, how colours shift between a digital file and a physical fabric, and how the scale of a motif changes completely depending on whether it lands on a baby bodysuit or a
toddler dress.
Working with licensed properties added another layer. Disney, Marvel and Universal Studios each have their own strict visual guidelines. My job was to find the space where H&M's creative direction and the licensed universe could sit together naturally, without either one feeling compromised. That meant a lot of back and forth with legal teams on both sides, and a lot of small adjustments that never show in the final print.
Two of my own original designs made it to production. A small rose repeat and a detailed floral AOP for the AW collection. The AW blue floral sold fast, both in store and online.
REFLECTION
H&M taught me something about design that no agency project has. What it means to make something entirely by hand and watch it become a physical object that real people buy and dress their children in. The distance between a sketch in Illustrator or Photoshop and a printed garment on a two year old in a store somewhere in the world is enormous. Colour matching from screen to physical production. Pattern placement across different fabric cuts. Legal clearance with some of the most tightly controlled creative properties in the world. None of that shows in the finished print. That is the point.
The rejected work taught me just as much. Animal illustrations I spent weeks on that didn't make it through because of wrong season timing or licensing complications. That is the reality of working within a commercial creative system.
Testing composition and motif scale before committing to a direction. This direction went through several colour directions before landing on the blue-cold sophisticated palette that went into production
Animal illustrations developed for a different season. Didn't make it through due to licensing constraints and season theme alignment.
Testing composition and motif scale before committing to a direction. This direction went through several colour directions before landing on the blue-cold sophisticated palette that went into production
SUMMER PRINT
A seasonal print for the Spring/Summer collection. Lighter palette, open composition. Each season has its own colour direction and the print has to carry the summer feeling with different scales of florals combine with a little sweet lady bug.
BIG ROSE PLACEMENT PRINT
A placement print designed to feel both sweet and playful; a big rose with a simple, clean colour palette printed on white. The handwritten text curves around the rose, making the composition feel alive rather than static. The copy was chosen as a small warm sentiment directed at the little one wearing it. Sometimes the most considered design decision is knowing when to keep it simple and let one thing do all the talking.
MINNIE MOUSE X H&M FLORAL COLLECTION
Licensed collaboration with Disney. The Minnie Mouse artwork was provided by Disney. My contribution was the hand drawn floral wreath surrounding her and the coordinating repeat floral print on the pants, designed in Illustrator. The challenge was making my illustration feel like it belonged in the Disney universe while staying true to H&M's visual language for kids. Every element went through both H&M and Disney's legal teams before going to production.