Laura Barrett’s illustrations turn a gin bottle into a snow globe for M & S!
Laura Barrett has illustrated two scenes for Marks & Spencers range of gin liqueurs, helping to create the effect of snow globe on a bottle!
Tasked with illustrating a winter forest wonderland and a festive high street scene (complete with an M&S shopfront), the illustrations perfectly sell the snow globe effect when combined with the gold leaf flakes in the gin and the LED light found at the base of the bottle. Give it a shake and let the snow fall!
This brief proved to be a natural fit for Laura’s penchant for drawing natural forms and architectural designs. Using some of her existing work to build a rough mock-up, M&S designer Ian Robinson was keen that Laura continue the story being told across their other festive products.
Taking first hand reference from a trip to Amsterdam, Laura created a high street of Dutch influenced gables. The trick to Laura’s fabulous designs though, is flow. As you twist the bottle around, the line of the trees and buildings wave up and down dynamically; Laura also used the transparent glass bottle with the taller elements on the reverse, adding a dramatic sense of depth.
Laura made sure to constantly workshop and create mock-ups of her illustrations as she went; printing them out and wrapping them around bottles, making sure the beginning and end of the designs lined up perfectly to create an infinitely rolling scene.
“M&S have been a dream client of mine for such a long time and this was a dream brief!”
Make sure to scrutinise the bottle when you get one as Laura made sure to hide tiny details within the scenes to keep any gin connoisseur constantly rolling the bottle around and around. Satisfying details in what Laura called “…one of the most satisfying projects I’ve worked on over the years.”