Case Study · 04 — Illustration & Editorial

Giustacchini
Calendar 2025

Client

Giustacchini Products
Brescia

Scope

Collage Illustration · Art Direction · 12 Monthly Illustrations · Brand Identity Application

Year

2025

01 — Background

The Behance Call

Giustacchini didn't know me. They found the Linea Calì calendar on Behance and reached out directly. That's when I understood what the brief really was: they had been producing an annual calendar with their products for years, but wanted something different — something that could make people want to keep it on the wall all year, not just use it to cross off days.

I proposed a collage-based approach: twelve monthly illustrations, each with its own mood, palette, and cast of products — drawn not from a predefined selection, but researched and curated directly from their website for each theme.

02 — The Challenge

2,000 Square Metres of Products

Giustacchini is not a stationery shop. It's a 2,000-square-metre universe covering school supplies, office technology, home décor, luggage, party goods, wedding accessories, children's toys, and packaging. The real challenge was editorial: deciding which products belonged to which month, building a coherent theme for each illustration, and then finding usable images from the catalogue — often with uneven or poor-quality photography that had to be carefully integrated into a surreal, vintage-inspired composition.

Every month started with a concept: a season, a ritual, a moment in the year. March is the month of home renewal and Women's Day — a Greek bust, mimosa, soft furnishings. September is back to school, anchored by a dinosaur stomping through a playground of backpacks and pencil cases. October is the cosmos — planets, travel, and suitcases suspended in space. The products had to serve the mood, not the other way around.

03 — The Signature

One Animal Per Month

Running through all twelve illustrations is a recurring device: each month has its own animal. A grey cat reappears across several scenes, half mascot, half observer. A flamingo returns in summer. A sleeping fox marks autumn. A dinosaur stomps through September. The animals are never decorative — they carry the emotional tone of the month, adding a layer of poetry that gives the calendar a personality beyond its commercial function.

This is something I do instinctively. I did it in the Linea Calì calendar too. Animals ground a composition in something warm and alive, especially when the rest of the image is made of objects.

04 — Process

Three Months, Twelve Worlds

The entire calendar was designed in three months — a tight timeline for twelve distinct illustrations, each requiring concept development, product research, image sourcing, and collage construction. December was the most complex: the visual territory of Christmas is saturated and predictable, and the product range risks feeling generic. The solution was to go maximalist and theatrical — a giant Santa Claus head as a sun, surrounded by an almost absurd abundance of products, anchored by a white reindeer and a retro radio that give it an unexpected warmth.

The cover illustration — a woman at a laptop, a flamingo at her side, planets and textures orbiting around her — was designed last, as a synthesis of the year's visual language.

GiustacchiniCalendar 2025

The Behance Call

2,000 Square Metres of Products

One Animal Per Month

Three Months, Twelve Worlds

Giustacchini
Calendar 2025