Ad Campaign Artist Collaboration

Louis Vuitton x Gustav Klimt

This product advertising campaign for Louis Vuitton combines the On My Side handbags with paintings by Gustav Klimt. It conveys the idea that the luxury handbag is timeless, for a woman in any century. It stands out but also fits in so you can take it with you anywhere, and that is the essence of “the art of travel.”

Design Process

I featured the On My Side handbags in different materials and colors, choosing ones that would complement and contrast with the painting. Since they were designed for everyday use, I positioned them in the crook of the woman’s arm or loosely held in her hand. At the same time, I wanted to emphasize the luxury and artistic craftsmanship of the product, and this is conveyed by the personna of the person in the portrait and the ornate background design.

To make the composite feel cohesive, the handbags had to adopt the look and feel of the paintings. Klimt’s paintings have flat ornamental areas of decoration in the background, contrasting with realistic depictions of faces and hands. Additionally, we see the distinct strokes of the paintbrush in the painting. I used a selection from the painting background to add a texture layer mask to the handbag. To further integrate it, I applied a hue/saturation layer and Gaussian blur effect. These Photoshop tools helped to make the product appear as if it is a part of the original painting in color, texture, and lighting.

The logo is placed prominently in a corner where the solid black logo can show up against a lighter portion of the background decoration. The tagline (The Art of Travel) is positioned vertically to echo the strong vertical line in two of the portraits but horizontally for the third. The tagline uses Lulo One typeface to contrast with the Futura typeface used by the Louis Vuitton brand.

Software: Photoshop