Bao Quyen
Illustrator & Storyteller
About
Portfolio
Commissions
Contact
Shop
Peace of Alm — Bringing Almík to Life
Project: Mascot illustration for a premium baby skincare brand
My role: Character design and mascot illustration system
For Peace of Alm, I was asked to bring to life Almík, a mascot for a newly emerging brand of premium baby cosmetics inspired by the Alps.
The goal was to create a character who could naturally accompany the brand across different touchpoints — from product education and ingredients communication to merchandise, website design and social media. Almík was meant to speak both to children and parents: approachable, warm and easy to recognize, while still feeling distinctive to the brand.
The Brief
Peace of Alm is a brand built around gentle baby care, Alpine purity and calm parenthood. The mascot needed to reflect that world.
Almík was defined as an Alpine marmot — a small guide who would help children and parents navigate the brand. The visual direction called for something:
- cute and memorable
- drawn in a simple black-and-white line
- not too alternative or overly stylized
- not overly generic
- flexible enough to appear with or without clothing
- adaptable to different poses and situations, such as sitting, lying down or interacting with objects
- versatile enough that “almost anything would be possible” with him in future applications
There was also the possibility that the character might later be used in simple motion, so it was important to design him in a way that would remain clear and functional across multiple formats.
Creating Almík
My task was to translate that rough visual direction into a proper illustrated mascot with a coherent personality.
I focused on creating a character that felt soft, friendly and trustworthy. Because Almík was intended for a baby-care brand, the expression needed to feel gentle and reassuring rather than loud or cartoonishly exaggerated. At the same time, he needed enough character to stand out and become recognizable as part of the brand identity.
A Flexible Mascot System
What made this project especially interesting was that I was not designing a single static illustration, but a mascot intended to live across many different contexts.
That meant thinking about Almík not only as a character, but as a system:
- how his face would read in different expressions
- how his body would work in various poses
- how simple the line needed to stay for usability
- how he could remain recognizable even when reduced to minimal forms
The result needed to be open enough for future development while already feeling complete and defined.
Illustration as a Brand Guide
Almík was designed to do more than decorate the brand.
He was imagined as a guide — someone who could help explain products and ingredients, support education around baby skincare, and bring warmth and personality into the brand world. This gave the character an important role within the identity: he was not just a mascot, but a bridge between the brand and its audience.
That role fits naturally with the spirit of Peace of Alm, which presents itself as gentle Alpine care for sensitive children’s skin and introduces Almík as a small guide for calm parenthood.
Designing for Warmth, Simplicity and Longevity
For me, the challenge of this project was finding the balance between simplicity and individuality.
The line needed to stay clean and accessible, but the character also needed enough personality to feel specific to the brand. He had to be cute without becoming overly sweet, and flexible without losing his identity.
The result was a mascot designed to grow with the brand — a character who could move across communication, branding and storytelling while helping Peace of Alm feel even more human, gentle and memorable.