Graphic Designer & Illustrator · Toronto

Retail stories.
Packaging systems.
Illustration with purpose.

I turn ideas into clear, memorable visual experiences across packaging, campaigns, print and physical spaces.

Selected work ↓

10+years in design

4+years at Whole Foods Market

Print · Digital · Retailconcept through production

Selected work

Commercial design, built with an illustrator’s eye.

01 / Retail campaigns

Fast-moving messages, made unmistakably human.

Seasonal promotions and product stories designed for a busy Whole Foods Market environment—balancing speed, brand consistency and hand-crafted impact.

Role: Concept, lettering, illustration, execution
Environment: High-traffic grocery retail
Output: Campaign boards, displays, price communication

Mother's Day retail promotion designed by Mona Sani — Mother’s Day · Seasonal storytelling

Gouda and apple retail display designed by Mona Sani — Gouda & Apple · Display context

Game Day Snacks campaign artwork by Mona Sani — Game Day · Campaign artwork

Harvest pumpkin pie promotional artwork by Mona Sani — Harvest · Product story

Working in context

Each piece had to communicate in seconds, coexist with operational signage and remain useful throughout the campaign window.

02 / Ecommerce content

Botanical care, designed for the digital shelf.

A self-initiated ecommerce concept extending the fictional Flora Botanicals packaging system into clear, coordinated product content.

Original art: Botanical illustration by Mona Sani
Role: Art direction, layout and typography
Deliverables: Primary image, product-detail graphic and promotional banner
Tools: Procreate

Flora Botanicals toothpaste product image on a clean white background — Primary product image · Clear product-first presentation

Meet Flora ecommerce product-detail graphic with botanical packaging features — Product-detail graphic · Visual hierarchy and feature communication

Flora Botanicals promotional banner with toothpaste tube and matching carton on a cream background, headline and Explore Flora call to action — Promotional banner · Adapted for a wide ecommerce placement

The design challenge

Extend an illustration-led package into a small ecommerce system that keeps the product clear, the message legible and the brand recognizable across square and wide formats.

Personal project for a fictional brand. Original botanical artwork, art direction and ecommerce layouts by Mona Sani.

03 / Digital campaign concept

From chalkboard to campaign.

A summer campaign exploration for fictional brand Field & Basket, adapting my original hand-painted berries and jam artwork into a coordinated digital direction.

Original art: Chalkboard illustration by Mona Sani
Adaptation: Art direction, layout and campaign development
Formats: Social, website banner and email concepts
Project type: Personal concept for a fictional brand; not commissioned client work

Field and Basket summer campaign concept featuring hand-painted strawberries, leaves and a jam jar across social, banner and email layouts — Campaign direction overview.

Mona Sani's original hand-painted chalkboard with strawberries, a jam jar and white lettering — Original artwork · Jam and strawberries

Mona Sani's original Season's Best Berries chalkboard illustration — Original artwork · Season’s Best Berries

The exploration

Carry the warmth of hand-painted retail artwork into digital advertising while retaining clear messaging and a consistent visual identity.

04 / Packaging

Botanical care, built into a system.

Three self-initiated packaging explorations that translate original botanical illustration into cohesive, shelf-aware product families.

Role: Concept, illustration, packaging design
Deliverables: Cartons, labels, variants, dielines
Tools: Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign

Flora Botanicals oral-care packaging concept by Mona Sani — Flora Botanicals · Product family

Verdelle Botanica packaging system by Mona Sani — Verdelle Botanica · Premium range

Aurelia botanical care dieline and packaging by Mona Sani — Aurelia · Dieline to presentation

The design challenge

Create distinct brand personalities while maintaining legibility, hierarchy and family recognition across multiple formats.

05 / Environmental graphics

Artwork made for a place.

Permanent department graphics and large-format murals that help customers navigate while giving the store a distinctive local character.

Role: Design, illustration, production coordination
Scale: Department signage to wall graphics
Constraint: Established brand system and live retail

Whole Foods pizza department signage designed by Mona Sani — Pizza department · Navigation and personality

Whole Foods juice department signage designed by Mona Sani — Juice department

Earth Day permanent retail mural by Mona Sani — Earth Day · Permanent mural

Season's Best Berries retail signage by Mona Sani — Season’s Best · Department graphic

06 / Digital illustration

Observation, translated into atmosphere.

Nature-led digital paintings developed through reference, compositional studies and layered image-making.

Focus: Wildlife, environment, composition
Approach: Reference study to finished scene

Crowned crane digital illustration by Mona Sani — Crowned crane

Golden eagle digital illustration by Mona Sani — Golden eagle reflection

Lotus boat environment illustration by Mona Sani — Lotus boat environment

07 / Digital painting & stylization

Realistic study. Expressive character.

One parrot, explored through two visual approaches. A detailed wildlife study becomes a stylized illustration with broader feather shapes, a rounded silhouette and an expressive face.

Project: Realistic → Stylized Parrot
Original art: Digital paintings by Mona Sani
Tools: Photoshop
Focus: Colour, shape, feather texture and character

Realistic to Stylized Parrot: a detailed green parrot study on the left and a rounded, expressive green parrot with raised wings on the right, presented on a deep teal background — From Realistic Study to Stylized Illustration · View full-size image

Original digital paintings by Mona Sani.

08 / Educational illustration

Birds of Iran. Looking closely.

A thesis project introducing teenage readers to birds through illustration, Persian text and distribution maps. Five species, observed through colour, gesture and behaviour.

Role: Illustration, cover design and page composition
Audience: Teenage readers

View the case study

White-breasted Kingfisher illustration with turquoise feathers in Mona Sani's original Persian book layout — White-breasted Kingfisher · Selected thesis work

09 / Brand campaign

Natura Belle. Nature in every drop.

A self-initiated campaign for Natura Belle, a fictional botanical skincare brand. Original hummingbird and botanical illustration, composed with a product asset into a desktop hero and a vertical social adaptation that hold the same palette and tone.

Original art: Hummingbird and botanical illustration by Mona Sani
My role: Original illustration · Concept & art direction · Digital compositing · Campaign design · Typography & layout · Social media adaptation
Tools: Procreate · AI-assisted image generation
Project type: Personal concept for a fictional brand; not commissioned client work

The process

Original hand-drawn hummingbird feeding at pink orchid blossoms among green leaves, by Mona Sani

01 — Original illustration

Original hummingbird and botanical artwork hand-drawn by Mona Sani, combining detailed natural forms with a soft, expressive color palette.

02 — Digital preparation

The original illustration was prepared for digital composition while preserving the character and texture of the hand-drawn artwork.

Natura Belle botanical face oil in a clear glass dropper bottle with a wooden cap

03 — AI-assisted product asset

A fictional botanical face-oil product was developed using AI-assisted image generation to provide a realistic product element for the campaign concept.

04 — Composition & art direction

The illustration and product imagery were composed in Procreate, with attention to visual hierarchy, balance, color harmony, typography, and the relationship between handmade and commercial imagery.

Final designs

Natura Belle desktop hero: Nature in Every Drop, with the hummingbird illustration at the left, the botanical face oil bottle centred and a Discover the Collection button — **Desktop hero**3000 × 2000 px · Website campaign

Nature inspires beauty

Personal project for a fictional brand. Original hummingbird and botanical illustration, art direction, composition, typography and layout by Mona Sani. AI-assisted image generation was used for the product bottle asset only.

About

Clear ideas,
made human.

I’m Mona Sani, a Toronto-based graphic designer and illustrator with more than ten years of experience across retail, digital and print design.

My work combines strong visual fundamentals with the practical judgment required for live retail, production and multi-format delivery. I’m at my best when an idea needs both personality and precision.

Adobe Creative Suite Retail design Ecommerce content Packaging Illustration Print production Environmental graphics

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Retail stories.Packaging systems.Illustration with purpose.