Header image courtesy of Chen Wu

Why is illustration important?

It’s tough to stand out from the crowd, but illustrations can easily add dynamic and flexible visual interest to your brand. There are several reasons why using illustrations on your website, in social media campaigns, or as brand assets, is important. Here are four of our top reasons why your brand should make use of illustrations:

 

1. More ownable and cost-effective than stock photography

^ Mailchimp Illustration System

It’s not always practical or possible to use bespoke photography, so many brands will rely on stock imagery. Whether this is paid-for or free stock, these images are rarely exclusive, which means anybody else could use them too, diluting your brand power and recognisability.

This also means you can make use of bespoke illustrations for things unique to your brand. Do you need to visualise some data? Or show clear instructions for a product? With an illustration, there’s no need to rely on something being “almost perfect”.

With a bespoke illustration, you have a unique and ownable image that is relevant to your brand. This leads on to…

 

2. Personify your brand with a mascot (or two or three)

^ LINE FRIENDS Mascot characters

A major trend in marketing over the last few years has seen brands embrace mascots again. From craft beer packaging to large tech brands, a range of mascot characters have emerged in a variety of art styles which can earn audience recognition, build a following and open up merchandising possibilities. For example, LINE, a Japanese messaging app, has a whole cast of characters called LINE Friends who have several in-person retail experiences dedicated to them across the world, alongside collaborations with popular brands and celebrities.

 

3. Bridging the gap between what is real and what is imagined

^Illustration for Mr Porter by Donghyun Lim

An illustration of a character or mascot can be gender and racially-neutral, allowing anyone to feel a connection and identify with them. This is impossible with traditional photography, which can only capture what is real.

Similarly, a bespoke illustration can capture and represent things such as emotions or abstract concepts.

 

4. Illustrations are dynamic and can be adjusted to meet trends

Do you need to adapt your imagery? Is there a particular social media trend relevant to your brand, but there’s no way to capture new photography? An illustration can be briefed in and created much faster than arranging a photoshoot. Plus, unlike a photo, illustrations can be created to be fully editable – so you can remix the illustration as you need. This is why we recommend vector illustrations where possible.

 

What is vector illustration?

There are two types of image files: Raster graphics and Vector graphics. But what are the differences, and why does it matter?

Vector graphics are made up of lines, curves and points. Raster graphics are made of individual coloured pixels. This means vector graphics are made of mathematical equations and are endlessly scalable and adaptable, whereas raster graphics will become blurry or pixelated when enlarged.

This is because there is a fixed amount of colour information available in a raster graphic, dictated by the resolution (or the density of pixels), so when the image is made larger than its original size, those pixels just get bigger. A vector image will always look sharp and clear as the dimensions of the image are recalculated when resized.

So why use raster graphics at all? Well, photographs by their nature are made of pixels, so they have to be raster graphics. Raster graphics benefit from a large gamut of colours and are perfect for rich imagery while being able to make use of transparency. But for logos and some illustration styles, vectors are the obvious choice.

For digital illustrations, vectors also allow for further customisation and flexibility. It’s easy to recolour parts of a vector illustration or swap a person’s hairstyle or shoes, which would be laborious and time-consuming with a traditional hand-drawn illustration.

^ How a vector illustration can be adapted and re-purposed

Another advantage of a vector illustration is that every part of the graphic is easy to animate, resulting in faster and more cost-effective animations for your brand – perfect for social media campaigns or informative YouTube videos.

For all of these reasons, we recommend vector illustrations for your brand.

 

But what about Photography?

Of course that doesn’t mean your brand might not need photography. In some industries, such as retail, it’s critical! If you need to show real-world places or objects, your best bet is planning a photoshoot. However, it’s here that vector illustrations can work in harmony with effective photography and enrich a brand. Whether that’s by layering illustrations with photography or letting both coexist.

 

^ Centre Parcs Europe

 

In summary…

Making use of illustrations can make your brand more compelling and dynamic through assets that are ownable and unique. A suite of bespoke illustrations can be endlessly reusable and reworkable, suitable for use on your website, social media campaigns and more. The only limit is your ambition.

Contact us today to discuss how we can maximise illustrations in your next project.