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We focus on an often neglected but powerful visual tool of brand identity creation: custom illustrations.
In a previous article, we wrote about the many elements that go into a great brand identity: the logo, the color scheme, the typography and the imagery. We talked about how special attention must be paid to each of them, how they complement each other and how they all contribute to the overall brand identity.
In this article we will focus on an often neglected but powerful visual tool at your disposal: custom illustrations.
What are custom illustrations?
As opposed to stock images, graphics and free icon sets, custom illustrations are unique visual elements specifically created for your brand. They are tailored to its message, tone, and style, to ensure a distinct visual identity that is not easily replicated.
Think of the icons you expect to see on the website of a powerful brand. Do they look generic, familiar, and somewhat out of place? Do they seem copied from somewhere else? Probably not.
They were most probably created by an experienced graphic designer or agency as a part of a comprehensive brand identity for the key benefits they provide:
Improved Differentiation and Brand Personality
First, custom illustrations will help you differentiate your brand from those of your competitors by adding one more layer of uniqueness to your brand identity. They develop it and flesh it out more. They represent another detail of your overall presence that you paid careful attention to. Without being fully aware of it, your clients will likely appreciate that and form more positive associations with your brand.
For example, custom illustrations will enable you to present the content of your website in a more engaging, dynamic and unique manner. Instead of relying on dry blocks of text, custom illustrations and captions can be used to help guide the user, make the content more approachable, easy to digest and fun to read.
These illustrations can be drawn in a way and with the appropriate colors to convey the specific feelings that you want your customers to experience. For example, they can help your brand appear as more modern or traditional, fun or serious, exciting or safe.
Improved Flexibility and Versatility
Second, custom illustrations will allow you complete control over the design process and the final product. Say you want to use a specific set of icons for all your marketing material. The free versions you find online, however, are only available in a single format. You want icons that you can use on a variety of backgrounds – light, dark or transparent. You want versions of the icon files in higher or lower resolutions depending on the use case. You want your graphics to be in multiple file formats, e.g. .jpg, svg, etc.
An experienced designer or agency will be able to create custom illustrations for you that fulfill all of these requirements.
The Quick and Easy Option: Working With Templates and Stock Images
While custom illustrations offer numerous benefits, many brands opt for more accessible and cost-effective options like templates and stock images. We believe that there is nothing wrong with that, provided that they fit into the overall brand identity and do not subtract from it.
We also believe that not everything needs to be custom designed, but some key visuals should be, to avoid damage to the overall look and feel of the brand.
For example, have you ever recognized the same stock image being used by multiple businesses in their marketing? Perhaps the simplest way to describe the feeling is “immersion breaking”. You notice that the element is borrowed from somewhere, it’s not original. Other brands use it. It’s not unique. You’ve seen it before. It’s hard to be excited about it.
What’s worse is how the stock material appears unrelated to the other visual elements used by the brand. It seems out of place but it can only be customized to a certain extent. These are only some of the potential risks of working with freely available icons, templates, images and graphics.
Conclusion
As we have seen, custom illustrations are a powerful but underrated branding tool. They help develop the brand identity, enrich and amplify its message, make it more unique and engaging, and allow for numerous ways of expression. Examples of custom illustrations include graphics, images and icons. They can be seen as an alternative to stock content found online, the use of which, while free, carries certain risks for the brand.
Are you in need of powerful visual branding that provides value to you and your clients?
Do you want custom illustrations drawn especially for your brand?
Get in touch today!
