Putting an end to proliferation: one brand, one style.
‘A hodgepodge of illustrations is a thorn in the (brand's) side’
“How do we create catchy, clear, visual communications?” If you struggle with that question at the start of every new project, you're trying to reinvent the wheel over and over again. Before you know it, you'll have a proliferation of illustration styles in your organization, and you'll be wasting investments. But why is a consistent brand illustration style so valuable?
If you think illustrations serve a decorative function rather than your communication goal, you're missing out on a major opportunity. A picture is worth a thousand words: it represents a universal language and can therefore really boost your brand. If you use illustrations to show who you are as an organization and what your brand stands for, they’ll be of added value.
Plus, you'll achieve your communication goal: instead of just attracting customers, you will create fans of your brand. You can achieve the latter by incorporating your brand into all aspects of your communications — including your visual language.
What are brand illustration systems?
A brand illustration system ensures all communications contribute to brand recognition and people's image of your brand. As a result, your illustrations have added value.
In concrete terms, you'll develop a system of illustrative assets — from icons to characters — which you can use in all communications you share with the world. Examples include campaigns, web pages, newsletters, employee magazines, and presentations.
Working more efficiently with the ultimate connecting factor
Creating a brand illustration system means building a library everyone in the organization can draw from. Not only co-workers in the Marketing and Communications Department, but also those in the Sales or HR Departments are suddenly part of the design process. This means you'll work more efficiently and save unnecessary costs.
Does Ian in IT have a presentation scheduled for next week? Then he'll look for suitable icons in the image library. Is Holly in HR creating a new recruitment flyer? No problem: she'll quickly select a few illustrations that give new talent a sense of the company culture.
This way, you won't sell yourself short with ‘literal communications.’ You’ll add value to your projects because they will also offer a brand experience.
Future, here we come
If you want to grow, you need to be scalable. To achieve that goal, you require a brand illustration system. With each project, you'll expand the library. And the richer the image library, the more efficiently you will produce new projects.
Do you have to reuse existing materials? Or is it time to scale up? The illustration system is built with your organization's future in mind. That's why it offers a flexible, long-term solution that can grow along with your organization.
Get everyone on the same page: develop your illustration style with HLO Branding!
If you create a brand illustration system, you'll design the style that best suits your brand. But how to go about it?
If all you do is include your brand's colors, the system is virtually pointless. It's crucial to visually represent your brand's heart: the illustration style should reflect your organization's brand personality, vision, and goals. A real branding expert can help you accomplish that.
At HLO Branding, we build brands from scratch. So, we thoroughly understand how brands work. And we've learned that implementing an illustration system comes with great opportunities, especially for existing brands. As born brand builders, we can create a brand illustration system that supports your brand.
What to expect from us? Here are three essential elements of our approach!
Support
Our process focuses on creating support during and after the development of your system. Additionally, we will involve you and your co-workers in the process through workshop sessions in which we'll identify style- and application-related needs, as well as obstacles for use. Using various interactive assignments, we'll guide you through the process step by step. The result: a visual storytelling blueprint.
The system
Ultimately, your system is only successful if people actually use it. We make sure the style and illustrations are part of a well-thought-out user system. Every employee knows exactly which illustrations are available, where to find them, and how to apply them.
Smart library
We'll distill the essential themes from the workshop sessions. Based on these, we will create the illustrations required for your communications. Our special designs are like pieces of Lego: you can mix and match all items. It's a very practical approach that allows you to build on previously used materials! Plus, you can easily combine items for reuse.
