When brands need to give their marketing materials a more personalized and unique touch, they might turn to professional illustrators to create one-of-a-kind designs that resonate with their target audiences. If you’ve been considering a career in illustration, knowing how to apply your skills to build a visual brand identity and personality could set you up for fulfilling and important work.
Why Illustration Matters in Modern Branding
When today’s brands want to differentiate themselves with unique, hand-drawn elements that tell a story, they turn to knowledgeable and skilled illustrators to transform their abstract ideas into reality.
Beyond Logos: Visual Storytelling and Brand Personality
While brands commonly turn to illustrators for help creating eye-catching and iconic logos, the work of illustrators goes far beyond these simple visuals. Ideally, illustrators’ creations are effective in showcasing a brand’s unique personality and identity while telling a story that resonates with a target audience. These skills are exactly why you can sometimes recognize elements of a brand’s style and visual identity without a logo or company name in sight.
The Psychology Behind Hand-Drawn Elements and Custom Art
Likewise, many companies turn to brand identity illustration in their marketing, advertising and digital media as a means of building authenticity and relatability with audiences. When designs incorporate elements that are clearly hand-drawn rather than computer-generated, viewers may perceive a brand as being more genuine and thus easier to connect with.
How Illustration Sets Brands Apart From Competitors
When it comes to effective branding strategies, illustration can be especially useful in differentiating brands from their competition. This is particularly true when a brand’s illustrative style accurately reflects the company’s values, goals and identity with memorable designs that appeal to target audiences.
Key Roles Illustrators Play in Brand Development
In today’s hyper-competitive business world, illustrators play a critical role in building stronger brands by providing much-needed visual direction and support.
Collaborating on Brand Strategy and Visual Direction
For starters, illustrators often collaborate with other branding professionals (including directors of marketing and advertising leaders) to help develop brand strategies and forge a visual direction that will resonate with target audiences.
Designing Custom Logos, Icons and Type
Illustrators are also brought in for custom logo design and the creation of other visual elements that will make up a brand’s unique style. In addition to logos, this may include other branding elements that can be found across different touchpoints to optimize the user experience.
Creating Mascots and Characters That Represent the Brand
In some cases, brands may turn to illustrators to develop unique mascots and characters that personify a brand and its values. This requires a deep understanding of a brand’s target audience, followed by conceptualization, character development and refinement to achieve the desired look and feel.
Supporting Campaigns With Branded Illustrations
Marketing campaigns (both digital and print) may also be supported with custom illustrations that take imagery and messaging to the next level. Specifically, custom illustrations can breathe life into brand messaging and resonate with audiences in ways that stock images and basic graphics simply cannot.
Case Studies: Illustration-Driven Brands
To showcase the power of illustration-driven brands, take a look at these real-life examples of brands with iconic logos, successful mascot campaigns and illustrative packaging for yourself.
Brands with Iconic Illustrated Logos
Some of the world’s most famous brands rely on illustrated logos to capture an audience’s attention. Often, these logos incorporate imagery that’s related to the brand name or a product it sells. Some notable examples here include logos from:
- Starbucks (the famous two-tailed siren)
- Apple (the simplistic yet effective apple with a single bite taken out of it)
- McDonald’s (those iconic “golden arches”)
- Nike (did you know the famous “swish” is actually inspired by the wings of a Greek goddess of victory?)
Successful Mascot Campaigns and Their Impact
Brands may also rely on illustrators to help them develop memorable mascots that boost brand recognition and drive customer loyalty. Some examples of successful mascot campaigns led by illustrators have included:
- Tony the Tiger (Frosted Flakes), the friendly and energetic tiger who has been the face of Frosted Flakes since the 1950s, building an emotional connection with families and driving brand loyalty.
- The Coca-Cola polar bears, which were introduced by the brand in 1922 but made a comeback with a 1993 commercial campaign, where Coca-Cola partnered with the WWF to raise millions for polar bear conservation efforts.
- The GEICO Gecko, a mascot that creatively plays off the company name and has amassed quite a following online.
Illustrative Packaging and Website Design Examples
Some brands also turn to professional illustrators not just for their logos and mascots, but for packaging and even website design. Specifically, illustrative packaging helps products stand out among competitors on the shelf, capturing that critical moment when the buyer needs to make a quick choice. When scanning the candy aisle, for example, it probably wouldn’t take you long to spot the iconic brown wrapper of a Hershey bar.
The same applies to illustrative website design, where artists rely on the strategic use of color, typography and other elements to make an impression. Many websites and apps, such as Spotify, rely on bold illustrations to align with the overall user experience and brand image.
Illustration vs. Other Branding Elements: What Makes It Unique?
Compared to other branding elements, illustration stands out in its unique focus on storytelling and connecting emotionally with audiences. When comparing illustration vs. graphic design specifically, it’s worth noting that while graphic design may include elements of illustration, the former centers more around visual elements (like typography and layout). Illustration, on the other hand, is more focused on establishing and building a design narrative that’s relevant to a particular audience.
Illustration vs. Photography: When to Use Each
It’s not uncommon for brands to rely on both illustration and photography to achieve their marketing and branding goals. However, knowing when to use each will ultimately boil down to a brand’s unique goals and audience.
Often, photography is used when brands need detailed representations of products they sell or services they provide. On the other hand, illustrations may be used to help brands visualize concepts and processes while giving artists more creative freedom for customization and storytelling.
Custom Art vs. Stock Graphics: Brand Authenticity
In creating branding aesthetics, companies regularly look for ways to build a sense of authenticity with their target audiences. One of the ways in which this can be done is through the use of custom art and graphics as opposed to stock graphics.
Often, audiences can tell when brands are using stock graphics or even images generated by AI tools , which can have the opposite effect of undermining authenticity. By working with real artists to create illustrations and designs that are unique to the brand, companies may be more successful in building meaningful connections with audiences.
Illustration’s Flexibility Across Media
Another aspect of illustration that sets it apart from some other branding elements is how adaptable it is across different media forms. Unlike photographs, for example, which may not seamlessly translate between digital and print media, illustrations are designed to be easily scaled and blended with such other formats as:
- Websites
- Animations
- Magazines
- Print ads
Tips for Collaborating With Illustrators as a Brand
When businesses work with illustrators for help with branding and design, there are some collaboration strategies that both sides should keep in mind throughout the process.
Building a Clear Creative Brief
For starters, brands have an essential responsibility to define their goals and objectives ahead of time. This way, upon meeting with illustrators, brand leaders can better articulate the personality, values and style that the brand is going for in their illustrative design. With a clear creative brief in place, there’s less chance of misunderstanding or misinterpretation — and illustrators can more clearly create designs that both reflect and strengthen the corporate brand identity.
Understanding Licensing and Usage Rights
Understanding the legal usage of an artist’s intellectual property, such as illustrative logos and designs, is crucial when collaborating with illustrators to establish brand identity.
This should include a detailed discussion with illustrators about licensing agreements, usage rights and copyrights for their work. With a clear contract in place, there should be no room for misinterpretation.
Aligning Illustration Style With Brand Voice
Both illustrators and brand leaders play a crucial role in crafting a visual brand identity that ultimately aligns with the overall brand voice — but how can this be accomplished? Typically, it all begins with extensive audience research. When illustrators and marketing teams know their audience (as well as their unique perspectives and viewpoints), it becomes easier to craft content that resonates with them.
In addition to taking audience needs into consideration, illustrators may also need to align their style with existing visual identity design — unless the brand is looking to undergo a complete overhaul.
Opportunities for Illustrators in the Branding World
With the right skills and experience, illustrators can explore opportunities in creative branding design through agencies, direct clients and beyond.
Working With Agencies vs. Direct Clients
Some illustrators may be hired directly by design agencies, marketing companies and design studios. Depending on where your interests lie, you might explore roles that involve illustration for business, illustration for marketing or even game/film design.
Other illustrators may prefer to work in a freelance capacity, choosing which clients to take on (and how heavy of a workload to commit to at any given time). Working as a freelance illustrator does require more effort when it comes to finding clients, but it also offers an unrivaled sense of freedom and the ability to be your own boss.
Building a Portfolio Focused on Brand Work
If you’re most interested in illustration work that involves branding and identity, having a robust portfolio of your previous work and relevant experience could help you stand out among other illustrators. In your portfolio, focus on showcasing your best and most relevant branding artwork, including details of your unique creative process with plenty of context for each piece.
Marketing Yourself as a Brand Illustrator
In addition to a strong portfolio, you can put yourself out there as a branding illustration expert by establishing and maintaining a strong online presence through social media and professional networks (such as LinkedIn). You might even consider setting yourself apart as an industry thought leader by publishing your own illustration tutorials or sharing your experiences in a blog.
Take the Next Step in an Illustration Degree Program
As you can see, illustrators often play a vital role in today’s branding and marketing strategies. From helping brands tell a unique story to creating logos, mascots and imagery that connect with audiences, illustrators have the skills that today’s competitive brands are seeking.
A Bachelor of Arts in Illustration from Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design could give you the opportunity to build valuable skills and experience that may prepare you for future roles in advertising, marketing, design and beyond. With online and on-campus degree options, you can choose the format that best suits your needs.
Learn more about RMCAD’s Illustration program by getting in touch today. Ready to apply? You can start your application for admission here.
