Leveraging illustration in your business web design can be a powerful way to stand out from the crowd, especially in a digital landscape saturated with picture-perfect, generic stock images. While stock photos are a convenient choice, often leading to a lack of visual distinction among brands, illustration offers a refreshing and unique alternative.

Illustration provides a versatile range of creative applications, from improving your brand visually to enhancing communication. Let’s explore five impactful ways to maximize the potential of illustration in your business web design:

5 Effective Ways to Utilize Illustration in Your Business Web Design

1. Establishing a Visual Theme

Illustration serves as a compelling tool for setting an overarching theme for your website. Whether it’s a majestic mountain range, a tranquil woodland, a modern office space, or a bustling cityscape, illustration helps establish a distinct sense of place. This chosen theme can significantly influence the overall design direction, positioning illustration as a central element rather than a mere afterthought. When executed effectively, the theme should seamlessly integrate with the content, creating a cohesive and meaningful aesthetic.

Consider the following example, which would serve as a captivating perfect thematic for a youthful snowboarding or winter sports brand.

2. Communicating Through Visual Storytelling

Beyond its aesthetic appeal and uniqueness, illustration excels at storytelling. Illustrated slideshows and storyboards provide an engaging and clear way to get your message across to your audience. Visual storytelling not only fosters a deeper emotional connection but also effectively demonstrates the value proposition of your brand, product, or service.

Slack exemplifies the power of illustration in storytelling. On its features page, illustrations contextualize how their software enhances productivity, showcasing features like searchable team conversations and app integrations for streamlined workflows.

3. Crafting a Character for Enhanced Brand Identity

Character illustration involves developing a persona, whether a person, animal, or mascot, that embodies your brand. Characters inject personality and humanize your brand, making it more relatable to your audience. A skilled illustrator can translate your brand essence into an original character that resonates with your target audience, providing a compelling hook for building your brand identity around.

Numerous brands, such as Hootsuite, Deliveroo, and MailChimp, effectively utilize characters or animals in their branding.

Moosend, an email marketing company, employs character illustrations to add a touch of whimsy and personalization to its customer reviews. This approach brings contributors to life while maintaining brand consistency in terms of style and color palette.

4. Making a Bold Statement

While illustration might not be suitable for every brand’s aesthetic, its power as a communication tool is often underestimated. Some avoid it for fear of appearing too unconventional or extravagant. However, illustration extends beyond mere aesthetics; it can amplify important information, enhance meaning, and convey a strong message. Google, for instance, replaced its homepage logo with specially commissioned illustrations to commemorate historical events and significant days. They even incorporated animations and interactive games on occasion through their Google Doodles.

A prime example is the Google Doodle created for clockmaker John Harrison’s 325th birthday, showcasing the impact of illustration in web design.

This approach holds valuable lessons for corporate websites and brands often reliant on overused stock photos. A well-crafted illustration can offer a more impactful and distinctive alternative. This leads us to the next point:

5. Differentiating Your Brand Through Originality

The corporate world often leans towards safe and predictable design choices for their branding, resulting in a sea of generic websites featuring blue and white color schemes and staged photos of employees. This approach feels outdated in today’s digitally savvy landscape. Since corporate audiences are just as discerning as any other online user, it’s crucial to provide them with the same level of visual engagement and originality as more progressive brands. Illustration emerges as a powerful tool for brand differentiation, enabling a unique and memorable online presence.

Here are examples of corporate brands that have successfully embraced bold illustration in their web designs:

Bonus: Building Your Illustration Toolkit for Business Web Design

Before incorporating illustrations, clarify their purpose and ensure they align with your overall design strategy. Consider why you’re opting for illustrations over photos or typography-based designs. If unsure, revisit the points mentioned earlier to ensure your illustrations serve a clear purpose.

You might need to collaborate with a professional illustrator to achieve a truly custom look. However, numerous tools empower you to create and incorporate illustrations independently. Software like Adobe Illustrator allows you to design original illustrations, while platforms like Shutterstock provide access to licensed stock vector images. You can also start with pre-designed illustrated templates, like those offered by the Borderless WordPress plugin Accoutrements Library.

Illustration, a timeless art form, continues to hold immense relevance in modern branding and web design. It empowers brands to infuse their websites with warmth, personality, and a distinct visual identity, setting them apart from those relying solely on generic stock imagery. Before dismissing illustration as too costly, unconventional, or uncontrollable, consider the message you want to convey and how illustration can help you achieve it.