Is your business different from others like it? Do you want to draw attention to your brand and become recognizable? Are you interested in increasing conversions, expanding your audience, and growing customer loyalty to your company and products?
If so, this article is for you.
Many people are stuck in outdated stereotypes and think that illustrations are something from the realm of creativity, completely unnecessary for business. (Try telling that to Warner Brothers or Walt Disney!) This archaic view deprives businesses of growth and profit, because today’s digital illustrations work exclusively for commerce.
So let’s dispel these harmful illusions. Illustrations are a marketing tool, no matter how beautiful and aesthetic they may be. Their purpose is to work for the business, convey information, and attract people.
Let’s look at the areas of application where illustrations are particularly effective. Perhaps something from the list will be useful for your business.
Branding
Many people spend huge amounts of money to stand out from their competitors, attract attention, and win over an audience. Evoking an emotional and trusting attitude towards a brand is a very difficult marketing task.
Illustrations in brand campaigns solve these issues surprisingly easily and inexpensively.
How? Illustrations are a wonderful means of communication. Thanks to their visual conciseness, they can be read instantly, facilitate understanding of complex issues, inspire trust in people, and are remembered involuntarily. This is a psychological feature of our visual perception, and smart marketers are happy to exploit it.
A brand that uses illustrations acquires uniqueness and character. Drawings can tell the story of a company in a vivid and interesting way, evoking a lively emotional response from users.
Illustrations are human. The more we immerse ourselves in the digital world, the more important these islands of humanity become to us. Drawings made by people tell your users that you treat them with love and care, want to communicate with them, and delight them with human participation.
This is the best option for startups, companies with a lot of competitors, and anyone who wants to make a statement and be understood right away. Even the most beautiful name for a consumer is a set of letters that they will immediately forget or not understand at all (for example, a logo abbreviation).
An illustrated logo solves all these problems — it focuses attention, instantly conveys the essence of the offer, and is visually memorable. The most popular type of logo is a combination logo, which combines an image with text.
Depending on the type of business and the brand’s objectives, the logo can be either an abstract, concise image or a complex, detailed drawing.
Depending on the type of business and brand objectives, a logo can be either an abstract, concise image or a complex, detailed drawing.
A mascot is a virtual ambassador for your business. It embodies the values of the brand and its audience, “communicates” with people, and evokes positive emotions in them. Mascots are so memorable that even if you want to forget them, you can’t.
Illustrations can be used to reveal the essence of corporate culture, clearly demonstrate brand values, and motivate the team in a friendly way. Company employees always respond positively to illustrations “for their own,” perceiving them as a bridge of communication between themselves and their managers, and easily absorbing the information conveyed.
Illustrations in branding are created based on basic visual identity (corporate style, logo, color palette, fonts, etc.), taking into account brand requirements and marketing objectives. To work effectively for the brand, illustrations must pursue specific goals and be primarily functional rather than decorative.