5 reasons why we love to use line illustration
We are Embacy. And I am Lisa, the main (and usually the only) illustrator here. In 2019 we made a bunch of brandings, landing pages, and websites with illustrations. I’ll tell you why we do what we do.
If you look at our projects they all look pretty similar. The approach to the text, clean design, and line illustrations. Good copywriting and design are website development essentials. It’s different for illustration because it is directly connected to who do we work with most often.
Most of our clients are IT companies — both startups and larger ones. They need to tell about their complicated products in a serious way but still not make users bored to death. It’s a blurry line.
You must win users and make them read the text and comprehend it. A startup should be not too startup-y. Mature companies shouldn’t be disgustingly boring.
Good illustration can make the product stand out. It won’t stand in the way of clean and simple design and grab too much attention. For us, line illustration solves this problem. It helps us with…
1. Bringing balance to every screen composition
Visually lines have less weight. You can also make them the same width as letters or slightly thinner. This way the illustration will not be «heavy» and won’t distract from the text (it’s super important). Though you can f**k up the lines too.
2. Express almost every metaphor, vision, idea possible
Characters, detailed diagrams, cities and even little icons can be made by line only. They will look balanced together.
3. Quick adaptation to different formats
You can adapt line illustration to any format you need. Social media posts, presentations, merch. That’s especially relevant when the client doesn’t have an in-house illustrator. Frankly, they almost never have one.
We develop illustrations while we do identity design. They become as much of a part of the branding as the colors, fonts, and tone of voice.
Usually, the client tries to find a new use for them anyway. He does it himself or with the help of a designer. And that’s totally right because this is what branding is for. Why not make it easier in advance?
4. To be sure that everything turns out like you imagined
This is about all vector SVG illustrations, not just the line illustration. It’s easier to predict how it will look both on newest iPhone and on your grandma’s computer. Retina won’t blur it and mobile data will load it for sure.
5. Create drastically different styles
Illustrations give a lot of opportunities for your creativity. Challenging metaphors, colors, styles, characters, and stories. For every project, you can create a special style.
There are many other styles that I like in web too. Analog illustration, color spots illustration, and nice and detailed isometry. These kinds of things work best for longreads, party announcements, and emotional websites. There are large companies that have inhouse illustrators for style and quality consistency. These styles are memorable, but they can be distracting. I’m grateful for line illustration existence.
