For all the playful & fun brands I design, I love adding in some custom brand illustrations. And what I love even more is the endless possibilities on how to use them!
I could go on and on, but I’ll leave ya to my top 5 ways to use your custom brand illustrations. And of course, I’ve got some examples for ya because I’m a visual learner 💁♀️
5 ways to use your custom brand illustrations
BRANDED ICONS
Look, I’m TIRED. Tired of seeing the SAME DAMN ICONS on every website. Cart button not matching the style of your brand? MAKE A CUSTOM ONE. That’s just one tiny example, but it’s such a missed opportunity!
Brighten Made, a branding studio I’ve followed for years, is the queen of this. Bri, the owner, creates stunning brands and most of them have custom illustrations. And a lot of the time, it’s custom branded icons.
BRAND PATTERNS
This is the easiest way to implement your brand illustrations – make it a pattern! You can use this pattern on packaging, backgrounds, etc!
I love a good pattern, especially if it has custom brand illustrations in it. It shows off your brand vibe right off the bat. Whether it’s playful and fun or dark and moody.
Wanna learn more ways to use your brand pattern?
INSTAGRAM HIGHLIGHT COVERS
Using your custom brand illustrations as highlight covers adds in that branded touch to your Instagram profile. And I’m allllll about making your Instagram so on brand (check out this post, or this one, or this one for designing a full branded experience on Instagram)
Let’s take this example from a brand I just wrapped up, Sideways & Co., a wedding planning + design business who helps make your wedding feel as good as it looks.
Let’s break down each highlight cover! From left to right,
- Planning: Whenever Sideways & Co. posts any planning tips & tricks, the wedding planning process, etc. they can put it here! The custom branded illustration, a calendar in the case, easily identifies what the highlights are going to be about – planning!
- Designing: This is a great spot to put weddings Sideways & Co. is in the process of designing! They can put color palettes, mood boards, design tips, etc. here.
- Celebrating: This is a great place to show behind the scenes and sneak peeks of the weddings Sideways & Co. is designing. Think day of the wedding videos of tablescapes, wedding decor, etc.
- Candles: Sideways & Co. also offers candles, bud vases, and candle sticks that couples can use for their wedding decor! In this highlight, they can show off how the candles were used.
- Bud Vases: The same case here, they can show off how they used bud vases to elevate the wedding decor!
ASSOCIATE ONE WITH A SERVICE YOU PROVIDE
Now that you know all about Sideways & Co., let’s keep using their business as an example. Like I mentioned before, Sideways & Co. offers candles, bud vases, and candle sticks that couples can use for their wedding decor.
Since this is a service they provide, we can make custom branded illustrations to go with each service. This adds in some personality to their site rather than just having the words “Candles”, “Candlesticks”, “Bud Vases”.
Another way to add in your custom brand illustrations is to break down the process of your service. Like this ↓
ADD PERSONALITY TO YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS
And because designing social media posts is my favorite thing to do (aside from designing your dream brand or website), I obviously love to add in some personality to social posts by adding in those custom brand illustrations.
I mean, look at it!! It’s so cute + grabs the readers attention. I just designed the cover photo for this example, yet I’m dying to read more.
Don’t even have a brand identity for your business yet?
Looks like you came to the right place! Hi, I’m Cagney! A bold, personality-packed brand and web designer who loves working with passionate creatives like you.
