Illustrations are vital components of the brand’s visual language. They serve as visual metaphors to convey complex ideas when words and photos alone do not communicate the full message. They set the tone of a communications piece, and as with photography, they should nevertheless be bold, energetic and thoughtful. Our illustration style builds off the aesthetic of our logo and features simple shapes, clean lines and controlled use of colour. Illustrations, icons, diagrams and charts should be easily digested and understood at a glance.
Creating illustrations
When developing an illustration, ask: “What is the main idea I want to communicate, and does this illustration accomplish that in a direct manner?” Create illustrations so that they are easily understandable and globally relevant.
- Illustrations should feature bold, minimalistic shapes. Use a balanced combination of curves and angles.
- When drawing lines, use monolinear strokes that complement the line weights of the logo
- Activate white space and negative space strategically to allow interplay between background and foreground
- Depict people realistically, with true-to-life proportions, expressions and interactions. Avoid artwork that appears cartoonish or frivolous.
- In most situations, a focused colour palette works best for conveying your main idea clearly to the audience. Avoid over-using colour; instead, accentuate neutral shades with punches of colour from our palette.
- Avoid using illustration to depict our members in real-life situations, eg. When portraying members at an EO event, use photography instead of an illustration.
- As a best practice, draw illustrations in vector format to maintain the integrity of the image and guarantee best reproduction results.
The examples below demonstrate EO’s illustration style.
Iconography
When using or drawing icons to use with our brand, emphasize clarity, simplicity and readability so that your message is communicated effectively. Avoid using icons that only make sense within one language.
