Custom illustrations have the potential to make an impact in any industry and utilizing them in your company’s web content can bring about many benefits. Let’s look at some examples of creative custom illustrations to inspire your design team, as well as share insights into how these designs elevate brands.
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1. Warby Parker
Online glasses retailer Warby Parker has one of the best illustrations on their web design. Their illustrations are scattered throughout the informational pages of the website, adding emphasis, grouping concepts, and punctuating more text-heavy areas of the site.
These designs add simplicity and elegance to the site which makes it easy for users to scroll. They bring a cool and fresh personality to the brand and encourage more users to interact more earnestly with the design.
Additionally, these clever and silly illustrations take on a myriad of different shapes, some more conventional than others. But as a whole, they add clarity to a site that could otherwise be seen as too dense.
2. Duolingo
Language-learning platform Duolingo uses top illustrations to increase user satisfaction and enjoyment of the platform. The visual design of the platform is based entirely on illustration and iconography.
The illustrations not only help visually represent categories of learning, but they also make the platform feel approachable, friendly, and welcome — attributes that can make the process of learning a language feel less daunting for users.
Duolingo infuses these illustrations all over the site, keeping text light and putting the focus on the power of these images. These illustrations make the whole process of learning a new language easy and inspiring.
3. Bumble and bumble.
Bumble and bumble is another brand that provides top-notch illustrations. Custom typography and illustration are used in packaging and merchandising and are carried over seamlessly to the web.
The illustrations don’t overpower or dominate the design of Bumble and bumble’s website, but its presence reiterates the brand’s distinctive style and aesthetic. It is dynamic, colorful, and chic thanks to the pastel coloring and creative shapes that add youthfulness and vitality to this hair care brand — and that's vital considering its young, millennial target audience.
The illustrations are craftily infused throughout the website, scattered in creative and sophisticated ways. They don't overpower the design, instead adding just the right amount of pep and liveliness to keep people scrolling through the vast product offering.
4. Osheaga
Montreal-based festival Osheaga has some of the most outstanding mascots and custom illustrations throughout its website and apps. These illustrations help create a cohesive visual aesthetic for the Osheaga experience that can be carried across properties, both digital and print.
Animations and illustrations are great branding tools that are easy to incorporate across platforms. Starting with your web design is a smart first step. Osheaga does this here, with recognizable and clean illustrations that embody actual characters the brand uses across platforms.
These characters help tell a story and deliver a powerful message that website visitors find compelling and attractive. There's a softness to these designs that lightens the entire mood and sets the tone for an exciting festival experience. It puts users in the right mindset to make a festival purchase.
5. The New Yorker
The New Yorker has been providing awesome illustrations for many years, with a design that has long been used by the magazine in its print editions and is a core element of its overall brand aesthetic. The magazine honors and builds upon its history with illustration by incorporating it into its web design. The illustrations are immediately recognizable, and they reiterate the personality of the publication.
These illustrations are iconic and embody the brand and its classic heritage. There's a modernity to the sleek, sophisticated, and clean designs that bring with them a clear mood and a tangible persona. The New Yorker keeps this theme going throughout the site as well through typography and tone.
Illustrations can craft an entire brand identity, giving it a competitive edge and elevating it from others in the same industry. And in the case of The New Yorker, these immaculate and mesmerizing illustrations set the stage for the creative stories that live on the website.
6. Slack
Team communication tool Slack employs amazing custom illustrations to visually communicate its product’s uses, features, and benefits. The illustrations help convey key selling points of the platform at a glance.
Website copy and custom illustrations support one another, but users don’t need to do a deep dive into the copy to get a sense of the information being imparted by each section of the landing page. It is an effective way to speed up the browsing process, making it simple and clear for users.
The Slack web design is minimal, with a heavy emphasis on images to simplify the experience overall and provide users with a straightforward explanation as to what its intuitive platform is capable of.
These designs are simple, stunning, and effective. You look at them and you know exactly what points the illustrations are trying to convey and they do so in an efficient, engaging, and intuitive way.
7. Blue Apron
The Blue Apron site features illustrations that blend lifestyle imagery with clean, functional design elements. The visuals emphasize freshness and quality, often showcasing colorful ingredients in dynamic layouts. These illustrations highlight home cooking, convenience, and meal preparation, all while maintaining an approachable and friendly tone.
The use of vibrant yet soft color schemes reflects the brand’s focus on health and wellness, enhancing the overall appeal of home-cooked meals. Each image ties seamlessly into the website’s message of making gourmet cooking accessible.
Overall, the illustrations evoke warmth, encouraging users to connect with the joy of cooking at home. The balance between minimalism and vibrant elements ensures clarity while maintaining a welcoming atmosphere.
8. Hub Brooklyn
Hub Brooklyn features one of the most creative and intuitive real estate sites, packed with colorful and cool characters all drawn out in clever illustrations. Through these imaginative visuals, the site tells the story of an exciting new apartment complex and all it has to offer.
The detailed cartoon characters add a modern and fresh edge to the brand and building as a whole. As a residential building in Brooklyn, New York, Hub Brooklyn uses illustrations to showcase its inclusive amenities, with characters standing in as residents to bring its welcoming, dynamic community.
9. Buffy
Buffy’s modern, youthful, and fresh persona shines through its high-quality illustrations to attract potential buyers to its offerings. Custom illustrations enhance this fresh vibe and embody the brand’s products and identity.
These illustrations are bubbly, round, and playful, popping in alongside images and text to enhance the buyer journey. The design choice gives Buffy a lively, youthful vibe that invites audiences to interact and creates a brand visual identity that’s both passionate and playful — qualities that set it apart in the industry.
10. Supremo Academy
Supremo Academy’s illustrations bring a playful edge to its online learning platform for digital advertising and design. Through circus-themed characters and animations, the brand creatively simplifies complex concepts and processes, making the learning journey engaging and approachable. Additionally, the nostalgic circus characters appeal to users’ emotions — making learning feel less like work and more like an enjoyable adventure.
Custom Illustrations Takeaways
To create impactful website illustrations, businesses should focus on originality and aligning visuals with their brand identity. These custom visuals not only attract attention but also convey key messages effectively.
Unique designs tailored to a brand’s story help differentiate it from competitors while enhancing user engagement. In other words, thoughtful, creative visuals can significantly elevate brand presence and communication.
