How can an excellent illustration of UI affect UX?

Using illustrations is one of the best ways to make your design stand out from the crowd.

Through meaningful illustrations, brands can get their message across to their audience. Illustrations are most commonly used in web and mobile application interfaces for visual appeal. Among other things, they can be considered an aesthetic element in the product that enhances the attractiveness of designs. Website design is one of the many reasons why visitors stay on your platform. According to stats, 94% of consumers will leave a website with poor graphic design. Additionally, it takes 50 microseconds for a website visitor to register a visual appeal. 

What is an Illustration?

According to 99designs, ‘Illustrations are a visual way to portray or illustrate a written text. They might help explain an idea or tell a story or provide decoration. They come in many forms both traditional and digital”.

Below are some of the reasons why you should use illustrations in your design:

Story-telling 

Storytelling is a significant part of your website that can literally entice visitors and make them want to know more about you and your brand. Storytelling is not just a buzzword for advertising. It has deeper meanings and emotions behind it. Your story can relate to people and can help them engage with your brand on an emotional level. Story familiarizes people with the personality of your brand and the purpose it serves. Speaking of which, illustration offers a great way of story-telling, you can use animated gifs to walk people through your brand. Now, what can be more creative than this? Additionally, you can use mascots for adding consistency to your messages. Take KFC for example; Colonel Harland David Sanders who founded the fried chicken restaurant chain Kentucky Fried Chicken acts as a symbol and something that people can relate to, plus the logo of KFC itself tells a story of a man in his 60s to come up with a recipe that later became one of the most famous in the entire world know as KFC.

Visual Appeal

Yes, there is no doubt that website user-friendliness, functionality, responsiveness, and optimization are very important. But that doesn’t mean that one should ignore the principles of design that make the entire design look more aesthetically appealing. Customers many times want to navigate only those websites that are designed using top trends, that are delightful and beautiful. The outdated design does not help build the much-needed credibility, so to speak. Sure usability is important but so designs. Illustrations make your design pop out. It can really help if you are looking to add value and beat your competitors. Moreover, they offer an exceptional way to woo your customers.

Brand awareness

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Illustrations can help greatly with brand awareness. Consistency plays a major role in achieving recognizability among the target audience. Consistent illustrations are highly effective in ui ux design services to support your brand and customer onboarding. Moreover, people like playfulness, it excites them. So next time when you are designing your website, make sure to use illustrations to express your ideas. 

Important for advertising 

Illustrations can facilitate marketers massively in advertising campaigns. Since they are trendy, customers are more likely to engage with them rather than stock images. Most importantly, even when customers seem less interested in your offerings, one look at that animated illustration gif can make them think otherwise. Because illustrations can make the product stuck to their minds like glue and they might end up buying it, who knows. Additionally, a teaser followed by a well-drawn illustration can birth curiosity. Customers are most likely to visit your website to see what the fuss is all about. 

Tools to make illustration easier

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe illustrator is considered one of the most popular software for making illustrations and creating wireframes. Almost every illustrator or designer starts their journey by learning Adobe illustrator majorly because it is easier to use. At the end of the day, it all depends on the type of illustration whether they are hand-drawn or otherwise. Having said that, a thorough understanding of Illustrator is important for digital creatives. 

Wacom tablets

Drawing tablets are becoming all the rage. Speaking of which, Wacom tablets are both hardware and software. You can draw and paint digital assets through this digital tool. All you have to do is choose your canvas size, create layers, draw and erase as needed. Wacom offers a number of different products for design professionals, you can choose the one that suits you the best.  

Corel draw

Corel draw is a vector-based drawing tool. You can use this software to design logos, invitations, brochures, and other vector-based designs. Corel draw is particularly an old software released in 1989 but still, it is going strong. Apart from logos, you can also design posters, basic shapes, small invitation cards, convert bitmaps to objects, and others.

Sketch

Just like illustrator sketch is also super easy to use. Newbie designers can easily pick up the concepts. It is considered a robust and effective tool to create layouts and vectors. Moreover, sharing and exporting files is super simple. The best part is you can easily integrate the sketch tool with other software, plugins, and tools as well. Last but not the least, this tool is very affordable for small-sized companies. 

How to effectively use illustrations in your design 

• You can use illustrations on customer onboarding app screens as it guides new customers to understand how the application functions. Users can also familiarize themselves with the features. 
• Additionally, you can use illustrations to set the theme of your website so that people can associate themselves with it. 
• You can also use illustrations with your product tutorials, pop-ups, and tooltips which makes the entire process user-friendly and enjoyable. 
• One best way to use illustrations is to add gamification to the user experience. Meaning during online contests you can use illustrations to highlight rewards. 
• They can be used only for entertaining website visitors. Only to add a little bit of aesthetic to the web design. 

Illustration matters a lot in UI/UX design. So if you don’t know how to make the best use of illustrations in your design, hiring UI/UX design services is the best and most effective option.