Commissioning illustration
Haven't posted for a while, probably because, now I'm a 9-5 person I haven't been doing any freelance illustration work. But what the day job does give me freedom to do is commission illustration, which is a whole different ball game!
I think I've learnt more about illustration from commissioning than I ever did from working as one - finding the right style for a specific project when most illustrator's styles seem very 'particular' is quite a challenge. A fun challenge, but tricky. And so many elements to factor in - our brand, the audience the project is for, the tone of the project, the agency's design style, etc. I think, because there is so much personality in illustration, it's such a fine line between an illustrator's work being perfect for a job or just not quite right. And because of trends, you seem to get a lot of illustrators with a similar style, and then you have a lot of illustrators that aren't quite right for the job. Add to that, finding illustrators that can draw people is always a challenge (people in a non fashion, non teenager, non vector, non photographic way). Of course working with a shit hot design agency to commission the illustrator always helps.
I do feel very privileged to work for an organisation that is prepared to take a risk and try something new, and to some people commissioning illustration feels like a risky business. But in my experience, compared to commissioning photography, once you're past the task of picking the right illustrator (and assuming you're giving them a solid brief), the process is actually very smooth - an illustrators style is usually pretty set, and there are less variables than there might be on a shoot (lighting, models, weather etc.)
Plus, using illustration alongside photography gives so much extra dimension to a brand.
One such illustrator who was fantastic to work with was Karin Akesson working with hat-trick design to make us a beautiful booklet:
Losing someone to heart disease
I think I've learnt more about illustration from commissioning than I ever did from working as one - finding the right style for a specific project when most illustrator's styles seem very 'particular' is quite a challenge. A fun challenge, but tricky. And so many elements to factor in - our brand, the audience the project is for, the tone of the project, the agency's design style, etc. I think, because there is so much personality in illustration, it's such a fine line between an illustrator's work being perfect for a job or just not quite right. And because of trends, you seem to get a lot of illustrators with a similar style, and then you have a lot of illustrators that aren't quite right for the job. Add to that, finding illustrators that can draw people is always a challenge (people in a non fashion, non teenager, non vector, non photographic way). Of course working with a shit hot design agency to commission the illustrator always helps.
I do feel very privileged to work for an organisation that is prepared to take a risk and try something new, and to some people commissioning illustration feels like a risky business. But in my experience, compared to commissioning photography, once you're past the task of picking the right illustrator (and assuming you're giving them a solid brief), the process is actually very smooth - an illustrators style is usually pretty set, and there are less variables than there might be on a shoot (lighting, models, weather etc.)
Plus, using illustration alongside photography gives so much extra dimension to a brand.
One such illustrator who was fantastic to work with was Karin Akesson working with hat-trick design to make us a beautiful booklet:
Losing someone to heart disease
Labels: illustration
posted by Louise Kyme at
5:16 pm
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