Published on | Prototyping: From UX to Front End — Medium Shir Zalzberg

Illustrations! when, where and why (Part 1)

Let’s start with a confession. I own a Unicorn’s onesie.
Actually, I own two of them.

I have made a conscious, adult decision to purchase every item that contains illustrations, the color pink and sparkles I come across. The onesies happen to check all of the above.
And now, armed with that knowledge about me, you will find it as no surprise that I LOVE illustrations, and using them in my work. My manager wasn’t surprised either, when I suggested adding illustrations to out homepage. However, this is where I encountered my first obstacles:
A. I was shocked to discover that my manager does not share my enthusiasm for Unicorns (I’m still investigating how could it happen).
B. He had a simple question. Why? Why should we use illustrations, how are they will contribute and where should we incorporate them?

Honestly, he made a compelling argument.

The advantages of using illustrations

It’s easier for us to understand information using illustrations.

Let’s kick off with some history. One of our very first means of communication were illustrations, way before any form of modern writing. as a matter of fact, cave drawings from over 35,000 years ago were recently found, so communicating through illustrations is something we’ve been practicing for a long time.

This didn’t happen by chance, a big part of our brain is devoted for visual processing and researchers claim that over 90% of the information we process is visual. Because our ability to take in and process visual elements is so impressive, we’re able to understand an idea much quicker if it was conveyed using visuals. In this research, people who followed illustrated instructions were 323% more successful than people following non illustrated instructions.

Illustrations help bridge cultural gaps

To convey an idea in writing, we need to create multiple versions of our text according to the different languages of our readers. When we use illustration, we can convey the same idea to people who don’t share a common language. A great example would Ikea’s manuals. Instead of written instructions in numerous different languages, Ikea have illustrated manuals, and they work incredibly well for users from around the world.

Instructions for an ikea product

Illustrations add delight to our products.

I assume you’ve already heard about the term “Delight”, it’s a serious buzzword right now.

This term describes an experience that makes our users feel pleasure or extreme satisfaction. Users will always look for that special bond, something that will make us fall in love with a product. If we were lucky enough to find a product that special, there’s a good chance we will stay loyal to that product and choose it over the competition. Illustrations that create a delightful experience not only help us convey the idea of our product, they help us inject content and character into a product that otherwise, might have been a bit boring.

Try to think of an illustrated product you like, why did you choose this product over the competition? Mailchimp might be the perfect example — Mailchimp beautifully highlight the important moments users experience and they make those moments unforgettable. For example, When you’re just about to send your newsletter you will come across an illustrated GIF of a sweaty finger moments from pushing the send button. With that, Mailchimp were able to capture and transform the exhilarating moment of pushing that button, a true magic moment. That small but very special experience was memorable for me and made me think of their product as more than just a work tool. But we will talk more about mailchimp later on.

Mailchimp’s gif, a moment of solidarity.

A magic moments and delight experience can also be created by surprising your users. A great example for that is Slack’s 404 page. While a user was expecting to view the page he was looking for, he accidentally arrived to an error page stating the page doesn’t exist. Instead of directing the user to another page, Slack used this page to transfer a truly one of a kind experience that surprises us for the best.

Slack’s 404 page, a surprise you won’t want to leave.

So far we went over some of the advantages illustration can offer for your product’s user experience.

HOWEVER, these advantages would also work well with using different kinds of visual elements such as photography. So why did I choose to focus strictly on illustrations?

Illustrations spark your user’s imagination.

Illustrations grow your imagination.

When we use photography we limit the imagination of our users to what is presented before them. Illustrations give our users just the right amount of room for interpretation and help them imagine themselves in that situation. While It might be hard to identify ourselves with a person in a photo, an illustration without any identifying features makes it much easier to identify with and imagine ourselves in that situation.

The ability to identify with an illustration creates a more personal experience for the users and a more memorable one to that extent.

An illustration out of the book: understanding comics

I’m convinced! But how should I use illustrations?

Illustrations can prove useful in various locations throughout your product. You’ll need to decide how dominant you want illustrations to be with your product’s experience.
In Part 2 we will go over some of the options available, stay tuned!

Thanks for reading!
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Why you should use illustrations (Part 1) was originally published in Prototypr on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Why you should use illustrations (Part 1)

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