Bonusly’s In‑product Illustrations
As Bonusly underwent a brand refresh and product overhaul, I was tasked with developing a new product illustration system. By working across often siloed parts of the company, I could visually harmonize the user journey while adding moments of delight into an otherwise stark product. And by creating them with a balance of personality and customizability, they could provide the base for a customer’s company brand.
- Creative Direction: Judith B.
- Illustration: Brad M.
- Idea support: Maja O.
A Unified Visual Approach:
Along with the new design system spanning the website and product, the in-product illustrations helped create a cohesive brand experience for prospects as they became customers. Strategic placement of visuals could enhance engagement and help onboard admin though the journey from first-touch to launch.
Metaphor-Driven Engagement:
With brand principles of “fun and smart”, the illustration direction evolved to be based on playful metaphors. The employee recognition space is often unfamiliar and abstract to many users, and the use of tangible concepts helped bridge the understanding gap.
Highlighting Company Cultures:
Going along with the design system’s name “Highlighter”, the illustrations were pops of color within the product for expressive moments. In addition to a Bonusly brand set, I explored color and image customization for user created recognition posts and milestones. Whether customers used our default graphics or chose to customize based on their own brand systems, they could effectively (and WCAG accessibly) highlight interactions and culture-making moments between their employees.
The System and Guidelines
Finally, as a second brand designer was being onboarded and post rebrand work was being distributed to partner agencies, I created some guidelines for other illustrators to continue the work. In addition to organizing and labeling working assets in Figma, this one-page guide would be a reference sheet to the considerations in creating new illustrated assets.
