Building a New Illustration Style for Shopify

<p>Over at Shopify, the illustrators have been busy. We&rsquo;ve been working hard to find a new visual voice for Shopify. (And of course when I say&nbsp;<em>we</em>&nbsp;I mean&nbsp;<a href="https://dribbble.com/Coleman811" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Ryan Coleman</a>&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;<a href="https://dribbble.com/hschofield" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Holly Schofield</a>. Think I&rsquo;m being humble or whatever? Ask a first time design manager how much actual design&nbsp;<em>they</em>&nbsp;put out. Seriously. Zero heavy lifting here. Ryan and Holly are crazy talented.)</p> <h1>The Problem:</h1> <p><strong>Why was it so important to give Shopify a new Illustration style?</strong><br /> Illustration is a communication tool with three super powers. It can add clarity to a complex idea. It can link concepts to the words we&rsquo;ve assigned them within our respective products (aka on-boarding). And, it can capture the values and traits of a brand in a single voice, shift the tone depending on the situation, and speak directly to the user.</p> <p>The existing illustration style, while visually pleasing, did little to augment the content, and only repeated the existing copy instead. It was limited in it&rsquo;s ability to communicate complex ideas, and it did not accurately map to the Shopify values or principles.</p> <p><a href="https://ux.shopify.com/building-a-new-illustration-style-for-shopify-2b25dcf14117"><strong>Website</strong></a></p>