Illustration is one of the most ancient means of storytelling in human history. The art of representing stories, events, meanings, and even feelings through imagery has been present for thousands of years. Some of the most ancient languages like Chinese and Japanese actually rely on pictographic writing systems that use illustrations instead of phonetics to portray meanings.
All of this happened not from chance, as studies confirm that visual cues aid memory compared to audible or written cues. Illustration was developed as a way for humans to communicate with each other, express themselves, and record memories and ideas. To this day, the value of illustrations in communications is still extremely important and worth paying close attention to.
What Is Illustration?
Simply put, illustration is the means of using visual aids to express an idea. Illustration is a mode of visual communication as opposed to verbal or written communication. An illustration can convey a full idea on its own, or it can serve as a way to enhance other types of communication through visual representations.
A very basic and universally-understood type of illustration is a map. Instead of describing geographic directions by using words, a map is an easy way to show someone where they are and where they need to go.
Another universal type of illustration is the red cross. Across cultures, languages, and borders, a red cross means hospital or medical help. No matter where you are, if you stumble upon the following illustration, you will understand exactly what it means:
The beauty of illustrations is that they can transcend sociological barriers like language and customs. If you’re in a foreign land and don’t know how to say hospital, a red cross illustration could quite literally save your life. A good illustration will be understood by anyone on the basis of our shared humanity.
What Are the Different Styles of Illustration?
Illustrations come in all kinds of shapes and sizes, but they can be broken down into two broad categories: traditional and modern.
Traditional Illustration
Traditional illustration refers to those that are hand-drawn or involve some type of manual work. Think of anything from ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics to baroque paintings. The art of traditional illustration includes:
- Woodcutting,
- Pencil drawings,
- Charcoal art,
- Lithography,
- Watercolor paintings,
- Acrylic paintings, and more.
Though the everyday importance of traditional illustrations used to be bigger in the pre-internet era, they still play a huge role in today’s world of art and storytelling.
Modern Illustration
Modern illustration refers to any type of design or image that is created or enhanced digitally. Contemporary illustration is used almost ubiquitously on the internet, as websites and apps need to rely on some type of visual aids to share their content to their users.
Much like traditional illustration, modern illustration seeks to share a story, except that digital illustration is not confined to the physical limitations of the real world. Modern illustrations can incorporate many more colors, tools, styles, and techniques that would be incredibly hard or even impossible to achieve with traditional illustration.
Not only that, but digital illustration allows for the easy undoing of mistakes. It also lets artists use and save templates, pre-set styles, and easily edit their work. These benefits have made modern illustrations much more accessible than traditional illustrations in the online world.
Why Is Illustration Important?
If you are trying to share a message, illustrations are almost always essential to getting your point across. Not only will illustrations help your audience remember your message, but they will keep them engaged and interested in what you are trying to share.
When dealing with technical stuff or topics that are very heavy on numbers and figures, illustrations like graphs and pie charts can help your audience digest the information you are sharing.
Seeing lines on a graph can make our brains more easily understand changes and fluctuations in numbers. These types of illustrations will help you make your ideas clearer to your audience. This will in turn help you land your ideas and achieve the goal of what you were trying to communicate.
How Illustration Can Help My Business
Good illustrations will engage your audience. Great illustrations will win them over. If you want to create a strong brand with a unique ethos, then you need to convey that through exceptional illustrations.
The use of illustrations can help your business:
- Create a unique brand.
A logo is a business’s most essential illustration. How many companies can you think of that have logos that evoke a whole host of meanings and emotions? The Nike logo is a simple swish, but it’s hard to see it without instantly thinking of their slogan “just do it.” - Improve clarity.
One of the most essential parts of business communication is making sure that potential clients understand your value proposition. Without the ability to properly engage with your audience, you will not be able to convince people that they should purchase your product or service. - Make your content more entertaining.
A big part of community management is not just being clear: it’s being entertaining. Digital illustrations can help your business create content that is both helpful and entertaining to the user, making your audience more comfortable with your brand. - Enhance photographs.
Illustrations can give your photos a more appealing approach as well as improve their novelty. The last thing you want to do is share dull photographs with your audience, so using digital illustrations can help you achieve the desired look.
Whether you have experience with illustrations or not, you need to seriously consider implementing an illustration strategy for your business. Be it a new logo or a complete set of digital visuals, using the right illustrations can take your business to the next level.
At RAW Access Media, we specialize in helping businesses market online through different types of illustrations. We can provide your business with an unlimited (yes, unlimited!) amount of graphic design, motion graphics, animation, illustration, production, photography, photo editing, and more. Get in touch with us today to see how we can help you use illustrations to attract a larger audience.