Visualizing Homeownership
Illustration plays a crucial role in bringing character, depth, and personality to a brand's touch points. In Rocket Mortgages case It was a tool to help guide users through the experience, simplifying complex concepts like mortgage applications, escrow, and other intricate steps involved in buying a home. This was the core goal behind the creation of Rocket's illustration style for the 2019 rebrand. In this case study, I’ll walk you through the process and share how we achieved this vision.
Visualizing Homeownership
Illustration plays a crucial role in bringing character, depth, and personality to a brand's touch points. In Rocket Mortgages case It was a tool to help guide users through the experience, simplifying complex concepts like mortgage applications, escrow, and other intricate steps involved in buying a home. This was the core goal behind the creation of Rocket's illustration style for the 2019 rebrand. In this case study, I’ll walk you through the process and share how we achieved this vision.
Visualizing Homeownership
Illustration plays a crucial role in bringing character, depth, and personality to a brand's touch points. In Rocket Mortgages case It was a tool to help guide users through the experience, simplifying complex concepts like mortgage applications, escrow, and other intricate steps involved in buying a home. This was the core goal behind the creation of Rocket's illustration style for the 2019 rebrand. In this case study, I’ll walk you through the process and share how we achieved this vision.
1
Led the development of an illustration style that embodies simplicity, boldness, and minimalism, perfectly aligning with the brand identity.
Led the development of an illustration style that embodies simplicity, boldness, and minimalism, perfectly aligning with the brand identity.
Led the development of an illustration style that embodies simplicity, boldness, and minimalism, perfectly aligning with the brand identity.
2
Created over 400+ custom illustrations, each thoughtfully designed to enhance brand consistency across all touch points. These illustrations were crafted to be flexible, adapting seamlessly to various formats, from digital interfaces to printed materials.
Created over 400+ custom illustrations, each thoughtfully designed to enhance brand consistency across all touch points. These illustrations were crafted to be flexible, adapting seamlessly to various formats, from digital interfaces to printed materials.
Created over 400+ custom illustrations, each thoughtfully designed to enhance brand consistency across all touch points. These illustrations were crafted to be flexible, adapting seamlessly to various formats, from digital interfaces to printed materials.
3
Addressed organizational challenges by creating guidance on the Rocket illustration style, collaborating with designers to gain buy-in, and refining illustration usage throughout the product experience.
Addressed organizational challenges by creating guidance on the Rocket illustration style, collaborating with designers to gain buy-in, and refining illustration usage throughout the product experience.
Addressed organizational challenges by creating guidance on the Rocket illustration style, collaborating with designers to gain buy-in, and refining illustration usage throughout the product experience.
4
Developed an illustration library that streamlined workflows and fostered collaboration across the design team. This resource ensured consistent brand application while enabling designers to work more efficiently and cohesively.
Developed an illustration library that streamlined workflows and fostered collaboration across the design team. This resource ensured consistent brand application while enabling designers to work more efficiently and cohesively.
Developed an illustration library that streamlined workflows and fostered collaboration across the design team. This resource ensured consistent brand application while enabling designers to work more efficiently and cohesively.
As the sole illustrator in the organization, I led the entire design process, from the initial discovery phase to creating the illustrations, managing requests, and overseeing the rollout of our new illustration style.
As the sole illustrator in the organization, I led the entire design process, from the initial discovery phase to creating the illustrations, managing requests, and overseeing the rollout of our new illustration style.
Goal
To create a versatile illustration style that connects with our audience, while establishing a streamlined design process to maintain brand consistency and empower designers.
To create a versatile illustration style that connects with our audience, while establishing a streamlined design process to maintain brand consistency and empower designers.
Our first Pass
In the initial stages of refining our illustration style, we experimented with bold colors and dynamic perspectives to create a more dramatic impact. However, we soon discovered that this direction made the illustrations feel unapproachable and cold. Recognizing the importance of connecting with our audience on a human level, we pivoted towards a style that reflects real people, aiming to infuse warmth, delight, and friendliness into our brand through our illustrations. Below you can see some of the shapes and themes we experimented with in these early stages.
In the initial stages of refining our illustration style, we experimented with bold colors and dynamic perspectives to create a more dramatic impact. However, we soon discovered that this direction made the illustrations feel unapproachable and cold. Recognizing the importance of connecting with our audience on a human level, we pivoted towards a style that reflects real people, aiming to infuse warmth, delight, and friendliness into our brand through our illustrations. Below you can see some of the shapes and themes we experimented with in these early stages.
Overcoming Organizational Challenges
Scaling a new brand across an organization of 2,000 people presented formidable hurdles, requiring a concerted efforts to instill a understanding of our brand's value proposition and visual identity. Prior to the rebrand and the introduction of my role as an in-house illustrator, our illustration practices lacked cohesion and consistency.
Historically, our design process allowed for varying approaches to illustration, resulting in a fragmented visual identity. Some designers, lacking illustration expertise, would create ad-hoc visuals, while others resorted to modifying stock illustrations. While these methods were fast, they fell short of ensuring brand consistency across marketing materials and the user experiences. With the absence of a defined illustration style, my entry into the role marked a significant move towards establishing a cohesive visual language. This endeavor involved not only creating new illustrations but also educating the design team on the benefits of having a unified style. I facilitated onboarding sessions to familiarize designers, animators, and project managers with the illustration process, emphasizing the importance of clarity in briefing and aligning on the intended purpose of each illustration.
Scaling a new brand across an organization of 2,000 people presented formidable hurdles, requiring a concerted efforts to instill a understanding of our brand's value proposition and visual identity. Prior to the rebrand and the introduction of my role as an in-house illustrator, our illustration practices lacked cohesion and consistency.
Historically, our design process allowed for varying approaches to illustration, resulting in a fragmented visual identity. Some designers, lacking illustration expertise, would create ad-hoc visuals, while others resorted to modifying stock illustrations. While these methods were fast, they fell short of ensuring brand consistency across marketing materials and the user experiences. With the absence of a defined illustration style, my entry into the role marked a significant move towards establishing a cohesive visual language. This endeavor involved not only creating new illustrations but also educating the design team on the benefits of having a unified style. I facilitated onboarding sessions to familiarize designers, animators, and project managers with the illustration process, emphasizing the importance of clarity in briefing and aligning on the intended purpose of each illustration.
Where we landed
In later iterations, we simplified the characters, objects, and environments to align more closely with the brand’s overall minimalistic approach. This adjustment was key to ensuring the style was adaptable across various medium print, digital, internal marketing, and more. The goal was to create an illustration style that maintained consistency across all of Rocket’s companies and platforms.
In later iterations, we simplified the characters, objects, and environments to align more closely with the brand’s overall minimalistic approach. This adjustment was key to ensuring the style was adaptable across various medium print, digital, internal marketing, and more. The goal was to create an illustration style that maintained consistency across all of Rocket’s companies and platforms.
This dashboard on Rocket Mortgage is designed to help first-time homebuyers navigate and plan their home purchase with ease.
Various applications, CTAs, and hero sections within the Rocket Mortgage experience leverage illustrations to enhance user engagement.
Various applications, CTAs, and hero sections within the Rocket Mortgage experience leverage illustrations to enhance user engagement
This dashboard on Rocket Mortgage is designed to help first-time homebuyers navigate and plan their home purchase with ease.
Various applications, CTAs, and hero sections within the Rocket Mortgage experience leverage illustrations to enhance user engagement
This dashboard on Rocket Mortgage is designed to help first-time homebuyers navigate and plan their home purchase with ease.
Rocket Mortgages welcome page to Rocket's online mortgage application flow, where we've crafted a warm neighborhood ambiance featuring a diverse community.
Illustration Library
Once the illustration style was fully established and the design team had a clear understanding of how to effectively use illustrations, I decided to create an illustration library. I began the process by gathering feedback from the design team on where they would like the library to be housed and how they'd prefer the illustrations to be categorized. After collecting their input, I built a Figma library, organizing the illustrations by theme and size, making it easy for designers to search and find assets directly within the file. The library not only streamlined collaboration but also boosted efficiency and scalability across the team. Designers were able to focus more on the creative side of their work, knowing they had a reliable resource at their disposal.
Figma library of illustrations organized and tagged by category and theme.
A few slides from our guidelines detailing how illustrations are organized, as well as instructions on their proper and improper usage within the product space.
A few slides from our guidelines detailing how illustrations are organized, as well as instructions on their proper and improper usage within the product space.
Reflection
Creating illustrations for Rocket was an incredible journey. As the sole illustrator, I was involved in many areas of the company from the very beginning. Collaborating with colleagues across different teams gave me valuable insights into how the company operates. Illustrating complex concepts like debt consolidation, escrow, and refinancing was a challenging yet rewarding experience that helped me grow creatively. Over three years, I contributed over 400 illustrations, each carefully designed to maintain consistency with the overall style a milestone I’m very proud of.
The process of establishing a unified illustration style for Rocket was filled with challenges, each requiring creative solutions and a deep commitment to our brand’s mission. By addressing legacy practices, fostering collaboration, and staying flexible, we successfully scaled the new brand identity across the organization. This initiative not only enhanced brand consistency and recognition but also empowered designers to create compelling visual experiences that resonate with our users. In the end, it laid a solid foundation for the future evolution of the brand, ensuring smoother transitions ahead.
