Inspiration: Character Illustrations in Website Design
The use of character illustration in web design is a great and easy way to increase the amount of visual appeal your website has. Not only does it brighten things up and make your site a bit more captivating, but it also, if pulled off well, helps your visitors remember your design (and therefore your website). Although your website’s content is extremely important, a beautiful and engaging design helps to bring everything together.
Below, we have a beautiful selection of web designs that make use of character illustration – from design blogs, to agencies, search engines, to internet applications, and even candy brand websites, to food nutrition repositories.
DesignGiveaways
DesignGiveaways uses a hand-drawn style vector illustration of the website’s masters to jazz up their minimalistic design and add a splash of color. It adds a personal touch to the overall site, and makes it more welcoming to new visitors.
Ewout Van Lambalgen
Silverback
Silverback uses a detailed and quite adorable vector graphic of a gorilla to spice up their website aesthetics, and uses the character as a mascot, making it incredibly easy for users to link the character to the application and website.
SR28
Krolikov
The three-dimensional approach to the Krolikov web design is brough to life with a cheeky and full-of-life rabbit illustration in the top left of the design. Like Silverback (above), the character is used like a mascot.
Moshi Monsters
Foxtie
Another design that uses a character illustration not only to brighten up their design and to make it more appealing, but to also act as an easily recognizable mascot for their website/product.
Adelacreative
Kung Fu Productora
This minimalistic and simplistic design is simply brought to life by using a character illustration; although the character itself is very minimal, too. It adds color, brings the best out of the headings, and is just cute!
Ignaty Nikulin
Sixonefive
Sixonefive uses a character illustration to back-up its tagline “Madness, Chaos & Creation” by using a mad-looking scientist with blue hair. The character is also used next to the website’s header/logo, helping the character to represent the site.
Joseph Payton
The Color Cure
The Color Cure is a highly-illustrated design, using vector-style images in the background, and a colorful palette to represent different services that they offer. The illustrations top the design off, filling some empty space and allowing a good way to ask possible clients to send them an email by the use of a speech bubble.
Siringa
Sean Halpin
Sean Halpin is a colorful but fairly simplistic design that makes use of a simple character illustration to engage with new visitors as a way to introduce whose portfolio they are looking at.
eAnka
PSD Rockstar
PSD Rockstar is highly textured and quite a “grungy” design. Using a clean-cut character illustration in the header spreads things out a little and makes the site more appealing and friendly.
Stoodeo
Fatburgr
Fatburgr is one of my favorites in this showcase, mainly because its mascot-style character illustration suggests what the site is about, puts a smile on your face and automatically makes for a friendly and calm environment.
Creamscoop
Think Orange
As well as being hilarious, the two simple but equally mind-blowing character illustrations on Think Orange’s minimal design fill the white space, and set a good standard for the rest of the site.
Moourl
Cyclops
When it comes to character illustration, aliens and monsters are a big hit, although we don’t see as much of them as most of us would like to when it comes to web design. Cyclops pulls off this monster illustration tremendously well and, as well as brightening up the site, acts as a great mascot.
Elitist Snob
Mail Chimp
The Mail Chimp character mascot illustration is one most of you have probably seen before, whether you use their service, have seen their site in other showcases, or have seen the adorable chimp illustration plastered on advertisements all over the web. It’s perfect, and is enough to make anyone smile!
M&M’s China
Old Loft
Old Loft uses various character illustrations, and helps represent their slogan “let’s work together”; after all it isn’t every day we see an elephant, crocodile, rabbit, lion, bear and eagle working together to place a “WWW” flag in the ground!
Branded07
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Best post EVER!!!!
nice post.
here are a couple mascots i have done…
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i80/jstgermain/thefreebucket_logo_LARGE.jpg
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i80/jstgermain/Hunter_Sketch_1-3.jpg
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i80/jstgermain/Company%20Logos%20and%20Client%20Images/logo-2.png
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i80/jstgermain/sendeblast/send-eblast-layout-01.jpg
OH where would we be without vector capabilities. These are beautiful characters. Would love to see them turned into costumes!
Sigh..
These inspirational post are always about designer pages.
It would be much more interesting if the sites were real corporations. And maybe some in depth comment on the page also.
I dont know. It would be much more informative.
These feel like fast food posts…
why is it bad that they are not real corporations? there are plenty of corporations out there that have mascots too, but, that just isnt was was posted here today. As a matter of fact, the 4 ones i posted above are for corporations.
We appreciate where you’re coming from. “Real” corporations just don’t have the same edge that us designers put into our own sites. I’ll have a think about an inspiration article I could write with “real” corporations. Oh, and these definitely aren’t fast food posts – they take a tremendous length of time to put together!
Pretty nice collection of sites which use illustrations.. There are many out there who use pretty cool illustrations and are not included in the list though..I forgot their names. Will comment, once I get them again :P
perfect example.. hope our cartoon designer can inspired by this post :D
Cool, I like it.
Wish I could do things like this …
I have always enjoyed your tutorials. This post however, does little to teach the community anything new.
Please don’t turn into Smashing Magazine.
Nice collection, they looks pretty cool.
Cool collection of inspiration character illustrations in web design.
Thanks for sharing.
At least eAnka, PSD Rockstar and Stoodeo use vectors of chihhang from iStockphoto.com. I think this takes away a lot of the design effort. And PSD Rockstars seems a 100% Photoshoplady clone for me (which also uses a chihhang vector.
I think any serious website should come up with their very own mascot, not a stock illustration. Especially when you are in the design business.
If I call myself a designer and show a bought stock vector on my very own website for branding, now WHAT DOES THAT SAY ABOUT MY CREATIVITY AND DESIGN SKILLS?
Makes me shudder.
PSD Rockstar uses a template provided by SmashingMagazine. Not worth taking it into an inspirational post.
Awesome collection, but if you visit some japanese websites you will find them on nearly every website!
I never thought of that! I should have, everyone knows character design is a huge thing in Japan. Maybe that could be a future post. ;)
Great! I’m looking for someone who can create great characters for our new website.
Any name or idea ?
Great collection Callum. Foxtie and MailChimp are my fav’s.
Nice collection, missing mij website in this ; )
http://www.upgraphics.nl
cheers
Wow.Just that….wow.
There are a few real large companies in this post, like Mail Chimp for example! Very reputable ESP company.
Try taking a closer look!
Those are great sets of illustrations.
Love the ‘branded 07′ penguins! A good character illustration can have as much affect as a good college mascot…memorable and personable.
Simply amazing sites very inspirational. Thank you for the post!
great collection…but where’s mine? ^_^
Very Nice illustrations :D
I laso always include mascots in all my designs, I like them so much. I like that they give your websites a much ore casual look which obviously has a positive effect on the reader.
I am not a huge fan of characters in website design, but I must honestly say that your blog article plus the great illustrations really did something for me and I am ready to explore the web design world of characters.
Love the ‘branded 07′ penguins! A good character illustration can have as much affect as a good college mascot…memorable and personable.
Hmmm… PSD Rockstar looks an aweful lot like the free WordPress Fun theme listed and given away for free on Smashing Magazine: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/07/16/wordpress-fun-a-free-wordpress-theme/
Not much originality there…
great post..thanks for sharing
http://tapbots.com/ also has some great character illustrations.
hmm.. that’s amazing illustration…
thanks for inspiring…
great POST! very inspiring me
wowh … great information.. thanks for sharing….
You can check out my redesigned website ;)
Wow. These are great works. Love to see for of them. How i wish i’m like that superb in creating vectors !!
i am doing animation course , i knowledge this graphic and web designing and multi media. i m searching jobs in this field plz some information ………..
What about the others?
very good for that post
Caverta