UNI illustration system

The brief

A visual language UNI could own.

Stock illustrations were starting to look alike. UNI needed a distinctive, consistent style for its platform, presentations, and advertising.

I initiated the project as an intern and continued as a full-time designer. As the sole illustrator, I developed the style with feedback from mentors.

The goal was a repeatable system, not just a collection of drawings.

A meditating figure in UNI's orange-and-grey illustration style

Explore the visual language.

I studied artists I admired, comparing colour, line, texture, and character before choosing a direction of my own.

Reference illustration: a flat, colourful bar interior — Illustration by Coen Pohl.

Reference illustration: a detailed desk scene with orange accents — Illustration by Katarzyna Dziaduś.

Reference illustration: two people exchanging ideas — Reference illustration (artist unknown).

Reference illustration: grid of colourful character portraits — Illustration by Meg Robichaud.

Spectrum

Too many references made choosing harder. I broke the style into 11 defining elements, then narrowed the options one decision at a time.

Visual style guide. Colour: monochrome, dichrome, limited palette, gradient. Detailing: minimal, realistic, hyper-realistic. Fill: colour, pattern, image. Finish: sketchy, polished, midway. Medium: hand-drawn, digital. Proportions: realistic, skewed. Shadow: no shadow, realistic shadow, drop shadow. Shape: geometric, organic, midway. Texture: flat, textured. Type: line only, fill only, line plus fill, line and/or fill. View: 2D, 2D multi-layered, 3D isometric, 3D. Examples illustrate options, not final selections.

Exploration 1 · Initial drafts

A shared theme, but not yet a family. The line-and-fill theme was already there, but the line flow had no consistent pattern. Sharp edges and different treatments made the illustrations feel like separate experiments, rather than parts of the same family.

Exploration 1: a seated figure with orange hair and shirt, drawn with overlapping black lines

Exploration 1: a walking figure carrying a bag and flowers, with angular orange clothing and boots

Exploration 1: a figure using a phone, with a sharply angled orange coat and black-line legs

Exploration 1: a seated figure working on a laptop, with black lines flowing through the body and chair

Exploration 1: a hiker holding a map, with a backpack, binoculars and angular black-line limbs

Exploration 1: an adult in a sunhat holding a child's hand beside an orange swimming ring

Exploration 2 · Lines and blobs

Black lines + orange blobs. I combined a limited two-tone palette with realistic proportions and flat, 2D scenes.

Early direction: a character in a room drawn with black lines and orange blobs

Early direction: people collaborating across screens

Early direction: a cyclist powering a network of connected nodes

Exploration 2: a bin filled with a tower, an aeroplane, a filmstrip and patterned fabric, drawn in orange fills and black lines

Exploration 3 · Simplify & refine

After a pause at the end of my internship, I returned to the project as a full-time designer. The shortcomings felt clearer.

Colour experiments didn't resolve them. I turned instead to line detail and simpler hands and feet.

Six iterations of a kneeling figure refining line detail and abstraction

Refine the palette

More depth. Same language.

The early illustrations found a place in pitch slides, but the two-tone palette was too limiting. More shades of orange and grey added depth without abandoning the direction.

Consistency mattered beyond my own work: someone else should be able to extend the system.

Expanded palette with shades of orange and grey

Final design

Expressive figures, restrained colour. After several rounds of iteration, these were the illustrations I took forward.

Built for the web. Illustrations needed small SVG files and clarity across screen sizes. I dropped noise effects that SVG could not natively support.

Final style: two people working at a table

Final style: a cyclist on a white background

I also tested sports metaphors to communicate ideas within the same visual language.

Sports theme: a rower helping another into a boat

Sports theme: footballers passing a ball

From screen to print

These illustrations also appeared in print in the UNI Design Yearbook 2018, on its title and introductory pages. Explore the yearbook case study.

Printed UNI Design Yearbook title spread featuring the illustration of people collaborating across screens — The title spread.

Printed yearbook introduction spread featuring the cyclist powering a connected network — The yearbook introduction.

Printed About UNI spread featuring the room illustration across two pages — The About UNI spread.

What I learned

Neutral wasn't inclusive.

Feedback was mixed. Some scenes didn't communicate as clearly to others as they did to me.

When a Punjabi colleague asked for a Sikh character, I defended the figures as neutral. I had overlooked the personal connection of seeing yourself represented.

That became the starting point for the Inclusive illustration system.

The later inclusive illustration system: people with different skin tones building, drawing, and working together — **What came next, not this project's final output.** A new direction with inclusivity at its centre, used for the about.uni.xyz hero.