Changing the Way People Create Resumes
Stand out and tell better stories
Enhancv helps you create a resume to be proud of. It's modern and people remember it. The tool guides you through every step of the process so you can highlight your achievements, attitude, and personality. Best of all, it's fun and easy. People using Enhancv resumes got hired at companies such as Tesla, Spotify, HP, The Economist, and more.
As an Illustrator and designer, my role in the company includes owning visual storytelling across different channels and improving user experience with the power of illustration.
The Problems
Why we decided to develop branded illustration style
Tell HUMAN stories
Our main purpose is to inspire people to make their move. But the visual style and brand assets were not helping us. The cold colors and photorealistic visuals weren't very inviting and inspiring.
Stand out
Оur main competitors were using similar visual styles: mock-ups or generic illustrations from the stock sites. When you're trying to develop a brand that stands out from the crowd, using the same visual language, definitely is not the way to go.
The Solution
If we invest in building unique visual language we will be able to differentiate from the rest, tell our stories better and eventually become the most recognizable brand on the market.
But why Illustrations?
Stock photos are simply not working
Here are some "treasures" of the stock images world. Looking for the perfect photo in stock banks is like looking for the perfect cake in a bookstore. You might find something, but it's never what you expected.
Custom photos are cool but pricey
I don't say that it's impossible to make cool brand photography, that works. Like Zendesk did. But it would cost too much time and money. And we want something scalable that fits in our budget.
Unlimited freedom
While there aren't many ways to take a photo of something there are hundreds of possibilities when you illustrate it.
Illustrations by Artur Stotch, JONES&CO, MUTI, Monika Pola
Okay, but if there are so many ways to create illustrations, HOW do we find the right style?
1. Define goals
Before even starting with the mood board, we've set clear objectives for illustration. That way it was easier to collect the right style samples.
1. Tell stories and communicate ideas to our visitors in an understandable and relatable way, with the power of metaphors.
2. Be Optimistic, enjoyable and pleasant but not too childish.
3. Have a unique style of characters and elements (ex. Weird body proportions, specific colors, style of lines, etc.)
4. Easy to produce, not too detailed and realistic as we want to push new content faster.
5. Consistent with the current tone of voice
Radost has a special gift when it comes to combining great design with the company’s business goals, which is a hard to find quality.
She’s reliable and always on time with her work, collaborating with her is flawless and organised.
— Tatiana Rehmova, Marketing at Enhancv
2. Mood board
With the goals in hand, next thing was to dig the internet and collect samples of illustrations that are close to what we're looking for.
Illustrations by Timo Kuilder, Alyona Shostko, James Olstein, Büşra Üzgün, Thomas Rohlfs, Minkyung, Dieter Braun, Stewart Scott-Curran, Justin Tran
3. Style Exploration
I tried to find the right tools that match the goals we've set. Explored shapes, colors, brushes etc.and then presented some drafts to the team and asked for feedback.
4. Implementing feedback
Having a few pairs of fresh eyes onboard helped a lot. I got insights on what works, what doesn't and what can be improved. With all the notes, I got back to work and iterated on the style samples.
5. Creating the illustrations
Once we're happy with the direction, the real work began. I started with organizing the tools: brushes, color swatches etc., this small step optimized the process and saved a lot of time.
Then I listed all the images needed and started sketching. Before creating each illustration, I tested the sketch to see how it worked with the UI of the page or the pop up.
Showcase
How the style was incorporated in different illustration elements
Characters
As Enhancv is a B2C product, it relies a lot on establishing a good relationship with each customer. The quirky characters aim to make the resume creation process less intimidating and more pleasant.
Product interactions
Spot Illustrations
Smaller illustrations, used across the website, resources pages and emails.
Illustrative graphs
Used in famous resume pages to illustrate a typical day. Inpired by one of Enhancv resume sections View live
Emails
Don’t be a stranger
Let’s chat on illustration process, the wisdom of animated movies or the pros and cons of social media.
Have a project in mind?
If you're looking to join forces with an illustrator, I'd be happy to hear more about your goals.