Indeed illustration system
A head-to-toe redesign of Indeed’s brand illustration style + the creation of a scalable brand system, consolidated in Figma.
DATE
2021 - 2022
WHAT I DID
Illustration
Branding Systems
THE BRIEF
“Indeed’s brand feels all over the place.” As part of a bigger rebrand, we want our illustrations to connect with job seekers—meeting them where they are, whether they’re feeling excited, anxious, or anything in between. The goal? Create a fresh, inclusive, and accessible visual approach that authentically reflects the diversity of job seekers.
THE SOLUTION + MY ROLE IN IT
For over three years, I worked with Indeed’s Brand Systems and Creative Agency to build an illustration system that felt real to users and easy for designers. After 300+ components and plenty of guidance docs, we created a human-centered style that fits seamlessly into Indeed’s design ecosystem.
Inspired by the imperfect, tactile feel of cut paper, we developed “Paper Stories,” a style that brought depth and authenticity to our illustrations. By setting parameters for lighting, shadow, and texture, we made it easy for designers to create figures that felt 3D to the digital space, and ensured that the visuals grew seamlessly with the brand.
INDEED’S EARLY SYSTEM
Indeed’s “Janus” design system started as a product-specific tool but gradually spread across the brand. An audited we conducted revealed that with no clear guidelines, different teams adapted it in their own ways, creating a scattered, inconsistent illustration style.
By the time we kicked off the rebrand, it was clear that Indeed needed a more unified approach.
OTHER CONCERNS
Beyond consistency issues, the style just didn’t fit. UX research showed that job searching can be stressful and frustrating, but the quirky, Alegria-style illustrations weren’t reflecting that. The faceless, cartoony characters felt disconnected from the real emotions job seekers experience.
Indeed’s design system prior to rebrand
SOLUTIONS
We built the appropriate lighting, shadow, and texture into the style, so that designers could focus on creating realistic figures that represented the authentic jobseeker + employer journey.
STYLE, BAKED IN
In collaboration with dev teams, we developed a system of gradients, bevels, drop shadows and texture effects, built into our figma library. We also took into consideration how these affects would scale for spots and heroes of varying sizes.
This allowed both internal and external designers to consistently apply these brand features across different platforms.
SOLUTIONS
We drew from Indeed’s library of event photography to celebrate actual job seekers in our body of illustration, giving characters a more authentic sense of being.
FROM PEOPLE TO PAPER
Our new Paper Stories illustration style takes its inspiration from real people representing the hundreds of millions who use Indeed every month. The diverse set of characters share the stories of the different nationalities, ages, ethnicities, abilities, and careers we serve. We hope every one of them will be able to find something of themselves reflected in our artistic approach. We represent the many different kinds of people, industries, and workplaces Indeed serves in our film and photography, which we shoot in a style that’s cinematic and natural, true to the realities of work in its many forms and to the variety of people we serve.
”The highlight of the project for me are the illustrations as they walk a fine line of being corporate and artsy through their more realistic depiction — no exaggerated limbs or missing noses or weird proportions — of people but filled in with a lovely texture and given some nice dimensionality with subtle shadowing.”
- Armin Vit, Under Consideration / Brand New
