We Are All Connected
November, 2016
We Are All Connected helps companies and organisations get the best out of our connected world. They connect the dots between where their clients are and where they want to be. Multiple States produced a series of illustrations to depict their primary services on their newly launched website.
Kevin Beck talks to Will McLean about branching out from the code, good illustration processes and the importance of content.
Tell us about this brief as it is different from the majority of the Multiple States body of work.
Yes, we have primarily been a development studio since our inception in 2014. However, we have started to explore working on the content of sites, as well as building them. Robin Dally from We Are All Connected asked us if we might be interested in producing some illustrations for their new website. It was right for us in that moment and we jumped at the opportunity. It was refreshing to only be producing content.
Talk to us about your illustration process.
In terms of an illustration process I favour a period of free experimentation to begin with. I produce as many ideas as possible in whatever style seems correct at that moment. I work in one hour blocks and I never think about the final product or work on one sketch for longer than 10 minutes. This relieves the pressure to be perfect and leads to far more engaging ideas. After three of these sessions I usually have a pretty good body of work and I can go back and refine a few for the concept presentation. This process works for me, though it doesn’t necessarily work for others.
The resulting illustrations are simple but striking. Tell us about them.
We developed a minimal, pared down, geometric style of illustration that used the brand colours with the addition of a yellow to differentiate them from the rest of the site. The illustrations have ambiguous connections to the page for which each is intended. However, this was not of primary importance. We did not wish to have these illustrations turn into icons, but wanted more for them to be a subtle representation of the linked page.
We felt that this was the next step in developing the existing brand style. The images are adaptable, quick to produce, confident, sophisticated and interesting to look at.
What is the relationship between site design & development and site content?
The design and the development of a site is vital from the beginning. However, no matter how great that is, if a site is filled with ineffective content, then it is all for nothing. At Multiple States we have always allowed content to drive the design of our sites. We see a good site as one that has had thoughtful development of all three - development, design and content.
Credits
- Illustration - Will McLean