CORE GUIDANCE
Illustration
Overview
Our illustrations help add visual emphasis to important content and clarify complex or difficult ideas. They are key storytelling devices that can be used along with (or instead of) photography, text, or data visualization illustrations should never be brand ambassadors or mascots.
Expressive Illustrations
Our expressive illustrations create visual impact with vibrant colors, gradients and layered shapes. They’re ideal for communicating prominent moments, like in heroes or on social media.
People
They represent optimistic and authentic human moments that resonate with our customers and colleagues.
Objects
They allow us to give special emphasis to particular objects or subject matter.
Places
These illustrations help demonstrate our global presence and understanding of local markets.
Abstract Concepts
These illustrations allow us to visualize concepts that may be difficult to demonstrate with photography or type.
Use expressive illustration for brand or hero moments.
- Apply global color palette to ensure consistency, recognition and visual emphasis.
- Leverage to provide prominence and visual emphasis.
Find stock images to use as a basis for expressive illustrations.
- Purchase from the following list of recommended vendors: Getty Images, Adobe Stock, Shutterstock.
- Talk to your project manager for more details regarding purchasing stock images.
- Use stock images with simple forms, curvy shapes and line-work.
- Remove details from the stock images to simplify the visuals.
- Update stock images with colors used in MetLife’s existing illustration library.
- Use black and white for expressive illustrations.
Functional Illustrations
This simple style of illustration allows us to more easily explain and visualize complex topics and difficult subject matter. The approachable style is also perfect for situations that may be difficult to achieve with photography or type.
Explain difficult and complex subjects
These illustrations help us more clearly explain topics that are difficult to visualize; such as disease, death, and complex processes like experience design.
Showing our expertise
Our illustrations are purposeful and help us demonstrate our global expertise and commitment to our customers.
Use functional illustration to help explain subjects.
- Always pair functional illustrations with text to provide better context and understanding.
- Black and white color with a consistent line weight makes these illustration easy to understand.
- Add color to functional illustrations.
Guidance
Our illustrations are an important way that we visualize our stories. Here are some general rules around how to use them successfully.
Communicate optimism.
- Create with simple, organic and friendly shapes.
- When portraying negative subjects; such as disease or death; illustrations should do so in an approachable and optimistic manner.
- Make illustrations brand ambassadors or mascots.
- Cover illustrations with copy.
Animation
When used with purpose, motion allows us to create more dynamic and relevant content for our customers.
Use simple motion.
- Motion should not be disorienting or overly complicated.
- Character animations should be minimal; like a wink or a wave.
Have a natural, real world feeling.
- Motion should adhere to real world properties; such as gravity and acceleration.
- Treat illustrations as cartoons.
- Create over-elaborate scenes.
Accessibility
MetLife is committed to designing and developing digital experiences that all our customers are able to use. In your illustrations, be sure to only use combinations of graphics and type color that pass accessibility standards.
Account for screen readers when uploading illustrations.
- Descriptive language in the filename and metadata helps the visually impaired understand the role photographs and other visuals play in digital designs.
Localization
Illustration is treated a bit differently in markets that have received a brand localization. Refer to the following pages for more illustration guidance by country.