Communicating with illustrations - Lantre collab takeaways
Working both with illustration and brand visual communication, I’m always on the lookout for brands that take their visual language to the next level.
The ways I’ve seen brands do it are multiple - sometimes it’s a very distinct photography style, sometimes short slogans in typography you immediately recognise, or, my personal favourite of course, illustration as part of the visual language. When done well, not performative, and with respect for the artworks (and the artists!), this can make brand communication very distinct and ensure it stays top of mind. I am very lucky to be working for over a year now with such a brand - Lantre.pl.
I was introduced to Lantre some time ago, while I was searching for a good deal on an iPad I thought I desperately needed (turned out to be true, it’s used daily ever since). I was immediately won over by how the brand communicated - it was so clear who their target audience is - creatives, people running small businesses, work-from-home professionals (meaning, ME).
Not long after, the marketing manager, Karolina Łuczak, approached me for a collaboration - the brand wanted to include illustrations in their social media communication to become even more sticky for the creative part of their client base.
Their approach was not performative - with ever-changing algorithms, it’s impossible to plan long ahead for a content type. They were very honest with their plan - the goal was to include artists and their artworks in their core communication. Highlight their collaborations. Give them work. Talk with them and learn from them. I was, of course, immediately on board.
What is also very interesting here is that they managed to incorporate various types of styles and techniques - they work with a vast group of artists and they do not require us to follow a certain style. Whenever I’m creating an illustration for them, I have complete artistic freedom, and I can see that others do as well. Which results in a vast range of styles, sensitivities and stories. What they managed to achieve is building illustration artworks as their communication channel, without unifying it into a part in their visual identity toolbox. It seems like a very hard thing to do if you want to keep brand communication consistent, but they manage to do it gracefully.
“At Lantre, we aim to give illustrators maximum creative freedom - which creates a win-win situation. The artists get to fully express themselves, and we end up with unique illustrations, often with surprising interpretations of the topic, which our audience really responds to. It adds real value to our communication.
Working with Zuza is just as exceptional - just like the illustrations she creates for us. Always spot-on, always original… and just as importantly - always on time 😊 Great approach, smooth communication. Every project we do together is a real pleasure.”
One thing also very interesting to mention is how the brand picks the topics for illustrations - Lantre works with a vast amount of content types, yet illustrations tend to appear where the topic might be hard to talk about with a simple photo or video. It’s illustration’s ability to bring connotations and resonate with the audience on a conceptual level that really comes into play.
What started for me (and lots of other artists) as social media artwork collaborations, over time turned into interviews, visuals for websites, prints for package send-outs, event stand covers - to name a few. As the company grew, the fields for illustrations to complete their message kept popping up.
I am so grateful to work with Lantre - I’m happy to be part of this communication approach. And I find it very inspiring – for a brand with tech products, it’s not very common to work with artists in such proximity.
Thanks Lantre.pl for this amazing collab!