At Niche, we use illustrations to transform collateral and add moments of joy throughout the brand. I’ve excitedly owed the creation and management of the illustration library — from spot illustrations to more editorial full illustrations.
Check out the illustrations live throughout our marketing pages, ads, webinars, blogs, surveys and here on our Direct Admissions page.
The problem: A brand that produces hundreds of assets a quarter can't custom-illustrate everything from scratch — but relying on stock visuals would flatten the warmth and distinctiveness that makes Niche feel different. We needed an illustration system that could scale without losing soul.
What I decided and why: I built a modular illustration library from the ground up — spot illustrations for quick-use moments, editorial illustrations for richer storytelling, and a flexible framework that lets any designer adjust color and stroke weight to fit the context. The system is built around the things that define the Niche world: school buildings, student milestones, moments of celebration. The modularity was the key decision — it means the library gets used consistently across hundreds of touchpoints without every asset requiring a designer's full attention.
The outcome: Illustration is now a signature part of Niche's brand identity — showing up across marketing pages, ads, emails, webinars, blogs, and product pages. The team produces hundreds of assets a quarter while maintaining visual consistency and brand warmth, without design becoming a bottleneck.
School buildings are a core aspect of our visualization. We have numerous different types of spot illustrations for buildings, documents, hands, celebrations, food, flowers, etc. The list goes on.
many times within emails and on ads, we need larger illustrations with more diverse details. These school buildings reveal the diversity of schools that are housed on Niche from coastal schools, religious schools, public schools, old schools and new schools.
There are so many moments to celebrate within the client journey. We use illustrations to uplift the client and create moments that are fun and fresh.
Each designer can make small changes like color and stoke weight to the core illustration depending on use case. This makes efficiency and quality in tact as we create hundreds of assets a quarter.