Illustrations in UX design provide all sorts of benefits and by looking at a blog post by Bhaghya Babu she explains what impact this has.
When a potential costumer glances at your app the first thing is the visuals. Like in real life people often resort to judging (positive or negative) at first glance based on what they look like. The same is said for app illustrations. Illustrations catch the viewers attention and instinctively begin judging your app based on its visuals. Illustrations create identity and uniqueness from other apps. It defines what your app is about and adds personality.
Bhaghya also talks about how photographs are less impactful to the brand than illustrations. I agree with this as often times photographs have less flair than illustrations, through the colour shape and form there is less connection built between the visuals and costumer as it’s all too common and they’re things we see in everyday life, especially landscape images while illustrations are not.
To put it simple, illustrations provides “a visual aid” that holds visual communication. This helps cut or limit the written word on screen. It is easier to communicate to a world wide audience with visuals as they are more universally inclusive than written word because of the abundance of languages.
Illustrations also provide engagement and intractability to the user. It can improve the overall user experience and walkthroughs of the app can also make the app more user friendly.
Finally, illustrations are just down right more aesthetically pleasing. They create a better overall positive attitude to the app and even the apps with the most blandest illustrations can create an impact.
I found this article a pleasant read informing me on the importance of visual illustrations and how it creates impact with the costumer. It has made me think more of the impact of my intended illustrations and how I can make them fun, engaging and interactive.