American Express: Illustration Style

Shortly after American Express had released a new visual identity SARANKCO pitched the idea of adding a brand illustration style to the Global Brand Advertising and Marketing team. We showed only one concept because we felt it was so strong. 

The new identity drew from recognizable elements from American Express’ long and storied past — many of which came from their iconic credit card designs, like the Centurion Head, Member Since Ribbon, and World Service Pattern.

Our illustration style incorporated those proprietary elements from the visual identity into a set of objects and characters delivered as vector assets that could be used in a very plug-and-play fashion, without needing to hire an illustrator. The end result was a consistent style that included very own-able elements that made the illustrations easily recognizable as coming from American Express.