KPMG
Fun with audit and tax (or at least as much fun as possible)
KPMG, a global Audit, Tax, and Advisory firm, needed a set of illustrations that were fun, but sophisticated.
Team
Sam Becker (Creative Director)
Karen Yau (Design Director)
Kate Cullinane (Senior Designer)
My Responsibilities
Illustration
Animation
Illustration guidelines
(I also worked on masterbrand and sub-brand guidelines and a bunch of other KPMG stuff, but I'm not going to go into it here.)
Why illustrations?
Tax and audit isn't the most exciting industry in the world. We built the visual identity with a sophisticated audience in mind, but we knew certain elements could be more playful, in particular the illustrations. I created and defined a custom illustration style, as well as a sizable library of illustrations for KPMG to use.
The KPMG visual identity uses two forms of imagery: Singular and Vertical. The illustration style was crafted to accommodate both styles.
Alright, let's see these things
The illustrations were primarily conceptual in nature, allowing KPMG to evoke ideas and concepts that could not be conveyed through photography. (I added the animation later. Mostly for myself.)
A few of many.
We were on a tight timeline (and budget), so I started with super rough thumbnail sketches so the client could choose and approve the idea. For each subject, I provided at least 3-4 concepts.
Somehow, we did not move forward with the squirrel shoving a nut in its mouth.
Passing it on
As much as I would have loved to illustrate everything for KPMG in perpetuity, I wrote a set of guidelines detailing the illustration style and process. This covered everything from the initial concept phase to step-by-step instructions on how to execute the style.