Built from Scratch — Custom Website Illustrations for First Launch
In 2019, First Launch rethought how a digital marketing agency presents itself — and created an original series of custom illustrations to prove what good actually looks like when the client is yourself.
Why a marketing agency refuses to use stock
The brief First Launch set for itself was more ambitious than any client brief: build an original illustration series that communicates every service, unmistakably, without borrowing a single visual from anywhere else.
Agency websites have a particular communication challenge. A full-service digital marketing agency offers a wide range of services — web development, SEO, performance marketing, social media, branding, visual solutions, and more — and most attempt to communicate this range through service lists, icons, and generic stock photography.
The result is almost universally the same: competent-looking, immediately forgettable, and indistinguishable from the next agency's website.
Rather than using stock imagery or generic icon sets, First Launch created an original series of custom illustrations — each one designed to communicate a specific service or capability in a way that was visually distinctive, characterful, and unmistakably theirs. The illustrations needed to work together as a coherent visual system while each one standing on its own as a clear, engaging representation of its subject.
Custom website illustrations also age better and differentiate more effectively than stock imagery. They cannot be found on another agency's website because they were made specifically for this one. They communicate a visual point of view — a way of seeing and representing the world — that a stock image never can.
Scene-based. System-level. From scratch.
The illustration series was built entirely in Adobe Illustrator — not adapted from existing assets, but developed to reflect the character of the agency: energetic, considered, and creative without being abstract or difficult to read.
From initial sketches to the final series
The complete illustration series covered the full range of First Launch's services — from digital marketing and performance-driven work to web development and visual solutions — creating a visual taxonomy of the agency's capabilities that could be read as a complete picture.
A team that creates a custom illustration series for its own website is demonstrating craft, creative investment, and the willingness to do things properly — even when the client is itself.
Questions about custom illustration work
Common questions about the 2019 First Launch illustration series and how custom visual work is approached.
-
Custom website illustrations are original artworks created specifically for a brand's website — designed from scratch to communicate the brand's services, personality, and values. Unlike stock imagery or generic icon sets, they are unique to the brand and cannot be found on any other website.
-
Stock imagery is shared, recognisable, and forgettable. Custom website illustrations communicate a visual point of view — a way of seeing and representing the world — that stock images never can. They age better, differentiate more effectively, and signal to every prospective client that the agency applies real creative thinking to its own brand.
-
First Launch used a scene-based approach rather than a symbolic one. Instead of reducing each service to an icon — a magnifying glass for SEO, a megaphone for social media — the team built small visual worlds around each service area: characters, environments, and narrative moments. A scene communicates what a service involves and how the team approaches it in a way that no icon can match.
-
The entire series was created in Adobe Illustrator, built from scratch rather than adapted from existing assets or icon libraries. Every element — colour palette, character design, visual language — was developed specifically for this project with no reuse from stock or template sources.
-
Yes. The 2019 website illustration series is an in-house demonstration of the same creative capability First Launch applies to client work. Custom illustrations can be created as part of a broader brand identity project, website design engagement, or as a standalone visual system for any brand that wants to stand out.
-
A well-designed illustration system has a shared visual language — a consistent colour palette, character style, and compositional approach — so every illustration belongs recognisably to the same world. This system-level thinking ensures the website feels designed as a whole rather than assembled from independent pieces, creating a stronger and more memorable brand impression.
Explore More Case Studies
Take a look at First Launch case studies for tips & tricks on how to improve your own brand performance
One content system change took Line of Thought from 105 to 235 followers — with 39% of the audience in...
A greenfield Google Ads build for a US health-tech education platform. First 30 days. 148.5 course sign-ups. 24.79% conversion rate....
See how First Launch helped City Power & Gas rank #1 on Google for 5 competitive energy keywords across New...