llustration systems need to fit a range of criteria in order to be successful. They need to flex across wildly different contexts, from empty states to modals to banners, and from literal metaphors to fully abstract concepts, without losing coherence or voice. Building for that range means making principled decisions early about structure, expression, and constraint.
The work here spans from new creative direction, rules and guidelines for Illustrations across all ServiceNow products, illustrations I contributed for the Horizon Design System website, and forward future looking concepts for Servicenow products.
Illustration
Creative Direction
This first part shows some different illustration concepts ultimately used in some future facing prototypes. They were based and expanded upon new creative direction I'll show in part 2.
Defining the next iteration of ServiceNow's illustration language meant working through a wide range of concepts, styles, and experiments before landing on something that could actually scale. The result is a flexible system aligned with brand principles that can fade into the background when needed, command attention when it matters, and become fully abstract when the moment calls for it.
A closer look at some documentation, rules, and guidelines on the newly created system. As well as a modal and banner example in context.
Horizon is ServiceNow's source of truth for experience design, empowering creators to build better enterprise experiences. As the design system's public face, the website needed illustrations that felt considered and purposeful. Here's a look at what was created for it.
Created in tandem with Jeremy Van Cleefe for Horizon Internal Design System Site
All Works ©2K26 Ryan Blackman
