Custom product illustrations tell compelling stories. They visualize complex concepts, reinforce brand identity, and differentiate your digital presence from competitors relying on stock imagery. But custom comes with a cost: inconsistency creeps in as teams grow, production slows as complexity increases, and non-designers become dependent on design resources for every new asset.
I recently sat down with Lem Manalo, Designer at Webstacks, to discuss a solution we developed for an enterprise cybersecurity client: a modular product illustration toolkit built on the same atomic design principles that power modern web design systems. Lem led the technical architecture of this system, transforming hundreds of bespoke illustrations into reusable building blocks that any team member can assemble.
Whether you're a VP of Marketing managing a growing library of visual assets or a web strategist trying to maintain brand consistency across dozens of product pages, this conversation reveals how to stop treating illustrations as one-off deliverables and start managing them as scalable infrastructure.
When Custom Illustrations Stop Scaling
Enterprise brands invest heavily in custom product illustrations because generic visuals fail to communicate complex value propositions. A cybersecurity company can't explain data protection concepts with stock photography. An AI platform can't visualize machine learning workflows with clip art. Custom illustrations solve this, but they create a new problem.
"Custom illustrations are so customizable and net new all the time; there are things that fall through the cracks," Lem explained. "Colors, type sizes, corner radius sizes. To an untrained eye, they look very passable. It [may still be] on brand technically, but there are no color styles, or type styles dedicated just for product illustration."
The result is visual drift. Each new illustration starts from scratch. Different designers interpret brand guidelines differently. Small inconsistencies compound across hundreds of assets, making the illustration library feel fragmented rather than cohesive.
Production bottlenecks compound the consistency problem. When every illustration requires a designer to build from zero, marketing teams wait in queues for assets that could have been assembled from existing pieces. And when brands outsource illustration work to contractors or agencies, the consistency challenge multiplies. "Even if you were to outsource another contractor or another agency, you would still need a toolkit or design system to guide them," Lem noted.
Applying Atomic Design to Illustration Systems
The breakthrough came from applying the same principles that make web design systems work: atomic design. Instead of treating each illustration as a unique creation, Lem reverse-engineered the client's existing library to identify the fundamental building blocks.
"I treated the product illustration toolkit as a design system, treating it like atoms, molecules, and organisms, the same pattern we do for building a website," Lem said. "That's what helped us get across the finish line, because it was easier to understand what builds these robust custom illustrations."
The atomic design methodology creates a clear hierarchy.
- Atoms are the smallest elements: icons, color styles, typography scales, personas, background treatments.
- Molecules combine atoms into functional units: labels, buttons, table cells, navigation elements.
- Organisms assemble molecules into complex components: dashboards, data visualizations, product diagrams.
This hierarchy means team members can build new illustrations by combining pre-built pieces rather than starting from nothing. The building blocks enforce consistency automatically because every element inherits from the same foundational styles. And the system scales infinitely.
"Because there are so many pieces that can [come together to] build new things, [the combinations are] honestly infinite," Lem said. "You can make many different configurations of things like dashboards and [even] abstract conceptual things."
How to Build a Modular Illustration System
Building a modular illustration system for an established brand requires two parallel workstreams: extracting patterns from existing assets and designing the system for the people who will use it.
Reverse Engineer Existing Assets
You can't start with a blank slate when hundreds of existing illustrations define your visual identity. The challenge is extracting the underlying system from assets that were never designed with modularity in mind.
"I take [existing product illustrations] and reverse engineer them, breaking them down to the smallest atomic level, and then make a design system based on that," Lem explained. "Because it's so custom, sometimes there are bits and pieces that are a little different from each other. So I'm trying to find the common denominator within all of these illustrations to consolidate everything into usable building blocks."
This reverse engineering process surfaces hidden patterns. Elements that seemed unique often share underlying structures. Color variations that felt intentional reveal themselves as inconsistencies. The goal is finding the minimum viable set of components that can recreate existing illustrations while enabling infinite new combinations.
The process requires judgment calls. Some variations deserve preservation as intentional design choices. Others represent drift that should be corrected. Lem worked closely with the client's internal design team to make these decisions, ensuring the final system reflected strategic intent rather than accumulated accidents.
Design for Non-Designer Users
A design system only scales if the people who need it can actually use it. For web components, that means marketers should be able to build pages without developer assistance. For illustration toolkits, the same principle applies: the end users aren't just designers.
"You have marketers [using these design libraries], people that aren't extremely well versed in Figma," Lem said. "So the ask was: how can we make it easy for designers to digest, but more importantly, for non-designers [to use]?"
This requirement shapes every aspect of the toolkit's architecture. Documentation isn't optional; it's foundational. The system includes purpose statements, principles, usage guidelines, do's and don'ts for every element type. Visual examples show correct applications alongside incorrect ones.
The technical structure enables self-service. Components are built as Figma variants that users can swap with simple interactions. Color changes happen through brand-approved options, not manual hex codes. Icon libraries connect to plugins that ensure users select from the approved set rather than importing random assets.
Status indicators support collaboration workflows. Tags mark illustrations as ready for review, needing changes, or approved. Annotations explain design decisions and usage contexts. The toolkit becomes a living document that teams can navigate without constant designer guidance.
Achieving Speed and Consistency Through Systemized Illustrations
The impact shows up immediately in production velocity. Tasks that previously required hours of custom design work now take minutes of assembly.
"I got a comment in Figma that was like, ‘wow, I just built this in five minutes,’" Lem said. " It definitely ramped up efficiency and speed."
But speed isn't the only metric. Brand consistency improves because every new illustration draws from the same foundational elements. The system eliminates the categories of errors that plagued previous workflows: wrong colors, inconsistent type scales, and mismatched corner radii. "I can confidently say it's a lot more consistent and cohesive with the branding, now," Lem said.
Scalability fundamentally changes the design processes. Adding new illustration types doesn't require inventing new visual languages. Teams extend the existing system by combining proven components in new configurations. The toolkit grows more valuable with use rather than accumulating technical debt.
For brands operating in complex categories like cybersecurity, AI, fintech, or enterprise software, this flexibility is strategic. Rapidly evolving products and features demand visual assets at a pace that custom one-off production can't sustain. A modular toolkit makes the visual layer as agile as the product itself.
When a Product Illustration Toolkit Makes Sense
Not every brand needs this level of illustration infrastructure. Lem identified several factors that determine whether the investment is worthwhile.
Scale and Brand Maturity
Small companies or startups with evolving brands may not benefit from codifying visual systems that will change anyway. The toolkit approach works best for established enterprises with stable brand identities and growing illustration needs.
Visual Complexity
Brands that depend heavily on data visualization, technical diagrams, or conceptual illustrations face bigger consistency challenges than those using simpler visual approaches. The more abstract your product, the more illustration surface area you're managing.
"If you're a company with a lot of data or information to portray in a digestible manner, there are a lot of places for illustrations like these to live," Lem explained.
Team Distribution
When multiple designers, marketers, and content creators touch visual assets, consistency requires systems rather than tribal knowledge. The toolkit becomes the single source of truth that keeps everyone aligned, whether they're internal team members or external partners.
Production Velocity Needs
Brands in fast-moving markets need to produce visual content at a pace that matches their product development. A modular system transforms illustration from a bottleneck into a capability that scales with demand.
Work With Webstacks to Build Scalable Visual Systems
Great illustration systems don't happen by accident. They require the same architectural thinking that powers effective web design systems: clear hierarchies, documented standards, and structures that enable rather than constrain creativity.
At Webstacks, we apply atomic design principles to every layer of digital experience, from component libraries and content models to illustration toolkits that scale with your brand. We've helped enterprise clients transform fragmented visual assets into coherent systems that any team member can use.
If your illustration library has become a bottleneck rather than an asset, we can help you build the infrastructure for scalable visual storytelling. Talk with Webstacks to discuss how we can help your team move faster without sacrificing brand consistency.
