Show HN: Glaze – Illustrations for Products and Presentations

by chamzaon 10/23/2019, 2:29 AMwith 23 comments

by pixelmonkeyon 10/23/2019, 6:02 AM

I prefer to source mine from @HumansOfFlat on Twitter :)

https://twitter.com/humansofflat

Here's my favorite recent offender:

https://twitter.com/HumansOfFlat/status/1184867036679327744?...

by vertison 10/23/2019, 3:24 PM

It looks very cool. I like the "free with attribution" to "premium" model you're using.

As an aside, I really don't understand the other people in this thread linking to competitors. It feels a bit rude on a Show HN.

"Here is all this hard work I did" "Great, I love X competitor"

by fimdomeioon 10/23/2019, 10:22 AM

Don't use this year style trend if you want to make your brand recognizable. Also you'll have a problem next year because it will look dated.

I had this issue coming up a lot when I was doing more graphic design projects. Never really understand why small clients really wanted to look like everyone else. I always thought the aproach should be the oposite, the lower the budget the bolder you must be if you want anyone to remember you.

by somada141on 10/23/2019, 4:50 AM

Personally I find these gorgeous but I’ve seen some scrutiny on HN for apps that use such illustrations. I’ve considered using them for my app, still in alpha release so I haven’t felt confident to post here yet, but I worry usage of stock material may bias people to feel the app isn’t original cause the illustrations aren’t.

That being said I expect that people outside the tech-space wouldn’t be exposed to such designs often and would find then as lovely as I am :).

Have I misread the sentiment?

by iandanforthon 10/23/2019, 3:55 PM

I'm not sure I understand the demand for stock-anything.

When I need an image, illustration, or icon I need it to be one or more of the following:

1. Accurate

The image or illustration depicts a real thing or process I care about and it needs to show that clearly. It's unlikely that stock photos and illustrations will meet that bar. Unless the rest of my content is about a well known or generic topic my imagery is not going to be widely available or generic.

2. On brand

If I'm adding visual interest, color, flare, whathaveyou to a page and the exact content doesn't matter, then the styling and emotional tone do. More specifically they need to be coherent across my entire site/presentation/product. In addition this content needs to be helpful to a viewer to remember my specific property. My brand can only be diluted by using assets which are common, off-tone, or not fully integrated with a recognizable and memorable look and feel.

3. Repeatable

For any media I create and want to maintain I have to think about how hard it's going to be to change it in the future. If I find a great image or icon or illustration I need to know that if I need the source modified or reproduced with a slight variation I can do that. In practice, that usually means having continued access to the artist who produced the asset. Their style will come through in any project and maintain the coherence over time that allows for iterative rather than drastic change.

Convey information, build a brand, build a repeatable process. Stock feels like a self-defeating trap. Sure it looks nice, and for arts sake it can be desirable, but for any business or professional communication purpose it seems to entirely miss the point of having media in the first place.

by fredleyon 10/23/2019, 9:10 AM

Clip art for the 2010s (2020s?). I love it!

by gitgudon 10/24/2019, 2:16 AM

Nice site, the only problem I have with the content is the Flat-Humaans style, which seems to becoming extremely popular with start-ups and is pretty over-used. I'm not sure I particularly like the style anymore either...

It reminds me of Ikea instructions, which are meant to purely convey the procedure of assembling furniture with no emotion. But when you're describing your business you want to evoke emotion right?

Ironically, these cartoonish Flat-Humaans convey no human emotions at all. They feel like a wall of propaganda of what the company is telling you how the product/service will function (much like war propaganda)...

by nlhon 10/23/2019, 3:09 PM

Well done! I like the style and artwork.

Can you share how the business model for this sort of site works? I’ve seen a ton of this style (Unsplash, etc.) and always assumes it’s based on AdSense or similar.

Is that the case here?

by Hoasion 10/23/2019, 4:47 PM

What if you don't need generic images?

If you want illustrations that add value to your business, how can you hire the illustrator or designer to do a custom job? It is not clear if the site lets you do this—which would be great.

by Zaheeron 10/23/2019, 4:44 PM

This style of illustration (pastel colors, abstract shapes, etc) has been quite popular lately. Anyone know which designer originally came up with this? Also is there a term for this style of illustration?

by verdvermon 10/23/2019, 3:18 PM

Some of these look super similar to content on https://ui8.net/ (another source for images like these)

by sunasraon 10/23/2019, 1:01 PM

Nice! https://undraw.co has good collection as well

by thesheikhon 10/23/2019, 4:59 PM

Wow. This was super clutch for a mockup I am doing at work. Thanks to whoever did compiled this resource!

by egypturnashon 10/23/2019, 4:05 PM

Huzzah! Another company asking me to work for exposure! Yay!