Overview:

In early 2019 our team was asked to do a total rebrand of Airbnb’s illustration style. While our creative director Jennifer Hom was defining the exact visual identity of this new style, I was tasked to create parameters on how we curate talent and art direct the artists we’d collaborate with.

Compared to the previous strictly defined illustration brand, this new vision required a huge variety of talent. How do you define what is on and off brand when working with hundreds of unique artists? Where are the boundaries of how we depict Airbnb’s style vs. an illustrators personal style?  

After defining visual brand rules, we got to work on creating an internal talent directory with more than a hundred illustrators. Our goal was to strategically matchmake each artistic style to different teams, but have overarching rules that’d guide us more holistically. Some artists work better with complicated concepts others thrive with dynamic landscapes, our job wasn’t just to hone in on style, but also subject matter.

Building not only visual rules, but also an internal network allowed our relatively small team to stay nimble and work with up to twenty different teams at a time.

Airbnb Team:

Art Direction / Illustration
Naomi Bensen

Head of Illustration
Jennifer Hom

Additional Art Directors
Decue Wu, Cat Huang, Julia Cone

Illustration Producers
Abby Occiano, Britt Gardner, Peter Heirendt

Creative Directors
Naz Arandi, Kristen Spilman, Ekin Seker McClean

Illustrators Featured
Tom Goyon
Jasu Hu
Dadu Shin
Jeannie Phan
Rachel Suggs
Ryo Takemasa
Patrick Leger
Rafael Mayani
Jun Cen
Mike Yamada
Marion Bordeyne
Lisk Feng