In 2022, Google Cloud had a new design language called Cloudstyle. The problem? They didn’t have many illustrations for it.
My team was tasked with building a complete library of icons. Working from a frankly minimal set of designs, we extracted the core elements of the design language to build a complete set of icons that could be used in other
Google Cloud Platform videos, socials and other animated materials.
Hundreds of Illustrations
The process from assignment to completion took approximately 8 months as hundreds of icons were added based on client requests, stakeholder needs, and a dizzying array of applications outside of the initial use cases. We adapted the visual language to streamline the storyboardin process, to make animations easier to complete, and to provide Google Developer Hosts with assets they could use to wireframe their requests.
Making animation easier.
Our team was tasked with producing dozens of animated series, all with unique requirements in storytelling. Characters were design with the specific goal of building animation rigs to make the process easier for animators tasked with a new assignment. Over the course of 6 months many dozens of animated videos were produced using processes and infrastructure put into place for my team to thrive.
It required a level of cooperation and coordination not yet seen within Google Developer Studios, who had usually been tasked with far more live-action video projects. Adapting the teams to develop workflows for the new Cloudstyle branding.