Interactive presentation platform Mentimeter has launched a fresh illustration and animation system as part of its comprehensive global rebrand, featuring hand-drawn, single-color artwork created by Dutch designer and animator Loek Vugs. The new visual identity brings a human, tactile element to complement the company's bold graphic brand, serving users across classrooms, boardrooms, and live events worldwide.
The platform sought an illustration style that would feel expressive and personal while maintaining the clarity of its new aesthetic direction. Vugs delivered a deceptively simple system that appears minimal at first glance but contains surprising vitality and character. For the Amsterdam-based designer, this project represented a significant leap in scale from his usual smaller, contained illustration work.
"This was the first time I did a project on this scale, so it was quite scary to dive into," Vugs explained. However, the collaborative approach taken by Mentimeter's art directors Mikael Lundin and Peter Viksten helped ease the transition. The early conversations established an open creative process where Vugs was encouraged to explore character scale, behavior, and energy before defining the system's parameters.
Vugs began his creative process with extensive exploratory sketches on a large canvas, experimenting with figures of various sizes, hands drawn with different levels of detail, and testing how far the "cartooniness" could be pushed. As the art directors provided feedback, marking favorites and eliminating others, the boundaries of the illustration universe began to take shape. Anything too elastic or exaggerated was removed, with characters needing limbs that bent realistically rather than in noodle-like fashion.
This decision created a unique creative constraint: the drawings needed to appear quickly sketched while still conveying the weight and authenticity of real human movement. The illustrations achieve their distinctive charm through this balance, maintaining a flattened, immediate quality reminiscent of notebook doodles made during lectures or meetings. Vugs deliberately pushed this sketchbook aesthetic, explaining, "The idea was to generate an illustration style that could feel like small little scribbles you put in your notebook."
While everything is created digitally, Vugs employs wobbly strokes that prevent the linework from appearing too perfect. The characters remain emotionally readable without relying on facial features, which he never includes in his drawings. Establishing clear boundaries early in the process proved crucial, with Vugs experimenting with scale to understand how bold characters would appear alongside Mentimeter's user interface and to determine how much personality could be expressed with minimal marks.
"Having a good balance between minimal forms and believable human movement is, I think, exploring what is possible within the limitations," Vugs noted. This approach required significant problem-solving, finding ways to draw elbows that bend at precisely the right angle or stances that communicate specific emotions like excitement, hesitation, or frustration.
The comprehensive system encompasses two primary illustration categories: broader conceptual spot illustrations and a complete icon set. Vugs describes how designing icons forces him into an entirely different creative mode, where space constraints demand that designs be "balanced and clear." In contrast, spot illustrations allow for looser, stranger, or more metaphorical concepts, leading to some of the project's most memorable creations.
One standout example is the now-famous half-horse costume used to visualize "error" states. Vugs recalls this concept emerging almost accidentally: "In one of the early sketches, I already had a drawing of the two characters with the horse suit. I added a note that it might be fun for a possible error page." Other illustrations tackle abstract concepts including complexity, celebration, and participation through Vugs' disarmingly simple method of filling sketchbooks with quick drawings sparked by free association.
"After a few stupid ideas, a good one comes out," Vugs laughed, describing his process of drawing inspiration from team sports, music groups, or participation trophies. These initial sketches often become the foundation for later animations, even when movement wasn't originally planned.
Motion plays a subtle but important role throughout the system. Vugs' animation background enabled him to design with movement in mind, ensuring illustrations would translate cleanly when animated later. The challenge lies in creating animations that loop naturally while maintaining the simplicity of the original drawings. A character jumping across letters to represent "writing" exemplifies this approach – a single, clear gesture that brings the illustration to life without complicating the established style.
Mentimeter is gradually implementing the new brand across its platform, and Vugs is particularly excited to see how the illustrations perform in their intended environment. Small user interface interactions, such as hover-triggered animations, especially interest him. "It is a super simple interaction, but it feels super satisfying," he said. "It's just a fun little surprise when you are exploring the website."
Reflecting on the project, Vugs identifies two key lessons he'll carry forward: the critical importance of establishing a clear key pose in character work, and the surprising power of a well-balanced static illustration to maintain its impact once animated. As Mentimeter continues rolling out the rebrand over the coming months, its playful, handcrafted visual world appears positioned to become one of the platform's most distinctive and memorable assets.
