In January 2021, the "Design Language" team at USAA was nearing completion on their new design system, Reveille. In parallel, the company was undergoing a brand refresh to better reflect their modern customer base. They wanted illustration to play a key role but needed some help making it happen.
I was brought in to translate USAA’s voice and values into illustration and create a robust library that would feed directly into Reveille. Furthermore, it would need to be a true system—a consistent, well-documented, and scalable style that could be taught, enabling USAA's designers to create new illustrations well into the future. My kind of challenge!
A small selection of “Base Illustrations” from the Reveille Illustration library
Please note:
This preliminary case study (more of an outline, really) is light on both visuals and prose, in part because not all of the work is public just yet, but also because my USAA laptop is locked down tighter than Fort Knox. Alas, the banking & insurance industries have (understandably) stringent privacy and security requirements. Additional imagery and project details will be added in time.
Laying the Foundations
January 2021 – June 2021
In close collaboration with leadership (Reveille Design Directors, VP of Design, and USAA’s Chief Design Officer) and stakeholders, I:
Identified the project’s goals: brand alignment, consistency, scalability, & intentionality
Defined Reveille Illustration's purpose & core principles: "Reveille Illustrations integrate seamlessly into each page, guiding the eye without becoming a distraction. They are bold, iconographic, and emotionally neutral-to-positive."
Established the system's style, construction, and set of four sizes and types through research, exploration, and iteration
Created an initial set of ~25 illustrations
Built the Sketch library that integrated illustrations directly into Reveille and enabled designers to customize certain illustrations ("Spotlight" illustrations have a range of interchangeable backgrounds, background colors, and iconographic badges)
Note: Much more on the style’s core principles and visual language to come in a future update…
A “Spotlight Illustration” in context on USAA’s homepage
Preparing for Launch
July 2021 – October 2021
With the style settled, it needed to be systematized, operationalized, and evangelized. Over the next several months, I:
Wrote robust documentation for designers (how, when, and why to use Reveille Illustrations), illustrators (how to create new illustrations), and developers (how to implement them in code)
Established the "Reveille Illustrators" program, which recruited designers with relevant experience from across USAA's 250+ person design organization to join a part-time illustration team. In partnership with program managers and design directors, I:
Defined the volunteer illustrator role and its responsibilities
Created a rotation & sprint planning system so the program wouldn't detract from illustrators' core design responsibilities
Built the tools and processes for request intake, work management, and data gathering (to study the program’s performance)
Developed a training program with rich learning materials, homework, and critiques
Trained an initial team of about a dozen illustrators
Presented Reveille Illustration (and the illustrators program) across the design organization to inform, excite, and gain buy-in
A grid of “Base Illustrations” highlighting USAA’s product and service offerings
Running the Team
October 2021 – Present
Since opening our doors to new requests last October, the illustration library has roughly quadrupled in size. My responsibilities shifted to team management, creative direction, and refining technical implementation. This includes:
Leading bi-weekly team critiques and sprint planning meetings
Providing ad-hoc feedback via Slack discussions and 1:1 sessions
Preparing finished assets for publication
Maintaining the library file and writing release notes
Regularly refining team processes, tools, and documentation
Training new illustrators as people left USAA or cycled off the team
Partnering with developers to best optimize, construct, and deploy the assets across platforms
Transitioning the library from Sketch to Figma
Final Thoughts
I love projects that demand the full depth and breadth of my experience. Building Reveille Illustration from the ground up required expertise in illustration, iconography, product design, branding and identity, creative tooling, design systems, developer collaboration, and professional mentorship. The project has been incredibly rewarding, to say the least.
The illustrations (and the illustration team itself) have been extraordinarily well-received by designers, developers, and other key stakeholders across USAA. As Reveille-built projects steadily roll out, the illustrations are beginning to pop up in member-facing experiences, including the newly refreshed USAA.com. I'm excited for the world to see my team's fantastic work!
