Belt Illustration System
Character Illustration for Product Experiences
These illustrations were created to support Belt’s brand identity while enhancing the product experience. The characters were introduced to give the interface a more recognisable and approachable feel. They were designed for use across marketing materials as well as within the system itself, particularly during onboarding and moments of guidance or feedback.
Mascot
Belt mascot
For the main character, we chose an alien. As Belt uses AI to recommend tasks, we wanted to avoid something too literal, like a computer or robot. The alien concept played on the idea that AI can sometimes feel “out of this world”, while still allowing us to design a character that felt friendly and approachable.
The character was intentionally simple in both shape and colour so it wouldn’t distract from the product itself. I designed it around a round, flexible form, with the option to add limbs for poses if needed to support different scenarios within the interface. This made it adaptable across a range of use cases without losing recognisability.
As the product evolved, we introduced different expressions to help with visual signposting. For example, a sad expression could be used to indicate an error state, while more positive emotions supported success or completion moments. As the number of variations grew, it became clear that creating an illustration library in Figma was the best way to manage these assets. This ensured consistency across designs and gave both marketing and development teams a single place to access and reuse the illustrations when needed.
Main mascot colours
Other mascot colours
Accessories
Colours
Supporting Characters
As the illustration set evolved, it became clear that relying on a single character risked everything feeling too similar. To add variety I introduced a set of supporting characters that could interact with the main mascot. This helped reinforce the idea that the characters existed as part of a shared world and allowed them to be used together to illustrate common user challenges that Belt was designed to solve.
To keep the visual language consistent, the supporting characters were designed as variations of the main character rather than entirely new forms. The primary differences were in colour tone and accessories were used to add personality where needed. Which helped distinguish each character while maintaining a cohesive style.
By keeping shapes simple and colour variations closely aligned with the main character, the illustrations remained recognisable, flexible, and easy to use across both product and marketing contexts.
