Communicate Boldly. Deliver Clearly.
Campaign artwork and branded illustrations aligned with your message, built to engage audiences and scale across formats. From local promotions to global activations, visuals are crafted to resonate — in print, digital, or OOH media.
Visual Assets with Strategic Purpose
Inform Visually. Engage Intelligently.
Whiteboard graphics, business comics, and data-infused infographics designed to simplify complexity and enhance understanding. Perfect for explainer videos, training tools, onboarding, and internal communications.
Clarity Through Visual Thinking
Design That Builds Recognition.
From packaging to mascots, icons, and UX visuals — each asset is built for clarity, usability, and brand cohesion. Designed to perform across retail shelves, digital products, and animated environments.
Distinctive Design for Real-World Impact
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Advertising & Business Illustration
Sometimes a business needs one strong image. Sometimes it needs a complete visual language.
I create original illustration for advertising, campaigns, brands and business communication — from key visuals, packaging and characters to business comics, presentations, explainer graphics and artwork developed for animation and motion.
Over more than 35 years, I have worked with companies, agencies and organizations ranging from local businesses to international clients including Google, Coca-Cola, Mercedes-Benz and Henkel. In 2000, I became the first official Google Doodle artist.
My approach is straightforward: understand what needs to be communicated, develop the right visual idea and create artwork that works effectively in its intended context. Every image is created specifically for the brief — not pulled from a stock library, assembled from templates or generated by AI.
Have a project in mind? Tell me about it.
Selected Advertising, Campaign & Business Illustration
A selection of commissioned work for brands, companies, agencies and organizations — including campaign artwork, packaging, characters, business comics, promotional illustration and visual storytelling.
Illustration & Visual Storytelling for Advertising, Business & Brands – Ian David Marsden
What illustration can do for a project
A project can begin with a detailed brief, an initial idea or a communication problem that still needs a visual solution. I create campaign imagery, packaging illustration, characters, business comics, presentation visuals and illustrated sequences for explainer videos, adapting the approach to the needs of each project.
Campaigns & key visuals
A strong central image can give a campaign a recognizable visual identity. I create key visuals and supporting artwork that can be adapted across advertising, posters, editorial placements, digital communication, presentations and social media while retaining the character of the original concept.
Packaging & products
Illustration can give packaging a distinctive visual identity and help a product stand apart from generic or photography-led approaches. I have worked on packaging, labels, product graphics and illustrated collections, developing artwork as part of the overall design rather than treating it as a decorative addition.
Characters, mascots & branded worlds
I design original mascots, brand characters and character-based identities for companies, organizations, events and campaigns. Characters can be developed for use across advertising, educational material, merchandise, digital communication and animation.
Business comics & sequential storytelling
Some ideas are easier to understand as a sequence than as a single image. Business comics and sequential illustration can explain processes, present scenarios, support training and change communication, or make complex information more accessible.
Explainer visuals & hand-drawn video
When a subject benefits from movement, timing or narration, I also create hand-drawn explainer videos and whiteboard animation. Illustration, sequencing and animation are developed together to make complex subjects clear while retaining a visual character specific to the client.
Editorial & educational illustration
I also create editorial and educational illustration for publishers, institutions, cultural organizations and educational contexts, where the image needs to clarify, interpret or add a distinct visual point of view to the subject.
Why use illustration?
Illustration can communicate things that are difficult to achieve through other forms of imagery. It can show something that does not yet exist, simplify complex information, combine several ideas in one image, introduce humor or exaggeration, create a recognizable character, or establish a visual language developed specifically for a campaign or brand.
I have used illustration for subjects ranging from consumer advertising and packaging to engineering, energy efficiency, workplace safety, HR communication and technical services. The subjects may be very different, but the objective is often similar: to create an image that attracts attention, communicates clearly and remains memorable.
Working directly with me
When you commission me, you work directly with me. From the initial discussion through development and final artwork, the creative work remains with me rather than being handed off to another illustrator or outsourced production team.
The process is adapted to the project and can include concept development, rough sketches, visual development and refinement before final production. I can work within an established creative direction or help develop the visual approach when that is still to be defined.
My background in graphic design and creative direction is particularly useful when illustration needs to function within a larger campaign, publication, package, presentation or visual identity.
I work internationally in English, French and German, with companies, organizations, agencies, designers and communication teams.
For a quick overview to share with a colleague or client, download my illustration portfolio PDF.