ILLUSTRATOR

GUIDEBOOK
**CONFIDENTIAL** DO NOT SHARE
OVERVIEW

The VICE digital network covers a wide and varied range of topics, across multiple sites
each day. We focus on everything from sex, drugs, entertainment, politics,
technology, LGBTQ issues, food, gaming, health and fashion.

When covering any of these topics we look to highlight human stories and points of
view, and the tone and approach is geared toward our young audience (ages 17-30).

We want to create an arresting and consistent visual style that can be simultaneously
humorous, original, and evocative.

Each one of our verticals has a slightly different visual style but everything we create
should be fresh, edgy and eye-catching.
ART DIMENSIONS
DESKTOP
Header Size: 1920 x 1080 px
Safe Zone: 970 px wide

80% of all traffic is

from mobile. Make it
pop at small scales.

FILE DELIVERY
300 DPI
JPEG
 SKETCH

BEST PRACTICES
✓ It is always a good idea to send the
editor a sketch or mockup of the
illustration before you finalize

✓ Contact the editor about licensing

photography / stock imagery for
photo illustrations
FINAL
✓ Make sure to establish a clear
timeline for delivery
HEADER DO’S
DO
✓ image should be centralized
✓ must be legible on mobile
✓ high contrast
✓ visually striking
HEADER DON’TS
DON’T
make image too busy
use a lot of text, if any
use infographics
use white background
use full nudity (racy images are OK)
put important info on sides of image
DIVERSITY
Representing diversity is a key aspect
of our visual identity. Some things to
consider are:

✓ race & ethnicity

✓ culture
✓ religion
✓ body type
✓ sexual orientation & gender
✓ age
BREAKING UP ARTICLES
For long articles, artwork should be created for every 800-1,000 words.
The artwork should be consistent with the style of the header.
BREAKING UP
ARTICLES CONT.
✓ illustrating pull quotes
✓ speech bubbles
✓ GIFs
✓ elements pulled from header
✓ infographics
VICE.COM

A WEEK OF ILLUSTRATIONS
VICE.COM

COLOR PALETTE
DO
✓ high contrast is best
✓ bright colors
✓ dark colors
✓ primary colors

DON’T
dull light monochromatic palette

*While you are not limited to a specific palette,

these are the recommended and suggested accent colors
VICE.COM

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BROADLY

A WEEK OF ILLUSTRATIONS
BROADLY

COLOR PALETTE
DO
✓ broadly blue
✓ pastels
✓ monochromatic

DON’T
dark colors

*While you are not limited to a specific palette,

these are the recommended and suggested accent colors
BROADLY

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MOTHERBOARD

A WEEK OF ILLUSTRATIONS
MOTHERBOARD

COLOR PALETTE
DO
✓ motherboard purple
✓ cyber colors
✓ high contrast

DON’T
monochromatic pastels
natural colors

*While you are not limited to a specific palette,

these are the recommended and suggested accent colors
MOTHERBOARD

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NOISEY

A WEEK OF ILLUSTRATIONS
NOISEY

COLOR PALETTE
DO
✓ noisey mauve
✓ high contrast

DON’T
monochromatic pastels
use all colors from noisey color wheel

*While you are not limited to a specific palette,

these are the recommended and suggested accent colors
NOISEY

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NOISEY
NOISEY
TONIC

A WEEK OF ILLUSTRATIONS
TONIC

COLOR PALETTE
DO
✓ tonic pink
✓ bright colors

DON’T
super dark palettes

*While you are not limited to a specific palette,

these are the recommended and suggested accent colors
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