Mantimeter has introduced a new suite of illustrations and animations as part of its wider rebrand, pairing a crisp, graphic identity with a more humanistic, hand-drawn world developed by Dutch designer and animator Loek Voogs.
The platform, known for its interactive tools used in classrooms, boardrooms and live events, wanted an illustration style that felt expressive without breaking the clarity of its new aesthetic. The new simple, single-colour system does just that, looking deceptively minimalist but with a surprising amount of life.
This brief came to Locke at a time when he was accustomed to working on smaller, more contained illustration projects. “It was the first time I had done a project on this scale, so it was quite scary to dive into it,” he says.
The openness of the early conversations with art directors Mikael Lundin and Peter Wicksten made that leap easy. Those first calls set the tone for a collaborative process, in which Locke was encouraged to explore scale, character behavior, and energy before the team defined the rules of the system.
He began with a vast canvas of exploratory sketches, featuring figures large and small, hand drawn with varying levels of detail, and were early experiments in how far “cartooniness” could stretch. As Mikael and Peter marked favorites and ruled out others, the shape of the universe emerged.
Anything that was too flexible or exaggerated was cut out. The characters needed limbs that bent like real limbs, not noodles. That decision created an unusual constraint: the drawings must feel as if they were quickly destroyed, yet still carry the weight of real human activity.
This is where the pictures really come into their own and find their charm. They remain flat and immediate, almost like notebook doodles made with a sketchbook quality during a lecture or meeting, which Locke deliberately pursued.
He explains, “The idea was to generate an illustration style that felt like the little scribbles you put in your notebook.” Everything is drawn digitally, but with wavering strokes that keep the linework from feeling too perfect, keeping the characters emotionally readable without relying on faces, which he never draws.
It was important to establish the boundaries of this world early on. Loeck first experimented with the scale, partly to get a sense of how bold characters could appear with the Mantimeter’s UI and partly to see how much personality he could squeeze out of the fewest points.
“Keeping a good balance between minimalist forms and believable human movement means, I think, exploring what is possible within limitations,” he says. Perhaps problem-solving isn’t a skill people often associate with illustration, but finding a way to draw elbows at the right angle or finding a stance that communicates excitement, hesitation or frustration feels like one.
The system includes two main illustration types: comprehensive conceptual space illustration and a full icon set. Loeck says designing icons takes him into a completely different mode. With so little space to work with, they must be “balanced and clear”, while spot illustrations can embrace ideas that are looser, stranger, or more metaphorical.
That freedom led to some of the project’s most memorable concepts, including the now-famous half-horse costume used to visualize “Error”. Loeck recalls how that moment appeared almost accidentally: “In one of the early sketches, I already had a drawing of two characters with horse suits. I added a note that it might be fun for a potential error page.”
Other images deal with abstract concepts such as “complicity”, “celebration” and “participation”. Locke’s method for these is extremely simple: fill his sketchbook with quick drawings drawn by association, whether it’s team sports, musical groups or participation trophies.
“After a few silly ideas, a good idea comes along,” he says with a laugh. Those sketches often become the basis for later animation, even when the movement was not originally planned.
Speed plays a subtle but important role in the entire system. Loeck’s background in animation meant he could design with movement in mind, ensuring that the images translated clearly when later animated. He admits that the challenge is in making the animations loop naturally, while keeping them as simple as the illustrations. A character crossing out letters to represent “writing” is a good example because it’s a single gesture clearly expressed, making it easy to bring to life without complicating the style.
Mentimeter is slowly introducing the new brand to its platform, and Loeck is eager to see how the images behave in place. Small UI interactions, like hover-triggered animations, get him particularly excited. “It’s a very simple conversation, but it feels extremely gratifying,” he says. “It’s a fun little surprise when you’re exploring the website.”
Looking back, Loeck sees two lessons he would carry forward: the importance of a clear key pose in character work, and the surprising power of a well-balanced static illustration once animated. As Mentimeter launches in the coming months, its playful, handcrafted world looks set to become one of the platform’s most distinctive properties.
