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What is Humaaans?
Humaaans is a free, mix-and-match illustration library of people, made by Pablo Stanley. Instead of handing you fixed pictures, it gives you separate vector parts — bodies, hairstyles, tops, and pants — that you combine into your own figures. The site describes the elements as "like legos made out of flesh... and vectors," and the page evidence shows support for InVision Studio and Sketch.
What you can actually do with it
- Build a person: swap hairdos, tops, and pants, then rotate and position each part.
- Fit a mood or context: the library is pitched at empty, error, and success states, landing pages, onboarding screens, grids, and invitations.
- Set a scene: add background ambience around the figure rather than using it as a lone cutout.
- Start from a template: useful if you need a layout quickly instead of assembling from scratch.
Who it suits
It fits product designers, marketers, and anyone producing UI mockups, slide decks, or social graphics who needs human figures without commissioning artwork. The trade-off is consistency: because you assemble parts yourself, results depend on your own eye for proportion and color. It also won't match a brand with a strict, custom illustration style, and a scene built from a template can look familiar if many others use the same starting point.
Licensing and next step
The page states the illustrations are CC0 Public Domain, free for commercial or personal use, with downloads and use alongside Blush. If you need more variety beyond this library, the creator points to Lummi at Lummi. A practical first step: pick one real screen you're working on — an empty state or onboarding page — and build a single figure that matches its tone before committing to a whole set.
How do I customize the illustrations in Humaaans?
You customize Humaaans by treating each illustration as a set of separate vector parts rather than a finished picture. The library is built around mix-and-match elements: you swap hairdos, tops, and pants, and you can rotate or reposition body parts to build a new pose. The site describes the pieces as "like legos made out of flesh... and vectors," and the workflow starts from a template so you are not assembling a person from nothing.
What you can change
- Hair, tops, and pants: the three named swap categories, so the fastest customization is an outfit and hairstyle change.
- Body and pose: rotate and position the elements to adjust how someone stands, sits, or gestures.
- Scene and context: place your remixed person into a template for onboarding screens, grids, or empty, error, and success states.
How to approach it in practice
Start with a template that matches your use case, then change one variable at a time. If you are building an empty state, pick a template, swap the outfit to fit your brand's tone, and adjust the pose so the figure looks toward your call-to-action rather than away from it. For a team or onboarding page, reuse the same base body across several figures and vary only hair and clothing; that keeps a set visually consistent without making everyone identical.
The trade-off is control versus speed. Templates get you to a usable result quickly, but heavy repositioning can make limbs look unnatural if you rotate joints past plausible angles. If you need a very specific pose, expect to spend more time nudging parts than swapping outfits.
Tools and licensing
The page says the illustrations are made for InVision Studio and Sketch, with a demo made in InVision Studio, and that they can be used with Blush. It also states the files are CC0, free for commercial or personal use, by Pablo Stanley. That makes Humaaans a reasonable fit when you want a human figure without commissioning custom artwork.
If you want a different illustration style for the same kind of job, Lummi is the related free-illustration library the page points to.
A useful next step: download the library, open one template in your design tool, and duplicate the artboard before you start moving parts. Keeping an untouched copy makes it easy to compare your remix against the original and to reuse the same figure across several screens.
What file formats and design tools are compatible with Humaaans?
Humaaans is built for vector-based design work rather than as a general image library. From the page evidence, the library is intended for use with InVision Studio and Sketch, and the illustrations are described as vectors, so you should expect editable vector assets rather than fixed flat images.
The page also mentions downloading and using the assets with Blush, and the demo was made with InVision Studio. In practice, that means the workflow is: open or import the vector files in a compatible design tool, then remix hairdos, tops, and pants, rotate and position elements, and assemble scenes or templates for onboarding, empty/error/success states, and landing pages.
If you use a different tool, check whether it can open or import the file type you download before committing to Humaaans for a project. For a quick test, download one figure, open it in your main design tool, and try recoloring and moving a single element. If that works, the library is compatible enough for your workflow; if not, treat it as a Sketch/InVision Studio-oriented resource rather than a universal one.
Can I use Humaaans illustrations for commercial projects?
Yes. Humaaans is released under a CC0 Public Domain license and is described as free for commercial or personal use, so you can put the illustrations into client work, marketing pages, products and other revenue-generating projects.
H3 Practical implications
- No attribution required under CC0. You are not obligated to credit Pablo Stanley, though doing so is a courtesy.
- Remixing is expected. The library is built around swapping hairdos, tops, pants and poses, so adapting figures to match a brand is part of normal use.
- You still own your judgment calls. CC0 covers the illustrations, not third-party trademarks, fonts or photos you combine with them.
H3 A concrete scenario
Suppose you run a small SaaS product and need artwork for an empty-state screen, a success message and an onboarding slide. You open Humaaans, pick a template, adjust the body, clothing and scene elements, export, and drop the result into your app. Because the license is CC0, you can ship that to paying customers without a separate commercial license or royalty payment.
H3 Decision criteria
- Choose Humaaans when you want editable vector people you can restyle to fit a brand palette or product tone.
- Look elsewhere when you need photographic realism or highly specific cultural representation.
- If you need more variety, the same creator points to Lummi at Lummi for additional free illustrations.
Next step: confirm the license terms on the download page before publishing, since that is the version that governs your use.
How do I create a scene or background using Humaaans elements?
Humaaans is built for exactly this: you assemble people from separate vector parts, then arrange them against a backdrop you provide. The library supplies the figures and props—not a finished scene—so "creating a scene" means composing layers in your design tool.
The basic workflow
- Pick a base body. Choose a pose that matches the mood of your scene—standing, sitting, walking, gesturing.
- Swap the parts. Change the hairdo, top, and pants to fit the character. Each element is a separate object, so you can mix any combination.
- Rotate and position. Nudge limbs, tilt heads, and shift elements until the figure reads naturally rather than stiffly.
- Build the environment around them. Add your own background shapes, furniture, or abstract color blocks behind and in front of the figure.
- Layer for depth. Put some elements behind the person and some in front—a desk edge, a plant, a speech bubble—so the figure sits in the space instead of floating on it.
- Group and reuse. Once a scene works, group it and save it as a template for onboarding screens, empty states, or repeated slides.
Practical scene ideas
- Empty, error, and success states: one figure plus a simple prop (a box, a broken plug, a checkmark) communicates the state without text.
- Hero or landing-page scenes: two or three figures at different scales suggest a crowd or a team.
- Onboarding and grids: repeat a template across screens with small variations in pose and clothing.
- Casual or personal projects: invitations, family cards, or playful graphics—the style tolerates humor.
Decisions that shape the result
| Choice | Effect |
|---|---|
| Number of figures | One reads as a focused message; three or more read as a group or crowd |
| Scale contrast | Varying sizes create depth and a sense of foreground/background |
| Prop density | Sparse scenes feel calm and corporate; busy scenes feel lively and editorial |
| Background contrast | Flat, muted backdrops keep the figures legible; patterned backdrops add energy but can compete |
A useful next step: sketch the scene as three flat rectangles—background, midground, foreground—then place the Humaaans figure in the midground. That single habit prevents the most common problem, which is a character pasted onto a background with no spatial relationship to it.
For a concrete reader scenario: if you're designing an empty-state screen for a project-management app, place one seated figure at a desk in the midground, a laptop shape in front, and a soft color block behind. Swap the top and hair to match your brand's tone, group the whole thing, and reuse it across empty, loading, and error screens with only the prop changed.
The library is free for commercial and personal use under a CC0 public-domain license, so you can adapt scenes without attribution worries.
Where can I find more free illustrations like Humaaans?
For more free, mix-and-match illustration libraries in the same spirit as Humaaans, start with the sources below. Humaaans itself is released under CC0 and free for commercial or personal use, so anything you find should ideally match that level of freedom for client work.
- Lummi — mentioned directly on the Humaaans page as a source for more free illustrations; useful if you want a broader catalog after exhausting the mix-and-match pieces.
- Blush — also referenced on the page as a tool for using Humaaans; it hosts multiple illustration styles you can customize.
- Open Peeps — a hand-drawn, mix-and-match people library by the same designer, Pablo Stanley; strong for landing pages and empty states.
- unDraw — a large set of flat, recolorable SVG illustrations with a permissive license; good for onboarding and error states.
- Storyset — customizable scenes and characters; helpful when you need consistent visuals across a product.
A practical next step: check the license on each site before downloading. CC0 means no attribution is required, but some libraries ask for credit or restrict resale. If you need editable vector parts (hair, tops, pants) rather than flat scenes, prioritize Open Peeps and Humaaans; if you need ready-made scenes, unDraw and Storyset will save time.
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