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In this 18th annual survey five major themes emerged,
conveyed in both statistical results and open-ended comments.

Content Celebrated
Historically the tension in stock use has been between its supreme practicality and its sometimes less than inspiring content. To a great extent stock’s transformation into an indispensable resource has been largely driven by practical considerations, combined with a grudging acceptance of its content. But 2004 can fairly be seen as a watershed year in which designers finally cite the benefits of stock quality, content, aesthetics and inspiration as often as they do matters of ease, convenience and affordability. Today’s results indicate that the conflict between quality and practicality has been largely reconciled, as the former reaches a rough parity with the latter in the minds of stock users.

Practicality Reaffirmed
In addition to the new respect for content and quality, readers tell us that stock is soaring in popularity because it continues to make sense. Now more than ever its value propositions - choice, convenience, accessibility, affordability - perfectly dovetail with the tight budgets, short turnarounds, demanding clients and digital workflow that characterize this design decade. We live and work in a period of tumultuous changes, some wonderful and some painfully harsh. Stock works because it fits nicely - indeed, it is a perfect metaphor for the challenges of a new professional environment.

Reality Pictured
Designers tell us that stock providers are offering much more choice, diversity, reality and grit in their collections. Though this is really a subset of the first point - about quality - it deserves a separate mention. Stock imagery started as a stagey and homogenized product, and it has taken decades to break out of this mold, and even longer to change outsider’s perceptions. In our 2004 survey readers praise the breadth of choice and selection, and they recognize emphatically the growing sophistication, reality and edginess of stock. This is an astonishing conclusion to a long journey. That said, living in New York, I personally do not need anymore reality or grit. But, hey, that’s just me.

Internet Embraced
Online search and delivery used to be the next big thing. Now it is convincingly the big thing, serving as the primary and commonplace link between stock sellers and buyers. 81% of those surveyed say they search for imagery and digital content online. Print and CD catalogs and, to a lesser extent, researchers of the human persuasion are hanging in, but more creatives enthusiastically report that they start and finish with the internet. Stock companies are generally credited with the progress being made in presenting more appealing and robust websites, even while the comments also suggest that there are still annoying glitches in the technology.

Competition Welcomed
There is an 800 pound gorilla in the room. (For the sake of discretion, I won’t mention the name, other than to note that it starts with “Getty.”) The company’s sheer size, its consolidation of many hitherto independent brands, and its success as a portal has had profound effects on other stock providers – one in some ways good, but also in some ways bad. But our focus today remains only on designers, and they appear to be of two minds about this development. On the one hand, some tell us that the ease of popping onto the Getty site and simply searching by subject is compelling and often sufficient. On the other hand, even more respondents say there is plenty of room for branded independents, specialty stock companies and other portals, to compete - and they see competition as good for their own creative needs. They welcome providers and collections that can differentiate themselves, bring something special or unique to the market, provide strong customer service, possess comparable technology and pricing, and tell their story.

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