22ND ANNUAL
STOCK VISUAL SURVEY

BY GORDON KAYE

I have never surfed. I don’t even like to swim in the ocean; the water ’s too cold here in the Northeast, the sand gets into some inconvenient places, and the jellyfish sting like all get out.

Still, it struck me, in thinking about the state of stock visuals for graphic designers, that the metaphor of the perfect wave — the convergence of just the right conditions and circumstances to create the ideal swell, with a majestic peak and clean tube, held aloft by an ocean breeze to prolong its beauty and utility — has some usefulness.

Without drowning in labored analogies, suffice it to say that the imagery available collectively from stock visual providers shares the characteristics of the perfect wave. Many powerful forces that have been years in the making — economic, technological, cultural, behavioral — have dovetailed in seemingly unforseen ways to generate an unprecedented swell of supply and options.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A PDF
OF THE STOCK VISUAL SURVEY