Every year we promise ourselves that we won’t post about Shutterstock’s “Design Trends” report, and every year we give in. Why? Because every year they come up with a few interesting tidbits worth sharing. Here are a few of Shutterstock’s top observations, as gleaned from our Shutterstock image searches in 2013. (Now a Google “Image Search Trends” Report would be an entirely different beast….**shudder**.)
Top searched for image types:
- “Filtered” (think Instagram): up 661%
- “Authentic” (i.e., real-life settings): up 347%
- “Flat” (user-interface inspired): up 200%.
Searches “on the rise”:
Typefaces:
- Geometric: up 75%
- Signage-inspired: up 36%
- Analog: up 14%
If we have a gripe with the “Design Trends” report, it’s that we have no idea what percentage of the stock-image downloads are for print projects, but it’s only a small gripe. The truth is that the line between paper and the Internet is getting smaller every day…
