Post by digiman on Sept 7, 2012 6:27:14 GMT -5
It’s not a secret. We all use stock imagery in our day-to-day design work. So why doesn’t anybody ever talk about it?
Just like the inventory of a grocery store, not everything you see on a stock photo site is an ingredient for a gourmet production. By far the worst mistake you can make when choosing stock is selecting stereotypical or clichéd images to convey a concept.
My guess is that we’re all just a little ashamed. We want people to see our work as just that: ours. When you have to tell someone that you didn’t create that grungy texture, or you didn’t take that beautiful photo, it feels a lot like admitting that you’ve cheated on a test. But this is nonsense—as designers, it’s our job to put things together and deliver a composition that looks good. In the same way that a chef combines ingredients to produce a tasty dish, we have to combine graphical elements in a beautiful, harmonious, and appropriate way. Choosing the best graphical elements—even if you didn’t create them all—is an important part of that recipe. www.digital-web.com/articles/cooking_with_stock/
Just like the inventory of a grocery store, not everything you see on a stock photo site is an ingredient for a gourmet production. By far the worst mistake you can make when choosing stock is selecting stereotypical or clichéd images to convey a concept.
My guess is that we’re all just a little ashamed. We want people to see our work as just that: ours. When you have to tell someone that you didn’t create that grungy texture, or you didn’t take that beautiful photo, it feels a lot like admitting that you’ve cheated on a test. But this is nonsense—as designers, it’s our job to put things together and deliver a composition that looks good. In the same way that a chef combines ingredients to produce a tasty dish, we have to combine graphical elements in a beautiful, harmonious, and appropriate way. Choosing the best graphical elements—even if you didn’t create them all—is an important part of that recipe. www.digital-web.com/articles/cooking_with_stock/