If you love browsing beautiful photos online or work in creative media fields that rely on knowing about the next biggest visual trends, Shutterstock has an update on their blog you will not want to miss. In the news headlines, however, Shutterstock has not been highlighted for their new 2015 creative trends forecast.
Instead, Shutterstock is being noted for a recent $65 million spending spree by the CEO and underperforming stocks. Amidst these struggles, Shutterstock released their predictions for 2015 creative media trends. In addition to their 20 curated photo collections , there are social, cultural, video, and design trend categories.
When questioned about his recent multi-million dollar shopping spree, Shutterstock CEO Jon Oringer told Forbes that he made two purchases: “U.K. celebrity photo company Rex Features (bought for $33 million), and the Montreal-based music market PremiumBeat ($32 million).”
Sadly, Shutterstock’s purchase of the two companies around January 15 did not help its stock market performance when “Shutterstock’s 2015 Creative Trends” forecast was released on January 26.
The Ashburn Financial Daily writes that a bad performance early in January was unstoppable, and stated on January 26, “Shutterstock Inc (NYSE:SSTK) has underperformed the index by 16.65-percent in the past 4 weeks. Investors should watch out for further signals and trade with caution.”
Despite the negative press, Shutterstock has one of the largest databases of photos, with almost 50 million pieces of media in stock. In the Forbes article, it was pointed out that acquiring the photo company, Rex Features, means that Shutterstock will have more access to celebrity pictures and newly emerging press photos. In other words, even though they may stumble on occasion in the business world, in the creative arts world, Shutterstock is still an authority when it comes to artistic digital media.
Unlike companies similar to Shutterstock that work behind closed doors, Shutterstock is happy to share their data and expertise with the public in the form of “ Shutterstock’s 2015 Creative Trends .” Some things you can expect from “Shutterstock’s 2015 Creative Trends” information is a focus on photo style trends.
For instance, “Blurred Backgrounds” carries a caption stating, “Blurry and bokeh backgrounds layered behind text have been on the rise in advertising and design over the last 12 months, with searches of ‘blur’ increasing 144-percent.”
Other interesting facets of the “Shutterstock 2015 Creative Trends” report include the term “ Zentangle ” (art that is captioned within a shape). There was also a focus on social trends as they related to Shutterstock. In particular, they were quick to point out that, “Posts with photos or video are more likely to get retweeted.”
Infographic: Shutterstock’s 2015 Creative Trends
[All images are from the referenced links.]
