Creative In Focus: 2015's Visual Trends

Have you ever wondered where technology is going? Or looked on in amazement at your kids playing with some new app, gadget or gizmo. Not just playing with this stuff as it’s supposed to be used, but tweaking it, ‘gaming’ it, taking it somewhere different.

In 2015 Getty Images will be celebrating 20 years as a company that for two decades has been at the pivot point of technology and creativity, that has pioneered and witnessed extraordinary leaps in technology and media. These technological jumps have radically changed communications, businesses and the creative industries. But most of all, it has changed our expectations of that thing which helps us understand ourselves and others, that thing we call ‘creativity.’

New tools and platforms, blogs, smartphones and social networks have generated previously unimagined possibilities for how we express ourselves. And yet, as our Creative Research team and our Art Directors looked ahead to some of themes and visual directions for the coming year, we discovered that often the future is a strange hybrid of familiar things used in unfamiliar ways.

In Merging Mediums Amy Lehfeldt and Bill Bon highlight how image-makers are looking to very traditional art forms such as collage, playing with the surface and material of the image, while Lauren Catten’s look at the return of film as a material to work with is not just about its dynamic range and better color, it’s about re-thinking the experience of making.

And as Pam Grossman notes in Genderblend, societies are re-thinking previously fixed ideas of what it is to be male and female, and consequently we’re picking up signs of a shift in how men, women, parenthood, domestic and professional lives are being portrayed. This is a fascinating development, where imagery sits right at the heart of social debates and directions, when a photograph connects with someone because it feels true.

I also wanted to highlight that the imagery seen in this book is part of Getty Images Prestige. This is a curated collection of our most impactful and emotionally engaging creative imagery, often the result of the unique relationships that exist between our most talented photographers and our in-house Creative team.
Prestige not only contains inspirational and unique photography, but is driven by trend research, meaning the imagery has the power to influence the changing visual representation of familiar subjects. We’re excited by Prestige and hope you are too.

Discover the full Creative In Focus eBook that explores all of the key trends 

Andy Saunders is SVP, Creative Content at Getty Images