Shutterstock Creative Trends 2020
When creatives download content from Shutterstock for upcoming projects, they’re leaving clues for where design styles are headed.
Q: What happens when you multiply that action by millions of creatives worldwide? A: Infinity stone-level powers of prediction for what trends are about to blow up!
I’ve co-led all creative efforts for Shutterstock Creative Trends from 2019 to 2023, alongside Art Directors Flo Lau & Alice Lee. My role required crunching numbers, spotting patterns, crafting names & identities, then unveiling them to the world as Shutterstock's annual Creative Trends report.
(Disclaimer: a small bug had a big influence on how 2020 panned out)
Click above to see the interactive report w/out director commentary
Shutterstock’s flagship brand campaign is as much a science as an art. Analyzing search term data that is experiencing a steep climb—when coupled with cultural developments and industry insights—gives us the unique ability to see the signs in the stars. For 2020, these trends included literal signs in the stars, a booming year ahead (data does not account for acts of god), and super-powered flowers.
The most significant stats evolve into major, imminent trends while less red-hot numbers reveal trends on the rise.
Each year, we label a final rising trend as “One to Watch.” It requires more intuition than analysis. That’s because sometimes the numbers speak while the spirit of the age shouts. Call it a gut feeling if you like, but for 2020 it couldn’t have been more spot on.
In short, Shutterstock’s Creative Trends report uses data-driven insights to inspire creatives, while also giving them a heads up for styles that will be coming in hot. And it works. Creative output in the wake of the report’s publishing has time and again validated the data. So what may at first glance seem like clairvoyance (or hubris) is in fact just good ol’ fashion, turn-of-the-millennium data farming—organic and net neutral.
Below is the one-sheet that we offer clients who don’t care how the sausage is made and want to get straight to the meat and potatoes (i.e. TL/DR version.)
