Pickit Blog

Any marketer and creative will agree that the world is increasingly turning to visual content in search of the instant impact that only images and videos can provide. This is, of course, a natural consequence of the fact that more people than ever access social media through their mobile devices, turning images and videos into vital assets, as all kind of brands scramble to stand out from the rest of their competitors. This effect, as we all know, will only accelerate with the advent of 5G technology, naturally driving the growth for on the go visual content even further, putting even more pressure on creators to satisfy the need for visual assets. 

Recently, we've talked about the several advantages a stock image subscription model offers companies and individual alike, both in terms of financial savings and convenience, as well as 'staying on the safe side' of legal matters.

In this post, we want to delve a little deeper into greater detail into the ins and outs of image licenses and copyright law, as it can be all too easy to get tangled up in a lengthy and potentially costly legal infringement. Unfortunately for some organizations, they've had to learn all this the hard way.

Unless you've been living under a rock for the last 10 years, my guess is you've gotten rid of your VHS collection in favor of HBO, Hulu, Netflix or Disney+. Or perhaps all four. If so, you're probably saving some serious time and money on your entertainment, not to mention the convenience of being able to stream what you want, when you want it. 

In this day and age, you'd be surprised how many companies still have little or no control over the stock images used by their various employees, failing to coordinate purchasing and consolidate their assets. Others are sceptical about the need to pay for images in the first place. "Easy for companies with big budgets," you say?

When you think about diversity in your workplace, what comes to mind? Age, culture, gender, race, socio-economic background? Each of these has an obvious place on the list, but there's far more to being a diverse and inclusive workplace than simply hiring a certain number of people from different ethnic backgrounds, or by creating the perfect male-to-female ratio in every team–although this would certainly be a good start. 

It's been said a million times that a picture says more than a thousand words, but it's also worth pointing out that there are thousands of ways to use each picture, and how things like placement, cropping, filters and adding text can either enhance or detract both from the visual appeal and effect of the image.

It goes without saying that one of the main reasons people choose to create a presentation and not a Word doc or Excel file is so they can use photos, icons and clipart to enhance their message, so we take a look at a few dos and don'ts to keep in mind when working with presentation images. 

Choosing the right image can be difficult, and it’s impossible to put all the dos and don’ts in just a few words. There are too many variables.

However, there are a few simple guidelines that can be really helpful when looking for presentation images.

It's believed that a whopping 85% of images downloaded from the internet are either unlicensed or used illegally. That’s a huge number, but you may still be asking yourself — “So what? The police won’t arrest me for using an unlicensed photo.” That may be true, but for organizations, posting copyright-infringing content can lead to expensive and time-consuming lawsuits.

If you've used Pickit Free Images recently, you might have noticed some new collections created by Pickit Community photographers Rosstek and M. Koppang.

This week we decided to mix things up a little and invite an illustrator to collaborate on a collection. Frida "FridaRit" Panoussis is a Graphic Recorder and live illustrator who earns a living summarizing and visualizing meetings and events. It's her job to capture people's words with her pen and turn them into compelling pictures, which seemed like the perfect fit for Pickit.
 

For those of you reading this article because of the title, apologies for the click-bait. But wait! I promise I’m not exaggerating too much.

It’s no secret that the world is changing, and that with that comes the working world. In addition to being more global, more visual, and more allergen-free, most offices are starting to become more efficient, often at the cost of human jobs. Automation can make businesses run more smoothly, but can also mean that you’re at risk of being replaced by an algorithm.

So how do you make yourself irreplaceable?