Adobe just released its latest 2018 visual trend, “Creative Reality,” exploring surreal utopias and vibrant color palettes as well as the ways artists are reflecting this new day-glow-infused reality in their work.
From art exhibits on
Burning Man to immersive projects like
Summerland, artists are creating new worlds filled with eccentric textures and hyper-sensorial experiences.
Reality is fused with the surreal, and muted, earthy tones are swapped for palettes more reminiscent of Oz – fantastical, exuberant and otherworldly. To explore this trend even further, Adobe partnered with the
Pantone Color Institute to identify which vibrant hues are trending this summer and why – uncovering how social media is driving the usage of colors such as “Flame Orange,” “Blazing Yellow” and “Dazzling Blue.”
According to Pantone, attention-grabbing aesthetics are moving beyond the screens of social platforms onto runways, retail and even
stock photo libraries.
In conjunction with these trends, Adobe Stock also released two curated Adobe Stock libraries – one dedicated to
Creative Reality and the other highlighting
Pantone’s trending summer 2018 colors.
Visually Stimulating And Exciting Images
One would hope that after these image have been part of the Adobe collection for a while we will be provided with some indication of the percentage that are actually purchased and shown how they are used in real projects.
I can see how many of these images might inspire Art Directors and get their "creative juices" flowing. That may cause the AD to turn to Adobe when looking for an image to use in an actual project. But, are the images they need for project likely to be any of the ones shown here? Should stock photographers be creating fine art, or images that have a commercial application?
These images are visually exciting and very artistic, but I have trouble seeing how many of them might be used commercially to illustrate or promote a product or service. Is the purpose of a stock image just to get the reader to stop and think “what’s that”, or does does the image also need to have some relationship to the product or service being promoted?
It would be very interesting to see examples of how some of the images that appear in "Visual Trends" promotions are actually used by customers.