Last Updated on 01/17/2018 by Mark Beckenbach
Fantasy, New Minimalism, and Space are this year’s major creative trends, according to Shutterstock.
The predictions for this year’s creative trends have started to pour in. Shutterstock is the latest to weigh in on the ideas and concepts that will most likely shape the creative industry throughout 2018. Whether you’re a stock image photographer, a design professional, or a visual artist, you may find these trend findings useful or inspiring for your upcoming personal and commercial projects.
Using data gathered from searches and downloads on Shutterstock last year, the company’s data and creative teams set out to identify the biggest trends they believe would grow throughout 2018. Given that the company has now branched out from just photos to now include stock products, the results of their findings can be interesting for photographers.
Take, for example, Fantasy, Space, and New Minimalism, which have emerged as the top creative styles they predict to dominate this year. The first two may be particularly popular and evident in graphic design and digital art. But if we’re going to discover more fantasy-themed photography this year, that would be no doubt intriguing. We’ve seen some outstanding space exploration projects in the last few years from Reuben Wu, Mako Miyamoto, and Ken Hermann, to name a few. So it would also be great if the trend inspires more photographers to join in the fun and create their take on this theme.

Shutterstock has described New Minimalism as bold colors and fluid styles taking over crisp and clean lines. One trend to watch, the Holographic Foil, likewise features neon hues and a space age feel. These are also heavily design-based, but perhaps the closest aesthetic we can see in photography is a mix of neon and futuristic trends. Think Elizaveta Porodina’s Neon Night and Alexander Berdin-Lazursky’s Colors Loves Neon.
Check out the rest of the trends mentioned in Shutterstock’s Creative Trends Report for 2018 below:
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