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Getty Images forecasts the visual trends that will be prevalent in 2017 at Manchester Business Jam

By Jacqueline Bourke, Senior manager of creative insights

March 6, 2017 | 7 min read

Getty Images have released their predictions on what creative trends will be forwarding the industry in 2017.

The team of visual anthropologists at Getty Images accessed data from over 400 million downloads and have forecasted the type of imagery which have the strongest impact in visual communications in the year ahead.

Our relationship with contemporary imagery is changing alongside major global developments in politics, society and technology. The influence of these developments is clear in the trends that Getty Images have predicted to be prevalent this year, reinforcing the relationship between popular culture and contemporary imagery.

Outlined below are the six trends that Getty Images believes will inform, inspire and influence people working worldwide across creative industries, from branding and advertising through to journalism.

Gritty Woman

Perhaps the most obvious example of the influence of the current affairs on the contemporary imagery is the ‘Gritty Woman’ trend. As the debate around politics and gender intensifies, this trend epitomises the strong women who have dominated the news agenda in recent months. This woman is tough and tenacious; challenging stereotypes one bold step at a time.

Brands began to embrace this feisty female mentality a number of years ago, and 2017 will see gritty women truly brought to life. Pantene’s ‘Don’t hate me because I’m strong’ campaign features American martial artist Ronda Rousey, who made headlines as the first American woman to win an Olympic medal in Judo. The advert showcases Rousey’s strong physique and encourages women to ‘break the glass ceiling.’ Similarly, Bodyform’s ‘no blood should hold us back’ ad also features females in highly physical contact sports and aims to break the taboos around the menstrual cycle and exercise. Women boxing with a bleeding face, a ballerina with blood on her toes and rugby players with various injuries are used to normalise the visual of blood on women and reinforce Bodyform’s message that ‘no blood should hold us back’.

Virtuality

2016 was the year when the scepticism around VR finally began to fade. Brands have realised that VR is here to stay and consumers appear to have accepted its inevitability as a groundbreaking technological development. This is no doubt aided by the fact that this technology has become much more accessible with the introduction of affordable alternatives to expensive headsets, such as Google Cardboard.

In 2017, we expect VR to transform the way in which people interact with brands. This technology signals our departure from a world of imagery confined to two dimensions. If used effectively, brands can provide a fully immersive and more engaging experience.

Unfiltered

In response to the widespread demand for a rawer form of storytelling, we also expect to see brands adopt an ‘unfiltered’ aesthetic in 2017. This type of imagery is heavily influenced by the methods of photojournalists and signals a deliberate move away from glossy advertising. It is a significant change in the way brands present campaigns, and we predict it is likely to signal a permanent change in commercial photography.

This type of imagery appears to resonate with a millennial audience, who have shown a greater desire for transparency. As ‘digital natives’, this demographic in particular have grown up with the internet and as a result are much savvier to marketing than previous generations.

Cancer Research has adopted this approach to advertising in its latest #CancerIsNow campaign. The unfiltered aesthetic lends itself to conveying the reality of living with the disease, addressing viewers as a ‘fly on the wall’ rather than a targeted consumer. Away from charity campaigns, we can expect this content being employed more broadly in advertising going forward.

Global Neighbourhood

The increasing accessibility of the internet has enabled people to connect with others all over the world, and the ever-growing circulation of people, goods and information has allowed us to become citizens of a ‘global neighbourhood’. This phenomenon will be reflected by the creative industry, as cross-cultural and borderless imagery enters the mainstream.

This trend has been embodied by Airbnb in their ‘Live like a local’ campaign, which encourages people to live like a local on holiday rather than living like a tourist. The campaign mocks previous image trends of selfies and typical tourist photographs and encourages people to embrace the cross-cultural attitude which this trend represents.

Colour Surge

Experimental use of colour is not a new concept in advertising, but now we are starting to see colour as the star of the image. By this, I mean that the design is driven by unusual, untraditional colour combinations which break the rules of ‘what something should look like’. This can be a liberating process for the creative teams behind the imagery, and is something we expect to see emerge in mainstream use in 2017.

With its red grass and lavender BBQ, Shell’s ‘Best day of my life’ campaign embodies this trend. The unnatural colour combinations offer a light-hearted alternative to the raw and serious imagery identified above. Although the modern consumer is demanding a rawer aesthetic, this trend is a welcome reminder that there is certainly still a place for abstract creativity.

New Naivety

As we’ve seen with the ‘unfiltered’ trend, brands are being forced to respond to an increasingly savvy consumer. Whilst one response is to opt for unembellished, gritty imagery, the opposite approach is equally effective. ‘New naivety’ shuns overly curated design in favour of spontaneous, playful, and at times awkward imagery. This is a risk in advertising, as encapsulating this trend often involves promoting imagery which is not ‘on brand’, but campaigns which have dared to embrace this have reaped the rewards. At a time of political uncertainty, it seems consumers welcome the weird and humorous imagery which this trend embodies.

Kenzo’s fall campaign is a perfect example of this trend. From mini Kenzo dolls to hands which look like feet, this imagery provides a refreshingly light-hearted alternative to the serious advertising of the past. These quirky images embrace a loose and irreverent touch, something which we anticipate we’ll be seeing more of as the year progresses.

The beginning of 2017 signals an exciting time of change for visual imagery. With technology advancing at rapid rate, brands should feel willing to push the boundaries on what is visually possible using VR technology. It is also time to part with the glossy appearance which has been favoured by creative industries for years, as the millennial preference for rawer storytelling enters the mainstream. As we find our place in the global neighbourhood, and continue to challenge gender stereotypes, brands which embrace these trends stand to make big gains while others tread carefully.

Join us at The Drum Network's Business Jam on 8th March 2pm to find out more about how creative trends can raise your agency's game.

Jacqueline Bourke is senior manager of creative insights at Getty Images.

Creative Virtual Reality (VR) Getty Images

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