Top 7 Most Cliché Stock Images Used in Web Design
Posted on 30'08 Sep
Sometimes clients ask us to implement ‘not-so-unique’ elements into our designs and sometimes it seems almost impossible to convince them otherwise, however, hopefully this post can suggest some reasons why not to use the old web design stock imagery clichés.
I will do this simply by showcasing the most generic and cliché stock images (still) used in web design today. Please also take note that there is nothing wrong with using any of these images if used appropriately.
The Four Part Series
- Top 7 Most Overused Techniques & Elements Used in Graphic Design
- Top 7 Most Overused Icons / Shapes Used in Graphic Design
- Top 7 Fonts Used by Professionals In Graphic Design
- Top 7 Most Overused Stock Images Used in Web Design
Below is the fourth article.
The Business Handshake
The Call Center Woman / Man
Group Of Business People
The Rising Finance Graph
Skyscrapers
Tech Paraphernalia
The World / Globe
How To Avoid Using Cliché Stock Imagery
Avoiding clichés in web design may be difficult especially when the client wants a particular image however the best way to get around it is to ask “why”. Why do you want that that particular image used? Is there another way to portray that without the use of cliché stock images? Always ask yourself what you are trying to communicate and then work from that.
If you enjoyed this post, you should subscribe so you don’t miss out on the next article in this series. You may also like the much more humorous take on cliché stock photography.
Is there any other cliché imagery you think should be added to this list?
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156 JUST™ Creative Comments
You hit the nail right in the head!
I absolutely hate the use of this kind of stock images and it is strictly forbidden at our studio. We are usually able to talk the client out of it, but sometimes it is a great battle.
Jacob, I do disagree with you when you say that, if done properly, they should be used. We’re way past that point. Using stock images like the ones in this article is just wrong and repetitive. It is so overused that it just looks fake.
Great blog! Looking forward to reading the other articles of this series. So far they’ve been great!
This is so true. There is no shortage of the lady with a headset on, smiling at you.
You forgot the classic “hands cupping a small pile of dirt, with tree sprout growing out of it”
I see the call center man/woman image used almost everywhere. Especially on the support area of a site. Well, that explains it. Haha…
The good thing is a lot of photo sites now accept stocks from independent/amateur photographers. So there’s a lot more to choose from than before.
Don’t forget about the obligatory “Two-to-Three People In Front of the Computer, Both Smiling, One Pointing at the Screen”
You know you love it.
This is poetic, my absolute favourite post so far, ‘group of business people’ is beyond words for me, I love them, but if this is wrong what is left? Is cliche truth? You have just trashed the portfolios of 90% of designers (sorry designers I am being flippant). I’m glad you did not venture into showing hands cupping anything, worlds, cotton, trees etc.a whole other can of worms. Great post.
There’s also the “smiling doctor / nurse” image, possibly with smiling patients included.
I agree with Daiver that unlike the elements presented in the first two “Top 7″ articles you really shouldn’t use these stock photos. Ever.
If the client insists, go with the theme but come up with something different.
Like the typical business people group having a picnic or the globe made out of pills or psychiatric couch instead of the call center lady or whatever communicates the client’s intended message (once you’ve actually extracted it).
The photos in this article don’t communicate, they’ll just be dismissed.
I would add the puzzle piece one. Either just a puzzle piece standing alone or the one that is just about to go into the puzzle completing it.
Any website that claims to offer ‘solutions’ try to fit that one in someway or another.
OMG I think I might be having an aneurysm!
When I clicked on this I said to myself “There better be a handshake, if not, someone fails.”
I was not disappointed.
I imagine the article would look very different if it was “Top 7 most cliche images used in adult web design”.
oh so true. scary how often these are used
preach it, brotha!
I admit that you are so stinking right on the nail with this topic. I hate going to websites and seeing these images I usually hit the back button on my browser when I see these cause to me it seems like they don’t put in enough effort at all.
This is true. Use of cliche images does not just diminish the importance/ reliability of a website but it also takes away the quality of an otherwise good design.
Images used for web design should be as original as possible.
Hehe, when you first announced this series of articles, two things immediately sprang to my mind – smiling callcenter woman and the handshake.
I actually take some pride in the fact that during my 15 years as a designer, I have yet to use a single one of these examples :-)
Hahaha freakin hilarious… because it’s so god darn true!
We designed a corporate website recently and yep, we fell into the trap and have big smiling office people gathered around a conference table. Ugh it pains me but it suited the entire image of the company…
I did however sneakily slip an attractive businesswoman in with a very low cut top and exquisite assets :p
I agree with a couple of others here – the only one missing was the hands cupping dirt with the sprout. But you only have 7 to work with so something has to miss out. I have had the pleasure of working with such an image twice (one an illustrated version) – emotive but soooooo overdone.
So familiar, it’s creepy! You see these everywhere
Come on, admit it, we’ve all used one of these?
I think you may have missed the old link in a chain stock metaphor shocker.
Great series!
Another one I would add is the ultra-high-angle shot with the model looking straight up. That one floating around of the cute-blonde-girl-with-braids is more overused than Papyrus.
As website manager for a medical company, I have amassed a collection of wonderful variations on all of the above, on behalf of my bosses’ requests. I have nurses doing the business handshake. A group of business people, standing in front of tech paraphenelia. A bar graph with the globe behind it.
This is hilarious but so true! Great article. I came across your page googling about logo. I’m trying to rejuvenate my high school learning in commerical and graphic design. I’ll be reading more of yah!
You nailed it there. That Handshake one we see everywhere.
I’d like to classify this article (and author) as one of the most cliché things in a blog. 7 most blah blah blah, 10 most blah blah blah.
You’re a cliché. Just like the clip art. But about half as useful. A pot calling the kettle black.
Call center person always looks certifiably happy…so unreal.
You want to talk websites with stock images? Take a look at this one http://www.goimr.com/ it’s almost a crime against web design.
That one’s bad Steven but this one is worse: http://www.noamdesign.com
Talk about cliche stock photos! Just plain ugly.
At least there is no sound like that one.
And the man-of-inderminate-nonwhite-race rushing through the airport
As a test, I made this (http://img248.imageshack.us/my.php?image=hilariousmu9.jpg) and showed it to my boss saying, “this should be the new design for [insert project name here]”
I KID YOU NOT when he said, “Wow, that looks very corporate. I love it!”
I proceeded to question if there was a god while contemplating taking a .357 to my forehead.
I’m not a designer, I’m a programmer and I have been forced to use basically all of these when working for a couple of different design agencies. I’m also a photographer, so a little piece of me dies inside each time I have to use one…
My fiance is a designer. She has never used any of these images, and actually presents the client with photo choices, and makes them choose from among them. Often they are photos we have taken, which means they are unique to that client.
It’s easy to say something is overused and criticize things such as this. But, do YOU have any ideas as to what to use instead?
You’re forgetting about the biggest cliche. Letting people add useless comments to every page, you know, like this.
What most designers and creatives consider to be cliché and Kitsch imagery, some (less open-minded) clients may unfortunately gravitate towards and find appropriate in communicating their corporate message(s). I agree, the images above are blatantly overused to say the least; they represent a type of visual crutch for fresh thinking.
Has anyone asked themselves why these images are a cliche? Why have they been used so much?
My theory is that it’s because they’re to the point, safe (many people don’t want to give their money to “edgy” companies) and acceptable to a large general audience much as some variation on the button interface is most easily understood by the general public as well. These images are a shorthand for what a lot of companies want to convey about themselves.
By blending in with everyone else they associate themselves with a particular industry standard. Design is not Fine Art and doesn’t always need to communicate a unique vision. In some clients eyes, that’s even a detrimental approach. Design should meet client objectives not our own artistic needs. If the two coincide great! If not, so be it.
Have any of you ever dealt with a company that makes over a billion dollars? Consistency is required – when you literally have people with IQs of 70 trying to use a site- the best course of action is to use extremelly common elements to represent content (nothing new). So yea, it may be ‘corporatey’ looking, but guess what, they are a billion dollar company. So who is right – the company who hires a designer to make them a site that conveys the designer’s ideals; and looks real good, but confuses 1/4 of the crowd due to the artistic nature of the site? Or a designer who uses tried and true methods and elements, and makes a site that appeals to a greater number of people, looks good, but also looks very much like another website seen over and over again? If money talks, I would have to go with the corporate designer.
This is also a question that doesn’t take into account the type of industry – if you are designing a site for an art group – then yea, free reign works – but desing a site for a pharmaceutical company, I bet some of these photos are REQUIRED by the brand loyality/marketing director. I put a million on it. And are they wrong? No – they know obvious, well known photos like this will guide the user’s mind in the direction they need.
That said, I do agree that they are overused, but that is the point. If you don’t want to create a site with these elements, don’t – nobody is forcing anyone. But keep in mind, money talks and it doesn’t lie. These photos are overused for a reason, and I don’t see anybody stopping anytime soon.
Thought I would stir up the crowd and offer a different perspective.
CM
one more thing to add, the picture of the business group, is almost always interracial, to show a more diverse side to business. A melting pot if you will…
Carry on.
Hahaha, Nice!
You forgot the bobble-headed people. You know, the ones where people are shot from a high angle making their heads look huge:
http://img81.imageshack.us/my.php?image=workathomerx7.jpg
>:|
Oh and someone had the genius to combine the handshake with the computer screen for the ULTIMATE COMPUTER BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS ENTERPRISE MARKETING SUCCESS IMAGE EVER:
http://img212.imageshack.us/my.php?image=onlinebusinessnetworkinzm6.jpg
I use all of them all the time in my local internet’s at work!
lol!
Well, that’s kinda necessary for any business coz having things & showing things means a lot for clients or users.
Never let your self down in front of clients… the the policy.
ah! the old hand shake image, you can’t beat it for ultimate cheese! :-)
cup of coffee remains popular 10 years later, you know for kicking back and relaxing while paying your bills.
Excuse me? Two words: Matrix Numbers!
:)
As a challenge – can someone try to incorporate as many of these elements into 1 giant image? The ultimate cliché. That would be hilarious.
I used to work for a stock library and, even there, we were amazed by what the public wanted. A roller-skating businessman punching the air while closing a deal on his mobile phone is still my favourite.
I’ve seen each of those pictures at least TEN times on different sites.
I agree. And I hate the fact that I’ve used all of them.
Haha, Jeff Clark is right, the ol’ three business people in front of the laptop, evenly distributed across ethnic and gender stereotypes. I’ve used that as a profile photo in the past.
those are my best-sellers :)
So true.
I think people miss the point of why these pictures are used so much…. It’s because everyone is DOING THE EXACT SAME THING in their company. Most companies do the following things: make business deals, talk to customers, try and build something quite abstract (and probably quite boring), and try and make it worldwide.
In essence, I think most people want these images because they don’t actually have anything else to show. Most businesses are B-O-R-I-N-G!
Cliche remains cliche because it’s popular. Why is it popular because it’s recognizable and because it’s been done 1000 times before. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it?
Yes, most of the images like generic and like a common face.
But I also think that because all these images are presentable to the clients.
Food for thought.
Yeah, but it’s really dependent of client.. Not always You can talk client to choose something more unusual.
This is true, but then the best way to get around this is to suggest an alternate method of getting the same message across in the design.
Too funny, I use the top left image on my site, you are so right… now I may consider changing it!
Thanks and all the best,
Mark
Clients like these images. They actually ask for them. And for cheesy business people they work to sell simple ideas. Personally, I’ve had enough for a few lifetimes…
But just because we’re designers doesn’t make our opinion more valid. And selling a point differently doesn’t mean it is any better.
You have to ask yourself why you design: Is it to put new combinations of images and text together, or is it to tell a story to an audience?
hahahahaha, the handshake! So classic! Another one is like the really random diverse group. Black woman in a wheelchair with an asian guy and a white business woman or something.
Stock photography should rarely ever be used. It’s good when the client is on a budget, but there are ways around using photography at all if it isn’t accessible. Stock photography always looks fake and disconnected if it ever contains people, because your audience will always try to associate it with your client when there isn’t a connection at all. “Who are those people? Do they work there?” The answer is “no” and the client comes off as cheap and lazy.
I was VP of sales at Stockbyte, it always amazed us that the designers always went for the safe options, we could not shoot enough of business images- handshakes, smiles, serious, thinking etc etc. When we looked at comp downloads the designers were stil using the safer images, not sure how many clients ever get proposed radical or different themed images. Maybe designers are just as commerical as the clients they serve
This is a useful article , i am the admin of http://www.tentenx.com
Sometimes the best thing to do is to put your hands together, smile, remember your friends, take a new direction or look for a higher power. Then get back to the computer and take over the world.
CM,
“Have any of you ever dealt with a company that makes over a billion dollars?”
As a matter of fact, I work for global corp that’s been in business for over 100 years, and makes, well, we won’t get into that. What’s worse than having “people with IQs of 70 trying to use a site” is dealing with employees with IQs in that range. I mean, Christ…an electrical engineer should be able to OPEN A FRIKKIN’ DOOR, instead of whining “I can’t get out”. Maybe because it’s not electric, I don’t know. God, how I pity the typical corporate cubicle-hamster.
I just worked on a corporate website for one of the 50 largest companies in the world, which is worth over a trillion dollars. Two of these EXACT images were used. I could not talk them out of it.
Dude, awesome pic, definitely gonna use some for my new website!!!
HAHAHA that’s exactly what i’m supposed to do right now…will be only the third time i’m using it. Anyway great blog ! great article as usual!! THX !
LOL, this totally cracks me up. Also count in pix of “Kat Herding”, or whoever her original model is.
I’ve seen them all. It’s funnier that some people will come in and ask for those kinds of images because they “look corporate and make a company seem larger than it really is.”
Shaver Design – Print, Identity, and Web Design
I do aprove of Sydney skyscrapers.
Wow, thank you everyone for all of your comments, I wish I had the time to reply to each of you individually!
Thanks for your input once again, I appreciate it.
Yeah, this is so true.
I have to plead guilty to the handshake one!
The reason I used it was for a flier I made for my networking group. I figured “what better way to show a business arrangement?” I also agree with Davier’s comment, “if you use it properly” There’s a time and place for everything as long as it’s in moderation.
OMG how many times have I seen that group of business people, sooo tedious and so indicates an off the shelf website these days.
What about the classic company photo with prominently-placed minorities?
I’m not a designer. This link was sent to me by another person who is one. I suppose I’m simply one of the pitiful “cubicle hamsters” with “an IQ of 70″, because I personally don’t see much wrong with using these images. Who cares? I’m an average “user” and I don’t give a rodent’s posterior about how often a stock image is used because, I suppose, I’m more into the functionality of a website.
To me, unless the aesthetics profoundly detract from the site’s utility, then decrying the overuse of stock imagery is little more than artistic snobbery. Reading over these comments is actually quite shocking, really. The level of arrogance and elitism is disgusting.
So people tend to gravitate toward stock imagery – who cares? It works, it’s what people want, or perhaps a combination of both. Regardless, it doesn’t mean your taste is necessarily superior to anyone else’s.
Your comments are so telling…
“It works, it’s what people want, or perhaps a combination of both.”
Yes, it’s what people/stakeholders want, I’ll give you that. But no, it doesn’t work.
If you do some testing between a page with no Stupid Generic Photographs and ones with them, users (not designers, not marketers, just average people grabbed off the street and shoved into a white van…) tend to be drawn to them so much that they either:
a)have trouble reading the actual content because their focus keeps shifting between text and the dude waving his Montblac pen at the user in an aggressive manner
b)smell the fakeness and disconnect of these photos and try as hard as they can in their mind to discredit the company (it’s not just designers that do this)
Yeah, any image can be guilty of making a user do A. But using images that actually support the content and seem more real (almost no one really believes the dude stuck in a cubicle in a call center is eager and willing to take our call) works a lot better than using the images in this post.
I can’t speak for the other commentors, but it’s not that we want to be experimental or arty. We just want to use imagery that actually supports the content on the page these images are used. More often than not, you’ll see these images used on pages that have nothing to do with the context of the photos (ie: a dude talking on his cellphone in a page titled “Our Experience”).
You forgot the countless racks of servers with funny lighting you see on every web hosting site!
Huh what? I see a word “pijemy” which means in my national language “we drinks”. Where You get from this photo? Other words seems like part of the polish words, but I’m not sure about this. Anyway another nice article and I must said I;m following You for some good time. I hope that You will at least stay at the same grade with Your work. Best Regards.
Bart from Poland
This is a perfect post because it is so true! It’s amazing how often you see the same images and the same types of images all around the web. It just goes to show you that standing out in the right ways can really help you get ahead in business. This is especially true as more and more businesses are making their way on the web.
Good post!
What kills me is the runaway use of globes in logos! “Ed’s Lumber of Pewamo-Westphalia” does NOT need a globe in its logo. Sorry.
I love this article and I hope you reprise it in the future with an expanded list and more explanation text.
So I waded through this whole pile of comments just dying to see someone’s creative alternatives to any of these. Doesn’t anyone have anything to showcase that’s a better approach? Cuz I could use the inspiration!
I was VP of sales at Stockbyte, it always amazed us that the designers always went for the safe options, we could not shoot enough of business images- handshakes, smiles, serious, thinking etc etc. When we looked at comp downloads the designers were stil using the safer images, not sure how many clients ever get proposed radical or different themed images. Maybe designers are just as commerical as the clients they serve
Don’t forget the angled shot of the address bar in a generic browser with “http://www” zoomed in nice and close. After all, nothing says “internet” like a giant fuzzy pixelated angled “http” to help the hapless get clued in to your savvy message :)
uhh…. you encompassed TONS of images with this. It’s neat but:
1. People standing
2. People sitting
Ok… I’ll never use images of people standing or sitting again!! The list is neat tho thanks!
I have seen these images countless times on different websites – especially the hand shake! Great post! Thanks for sharing!
you left out anything with starbucks :D
worst thing is that people keep using them nowadays… found another one: business people running a “race” http://twitpic.com/230vk4
love how the senior guy delegates to the junior
Stock photography should rarely ever be used. It’s good when the client is on a budget, but there are ways around using photography at all if it isn’t accessible. Stock photography always looks fake and disconnected if it ever contains people, because your audience will always try to associate it with your client when there isn’t a connection at all. “Who are those people? Do they work there?” The answer is “no” and the client comes off as cheap and lazy…!
Stock photography should rarely ever be used. It’s good when the client is on a budget, but there are ways around using photography at all if it isn’t accessible. Stock photography always looks fake and disconnected if it ever contains people, because your audience will always try to associate it with your client when there isn’t a connection at all. “Who are those people? Do they work there?” The answer is “no” and the client comes off as cheap and lazy…
Totally ! But sometimes the client wants it. We always try to find other pictures to replace this kinda overrated pictures though. Thanks for sharing :)
Yes, the above images are important to develop the website but based on the client requirements we change the requirements.
Nice. I’ve seen everyone of these soo many times. I’m all for originality.
The “holding the planet in my hands” series is starting to drive me crazy too…
So true! I’ve used stock photography, but always attempt to use it tastefully. Also, try as hard as you can not to use the first-page results when searching a stock photo site, because those are generally the most-used pictures.
I have seen these images countless times on different websites – especially the hand shake! Great post! Thanks for sharing!.
Yea but when it sells, you make what sells. I’d make these images all day if it paid the bills. Plus you’ll never have a client requesting round after round of changes to them.
I am not a web designer but I am trying to lead my boss away from these images (when I found this blog). Can you offer any alternatives I can present to make my case? Our page looks so generic it kills me.
I think the image I see overused all the time is the close up of a pair of hands holding a pile of dirt, out of which sprouts a hopeful green plant…blah…
Wow, Those pictures are everywhere, despite vector monsters and 3D white blob people attempting to take over.
Also the “person leaning over a laptop user’s shoulder while pointing”
Always love the stock image of a girl with the headphones on working in a call center. Lovely happy smile, ready to help the whole world. Anyone that I’ve ever known that works in a call center are miserable souls that want another job so bad.
Good post. When you see a website with these type of images you really do know, right off the bat, that typically its a templated site or at least these images make the company look like they didn’t spend much on the site. Hopefully more of our clients will realize this!
@eCommerce Designer: One could also argue that because they are so regularly used, that they are also instantly recognised and subsequently put the visitor in no doubt that the website is what they were looking for.
Cliche’s become that because they are instantly recognised and associated – not always a bad thing. Cheap sure, but if cheap were bad, Macdonalds would have been out of business years ago.
Lol. I can see a lot of these being like “tackiest images of the 2010′s” someday. You picked a lovely selection here balancing cheesieness and earnestness. Unlike the trends article, I do think that stock photos have had a negative effect on graphic design, and almost wiped up illustrators. :-(
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