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Learn best practices and find inspiration with expert tips and insight from iStock’s top creatives.

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Best Practices

Best Practices Resources

Step up your marketing and creative know-how with a full slate of our best resources covering topics like marketing, design, social media, licensing, technology, and more.

iStock explains what stock photos are, why they're used, where to find them, how to choose stock images — and design tips and tricks for optimizing stock photos to fit your project.

What are stock photos and how to find them in 2023

10 min read
Follow these 5 tips for retail marketers and connect with your target audience.
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Five Tips for Retail Marketing in 2023

4 min read
Answers to common questions about texture in graphic design, plus some tips, tricks, and best practices for improving your art with textures.

A Guide to Textures in Art and Design

8 min read
Follow these 5 tips for healthcare marketers to connect with your target audience.
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Five Healthcare Marketing Tips for 2023

4 min read
social media image size guide
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Social Media Image Size Guide 2022

8 min read
Uncover how to use A/B testing to improve the performance of your paid social media ads.

How A/B Testing Can Improve Your Social Media Advertising

7 min read
Man sitting at a desk drawing on a digital art pad.

How to Crop and Rotate Video on Mac and PC

7 min read
A group of giraffes walk through the bush with the sun setting behind them

Stock Video Guide – What is Stock Footage and How to Use It

7 min read
Everything you need to know about green screens, and how to effectively use green screens in your videos using different video editors. 

How to Use a Green Screen

12 min read
Two women sitting in an office space laughing and chatting.

Three Tips to Help Businesses Manage Quiet Quitting

4 min read
Vector graphics are ideal for graphics that will be printed in both small and large sizes. See different styles and how you can best use vector graphics.
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What Are Vector Graphics and How Best to Use Them

8 min read
Unsure of which size to use for your image or design? From common photo sizes for Instagram posts to traditional brochures, learn more about what image size is appropriate for your next project.

What are Standard Photo Sizes?

9 min read
Learn tips on how to make standout visually consistent design from our world-class creative team at iStock in this guide.
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Infographic: How to Design Your Layouts for Maximum Effectiveness

7 min read
Common Aspect Ratios for Images.jpg
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Common Aspect Ratios for Images and Video

9 min read
3D vector illustration of laptop with internet search and results popping out

Five Tips to Help Marketers and SMBs Use Stock Images and Videos to Drive Stronger SEO

5 min read
Hex colors: What they are, how they work, how to find colors by code, ideas for hex colors to use in design projects, and tools for generating hex color palettes.

The Ultimate Guide to Hex Colors

8 min read
EPS files are a type of file format for vector illustrations commonly used by designers. Learn how to open EPS files, how to best use them, and more.
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What is an EPS File? 7 Things You Need to Know About Them

5 min read
GIFs instantly grab a viewer’s attention and communicate a specific idea in a matter of seconds. Learn about how you can use iStock's clips to create GIFs.
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How to Make Animated GIFs

5 min read
Social media, Youtube, Video player, Work from home, Netflix

A Guide to Video Marketing

4 min read
A person holding coffee and writing on a vector image.

Why You Need Model Releases and Property Releases

8 min read
Woman relaxing at her desk in a modern home office.

Three Tips to Help SMBs Visualize Workplace Mental Health Year-Round

3 min read
Every social media platform has its own unique video display requirements. Find out how to export a video to any social media platform.
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How to Export Video for Social Media

6 min read
Video overlays convey your message in a creative and eye-catching way. Learn how to apply overlays to your video using video editors.

How To Apply Video Overlays

9 min read
Woman in a green tiled kitchen in front of an island with broccoli, olive oil, and sliced lemons

A Guide To Video Aspect Ratios

9 min read
Two women smiling in a pottery storage room.

Three Tips to Help SMBs Combat Gender Bias Beyond International Women’s Day

3 min read
A family of four riding bikes on a dirt trail

Five Tips to Help SMBs Harness the Power of Sport in their Marketing Year-Round

4 min read
Learn how to add music to a video in an effective way to make them more attractive. Whether it's for Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube, iStock's Video Editor can help.

How to Add Background Music and Sounds to Videos

8 min read
Learn why video is a must in any creative strategy and how it can drive serious ROI. Licensing video on an ongoing basis couldn't be easier with iStock.
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Why Video is a Must Have for Any Creative Strategy

6 min read
Learn what video compression does to a video file, the difference between lossy and lossless video compression formats, the pros and cons of video compression, and more.

What is video compression and what does it do?

9 min read
A clipart image of a woman searching multiple browsers by Kristina Astakhova
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Improve Site Performance with Anchor Text & Images

5 min read
Download our eBook to learn how to make your content and creative more inclusive.

eBook: How to Make Your Content & Creative More Inclusive

3 min read
Vector illustration of RAW and JPEG file formats

RAW vs JPEG: Which Image Format is Better for You?

11 min read
A woman stands in her pottery workshop, smiling at the camera.

Visual Trends to Help Businesses Improve Their Marketing in 2022

4 min read
A woman wearing a mask helps serve a customer at a cafe, giving them a brown paper bag of goods.

Tips to Help Businesses Improve Marketing Beyond Small Business Saturday

3 min read
Close up of a group of friends having lunch in the office

iStock and Mind Share Partners’ Guidelines for Visualizing Workplace Mental Health

12 min read
Woman looking at lanterns in Hoi An

How and Why to Persuade Your Client to Use Video In Their Next Project

5 min read
Portrait of a happy Hispanic woman

3 Tips for Authentically Representing the Latinx Community

4 min read
Group of young people at home celebrating Halloween in costumes

Tips to Help Businesses Engage Customers During Halloween and Beyond

3 min read
Learn how stock photography can make an engaging and eye-catching addition to your visual content mix for social media.

Create an Authentic Social Media Experience with Superior Stock Photography

5 min read
Conceptual photo with graphics above phones showing likes, comments, stars, and more

Creative Ways to Use Videos in Paid Social Ads

5 min read
What is a royalty-free image? How do you open an EPS file? How can I use stock footage? Let iStock guide you through these questions & more with our comprehensive guide.

Learn with iStock: All you need to know about stock footage, image licensing, and file formats

22 min read
Youtuber editing video on laptop for up to worldwide through an online freelance work.

Public Domain Videos: What are they and how are they used?

8 min read
What does it mean to license an image? Learn about the fundamentals of stock photo licensing, the different types of usage rights, limitations, and more.

Understanding Stock Photos: Image Licensing

11 min read
A lot of thought goes into finding the best stock photos or videos for your project. iStock can make the process easier with this guide to finding stock photos or videos.

How to Choose the Best Royalty-Free Photos and Stock Videos for Your Project

8 min read
Need to learn how to convert a JPG to PNG? Or vice versa? Learn more with iStock on how to convert image formats to the file extension you need for your next project.

How to Convert Image File Formats

8 min read
Before turning to Creative Commons for your next project, it is important to understand what Creative Commons means, its limitations, and how it differs from other licensing options.

What is Creative Commons and How Does it Work?

7 min read
Follow these five tips for technology marketers and drive stronger connections with your target audience.
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Five Tips for Technology Marketers in 2021

5 min read
Follow these 5 tips for financial services marketers to connect with your target audience.
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Five Tips for Financial Services Marketers

4 min read
Follow these 5 education sector marketing tips to better connect with your target audience.
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Five Education Marketing Tips for 2021

5 min read
This buyers guide for stock photos has information about prices, different licenses, and tips on using search words to find the exact image you want.

Buying Stock Photos: How to Find and Choose the Best Stock Images

12 min read
What is the golden ratio and how can you use it to improve your next creative project? Learn more about how to master the golden ratio in your everyday design projects.

What Is the Golden Ratio and How To Apply It To Your Images

8 min read
What are stock illustrations? Where can you find them, and how are they commonly used? Learn more on how to choose the right illustration for your next project.

How to Find, Choose, and Use a Stock Illustration

8 min read
The term

Common Misconceptions About “Copyright-Free” Images

5 min read
When your images are the right size, your site runs faster and looks better. Learn how to optimize your images for the web to ensure your site looks and performs its best.

The Ultimate Guide to Optimizing Images for the Web

10 min read
In simplest terms, composing a photo means “laying it out” before you take it. Learn how to use photo composition to your advantage in your projects.

5 Tips to Find the Right Photo Composition to Tell Your Stories

4 min read
Learn the most important skills for editing and creating images. Examples of adjusting white balance, colors, exposure, adding text overlays, and blemish removal.

How to Edit Photos: 9 Important Skills for Editing Images

9 min read
milindri
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10 Elements of Modern Web Design That Drive Engagement (With Examples)

16 min read
Vladimir_Timofeev

5 Things You Need to Remember About Email Marketing

4 min read
First impressions are absolutely crucial on social media. Discover the importance of brand image and how it can help turn your followers into customers.

How to Create a Cohesive Brand Image on Social Media

9 min read
StockSolutions

Tips for Writing a Dynamic Press Release

5 min read
With so much competition, it can be hard for ads to stand out. Learn how to make an effective ad to reach more customers, and hopefully, lead to more sales.

Simple Ideas for Creating an Effective Ad (That Works!)

4 min read
nortonrsx

How to Tell Effective Stories Through E-commerce Today

5 min read
Posts with the Instagram carousel feature get the highest engagement rates. Check out these tips to make sure you're using this feature to its full potential.

How to Create Engaging Instagram Carousel Posts

3 min read
Whether it’s guerrilla marketing, traditional approaches or going digital, learn the different ways to get your brand name noticed.

5 Strategies for Growing Brand Visibility

4 min read
If you’re not marketing on mobile, you’re missing out. Here are expert tips to make sure your content tells your brand's story even on the smallest screen.
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The Mobile Marketing Strategy Guide: 4 Things You Can Implement Right Now

9 min read
Print still plays a powerful role in placing your brand in front of your customers. Here are a few of the valuable ways print can be a powerful tool.

Why Print Advertising is Still Important for Your Marketing

3 min read
When it comes to refreshing your brand, follow these guidelines to see which elements need refreshing and how to go about it successfully.

New Logo! Now What? The Brand-Refresh Process Explained

5 min read
Follow these tips and tricks in creating effective and engaging social media graphics.

Creating Engaging Social Media Graphics

5 min read
Timeline infographics with 12 months, vector eps10 illustration
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What Are the Different Types of Illustrations?

9 min read
Despite an ever-expanding playbook of digital marketing strategies, see why brochures are still considered crucial when it comes to marketing collateral.
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4 Ways to Get a Killer Business Brochure Design

7 min read
Abstract modern gradient blob lines diagonal frame.
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5 Ways Good Design Can Help Convert New Customers for Startups and Small Businesses

6 min read
Group of friends watching video on smartphone

eBook: Using Imagery in Digital Marketing 101

3 min read
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Visual Identity 101: Checklist

3 min read
327748_Newscred_Illustrations_Hero_1400x700_V2.jpg
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Illustration or Photography? 5 Questions to Ask Yourself

6 min read
Attractive mature asian man with white stylish short beard looking at laptop computer with teenage eye glasses hipster woman in cafe. Teaching internet online or wifi technology in older man concept.

How to Increase Traffic to Your Website

8 min read
Unrecognizable person holding yellow balloon against blue background

The Evolution of Engagement: Why Brands Need to Leverage Visuals

5 min read
Hand taking top view shot of table. Homemade cake, mandarine oranges and cup of coffee are on the table.

How to Run a Successful Instagram Advertising Campaign

11 min read
African american woman cooking vlogger recording video in kitchen at home

How to Optimize Your Video Content Creation and Why It Matters

9 min read
Learn the do's and don'ts of creating a professional website so your brand will stand out.

How to Create a Killer Professional Website, Straight from the Pros

5 min read
Vlogging in kitchen

4 Tips to Maximize Your Brand’s Reach on Instagram’s IGTV

7 min read
devices responsive on workspace creativity website graphic design

5 Key Insights for Creating a Successful Website

4 min read
Video cameras on the set, backstage movie scenes

How Does Video Production Help in Marketing Your Business?

4 min read
Man with infantile cerebral palsy using a computer.

6 Ways to Create a Website That’s Accessible (and Why It’s Important to Do So)

11 min read
Creating an Instagram ad isn't enough these days. Learn how to create a successful campaign and stand out from the rest.

8 Tips for a Successful Instagram Advertising Campaign

6 min read

627453756, Michael Fitzsimmons