You might remember that back in 2021, we announced that PicMonkey and Shutterstock were joining visions to help give you creatives a one-stop-shop for all things design. So you might be thinking, Well, don’t leave us hanging! What’s the latest?! We got you. We’re stoked to announce that we’ve emerged from the brainstorm and build phase and it’s time for you to take advantage of this greatness.
Alas, here’s the four-one-one. This pick-up-where-we-left-off piece is designed to give you the scoop on Creative Flow, PicMonkey’s new BFF, as well as to show you how it’ll soon become yours, too.
Let’s jump in!
What is Creative Flow?
Image via Shutterstock.
You may know that in the past, PicMonkey paired with Shutterstock to showcase incredible AI-backed Creative Trends. Since then, our relationship has only grown. From it, comes Creative Flow—a suite of design tools from Shutterstock’s AI-powered capabilities—granting you access to the world’s biggest library of music, video, and images.
Creative Flow comes with a few notable assets, including, but not limited to:
AI-Powered search: Helps you locate images that directly serve your demographic and design goals.
Predict: Uses data-backed insights and AI to predict which trends and assets will best serve your audience.
Shutterstock Create: An all-inclusive design tool to support your personal and professional needs.
Now, we get change can be uncomfortable at first, but we wouldn’t steer you wrong—promise. Whether you’re an AI enthusiast or just considering how to use it in design, the future has arrived with a bang and we’re pretty excited about it (our hope is that you will be too).
Why use data-driven assets at all?
Image via Shutterstock.
Tired of churning out Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter posts in an aimless, “post and pray” kinda way? We’ve got another option.
Creative Flow expedites the market research process that otherwise leaves you questioning, unsure, and quite simply, gambling. It can be hard to track digital marketing trends, email campaigns, and website metrics when you’re constantly swapping strategies or waiting for something to change.
While doing your own research is crucial, it can still feel nebulous. Data-backed intelligence just about guarantees smarter designs and greater impact: It’s here to make the unknown, known.
In this work smarter, not harder digital age, the time is now to clean up your design ops. Other pros to data-driven designs?
1. It’s user-centric
If you’re putting in the time and energy to boost events, make flyers, or craft email headers, don’t you want to be sure it lands with the audience instead of relying on that all-too-familiar guess-and-check method? Same.
2. It’s mutually beneficial
Well-executed marketing strategies benefit both you (and/or your brand) and your audience. In turn, your brand personality becomes clear, your operations become easy, and you become more reliable and trustworthy overall.
Sounds nice, right?
3. It’s smart
Being as precise as you can with your designs is simply wise. It leaves impressions with the audience, helps people remember you, and helps you stay relevant in this competitive, digital age.
Ultimately, you want each person you reach to feel as though you’re speaking directly to them. The more personal you make it, the more likely you are to achieve your objectives.
Beyond using color theory and wise font pairs in your designs, isn’t it about time that your hard work pays off by way of tangible evidence?
We think so!
What is Shutterstock Create?
Image via Shutterstock.
As mentioned, Shutterstock Create is part of the Creative Flow suite of design tools. It’s where you’ll go to utilize the aforementioned data-backed assets.
For our PicMonkey fam (and any change-resistant folk out there), you’ll notice some similarities between Create and the PicMonkey editing tool for your comfort.
Inside Create, you’ll find:
Intuitively-crafted templates, customizable in just a few clicks
Trendy graphics, animation assets, and iconic fonts
Access to over four million creative assets (uhhh what?!)
And so much more!
We suspect that by engaging with this platform, your inner and external design process will grow into a version of yourself that maybe you wouldn’t have accessed prior. The possibilities are infinite! Consider that a win.
How does this impact our PicMonkey peeps?
As it currently stands, know that you still have access to PicMonkey’s editing tool, so don’t sweat about that. We promise to keep you in the loop as this relationship continues to evolve.
Our recommendation? Familiarize yourself with Creative Flow or specifically the design tool, Create, and all it has to offer.
Track the similarities and be curious about the differences. Everything has been mapped out strategically for a reason (and we’ll keep you in the know every step of the way!).
Similar to PicMonkey having Basic and Pro users, Creative Flow has Basic and Premium user access as well. This varies what type of access users get to the data-backed insights, and we’ll be walking through that together in the coming blogs.
Next steps and expectations
We’re beaming with excitement, how about you? Besides these updates, stay the course and do your thing.
Be sure to keep up with our monthly email blasts about the Creative Flow / PicMonkey relationship for hot tips and tools that’ll help you expand your creative repertoire.
Also, you can expect that within the next monthly blog posts about this, we’ll be linking more readily (as we’ve done here) to Creative Flow-related content to make sure you’re equipped with all the knowledge.
The next greatest versions of both your creative and logical selves await. They’re unfolding as we speak. Welcome to the future! It’s sure as heck looking bright.
