Departika Design Studio

Stuff We Like

Veer, My Favorite Junk Mail

I remember a time when using stock photography was shunned by designers (especially in the old advertising world). This is how things were when I first started design school. My dad had been in the ad business for about 15 years at that time and his art director would rant on about how stock photography and illustration were going to ruin the business. I can see where he was coming from, but I don’t think it was the demise of the traditional photography business. It has opened up the opportunity for photographers to sell their work in a way that could possibly be lucrative. It has also given small businesses who can’t afford a huge, expensive photo shoots access to nice, affordable images. Being a designer, I have found stock to be useful as well. Of course, the obvious disadvantage to using stock is that the same images can be seen all over the place. You lose originality and it is certainly difficult to find an image that suits your need. I could go on and on about the disadvantages and I constantly struggle to decide if I think the growing stock industry weighs more on the good or bad side.

An-y-way, what got me thinking about this whole stock photo thing was one of the latest promos I received from Veer. I am on the list for many of these waste-of-a-good-tree direct mail pieces from stock companies and usually toss them directly in my trash (I mean recycle) bin. Not with Veer, though. I love these. I keep them all. I can’t say that I am waiting around for the next promo to come in the mail, but when I pick them out of my mailbox I am always very excited to see what the creatives at Veer have come up with this time. The design is great, the concepts continue to be fresh and clever. I find it quite inspiring. I think this also translates into the photography they make available. In my opinion they have some exciting stock from interesting points of view (except when you search the term “dork”. try it, it is pretty stupid and stereotypical, but some nice artsy shots also pepper the page.) If you must know why I searched the word “dork”, it is because I am totally and completely annoyed by the conversation that these people are having at the table next to me. I guess I was hoping that a photo of them would show up in my search.

Okay, back to Veer...I guess what I am saying is that as far as stock photography goes, they have done a good job rising above the clutter. Their site also hosts great fonts that I lust over, cool merch for design dorks, interviews with people in the related industry, desktop wallpaper worth downloading and much more—all within a nicely designed, easy to navigate website.