Shutterstock have released an infographic showing visual and creative trends from last year, and predictions for this one.

It’s interesting to note that these trends are actually…. Highly predictable.

While Shutterstock is nowhere near my favourite stock image website (major shout out to stocksnap.io), it’s still one of the leading providers of stock content. It’s in its nature to obey trends instead of challenge them, which is probably why we see emojis as one of its top trends.

Emojis are great – don’t get us wrong. But as an image trend is it really something we see often? Hardly. This sort of comes across like an older parent trying to understand the hip young culture of the youth of today, but not fully grasping how those kids use said culture.

Regardless, we found this infographic both insightful (at times), interesting, and possibly an indication of trends that will soon die once people realise stock imagery sites are cashing in on them.

It’ll be interesting to find out.