Coronavirus Media Resources (and how we produced them!)

The coronavirus is a serious ongoing world event and everyone at Icons8 would love to support the efforts being made all across the world. We have created a set of coronavirus media that is free to use if you are covering the pandemic. Or if you purchase it, 100% of the proceeds with be donated to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund.

You can see the collection here or join the discussion about it on Product Hunt.

How do you produce images when studios are closed and models are isolating at home?

The coronavirus pandemic has presented us with a never-ending stream of questions, but thankfully it also has also encouraged ingenuity and creativity.

To make this resource set we used imagery previously taken in our studio, then combined the photos to form relevant compositions using our Photo Creator. With an extensive library of masked and clipped photos, we were able to illustrate the use of hand sanitizer, masks, testing, and much more. As isolation measures are in place around the world, we knew we could help without requiring anyone to meet face-to-face.

Do you need a more specific image than what is in our collection? Recompose the images yourself in Photo Creator.

The time is right for generative images

At Icons8 we have been working on creating a library of masked images that can be composed on the fly to convey meaning. We want to empower users to tell great, descriptive stories with images. This is something that simply cannot be done with stock photos from Unsplash or Pexels. Our photo creator is the first step we are taking to give anyone the ability to edit imagery to convey a narrative quickly and without training.

Say you have a nice lifestyle photo of a couple having a coffee at a cafe. On the table is an iPhone, but not a modern ‘normal’ iPhone, it is an old iPhone. While this may seem like a trivial detail, many marketers and technology users are sure to notice and pass on using the photo. This is why thousands upon thousands of new pictures of the same scenes are taken each year, only with slightly newer electronics, clothing styles, hairstyles, etc. If all that seems wasteful, you are right. Imagine all the effort involved in booking models, renting a space, finding a photographer, maybe even coordinating transportation. Then picture needing to do it all over next year just because an ‘old’ phone is in the shot. Ugh!

There is a better way to be efficient with your time and money. Create scenes with independent, interchangeable objects that can be updated whenever needed. Fancy an image of a phone on a table? Just take any image of a table, and add a phone to it. Need a picture of a team working at a desk? Compose individual images of people on top of an office background. None of the models ever need to meet in real life!

For image production like this to work well you to capture images of:

• Many different angles
• In similar lighting
• Backgrounds
• Great diversity in models, expressions, gestures

For the last few years, Icons8 has been working tirelessly to do just that.

Give it a try in our Photo Creator and please give us any feedback on it.

About the author: Tyler Lastovich, strategist for Icons8