Simplify your creative process by searching, downloading, and licensing imagery as you design — without ever leaving your canvas.
Design doesn’t happen in a vacuum, and digital design certainly doesn’t happen in one window. Even if you’re a hot keys connoisseur, the constant shift between folders, platforms, websites, and tutorials can really put a kink in your workflow.
Shutterstock has a solution for your crowded desktop and jumbled workflow: The Shutterstock plugin for the Adobe Photoshop® application, now available as a plugin that works for the entire Adobe Creative Cloud®. With this custom built plugin you can use your Shutterstock account to access our extensive collection of nearly 100 million images within the Creative Cloud desktop application, letting you work smarter and faster. Simplify your creative process by searching, downloading, and licensing imagery as you design — without ever leaving your canvas.
To test how the plugin elevates creative workflow, we asked our talented team of designers to play a game of Whisper Down the Lane — design edition. We started them with some appropriately vague inspiration via Pablo Picasso: “Everything you can imagine is real.” Then we handed off the blank canvas to the first designer who spent 30 minutes on the piece before passing it along to the next designer. After six rounds of individual design, the canvas was filled and the project was complete.
See how each designer offered their unique process and perspective, steadily transforming the blanks canvas into an astonishing conceptual art piece made entirely using the Shutterstock plugin within the Adobe Photoshop® application.
The Shutterstock plugin made this project possible in several ways:
Faster Design
Design happened faster because there was no switching between windows — every step from searching, to downloading, to licensing happened within the Adobe Photoshop® application. Even better, the plugin eliminated the need to navigate endless folders: With drag-and-drop functionality the designers simply dragged downloaded images straight from the plugin to the canvas.
Easy Search
The designers explored the Shutterstock collection, including several curated collections, right inside the plugin. This allowed them to search, see, and test their image decisions in real-time.
Seamless Licensing
The designers edited watermarked images — cropping them, cutting them out, coloring them — before they licensed. If they were happy with their design, they simply licensed the image with all their edits saved and reflected. If they weren’t happy, no worries — they just moved onto the next option without licensing.
There are a lot of other benefits to look forward to when you start using the plugin, including:
- Access to Shutterstock’s fast and innovative search technology
Direct access to existing Shutterstock accounts, including Premier, Shutterstock’s Enterprise Platform - Ability to view existing lightboxes and access previously previewed and purchased images
- Instant inspiration from Shutterstock’s curated collections
- Everyday design essentials such as isolated images, textures, and images with room for text
The Shutterstock plugin works for the Adobe Illustrator®, InDesign®, Photoshop®, and Premiere Pro® applications.
Learn more about the Shutterstock plugin for Adobe Creative Cloud® applications and install it here.
