You may be able to leverage the design elements that you have created and utilize them in multiple assets by re-configuring them with the tips below. Creating variations with the design elements in your collection can also help users who may want content that looks related and have a cohesive aesthetic.
Important: Your final assets should not be duplicates. All individual assets should have a distinct reason to sell that is unique from the other assets in your collection. Variations work best by combining more than one of these factors (example: change both positioning and category or change both category and theme).
Best Practices
Different attributes
Consider altering the following details in a design element:
- Colors: palette combinations, gradients, textures, lighting.
- Strokes/fill: outlined vs. filled paths/shapes, stroke weight
- Backgrounds: white/transparent vs. other scenery
Examples: Antonio Rodriguez/Adobe Stock
Different positioning
Consider changing the following aspects of a design element:
- Orientation: vertical vs. horizontal vs. rotated.
- Placement: where an element is placed in a layout, asset, or combinations of elements
- Scale: up-close details vs. wide scenes
- Poses: different character expressions or movements
Examples: Nadia Snopek/Adobe Stock
Different categories
Consider utilizing a design element for multiple use cases.
- Icons: singular symbols against clean solid or transparent background.
- Patterns: can vary in tile spacing, scale, backgrounds.
- Characters: singular character designs against clean solid or transparent backgrounds.
- Scenes: include multiple elements, backgrounds.
Examples: Dariia/Adobe Stock
Different themes/topics
Consider re-configuring a design element to be used in in a variety of context.
- Evergreen topics: business, technology, education, healthcare, birthday/anniversary celebrations, sports, hobbies, travel, social issues, mental health
- Seasonal & holidays: spring, summer, fall, winter, Valentine’s Day, Earth Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, July 4th, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s
Note: Holidays from all regions are needed, thought the audience is primarily North America/US-based
Examples: Ardea-Studio/Adobe Stock
Other factors for success
As you work on your assets for submission, keep these additional factors in mind.
Break the submissions up into series: Consider breaking work up into series grouped by style, theme, or subject to give yourself more room to explore and to provide users multiple matching assets.
Format & technical best practices: Make sure to adhere to best practices for any specific categories or use cases, such as the following:
- Patterns/textures: should be continuous on all 4 sides in order to be tiled seamlessly
- Icons/logos: each element should be a continuous outlined shape to be scalable
- Characters/avatars: should be editable and outlined without stroke
- Scenes/elements: should be usable as-is as a vector or a jpeg file
- Lettering/text: should focus on stylized lettering instead of outlined text
Model and property releases
If you create illustrations or vector art based on a photograph or a work of art, you must supply a property release, even if the photo or artwork is your own work.
If your content is drawn from a photo or observation, ask yourself if the person would recognize themselves or the property owner would recognize their property. If a person would recognize themselves, you need a model release. If an owner would recognize their property, investigate whether the item is protected by privacy, trademark, or copyright law, because a property release may be required.
For more information, see our full Contributor User Guide Legal Guidelines:
- Account and submission guidelines
- Legal terminology and the importance of copyright
- Model release and protection
- Property release requirements
- Known image restrictions
- Use of your content
More Resources
- Adobe Stock Vector Size Recommendations
- Adobe Stock Vector and Illustration Spam Guidelines
- Adobe Stock Metadata Field Guide
- Adobe Stock Keyword and Title Tips
- Adobe Stock Vector Submission Overview
Cover image credit: pineapple/Adobe Stock