Getty Images launched Visualising Sustainability, a sustainability edition of Curve. Curve is an online trends publication that provides the industry insights into changing visual content across a wide variety of industry sectors.

Curve looks at how the term sustainability has expanded from raising awareness about environmental consciousness into a strong and well-established concept that is currently integrated in to people’s daily lives.

With this project, Getty Images discovered that consumers reward companies that work for a cause, in times where demands for transparency and accountability are becoming more vocal through social media usage. Thus, the connection between production, people and the planet has turned into a corporate affair.

The visualising sustainability curve explored five key global trends, make, share, me, spirit and next, that are determinant factors shaping in brand communications around the world and in the centre of the debate about sustainability.

Additionally, Getty Images also identified communications strategy campaigns with key trends centred in sustainability, such as Nike+, Patagonia Worn Wear, Fairtrade, Unilever and Garage Sale Trail. The research showed that campaigns with sustainability aspects build costumer trust, and Curve explored the images used by these brands.

For Andrew Saunders, senior vice president of creative content at Getty Images “The new sustainability edition of The Curve is a fantastic resource for anyone working in brand marketing. The Curve gives us the opportunity to share knowledge with our customers, providing insight into the changing visual trends affecting our customers’ industries and helping them to develop and enhance their own brand communications“.

To complement the sustainability project, Toby Smith, Getty Images’ photographer also worked in the renewables project. With support from the Scottish and Southern Energy, he documented the company’s projects in renewable energy and the sites installed, which represent a great portion of the sustainable energy being generated in the UK.