CopySpace™ - How it works

For designers, the location and size of empty space in an image is often just as important as the image itself. Too bad there isn't a search engine that can sort images based on where you could place text or a logo.

There is now. We built it. Presenting CopySpace™ by iStockphoto.

The Idea

The advanced search page now includes the CopySpace™ grid: a 3x3 grid that's going to solve your text layout problems. Click on a square once and turn it green. This means you want that area of the image to be open for copy. Click the image again to turn it red. This means you want the area occupied, or containing part of an image. A third click turns the square grey, meaning you have no preference for that area (squares you don't click are grey by default).

In Action

You can still use all your normal Search options. Find people shots, sort by rating or download, specify colors, and get as particular with keywords as you like. With CopySpace™, the search engine looks for all those things knowing exactly where you want them positioned on the page.

So imagine you want an image of a woman's face in the top left corner, with room for copy along the right hand side. Enter "woman" and "face" in your keywords. Then click the top left hand corner of the CopySpace™ grid twice to turn it red. Click all three of the right hand boxes once and turn them green. Now hit Search.

The Results

The iStockphoto search engine does its magic, and you get images with subject and space for copy exactly where you want them. It's that easy. Go ahead, try it out.

Try our sample search

CopySpace™ search - it's real, it works, and it's only on iStockphoto.