We Do

Canadian aid to Mali. Pierre St.-Jacques, ACDI-CIDA.

Picture and Copyright
Research
Which picture is right? The one that fits the design of the page? The clean one? The one that shows content best? The one with the lowest permission fees? The attention grabber?

All of these are important concerns in visual research, but there can be other issues as well. Time can be a problem. Sometimes it is impossible to thoroughly clear copyright. Sometimes special qualities are required to suit a visual composition. Sometimes too many photos are boring and another type of visual image is required.

Picture research is a special skill -- and one that is becoming more important as communication grows increasingly visual. Today, visual images set the tone. Often they are the major message vehicle. They must be on-target, accurate, as well as appealing.

Who uses our service?
Our clients for visual research range from corporations to graphic designers, from editors to individuals. Anyone who needs an appropriate image to capture it all!

Why call on us?

We are constantly doing visual research, and our experience can work for you. We are research experts who specialize in Canadian subjects. Our understanding of context often provides a fresh source of image inspiration. We are familiar with institutional and archival image collections across Canada -- and many in other countries. We keep a list of specialty photographers, and can often locate the right image quickly. We have a data base that indexes excellent Canadian images from a wide variety of sources -- modern and historic. We are aware of copyright issues. Any material we provide will be cleared for release to you, and will contain the information you need to obtain copyright clearance for supplementary use (unless you want us to do it for you). We keep up-to-date with design media needs, and can provide images on disk or CD-ROM, as well as transparencies, slides, photographs, laser prints or photocopies -- whatever you require. We understand the strengths and weaknesses of image manipulation technology.