iStockphoto, the microstockphotography company that is owned by Getty Images has launched a new website. The company says the site is the result of a year’s wort of research. All the changes are listed in the release below. The launch is accompanied by a brief 25% dscount offer that is valid through August the 15th.
PRESS RELEASE
iStockphoto today unveiled a redesigned version of the world’s most popular stock multimedia marketplace, www.istockphoto.com . The new site offers a clean, contemporary look and feel, and reflects more than a year of customer-focused usability research and design. The new site was built using an innovative back-end architecture laying the framework for several future enhancements including a new search interface being unveiled before the end of the year.
The new site structure has been designed specifically around each type of audience that frequents the site, allowing faster, easier access to content. A revised navigation scheme, with a renewed focus on the customer, divides the site into three distinct segments: shop, participate and help. The work of exclusive contributors will be more prominently featured throughout the site via large “hero images.” iStockphoto has also noted this will be the last version of the site to support Internet Explorer® 6.
“iStockphoto has experienced exceptional growth since our inception,” said Kelly Thompson, COO of iStockphoto. “We’ve grown to over 6 million members, expanded globally and introduced many new products such as video, audio and our popular Vetta Collection. The new site not only meets the needs of our rapidly growing community, but will also grow with us in the future, supporting features and enhancements planned through the next several years.”
To celebrate the launch, iStock is offering its members 25% off all credit-pack purchases starting Monday, August 9th until Sunday, August 15th, 2010 (coupon code iLOVEF5).
Shopping
The shopping portion of the site has been organized by file type with separate landing pages for photography, illustrations, video, audio and Flash® files. Each landing page features topics specific to that file type. For example, the photography page contains items such as the photo of the week, photographer of the week, links to photography and design-related articles, FAQs and the free photo of the week. With a dynamic new search interface in the works, the redesigned site has launched with what many industry experts consider to be the most accurate search in the business.
Participate
The international community of more than six million contributors and customers has been the driving force behind iStockphoto’s decade of explosive growth and is the reason for the company’s continued success. The “
Participate 
” section of the new site is where the various members of the iStock family can congregate and interact. The iStock Forums, Design Spotlight, Steel Cage and Article pages from the previous site are housed in this section. A newly created area specifically for contributing artists, called the
Contributor Lounge , is where iStock artists can get up-to-date news, keep up with trends and stats and access resources, including training manuals and software downloads.
Help
The “Help” section contains a library of articles and FAQs for designers and customers, as well as information on how to get additional customer support.
By Members, For Members
Both the design and key features were created based on significant input from iStockphoto’s active international community members. One of the most requested enhancements was easier access to personal account information. To satisfy this request, iStock has included a static toolbar that provides quick access to critical account information including credit balance, shopping cart and lightboxes, and puts additional information a mouse click away.
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