Created in collaboration with sister brands Musicbed and Filmsupply, Film & Music Periodical is a new editorial publication exploring the creative ideas, cultural shifts, and artists shaping what’s next across film, TV, and advertising work.

Request your copy of the next issue of Film & Music Periodical here.

Each issue brings together photographer spotlights, filmmaker features, visual storytelling, creative commentary, curated recommendations, and industry perspectives from across the FM family of brands. Readers will also find conversations around emerging creative trends, cultural movements shaping visual work, and stories connected to the wider creative community.

At its core, the editorial publication was built around the idea that creative inspiration should feel intentional. In an industry increasingly shaped by speed and automation, Film & Music Periodical exists to create space for thoughtful curation, deeper inspiration, and the artists continuing to shape meaningful creative work.

We highlight Stills photographers, such as 2025’s Lifestyle Artist of the Year, Lauren Withrow — as well as other Stills Award Winners like Roman Fox, Darren Sacks, Emily Hawkes, and more.

See all the 2025 Stills Award Winners.

The publication was intentionally designed as a physical experience.

“We wanted to create something tangible,” says Musicbed Creative Director Spencer Cogburn. “Something people leave on studio tables, revisit for inspiration, and share across creative teams.”

Printed as a full-color broadsheet newspaper, Film & Music Periodical was intentionally designed to feel tactile, collectible, and worth returning to, not something lost in the scroll or algorithm.

The first issue is now making its way into agencies, production companies, studios, and creative spaces around the world.

The post Stills Introduces the Inaugural Issue of “Film & Music Periodical” appeared first on Stills Blog.

The perks of the Stills Figma plugin.

Design with campaign-ready imagery, right inside Figma.

With this new plugin, you can search and insert curated Stills imagery without leaving your file. No tab switching, no distractions, no downloads—just easier and more streamlined image discovery for your projects.

No extra tabs. Find, design, done.

Take back the time you would have spent downloading and re-uploading assets to test layouts.

With Stills’ free Figma plugin, you can streamline your workflow with categories, filters, and a color picker, and then insert your imagery directly into frames to keep your momentum going.

Your workspace, without the detour.

Think of the Stills Figma plugin as an extension of your Stills.com experience. Now, you can access your Boards, history, and saved images directly inside Figma and pick up where you left off without breaking flow.

End your placeholder era and test imagery in real time.

No more placeholder or browser tab overload. Now, you can transform layouts and swap visuals in real time to move faster toward approval. Once you’ve decided on the final imagery, simply head to Stills.com to license, and you’re done.

Install the free Stills Figma plugin.

Whether you’re exploring Stills for the first time or already enhancing your creative work with our roster of artists, the Stills plugin is designed to keep your workflow more inspired and streamlined than ever.

Install Stills’ free Figma plugin, stay in flow, and bring campaign-ready imagery directly into your designs.

The post Stills Figma Plugin: Design with Real Imagery, Without Leaving Figma appeared first on Stills Blog.

As audiences grow numb to generic sameness, designers are abandoning safe defaults for bolder choices: stranger textures, louder colors, and authentic imagery that carries actual presence.

This year’s trends reward experimentation over polish, prioritizing feeling over following rules, and giving designers permission to inject character, detail, color, and weirdness into everything they touch.

Check out the trends we predict will break through and resonate with audiences at a deeper level.

Direct Flash

Direct flash has shed its reputation as a quick, inexpensive fix and become a campaign-defining style. The era of polished studio lighting and composed sets no longer carries the same weight for every campaign.

Those images still have a place, but as audiences gravitate toward work that feels real, direct flash injects life back into design.

Direct flash brings visual impact to your designs with striking contrast and strong pops of color.

This style of imagery offers a sharp separation of highlight and shadow, creating natural spaces for type and design elements, bringing an eye-catching moment to your work before a headline is read or a message is processed.

This style is gaining a strong foothold across the sports and lifestyle industries as brands continue to build stronger brand identities and strengthen their connections to their communities.

(BANDIT is an excellent example of a brand that continues to use direct flash imagery to bring grit and credibility in their campaigns.)

The work feels lived-in, not staged, and audiences respond because it authentically reflects the culture they recognize.

Americana

There’s something magnetic about imagery that captures the toughness, quiet resilience, and raw texture of the American West.

Honest and packed with story, Americana imagery is one of the most story-forward imagery trends for this year.

These images are characterized by a quiet stillness at times, then contrasted with the toughness and grit of a horse galloping at high speed, from cowboys to everyday people and places in small rural towns, young and old.

This approach embodies true authenticity. It’s not meant to be a romanticized view of the American West, but an honest look at people and culture.

People connect with stories, and when you can tap into that instantly with imagery, your designs are guaranteed to resonate.

Download the 45-Page Trend Report

The post The Design Trend Report | 2026 appeared first on Stills Blog.