hi, i have been using paid stock images in my sites and have the feeling that when i work for a company ill eventually run out. i do make some photoshop designs of my own. i was wondering, if you're working for a design company, do they ever provide you with the images? and how often if they do? any help greatly appreciated. thank you. derek

I think it just depends on the designers as well as the people you work with. I've seen companies that use the same stock icons over and over again, but they are able to get away with it because they are mostly designing interfaces to go into applications, and don't really care if it's a bit redundant.

Of course, most designers will do a lot of customization also, but it doesn't always take something really fancy for it to look nice. The higher a budget is for a project the more time there is to make stuff look nicer. When I look at a design, I judge it more for usability than for pure sparkle.

Very rarely are we provided with images from the client. We have to use stock photos most of the time but it is costly. http://www.photos.com is a fairly cheap alternative to the higher cost stock libraries.

great thanks very much for that great feedback. at least i have an idea now. thanks. derek