Asymmetric iStock Image Archive & Tagging Process

Overview

The Asymmetric team ran out of iStock credits due to high blog content volume and a lack of a systematic process for archiving and reusing purchased images. This article documents the agreed-upon process to prevent repurchasing images that have already been licensed.

Problem

At the pace of blog and content production, iStock credits are being exhausted without the team realizing images could be reused. Credits were increased at some point (to ~150) but were still depleted. The root cause is that purchased images are not being saved, tagged, or organized in a retrievable way — leading to accidental repurchases.

"We're just writing so many blogs, and I think people have gotten... at the pace we're going, we're going to run out anyway." — Mark Hope

"The other thing we probably ought to be doing is taking every iStock image that we buy and putting it in one place and tagging it so that we can come back and use them again later." — Melissa Cusumano

Process: Image Archive & Tagging

Storage Structure

• Each client should have a dedicated folder in Google Drive for their purchased iStock images (e.g., Bluepoint/Assets/iStock/).
• Asymmetric's own purchased images should live in a separate Asymmetric assets folder, not a communal pool.
• Do not mix client image libraries — each client's licensed images belong to their folder only.

Tagging & Naming Convention

When downloading a purchased iStock image:

1. Rename the file with a descriptive name (e.g., food-beverage-small-business-shelf-space.jpg rather than the default iStock filename).
2. Add tags or a description in the file metadata or a companion spreadsheet so the image is searchable by topic, industry, or use case.
3. Log the image in a shared tracking sheet (per client or for Asymmetric) with columns for:
   - File name
   - iStock asset ID
   - Description / subject
   - Date purchased
   - Where used (blog post URL, social post, etc.)

Before Purchasing a New Image

1. Search the relevant folder and tracking sheet first.
2. Only purchase a new image if no suitable licensed image already exists.

Responsibility

• All content creators (Karly, Avoke, Isalia) are responsible for following this process when sourcing images for blogs, social posts, and ads.
• Melissa to set up the initial folder structure and tracking sheet in Google Drive as part of the 2026 Marketing folder initiative.

Related

• ^[1] — Asymmetric client overview
• ^[2] — Similar standardization effort for UTM tracking
• ^[3] — Broader asset management practices