Visual Copyright: Picture This

23 Jan 2024

An image is often considered worth a thousand words, but what does that say about ownership if a few of those go unsaid? In a mood for change, the visualisation industry pushes for greater acknowledgement of their work by uniting behind a common copyright charter. We look at the implications for disseminating the work of others.

In the unstated pecking order of construction-related professions, visualisers have long occupied the lower rungs of fame, languishing in the small print of press and PR messaging if mentioned at all.

This situation is fermenting calls for change from artists keen to bust out of the back office and onto the front foot by standing tall alongside architects and engineers not relegated to a dismissive ‘et al’. Standing at the interface between colleagues, clients and public, visualisers are at the forefront of communicating often inscrutable design documents to an at times sceptical audience; swaying opinions and breaking down barriers to a brighter future.

Now their talents are turning towards winning over their toughest crowd yet - their peers - by pushing back against apathy to claim a commensurate share of the limelight in a fragmenting media landscape driven as much by social media posts as the architectural press.

On the front line of this jostling for position Urban Realm gathered leading lights from the industry to help devise a code of practice for the use of visualisations in the media and spark a discussion on changing mindsets to represent projects more democratically. Here we present their manifesto for change as well as the impassioned pleas for better representation from some of those behind it.