12 Years of Freepik Company, an Iconic Birthday
Wouldn’t it be amazing to find all the best visual resources in one place? And that those images were the most attractive and useful for every project? Wouldn’t it be great to give every designer in the world the chance to work with top-quality images and help them finish faster? In fact, wouldn’t it be great if they could work better and spend more time doing the things they love?
These were the simple questions asked by three friends named Alejandro Sanchez (graphic designer), Pablo Blanes (photographer), and Joaquin Cuenca (programmer) and that gave life to Freepik Company, one of the fastest-growing European companies. But how did they get to the top?
Icons From Malaga
Spain is a country known worldwide for its beautiful landscapes. Even so, the Costa del Sol stands out, and one of its gems is the city of Malaga, especially when it comes to taking your vacations – let’s face it, with a name like “the Coast of the Sun” it’s impossible not to imagine yourself lying on the beach with a drink in your hand. However, beautiful as it is, 12 years ago, it was not well known for being a great destination for technology companies. Succeeding in the entrepreneurial world from these beaches was perhaps one of the most difficult feats to achieve – though we’re guessing no one tried to explain that to these friends.
With so many places to start – like Madrid, Barcelona, or Silicon Valley – why choose Malaga? Well, you should never forget your roots. That’s why Freepik Company was born here and over time became one of the iconic companies of the city and of Spain.
Inspiring milestones
2010: Inspiration From Malaga
The year Freepik Company was born. However, it was just the beginning, the tip of the iceberg. Founding this platform loaded with visual resources meant starting work to detect how we could simplify the lives of designers and creators around the world. The idea was simple, to create a site where content generators could quickly and easily find the best images for their projects, whether illustrations, photographs, vectors, or mockups. He who seeks, shall find, especially since today we have +56M resources and we share another 20,000 new ones every week.
2013: Iconic Birth
No matter how small they are, icons are indispensable elements for any creator, especially for web designers. How many hours do they spend looking for the right design so that one menu will look much better than another? Do they spend days choosing between styles before downloading an icon for their website? (If they do, we admire their dedication). Flaticon was created to solve these kinds of problems. It’s the world’s largest database of free customizable icons.
First came the icons, then a world of solutions: an online editor, stickers and UIcons. The platform not only offers you the resources you need for your projects, but also provides you with plenty of inspiration, since you can find new elements every week. Plus, you can edit and customize them before downloading them.
The possibilities are endless
From generating collections, following collaborators and creators, filtering by style, to even downloading icons in the most useful and practical formats. Moreover, if you integrate the Flaticon API, you’ll optimize your work even more.
2015: Inspiring Contributors
3 designers became 5, then 6, and 10. Growth is in our DNA, however, to keep developing we needed to open the doors to the whole world. Literally.
This was the year that collaborators began to add their grain of sand, icon by icon, design by design. Basically, any creator could showcase their work on Freepik Company, inspiring the entire planet, and at the same time, earning money.
2016/2017: Creative Minds
Seeing contributors generate such cool projects is very motivating. That’s what prompted us to turn on the computer, grab the graphics tablets and get to work.
That’s why during 2016 we started to generate and offer our own resources, thanks to the creativity of our best designers, photographers, and illustrators, who day by day produce the icons and other resources that are shared on our platform under the name of Freepik.
Little by little, achievement by achievement, the world started to look towards our city and in 2017 Freepik was mentioned in the Financial Times ranking as the fastest-growing European company in the Media category.
2019: We Present Slidesgo
The world of business and the world of education have a tool in common, and we want to tell you about it: Slidesgo.
A presentation can be motivating and didactic, or it can provoke yawns and have a certain soporific power. If it’s the second effect you’re after, you can still use the standard templates that come with your computer. However, if you are looking for a more dynamic and fluid presentation, the secret is to try our platform. That’s where you’ll find the best templates designed to suit the themes of your presentations and talks.
2022: 12 Inspiring Years
When Alejandro, Pablo, and Joaquín got together 12 years ago, they set out to create a site that could help creators around the world, but they never imagined they’d get this far and become a benchmark in terms of creativity, inspiring, and helping creators from all over the world to realize their vision.
That’s also why we want to thank you. Your efforts, pieces, and projects are what has made us who we are. Week after week, new visuals are added to each of our platforms, the result of the work of thousands of collaborators around the world. By choosing to add their grain of sand, they have turned our company into a global family that grows every day.
When we say we’re 12 years old, we know it’s also thanks to you – the users who month after month, year after year, have been supporting and taking advantage of our resources to unleash their creativity.
