Cloudinary Case Studies Stencil Draws on Cloudinary to Eliminate Complexity of Image Management

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	Stencil Draws on Cloudinary to Eliminate Complexity of Image Management Cloudinary

Stencil Draws on Cloudinary to Eliminate Complexity of Image Management

Cloudinary

Technology Category	Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Computing
Applicable Industries	Software
Applicable Functions	Product Research & Development
Services	Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services
Challenge	Stencil, a web-based graphic design platform, was in need of an image management solution that could handle the rendering, manipulation, and resizing of images within each design. The founders, Oliver Nassar and Adam Rotman, were aware of the complexities and potential issues associated with building their own image management and transformation platform, such as storage and memory issues, managing server farms, and the time it takes to build such a complex system. They were looking for a solution that would save them the hassle and provide users with an easy-to-use means for handling image transformations and delivering final designs that are sized perfectly for their needs. Read More
About Customer	Stencil is a web-based graphic design platform that offers a fast, easy, and efficient way to create visuals for social media, blog posts, emails, presentations, and more. It is an alternative to more complex software, like Photoshop, and allows even novices to design like a pro. Stencil’s tools enable users to create graphic design elements by adding text or applying filters to uploaded or stock images. The platform is designed for small businesses and other organizations that cannot afford to hire a graphic designer. Read More
Solution	Stencil decided to use Cloudinary for their image management needs. Cloudinary’s rich set of functionalities enabled Stencil to avoid the hassles and complexity of building their own image management product. The original image – whether it’s a stock photo or one uploaded by users – is retained, untouched, in the Stencil media library, which is hosted on Amazon S3. All image thumbnails shown in the Stencil library are generated by Cloudinary. In addition, Cloudinary’s unique URL-based API enables Stencil users to manipulate those images within their own designs. Cloudinary is also used every time someone designs with an image, resizes an image within a design, rotates it or otherwise manipulates it. Cloudinary’s image manipulation features have served Stencil well for more than five years, but recently some new Cloudinary capabilities enabled the company to offer even more design functionality to its users. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Computing

Applicable Industries

Software

Applicable Functions

Product Research & Development

Services

Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services

Challenge

Stencil, a web-based graphic design platform, was in need of an image management solution that could handle the rendering, manipulation, and resizing of images within each design. The founders, Oliver Nassar and Adam Rotman, were aware of the complexities and potential issues associated with building their own image management and transformation platform, such as storage and memory issues, managing server farms, and the time it takes to build such a complex system. They were looking for a solution that would save them the hassle and provide users with an easy-to-use means for handling image transformations and delivering final designs that are sized perfectly for their needs.

About Customer

Stencil is a web-based graphic design platform that offers a fast, easy, and efficient way to create visuals for social media, blog posts, emails, presentations, and more. It is an alternative to more complex software, like Photoshop, and allows even novices to design like a pro. Stencil’s tools enable users to create graphic design elements by adding text or applying filters to uploaded or stock images. The platform is designed for small businesses and other organizations that cannot afford to hire a graphic designer.

Solution

Stencil decided to use Cloudinary for their image management needs. Cloudinary’s rich set of functionalities enabled Stencil to avoid the hassles and complexity of building their own image management product. The original image – whether it’s a stock photo or one uploaded by users – is retained, untouched, in the Stencil media library, which is hosted on Amazon S3. All image thumbnails shown in the Stencil library are generated by Cloudinary. In addition, Cloudinary’s unique URL-based API enables Stencil users to manipulate those images within their own designs. Cloudinary is also used every time someone designs with an image, resizes an image within a design, rotates it or otherwise manipulates it. Cloudinary’s image manipulation features have served Stencil well for more than five years, but recently some new Cloudinary capabilities enabled the company to offer even more design functionality to its users.

Impact #1	Stencil has grown its usage, hosting more than 500,000 images and supporting more than 1.5 million transformations a month.
Impact #2	Cloudinary enables the company to serve transformed images 2.5 times faster than if they were using their own servers, leading to a better user experience.
Impact #3	Stencil also appreciates Cloudinary’s reliability, high availability, and uptime.

Impact #1

Stencil has grown its usage, hosting more than 500,000 images and supporting more than 1.5 million transformations a month.

Impact #2

Cloudinary enables the company to serve transformed images 2.5 times faster than if they were using their own servers, leading to a better user experience.

Impact #3

Stencil also appreciates Cloudinary’s reliability, high availability, and uptime.

Benefit #1	More than 200 hours of development time saved
Benefit #2	2.5 times faster serving of derived images

Benefit #1

More than 200 hours of development time saved

Benefit #2

2.5 times faster serving of derived images

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Overview

Stencil Draws on Cloudinary to Eliminate Complexity of Image Management

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit