In my dream world (you know, the same one where I get to play golf every day with Tiger and am a world-renowned guitarist) every project would start by receiving a library of professional, dynamic and colorful photography supporting the project goal.

Well, in the real world (where I settle for the occasional round of hack golf with my friends and can barely beat a song on the “Hard” level in Guitar Hero), our creative department rarely begins a project with a stockpile of great photography from the client. Enter the Internet, and its endless resource!

iStock Photo is a great site that exemplifies everything the web is and should be. It’s a collection of stock photography submitted by photographers belonging to the iStock community: a never-ending library with photo styles to fit any need. The best part is the price: the photos are insanely affordable at an average of only $1 - $2 for web-friendly sizes.

We can’t overstate the importance and impact of a great photo for your homepage, ad, brochure, email blast, etc. If you’re in need of a few affordable bright, dynamic, professional-quality images, you’ll find amazing options at www.istockphoto.com.  

Looking for a good laugh? JibJab Starring You e-cards are sure to do the trick (think Elf Yourself with year round appeal). You can create custom e-cards starring yourself and your friends doing everything from breakdancing in a subway station to performing a choreographed can-can routine.

Check out the Portland office's entertaining number and then create your own Sendables e-card!

If you've built websites as long as we have (since 1995), you can often tell when a site was built just by how it looks and the trends of the time.

A trend we love is having just one big, beautiful image on the homepage, with no graphical boundries. It is elegant in its simplicity, and you'll see us building more sites like this in the coming months. One site that uses this trend is Pinkberry. We love everything about both the website and the product. Yum!