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The Principles of Beautiful Web Design
Figure 5.6. The Ferocious Designzillas Website
Occasionally, the do-it-yourself method doesn’t work out for me. The illustration work the client
needs might be outside my skill set, or it may be too complex for me to feel confident taking it on.
If it’s a particular photo the client wants, I might lack access to the subject, or the quality of the
image they need may be beyond the capabilities of my equipment. In those cases, my first instinct
and the next best option is to turn to stock photography and illustrations.
Stock Photography
If you’re short on the time or ability to create or commission your own images, chances are that
you’ll find what you’re looking for in a stock photo archive. These photo archives, or image banks,
consist of photographs and illustrations that are created for general use, rather than a specific client
or project. For a licensing fee (or sometimes for free), you can select any of these images for use in
your project.
Finding the right images and photos for a design project can be a difficult task, depending on the
subject matter and your budget. If your project requires pictures of animals, scenic vacation destinations,
office supplies, or some random inanimate object, then you’re likely to find what you’re
looking for easily. Every stock photo archive has these types of subjects well covered. Finding
photos of people—like the girl with the unnaturally blue eyes and curiously long sleeves on the
Brochure Ninjas 6 site in Figure 5.7—can be a little trickier; most stock photo sites require that the
photographer submit a signed model release for any image that includes a person’s face.
6 http://www.brochureninjas.com/