I lived through the desktop revolution. As a graphic designer I was definitely a rebel, on the front lines. Back in 1985, I made having a MacSE, a condition of taking any job. Exciting times. Typesetting shops were turning into digital prepress houses. Rapidograph pens, mylar, and stat cameras, were all rapidly becoming things of the past. Having drunk the Kool-Aid, I spread the word in my own way. I vividly recall indoctrinating my professor from UCLA, who also ran a high-end book-publishing house. I invited him to stop by after work one evening to spend a couple hours with me, and Aldus PageMaker. A message came a week later that he'd traded out all his drafting tables for Mac II's and PostScript printers.

Over the past few years the use of stock photography in marketing campaigns has been increasing exponentially. There are a wide array of options, from high end houses like Corbis and GettyImages to more affordable options like Dreamstime and Shutterstock, all providing a variety of images to meet any companies need. With this rising popularity, accessibilities and quality of stock photography it might be hard to see any reason not to use it for all of your marketing needs, right? Well, there are a few other things to consider before you go running to your nearest stock site and fill your pages with "women laughing alone with salads." How are these photos really connecting your message with the viewer? How can you best use photography to turn your marketing materials and website into creative marketing pieces?

I'm not willing to accept the excuse that because it's in PowerPoint we can't make it look good or that we're limited in some way. Ever since David Byrne took a turn at creating art in PowerPoint, I've liked the idea of embracing it as a challenge. If people can manage to create art on something like an Etch-a-Sketch, PowerPoint shouldn’t prove a barrier to creativity. Anyway, there really are no limitations, pages can get formatted in any aspect ratio you like, color is as limited as RGB, animation keeps stepping up, and clever use of it can get you close to the elegance of credits in a high-budget, Hollywood flick. And, if and when you do feel a creative pinch just import: movies, eps, png. There are really no excuses for not produce any visual experience with what’s available in PowerPoint.

A designer’s attention to small details can have a powerful impact on how visitors perceive the overall design of a website. A typical users is generally focused on finding information, and while good design may be nearly invisible to this user, bad design can significantly imeed their success and hurt the experience they have on your site.