A behind-the-scenes look at creating our gift guide

In early December, a slight panic always hits when people start to think of what to get their friends and family for holiday gifts. We decided to do a gift guide to provide suggestions and our own wish lists and hints to pass on to loved ones.

We gathered input from the whole team—designers, account team, and the technologists—and pulled together a quick guide based on work roles. It’s an inspirational and humorous guide that has something for the creative, techie, or marketer in your life.

Behind the scenes

We’re accustomed to doing photo shoots for clients and have a Savage lightbox set up for quick shoots in a controlled lighting environment.

The gift guide shoot was a bit of a challenge, with a hodgepodge of items that we had available to shoot. We needed to figure out which objects would work together in the tight space of the lightbox without looking boxy or cluttered. While we wanted to load up with more objects, we restrained ourselves and reined it in.

Some objects were decidedly un-sexy and not photogenic— like a monitor spray or noise cancelling ear plugs—so we cut them from the guide. In the end, we’re happy with the playful tongue in cheek image we have as a header to lead into the guide itself.