OK, so we’re the first to admit that there’s some pretty weird stuff going on here at Shutterstock HQ. As a global, creative company, we attract all kinds of interesting and eclectic personalities. Our Dutch research manager, for example, has a thing for lychees and often keeps whole branches on her desk to snack from. And one of our developers has a massive, color-coded collection of Hot Wheels on his desk. Then there’s the product manager who likes to wear a giant mouse icon glove when pointing out things on the screen…

But, for the most part, we remain safely in our towering high rise (even if this particular high rise happens to sway and creak when the wind blows). Then on the evening of July 21, during our 24-hour hackathon, all of that changed when this strange and extremely determined “model” hacked into our office and took to our confessional. So with that, I bring you our Teaser No.2: Bag Head.

Stay tuned for Teaser No. 3 early next week!

As you might have seen on our Facebook page or Twitter feed, Team Shutterstock survived our first company-wide hackathon! For those wondering what exactly is a hackathon, Wikipedia defines it as “an event when programmers meet to do collaborative computer programming.” In our case, it wasn’t just programmers, but all Shutterstock employees – from Marketing to Human Resources (and everything in between), who formed 36 teams and worked around the clock for 24-hours straight from July 21-22. The only requirement was that we had to create something that would improve the company or site experience for either designers or contributors. In other words, no boundaries or boss approvals – just passionate employees working on their own passion projects. Check out our first video teaser, showing the thinking that led to the event, and check our facebook page and blog for more teasers and a final timelapse recap in the coming weeks.

Hack to the Future – Timelapse Teaser No. 1 from Shutterstock on Vimeo.

Our founder and CEO, Jon Oringer, kicked off the event with a nod to the early days of Shutterstock, when, one night in 2003, an all night “hack” gave birth to Shutterstock. That same thinking – that one person or a few people can make a big difference – is what was behind this modern-day hackathon.

Continue reading ‘Recapping Shutterstock’s Hackathon’ »

On July 21, history will be made at Shutterstock.

For the first time ever, we’ve set aside an entire day for the staff to work on their own creative projects. The only criteria is that the work should “make our company’s products or services better.” The office will be open all night, from noon Thursday to noon Friday, for 24 hours of sleepless, manic brainstorming and building.

We’re calling it Hack to the Future, and rest-assured we will be hunkered down, plugged in, buzzed on strong black coffee, and deploying code at 88 miles per hour. (And we’ll still be serving our customers like any other business day.)

Come Friday afternoon, every team will get a chance to demo their projects in front of their peers (and yes, this is after working for 24-hours straight). The best part is, we’ll be sharing clips and pics from the festivities here on the blog, on twitter and on our facebook page. Think of it as your little sneak peak into what goes on behind the scenes here at Shutterstock – and see just how passionate we are about creating the best site and the best experience for our users and contributors.

Stay tuned and check back often for live updates!

We’ve just returned from another fantastic HOW Design Live Conference and meeting hundreds of talented young designers. This year’s event was held in the beautiful Windy City of Chicago and included 3 jam-packed days of design panels, parties and a tradeshow. From the moment the conference kicked off, we knew it was going to be an EPIC weekend – and it didn’t disappoint.

Highlights included meeting a forensic designer (how cool would that job be?!), attending breakout sessions (our favorites were “Turning Creative Obsessions into Opportunities” and another on design thinking and influence by Matthew Loyd), and last but not least, our AWESOME (if we do say so ourselves) party @ theMID on Saturday night. A special thank you to all 500 of you who turned out for that and for making it so much fun!

If you want to re-live the weekend or see what you missed, check out our facebook page. We’ve included the photos from the super-fun digital photobooth we had at the party, and just love seeing how creative everyone got with their poses! Looking forward to next year…

Join Shutterstock at the HOW Design Conference in Chicago, June 24 to 26, 2011! We’ll be holding special giveaways at booth 615 throughout the show, and hosting a fabulous, free party for all designers and fans on Saturday night, June 25. Details:

Continue reading ‘Join Shutterstock at HOW in Chicago, June 24 to 26’ »

We’re narrowing down on Round 2 of our Cat elimination championships to choose the all-time champion of Shutterstock cats.

Each feline faces off in one of four categories: All Dressed Up, Kool Kats, Illustrated Cats, and Flying Cats. Today’s contenders beat their competition by a whisker, and are all hungry to go on to the next round. Who will it be? Vote below for your favorite furry friend!

This poll closes at 8:00 p.m. eastern time on Thursday, March 24. Vote now in Shutterstock’s March Catness and tell your friends! View our Shutterstock cat stock photos lightbox for more cat fun.

Dressed Up CatFight 1, Round 2 Ice Cream Cat (61%, 82 Votes) St. Patty's Cat (39%, 52 Votes) Total Voters: 134  Loading ...
Dressed Up CatFight 2, Round 2 Godfather Cat (77%, 89 Votes) Fat Tuesday Cat (23%, 27 Votes) Total Voters: 116  Loading ...
Kool Kats CatFight 1, Round 2 Winky Cat (73%, 88 Votes) Cool as Ice Cat (27%, 33 Votes) Total Voters: 121  Loading ...
Kool Kats CatFight 2, Round 2 Mean Mug Cat (58%, 69 Votes) Shady Cat (42%, 50 Votes) Total Voters: 119  Loading ...
Illustrated CatFight 1, Round 2 Relaxing with a Book Cat (61%, 66 Votes) Romantic Cat (39%, 42 Votes) Total Voters: 108  Loading ...
Illustrated CatFight 2, Round 2 Scooter Cat (68%, 63 Votes) Nature Cat (32%, 29 Votes) Total Voters: 92  Loading ...
Flying CatFight 1, Round 2 I Believe I Can Fly Cat (68%, 101 Votes) Angel Cat (32%, 48 Votes) Total Voters: 149  Loading ...
Flying CatFight 2, Round 2 Cats Going Wild (57%, 64 Votes) Over Your Head Cat (43%, 48 Votes) Total Voters: 113  Loading ...

We’ve been running all over the place at SXSW – from our trade show booth to some pretty cool interactive panels. One common thread from the show floor to the breakout room has been how to make your content viral in this increasingly cluttered landscape.

One highly entertaining session was led by The Oatmeal’s Matthew Inman. The cartoonist/comedian’s fearless (and often controversial) approach to humor landed him a book deal, and millions of monthly unique visitors. And while he wouldn’t admit to having a “formula” for making content viral, he did emphasize the importance of visuals and clean, eye-catching design. So there it is folks, it’s all in the visuals!

If you attended SXSW this year, or plan to in the future, we want to hear from you! What were your favorite highlights? What topics would you like to see covered next year?

We’ve been having a blast at SXSW, giving away swag on the show floor, attending interactive panels, and partying like ROCKSTARS at the Shutterstock/Bigstock party. Check out our facebook page for pictures and don’t forget to tag yourself if you were lucky enough to be there. If you’re at Sx and haven’t already, come see us at booth 319 – we’ll be here until Thursday.

As you might have heard, Shutterstock is going to SXSW this year to spread the stock photo love. Doing research for our “Rock Out With Your Stock Out”  party favors, we decided to test-drive some tattoos here at Shutterstock HQ. Not bad!

We’re excited to announce a major milestone for Shutterstock and for the creative industry. The AIGA, the largest professional association for designers, has selected Shutterstock to be its first stock agency national partner. AIGA represents more than 20,000 design professionals, educators and students. Continue reading ‘Shutterstock Supports Designers With Groundbreaking AIGA Sponsorship’ »