Aaron B. Day
I founded and run White Whale Web, a Boise agency that mainly builds accessible websites for local governments, and also partners with other agencies. I've been building websites since 2001.
Scroll01White Whale Web
Every client has a white whale.
I started White Whale Web in November 2022, after 7 years as a co-owner of Thrive Web Designs. I wanted a company built around fully custom work, long relationships, and clients who know the difference.
The name comes from the idea that every client has a white whale: the goal that seems out of reach. Our job is to help them get there.
Most of our work is for local and state government. We also partner with other agencies on white-label work and build custom web applications in Laravel. Our first big civic project was a redesign for the State of Idaho's Office of Information Technology Services. It led to more work with state agencies, and I found I loved it. Public websites serve everyone, so they have to work for everyone.
We build our sites to the WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility standard. We created Pequod, our own WordPress framework, so every project starts out responsive and accessible. We also built our own accessibility checker, Wha11y, because we couldn't find an affordable tool we liked.
I've built my career on trust. Over 25 years, hundreds of clients have trusted me with their websites. When I tell a client something will be done by a certain date, it gets done, even when that takes a creative answer to something that looked impossible.
We always do what's right by our clients, even when that takes a difficult choice. At the end of the day we're on the same team, and I want our clients to succeed.
We're a small Boise team of real people.
Featured clients
- ACHD Commuteride
- State of Idaho Office of Information Technology Services
- Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation
- Idaho Transportation Department
- Friends of Idaho Public Television
- Treefort Music Fest
- Skateboards.com
- The Inn at Riverwalk
- Idaho State Public Defender
Awards
| Year | Award | Project | Organization |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Finalist, Small Business of the Year | White Whale Web | Boise Metro Chamber |
| 2026 | Silver Rockie, Digital Experience / Website (Consumer) | Skateboards.com | Idaho Advertising Federation |
| 2025 | Gold, Website and Mobile Sites: Hotel, Resort and Lodging | The Inn at Riverwalk, with Colvita Creative | Vega Digital Awards |
| 2025 | Gold, Favorite Website Design | White Whale Web | Boise Favorites |
- 2026Finalist, Small Business of the Year
- 2026Silver Rockie, Digital Experience / Website (Consumer)
- 2025Gold, Website and Mobile Sites: Hotel, Resort and Lodging
- 2025Gold, Favorite Website Design
They were responsive, professional, and did everything they said they were going to do, when they said they'd do it.
The team's background created a new website that is more accessible for students, families, industry partners, and our faculty and staff.
As our go-to website team, they are consistently responsive, talented, and a true extension of our agency.
...they solve problems creatively, collaborate like true partners, and bring fully fledged visions and even half-baked ideas to life in ways that go beyond expectations...
02Career
Building things professionally for people since 2000.
I studied programming and networking at Idaho State, then moved to Seattle to test Windows Server setups at Microsoft while I took web production classes at the University of Washington. In 2002 I started my first web business of my own, and I've run my own shop for most of the years since. In between, I spent 5 years running the Boise office of Peak Systems.
Along the way I've been the lead developer, the lead designer, the project manager, and the person making payroll. I've built web solutions for CenturyLink, Microsoft, T-Mobile, Boise State University, small businesses, nonprofits, and government agencies. Since 2022, most of that work has been civic or white label, and that's where I want to stay.
Some projects outside of work.
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Home builds
Ongoing
Built a shed and my home office during COVID, remodeled both bathrooms and most of the downstairs, and then recently turned the home office into a short-term rental with its own bathroom and kitchenette. We're renting it out now.
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Play Football Squares
Ongoing
I still run playfootballsquares.com. It brings in a little side money each football season, and it's a lot of fun.
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Sunny Days Learning Academy
2023
Angie and I started a preschool, bought a building, and renovated it. Angie owns and runs it.
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Eagle Land Sales
2021 - 2023
Bought and sold vacant land for about 2 years.
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Instrument cleaning site
About 2020
Wrote 100+ articles on cleaning musical instruments, ran affiliate ads, and grew it to 12,000+ unique visitors in under 10 months. Then I sold it.
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Samurai Sock
2018 - 2021
My own brand of yoga socks on Amazon. I designed the socks and packaging with a manufacturer in China, and my daughters and I packed orders at home while watching cartoons. Much of the profit went to their college funds.
Credentials
Degrees and certificate
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Bachelor's, Computer Information Systems, marketing emphasisBoise State University2006
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Certificate, Multimedia ProductionUniversity of Washington2002
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Associate, Computer ProgrammingIdaho State University2000
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Associate, Computer NetworkingIdaho State University2000
Certification
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Web Content Accessibility Micro-Certification BadgeBoise State Office of Information Technology (OIT)2024
Honors
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Founders AwardBoise State University
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Dean's List, nearly every semesterIdaho State, Boise State1997 - 2006
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Employee of the MonthVolt, on assignment at Microsoft2001 - 2002
Leadership
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Teaching assistant, Multimedia Certificate ProgramUniversity of Washington2002 - 2003
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President for 3 years; officer at Idaho StateAITP student chapter, Boise State2003 - 2006
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Webmaster, executive branchAssociated Students of Boise State University2003 - 2006
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Main organizer and frequent presenterBoise Graphic Design Group, now BCPC2009 - 2016, 2025 - present
03Community
Showing up for Boise's creatives since 2009.
Boise Creative Professionals Community
Since 2009With BCPC and the Boise Graphic Design Group before it
I've been part of Boise's creative community since 2009, when I became the main organizer of the Boise Graphic Design Group. The group started in 2007 as a few designers meeting in downtown coffee shops. I led it for 7 years and was one of its most frequent presenters.
The group went quiet for a while. In 2025, with Marco Vazquez and Paul Carew pushing me to do it, I brought it back as the Boise Creative Professionals Community. The new name fits the people who show up now: designers, developers, marketers, photographers. It's free, it meets monthly, and White Whale Web sponsors it to keep it that way.
Creative Good Benefit Auction
- 2017 - 20193 annual auctions for local causes
- $20,252Raised in all, including $13,532 for CATCH2017: $6,720 · 2018: $3,781 · 2019: $9,751
From 2017 to 2019 I ran the Creative Good Benefit Auction, an annual event that brought Boise's creative community together to raise money for local causes. The first year supported Interfaith Sanctuary, and the next 2 went to CATCH, which helps people experiencing homelessness get into housing. In all, it raised $20,252, including $13,532 for CATCH. The last year took 147 hours of my own time, and 2019 was the final auction. Now I give to causes directly.
Giving back through White Whale Web
1 a yearFree website for a nonprofit
White Whale Web gives back too. We make charitable donations, and every year we build a free website for a nonprofit. The most recent went to Friends of Idaho Public Television. We're all in this together, and a business that does well here should put some of it back.
White Whale Web demonstrates an uplifting community ethos in addition to design and technical expertise in website development.
04About
Raised by teachers.
Life is good, and I'm enjoying this moment in life. I run a business with talented people, I'm married to my wonderful wife Angie, who owns and runs Sunny Days Learning Academy, and we have 2 teenage daughters who are inspiring and keep me on my toes. The house also includes Pax, our German shepherd, and 2 cats, Charlie and Savannah. It came from a lot of steady, hard work.
I grew up poor in a small town in western Utah, 1 of 5 kids. We didn't have much money, but we had a strong base: family, a church community, and a town of about 5,000 people. My dad taught third grade for 16 years and owned the town bookstore. He put on plays, dances, and after-school activities, and people respected him because they knew he cared. My mom was home with us, taught music, and took on causes that helped kids and the town. I grew up knowing nearly all of my 63 cousins.
When we moved to northern Idaho, my parents taught kindergarten together, and my dad also taught 7th, 8th, and 9th grade English. Teachers raised me, and I came out of it with a love of learning that never let up.
That led to 3 degrees and a certificate from 3 schools. Idaho State offered me a fine art scholarship, and I turned it down because I couldn't see how to make a living at it. I studied computer programming instead, but I kept painting. I put a mural of the Easter Island heads, in red and black, on a 5th-floor stair landing in Garrison Hall, and the floor got 2 ping pong tables out of the deal.
In Seattle, I went through the University of Washington's multimedia certificate program, learned from some of the best people in the industry, and came back as a teaching assistant. I finished my bachelor's at Boise State, where I was president of the AITP chapter for 3 years and the official webmaster for student government.
Family is my bedrock. They keep me going and give me inspiration. I like to think we're good parents doing a good job, but it could be that we just lucked out with our girls. When you have love and respect at home, it carries through to the community and to the work we do.
Interests
- Hiking
- Mountain biking
- Home projects
- Reading
- Fantasy football
- Video games
- Star Wars
- Lord of the Rings
- Bronco football
- Concerts
- Plays
- Art
05Contact
Let's talk.
What's next
At White Whale Web, we're going after more award-winning design, and we're using AI to do more with less without sliding into AI slop. I'm also putting time into growing BCPC and into long client relationships, because as more of the web gets automated, I think people will care more about knowing real people stand behind their site.
If you have a project in mind, or just want to say hello, here's how to reach me.
Work with White Whale Web aaron@whitewhaleweb.com