The time has come for small to shine, says Eric Karjaluoto, author of Speak Human. In the Turbulent Teens, small companies are in a prime position to engage with consumers seeking the intimate, the personable and the approachable. Often community - focused, they are also well placed to serve...

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Most small businesses feel impotent in their efforts to win, and keep, customers because they don't have the marketing power of corporations. After all, big advertising budgets have been the mainstay of marketing for decades.
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Vancouver-based designer Eric Karjaluoto – "Karj" for those not fluent in the Finnish tongue – is the cofounder and creative director of digital design firm smashLAB. As a frequent blogger and Tweeter – he has 2,200 followers – this social media junkie...
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Over the past eight years, our studio has built many websites for many different clients. But the lessons we’ve learned building our own community have reminded us that we still have a lot to master.
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Here’s an innovative approach to defending a trademark. Vancouver, Canada based SmashLAB is an online design and marketing firm that launched in 2000. Everything was going fine, they say, until Discovery Channel launched a television show with the same name.
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In December, the Vancouver interactive marketing agency smashLAB got hits in the press press and a few in the minor press for its social networking site, makefive.com, in which people can list 5 things they’re passionate about as a way to start conversations.
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We all know about David Letterman's Top 10 list, right? Well, a Vancouver-based interactive design firm is betting big on its own Top Five list. Called MakeFive, the website idea by smashLAB is based on the simple notion that there's a Top Five list for just about anything.
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"For an example of an online portfolio done right, look no further than Vancouver-based strategic interactive agency smashLAB. The case studies showcased in the portfolio show a variety...
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A blank sheet of paper can incite creative paralysis. So how do you bust out and gain control? Eric Karjaluoto, of strategic interactive agency smashLAB, shares his thoughts...
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"You have to look at social networks as a kind of plumbing," says Eric Karjaluoto of smashLAB, which has created the social network MakeFive. "It's not rocket science."
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"Eric Karjaluoto is an award winning Canadian designer and Emily Carr graduate with a slightly green tinge. He wants his graphic design cohorts to unite, green up and address climate change in ..."
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"Eric Karjaluoto is a graphic designer who's helping his profession design change when it comes to its impact on the environment. Design can change is an effort to bring designers together to both ..."
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As part of the publishing industry, we here at Desktop are ever conscious of the detrimental impact caused to the environment by the graphic design process. From the destruction of forests...

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An online green initiative has helped Vancouver-

based interactive design firm smashLAB gain the type of international exposure many companies can only dream of. "There's not a lot of work so far...
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The goal of graphic design is to make things look good. Really good. So good that we want to buy these things, even if we don't need them. That can be a problem - or perhaps an opportunity...

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Interactive agency smashLAB has created a white paper on social media designed as a primer for those who want to learn more about it. Below are excerpts from two sections: opportunities in...
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Launched by Canadian studio smashLAB, this website is a network of graphic designers focused on creating products with the lowest possible carbon footprint. The goal is to positively address... 
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This small firm of five people is doing some big things from their hip office in Gastown, Vancouver. The company, founded in 2000 is the result of a unique partnership of design and technology that...
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As I write this in October, there are strong reasons to think that we have arrived at the tipping point of global awareness about climate change and the need to act as a matter of urgency. A recent BBC...

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Introducing a new party to an existing design process can present serious challenges. A case in point: Two years ago, I was caught off-guard. Our firm had been working with a start-up company...
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Last June, the designers at Vancouver company smashLAB were thinking a lot about climate change. And they were also considering how their industry affects the environment. “We felt really...

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Though it smarts to say it, designers are a wasteful bunch. "We had been talking about how our studio could do less damage to the environment," says smashLAB creative director Eric Karjaluoto. "It felt...
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You may be thinking that it's the beginning of the year, Easter is the next big holiday and that we shouldn't even give Christmas another thought. But it may be worth giving it a moment of your time...

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