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Bio

Eric Karjaluoto is a founding partner at the digital agency smashLAB. He is a strong advocate of strategy and pragmatism in design, and has directed projects for groups including CN, Tourism Vancouver, and Canadian Heritage.

In 2007 he spearheaded Design Can Change: an effort to unite designers and address climate change. The team at smashLAB has also launched the online community MakeFive and a crowd-sourced design and marketing site called undrln. TIME, the Lotus Awards, and ICOGRADA have recognized his work; meanwhile, the agency has been featured in The Globe and Mail, BC Business, and Studio 4.

Eric writes about design, brands, and experience at ideasonideas and has spoken at events for the AIGA, SEGD, and GDC. Eric studied at the Emily Carr Institute and currently lives in Vancouver with his lovely wife and two delightful little boys. (He still talks to his mom and dad almost every day.)

This fall he’ll release his first book, Speak Human: Out-Market the Big Guys by Getting Personal. For information about his speaking engagements, click here.

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Selected Writings

  • ‘The Licensed Designer’ Applied Arts Online, February 2010
  • ‘Adventures in UI Design’ .net Magazine, October 2008
  • ‘Beat the Creative Block’ .net Magazine, September 2008
  • ‘Need a primer on social media’ Advertising Age, May 2008
  • ‘Brands can Kill Blogs’ ideasonideas, February 2008
  • ‘The Heart of the Matter’ Applied Arts, January 2008
  • ‘Focused?’ Graphic Define, October 2007
  • ‘I Believe that Design Can Change’ Icograda, April 2007
  • ‘5 Foundries that Make Us Go Mmmm…’ Taxi Design Network, April 2007
  • ‘Designers Must Write’ Creative Latitude, April 2006

Selected Press and Publications

  • ‘Rock Your Website’ by Lisa Baggerman Hazen, HOW, September 2008
  • ‘Interview with Eric Karjaluoto’ by Chris Butler, Newfangled, August 2008
  • Interview Studio 4 with Fanny Kiefer, Shaw, July 2008
  • ‘Social Networks: Where Advertisers Fear to Tread’ by Joe Shepter, Communication Arts, July 2008
  • ‘Eco Warriors: Designers who are making a difference’ by Ann Meredith Brown, Design Edge, July 2008
  • ‘Media Mulch XXV’ hosted by Liza de Guia, TitanTV, June 2008
  • Interview by Ross Hull, The Weather Network, June 2008
  • ‘Green by Design’ by Sam Gopal, Desktop, June 2008
  • ‘Prince George entrepreneurs a real smash’ by Brian Morton, Prince George Citizen, May 2008
  • ‘Designers discuss strategic side of social media’ by Ann Meredith Brown, Design Edge, May 2008
  • ‘Emily Carr graduates design blueprints for success’ by Malcolm Parry, Vancouver Sun, May 2008
  • ‘Smash Climate Change’ by Brian Morton, Vancouver Sun, May 2008
  • ‘Karjaluoto challenges designers to be more green’ by Ann Meredith Brown, Design Edge, May 2008
  • ‘smashLAB featured in TIME’ by Scott Stanfield, Prince George Citizen, May 2008
  • ‘Alumnus Profile’ by Lola Augustine Brown, Visions, March 2008
  • ‘TIME Design 100’ by Deirdre Van Dyk, TIME Magazine, March 2008
  • ‘The Little Lab that Could’ by David Coates, GDC.net, March 2008
  • ‘Warm regards’ by Rick Poynter, Print, February 2008
  • ‘Rise of the West’ by Kevin Brooker, Applied Arts, September 2007
  • ‘Spreading the Green Message’ by Michael Burns, DigitalArts (UK), August 2007
  • ‘Sex in Design’ by Lou Savoir, MaoMao Publications (Spain), July 2007
  • ‘Intelligent Design’ by Jennifer Croll, Shared Vision, June 2007
  • ‘In Review’, Metropolis, June 2007
  • ‘Challenging Perfection’ by Scott Belsky, Behance (USA), May 2007
  • ‘Grassroots Projects: Design Can Change’ by Verena Dauerer, PingMag (Japan), May 2007
  • ‘The Greening of Design’ Adobe Insider (USA), May 2007
  • ‘Graphic Designer’s Guide to Better Business Writing’ Janoff and Cash-Smith, Allworth Press, April 2007
  • ‘Time to start planning’ by Jack Yan, Desktop Magazine (Australia), March 2007
  • Interview by Anjula Duggal, Design Sessions (USA), February 2007
  • ‘North and South America’s Logos’ by Pedro Guitton, Index Books, April 2006

Recognition and Awards

  • Advertising and Design Club of Canada
  • Applied Arts Interactive Awards
  • Communication Arts Online
  • Davey Awards
  • Graphis Interactive Design 3
  • Graphex 2008
  • HOW Top 10 Websites of the Month
  • Icograda +DESIGN
  • Interactive Media Awards
  • International Design Yearbook 2007
  • Lotus Awards
  • PopVox New Media Awards
  • STEP Inside Design Best of the Web 2007
  • TIME Magazine 2008 Design 100
  • Summit Creative Awards
  • Web Design Index 7
  • Web Marketing Association

Associations

  • GDC: Society of Graphic Designers of Canada
  • AIGA: American Institute of Graphic Arts

Eric brushing his teeth