smashLAB News

In helping our clients establish their blogging strategies, we’ve repeatedly run into the situation where it made sense for an organization to have more than one blog. Often, this is due to departmental requirements, or simply the need to target different audiences.

Usually, each blog would have its own domain name and theme to suit the subject matter. While WordPress now includes multisite functionality that allows for the creation of networks of such sites within a single WordPress installation, it requires additional configuration and increases complexity substantially. Although this is an appropriate solution in many cases, at other times it can seem like overkill. Continue reading: How to Manage 1,000 Websites from One WordPress Dashboard

Poor Ryan. The other day we asked him to prepare a couple of icons and he winced. Upon reflecting, we realized that we had created well over 500 icons this past year. Yikes!

Icons are tough. They need to be recognizable at small sizes, remain adaptable and consistent, and avoid becoming overly cartoonish or clichéd. When they work well, though, they can make navigation easier and even help convey an organization’s personality.

Here are a “few” of them:

Continue reading: Iconomania!

When it comes to sports like skiing and snowboarding, we’ve all had our fair share of embarrassing moments. Remember proudly wearing those patterned onesies? Or, not being able to exit the chairlift fast enough? We understand—these aren’t things you normally want to remember. However, our latest work offers you a chance to turn those humiliating moments into something wonderful.

Continue reading: Make the Best of Your Embarrassing Skiing and Boarding Moments

Recently, the team at smashLAB has been working on a campaign to promote arts and culture in Vancouver. A large part of this effort has centered around building a (rather fantastic) sweepstakes that highlights a number of local venues and organizations. Working with the folks at Tourism Vancouver, we’ve helped put together some one-of-a-kind experiences for five lucky winners. To learn more, take a look:

Continue reading: Revitalize Your Senses and Discover Culture in Vancouver

In the Sept-Oct issue of Applied Arts, Canada’s visual communications magazine, our Creative Director @karj challenges how many brand managers are moving everything to Facebook without really understanding the implications.

Too many marketers are hopping in the sack with Facebook – without even stopping to ask whether it’s a good idea or even whether the right protection is being used

While I’m hearing you go on about your favourite new band, weekend in the tropics or some other random minutiae, I also take a moment to reflect on Mr. Zuckerberg, computer programmer and co-founder of Facebook. Maybe he’s a technological genius, or perhaps he’s just a nice, well-meaning kid. I don’t know. As I look at his shit-eating grin, though, I have to wonder whether he’s sitting naked in his office, eating a bag of corn chips, maniacally laughing at us, while inspecting plans for his secret underground lair.

Continue reading: A Facebook-Free Future

The Vancouver Aquarium is one of Vancouver’s most popular attractions, transporting visitors to some of the world’s most exotic locales, from Canada’s Arctic to the Amazon rainforest. Since opening in 1956, the Aquarium has flourished, but their website had difficulty keeping up with the growth, in turn becoming massive and rather unwieldy. Consequently, this was one of the most complex sites we’ve ever worked on, from both a technology and content standpoint. We needed to completely overhaul the site to be usable, easy to maintain, and most notably, exciting. We are thrilled with the new site, which offers a dynamic and vivid user experience, while properly highlighting the full range of work they do in conservation, education, and research.

Immerse yourself in the new site at www.vanaqua.org, or take a look at the full case study.

The homepage highlights the Aquarium’s mandate and initiatives while providing key visitor information.

Continue reading: Revealing What Lies Beneath the Surface

We’re awfully happy to announce that our work with Tourism Vancouver has won the Innovation in Tourism Technology Award at the 11th annual BC Tourism Industry Awards. Stephen Pearce, the VP of Leisure Travel & Digital Marketing for Tourism Vancouver, was on hand in Victoria to pick up the award at the Tourism Industry Association’s annual gala event.

Stephen Pearce accepted the award alongside Nigel Collett of T4G Limited, the sponsor of the Innovation in Tourism Technology Award.

Continue reading: Tourism Vancouver’s VSP Recognized at BC Tourism Industry Awards

Abundant in resources, Northwest BC’s Skeena Valley is an exciting region. The Terrace Economic Development Authority (TEDA) works to promote the area and encourage development in it. Although multiple large-scale projects—worth billions—are due to begin in the region shortly, TEDA wasn’t effectively telling these stories, nor those of their past successes. We worked to help TEDA showcase the potential of the region and better engage with the companies operating these projects. Until we publish the full case study, take a look at the site at: www.teda.ca.

The homepage conveys the massive scale of NWBC development opportunities by utilizing epic imagery.

Continue reading: Showcasing an Area Rich in Opportunity

In the August issue of Applied Arts, Canada’s visual communications magazine, our Creative Director @karj discusses how traditional and digital agencies can better service their clients by stepping out of their comfort zone and doing things they normally don’t do. Pass the mustard please.

In five years, there will be no distinction between traditional and digital agencies, but we’ll all be doing things a lot differently.

I love the way we describe our agencies and studios. Be they “boutiques,” “full service” or offer “360-degree thinking,” we all secretly know that we’re knee-deep in our own custom brand of bullshit. Then, of course, it’s a messy space, and some of those terms do stick with customers, no matter how vague and indefensible they may be. In my last couple of columns, I’ve talked about some of the changes brought on by social media, and the challenges they have presented to agencies and clients alike. Actually, I have a hunch that there’s more to it than what we see on the surface. These are issues symptomatic of a dramatic change that will redefine the landscape for creative companies.

Continue reading: You’ll Have To Do Hot Dogs

As North America’s third-largest media creation center, there’s always dazzling new entertainment being produced in Vancouver. BC Film + Media is one of the agencies that works to expand and diversify the film, television, and digital media industry in British Columbia. Sadly, their online presence was… well… boring. Our job was to make it un-boring (and accurate, and current, and easier to manage). We’re awfully excited by the new site, and the way it reflects the changing landscape of emerging media. In the next month or two, we’ll post a full case study; meanwhile, you can see for yourself at www.bcfm.ca.

Visitors are introduced to BCFM though broadcast quality video, blog updates, and tweets.

Continue reading: A Little Nip and Tuck for BC’s Film Industry