Eric Karjaluoto

Infobox Person
name = Eric Karjaluoto


caption = Speaking at AIGA Y Conference in San Diego. March 28, 2008.
known_for =
occupation = Interaction designer, entrepreneur, and writer
nationality = Canadian

Eric Karjaluoto is a designer, entrepreneur, writer, and former painter. He is a founding partner at smashLAB, a strategic interactive agency located in Vancouver, Canada.

Background

Karjaluoto studied at the Emily Carr Institute in Vancouver. Prior to focusing on design he worked in production at the Prince George Citizen newspaper and spent several years working as an exhibited painter. He maintains an online gallery of his paintings at [http://www.karjaluoto.com karjaluoto.com]

Design

In 2000, Karjaluoto and hometown friend Eric Shelkie started smashLAB in Prince George, BC with two computers, a few hundred dollars and little business experience. “On our first project we made $400, about $2 an hour,” Karjaluoto revealed in an article from the Globe and Mailcite news |author = Jennifer Hollett |title = Smashing global warming with greener design |publisher = The Globe and Mail |page = L7 or [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Page/document/v5/content/subscribe?user_URL=http://www.theglobeandmail.com%2Fservlet%2Fstory%2FLAC.20080517.SMASH17%2FTPStory%2F%3Fquery%3Dsmashlab&ord=27205737&brand=theglobeandmail&force_login=true online] |date = May 17 2008] . "We took the hardest path, in Prince George, during a recession and after the dot-com bubble had burst.”cite news |author = Brian Morton |title = Smash climate change
publisher = The Vancouver Sun |page = D5 or [http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=ccf9684c-13aa-4be7-8952-26791f819282 online] |date = May 21 2008] smashLAB gradually built up a roster of local clients and eventually moved the office to Vancouver in 2004.

In 2007—inspired in part by the Oscar-winning Al Gore film An Inconvenient Truthcite news |author = Jennifer Hollett |title = Smashing global warming with greener design |publisher = The Globe and Mail |page = L7 or [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Page/document/v5/content/subscribe?user_URL=http://www.theglobeandmail.com%2Fservlet%2Fstory%2FLAC.20080517.SMASH17%2FTPStory%2F%3Fquery%3Dsmashlab&ord=27205737&brand=theglobeandmail&force_login=true online] |date = May 17 2008] —Karjaluoto and his partner spearheaded "Design Can Change", an effort to unite designers to address climate change. TIME Magazine selected Design Can Change for inclusion in its annual Design 100—a list of "the people and ideas behind today's most influential design".cite news |title = The Design 100 |publisher = TIME Magazine |page = 45 or [http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1727737_1727687_1727568,00.html online] |date = Summer 2008]

In the same year, Eric and the team at smashLAB launched [http://www.makefive.com "MakeFive"] , a social networking site that allows people to connect through top 5 lists. MakeFive won a PopVox award in 2008 [ [http://www.popvoxawards.com/?q=new-media-bc-announces-popvox-awards-winners "New Media BC announces Popvox Award winners", "Popvoxawards.com"] May 26, 2008.] and has been mentioned in major design publications such as Applied Arts and Communication Arts [ [http://www.commarts.com/web-sites/makefive.html "Webpick of the day", "Communication Arts"] January 23, 2008.] .

Writing

Karjaluoto's award-winning blog, [http://www.ideasonideas.com ideasonideas] , "offers critical thought and discussion of topics relating to communication design and designers"cite news |author = David Coates |title = The Little Lab that Could |publisher = Society of Graphic Designers of Canada |page = [http://gdc.net/designers/inspiration/articles210.htm online] |date = March 2008] . His writing has been described as "polemic"] sparked a flame war and prompted a new media organization to create a live panel discussion based on the topic. His articles have been republished by web publications such as Taxi Design and Creative Review. He has also written articles for .net Magazine and Applied Arts, and excerpts of his white paper, "A Primer on Social Media", were published in the May 2008 issue of Advertising Age [ [http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=126824&search_phrase=smashlab "Need a Primer on Social Media? Read On", "Advertising Age"] , page 13. May 5, 2008.] .

peaking

Karjaluoto has presented at events put on by design associations such as HOW Magazine, AIGA, and New Media BC. He also taught branding in the Digital Design program at Vancouver Film School.

References