Fourteen Years of Smashing: A Birthday Retrospective
Smashing Magazine turned fourteen this week, and the anniversary arrives under circumstances that nobody could have anticipated a year ago. The team's plans for 2020 were built around in-person conferences and the usual rhythms of publishing. Instead, the past twelve months have been defined by remote work, virtual events, and a global pandemic that upended the entire industry.
The difficulties have been personal as well as professional. In addition to the usual pandemic stressors, the team lost a close friend in Scott Whitehead, who passed away last month at the age of 39. Yet despite the hard year, the Smashing Slack remains a source of cheerful greetings and ambitious plans, and the team has continued to publish an article per weekday throughout the pandemic, introducing new writers while keeping regular contributors active.
From Freiburg Flags To A Kyiv Coffee Shop
Birthdays call for reflection, and the team's memories span the full history of the company. Vitaly Friedman recalls the first SmashingConf in Freiburg, where he saw the Smashing flags waving from the balcony of Historisches Kaufhaus on a sunny day, a moment when something digital became physical. He also remembers sitting in a Kyiv coffee shop in 2014 and watching a group of young designers open one of his early articles from 2010 and read it together to solve a problem. He didn't introduce himself; he just ordered another cappuccino and continued working with a smile.
Kristof Van den Eede attended that first Freiburg conference as a junior front-end developer and credits it with leaving a lasting impression. Having his mind blown by speakers like Aarron Walter and Rachel Andrew, he has kept up with every Smashing update and newsletter since. Sarah Drasner's favorite memory involves the 10th anniversary celebration in Freiburg, which she describes as "the famous chocolate fondue carpet massacre." Alma Hoffmann, a subject editor, treasures finally meeting Vitaly, Iris, and the rest of the team in person after years of video calls and online collaboration.
The Shift To Virtual Events
The conference team was forced to translate everything it knew about in-person events into a virtual format. Marc Thiele, who helped with the very first Smashing event, hosted Vitaly at his home to run part of SmashingConf Live, providing a good camera and internet connection for the broadcast. He called the experience lovely and uplifting during otherwise dark days.
Charis, who runs events from Hong Kong, was initially looking forward to another year of in-person conferences after a strong 2019. When lockdowns were announced, the team moved quickly. Online workshops were up and running shortly afterward, and the response was positive. She reflects on meeting people around the world through the screen and enjoying the problem-solving required to shift everything online.
Amanda, head of events, notes that postponing SmashingConf SF was a moment of unknown, but the remote team, spanning four countries and two continents, responded with teamwork and mutual respect. It has been the longest stretch the conference team has gone without meeting in person, yet they have never felt closer as a group.
Why The Community Matters
The Smashing community is often described as friends, and that feeling is mutual. Greg Vissing attended his first SmashingConf in San Francisco in 2018 after his employer gave him the choice of any conference. He picked Smashing because the magazine had drawn him into web development, and he found the staff so welcoming that it felt like reuniting with old friends.
Eric Portis tells a story of career transformation. In 2014, he didn't work in tech and hadn't spoken publicly since high school, yet a chain of improbable events led him to speak at SmashingConf Freiburg. The experience was surreal: meeting heroes who treated him as a peer, fielding Vitaly's unpredictable questions, and seeing surprise fireworks at the speaker's dinner. A conversation with Guy Podjarny in the lunch line led him to Cloudinary, where he now works, and he plans to pay the opportunity forward for the rest of his career.
The writing community shares similar enthusiasm. Eric Bailey had read Smashing for years before contributing his own article, and he describes the team as friendly and a joy to work with. He encourages anyone considering pitching an article to do so. Rachel Andrew's daughter Bethany, who normally works in theatre, found lockdown left her without her main job. With everything moved online, she came on board to help with video editing for conferences and workshops, appreciating the chance to get more involved with a company full of what she calls awesome people.
Looking Ahead Without Predictions
Nobody on the team is willing to predict what the next year will bring. The planning continues, but with more contingency options than before. CEO Inge Emmler sums up the company spirit simply, saying that working at Smashing means being in touch with nice, dear people, online and offline. As the team moves into year fifteen, the commitment to supporting each other and the wider Smashing community remains constant, whatever the next twelve months hold.
