300 Issues In: Stories From the Smashing Team
The Smashing Newsletter first went out in early 2009. Today, the team marks its 300th edition, which now reaches more than 207,000 readers every other week. The milestone coincides with the birthday of illustrator Ricardo Gimenes, the creative mind behind the many Smashing Cats — over 150 and still counting. To celebrate, members of the team shared personal stories about what has shaped them, both before and during their time at Smashing.
Lessons From an Olive Tree
Esther Fernández (Sponsorships) recently received old family photos, including one of herself standing proudly atop an olive tree near her hometown. The image arrived at a timely moment: it reminded her of her own audacity to climb and stand hands-free, even when confronting deep fears.
The Staying Power of Snail Mail
Iris Lješnjanin (Editorial) moved from Slovenia to the United Arab Emirates at age five. With friends and family spread across the globe, she promised herself she would write letters and send pictures to stay in touch. She collected stickers, postcards, and specialty paper, and found penpals in Germany, Bosnia, Australia, and Brunei.
As communication shifted to email and messaging apps — mIRC, MSN, and ICQ included — handwritten letters gave way to endless typing and ASCII art. Still, she printed out her favorite emails on continuous form paper with punched holes on the sides, keeping them in a memory box on her closet shelf.
Now in her 30s, she still treasures snail mail, which offers a considerate way to connect without pressure for an immediate reply. A letter is a piece of paper with someone’s gentle touch — a sign they took time to write meaning into words and wrap it in an envelope with a thoughtfully chosen stamp. That personal quality is something online communication cannot replicate.
When Iris joined Smashing, the newsletter had already begun as a fun writing project for the whole team. It has since become something precious: an opportunity to connect with those who share a passion for the web and to shine a spotlight on designers and developers who may not get the recognition they deserve. Each email newsletter is, on behalf of the team, a heartfelt thank-you to both those who share their work online and the readers who stick around.
A Decade of Long-Distance Collaboration
Alma Hoffmann (Editorial) has been in a long-distance relationship with Smashing since 2010. It started with a tweet from Vitaly looking for writers; she replied, and the rest is history. She met Vitaly, Iris, Markus, Ricardo, Inge, Rachel, Amanda, and others in person in 2017 — one of the biggest highlights of her career.
During that visit, Iris helped her find a sweater because she was cold, took her to shops for gifts, and gifted her a sketchbook and a canary yellow bag she still uses to carry art supplies. Years before, a Smashing gift had arrived on a sad day and made it better.
For Alma, working at Smashing is defined by a unifying commitment to quality: to be the best magazine about web development and design. She credits the experience with making her a better writer.
An Educator’s Pride
Jarijn Nijkamp (Membership) spent most of his professional life working in or around education. Helping people find their path is, he says, the coolest thing. He still feels happy and a bit proud when former students reach out to share something personal or professional. A graduation photo from the first cohort he taught and managed reminds him of that — an international group of students who have since become wonderful adults.
Rediscovery in a Remote World
Vitaly Friedman (Editorial) used to travel almost weekly, moving between projects, conferences, and workshops. In 2013, he moved out of his apartment without moving in anywhere, giving away his belongings to a homeless shelter and running a creative experiment of constant travel. That experiment never really stopped — until 2020.
The transition was difficult and unsettling, but it offered a refreshing perspective. Stopping to look around and revisit things proved a healthy exercise in self-understanding. He rediscovered the value of a mouse, a secondary screen, and a comfy external keyboard — and, more importantly, learned about the importance of deep relationships and letting go. He has embraced writing, editing, building, and designing.
He now feels comfortable in the online space with Smashing’s online workshops and has more focused time to write and code. He still misses traveling and meeting friends in person, but the remote world changed his perspective. It allows him to make a more balanced, conscious choice about how to shape the future.
A Full-Circle Career
Amanda Annandale (Events) has been at Smashing for more than four years, but it all traces back to a small decision ten years earlier. Working as a Stage and Event Manager in NYC, she took a freelance job running events. At her first event, she assisted the “Carsonified/Future Of…” event while working on the “Avenue Q” stage. The team was lovely — including their tech guy, who has since become her husband.
After moving to England, she spent more time with those friends. One of them, just moving on from a job at Smashing, introduced her to the team. She joined a few months later. In an amazing twist, the first SmashingConf she produced was on that very same “Avenue Q” stage — where her Smashing journey began nearly ten years before she joined the team.
