Nestled in the southern German city of Freiburg im Breisgau, in the picturesque foothills of the Black Forest, lies the Smashing Media headquarters.
Smashing Media is a young and growing publishing house. Founded in March 2009 by Sven Lennartz and Vitaly Friedman, Smashing Media provides a range of services for the international Web design community. Our team of dedicated Web geeks constantly strives to improve the quality and range of products for creative professionals.
Through our articles, digital books, job resources, and industry conferences, we are committed to stimulating creativity and strengthening the Web design community’s creative forces.
Our lead-publication — the one and only Smashing Magazine — is a popular and influential source of information in the creative Web industry. Smashing Magazine has been widely regarded as a trustworthy source of industry best practices since its 2006 inception. Many rely on its in-depth coverage of late-breaking developments and trends in Web development and Web design. We care deeply about our contributors, readers, and customers. As such, our doors are always open! Feel free to contact us anytime.
How It All Started
Perhaps the most unusual thing about Smashing Magazine’s birth is that we never actually sat down together to discuss the whole thing. We never threw up a whiteboard and brainstormed on a groundbreaking concept for a successful magazine with a solid marketing model. In fact, Smashing Magazine is the result of a random experiment, initiated by two like-minded Web workers with shared passion and knowledge, as well as valuable experience (Sven) and energetic motivation (Vitaly).
It all started in August 2006. Vitaly Friedman, a computer science student and freelance Web designer with 8 years of experience, had been occasionally writing articles for the legendary German online magazine “Dr. Web”. The magazine had been known on the German-speaking Web design scene for over 12 years. The man behind the magazine’s curtains was former freelance designer Sven Lennartz, who had managed to make editing and maintaining Dr. Web his full-time job.
They both had obligations of their own to address: Vitaly doing freelance gigs and passing university exams in Saarbruecken (in south-western Germany), and Sven keeping up with Web design developments, discussing article ideas with authors and coming up with innovative ideas for Dr. Web from Luebeck (in northern Germany).
After two weeks of preparation, the domain was registered, the server configured and WordPress installed. We adapted one of the first minimalistic WordPress themes we found, and there it was, ready to be used. The Smashing Magazine website went online on the 8th of September 2006. The magazine didn’t even have a logo then: we used the default Verdana headline from the WordPress template. The first articles were taken from Dr. Web, translated from German to English and then published on the newly born Smashing Magazine.
The first articles weren’t a huge success, of course, but we didn’t expect success either. We didn’t celebrate or conceive any big plans. We carried on with our own things, remaining patient and determined. Several months passed, in fact, before we achieved our first significant breakthrough. Excerpt from our first book: The Smashing Book #1
