We started out doing general graphic design for clients here in Vancouver as well as a few select web projects in Japan through our connections there, but we quickly realised our focus should be web interface design and development. We’ve worked hard to build our reputation, and a lot of great clients have given us the opportunities to work on some pretty exciting projects.

We’ve had our ups and downs as we learned how to run a business and grew our client base, but we’ve managed to post steady growth every year. In light of the current state of the world economy, the future is scary, but we firmly believe that a well-designed web presence will be a valued asset for any organisation. We hope to grow ourselves by helping our current and future clients grow their own businesses.

Although I’m the public “face” of this business, I want to say thank you to my partner (and wife) for her support running the business with me, and for keeping me organised and on target. We also have to extend our gratitude to all of our clients, without whom there wouldn’t be anything to say thanks for here. Finally, our greatest appreciation goes to our partner organisations, friends, and family, for their support over the years. I’m looking forward to the next five years and beyond!

Cameron Cavers
Partner, Reactionlab Communications

UPDATE: Due to the popularity of the Techcouver concept, our flash map became overcrowded and it was time to move over to a Google Maps-based solution. We can’t take credit for that one (although working with the Google Maps API has come up in a recent project) but Techvibes and the other sponsors of the site were nice enough to keep an archive of our version up — the link to the map has been updated to reflect the archived version.

Version 2.0 of Techcouver.com is now live on the web! It’s been a hectic week but so fun to see the fruits of our labour finally up and running.

After our friend Christine at Bluelime Media showed us the first Techcouver map, we were intrigued by the concept. With a nod to the design of regional transit maps (pinned to an old-school refrigerator), they had created a “who’s who” of Vancouver tech companies and startups that everyone wanted to be a part of.

Unfortunately, it was a flat graphic and they were deluged with requests to add new companies to the map. Creating a custom Google Map is one way you could code it, but the obvious problem with that was they’d lose the cool transit-map-on-a-fridge aesthetic. We started talking to Bluelime and the other sponsors of the site about using a Flash interactive map — a version of which we’d developed previously for another project — to make it easier for them to add points to the map, and help expand to other regions in the Lower Mainland.

We can’t take all the credit; the original idea was from the original proposal by Darren Barefoot at Capulet Communications, the page design and production were done by Bluelime Media, and hosting and support for the project come from Techvibes. Christine at Bluelime and Rob at Techvibes provided a lot of the input into this version of the map and kept driving the project forward, and we’d like to thank them for listening to our crazy ideas and letting us get in on this cool project!

For the uninitiated, a BarCamp-type event can be described as a conference that is run by the attendees. While there’s still a core group of organizers, anyone attending can make a presentation, and the schedule is decided on the day of the conference.

We regret that this post’s extended entry has been temporarily lost in The Great Server Glitch of October 2007. Please enjoy this picture of Cameron listening intently to one of the BarCamp speakers while we rebuild our database and enjoy Thanksgiving Weekend!

There was also a departure from pure marketing/advertising rhetoric as Microsoft brought out GK VanPatter from NextD to talk about where he and his organisation feel design is going. There were some good ideas during his talk in terms of the role design will/should play in the business world, even if you don’t agree with all of what he was talking about. (A quick poll of the room after confirmed that many people had doubts about some of it…) At any rate is was a rare and interesting thing to see Microsoft courting and speaking directly to design professionals… hopefully they keep the focus on designers up as Expression evolves. As I also mentioned

Some of the Silverlight demo projects shown were quite interesting, as well. I’m not sure I’ll be using the software much for development on major projects but it’s worth looking at as about the only real competitor to the Adobe suite. Mind you, Microsoft doesn’t seem to be too eager to position themselves that way, as their marketing focus is more on its value based on its integration with their development tools, although they did mention the fact that their suite is several hundred dollars cheaper than Adobe CS3… probably a wise strategy, considering the installed base their dev software has.

Boris from Bryght/B. Mann Consulting, who was also at the event, has a bit more complete of a review at his blog, as well.