History
GRAPHOS was founded in September of 1993, in the gloomy days of the Alberta government's all-time deepest spending cuts. Oil was $16 a barrel, and the only thing in full swing was recession. In downtown Edmonton, office space was cheap and abundant. The first GRAPHOS headquarters was on the second floor of Jasper and 103 Street, in the same building as our present Edmonton location. It was a corner office, with many large windows overlooking the landmark Bay building and Paramount Theatre. Every day, a fully derailed street preacher delivered his fiery sermons within easy view. All for a monthly rent of $650!
GRAPHOS' specialty was print design, because that was pretty much the only design there was. The so-called Information Superhighway was generating early buzz, but it would be two more years before the first Canadian bank would launch a website. With a background in journalism and publication design, our founder Laurier loved the excitement of learning how clients' businesses worked to identify the unique kernels that would become the core of their ad campaigns.
Those ads, plus corporate logos, printed brochures, and event posters were among the company's early projects.
It wasn't long before a web domain appeared under GRAPHOS' window signage. The first website we built was our own, and it was the beginning of our reputation as a multidisciplinary firm.
Our capabilities evolves from fairly basic website designs to custom web-based applications, and we added the GRAPHOS CMS content management system, video production, and search engine optimization to the mix. Clientele began to shift from small businesses to organizations with more complex marketing needs. GRAPHOS acquired the accounts of shopping centres, large labour unions and national businesses with thousands of employees. We developed award-winning annual reports and other important documents for tech companies, government departments, utilities and land developers. Business trips to Calgary became routine.
After working with Calgary clients for well over a decade, we opened our Bankers Hall office in early 2008.
Much had changed since our early days. Our service offering was more sophisticated and diverse. Still, we retained our reputation as a fun company to work for and a reliable one to work with. Our Edmonton office had moved upward a few floors and the team had grown in number, but our clients still enjoyed being able to connect directly with the design team rather than work through an account executive. With this web incarnation -- call it graphos.ca 7.0 -- we're a mature company, and we love more than ever the privilege of learning every client's business. We hope to add you to the clientele that mean so much to us!
Our History . Our Team . Our Services
Print . Web . Identity . Brand Name Development . Video . Advertising
