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Canvas

  • design-icon Created with Sketch.

    Design - UI / UX design for web application.

  • research-icon Created with Sketch.

    Research - Ethnographic research, product concept validation, feature validation, usability testing, and ongoing user research.

  • development-icon Created with Sketch.

    Development - Ruby on Rails web application.

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  • design-icon Created with Sketch.

    Design - UI / UX design for web application.

  • research-icon Created with Sketch.

    Research - Ethnographic research, product concept validation, feature validation, usability testing, and ongoing user research.

  • development-icon Created with Sketch.

    Development - Ruby on Rails web application.

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Our contribution to Tokyo’s creative scene

We built Canvas as an online network for Tokyo's creative community. It serves as a platform where professional and amateur creatives can showcase their skills, establish new connections, and discover work opportunities. In addition, we organize offline events to foster a vibrant offline community.

The results of Canvas have been impactful and inspiring. Numerous creatives on the platform have reported successful connections with clients, secured job opportunities, hired employees, and formed friendships. Additionally, some individuals have utilized Canvas as a springboard to launch their own events.

Since its inception in 2015, Canvas has attracted almost ten thousand users, reflecting its growing significance and influence in Tokyo's creative ecosystem.

The research and
design process

Being a part of the local creative scene for many years, our team already had a strong understanding of the needs, struggles, abilities, and lifestyles of many of Tokyo’s professional and amateur creatives. This was the foundation for the vision of Canvas.

Before committing to build the service, we used the skills and experience we’d built through years of design research consulting for clients to ensure there was demand for our core concept.

Once we were confident that a product like Canvas should exist, we used a typical build-measure-learn cycle to progressively release public prototypes to our growing early userbase, enabling us gather behavioural metrics that proved the product deserved continued investment of resources, and insights that we used to inform our product roadmap.

  • canvas-early-sketches
  • canvas-balsamiq-creative-list
  • canvas-early-creative-list
  • canvas-creative-list
    • kohei-okada
      Kohei Okada Photographer
      Part of Moscow part-of-moscow
    • dilara-ozden
      dilara ozden Web / Mobile Designer
      Girl Riot girl-riot
    • erica-ward
      Erica Ward Artist
      願い事の歪 Wishes’ distortion wishes-distortion
    • hengtee-lim
      Hengtee Lim Writer
      In Tokyo, Roasting Coffee Masterfully At Age One Hundred

      As I slowly pieced this article together for Sprudge.com, I realized that what interests me about kissaten culture is what interests me about Japan and Tokyo in general - its the clash and harmony of the contemporary and the traditional.

      In that sense, the article is something of a meditation on why we should value the past, and treasure the experiences that give us such clear views of it; in its own way, the kissaten is a kind of time machine.

    • chris-mollison
      Chris Mollison Photographer
      Atlantian atlantian
    • francisco-martinez
      Francisco Martinez Architect
      Perchero chaparro / Hats rack perchero-chaparro-hats-rack
    • andrew-browne
      Andrew Browne Artist
      Contemporary Idols #1 contemporary-idols-1
    • rui-yamashita
      Rui Yamashita Illustrator
      Kingdom of the Cheetas kingdom-of-the-cheetas
    • vitor-santos
      Vitor Santos Web / Mobile Designer
      Drawing Weird Stuff 3 drawing-weird-stuff-3
    • steven-herman
      Steven Herman Filmmaker
      Music Video - Chuwon Chuwon by Sayulee chuwon-chuwon-by-sayulee
A selection of creations submitted by Creatives on Canvas
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Web development

Canvas is built on tried and true technology: Ruby on Rails running on a Heroku Pipelines infrastructure, with Amazon AWS S3 content storage.

This technology stack allowed us to quickly prototype and release a variety of common social media platform functionality, including:

  • users

    User account registration

  • user

    Public profile publishing

  • picture

    A powerful creation editing tool

  • news

    A news feed

  • search

    Creative discovery and search

  • calendar

    An user-submitted events calendar

  • bell

    Email notifications with user-selectable setting

  • puzzle

    Integrations with Facebook, Meetup, and other

  • email

    A weekly, automated email digest newsletter

  • job

    Company registration and job posting

  • message

    A public discussion board

Ongoing growth

We're happy to see Canvas continuing to provide value to its users, and its steady organic growth thanks to word-of-mouth referrals and natural discovery via search engines.

    • "I met a great design-agency client through Canvas. Writing often seems like an afterthought on websites and the like, so it's gratifying to find someone who values the role of an experienced copywriter in shaping and conveying a client's message." speech-bubble-piece
      robb-satterwhite
      Robb Satterwhite Photographer
    • "Canvas has been great for finding the kind of creatives we want - those who are excited to join a small team and build new app experiences, not just pad a resume." speech-bubble-piece
      benjamin-watanabe
      Benjamin Watanabe Product designer
    • "Canvas has been good for us to find creative talent for our projects. We’ve hired both full-time and and project-based folks through Canvas (writers, photographers, and illustrators) and we’ve been happy with the quality of work and of the people themselves." speech-bubble-piece
      michael-keferl
      Michael Keferl Entrepreneur
    • "Finding work as a freelance creator can be a difficult task. Canvas has proved to be a very valuable tool that has helped me make several valuable connections, including my current biggest client." speech-bubble-piece
      said-karlsson
      Said Karlsson Photographer
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Check out some of our
other projects

Let's talk about working together!

Tell us a little about your business and what you'd like to achieve. We'll be in touch to follow up as soon as we can!