Armadillo Studios Inc.

Does your campaign site know it’s audience?

This post has been re-posted from Armadillo’s President’s personal web site as it touches upon a subject that we’re currently very interested in. We hope you enjoy this post and if you have any questions feel free to contact us at any time.

Better yet, are you designing for voters or your candidate?

I’ve said this numerous times, but the world of political campaign web site design is a niche market that seems to be years behind current trends. And while I’ve raged on the issues in other “personal posts”: personal posts, one of the biggest underlying issues with political web design is that there tends to be an “incredible lack of focus”:http://www.ctoverdrive.ca/article/1014/tips-for-building-a-great-municipal-campaign-site on who the audience of these sites really are. And even though it’s an off year in most political circles, there are still a handful of newly minted municipal campaign web sites that are missing the mark. (Read More…)

Lending A Hand To Feed Calgary’s Homelessness with Grow Calgary

A few months ago, good friends of mine were all a buzz about a new project that was making the rounds of the Calgary social network-o-sphere called “Grow Calgary”:http://www.growcalgary.com.

GrowCalgary.ca

From the brainchild of Calgary-based food advocate “Paul Hughes”:http://paulin8.blogspot.ca/, Grow Calgary’s goal is to take unused provincial land and through the generosity of Calgarians “transform it into 100,000 pounds of fresh vegetables for the cities’ less fortunate”:http://www.growcalgary.ca/. To say it is an ambitious plan is an understatement, but if there is a city that could pull it off, Calgary is the one. (Read More…)

Two New Blogs To Kick-off the Summer Months

The old Armadillo Blog has been rather quiet the past comple of months, as I put some of the finishing touches on a massive redesign of our web site and the finishing touches on a couple of campaign sites for the upcoming civic election in Calgary. In the meantime, I figured it would be good to do a dual post to catch-up with two really cool personal blog redesigns that were launched over the past two months for two incredibly smart entrepreneurs. Those sites of course are the redesign of “Leah Lawrence’s personal blog”:http://www.leahlawrence.ca/ and the redesign of Sarah Blue’s Get Mommy Some Gin. (Read More…)

Stampede Wallpapers 2013: #WeAreCalgary Edition

Every July since 2009, Armadillo Studios has been crafting a set of humourous wallpapers to celebrate the always endearing “Calgary Exhibition and Stampede”:http://www.calgarystampede.com/. For better or worse, The Calgary Stampede is one of the defining elements of Calgary’s culture and identity. For many of us, it’s a huge aspect of our city’s stereotype and indentity and because of which it is always ripe for some good old fashioned ribbin’. And as I have done for the past few years, early last week I put out a call for sone witty suggestions for this year’s editions of the Wallpapers. We got sone great ideas and we had come up with a few witty ones ourselves.

Then “last week happened”:http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2013/06/25/calgary-flood-economic-impact.html.

With a province and a city literally decimated by mother nature’s wrath and thousands of people looking to rebuild and regroup from the devistation, making fun of the Stampede just doesn’t seem right this year.

Now many are already debating whether or not the Calgary Stampede should actually take place this year, with less than ten days from the parade kick-off. But like the “Calgary Stampede organizing committee”:http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/calgary-stampede-will-go-ahead-come-hell-or-high-water-president-1.1339295 and “many others”:http://metronews.ca/voices/krause-encounters/717057/why-the-calgary-stampede-must-go-on/, I believe that the city needs the Stampede (in whatever capacity possible) this year more than ever. After times of disaster and crisis, communities need a rallying point. A few months ago, Boston needed the Bruins and a few years ago New Orleans rallied around the Saints. This is why at this time, the city needs the Stampede. Now for most cities, putting on something like the Stampede is a gigantic and daunting task, to do it after the largest disaster to hit the region in over a hundred years would be near impossible for most communities. But this Calgary and it’s a beautiful beast of a city.

If anyone can do this, it’s Calgary and the amazing people of this city.

So in solidarity with the rebuilding of our beloved city and the great spirt of the thousands of volunteers and people all over this province, we’ve created a special Stampede Wallpaper this year.

The Stampede… It’ll take more than an epic flood to stop this party

The Stampede… It'll take more than an epic flood to stop this party

PG-13 Version

Download: Zip File All Formats
Download: 1600 x 1200
Download: 1920 x 1200
Download: iPhone

Old Cowboy Version

Download: Zip File All Formats
Download: 1600 x 1200
Download: 1920 x 1200
Download: iPhone

*Now*, If you do decide download the wallpaper *please consider* donating to the “Canadian Red Cross on behalf of Flood victims”:http://www.redcross.ca/Donate/Donate-Online/Donate-to-the-Alberta-Floods or joining the “yycHelps.ca”:http://www.yychelps.ca/ project, spend sometime with your neighbours cleaning out or even pick-up “the Hell or High Water T-shirt”:http://store.calgarystampede.com/products/hell-or-high-water or buy “The Nenshi Bad Portraits Print”:http://badportraitproject.com/floodrelief.cfm. Let’s all band together and make rebuild this city.

*For those looking for the lighter versions* feel free to download the wallpapers from “2011”:http://www.armadillostudios.ca/stampede-wallpapers-2011-carnies-edition/ or “2012”:http://www.armadillostudios.ca/stampede-wallpapers-2012-stampede-centennial-edition/.