Armadillo Studios Inc.

Eating S’Mores At Calgary’s CAMP Festival

Earlier this month, I had the chance to attend the inaugural “CAMP Festival”:http://campfestival.ca/ at Theatre Junction GRAND in my home town of Calgary. In conjunction with “FITC”:http://fitc.ca/, this conference was an intense two-day sprint session revolving around the fusion of art, technology, creativity and new media.

CAMP Festival 2014

Throughout the two days, attendees were bombarded with traditional sessions and intimate studios conversations revolving around the emergence of art within the technology and creative sectors. Talks touched upon topics such as _Design and Happiness_, _Big Redesigns, Tough Clients and a Lot of Work!_, _Designing the Future of Augmented Reality_, _Rich Web Experiences and the Future of the Web_.

It was a mind melting two days of uplifting discussion and idea generating conversations about the direction of Web Design and the Internet. Artists such as _GMUNK_, _James White_, and _Sarah Blake_ delved in to their own personal style influences and how they create unique work for clients and their own personal pet projects that have driven their artistic voice. While creative agency veterans such as _Anton Repponen_, _Irene Pereyena_, and _Kim Alpert_ shared their collective experiences dealing with the business side of the creative industry; discussion such topics as client relations, project budgeting, the art of the pitch and team planning and resource management.

CAMP Festival was a fantastic two days and a breath of fresh air into an otherwise stagnant local conference scene. The fusion of internationally renowned speakers and industry shakers with some of Calgary’s own local success stories, really created a unique experience. As an event it was fantastic opportunity to catch-up with every single one of our local friends from the the Calgary design community, meet some new friends and to hang out and discuss the topics that were shown throughout the day.

If CAMP Festival’s goals were to challenge and inspire the growing Calgary tech and creative industry, then mission accomplished. It goes without saying that pretty much all of the 330 people who attended this conference left with something inspiring or challenging to incorporate into their own business models or creative endeavours. For a first run conference of this magnitude, it was a pleasant and energizing surprise. So a massive thank you to all who was involved in the planning and organizing of CAMP Fest.

Plus they had S’Mores. Nothing beats a conference with Beer and S’Mores.

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Armadillo Studios is Officially NationBuilder Architect Approved

It is with great pleasure I get announce that after a year long courtship, Armadillo Studios Inc., is an approved member of the NationBuilder Architect program.

NationBuilder Architect Approved

For those unfamiliar, NationBuilder is one of the fastest growing and most popular Content Management Systems to hit the market in the past few years. Developed off the backs of members of Obama’s highly touted technical team, NationBuilder is an incredibly powerful web site platform for political and non-profits looking to raise money, connect with volunteers and actively engage with their user base.

NationBuilder is a software platform that combines your people database, website, and communication tools like email, text messaging, and social media—all in one. Accessible and affordable, NationBuilder helps people all over the world create more meaningful relationships. Whether you’re an author, activist, small business owner, or politician, we provide the tools to build a community around whatever it is you were meant to do.

As you can imagine the NaitonBuilder platform is a powerful tool to help candidates and organizations connect beyond the typical methods found on a normal CMS. As one can see from the work with did with Alberta MLA Steve Young, our first NationBuilder web site, the system is a powerful way to transform your site into something other than a one-way broadcasting tool.

I’m excited to add NationBuilder to the growing list of services that Armadillo Studios provides for our Business, Not-For-Profit and Political customers. If you feel that NationBuilder is a tool that might interest, send me a note at cturner@armadillostudios.ca and I’d love to chat with you about the pros and cons.

Also, I would like to give a shout out to Brendan Mulvihill of EDAHelp for his guidance with working with the NationBuilder System.

The Uselessness of Political Attack Web Sites

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.

Once again the Canadian Political world has been confronted with the always comical debate surrounding Political Ads. The recent spat over the infamous _In Over His Head_ Justin Trudeau spots and the nitty gritty provincial “battle in British Columbia”:http://blogs.canoe.ca/davidakin/bc-politics/bc-liberal-candidates-star-in-hard-hitting-anti-dix-attack-ad/ have resurrected this timeless argument. And yes, if you asked most Canadians they would tell you with no uncertainty that they despise this level of political dialogue, while secretly not wanting to admit that these tactics _can_ work like a charm. But low and behold, there is a new form of Political Attacks Ads that has quietly surfaced that is even more pathetic and lame.

That of course is the world of the dreadful _Political Attack Web Site_.

(Read More…)

Tips For Building a Great Municipal Campaign Site

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.

Where Is The 'Design' in Canadian Political Web Design?

With a slate of “municipal elections scheduled for late October”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberta_municipal_elections,_2013, upstart candidates and sitting council members across Alberta are gearing up for an intense fall campaign season. With that comes the task of putting together a campaign team, beginning the process of raising funds and also crafting a campaign brand and marketing material. But one of the most critical elements of a strong campaign is establishing an online presence with a fully functional web site. (Read More…)

Stampede Wallpapers 2011: Carnies Edition

It’s well known that Team Armadillo is unapologetically proud to be Calgarian. So with the 2011 edition of the Calgary Exhibition & Stampede officially kicking off today, we thought it was time revive our much loved *Stampede Desktop Wallpapers*.

This year we’ve kicked our designs up a notch.

Instead of two we now have four brand spanking new designs (including a Twitter design for the #yyc crowd) and we also have iPhone/iPod Touch compatible designs. Similar to last year, the designs leverage “Veer’s amazing Calgary Font”:http://www.veer.com/products/typedetail.aspx?image=UMT0000326 (Civic pride for the win?) and “GoMedia’s Western Vector Pack”:http://gomedia.us/arsenal/#set9.

So for your enjoyment here are The 2011 Armadillo Stampede Wallpapers!

Stampede Wallpaper - The ZZZZZIPPER

The zzzZipper! Built by Carnies… Held Together By Love!

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

Calgary Stampede Wallpaper 2011 - Scewdrivers at 8am.

Screwdrivers at 8am… GIDDY-UP!

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Download: 1600 x 1200
Download: 1920 x 1200
Download: iPhone

Calgary Stampede Wallpapers 2012 - Bolo Ties...

Bolo Ties… The Original Hipster Accessory!

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

#YAAAHOOO #yyc

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

*A very special thank you goes to Jamie Rennie & Louis Ducharme for their great suggestions this year. We changed them up a bit, but to thank you we’ll be send you a batch of our brand spanking new stickers!*

Happy Stampede Everyone