Are You There Social Media? It’s Me Conflict!
August 12, 2010
Last year around this time, I was luckily enough to be asked by “Alex Lemanski”:http://www.bitfyre.net/, of bitfyre fame, to partake in a panel proposal for SXSW 2010 on the meat and bones of freelancing called “Leave Your Job, Start An Agency”:http://blog.armadillostudios.ca/article/leave-your-job-start-an-agency. A year later and after a very well received SXSW panel, I am fortunate enough once again to be asked to partake in another panel proposal for SXSW 2010 called “Are You There Social Media? It’s Me Conflict!”:http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/7784
*Are You There Social Media? It’s Me Conflict* is going to be a no holds barred discussion on Social Media and it’s current role in Global Conflict. Everyone knows that social media is the _golden child_ of marketing and it’s impact on local and international business have been beaten to death, but what, if anything, is Social Media doing in the realm of International Conflict? What are the positive changes that have been implemented? Or are we looking at it’s role with rose-coloured industry glasses and maybe everything isn’t turning up as _sunshine and lollipops_ as it seems.
It’s going to be an incredibly interesting panel conversation and it’ll bring together a pretty interesting team. Including, (obviously myself):
* “Caitlin Currie”:http://www.nonresidentalien.ca – A rogue academic, a Masters Candidate at the Institute of Conflict Analysis and Resolution (ICAR), George Mason University and a contributing member of Techchange.org.
* “Lyndsie Bourgon”:http://www.lyndsiebourgon.com/tagged/portfolio – A freelance journalist who has been published in King’s Journalism Review, The Globe & Mail, The Toronto Star and Canadian Business.
* “Nick Martin”:http://www.techchange.org/index.php?/About-Us/meet-the-team.html – Who is the co-founder and president of TechChange and is a visiting professor at the United Nations University for Peace (UPEACE).
It’s going to be quite the heated and diverse conversation, *but this is where we need your help!* if you’ve got a second and do plan on attending “SXSW’11 in Austin, please log on to the panel picker”:http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/7784 and give our panel a big thumbs-up. *Voting closes on August 27th*, so be quick.
Categories: Fresh Ideas,Industry Conferences,Social Media
Louie Van Amstel’s Ballroom With A Twist Launches
August 9, 2010
Armadillo Studios is incredibly excited to announce the launch of our latest project – The Canadian tour site for “Dancing with the Stars’ Louie Van Amstel’s production of Ballroom with a Twist”:http://www.ballroomwithatwist.com.
In conjunction with Calgary’s “Event Group”:http://www.eventgroup.ca and “Innovative Events”:http://www.innovativeevents.ca/, we set out to create a unique and exciting one-stop informational site for the upcoming 2010 Canadian tour. Building off the current excitement surrounding ballroom and professional dancing, we wanted to create a design aesthetic which encompasses the passion that Louie Van Amstel brings to all of his projects. Using a combination of bold pastel colors and a variant of glowing light streams, we created a vibrant mosaic to create a sense of excitement.
As a single page site, our next goal was to utilize as much of the screen real-estate as possible to provide users with the maximum amount of information. A dual column layout provides potential concert goers with a simple introduction to Louis Van Amstel’s production with an accompanying list of the 10 Canadian dates.
Then we created three secondary sections to promote the show’s star performers – Evan Lysacek and David Hernandez – while also allowing users to sign-up for email notifications on advanced ticket sales or to share the tour with their facebook friends.
Louise Van Amstel’s Ballroom with a Twist Canadian tour is set to launch this October and we are more than excited to be a part of this unique experience.
So, if you’re a fan of Dancing with the Stars or Louise Van Amstel, now’s your chance “to see both in a city near you”:http://www.ballroomwithatwist.com.
Categories: Armadillo Studios News,Client Releases,Corporate News,WordPress
The Lazy H Ranch Project
July 22, 2010
The second of our big releases this month is a property site for “The Lazy H Ranch”:http://www.ranchforsalevail.com.
Earlier this month we were approached by Howlyn Properties to help them create a new site to showcase a “vacation ranch property for sale near beautiful Vail, Colorado”:http://www.ranchforsalevail.com. They wanted to keep with the structure of a previous property site, but build upon the structure to make it more appealing to their selling demographic and to provide key information to potential investors.
We set out to create a rustic western colour palette with dark browns and tarnished yellows for the new site. Then we imposed some _lumography photoshop elements_ on selected photos to give them a vibrant nostalgic feel – with a goal of showcasing the down-home western comfort and livability which exudes out of The Lazy H Ranch property.
The next step was to build upon the chosen site structure, by incorporating a simple jquery image slider and a fancybox gallery for the photos of the property. Each of these enhancements was developed to showcasing the lush qualities of this stunning property.
The final major enhancement to the site was to build customized Google maps which would give users a true understanding of the location of the property in relationship to amazing wealth of winter and summer activities in the Vail Valley. We built custom maps to showcase “the world class ski hills”:http://www.ranchforsalevail.com/enjoy-vails-world-class-ski-hills/ and “top notch golf courses”:http://www.ranchforsalevail.com/vail-valley-golfing/ in the area.
Over the next few weeks we will be working with Howlyn Properties and their Realtor “Team Black Bear”:http://www.teamblackbear.com, to tailor the SEO components of the new site and to help promote the property to potential investors.
It was a pleasure to work with both companies and we wish them all the best with the project.
Taylor Made Events Catering Launches For The 2010 Stampede
July 20, 2010
A few days before the 2010 Calgary Exhibition and Stampede, Karjsa Taylor of “Taylor Made Events Catering”:http://www.taylormade-events.com came to Armadillo Studios with a small conundrum. She was showcasing her new catering talents at “The ATCO Kitchen Theatre”:http://cs.calgarystampede.com/planner/event/149-taylor-made-events-catering-ftkajsa-taylor.html and needed a quick online presence to connect with potential online customers.
So cue Team Armadillo to help a new friend in need.
Within such a quick turn around time, Armadillo Studios went about creating a unique and professional branding concept for Karjsa, while developing a simple and informational splash page to promote her unique catering services. Using a soft red, rosa and brown colour palette we developed a branding for TMEC which would appeal directly to her target market. We also leveraged a couple of interesting photos of her exquisite Lamb Burgers and Karjsa herself, to connect potential customers to the catering services.
After a successful Stampede Showcase, we wish Karjsa and Taylor Made Events Catering all the best during the busy summer BBQ season.
Stampede Wallpapers 2010: Real Pancakes Edition
July 10, 2010
Being that Team Armadillo is unapologetically proud to be Calgarian, we thought it was time to do something a little special for Stampede. So what better way to celebrate the greatest outdoor show on earth, then to create a new set of Desktop Wallpapers.
So for everyone’s enjoyment here is the 2010 Edition of our Calgary Stampede wallpaper collection. (By the way these new wallpapers predominantly feature “Veer’s custom Calgary Font”:http://www.veer.com/products/typedetail.aspx?image=UMT0000326 and “GoMedia’s Western Vector Pack”:http://gomedia.us/arsenal/#set9.)
Real Pancakes contain Bacon
Download: Zip File with 1920×1200 & 1600×1200 formats
Download: 1600 x 1200
Download: 1920 x 1200
Mini Donuts… Sugary Carny Crack
Download: Zip File with 1920×1200 & 1600×1200 formats
Download: 1600 x 1200
Download: 1920 x 1200
If you have any other _slogan_ suggestions, feel free to leave a message in the comments. If they’re funny enough, we’ll make another batch of wallpapers.
*Happy Stampede Everyone*