Azul 7 has hired Paul Armstrong as technology development lead. His web experience includes two years at space150 and over three years as a web designer and developer for the University of Minnesota’s Student Union and Activities office. Paul has a B.A. in new media communications studies and a minor in art from the University of Minnesota.

Blogimal: Kangaroo. Interesting Fact: I can write with my toes (or maybe scribble). Browser of Choice: Firefox, baby Program that is Always Open: Outlook Daily Grind: Gmail, CNN, Basecamp, Harvest, and azul7 (promotional wink wink) Best Site on the Web: azul7.com, obviously. (I really can't think of an answer for this) Worst Site on the Web: hamsterdance.com (Hoopdang! that's bad)

Blogimal: Snow Monkey, I think? I'm pretty sure people only call it that because we're in Minnesota, if we were in California it'd be called a Sun Monkey. What's with all the regional weather discrimination anyway? Interesting Fact: Sometimes my car does not start ten minutes at a time, but I make good use of the time… I call friends and family. Browser of Choice: Used the most out of habit: Safari. Boy this question sounds serious though, like “weapon of choice”, choose your browser wisely… Program that is Always Open: Entourage (my 2nd favorite TV show) Daily Grind: azul7.com , duh. Oh, and Google, just once in awhile. Best Site on the Web: I can't honestly commit to a “best”, I think the digital and interactive landscape is changing so rapidly it's almost impossible to pick the best. The best this month might be 3rd best next month. Worst Site on the Web: tampax.com (Honestly, sideways navigation makes me want to puke.)

Blogimal: Bunny Rabbit, but I don't know if that is really the best fit for me. I wanted to be a fox or a unicorn, but Liina would not let me be a unicorn because SHE does not believe them to be real. Interesting Fact: I was born on the summer solstice when the sun reached its highest point in the sky, resulting in the longest day of the year. Browser of Choice: Foxfire with 7 to 27 tabs open at all times. Program that is Always Open: Photoshop, Illustrator, iTunes, macMail, iCal and Adium Daily Grind: Yahoo, Gmail, You Tube (the world must watch Charlie The Unicorn), ABC (who needs a TV), Facebook, Facebook Mind Jolt Games, QBN, Wells Fargo and Lynda(so I can nerd out) Best Site on the Web: See above it is mainly the sites that I use everyday. Worst Site on the Web: This is hard, there are so many, but I would have to say MySpace because it is so prevalent. I knows me so Ugly. How do you know if your website sucks fill out the Does Your Web Site Suck? Checklist.

Blogimal: Don't know? It better not be a hyena. Interesting Fact: I once had a mustache. I wish that I still had it. Browser of Choice: Safari/Webkit Nightlies Program that is Always Open: Terminal & iTunes Daily Grind: scribbls and forecast.weather (weather is nice) Best Site on the Web: It's a tie: hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet.com or scribbls.com Worst Site on the Web: microsoft.com

Blogimal: Lynx. Interesting Fact: Hmm. I am a total geek. Browser of Choice: Mozilla Firefox Program that is Always Open: Mozilla Firefox Daily Grind: Google, Facebook, DailyPuppy and CNN. Best Site on the Web: Anything google does. Email, docs, calendar by Google Worst Site on the Web: MySpace

Blogimal: Birdie Interesting Fact: I love pumpkin pie (If it is pumpkin, I generally love it - minus pumpkin lattes. That is just nonsense.) Browser of Choice: 50% Firefox - 50% Safari Program that is Always Open: Mozilla Firefox Daily Grind: Daily: NyTimes, Startribune, Youtube, and Google At least once a week LinkedIn, Plaxo, Twitter, Wellsfargo and Huffingtonpost.com Best Site on the Web: Wellsfargo.com (online bill pay and all my accounts are in one place-LOVE IT) Worst Site on the Web: All governments sites out there (except careeronestop.com of course)

Blogimal: Peacock Interesting Fact: I was born in San Francisco - Haight Ashbury to hippy parents. Browser of Choice: Firefox Program that is Always Open: Outlook, Harvest, Word, Excel (lame, I know) Daily Grind: Harvest, Basecamp, GMail, and Netscape Some faves (not daily) - youtube, ebay, thriftyhipster, and reverbnation Best Site on the Web: barackobama.com Worst Site on the Web: johnmccain.com

Blogimal: Meerkat Interesting Fact: Grew up in the town of Blue Earth which is in Fairbault County, when the city of Fairbault is in County but Mankato is in Blue Earth County. Browser of Choice: WebKit nightly builds Program that is Always Open: There are a lot of them: WebKit, TextMate, Apple Mail, Adium, iTunes, Twitterific and Last.fm is always running so you can music stalk me. And when my computer just isn't running slow enough, I open Photoshop. Daily Grind: Google Reader is open all day. Best Site on the Web: The "Blog" of Unnecessary Quotation Marks quotation-marks.blogspot.com Regret the Error regrettheerror.com Worst Site on the Web: Any site not designed by Azul 7 (natch)

Blogimal: Porcupine Interesting Fact: I made my own 200 serving wedding cake with my husband! Browser of Choice: Safari Program that is Always Open: Photoshop Daily Grind: CNN, Communication Arts, Facebook, and Martha Stewart ( I know, very embarrassing) Best Site on the Web: Google and Blurb Worst Site on the Web: MySpace Pages - too much freedom for people to use bad fonts and color combinations

Blogimal: Husky. Interesting Fact: I have dual citizenship with the US and Ireland due to a distant relationship. Browser of Choice: Firefox - because of the developer tools - but I want Chrome for the Mac. Program that is Always Open: Quicksilver is always open in the background, even when there are no programs open, but I usually have Firefox and Mail open too. Daily Grind: I am always looking up a solution to a problem, or learning something new, using Google. And I have to have a tab open to the NY Times. Best Site on the Web: My favorite sites aggregate other useful information from the web. For example, I've come to rely on Lifehacker.com for cool tips about getting things done. And there's nothing like getting lost in a chain of someone else's favorite sites at ma.gnolia.com. Worst Site on the Web: Back when I was a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (don't tell anyone), the most-hated and most-needed site was the Microsoft technical solutions website (technet.microsoft.com). They had all the answers we needed every day, but you couldn't FIND them using the search tools. All the geeks used Google to search the site. Worst, you had to use IE - the site was broken for most other browsers.

Blogimal: Barracuda Interesting Fact: I am from Texas. Like big hats and guns. Browser of Choice: Firefox Program that is Always Open: Outlook and Firefox Daily Grind: MarketWatch Best Site on the Web: MarketWatch Worst Site on the Web: …

Blogimal: Octopus… I chose my blogimal because I figured an octopus sprays ink… writers use ink… and, of course, the eight slimy tenticles that we have in common. I hide them well. Interesting Fact: …She forgot that she is not a Octopus but Septopus. Browser of Choice: I tend to alternate between Internet Explorer and Mozilla. Program that is Always Open: Hands down, Microsoft Word. If they could just provide me with a freakin' dictionary, my life as a writer would be complete. But no. Instead, I have to rely on the thesaurus, which isn't even that great. Take that, MS Word! Daily Grind: There are too many to list! Let's see… I'm addicted to spoilerfix.com (anxiously awaiting the next Lost spoiler! Yes, I also read the ends of books first), people.com, cnn.com, and sometimes foxnews.com if I want to entertain myself with the overly-dramatized version of a story. I use Wikipedia more times a day that I could ever count… Adsoftheworld.com, adage.com, oh, I also like to torture myself by hitting up travelzoo.com and looking at all the trips I can't afford! And, who could go more than a few days without checking facebook? Best Site on the Web: I <3 Google (apparently, enough for me to type <3, which is nothing short of ridiculous). Especially when they have new illustrations for their icon. You know, the ones that correspond to the day? Like a few weeks ago, it was teddy bear day. I would never have known if it weren't for Google. When I think of all the teddy bears that might have suffered… Worst Site on the Web: Any website that I can't figure out how to navigate. If a sudoku puzzle were to suddenly transform into a website, it'd be this one: bbdo.com

Azul 7 has been recognized by the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal as one of the Twin Cities' Best Places to Work. The award was given based on responses to a confidential survey by Azul 7 employees. "We're a young, quickly growing company with all the joys and tribulations that growth brings," said Chris Cortilet, principal and co-founder. "To be recognized as a great place to work affirms that we are creating the kind of culture that we intended to create". Azul 7 will be officially recognized along with the other honorees at a luncheon in September.

(click the image to start the presentation. Quicktime is required. You can download Quicktime here) Lisa Helminiak gave this presentation to the Saint Paul Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, October 2 2008. You can also download the presentation in Powerpoint format.

It's primal. You feel it in your gut. Simply put, there are just some things that look freakin' good.

I found this blog excerpt on the Ad Age website and was, needless to say, shocked:

Coca-Cola's New Drink Fountain Is a Gusher

Welcome to As The Platform Fills, a series reporting on the latest sightings, observances, and events taking place right here — outside our office — in downtown Minneapolis overlooking the Nicollet Mall Light Rail Platform. The lives we observe are complex. The dramas we record are real. Things get weird. Stay tuned for more real platform action. #17: Diet Coke and Key, 50th Street / Minnehaha Falls Station, 9:02 AM It was a cool, brisk morning as I hurried to catch the train. I was late to work and feeling a bit like a loser, although glad that my lateness would save me fifty cents. Reveling in this small pleasure, I approached the platform's pay kiosk. Then I saw it. They sat as a pair at the base of the metal support beam, like some kind of mystery clue: an open can of Diet Coke and a very small silver key.  

My breath caught in the base of my throat. Not in fear, but excitement. Wonder. Confusion. Then, panic! Did I have my camera? No. But I had my trusty cell phone, a white Sanyo Katana. And while it's no iPhone (which I'm okay with) and sounds like a clicky makeup compact when you close it, it does have a built-in camera. I snuck it out of my black pleather purse — more of an oversized bag, really, $35 from Aldo — and flipped it open. A couple nonchalant button-pushes later and I've got it recorded. Relief. Now, what is this about? While the two objects are placed near each other, maybe they have nothing to do with each other. But they might have everything to do with each other. Or am I just paranoid? Knowing the Republican National Convention is in town has everyone on guard, so that might be the source of my suspicion. But others have agreed, this Diet Coke and key thing is just weird. The key is what really gets me. It's as if someone placed it there and wants us to figure out what it's for. Any ideas?

As a new designer at Azul 7, I have found myself spending a lot of quality time with Pantone^® swatches – choosing just the right hue, in the right value, with the right saturation to fit the brand of a given company. This of course got me thinking about color and how it often times communicates an emotion or idea better than words ever could. Then, somewhere between Warm Red U and 431 U, I began to wonder what my day would look like if told it through the eyes of Pantone® colors. Could it possibly be the beginning of a secondary color palette for Azul 7?

Many moons ago I found myself walking down a narrow, crowded street in Brussels. Brussels is a vast city full of mixed cultures stemming from the Dutch, Belgian and, of course, the French. We all know what they say about the French.

I was a youngster at the time, about 19 years-old, fresh out of my first year at the University of Minnesota. At the time, I was an aspiring broadcast-journalist. I wanted to absorb all of the diverse culture I would encounter in my voyage across the pond. My home in Europe was the one and only - the home of Anne Frank, a never-ending chain of canals, windmills, tulips, red lights and those ridiculously funny looking shoes. Yes, oh yes, Amsterdam.

Contrary to popular belief, Amsterdam has much more to offer than just coffee shops, women, thick dark beer and euthanasia. But, only in Brussels do you see the Dutch and French butting heads and challenging each other to see who can be the most inappropriate. Only in Brussels would I find the most outrageous form of advertising. In my voyage, it became clear that Western Europeans are not afraid to show naked bodies and use profanities and drugs. There is nothing but honesty – sugar coating is absent and unheard of.

I peered up at a brightly lit advertisement in a store window. I did not take a double take, not a triple take, but a quadruple take. That's right. Had I sat at that coffee shop too long? Because I swear that sign says… (insert your favorite curse phrase consisting of f!%$ing h$ll).

That was the single most eye-catching advertisement I had ever seen! How many times do you look at a banner ad four times? How many billboards have made your jaw drop? At the time, I had no clue that three years later I would be working for a digital media/advertising agency.

Today I look back at this moment and consider how censorship impacts advertising and society on various levels throughout different countries. In the U.S., we would never use profanities to attract professional attention because we are a society driven by political correctness. It is a commonality throughout the U.S. that the media must avoid offending any person on any level. Are people really offended or harmed by the use of profanities and nudity or is the nation, as a whole, a little too sensitive? Consequently, does this sensitivity hinder or help society? It is as if through this “principle” of political correctness we create our own version of a naïve bubble-cushioned reality.

It is essential to point out that this meticulous censorship does not only impact advertising strategies, but also journalism. For example, I once attended a lecture given by a photographer for a well-known Minneapolis-based newspaper. He was in Iraq when an Iraqi family got blown up in a land mine. One small boy survived with critical limb injuries. The boy's legs were gone. There was nothing but blood and tears. This was all captured by the photographer. The photographer was determined to have these photos in full color on the front page of the newspaper. But, they were not. Instead, the photos were cropped, faded to black and white and put on page 7.

Media, specifically journalism, is supposed to be society's gatekeeper. News organizations are supposed to be bi-partisans reporting the truth and facts. But, how can this happen if our culture is so sensitive to the brutality that honesty may bring?

History and media coincide with one another as our media tactics and tendencies have evolved over time. Events in American history have dictated a large part of our media's characteristics as the media consistently reached turning points as the nation did.

(Please note that it is not only in the U.S. where such censorship is found. But, there is stark contrast between censorship in the U.S. and Western European countries as mentioned.)

Censorship impacts our perception, knowledge and awareness. It may prevent personal offense, but it ultimately neglects society because it deters media from relaying the truth and demonstrating honesty.

After a month in Europe I became accustomed to the bluntness of the culture. It was something short of culture shock to return to the bubble cushion that is the U.S. Perhaps it is all perception, everyone's perception is different and every perception is questionable. But, it is these varied perceptions that create the necessary discussion to mold the future of our media's landscape.

So, let's butt heads (oops, can I say butt?).

Being a designer is a full time job – and by full time job I mean 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. One's inner designer can never be turned off, no matter how heroic the attempt to ignore it. Each and every thing - from the Chinese take out menu on your refrigerator to the pattern on your sister's tank top - triggers some sort of designerly critique. You can call it whatever you want - designer's insomnia, the designer zombie, designer intuition, or just plain observation - but you can't make it go away.

In many ways a designer's ability to constantly absorb visual inspiration is a great asset, but for every spark of creative mojo that comes my way, there is always a counterpart that ruins a perfectly good conversation with friends or romantic moment with a loved one. What follows is my most recent account of the many ways my inner designer has tried to sabotage my life outside of work:

The Ice Cream Incident

A few weeks ago I spent the evening walking around one of our city's great lakes with some friends. We stopped for ice cream afterwards, and that is when the trouble started. My eyes became affixed to the pattern on my sister's tank top. I couldn't keep myself from staring rudely at her chest, trying to decipher where I had seen the pattern before. Was it one of the pages from Owen Jones' Grammar of Ornament? Or had I seen it on the website of a restaurant I recently visited? I could not wrap my mind around where this familiar pattern was haunting me from, and in a moment of frustration I finally blurted out "WHERE is that pattern from!?". I was completely zoned in to my sister's shirt, and equally zoned out of the conversation the rest of my friends were engaged in. Naturally, I didn't realize that my call of distress came at a most inopportune moment in the conversation. Silence followed, along with some blank stares and laughs. How could I have missed out entirely on what my friend was talking about because of some pattern on my sister's shirt? Was the origin of this graphic subconsciously more important that what my friends had to say? Doubtful. But how do I explain my deep frustration over this pattern to an actuary, teacher, and event coordinator? After an unsuccessful attempt, a few sighs, and shaking heads the interrupted conversation continued. Secretly, my mind still searched and searched for the source of the pattern.

Weeks later, I still have not completely figured out where I recognized the pattern from. I have spent many wasteful hours searching the internet and racking my brain for an answer, but still haven't gotten to the source. What I have learned is that the pattern is Persian in nature and based on a geometric system. Yes, a similar pattern is illustrated in the Grammar of Ornament (see above), but it's not a dead ringer. So….if anyone has seen this pattern and can identify its origin…PLEASE…help my put my inner designer to rest!