Québec Studio officially came to life on February 1, 2017, but the idea took root a few months earlier, around October 2016. In other words, it all started ten years ago, almost to the day. Québec Studio has changed a lot since then. Its early-days site, on the other hand, had stayed frozen in time.
Always next week
Redoing it? It stayed on my to-do list for years, scheduled for “next week.” My workbench was never empty: client projects to deliver, launches to keep an eye on, new projects at the quote stage. Let’s be honest, there are worse problems to have!
And honestly, I don’t regret it: those were the right priorities. But you know the saying: the cobbler’s children have no shoes. At some point, you have to look down at your own shoes.
My site was fine, nothing more. Not up to what I deliver to my clients. I had to do something about it.
What’s new?
Compared with the old site, here’s what changes:
- A Work section. A real portfolio, with concrete projects to show.
- Detailed services. Where the old site gave a rough idea of what I was going to offer, each service is now described concretely.
- An Extensions section. The tools I develop for Craft CMS, Statamic and Laravel, offered to the community.
- An English version. Because my extensions know no borders, and because the kid from Abitibi has plenty of ambition!
Finally something to show
The first site had a flaw I couldn’t fix without reworking its skeleton: freshly founded, the company had nothing to show yet. It described what I had accomplished in previous jobs and what I wanted to do, without being able to show it under the Québec Studio banner.
Ten years later, let’s say the portfolio has filled out: mobile apps, websites, platforms and custom tools, for businesses, municipalities and organizations. Several of these projects serve non-profits working in mental health and suicide prevention, a cause very close to my heart. I’m thinking of Okérico for the farming community, RÉSO for young people and the not-so-young, Pivo-T in Témiscamingue and the Réseau des éclaireurs du Nord-du-Québec. And how could I not mention MédiAT, one of the finest media showcases in the region, which highlights local talent on the web as well as in its app.
These projects now have their showcase in the Work section, and I’m genuinely proud of it.
Two hats
My role has evolved too. My friend Jean-Gabriel Cauchon once needed my services for a project at Columel, his company. The synergy worked so well that I now split my time between Columel and Québec Studio.
Wearing two hats means making choices. And you know what? That’s an excellent thing. When a project deserves more than one pair of eyes, I know exactly who to team up with.
Better-defined services
Wearing two hats led me to narrow my offer down to what I do best: custom programming in PHP, Laravel, Craft CMS and Statamic. The new site shows it, with a page for each of my services… games included. Yes, games! The kid who dreamed of making them is finally living that dream through Québec Studio. And that’s pure joy, level 99.
This site is a lab where I put original ideas to the test. What works will serve future projects. The rest will become great anecdotes… that only programmers will appreciate.
The site also makes room for extensions for Craft CMS, Statamic and Laravel. What I develop for my own projects, I publish, because it deserved to be known and used. This site will also serve as a test bed for my next extensions: I put them to the test here first, and when one of them seems useful to others, it heads to the plugin stores. Isn’t that wonderful!
The credits… but not the end
Every fresh start comes with a story. And this decade-long story wasn’t written by me alone. Thank you first to my loved ones, who believed in it from the start… or who took a little longer to believe in it, and that’s perfectly fine. Thank you to my clients, from the very first to today’s, for their trust and their projects. Thank you as well to my valued partners, with whom every project becomes greater than the sum of its parts.
And thank you to those who doubted (if there were any): you gave me a great opportunity to prove you wrong!
Thank you to my mother, Isabelle, who wanted to make sure from the start that everything was well thought out and buttoned up, knowing full well what her one and only offspring was capable of. She’s always been there for the pep talks, to celebrate the wins and, of course, for the bookkeeping rescues.
Thank you as well to Geneviève, who was there from the very beginning: without her, I would never have been game to launch this adventure. I’ll always be grateful to her.
Thank you to Jean-Guy for the pat on the back and the invaluable advice.
Thank you as well to Manon, first a client, then a partner and finally a friend: together, we kicked down the doors of the impossible, refusing to let obstacles hold back our ambitions. The great trust she placed in me still moves me deeply today.
Thank you to Élisabeth, my very first client: her project was the trigger that convinced me to leave the agency I’d been working at for a few years and take the leap.
Thank you to Bobby, who came to lend a hand during the great rush to digital, while the rest of the world was on pause.
Thank you to François, my favourite city councillor, but a friend first, for putting his shoulder to the wheel on some tricky files, and for those ultra-technical conversations only the two of us understood… which often led to simple solutions to complex problems.
Thank you to Christine for the long talks about projects we didn’t yet know were possible, for her listening ear and for her unwavering friendship, even through the rougher times.
Thank you to Jean-Gabriel for the new challenges. Big things are coming, and these two small-town guys have some great surprises in store for the world!
Thank you to my girlfriend, Marie-Pier, who listened to me go over the whole Québec Studio story again and again while I was designing this new site. I know, I sometimes repeat myself, but you have a gift for not pointing it out too much… and I find that adorable.
Last but not least, a very special thank-you to Francis Caron of EtHop Studio: my partner in crime from day one, the artist who made several of my projects shine, a friend, and the person I most enjoy venting with when times get tough.
Enjoy your visit!
I hope that, as you explore this site, you’ll get a clearer picture of how Québec Studio can help your business or organization.
Got an idea that doesn’t exist yet? You know where to find me. Not sure Québec Studio is the right partner for your project? Let’s talk. And for everything else, there’s nothing a quick hello can’t fix ;-)
Richard, web craftsman · git commit -m "10 years"