Still Going Strong - Accent Design

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Dec 23, 2015 - to add mobile app development .... add. The existing website was developed using WordPress and we ... bes
The Accent Bake Off - Take 2!

Green in Colour We started working with Greentours Natural History Holidays back in 1991, producing their first double-sided A4 flyers...

October saw the return of the Accent Bake Off in the studio. After the success of last year’s...

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Sit Back, Relax & Reminisce We have been working with the Hospital Arts Project for over 10 years and in that time have...

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WINTER 2015

The studio back in 1993

Still Going Strong accentdesign.co.uk Twitter @accentdesign facebook.com/AccentDesign

£ FREE

Amazingly, for me at least, 2015 was Accent’s 25th year of business, but a bit like my own 50th birthday, we chose not to make too much of a song and dance about it. I think the truth of the matter is that we were just too busy, still moving forward with a wealth of new and diverse projects, including our first published mobile app

Introducing Ben P.3

and the design & installation of a 1950s reminiscence room for the hospital. Anyway, here we are a quarter century down the road and still going strong – we must be doing something right. In this year’s newsletter, we take a brief look back over the last 25 years, give the usual overview of some of the projects we’ve been working on. Dave gives

This Year’s Projects P.4-5

the low-down on website user authentication – which could be very relevant to a lot of our clients with new EU General Data Protection Regulations coming into effect next year. And we also introduce you to new-boy Ben, who then gives an insight into his specialism - the world of Interaction Design. I hope that you enjoy our annual round-up

and may I take this opportunity to wish you and your families a very happy Christmas and a healthy & prosperous 2016.

Interaction Design is... P.7

Accent

ACCENT | WINTER 2015

Accent Design -

The Team

GEOFF SOMNER MANAGING DIRECTOR

TIM DONHOU PROJECT MANAGER

CRAIG VINCENT SENIOR PROGRAMMER

BEN HALL DEVELOPER

NICK THOMPSON DEVELOPER

DAVE FULLER DIRECTOR

SALLY ANDREWS PRODUCTION MANAGER

The First 25 Years Back in 1983, when computers needed dust-free environments and punched cards seemed like a reasonable way of storing data, Geoff Somner moved to Norwich to study Computer Science at UEA...

JOE TAYLOR CREATIVE

LEON BRETT PROGRAMMER

Give us a call on 01603 766062

accentdesign.co.uk

Creatively frustrated, Geoff started Accent in 1990 as a computerbased service to design studios – when only a few of the larger agencies actually owned computers. With a grant from the Prince’s Youth Business Trust of £6,000, Accent purchased a second hand Macintosh II FX with 4Mb RAM, an 80Mb hard disk and a 14” colour screen. Heady times! After a year working from home, Geoff moved into a small office on Upper St Giles, sharing with a design company. After a successful time there, the ensemble moved into the studio on St Benedicts in 1992 and spent several years sharing the space with a number of symbiotic companies. Accent continued to grow, moving into computer training, taking on its first members of staff, offering a complete design service and began working for the likes of Kettle Foods and Greentours. Then in 1997, when it was finally

STUART GEORGE PROGRAMMER

Accent Design Group Ltd, Adam & Eve Yard, 94b St Benedicts Street, Norwich NR2 4AB

After three years of hard work and learning to play pool, Geoff graduated and stayed on at UEA as a Research Associate. Whilst being the programmer of the research team, Geoff did manage to get his name on a couple of scientific papers, but an interest in design was already showing through and he was found designing logos at lunchtimes rather than playing computer games with the rest of the team.

Geoff was featured in the Eastern Daily Press in July 1990

1990

Accent shared the studio with other creative agencies back in 1992

accepted that the Internet could be used for commercial purposes, the company expanded into website design. Accent was one of the first companies in Norwich to offer web design and the service, along with the team, soon grew to include database driven websites and bespoke software systems, winning contracts with the likes of the Norfolk Constabulary and the Learning & Skills Council. Dave joined the team in 1999 to bring web development to the next level, Sally joined us in 2001 to bring some organisation to the company and Tim came along in 2004 as a Junior Designer. We finally took over the whole

How the Accent website looked back in 1999

1991

1992

Twitter @accentdesign facebook.com/AccentDesign

Photography by Fuller Photography

www.fullerphotography.co.uk

Accent starts working with Greentours on their A4 tour flyers

Accent gets its first ‘portable’ computer

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WINTER 2015 | ACCENT

The Accent Bake Off Take 2! Next page: This Year’s Projects

studio in 2005 and Craig joined us in 2007 as our first full-time programmer. The web team grew with Leon heading up a

Accent takes over the whole studio in 2005

new batch of developers as we needed to cover more specialisms and we took on larger and more prestigious projects for clients such as Agency Express, Sixteen47 and the Association of Police & Crime Commissioners. To secure that growth we made Dave a Director of the company in 2014 – and revamped the studio to allow the team to grow a little bit more, finally bringing in Nick, Stuart and this year Ben to bring the team up to 10.

Introducing Ben With the intention of reinforcing our in-house front end development skills we added Ben to the Accent team back in June. On the “factory floor”, it’s Ben’s primary responsibility to take our designers beautiful web work and find a way to build it in HTML, CSS and Javascript. He has a great eye for the little details and is also super keen on finding ways to marry striking aesthetics with high levels of usability. Between work and studying, in the little free time Ben has he likes to snowboard, evangelise about/play far too many videogames, hit his drums in a cheesy rock covers band, and write opinionated nonsense for his blog.

So what does the future hold? Moving forward, we aim to keep our core services of high quality design and production for print, exhibitions and websites, but also to add mobile app development to the list and to look at bigger non-web-based software projects. We may see some further expansion, but will still aim to keep Accent as the tight, flexible team that our clients appreciate.

25 Years 25 Miles

Accent starts working with small local crisp company

1994

Accent becomes first to offer large format printing in Norwich

After the success of last year’s event, we were hoping to raise even more money for Cancer Research this year. The competition in the studio was fierce, with everyone upping their baking game. Once again, we had an amazing response from clients and the local community. It was great to chat to clients over a cuppa and a slice of cake. Everyone’s generosity was incredible and in total we raised over £400. Geoff was controversially crowned Star Baker with his Sweet Potato & Goats Cheese Samosas and Anchovy & Sun-dried Tomato Breadsticks. You can find his recipe in aisle 8 at Waitrose on our website.

Nick, Joe and Dave took part in the British Heart Foundation Norwich 25 mile bike ride back in May. It was a great event for the team to be involved with despite the early start and battling the wind and the rain. There were a few tea and cake stops along the way, but every member of Team Accent crossed the finish line at Norwich Cathedral.

The studio gets revamped in 2014

1993

October saw the return of the Accent Bake Off in the studio.

1995

Accent starts working with Autopage on corporate stationery and brochures

1996

1997

Accent launch their first ever website for Longday Foods

This Year’s Projects

ACCENT | WINTER 2015

Vanilla But Certainly Not Plain Vanilla Electronics are a local company with a National and International client base. After producing some printed literature for Vanilla some years back, the company approached Accent to design and develop a new website. The brief was to design a site

which is informative of their products and services and also showcase their brand giving current and potential clients an opportunity to discover more about Vanilla Electronics.

vanillaelectronics.com

Meet the Meet Market

Green in Colour The Meet Market is an event facilitated by The Outsiders Consultants that supports business start-up and encourages social responsibility by bringing business, charities and schools together as traders. Accent was challenged to create a brand identity for this

engaging project. The final identity combines briefcase and market stall elements which represent the brand and the event perfectly. The logo was rolled out for use on the web and other marketing communications. It is great working with Nick and Oz at The Outsiders, and being a part of the fantastic work they do.

If I had designed this logo, I would’ve shown everyone, then gone down the pub. NICK LITTLE - THE OUTSIDERS

1998

1999

Accent starts working with Young’s on packaging design

Accent buys its first iMac

We started working with Greentours Natural History Holidays back in 1991, producing their first double-sided A4 flyers for just a handful of tours. 24 years on and both Greentours and Accent have grown, as has our relationship, with Accent now producing not only their annual tour brochure (now for 76 tours) but also developing and hosting their website. This year’s brochure is significant as it marks a move to full colour throughout. The stunning range of photography we see for the brochure year on year has always been present and has been maximised on the cover shots over the

2000

years. With the inner pages moving to colour production we re-designed these to maximise the impact of the spectacular colour photography. These really highlight the benefits of touring with Greentours, bringing the stunning images to individual tours and throughout the brochure.

Applying our print knowledge and design skills came to the fore for this year’s brochure. By reducing the number of pages, alongside re-structuring the page layout throughout, we were able to give every tour the space needed within the brochure. The design ensured details for each tour were clear, concise and supported by those glorious images. The colour brochure has been incredibly well received by customers and we look forward to next year’s brochure and new round of images.

2001

2002

Accent starts working with Norfolk Essential Oils on their ecommerce website

Dave joins the team as Web Designer

Sally joins as Studio Manager

Accent starts working with Spectra Masterbatch on Flashbased website

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WINTER 2015 | ACCENT

Police ICT Next page: Sit Back, Relax & Reminisce

This year has seen us embark on a new relationship with the Westminster based Police ICT Company. The Police ICT Company supports law enforcement agencies in making the best use of technology to deliver efficient and effective policing across England and Wales. Working closely with the company’s UX designer we developed and built a website to introduce the company, its remit and its services. We also brought together a hosting solution to match high security requirements and traffic

levels. Administrators of the site have access to edit site content, upload documents and publish events. The website has received a positive response from police authorities and the public alike. Accent has continued to work closely with The Police ICT Company and we are currently planning and developing a secure online knowledge hub, featuring a bespoke content management system, multi-factor authentication and secure hosting solution.

ict.police.uk

I’ve worked with Accent on several projects and have consequently built up a trusting relationship with them due in no small part to the team’s professionalism, creative thinking and solution-providing approach. I’m delighted to be working with them again on our new project. ANNA HORNE - POLICE ICT

We could hardly be happier with the result, and it has been received with abundant praise from our customers who love the new fresh look. IAN GREEN - CO-FOUNDER, GREENTOURS

The Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures recently appointed Accent to redevelop their website. Areas of the front of site required extending and some redesign, but the key aim of the project was to create a content management system (CMS) that was easier to use and with increased functionality to cover new types of content that they wished to add. The existing website was developed using WordPress

Greentours through the ages

2003

Accent works with Norfolk Constabulary on establishing web presence

Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures

2004

Tim joins the team as Designer/ Artworker

2005

and we chose to continue with WordPress, but to completely rebuild the site in a far more efficient way, using a completely bespoke theme and developing our own plugins to simplify and extend its functionality. The final site includes English and Japanese versions, all controlled through WordPress with separate access to translators where required.

sainsbury-institute.org new site launching in the new year

2006

Accent starts work on rebrand of Signs Express

Craig joins the team as Programmer

Online Event Management Through our connections in healthcare, Accent was approached by Event Management Direct (EMD), a Sheffield-based company that organises and manages major events in Anaesthesia and Healthcare - with a brief to create an online events booking system. Initial analysis looked at existing off-the-peg solutions, but it soon became clear that a bespoke system would be required to fulfill all of the requirements. After working with EMD to plan the functionality of the system, Accent has developed an online booking system that allows EMD to define and manage multi-day events for multiple hosts and delegate types, with bookable workshops, meals and extra curricula activities.

The system allows complex online bookings and allows for offline and online payments through Paypal. Delegates are given their own event dashboard, from which they can download resources and individual timetables, give post event feedback and download their personalised professional development certificates. The system also allows for automated notifications and personalised email messaging, automated event self-check-in and provides pre- and post-event reports for the organisers.

Articles

ACCENT | WINTER 2015

Sit Back, Relax & Reminisce

grants, charitable donations and various fundraising activities. BY JOE TAYLOR

We have been working with the Hospital Arts Project for over 10 years and in that time have designed and produced leaflets, brochures, information panels and greeting cards. The Hospital Arts Project provides positive health care settings and environments for patients at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital. These important projects are funded by

After a very positive reaction to the designs we produced for the cardiology unit earlier in the year, we were tasked with creating a 1950s reminiscence day room. The day room is situated on the Holt Ward and its staff care for patients in their senior years, some of whom are suffering from dementia. The room had to follow a 1950s theme and be a welcoming, calm and homely environment for patients to relax, reminisce, watch TV and socialize. It was important for the room to feel like an escape from the hospital ward. Many of the hospital’s dementia patients are in their 90s and the room was designed to evoke memories and spark conversations. Staff and patients were thrilled with the outcome, and the new

2007

2008

Accent starts working with Agency Express on brochures and advertising

Accent starts working with Triton

use of the room is a welcome addition to the Holt Ward. The bespoke wallpaper has a very loose illustration style giving contrast to the physical items within the room. Items printed on the wallpaper include a 1950s fireplace surround, a stylized cupboard and books, curtains and a pin board complete with images from the 1950s bringing back memories of days at the seaside and evenings at the cinema. We had help from various sources with many people willing to get involved in this exciting project. Jonathan Plunkett provided some of the photos included on the pin board. His father George, who was cared for in his later years at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital had built up a large portfolio of images he had taken between 1931 and 2006, years before we all had cameras on our smartphones

with Snapchat and Instagram. Once Jonathan heard about our project he was more than happy to help, and let us use some of his dad’s photos. If you are interested in the history of Norwich, take a look at www.georgeplunkett.co.uk. The wallpaper is finished at the top with a classic picture rail, very common in a 1950s living room.

of designing and planning. We hope the patients enjoy using it as much as we enjoyed designing it.

New and original items were sourced to dress the room including original books and a 1950s sideboard, maps of local interest, games, and even a retro TV (with hidden dvd player showing footage from the 1950s!). Teal who specialize in furniture for healthcare environments provided the furniture to suit the environment.

Accent Design once again, exceeded all expectations. The working process was smooth and professional. The Memory Room on Holt Ward is an unusual and exceptional room and is our foremost example of a best quality patient care environment. Accent’s attention to detail was second to none.

2009

2010

Accent designs website for Vanilla Electronics

It was great to attend the opening of the day room and seeing it finally being used after months

EMMA JARVIS HOSPITAL ARTS PROJECT

2011

Joe joins the team as Designer

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WINTER 2015 | ACCENT

Interaction Design is… BY BEN HALL

At first glance, great software and websites are made up of two distinct elements; aesthetically pleasing visual design and high levels of functionality. Obviously, the goal for designers and developers is to produce systems and sites that are intuitive and pleasurable to use. But it is not a matter of simply plucking a big dollop from a barrel of ‘Great Design’ and welding it on to the side of a collection of functions. Visuals and functionality affect one another. And also, and possibly most importantly of all, there are users to consider. They have expectations (both known to them as well as unknown) of how things should work, and they experience frustration when these expectations aren’t met. When a user is engaging with a website or a software package there is a conversation, or a dialogue, that is occurring between the user and the interactive product in question that needs to be carried out to complete the specific tasks that, as designers & developers, we wish the user to perform. Understanding the context and the various elements that affect this dialogue is key. To consider all this can be somewhat overwhelming at times. There is an ideology that tries to make sense of all

this head-spinningness in the shape of Interaction Design (ID).

The Theory Interaction Design (ID) is…. Designing interactive products to support the way people communicate and interact in their everyday and working lives.

Human-computer Interaction (HCI) In many ways, HCI is the Father of what we now consider as ID. The study of HCI traditionally concentrated solely on the use of desktop computers by a single person. But as the proliferation of mobile phones and other devices as well as the use of more collaborative technologies increased the core concepts of HCI needed to be supplemented. The landscape had changed so the way designers and developers viewed it had to change too. Now, HCI is viewed more as the core, the fundamental essence, the

creamy centre if you will of ID. Literary faffing aside, HCI is the outline of literal steps on the journey the user has to carry out to complete their desired tasks. It’s the tangible inputs the user makes into the interactive product and the outputs the product makes to the user in response to the inputs.

developer to have a few negative user experience goals for specific projects. For example, if you were developing a physics-based puzzle game such as Angry Birds, does it not aid your game by frustrating or challenging the player just a little bit?

User Experience

At the start of a project, a developer will also define a 2nd set of goals. These usability goals tend to focus on those aspects of an interactive product related to work, such as productivity or effectiveness. Usability also tends to focus explicitly on the user interface. It is concerned with far more nuts ‘n’ bolts stuff such as, for example, whether a particular widget affords the user the control they require or whether a button actually performs the input for which it was designed. But it goes without saying that any decision made regarding a specific usability goal during the production phase will possibly affect other usability and user experience goals. It’s a rich tapestry of interrelated elements where careful consideration, and even more careful trade-offs are required to produce the best possible product.

Contributing to ID in the shape of user experience goals, these particular goals relate to emotions that the developer wishes the end users to feel when they are using their product. These are likely to be positive goals such as producing a product that is, for example, helpful, enjoyable, or entertaining. It is up to the developer to define these goals at the start of a project. For this developer, the most heavily weighted of all the user experience goals is making your product aesthetically pleasing to the user. In particular, both print and the web are very powerful visual mediums that require strong visuals to pull people in so you can then deliver them your content. I’ve also always wondered whether it’s not outside the realms of possibility for a designer or

Usability

Good Interaction Design (and good design in general) is much like a good football referee in that it is at it’s best when it goes unnoticed. But it should never be underestimated how much care and consideration needs to be taken so that it does go unnoticed.

Prevent Your Organization from Being in the Headlines for the Wrong Reasons UK data protection regulations and data privacy laws are about to get tougher in 2016 as negotiations are coming to a close in Brussels around the new Data Protection laws to replace the Data Protection Act 1998. This new law is called the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and is a priority for online commercial businesses within the EU. Next page: Where were we in 1990?

Despite having various data protection regulations across the continent, the EU doesn’t currently follow a common set of rules. This has caused uncertainty and confusion as data is shared across borders, causing uncertainty and is seen as a barrier to expanding and growing a business.

Data Protection Principles The key 8 principles of Data Protection (as documented on the Information Commissioner’s Office website) are as follows. Personal data must: 1. Be processed fairly and lawfully. 2. Be obtained for lawful reasons. 3. Be adequate, relevant and not excessive for the purpose for which they are processed.

4. Be accurate and kept up-to-date. 5. Not be kept for longer than is necessary. 6. Be processed in accordance with the rights of the data subject. 7. Protected against unauthorized or unlawful processing and against accidental loss or destruction by use of appropriate technical and organisational measures. 8. Not be transferred to a non-EU member state unless that country ensures adequate levels of protection for the rights and freedoms of data subjects. The bottom line is you can’t just go ahead and purchase vast quantities of personal data unless you can prove that you have adhered to the above principles.

Implications for an EU Business In the future, clients will have the ‘right to be forgotten and erased’. This includes the client withdrawing consent or objecting to the data being processed in addition to non-compliance to the 8 founding Data Protection principles. Not only will you need to permanently delete data on request but you will also need to provide proof of this happening, including the physical destruction of equipment, including the evidence of that happening. You will need adequate provisions to prevent an attack or errors that may compromise data. This could include malware attacks, Denial of Service

BY DAVE FULLER

(DoS) attacks, data leakages and corruption of data. Tougher regulations also require that clients be notified of a data breach within 72 hours.

Summary This standardisation of data protection should result in increased confidence that data can be held within other EU member states without fear of increased risk to data security, and arguably removing some barriers to expansion and business growth. The penalties for non-compliance are high, but are subject to final agreement. A fine of up to €100 million or 5% of global annual turnover (whichever is greater) has been widely debated, more likely is the suggestion of a 2% fine of global turnover which may be the ultimate agreement. Compliance with these regulations will affect internal data, external websites and cloud-based systems. Whilst Accent may only have control over a small proportion of your data and networks, we will endeavour to keep abreast of changes in regulations, so that we can offer advice on best practice where possible. Feel free to contact us if you require further advice on how this legislative change may affect your business.

Accent Funny

ACCENT | WINTER 2015

Where were we in 1990?

What we were all doing when Accent started

n Accent Design will be closed betwee ary 2016 Janu , 4th 12pm, 23rd December 2015 and 9am

Accent Design Group Ltd, Adam & Eve Yard 94b St Benedicts Street, Norwich NR2 4AB

Name:

Geoff

Age:

24

Occupation:

Sole Trader eur Becoming an Entrepren Martial Arts / My Triumph Vitesse / Partying

Interests:

/

’t have time to watch TV Favourite film or I didn TV programme:

Name:

Craig

Age:

4

Occupation:

Reception Class Student Building Lego / Playing with cars

Age:

9

Occupation: Interests:

Age:

13

Occupation:

High School Victim

Interests:

Judo / Cricket / Drawing / Super Nintendo

e Minogue / Jason Donovan & Kyli / Football by Rug / by Roller Der

Sally

Name:

Joe

Age:

26

Age:

6 Primary School Pupil / Annoying Little Brother Lego/ Action Man / Climbing trees / Designing football kits

Name:

Ben

Occupation:

Production Manager - Tibbenham

Age:

9

Interests:

Little Brother Middle School Pupil / Climbing / Football / Cycling / Tree Dahl ld Roa ding Rea / o Nintend

Motorbikes - riding and watching live racing / Music

Interests:

Favourite film or Goodfellas / Ghos t / Total Recall / TV programme: Monty Python / Twin Peaks

Name:

Stuart

Age:

16

Occupation:

6th form Student / Part-time Assistant at Bertram Books

Interests:

Girls / Fishing / Beer / Cycling / Eager for my first car

Favourite film or Monty Python / Blackaddar / Young TV programme: Ones / Also watch ing old stuff such as Laurel and Hardy.

2012

Tim

Age:

12

Occupation:

High School Pupil

Interests:

Cars / Steam trains / Iron Maiden

nt Ninja Turtles / Favourite film or Teenage Muta ators / TV programme: Fun House / Gladi Being introduced to Young Ones and Blackadder repeats by my older sister

2014

Nick joins the team as Developer

nt Ninja Turtles / Favourite film or Teenage Muta TV programme: Thundercats

Name:

Name:

2013

Accent starts working with Helen Teague & Dawn French from Sixteen 47 Accent launches responsive website for Spectra Packaging

Name:

les / nage Mutant Ninja Turt Favourite film or Tee Her Merry Men and ion Mar d Mai TV programme: Enfield / / The Big Match / Harry s Tale k Duc

t

Leon joins the team as Programmer

accentdesign.co.uk

Occupation:

Interests:

Primary School Studen

s/ on Moon / The Racoon Favourite film or Butt ay kad Wac / Live ng Goi TV programme:

Give us a call on 01603 766062

Favourite film or Karate Kid TV programme:

Favourite film or Thomas the Tank Engine / Bertha / TV programme: Thundercats / Anything with Cars

Name:

Dave

Occupation:

Interests:

Nick

Name:

Leon

Age:

4

Occupation:

Primary School Pupil

Interests:

Micro Machines / Leg o/ Transformers / Playing Mouse Trap

Favourite film or Tom & Jerry TV programme:

2015

Stuart joins the team as Programmer

Ben joins the team as Developer