It is assumed that you’ve got the fastest PC that you can afford with the most memory and the largest hard drive. If not, you’ll need one of those, and try not to compromise on the motherboard or the memory as these are essentials. You don’t need a floppy drive, or a blueray player, or a see through case, or LED lighting, you just need something that works very, very quickly. I’m running an augmented Dell Studio XPS system which works for me. Also, one thing everyone forgets is the power pack – if it’s underpowered, everything will slow down, so it’s worth taking a little longer to make sure you’ve got a good one with the right power output. You’d be surprised what difference this can make.

Even if you’re not a hardcore gamer, the software within the games market today is amongst the most demanding software on the market, so unless you’re into video editing in a big way, you’ll be well served by these recommendations for pretty much anything else for some time to come.

[NB - While cloud based gaming as a service is with us, so technically you shouldn't need that massive hard drive for all your gaming software, in most places (in the UK certainly) the broadband consistency and speed aren't here yet. In my opinion this makes cloud services like OnLive a little too ahead of their time, although things are changing. You should be aware that today it's a serious etiquette failing when you're on a US server and you're the one ruining the game for everyone else because your ping is too high. That, and you won't last two seconds when the rest of the opposing team appear to be playing from within their ISPs building. To avoid you being pwned, subjected to flaming, and at worst being kicked, in short you'll need the big hard drive to install the software so that only the smallest data packets need to pass between you and the game server, which even if you've got 'Internet from Africa' as I was accused of having recently - thanks Eclipse - means that you should have a reasonable ping for a reasonable amount of the time. Anyway, I digress...]

There’s loads of advice and guidance on the Internet, so everyone will have a different take on this, but for my money you can’t beat NVidia when it comes to graphics performance for games. Many of the top games are actually optimised for use with the NVidia chipset and without spending a king’s ransom on it, there are a few pretty good cards which are available for less than £200. The GeForce 560Ti is pretty good value, it supports DirectX11 and has been optimised specifically for several top games including Skyrim and Battlefield 3 which should mean that it can run almost anything else on today’s games wish list and it should last for at least the next 6 months before the next Crysis is released which will no doubt require liquid cooled madness to run in safe mode.

From a monitor perspective, they all do much the same thing, unlike graphics cards which are actually worth spending the money on. I didn’t bother upgrading my monitor when I upgraded my gaming rig, so I’m still using a fairly old 19″ Iiyama ProLite which works for me. That said, if you want something awesome then there’s a load of newer ones on the market, although from a brand perspective I’ve stuck with Iiyama who I think make some really good kit.

There’s a good article at Tripwire Magazine about which monitor is the right one for you which is worth a read, and this contains some recommendations if you desperately feel the need to upgrade your monitor. You can read this here – Gaming Monitor Guide.

I don’t really care about viewing angles as it’s only me that uses my machine, meaning that I’m generally directly in front of the monitor as you are most likely to be. If you’re anything like me, watching someone else repeatedly being killed when fighting back the zombie hordes on the hardest difficulty level rapidly becomes a non-spectator sport once the first 24 hour marathon session concludes (what do you mean after the first five minutes? – Ed), so viewing angles really won’t be a problem.

What is important to spend the money on is getting the biggest screen with the highest refresh rate at the highest resolution that you can a) afford, and b) have space to put on your desk!

As they point out in the TripWire Magazine article, response times are critical – if you’re up against a hardcore gamer you’ve got to be fast and accurate and the higher the screen resolution and refresh rate combination the better. A high screen resolution is mandatory so you can see them from a distance and you can target almost at a pixel based level, and the second so you can fire the instant they pop their heads around a corner before they duck back into cover – it’s quite satisfying being able to take your opponent’s head off at a distance with a non-scoped rifle. A few rounds of something like Day of Defeat:Source will demonstrate this point adequately, and also show you how hardcore your skills actually are! Decent kit will definitely help. Decent kit and skills will dominate most other non-clan players. Clan level skills need to be earned.

I would suggest avoiding monitors with built in speakers – they’re all rubbish and they just end up compromising on the monitor quality. You need to be able to hear the enemy sneaking up behind you, or the just thrown grenade fizzing quietly at your feet, so I’d suggest getting a decent sound setup, particularly if you’re into FPS games where things explode. This also helps to double your PC as a home cinema system if you invest in a projector later on and have a blank wall to project your movies onto. [This works really well, and with the lights off it's like you're actually in the cinema. Popcorn and shadow hand puppets are optional.]

Going back to the topic – if you are a gamer, a sub-woofer is a must. There’s nothing like the first time you play a familiar game and you blow up the petrol station on that level and you’ve got the bass setting too high on your new sub-woofer and you’re teeth nearly fall out. You’ll never, ever use those tinny plastic desktop speakers again, I promise you. You’ll also need some really tolerant neighbours.

Alternatively, if you’re really minted, a decent set of headphones will do the trick. It might sound odd, but there’s more money involved with good headphones than there is in getting a reasonable 4.1 sound system so that needs to be considered.

Also, a good microphone is essential. Hardcore gamers taunt their enemies before killing them…

Finally, if you’re unsure what all the fuss is about, and you haven’t seen the graphics quality of some of the latest games, here’s the trailer for The Elders Scrolls – Skyrim. It’s borderline cinematic quality when full screen in high definition and is an example of graphic design at its finest. If you’ve got any questions, our Marketing Manager, Alan Law, is battling his way through this at the moment!

As many of you are all aware, London is a hub of cultural activity – not a day goes by when we Londoners aren’t spoilt for choice by a whole plethora of social events to attend.  From trade shows to expo’s, conferences to business breakfasts, structured networking events to my personal favourite, notworking events (which involve copious amounts of alcohol and the odd exchanging of business cards!) The difficulty however lies in deciding which to attend and what benefits will come of them.

Over the past few months I’ve been to a whole series of different events with a variety of formats to interact with. Now under normal scrutiny some of these would be considered as a ‘failure’ – i.e. no business has come as direct result of it. But it is important to look at the bigger picture and take into account both your brand awareness and presence. A half hour conversation with someone at a conference may not land you any direct business, but by talking about your brand and inevitably exchanging valued bits of card with your identity on, you’re promoting your brand on the frontline. While difficult to gauge the effectiveness of word of mouth, it should never be underestimated as one of the most simple, raw and affordable forms of advertising. After all, it is the foundation of viral marketing!

But it’s not just brand promotion that can benefit from such events however, the level of knowledge and insight that both you and your team have can be vastly expanded from a simple talk or lecture. At the beginning of the month I attended the Technology for Marketing and Advertising expo in Earl’s Court, which focussed on providing insight into the emerging trends sparked by new technology (more info on http://www.t-f-m.co.uk/). I listened with great excitement to a talk from Google regarding the current state of mobile advertising and filled many pages of my notebook with all sorts of useful facts (for those of you interested, check out Google’s report on mobile advertising: http://www.google.com/events/thinkmobile2011/presentations.html ) The very next day I met with a number of different individuals who wanted to talk about promoting their brand on a mobile platform, and immediately I could use all of the knowledge I had gained the previous day to convince them that it was far from a phase and would have significant benefit to their business.

However one of the most significant benefits to a team (and the reason why I love notworking events) is relaxation. On the third of March I attended a Bladdered Again! Event (http://www.bladderedagain.co.uk/) hosted by D&AD (http://www.dandad.org/) which saw around 200 designers gather in an underground bar in Clerkenwell. While somewhat seedy from the outset like some sort of underground movement, the night was completely unstructured which allowed a flow of creative freedom to talk to whomever you wanted about whatever you liked. Amongst the many trips back and forth to the bar squeezing past some of the most influential names in design, there were grumblings about the economy, feelings on Gaddafi, the latest ad campaign for ‘X’ and of course which  was the nicest ale! In all it was a chance to relax with like-minded peers and get excited by friendly competition, a feeling that has echoed throughout the remainder of this month.

Obviously we can’t all go to every event as we would never get any work done! But making a regular appearance at a different variety of events can make a significant difference to your team and ultimately your business. I would recommend a careful balance between structured and unstructured events, and also to do a bit of research on who’s attending beforehand as it makes introductions that much easier. Also a well designed business card that says exactly who you are, what you do and how to get in touch makes a crucial impact on an individuals’ opinion of you – it could make all the difference between a friendly chat or landing a significant new business deal.

If you would like some friendly advice on the successful benefits of attending events and how you can maximise your brand presence, feel free to drop us an email at advice@slightlydifferent.co.uk or follow us on twitter for an insight into the creative industry @slightlytwitty.

That’s enough from me for now though, it’s time to get over the notworking hangover and on with some real work!

http://intersections2011.com/

Intersections, titled – re-designing the future of business spanned two whole days and required quite the commitment from it’s delegates especially those special few that stayed the night in the ‘Shelterbox Hotel’ (loosely described as an open air tent pitched in the Mediterranean biome – key aim, to raise awareness & all important cash for incredibly worthy & home-grown* charity Shelterbox more on that later). *Home for me being Cornwal I might add

The key aim of said event & the general thrust was to explored the emerging trends currently driving business change and where that creates new opportunities for design practice. Sadly we couldn’t all make the whole event thus is the nature of business but I did manage to see the large majority & found the event extremely invigorating & thought provoking from a designers persective.

Essentially Intersections like all good design summits was all about discussion, both from the 45+ experts, mavericks, entrepreneurs and thought leaders imparting their worldly wisdom to the delegates but more importantly between the delegates themselves & there were certainly some ‘lively’ discussions usually towards the end of the night once the bar opened coincidentally..

For those that missed it all the talks were filmed for posterity, you can view them here:

http://vimeo.com/user3737743/videos

The real test going forward from an event such as this will be to put some of the theories, themes & lofty ideals raised over the two days into actual design practice, enough discusion now is the time for action.

Matt

After countless hours* of planning meetings, documentation, design, further meetings, website development, programming, head scratching, more programming, more meetings, systems integration, data migration, database querying, head scratching, training, more meetings, and several rounds of testing including alpha, beta, gamma, and several other Greek types of testing, we are finally in a go-live Defcon 1 position with the new Business Answers website. Oh yes.

Indeed, the time this has taken has almost rivalled the amount of time we spend drinking tea and talking about our favourite films of all time so this was quite some project, but we’re delighted that we’re there, and we’re delighted that our our client is delighted, so everyone’s a winner. More to the point, you’re likely to find this site incredibly useful, so we’re even more delighted about that as well.

Project Objective

Business Answers is the new portal to replace the Business Link for Cornwall, Devon and Somerset website, and we’re rather hoping that the rest of the country will sit up and take notice at what we’ve done here. Indeed, every year the regional version of the Business Link site receives over 200,000 unique visitors, and we’re anticipating that with the new functionality at least this number of people will be using this site to find the latest in business advice and information that, in an unprecedented development, will be uniquely tailored to each individual.

Website Design & Development

Through the Ask An Expert system developed by Slightly Different and integrated with the existing Business Link knowledgebase, a site user can ask a question and have the most relevant answers displayed to them based on an automated intelligent analysis of the question. The more accurate the question, the more precise the answer, and the system is self learning, so new answers will be added to the existing knowledgebase which, over time, will create a significant resource for all sizes of companies and organisations.

In addition to this, the Ask An Expert system will also flag questions up to a network of over 80 Business Link advisers who can add their unique knowledge and experience to the answer thus providing the most comprehensive answers to any business questions. With high levels of knowledge in general business, but also with specialist knowledge in a diverse range of subjects including finance, law, marketing, and e-business, this new resource, available for free as part of the Government’s new initiative to support UK businesses, will make a significant difference to the business community throughout the South West.

Why not visit the site at www.businessanswers.info and Ask An Expert today. We hope you enjoy the Slightly Different experience!

* I have been advised to point out that the phrase “countless hours” has been used for editorial effect, and we know exactly how many hours the project took to do, which was delivered on time and on budget. Thanks for that, Andrew.

It’s not often that something puts a smile on your face here in the big city, unless of course it involves someone with rather ‘edgy’ fashion sense or a victim of the closing tube door. We’re used to seeing a whole cacophony of posters and billboards plastered on every wall, not to mention the next auditionee’s of Britains Got Talent testing their musical merit around each corner, but during January this year it was a pleasant surprise for me to be greeted by several pieces of moving image while waiting for my tube. Normally such things catch my attention but quickly dissipate as a brand or product is forced into view. This however was different, as there was no brand and no product.

The brainchild of a Moving Image  graduate from the London College of Communication, Jo Kotas, ‘Smile for London’ is an initiative aimed at making the pain of the morning commute that little bit less painful. Developers, Meme Partnership, have invited creative folk to get involved and create an entire collection of film, art and animation to inspire the masses across CBSO screens in selected tube stations across London. “We want to celebrate the creative talents of our city and at the same time lift the spirits of London’s commuters,” say Jo Kotas and Alex Stevens, co-founders of the Smile for London project. “Our ambition is for the project to gain real momentum and become a permanent London fixture.”

Interestingly, CBS outdoor recently conducted research to support the effectiveness of tube advertising, claiming “The London commuter feels that there is too much advertising on TV and on the Internet but welcomes the advertising on Buses and the Tube, more so than any other media.” (read more here) This suggests nothing but success for the ambitious project. More so, with work from Aardman Animation, Light Surgeons, Jon Burgerman, and acting talent from the likes of Keira Knightly being silently beamed to dreary audiences each morning, the mood is sure to be lifted and the initiative to live up to its name.

Smile for London ran throughout January, but here’s hoping that it becomes a regular occurance! A full list of artists and selected stations can be downloaded here.

Now all we need is free popcorn and Monday mornings will be a rather enjoyable experience!

Often, it’s just a case of giving students an insight into what a real agency is like, and while we’re not the biggest agency in the world (yet!) we do have the same sort of challenges to face, such as conflicting deadlines, client pressure, project creep, financial control, etc. etc.

Many of these issues are nothing to do with the subject that they are actually studying, and more to do with management and people skills, both disciplines in their own right, and both presenting an ongoing learning curve that can be quite steep at times.

Many of the students fail to grasp the fundamentals that they may be good at graphic design, but their project management skills are poor. They could be the best animation specialists in town, but this won’t make any difference if they can’t manage the cashflow. Being able to communicate concept ideas to a client and translate them into something that a client can understand to the point where they are willing to commit a budget to them is a fundamental skill for any designer seeking to enter the professional arena.

Many of the students who we work with are surprised by the breadth of knowledge that sits around the core skills, the additional requirements that they will need in some measure in the real world, and often they don’t go into these in any depth on their courses. For some, it can prove too difficult, but for those who truly aspire to greatness, nothing is impossible.

We recently gave a lecture to the University College Falmouth and about 100 or so students turned up to hear us talk about Slightly Different. I hope that they all took away with them something useful, but one point is worth repeating here which is ‘if it is easy, everyone will do it’.

On that note, take a look at this extraordinary film of Guillaume Nery, one of the world’s leading free divers, as he launches himself off the edge of the deepest blue hole in the world. Imagine what thoughts he must be having at the beginning, to be so confident and so good at what he does that he can just step off into a void like this. Then imagine how he must feel at the end when he resurfaces and breathes again.

We can’t all be free divers, but we can all be good at something. Perseverence is the key, and reminding yourself occasionally that if it was easy, everyone would do it.

When being individual matters, be Slightly Different.

Rob Suckley is our lead creative at Slightly Different, he’s a master of design and when he isn’t working on killer design projects including websites for teddy bears, iPhone app interfaces and fashion portals, he’s busy practicing martial arts and enoying life as a husband and father.. what goes on in the mind of few words but many concepts? I got him in a headlock just the other day to find out…

So Rob, are you a designer or a Ninja or both?

Both and neither.

Did I mention, man of few words…..ok so how is this working out  for you?

Very well, keeping a balance between the physical and mental enables me to perform as a true ninja.

What does your role at SD involve on a day to day basis?

Manage the creative output of the studio to ensure the development of user centered designs that align with the clients business strategy.

Which project are you most proud of and why?

Charlie Bears! It was an interesting project to work on allowing for a large amount of creative freedom. It’s good to get projects that aren’t your normal corporate jobs.
It was a huge job & I’m really pleased with the final look and feel, it took a long time to perfect the look but our client loves it which makes it all worth while. We were also able to integrate the content management system into Flash which was due to the technical brilliance of Andrew Liverod (SD techy), which isn’t bad for such a short fella!

Who inspires you?

Amelia, happy people, passionate people.

Yes, I can vouch for the proud father in our Rob! (that’s Amelia if you’re wondering)  ok then so as a designer, why digital design?

With more possibilities, interactivity,  extensions,  a digital project can evolve. I like the idea of taking what you’ve learnt from a project and then a year later improving on it.

What would be your all time greatest project to work on?

Music/film anything where you have more creative freedom

Right, you get one opportunity to sit down for dinner with 5 famous people of your choice, who would they be?

Buddha, Ricky Gervias, Gene Wilder, Anderson Silva and Stephen Fry

Tell us how you became a Ninja then…

I could tell you but then I would have to kill you…

Very likely to be true that…… so Rob, what makes you slightly different, asdie from your murderous intentions?

… ‘silence’

I can’t tell but I think he’s gone… Such a designer!

The UK Trade and Investment, Export Cornwall Project is a Convergence funded programme designed to improve the international performance of small and medium sized businesses in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

The project has been designed to  ‘supercharge’ the impact of the services to businesses available through UK Trade & Investment. This is being achieved through a combination of additional support from specialist trade advisers, workshops and various innovations, including the creation of the new Export Cornwall branding and website.

Project Objectives:

• Position Export Cornwall as the hub of resource and information surrounding exporting overseas from Cornwall
• Increase the awareness and online presence of the Export Cornwall brand
• Increase collaboration and communication between businesses in Cornwall

Brand design:

The first stage of this project was to design a new logo to represent the Export Cornwall brand, this logo has been integrated into the website as well as offline stationary, event flyers and exhibition stands.

Export Cornwall wanted a colour scheme that complitmented the UKTI branding but did not imbue any characteristics that would be deemed cliche of Cornwall. We chose a deep red and grey colour scheme to create a universal brand that was accessible to all. In our initial design meetings with the client, it was also agreed that a sans-serif type would create a friendly and approachable feel.

Website Design and Development:

The new website needed to meet several objectives, to inspire business people to find out more about exporting, to highlight real stories by Cornish businesses already exporting,  to encourage networking online and offline, either within the community or at events and to encourage membership take-up.

The website has a powerful content management system behind it that gives the team at UKTI flexible control over the site.  We hooked up with a currency converter widget to enable users to work out exchange rates on the site without the need to leave. Regular events are promoted via a calender and the news is both added via the UKTI team and pulled in automatically from the UKTI site.

One of the key features of the site is the case studies focussing on real local businesses who have and are exporting. These success stories are invaluable to new visitors to the site who can find out about the real life experiences that businesses similar to their own have had, obstacles they overcame etc.

Export Cornwall send out regular communications via their email marketing system and users can sign up to receive these emails easily on the site.   Users are able  to request membership to Export Cornwall and this can be done on the site as well, a simple form is in place to facilitate this.

As with all our websites, analytics is in place to make sure that our clients have regular updates on how the site is performing.

If you are interested in becoming a member, check out the website, don’t be put off by the idea because it seems out of your reach, read the information on the site and see if your business could benefit!

From everyone at Slightly Different, we wish the Export Cornwall project all the best and that goes for all the Cornish businesses that go for it too!

DESIGNER

“I really had a lot of fun creating these newsletters & I think it really shows! It was great working with a client who had come to us specifically after seeing what was possible with our own mailer. Henrietta wanted an email newsletter that was ‘slightly different’ & that’s exactly what I tried to deliver.”

Matt Daniels

Slightly Different – Designer

MARKETING

“The success of any email client comes down to two things:

‘the quality of the data and the quality of the design.’

In this case, both those factors were so good that it lead, in my experience, to an unprecedented open rate, click rate and conversion rate.”

Steve Hanson

Slightly Different – Online Marketing Manger

CLIENT

“Our group-wide seasonal e-blast generated an impressive response and our Google analytics showed a dramatic upwards ‘spike’, reflecting a strong drive to our hotel websites. Our ‘Classics’ campaign was given an excellent boost by the e-blast and the interest from customers continued well into January.

There is no doubt that the creative design by Slightly Different achieved its aim to drive people to our websites and we are delighted with the result. We are hoping to do a lot more with Slightly Different in the future.”

Henrietta Lilley

Richardson – Group Marketing & PR Manger

Most if not all smart phones are capable of reading these codes and there are many free apps out there that will enable you access this information. Here are our recomendations.

iPhone ¤ Bakodo ( free )

Android ¤ BARCODE SCANNER ( free )

Blackberry ¤ Scan Life Barcode Reader ( free )

Now that you’ve got a scanner why not try it out! Simply open the app and using the built-in camera fit the code into the scanner view and ‘boom’ instant link. No more typing for you, now all you need to do is accept the link and the app should transfer you to the built in browser to view the page. In the imortal words of the brilliantly invented advertising creation Aleksandr Orlov ~

‘SIMPLES!’

Of course this makes much more sense in print but it’s still a useful time saver.

If you want to find out more about apps see our article ‘Apps your questions answered’ or better yet give us a ring to discuss how we can turn your brilliant idea into a reality.

t: 01326 372416

e: business@slightlydifferent.co.uk