Sometimes we get excited and ramble terms people might not understand...

But then we explain ourselves.

• Account Management
  

  The person on the front line. An Account Manager is the client’s first point of contact and responsible for ensuring that they are always happy. Apart from schmoozing and networking, the Account Manager is a very important part of The FDG.

  They need to not only understand the client’s needs but also know how the design side of things works to ensure projects run as smooth as possible. At The FDG our account managers are straight up! If they don’t know something or are unsure, they get the information they need rather than making up a fabulous load of bollocks on the spot.

• Art Direction
  

  The Art Director is like a movie director but for design or advertising. They are the ones with the big vision for the project and ensure that everything goes smoothly and the vision is realised.

  Examples of things they direct would be TV ads, fashion shoots, interactive websites, graphic design and a whole lot more. If someone is the Art Director you’re basically talking to the Head Honcho for the job.

• Brand Identity
  

  Many view a brand as simply a ‘logo’. But building and designing a brand identity involves shaping a company’s image. From simple office supplies, to colour palette and of course logo, it is the job of the designer to ensure that the brand sends the right message when representing the company.

  There is much involved in the process but at the end of the day the client usually ends up with a comprehensive guide (bible) of what the company is and how you should use the designed elements so that your brand is consistent and well received by your customers.

• Content Management System (CMS)
  

  A CMS is an application used to update websites with little effort. An example of a CMS is Expression Engine, which is one of the most popular CMS’s out there. WordPress can also be used as a basic CMS which is traditionally used for blogging.

  The main function of a CMS is so the client’s staff can update content whenever they need to, rather than relying on a web agency to do the same task at a cost.

• Digital Retouching
  

  Used heavily for photography and print material, digital retouching is the art of taking a photograph and manipulating it to enhance or distort the image. A purist’s view could be to “make it look like you’ve done nothing at all”.

• Flash Development
  

  Flash is all about movement and interacting with web content. If it’s a web designer’s job to engage an audience, then Flash is a truly supreme tool. If used right and for good reason, Flash can be used to engage your audience with moving images, video and self serving applications. It opens you up to pretty much whatever you could imagine on a computer screen (and sometimes in other places too).

  Flash development is generally used for advertising and is especially useful when creating online experiences of products or promotions. The sky’s the limit with Flash development and we work with some great members and partners to create Flash Awesomeness.

• Graphic Design
  

  This traditionally means the design and layout of printed material. A Graphic Designer is highly skilled in making things look beautiful. Without confusing the issue, they utilise their knowledge about things like designing to a grid and what types of finishes you can achieve when printing something.

  Graphic designers learn their trade over many years of experience and are the ones to talk to about designing logos, billboards, business cards, packaging etc.

• Illustration
  

  Pretty much what it says on the tin, illustration has been around since the dawn of time. From cave drawings to vector graphics, illustration comes in many shapes and forms and is typically drawn images that represent subject matter rather than simple form.

• Information Architecture (IA)
  

  If a website was a house, then the IA or Information Architect would be the… well, Architect.

  It is the IA’s job to plan out and ensure that everything is in the right place. By literally creating plans (also called wireframes), they draw out lines, boxes and text that represent elements of the website.

  Once all the elements are in the right place, they might test the designs or create a working prototype. IA design is a crucial part of the process that not only establishes the foundation of a website, but makes a project cost effective and viable without the need for endless iterations.

• Intranet System
  

  An intranet system or website is literally a private computer network used commonly by businesses and organisations that hold things like reference material and client information.

  Intranets would usually come in the form of a website that can only be access by the employees of that business. In our CRTS project, private information is a high priority when storing clinical information and an intranet system is a perfect fit.

• jQuery
  

  jQuery is a compiled library of javascript code used as a resource to make programming routine tasks for websites quick and easy. In plain english jQuery is used by web developers and designers alike to make fancy moving parts for website.

  jQuery is good for when a client might say… “I’d like that page to have an animated scrolling effect  when I click this button.” This kind of action has been written for jQuery and it is a simple case of adding it to the website.

• Secure Server
  

  We most commonly identify with secure websites and servers by our day to day usage of online banking.

  A secure server or website, holds private information viewed by the user without any unwanted strangers looking at it. Technically speaking, information is encrypted and sent to you where you are, then (generally protected by a password) you are able to see the information once it has been decrypted. The most common application for secure websites is with online shopping.

• Video Production
  

  Pretty much what it says on the tin.

  From art direction and filming to post production editing and special effects, video production encompasses all these elements to make video magic!

• Web Design
  

  Web design sounds straight forward but it’s not just about pretty pictures. Web design in a nutshell is about the users’ experience, goals and expectations when viewing content online. So at the end of the day a Web Designer is responsible to not only make it look pretty, but to utilise their knowledge of technology and design to create engaging experiences. And you thought we just made pretty lines and circles in MS Paint.

• Web Development
  

  The men and women that develop websites are the ones who literally build them with their own hands. They are the guru’s, they are the specialists, if you need to make it tick, you call the guys who know. Most stereotypically you might call these guys geeks, and some of them might like that. But at The FDG we call them life savers, for without them we would just be making pretty pictures.

• Web Strategy
  

  At the beginning of any project, you need to define what you are doing, who you are aiming at, and how you want to say something. This is basically what a Web Strategist does, but of course it’s a whole lot more than that. The best asset a Web Strategist has is knowledge in technology for the web and how to come up with ideas to use it to deliver on goals. Whoa that’s intense, but they’re not called ‘Strategists’ for nothing.

• XHTML/CSS
  

  XHTML or eXtensible Hyper Text Mark-up Language is the code web pages are built on. It’s the foundation of any website and if used correctly can increase your chances of being seen on the web (but that’s another story). CSS is like the butter to XHTML’s bread.

  CSS allows us to make a website beautiful and it is getting more and more beautiful as time goes on as web browsers start to use new standards of CSS for things like rounded corners on boxes and shadows. It might not sound amazing but it’s all what you do with it.