Reading time 4 min

Ibn Renders

Let’s begin this blog post by remembering embarrassing memories from our past. Remember when you called your teacher “mom” in kindergarten? Or that huge zit on your forehead on your first day of high school? Let’s have a look at a picture from a couple of years ago. Those clothes… those hideous clothes. Why did you think you’d rock those super tight pants forever? Well.. you’ve changed and so did those fashion trends. Trends also seem to change quite rapidly in other kinds of design. In this blogpost, I’ll walk you through 3 tips to modernize your handout design and improve an old print design to fit in the modern world. I’m using a recent redesign of a handout made for our mobile team as an example. 1. Go digital The biggest change in this redesign is that we’re actually stepping away from print and moving towards digital media, such as a PDF file. A couple of advantages go hand in hand here. You no longer have to worry about how you’re going to jam all your information on two A4 pages, since you aren’t limited to a certain page size . This gives you more freedom with both your structure and information placement. As you can see in our example (click the picture on the right), this results in a lighter design that’s much more enjoyable to read because of extra whitespace between sections. Another big improvement is the ability to make use of links . You don’t have to write a full URL anymore, because you can just click on a shorter one or even add a button like you’re designing a webpage. Try adding links to logos or pictures. By doing this, you’re changing a completely static object into a link to even more information. Your handout is no longer limited to just the information on your two pages. Be careful you don’t forget to add links to anything that seems ‘clickable’ though. If your user tries to click on something that should’ve been a redirect to for example your website and it doesn’t work, you don’t make a good impression. 2. Add more whitespace! First things first, whitespace doesn’t need to be ‘white’ space. Whitespace refers to empty breathing room in your design , not a white colour between design elements. Imagine getting a page to read and everything is cropped in the first half of the page. I’d rather gouge my eyes out than try to read that. Space out your information and use that empty space to improve the reader’s experience and even guide them to parts you want them to read. In other words, empty space makes your content more readable. When your focus is to inform your reader, readability is top priority . In our old design, we used an abstract background. Pictures or patterns can be used as whitespace but aren’t ideal if you’re going for a professional and clean look. We simply changed to a white background instead. This way, we structured our design in a couple of ‘information containers’. The whitespace makes sure each of those containers gets the focus it deserves. So don’t just read whitespace and see it as unused space. Think of whitespace as a guide for your reader . 3. Don't overdo it You want to tell your audience something, so get to the point . Don’t try to over-explain and don’t use words you even barely know to sound smart. The same goes for showing pictures and using design elements. Nobody wants to scroll through 10 pictures which all show the same thing to find information they need. Say what you need to say and show what you need to show. Also, try using a number instead of an icon when speaking about a certain percentage for example. People love numbers (just look at all those infographics floating around on the internet as proof). Try to have a nice balance between icons and percentages when designing something. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with using icons as a visual too. They can break your wall of text, make it more enjoyable to reed and keep the reader interested. Last but not least, your design isn’t a child’s coloring book. Don’t use all of the crayons available! We went way overboard in our previous design. Now we’re only using red as our main color because it’s also the main color of ACA’s corporate identity. If you really want to use more color in your new design, be consistent . Don’t give your first title a blue color while giving your other titles a purple color. It’s pretty basic really, but often overlooked. 🚀 Takeaway Print design isn’t exclusively for just print anymore in today’s digital world. If you want to update your previous print designs so they fit in our online lives as well, here are some things you should take into account: Forget strict page size limits. Include clickable links in your design. You can even add buttons like on a website. Use as much whitespace as you need to help your reader ‘breathe’ for a second and rest their eyes. Be brief! Include visuals, but stay consistent in your color palette.

Reading time 5 min

Ibn Renders

A while ago we introduced you to Bernd , our colleague who does a lot for people, planet and animals. But he is not the only ACA member trying to do his part. In this blogpost, our team member Jannik, who has been part of the ACA family for 10 years now, will share his story. He tells us where his passion for diving comes from, why overfishing is throwing the ecosystem of our oceans out of balance and most importantly, how we can all help keep the oceans, and therefore our planet, healthy. 10 years at ACA. Jannik has already experienced a big piece of ACA history. He explains: “My first project was Riscpro at our client IDEWE. After a few months this project came to an end and I made the switch to something completely different: Atlassian consultancy. After a year of installing and configuring JIRA, Confluence and Stash, setting up workflows, … I wanted to get back to some more teamwork.” He went looking for this in our (now old) offices in Oevel and shortly afterwards in Olen as a software developer. In the meantime, you can find him working in our office in Hasselt as well as our new place in Leuven. His passion: diving and our oceans But what we mainly want to talk about in this blog post is his other passion: diving and our oceans. “Passion is the right word though! In 2016 I did an eight-week backpacking trip through Thailand and down the east coast of Australia. The idea was to get my diving license in Koh Tao , a tiny island in Thailand with more than 50 diving schools. This island is known as the diving mecca for learning to dive, but at the same time it is also nicknamed “Murder Island”, although I didn't know this at the time. After this experience, I could use my diving license in Australia to dive the Great Barrier Reef. And so it happened.” Suddenly everything came together and Jannik rediscovered himself. What followed were a lot of trips to beautiful international waters. When we ask about his favorite location, he finds it difficult to choose : “It is like asking “what is your favorite food?”. My answer is usually “I want to discover everything!” However, there is one location that stands out the most. That was Wolf Rock on the east coast of Australia . This was my first experience with sharks. I was impressed, at the very least, to see more than ten 6-foot sharks in front of and around me in a single image. This is where I learned that the Hollywood Jaws image is hugely wrong. Sharks are no killing machines!” Unfortunately, he also learned what is going less well with our oceans : “On the one hand, you have the problem of overfishing and shark finning, two things that cause the ecosystem of our oceans to go out of balance. On the other hand, there is the plastic problem.” Shark finning sounds like a specific problem. Something that harms one species. But nothing could be further from the truth and this has a much greater influence, Jannik emphasizes: “Sharks are the predators of the ocean, take the predators away and you get an oversupply of certain animal species, which destroys the entire balance. You also see this upland, the impact of predators that help regulate the ecosystem. One of the problems, introduced in part by the media, is that few people care about sharks. They remain killing machines for most.” He would therefore like to emphasize the importance of informing predators. “Few people know this, but our oceans are responsible for 70% of our oxygen, produced by algae and plankton . They are the real lungs of our planet. If you kill this ecosystem, it's a big problem unless we learn to live without oxygen." And then of course you also have the better-known problem: all of our plastic . Jannik tells us that plastic ends up in the oceans via the rivers. A consequence of this is called The Great Pacific Garbage Patch , an accumulation of plastic no less than three times larger than France! “Organizations like The Ocean Cleanup have formed to tackle this specific problem, both through systems to clean up the GPG patch and systems to clean up the rivers so that the plastic is cleaned up before it ends up in the ocean. Apart from the disastrous impact this has on animal life (you can find enough not-so-pleasant images about this), it also comes back to us in the form of microplastics, causing us to consume it without realizing it.” When we ask how he tries to help with this problem, Jannik remains critical of himself. “Not enough is the first thing that comes to mind... I find it difficult to address these topics while I travel so much myself which has its own impact. But I do what I can, and I think everyone should decide for themselves what they can do . Due to the problem of overfishing our oceans, I decided last year to stop eating fish. Shame as I really like sushi. However, I am convinced that there is no such thing as “sustainable fish” (a topic in its own right) and I choose to abstain from this. In connection with the problem of plastic, I try to avoid plastic whenever I can. For example, you can easily avoid straws, even if this is only peanuts compared to the real problem. But it is mainly the mindset that triggers the straws. In any case, people are becoming more and more aware of it. Recycle, recycle, recycle . I recycle as much as I can, to the point that I tear the plastic off my bread bag to throw it in the PMD. The question is then whether this is sufficient and whether it is really recycled, which is why avoiding it is simply the best solution. Furthermore, according to Jannik, we should especially inform ourselves: "I can recommend everyone to watch Sea Spiracy on Netflix , as a result of this documentary I was convinced that I will no longer eat fish." You should also definitely visit interesting organizations such as Sea Shepherd (a non-profit that protects life in the oceans) and The Ocean Cleanup (a Dutch organization that wants to clean up our oceans). You can find Jannik in Indonesia this November, where he will also complete his 100th dive during his seven-day diving trip. In addition, there are many other plans on his agenda: “I still want to do so many things! Snorkel with Orcas in the Lofoten Islands, dive in Mozambique in the hope of encountering several great white sharks in their wild setting. But I also want to go to Antarctica at some point in my life.” Thank you for sharing your story with us and have fun diving in Indonesia!

Reading time 3 min

Ibn Renders

Y ou can’t design or develop something for all 7.9 billion people on the planet. So when we start a project, we decide on a target audience to narrow it down. From there we build our features and designs in a way that seems fitting for that audience. However, what we can’t narrow down on are the accessibility features. Everybody needs to have the possibility to use or experience your said creation. Some devices have built-in features like Google Talkback , where your device can tell you what’s happening on screen and even use that information with a digital braille reader. Or sometimes we make sure our platforms are accessible to use, such as our website, which by the way has a Google Lighthouse accessibility score of 98! But why stop there? Every piece of content should be accessible for everyone. This also counts for PDF files. Get started with these 3 tips we’ve gathered using a MediMarket Case Study : Do an accessibility check with Acrobat Pro First things first: do an accessibility check with Adobe Acrobat Pro. This check immediately indicates in a clear list which issues you need to face. Some of these issues can be solved directly in Acrobat Pro, and others require you to go back to your source file or check manually. You can gather a bit more knowledge by clicking the Autotag Document option. This will read the PDF and give you another accessibility summary about missing alt text, but more about this later. Realize the importance of the reading order Ever heard a screen reader freak out because it doesn’t understand your reading order or structure in the PDF file? Well, imagine someone talking way too fast, without stopping and without any clue what they want to say. Sounds chaotic, right? Now think about the users that really depend on these types of digital aids. Your PDF is basically useless when this happens. So be certain you have a structured document with the right identity headings, paragraphs and sections when creating the PDF. Want to add this to an existing PDF? With Acrobat Pro, you can read the reading order later thanks to their accessibility options. In this screenshot you can clearly see what the screen reader will read first, second, third and so on. Did you know Alt Text is also possible in PDF files? Is this the surprise of the day, or did you never bother to add an alternative text in your documents? Well, start by adding alt text on images or interactive fields. A screen reader can’t read your JPEG files and you need to explain what is shown to them. Don’t overdo it though, your user doesn’t really need to know you added that cute cat photo as filler. Don’t do this just with images. Audio and video elements are also in need of alt text. This isn’t only necessary for users with bad eyesight or hearing, but also for users with bad internet connection who only can download the text of your PDF. There is a lot more to this, but these 3 tips can certainly get you started! However, what I really wanted to achieve with this blogpost is that you start thinking about making all your content more accessible. Do you want more information about accessibility, for example in mobile applications? Go to our services and see for yourself what we can help you with!

Reading time 6 min

Ibn Renders

About Bernd Have we ever told you that we are proud of our employees? I think so! Because just like your grandmother, who can't stop talking about her cleaning lady at the annual family gatherings, who doesn't dust the tops of the cupboards, we can't stop talking about our colleagues. Today, we are a family of over 220 people who are only too happy to achieve their goals and show the best of themselves. Similarly, it does not take much effort to create enough enthusiasm to commit to the UN Sustainability Goals throughout the whole company: our colleagues are already working on it themselves. We took Bernd van Velsen out of his concentration for a while to have a conversation about what he is doing to help people, the planet and the animals. Five years ago, Bernd started working as a Solution Engineer in the proud 'Code-Busters' team for our client IDEWE, an external service for prevention and protection at work. In any case, it's a good thing that you can help a customer to make all kinds of workplaces healthy and safe, but in his spare time Bernd is doing many things as well. When he comes home, he greets a foster child in addition to his two children . And that was a purposeful choice, says Bernd: “We made a conscious choice to open up our family to a foster child after having our own two children. There are different forms of foster care. Perspective foster care (long term fostering), short term fostering (max. 2 times 6 months), emergency care (short term, but urgent), and supportive foster care”. Due to the different types of foster care, Bernd and his family were already able to help a lot of foster children: “ We have one child who has been with us for over 9 years now, and also have already temporarily cared for 8 other children in our family in the forms of emergency foster care and short term foster care. In practice, this means that we are responsible for day-to-day care. Sometimes we also speak at information evenings to introduce people to foster care. During these evenings we tell our experiences as a foster family and what fun moments and pitfalls there can be.” Becoming a foster family is of course not something you just simply do. Bernd and his family did this through the organization named Pleegzorg Vlaanderen . Bernd explains: “Foster care is a form of support for children, young people and adults with a disability or psychiatric problem, who are temporarily unable or allowed to live at home for various reasons. Foster families offer shelter and care to foster children or foster adults during that time. They do so voluntarily, but with the support of a foster care service. Foster care can last until the foster child or foster adult can go home or live independently.” When asked whether Bernd would recommend foster care to others, he has his thoughts… Sometimes he thinks it is better to help foster families and children in a different way: “I always find it risky to recommend foster care to someone, because it has to be a conscious choice that has to fit into your life. But you can also support foster care and foster children in other ways. Help to raise awareness of foster care via social media, or, for example, to make a donation to foster care via trooper.be via purchases in web shops.” Sustainable superhero In order to be able to give his children and foster children a bright future on a healthy planet, Bernd and his family also live as sustainably as possible. He explains one of his most drastic actions, for example: “We try to save money in many areas at home. Sometimes even to the level that we get strange looks from our environment :-). One of the most drastic actions of this year is lowering the heating at home by wearing an extra sweater. In addition, we recently invested in a home automation system to use lighting in a smarter way. And we also prefer to make small or short trips by bike. We try to find a new destination for our old stuff and materials that we no longer use ( De Kringwinkel , moeders voor moeders , 2dehands , De Weggeefwinkel ).” Bernd and his family also try to contribute in the field of nutrition, for example by using an app. “That's TooGoodToGo ,” explains Bernd. “With this app, (food) stores, restaurants, liquor stores and flower shops can indicate whether they have products that are about to expire and can therefore no longer be sold. And you can save this from the garbage can for a low amount of money. Good for your wallet and the environment.” Speaking of rescue, Bernd doesn't go to Blankenberge at the weekend to get over-enthusiastic swimmers out of the sea. What he does is thinking about how he can help animals. “Through the animal shelter of Sint-Truiden we take in kittens 'in season' that have to get used to human contact. This is mainly to keep them out of the shelter and so that they can get used to human contact as quickly as possible. We therefore ensure that they become social and that they have received the necessary vaccinations, and that they are also castrated / sterilized. If all this is done, they will be put on an adoption list.” During our own ACA Warmest Weekend, which we have started since the start of the pandemic, Bernd organizes a litter tour. Together with other team members, he sets out with the necessary material to fill a lot of bags with waste that should never have been there. But he does not only do this during the Warmest Weekend. “Most cities and towns count on help from volunteers to periodically keep a part of their city / town clean by collecting litter. You will receive all the resources for this (turnip greens, gloves, garbage bags, ring for waste bag to hold) for free. You can do this wherever and whenever you want, and even in other Flemish regions. I try to fill a bag with litter at least once a month.” But is it necessary to get out of your seat every month for this? Unfortunately yes, according to Bernd: “Unfortunately, finding waste is never a problem, especially on quiet lanes and bushes a lot of waste is dumped. There is also an app ' WePlog ' where you can easily see where no litter has been collected for a long time. This can also help to know where it is 'worth the effort' to take a look. I also walk a lot myself, so it is a small effort to take a waste bag with me on a hiking trip.” And that seems like something we can try ourselves during our next walk. Just like the many other tips Bernd has given us. We have listed them below: Support foster children by raising awareness of the organization through social media or other ways. Or make a donation to Pleegzorg Vlaanderen via www.pleegzorg.be . Think about savings at home. Turn your heating down a little and take the bike more often. Give your things you don’t need anymore a new destination via De Kringwinkel , Moeders voor moeders , 2dehands.be or Weggeefwinkel Use the TooGoodToGo app so less food will be thrown away. Adopt your animal in an animal shelter like Dierenasiel ‘Dierenvrienden’ Take a garbage bag with you on your next hike to pick up trash. You can find routes via the WePlog app where no other litter collector has been passed for a long time.

Reading time 4 min

Ibn Renders

Do you know that feeling when you wake up from a great night? That moment when you sip from your freshly made coffee? The feeling you get when you open your laptop to start your new awesome day… only to be thrown into the fiery pits of design hell when you read the latest email from one of your clients: “The design is nice, but can you make it pop?” Goodbye awesome day, hello misery. Tired of getting vague feedback like this? Same here! Before we get to the steps of dealing with vague feedback, you should know the difference between constructive and vague feedback. If someone gives you comments in a detailed manner about what they like and don’t like, that’s constructive feedback. Perhaps you don’t agree with everything they say, but you can have a conversation and improve your design. Now vague feedback, that’s another story… “make it pop”, “can you add premium effects” or “this doesn’t look sexy enough” is feedback we all hate. You don’t know what the client means, so there’s no way you can improve your design. This is vague feedback and it can seriously ruin your day! But if you try the following 5 steps, it’ll help you deal with these kinds of situations. 1. Take a breath and expel your anger. Never respond immediately with an angry or aggressive email defending your work like it’s a masterpiece worth millions. Stand up for a minute, take a breath. Think about puppies and kittens. Listen to something relaxing . When you answer to vague feedback in an aggressive or defensive way, you’ll probably get a likewise answer with feedback that’s even weirder. Or in the worst case, they’ll search for another designer. This isn’t the outcome you want. The thing you want is feedback you can work with. So don’t take the vagueness personal and answer in a polite and clear way. This way your client will realise you take the project seriously and want to deliver a design you’re both happy with. 2. Ask clarifying questions You can’t improve your designs with feedback like ‘make it pop, premium or sexy’. So try to understand what your clients really wants to tell you by asking clarifying questions. For example, if you want to know what the meaning is of ‘make it pop’ you could ask for an example of a logo they think ‘pops’. Or ask whether they mean they just want brighter colors. The more specific you are with your question, the more detailed the answer hopefully will be. Keep in mind this doesn’t mean you’re agreeing with your client’s feedback. It’s just about understanding what they want. So be patient and ask enough questions. If you don’t get the answers you want, try having a meeting or video call. 3. Give them new options Build on the answers of your previously asked questions and present your client with some options about which changes you can make to the design. Search for examples and make sure they understand exactly what you’re trying to communicate. Tell them for example that you can change the colors and then show them a couple of color schemes so they can actively help choosing. While you’re giving these options, you’ll probably get feedback out of your client they didn’t think of before. 4. Motivate yourself Before we move on to the final step, let’s lift your spirits . Don’t be sad about how your day started. Remember that coffee you had earlier? Have another one and let’s move on with our process of dealing with vague feedback. We understand your mood can change when you really need to hunt for the opinion of people who don’t express themselves clearly in their first email. But use this as an opportunity to improve yourself. Let this be your motivation! Maybe you’ll learn a new skill by moving outside of your comfort zone? Often, after actively trying to receive useful feedback, you come up with new ideas on your own, for your current project or a whole other one. Feedback can bruise your ego, especially if it’s oddly communicated, but it can just as easily help you stay grounded. Use feedback to improve and motivate yourself! 5. Prevent vague feedback in the future Experiences like these can help you improve yourself, but they can also improve your design process. Go back to the beginning and try understanding why the person gave you such vague feedback. Maybe you just sent your ‘design_v1.pdf’ with the question “What do you think”? Perhaps you started designing too soon, without asking questions first? Try to use step 2 and 3 as a prevention tool in the future. Ask clarifying questions and give them options about what the outcome might look like. When you ask for feedback, send along some questions like “What do you think about the font?” or “I think there isn’t enough whitespace, what do you think?” This will encourage the person on the other end to answer in more detail. We know this kind of feedback will always be in our lives, and it will continue to annoy designers all over the world. But let’s try to handle it in a positive way so the client gets the design they want, and you get an awesome experience creating something.