Norwich Design Studio Workspace open after Covid

Design Studio Workstation

Our Norwich design studio workspace is now open for clients to visit after the relaxing of all the covid restrictions. 

We’re looking forward to having clients sit in with again in our newly updated work space. Taking advantage of the restrictions during the Covid lockdown our design studio was overhauled to with in an inch of it life. Networking, coms, hardware and software was all upgraded to allow us to bring you the best of design results.

COG media Studio Before

Stripped back 

Taking advantage of other work going on in the building it was the perfect time to run all the cables (and a few spear for good measure) Data cables were run throughout allow hardware to be deployed wherever needed. More plug sockets were installed than the average house. A massive thank you goes out to Critten Electrical for advising and wiring up. All the surround sound wires were hidden away and sockets installed for easy installation. 

COG media Studio Screens Up
COG media Studio Plaster Boarding Walls
COG media Studio Surround Sound Wiring
COG media Studio Plug Sockets
COG media Studio Media Wall going up
COG media Studio Board

Covid stopped play

Covid hitting hard in early 2020 put the kibosh on wall building work going ahead… time to learn a new trade. Jumping online and tracking down sound barrier plasterboard and all the bits to put it up with I turned my had to labouring… and I enjoyed it. The plasterboard went up quickly and as most of the sockets were going into hollow walls cutting them in was a breeze. The special tool (or bread knife as everyone else calls it) made short work of the cleaning up of the edges. Nigel’s labelling of the cables made it an easy job to get all the wires going to the right places ready for his second fix as we call it in the trade. I even learnt to keep a pencil behind me ear, although I drew the line at drinking tea.

COG media Studio Ready for Plastering

Time to get plastered

The only I… I mean Teresa wasn’t happy with me doing was the plastering. So with a referral from a good friend Aaron was booked up to get me plastered. Drying time seemed to take ages but soon the walls were ready to a few coats of paint. Painting done and business starting to pick up we got Callum back from another building project to put the floor down in the studio and entrance.

COG media Studio Aaron Plastering
COG media Studio How long does plaster take to dry
COG media Studio Time for a lick of paint
COG media Studio It will all be worth it
COG media Studio No Flooring Down
COG media Studio Oak Flooring Down

Upgrade time

Whilst all this was going on the studio hardware was overdue an upgrade. New design and editing suite was spec’ed and built. A 32 processor Intel i9 stacked with ram and more video ports you could throw a stick at with two new 4K monitors, a preview HD screen and a spear port I’m sure we’ll find something to plug into it. We did the usual loading up old scenes and do re renders. Frames that took hours to render were now down to seconds… 

Not normally a fan of light up cases but configured this one to a COG media teal that got brighter the harder the system is running, all adds to the look, that’s what I’m telling myself. 

COG media Studio i9 Design System

Ready for business

New desks and drawers where all in place, time to make this a pleasant work environment. Extending our use of Philips Hue and Google Assistant the studio is completely voice controlled. Lighting settings depending on time of day screens, external devices and smart plugs all set with a couple of commands.

COG media Studio Open for business

Its behind you!

With us all used to video chats and Zoom meeting these days its becoming more important to consider what’s going on behind you, Lets face it it we’ve all seen shots on the news of with embarrassing items in the background or found ourselves studying at the book titles on  interviewees libraries. Some goes for our studio. Really must get round to replacing the door to the data cupboard! Fingers crossed the PowerPoint slides running on, yes you guessed it another screen will take your gaze away from it.

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The pièce de résistance 

The finishing touch to the user / client experience was to get the preview screen as part of the design system so looking over shoulders at 4K screens to preview designs and websites. Mark from Relax Mobility was the first to get the full impact of seeing his new website coming to life… on the big screen.  

Design Studio Workstation

COGmedia studio on the move again

COGmedia studio on the move again

After a rushed move from our studio at Avian Way in Norwich and a bit of a restructure COGmedia have moved to our new studio. Now comes the remodelling to get it exactly how we want it.

Time to stop lining the pockets of landlords and create the ideal workspace at home. Cant help thinking home working will be a thing of the future. Lets face it I’ll never be late for work. Never miss a package for the other half… Think I’m going to like this.

Window of Opportunity

Windows 10 upgrade

US Software giant, Microsoft, are rolling out their tenth incarnation of the hugely popular PC operating system, Windows, on the 29th and as a person who steered clear of the buggy but promising windows 8; 10 is hyping me up for the final Operating system built by Bill Gates’ Company.

Windows 7 had everything for me as a graphic designer, it kept things simple and it stuck to what windows knew from my exploits previously in XP and even Vista. So when Windows 8 was announced I was full of optimism and hope for an even more powerful Operating system than that I was already running. But as it was released, I was warned not to upgrade as the early adopters found issues with several key elements of why Windows were so successful in the past. Missing the Start bar was massive. I quite liked the panel square page from a design point of view but the function behind it was poor and wasn’t well executed.

4 years later, Windows 10 arrives, skipping 9 out. Rumours were saying that Microsoft hates the number nine as they always skip it in version numbers but that doesn’t fly with me. Another is that they wanted to distance themselves from 8 that they pushed it to ten. Once again, not that plausible. In reality, it’s a sales technique, Windows 10 seems more advanced than 9 because it’s a bigger number. It’s a fantastic way of psychological marketing (Apple has been on OSX for years don’t forget) that has been utilised by companies large and small.

I haven’t used Windows 8 yet but what I’ve seen looks impressive. It seems to mix the best of both worlds combining what we loved about 7 with what looked nice about 8. What we now have is a crazy, refined and sleek mix of science fiction madness and clean set of brand guidelines that has now used across multiple platforms. A little firework in my heart set off when I saw that the start bar was back, but with the design aspects of 8’s panels. I really hope windows 10 is everything it’s been made out to be just for the start bar. In reality, there are so many more neat features that I’m looking forward to seeing and using.

Introduction of Microsoft Edge

Unlike the rest of the internet, I’m quite excited about Edge. From what I’ve seen online, it seems quicker than Google Chrome and is leaps and bounds ahead of the abomination of Internet Explorer. Edge is described as nothing like IE in anyway, which instantly lights my eyes up like a Christmas tree. It’s very stylish unlike IE and the introduction of Cortana, which is similar to Siri, gives a new angle over browsers like Chrome and Safari. It seems like they lined all of the main browsers and taken the best bits of each. From the little I’ve used and seen, its taken the functionality of Chrome, the Reader mode from Safari and the sheer simplicity of IE. All of this, without sacrificing security. Edge is one of the safest browsers around and now has the potential to be a Chrome killer.

It’s not there yet but the little browser that could now starting to pick fights with the giants of Google and it’s still unclear if the search engine company will return fire with a strong chrome update to put Google out of sight. Edge seems to have a bright future and I want to be there with it.

Finally, what I’m most excited for is the integration with other windows products. As an owner of an Xbox One, I like that Microsoft are trying to emulate the Apple and Google Android connectivity scheme with everything being connected to everything else. The Software giant is now looking like it will be back on par with Google and Apple to bring them back into the big three. With the integration of 10, I’d like to also see the future of Windows mobile. The purchase of Nokia now seems like a mistake in hindsight and I think a total re-brand may be in order to push themselves into the mobile market. With Apple and Android having the stranglehold in the biggest tech market, it remains to be seen if 10 can bring windows into that mix or if they will eject and leave the other mobile powerhouses to fight it out.

I’ll be giving my impression on 10 and hat it can do for COGmedia on __! Stay Tuned!

[lastupdated]

New talent Lauren joins Cogmedia…

Lauren work experience

Norwich Graphic Design New Starter

We’re pleased to welcome Lauren on-board as part of the team, she brings a fresh approach to design and adds a new level of illustration to our Norwich graphic design services. Lauren said “Art is my passion in life and so I’m very much looking forward to the next year since I will be working completely on my art skills and doing jobs that I love. I’m really excited to be working with the guys down at COGmedia and all the skills in illustration and animation they can help me develop! I’m also doing an Art and Design foundation diploma at Norwich City college this year, so I can broaden my skills in many different forms of traditional media too!”