Meet our people - Emma

Tell me about your journey to joining Accenture.

I had recently moved back to Ireland after spending a few years in Wolverhampton, getting a degree in Illustration. I realised I had to improve my digital skills if I was going to get anywhere, and I took a short evening course in graphic design while simultaneously starting to play around with After Effects, trying out various tutorials I could find online. When my Graphic design course finished up, my teacher introduced me to an agency in Dublin called 256 where I started as an intern. After 2 months they hired me full time for my (very basic) After Effects knowledge. I spent 2 years there trying to improve as a motion designer, and eventually left to try and pursue freelancing. Shortly afterwards, I realised freelancing wasn’t for me; I missed having colleagues and was interested in joining a larger company. The Accenture position came up just as I arrived at that conclusion and I joined in March 2018. I started first in GCP in Dublin but after a year moved over to the Dock to work with Fjord.

Tell me about the work you do

I’m a motion designer in the Dock for NPS, which most the time means I create explainer videos for the projects NPS have been working on. Being the only motion designer for NPS, I often get to look at scripts, draw up rough storyboards, design style frames, create 3d assets, fix audio, find music and finally animate everything. Sometimes I work with a visual designer who helps me design the style frames for animation. I love collaborating with visual designers as it gives me more time to focus on animation and it also challenges me to think outside the box for animating transitions. I absolutely love my job and definitely struggle to finish up every day!

What’s the most exciting project you’ve worked on and what made it so exciting?

I recently created a short explainer video for a project called Coralation, in which one of our teams was working on an AI project to help save Coral Reefs.

We had only 2 weeks to create the video, but my team lead allowed me to have very a free hand in designing and animating the frames, and it ended up being my favourite of all the pieces I have animated since I started at Accenture. It also helped that it was for such a great cause!

I love how creative the work I get to do is, especially when working together with other designers... it's magical!

What’s a day-in-the-life like at Accenture?

It’s very different depending on which stage of a project I am on! Most likely I am either trying to come up with sketches and ideas for a project, designing style frames or getting into the nitty gritty of an animation. I also spend a lot of time trying to convince people that their scripts are a bit too long haha!

What do you like the most about working at Accenture?

I love how creative the work I get to do is, especially when working together with other designers and seeing the final piece of our combined work and knowing that everyone had contributing ideas - it’s magical!

I also absolutely love the building of the Dock, getting there was a goal of mine long before I started, I cannot wait to get back after covid!

What advice would you give to someone interested in the work you do?

Learn the principles of animation, understanding the graph editor in After Effects (or whichever program you’re animating in) will make or break the animation, so definitely focus on learning that first.

Also focus on creating beautiful frames before you start animating, it’s difficult in the beginning when all you want to do is just start to animate, but the results will be so much better! And lastly, just have fun with it!