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Hey, look: we’re just a few weeks away from a brand new decade! Which seems like the ideal time to cast an eye over the last year’s illustration trends and get some clues about where we’re headed in 2020 and beyond. Last week we took a close look at the graphic design trends set to shape the next 12 months, and today we're focussing on illustration. Here, leading artists and designs in the industry share the trends they’ve spotted recently and their predictions on what will be popular in the year to come. Of course, no one’s saying you have to follow these trends, but it’s certainly good to know what they are. 01. Flat colour and limited palette Illustration by Bruno Mangyoku for a book extract from Lethal White in The Guardian When it comes to illustration, sometimes less is more. Or as Jamie Clarke, a freelance designer and illustrator specialising in lettering and display, puts it: “Working within a set of restrictions, be they self-imposed or from a client’s brief, is often a good way of keeping an idea focused.” That’s the thinking behind one of the year’s biggest illustration trends: flat colour and a limited palette. “Reducing the colour palette to its essentials also adds an air of sophistication to an illustration,” explains Clarke. “Stir in some light and shadows and you have a cocktail that's becoming ever more popular.” Examples of the trend can be seen in the work of Malika Favre and Bruno Mangyoku. 02. Atmospheric gradients Visual for a Barron's Magazine article concerning ESG, environmental, social and governance, by Marly Gallardo Gradients have been a big trend throughout the 2010s, but recently their use has become a lot more sophisticated, believes Jamie Clark. “Lately I’ve been seeing more and more big, seductive, gradient illustrations,” he reports. “In the right hands, this techniques can produce a variety of moods, from euphoria to brooding menace. "As in the above image, an illustration by Marly Gallardo for an article on sustainability in Barron's Magazine, there is a trend for maintaining tight control over the palette which seems to increase the image’s impact," he adds. "Another good example of the trend can be seen in Karolis Strautniekas’ illustration for Honorific London." 03. Blurring the lines between illustration and animation Social media has represented an important new market for illustrators across the 2010s. But with more and more competition for eyeballs, we’re likely to see increasing demands for that illustration work to become interactive as we enter the 2020s. “Shorter attention spans mean work by illustrators like Malika Favre and Christoph Neimann are being revisited and animated to add a level of interactivity to them,” says Charlie Smith, creative director at Charlie Smith Design. “Thanks to the GIF, the line between moving image and illustration is getting ever greyer. 2020 may well continue to see bright and bold patterns, and hypnotic loops like the works of Lucas Zanotto and Matthieu Braccini as they change our perception of the medium and what it can be used for. "Creative technologies are also enabling fantastic new ways for us engage with illustration in real-world environments," she adds. “Digital animation is playing a greater role in AR, as seen in magazine covers that come to life with sound and movement through a phone camera lens. Interactive illustrations, like this mad interactive wall art for MailChimp, have the potential to reinvent communication and education tools.” 04. 3D surrealism We’ve been seeing a lot of weird and wonderful 3D work lately, and that’s likely to continue into the 2020s, believes Ryan Teixeira, design director at Wieden+Kennedy London. "The increasing availability of advanced 3D software will continue to fuel the creation of mind-bending surrealistic imagery at an ever faster rate,” he explains. “When combined with full motion video and sound design, these sorts of thumb-stopping visuals are perfectly suited to the world of social media.” Teixeira offers some examples of what that looks like in practice. "Have you ever seen a rock seamlessly transform into a piece of silk? A VW Beetle bend and wobble like it was made of jelly? Beautiful flowers made of impossible futuristic rubber-like materials? A quick jump onto Instagram and you can. Easy access to high quality 3D scanned assets, advanced procedural systems, as well as AR and VR provide artists endless opportunities for experimentation and play. Studios leading the way with this trend include Builders Club, Man vs. Machine and Tomorrow Bureau.” That said, it’s important not to get carried away with tech for its own sake. "Just as it was with traditional illustration techniques, the goal of communicating engaging ideas and stories is still at the core of this bleeding edge style," Teixeira stresses. 05. Printmaking Thicket by Clare Curtis, which is available to buy as a print from Bircham Gallery While digital illustrations can sometimes feel a little cold and impersonal, a counter-trend can be seen in the increasing call for physical and traditional techniques. “The warm, tactile quality achieved from lino, silk screen, letterpress or from a skilfully applied digital texture is still in high demand,” says Jamie Clarke. “I suspect there will always be a premium placed on imagery produced by manual means.” Examples of the trend can be seen in the work of Clare Curtis and Tom Frost. 06. Body positivity Poster illustration for lostfoundmarket.com by Alva Skog The 2010s have seen a big movement away from ‘body shaming’ and towards celebrating our physical appearance, whatever we may look like, and the profession is increasingly following suit. “Illustrators are continuing to express how we and our bodies are seen and perceived in wacky and wonderful ways,” says Charlie Smith. “Imperfect brush strokes and wobbly lines are being used to create playful caricatures that explore ideals of proportions and anatomic ratios. See work by Amber Vittoria, Lucas Wakamatsu, Kevin Sabo and others.” 07. Illustrative lettering Book covers by Martina Flor for Penguin Random House and Andersen Press (Monsters, centre) Hand-lettering, custom lettering, illustrative lettering... whatever you call it, it’s thriving right now, says Jamie Clarke, and for good reason. “No matter how large the range of available typefaces becomes, sometimes lettering is the only way to magically blend a particular illustration style into an image,” he explains. Great examples to follow include the book cover designs of Martina Flor and Karl James Mountford. 08. The return of detail Tom Lane’s bottle detail for the Brisbane Distillery Company Although minimalism has dominated throughout the 2010s, we’re now seeing a lot more realism and detail creeping back into illustration, says Alex Halfpenny, design director at Elmwood. He argues that the previous trend for reductive design was driven largely by the need to improve visibility on mobile devices; but improvements in technology are now pushing things in the opposite direction. “The reality of a high definition screen in everyones’ pockets can lend itself to more detail, more richness, more interest, more sensorial experience and ultimately more engagement,” he explains. “As software and hardware improve, the line between digital illustration and hand-drawn will likely become more blurred, as a human touch continues to be desired over clean, digital graphics." Jamie Clarke agrees. “We’re seeing small, wonderfully crafted illustrations lift a product to a new height of luxury,” he notes. “They can be seen adorning all sorts of media including packaging, books and branding. The intricate linework and attention to detail often tell a story about the brand’s heritage and aspirations. Examples of the trend can be seen in Anthony Millard’s illustrations for Johnnie Walker’s new limited edition Black label series and Tom Lane’s bottle detail for the Brisbane Distillery Company.” 09. Geometric patterns This studio-led tea packaging by Jamie Clarke Type uses a grid to constrain a floral pattern Geometric patterns can be seen everywhere in illustration right now, says Jamie Clarke. ”Whether wrapped in soft organic forms or revealed in their mathematical glory, patterns, grids and geometric shapes are in,” he says. “Not confined to the domain of graphic designers grids and patterns are increasingly used to divide and decorate illustration work. Examples of the trend can be seen the work of RETOKA and Dana Tanamachi.” 10. Illustration eclipses photography for big brands Turner Duckworth’s new visual identity for McDonald’s is heavily focused around illustration Perhaps more important than any individual visual trend is how the business of illustration is evolving in general. Marie Therese Cassidy, executive creative director of FutureBrand, gives her take on the issue. “One of the biggest trends emerging this year, and one which I believe is here to stay, is the move towards a more artful aesthetic which leaves traditional category codes behind,” she says. “This trend was initially led by boutique independent brands in categories such as chocolate (the MAST brothers) and alcohol (the craft beer movement and localised gin brands) as a way of distinguishing themselves from the larger corporations. “Not surprisingly, the bigger brands have cottoned on to this to be more appealing and to stay relevant to their consumers. It's expressed in different ways but we're seeing illustration play a much bigger role than photography right now, as it helps brands bring their story to life in a more human way. A great example is McDonalds. Their new visual identity aims to make every brand interaction a feel-good moment and they have adopted a more playful, pared-down design to bring this to life and honour the company's feelgood roots.” Of course, not every company has the deep pockets of a brand like McDonalds, and so Roly Grant, co-founder and creative director of Without, points to a countertrend: “The ubiquity of vector-based stock illustration skewing client perceptions of how quickly and cheaply quality illustration can be produced.” It’s not that Grant is against stock illustrations per se: “On an editorial level, using stock is a necessary and viable option, where headlines can be tweaked and tailored to match visuals,” he says. “However, for branding, where we look to tell specific, original and, crucially, ownable stories, illustration needs to be created from scratch.” Explaining this process and value to clients is becoming more important, he believes. “When markets become saturated with familiar material, styles and voices, the best brands find a way to break out. Illustration for the best clients may therefore get a lot weirder in 2020.” And if that need does arise, then happily there’ll be an increasingly larger and more diverse pool of illustrators to meet it, believes self-taught art director and concept artist Skeeva. “More and more people are becoming illustrators thanks to a huge number of courses and incentives," he reports. "Everyone, regardless of gender, sexual orientation or the country in which he or she lives, can easily become an original, self-taught illustrator, bringing fresh, new and unique trends to art.” Read more: The best pencils for colouring, drawing and sketching The best Apple Pencil deals in 2019 Our pick of the best graphics tablets in 2019 View the full article

Banksy's latest piece has appeared in Gibbs Street in Birmingham, UK, and as per usual, the anonymous street artist's work is already causing a stir. The artwork shows two reindeer painted on a wall next to an existing bench, giving the impression that it's pulling the bench like a sleigh. The bench is occupied by a homeless man, who happens to be sporting a big white beard. Does that remind you of anyone? But, is it a genuine Banksy, and potentially worthy of inclusion in our top street art post? The style is right and the artwork has made an appearance on the artist's Instagram page with a poignant message. Read Banksy's words and watch the video below. If that is not enough to convince you then there's also a photo of the reindeer artwork on front page of the artist's website. And the selfies are already rolling in, such as the one below from @AmandaGChan. So what's the message behind his latest artwork? The beauty of Banksy is that he says little and lets the masses make up their own mind on exactly what his work means. To different people his work means different things. The timing of the artwork's appearance, the reindeer (and the white beard) suggest that we should all be thinking of others as the cold dark nights set in. Alternatively, with Banksy being something of a political activist, and the UK general election happening this week, it could also be a dig at the party in power and its record on homelessness. Whatever the intended meaning, as usual, Banksy has got many people thinking, retweeting, liking and spreading his message across the web to the wider world. Banksy opens homeware shop to protect his name The best pencils for colouring, drawing and sketching 32 beautiful examples of paper art View the full article

Christmas is coming and we've seen some sweet Xbox One deals that could make ideal gifts for you or a fellow game enthusiast. Microsoft is pushing some impressive price reductions on its 1TB models, including NBA 2k20 and Star Wars bundles that are hard to resist, and other retailers are also joining in on the action. In the US, Walmart is really stepping up on its Xbox One X bundle deals. There's never been a better time to buy. For example, you can get your hands on an Xbox One X 1TB NBA 2k20 Bundle for $349 – that's a whopping $150 off the retail price. For Star Wars fans (aren't we all?), you can get the Xbox One X 1TB Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order bundle there's also $150 off, so the bundle costs just $349. And to make theses deals even sweeter, there are various accessories thrown in, see each deal to check exactly what's included. You'll need to get in there quick as these deals won't last long. For super-sharp gaming, you can also pair your new console with one of the best monitors. Xbox One X deals: US Xbox One X deals: UK In the UK, Currys is dropping its prices to rarely seen levels that will want to make you purchase an Xbox One right now. Seriously, this a deal that that will want to make you spend your hard-earned cash. Get an Xbox One with a 1TB hard drive, 12GB of GDDR5 memory and some great games including Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order Deluxe Edition, Tekken 7 and Project Cars 2. Get a move on as this deal won't be around for long. See more XBox One X console deals below. View the full article

As creatives, we are always looking to take our work to the next level and improve our productivity. The 2020 Limited Edition Mac Bundle Ft. Parallels Desktop includes 13 award-winning apps for photography, website creation, privacy, productivity, and so much more. Read on to learn more about some of the apps included in the bundle. There's more good news: right now you can get an additional 15% off with code MerrySave15. For more creative apps for your toolkit, check out our roundups of the best photo apps and the best free iPhone apps for designers. 01. Aurora HDR Winner of Digital Photo Editors' Choice Award and Mac World Editor’s Choice Award, Aurora HDR is one of the world's leading HDR photo editing software applications. Created as a joint project between Skylum and Trey Ratcliff, a renowned HDR photographer, the software brings you access to dozens of features that help you quickly produce natural-looking HDR images. You'll even be able to share your pictures directly to social media through Aurora once you find the perfect edit. 02. iMazing Do you need a bit of assistance with your iPhone, iPad and iPod management? iMazing lets you manage all your data the way you want to by letting you transfer and manage your backups, extract your text messages, drag and drop music from your iPhone, and so much more. You'll be able to export your pictures and videos without iCloud or iTunes and transfer files between any Mac or PC and any iOS device in a seamless way. You understand the pain of moving your data if you've ever upgraded or had to switch phones, and iMazing is here to help! 03. LiveHome3D Pro Design your home from scratch with easy-to-use point and click drafting tools. Start with the simple foundation of your home or space and work your way up inch by inch by creating professional-grade blueprints. With advanced AR technology, you’ll be able to build everything from roofs to kitchen counters, add in custom lighting, create 2D floor plans, and so much more. Use the block tool to add in building elements such as rooms, porches, or arched walls and make a design that reflects your vision to a T. 04. RapidWeaver8 If you've ever wanted to build your website, but don't know where to start, this app may be for you. An intuitive UI, hundreds of add-ons, and an easy-to-use interface will help you build a site from the ground up. With over 50 built-in themes that are easy to customise, you'll be able to create the website you've always wanted with no coding experience needed. There are also plenty of plugins, including Social Graph and Twitter support, making it a one-stop-shop for all things site related. For an alternative, check out our guide to how to make a website with WordPress. Access to The 2020 Limited Edition Mac Bundle Ft. Parallels Desktop is valued at over $1,200, this bundle is currently price-dropped to only $59.99, and you can get an extra additional 15% off using code MerrySave15. With hundreds of possibilities available to you at the click of your mouse, it is undoubtedly a great way to finesse your creative skills and make your beautiful work stand out. Read more: 15 essential tools for graphic designers in 2019 20 top graphic design trends for 2020 The best design apps for Windows View the full article

There are few things more intoxicating in life than finding your muse. From sketching and doodling, to 3D design and editing, there’s nothing quite like the thunderous strike of inspiration to get your creative juices flowing. There are times, however, when you’re not in the best environment to channel your creativity. It’s all very well having a home studio with a graphics tablet, but if you're on the move when you need to work your magic, the wait to return to your creative haven can be frustrating, not to mention impractical. Laptops and tablets make reasonable stopgaps of course, but they're no substitute for the dedicated tools designed to help you achieve your absolute best work – until now, at least. Channeling your muse The HP ZBook x2 is a hybrid workstation that's designed to empower artists, editors and designers to express themselves and generate ideas while they're on the move, without having to compromise while they're away from their studios. The most powerful detachable PC that HP has ever made, the HP ZBook x2 is a genuine alternative to your dedicated studio hardware, thanks to its high-specced innards, and stunning Wacom pen-enabled screen. While the latter allows artists and designers to draw and write with incredible accuracy thanks to over 4,000 levels of pressure sensitivity, the ZBook x2 also provides a new standout innovative feature that will elevate your productivity to a whole new level. Meet the Quick Keys You'll find 12 shortcut buttons on either side of the ZBook x2's screen Situated on either side of the ZBook x2's screen are 12 shortcut buttons, which are designed to make your creative process flow as smoothly as possible, wherever you are. Called Quick Keys, these buttons are a godsend for creatives looking to increase their efficiency and comfort while they work in apps like Adobe Photoshop or InDesign – two of the most popular design and editing tools in the world. A large part of using these apps are the keyboard shortcuts, which soon become second nature to the artists who use them every day. While you can, of course, still use these shortcuts on the ZBook x2's keyboard, you might not always have the space for a traditional laptop setup. Sketching on a plane, for example, leaves you with very little room for work. With the keyboard detached though, you can comfortably draw directly on the ZBook x2's screen, while the Quick Keys let you unleash your full potential. The power of shortcuts Imagine a painter adding more paint to their brush for bolder, thicker strokes, or diluting a colour with paint thinner for a more transparent, subtle effect on the canvas. While they work, they move around the easel, looking at their emerging creation from different angles. The might even rotate the whole canvas, to tackle it from another direction, or step back to the other side of the room to get some perspective. All of these actions seem natural and intuitive, but translating these real-world experiences to a PC or tablet is no easy task. Other tablets lack shortcut buttons, and while they may offer a natural drawing experience in the form of a stylus, beyond putting digital ink on paper, they soon lead to frustration. Trying to use these indispensable shortcuts with a stylus is frustrating at the best of times, and can be borderline impossible. The ZBook x2's Quick Keys, however, allow artists to instantly carry out these natural tasks without a second thought. In Photoshop, for example, right-clicking while holding Alt and dragging the mouse can change the thickness or transparency of your virtual brush – the exact same principles behind adding, removing or thinning paint with a real brush and palette. You can instantly make adjustments like these on the ZBook x2 without a second thought – one Quick Key press is all it takes to continue your flow. Work your way Out of the box, these Quick Keys have 18 preconfigured shortcuts that are customised for Adobe applications. We all have our preferences though, especially when it comes to the way we tackle work – the most popular methods and shortcuts for one artist may be the least-used for another, which is why the ability to customise all 12 of the Quick Keys is another vital feature. Shortcuts are easily assigned via the HP Create Control Panel, which enables you to create all the custom shortcuts you could ever need. Each Adobe app has its own section too, so you can save multiple shortcuts specifically designed for whichever app you're currently using. With incredible performance and versatility to push your favourite Adobe apps – and yourself – to maximum potential, no other PC or tablet is better suited to turn your creative visions into reality. View the full article

If you're looking for InDesign alternatives, you've come to the right place. Launched in 1999, Adobe InDesign quickly became the industry standard for desktop publishing (DTP), and it’s remained so ever since. However, it’s now part of the Adobe Creative Cloud, and so to access it, you need a monthly subscription, either to the app itself or the Creative Cloud suite as a whole. See our guide on how to download InDesign for the ins and outs of the software. Get Adobe Creative Cloud But what if you don’t want to commit to a subscription and would rather pay a one-off fee, or nothing at all? Happily, there are some decent alternatives to InDesign that fit both these descriptions. Read on as we explain what they are, and what each has to offer. For other non-Adobe software ideas, see our Photoshop alternatives roundup. Or if you do decide you want to get InDesign, check out our InDesign tutorials. 01. Affinity Publisher Affinity Publisher is our recommended alternative to InDesign Price model: One-off fee System: Windows, Mac Pros: Feature-rich, cheap, interoperable with other Affinity apps Cons: Can’t import InDesign files Recommended for: professional designers Launched in 2018, and emerging from public beta this June, Affinity Publisher is our top pick if you’re looking for a subscription-free alternative to InDesign. This desktop publishing software offers excellent page layout features for both printed and online media, such as live master pages, including nested master pages; image frames with intelligent scaling options; text wrapping with fine padding control; advanced guides, grids and snapping; OpenType support, drop caps, text on a path and custom table formats. You can import and export to all both raster and vector files with Affinity Publisher, including layered PSD, PDF and EPS formats. You can’t, however, import InDesign files; you can only save them as PDFs and import either the whole PDF or individual pages. While Affinity Publisher doesn’t have all the features of InDesign, it has a similar interface and is broadly capable of most tasks you’d use the latter for, such as laying out book, magazine and brochures pages, designing posters and flyers, and crafting e-publications. If page layout is new to you, meanwhile, there’s a good selection of video tutorials included to get you started. Available for both Mac and PC, Affinity Publisher can be used as part of an interoperable collection of apps (alongside the vector editor Affinity Designer and/or the image editor Affinity Photo), or on its own. There’s no iPad version yet, but you can open, edit and export Publisher documents in Affinity Designer for iPad and the iPad version of Affinity Photo. With a cost of £48.99, and discounts available, Affinity Publisher offers a good value alternative to InDesign. 02. QuarkXPress QuarkXPress is the long-running corporate rival to InDesign Price model: One-off fee System: Windows, Mac Pros: Feature-rich, can import InDesign files Cons: Expensive Recommended for: Veteran users Back in the 1990s, QuarkXPress was the king on the desktop publishing block. And many designers, publishing houses and corporations who started using it before InDesign arrived have continued to do so. The software can be used to create everything from posters and flyers to brochures, catalogues, and magazines, as well as ebooks and web and mobile apps. First launched in 1987, this reliable and feature-packed software can do almost everything that InDesign can do, plus importantly, it can import InDesign files. Available for PC or Mac, it continues to be updated on an annual basis, usually around late spring/early summer, and the latest version is Quark XPress 2019. There’s a lot of impressive functionality in Quark XPress, for both print and digital design, and so it seems a little unfair that’s it's been so eclipsed by InDesign. That said, the brutal truth is that the main reasons to buy Quark nowadays are if you’ve used it before and prefer it to InDesign, or that you’re applying for a job or project that requires it. And we suspect that the makers of the software know that themselves, as the cost of a new licence, starting at £835, seems more aimed at the corporate market than individual designers. 03. Scribus Scribu is free, open source and surprisingly powerful Price model: Free System: Windows, Mac, Linux Pros: Free, includes free templates, available for Linux Cons: Can’t import files from InDesign or QuarkXPress Recommended for: indie publishers on a budget If you’re looking for a free and open source alternative to InDesign, then we recommend checking out Scribus. This excellent tool has an interface that’s very similar to InDesign and is surprisingly feature-packed for a zero-cost tool. First launched in 2001, Scribus has an enthusiastic developer community around it that keeps it constantly updated with new features and ensures its stability. Available for Mac, Windows and Linux, it supports most of the desktop publishing features you’d find in paid software, including support for OpenType, CMYK colours, spot colours, ICC colour management and versatile PDF creation, as well as some unexpected touches, such as vector drawing tools, emulation of colour blindness and the rendering of markup languages like LaTeX or Lilypond. The biggest negative is that you can’t open files from other desktop publishing software, such as InDesign or Quark, within Scribus. There’s a lot of good forums and documentation around Scribus that will help you get up and running quickly, and it even comes with a free selection of templates designed for things like business cards, brochures and newsletters. All in all, Scribus isn’t likely to ever become as powerful or feature-rich as InDesign, but if you’re working on an indie publishing venture or personal side project and want a free DTP package that will meet most (if not all) of your needs, there’s none finer. 04. Swift Publisher Swift Publisher offers a quick and easy way to get started with desktop publishing for Mac Price model: One-off fee System: Mac Pros: Cheap, wide range of pre-made templates Cons: Less powerful than other tools, Mac-only Recommended for: Time-poor DTP beginners (and Mac users) Swift Publisher is a budget desktop publishing app for Mac only. It comes with more than 500 templates for a range of specific projects, including bi-fold and tri-fold brochures, catalogues, business cards, social media, disc labels and covers, address labels and more. You’ll also have access to a collection of 2D and 3D heading presets, 2,000 free clipart images, 100 image masks, and it includes some sophisticated page layout features including two-page spreads, unlimited layers, master pages, customisable grids, rich text tools, printing to RGB or CMYK, and export to PNG, TIFF, JPEG, EPS and PDF. At the time of writing, Swift Publisher was just $19.99. So even though, quite frankly, it’s not a patch on InDesign, if you want to design something specific like a CD label, and you’d rather use a template than designing from scratch, this is a very good, low-cost option. And there’s a free trial too, so you can try before you buy if you’re not sure. 05. LucidPress Lucidpress is an easy to use DTP tool that works within your web browser Price model: Freemium System: Web browser Pros: Nothing to download, easy to use with pre-made templates Cons: Much less powerful than other tools, free version is limited Recommended for: Time-poor DTP beginners (and non-Mac users) Lucidpress is an intuitive, web-based, drag and drop tool that allows you to create content for print and digital, including flyers, brochures, business cards, invitations, leaflets, newsletters, magazines, photobooks and more. Largely targeted at people with minimal DTP skills or experience, it comes with both free and paid-for templates to make this super-easy. The software is also integrated with Google Docs, YouTube, Dropbox, Flickr, Facebook, Unsplash and other tools to allow you to import existing content. Once you’ve completed your designs you can publish them online, embed them in emails or webpages, push to social media, download them as print-ready files, or order directly from the Lucidpress print shop. Lucidpress is far from a sophisticated or feature-rich DTP tool. But like Swift Publisher, if you’re new to desktop publishing and don’t want to bother learning to use professional software, it offers a quick and easy route to creating a basic print or digital design. And unlike Swift Publisher, you can use it on any computer with a web browser. There is a free version of Lucidpress but do note that it’s quite limited, and you’ll need to upgrade to the $9.95 a month subscription to get features like unlimited shapes and documents, custom fonts and print quality PDFs. Read more: 39 InDesign tutorials to level up your skills Create special print finishes in InDesign Affinity Designer 1.7 review View the full article

There are so many Christmas ads flying around at this time of year, companies need to work extra hard to create something that resonates with their audience. But a Filipino phone company has beaten the odds with a TV spot that has captured people's hearts and become the unexpected success of the festive season. Its popularity is mainly thanks to the emotional gut-punch of an ending that we did not see coming (for more ad agencies done good, explore our rundown of the best Christmas ads of all time). The advert ties into the release of the newest Star Wars film, Rise of Skywalker. It starts off with two young boys cobbling together some kind of homemade super-armchair/spaceship thing, complete with wings, fans, and a moving base. There's even a bit where a load of mobile phones, borrowed from neighbours, get welded into the contraption to form a light show. They've certainly gone the extra mile (their efforts might even top some of the best 3D movies). So far, so cute, but certainly nothing groundbreaking. Apart from the fact that we're not sure the phone-owners knew their handsets were going on permanent loan, there's nothing comment-worthy here. Stick with it though, because there's a twist coming, and it'll hit you right in the feels. Watch the ad below. The heartwarming advert is the work of Wunderman Thompson, and it's for phone company Globe Telecom. It forms part of Globe's initiative to provide tools and equipment for people with disabilities – so you can rest assured you're being emotionally manipulated for a good cause. Read more: 20 top graphic design trends for 2020 Why the John Lewis Christmas advert is fundamentally flawed KFC's What the Cluck?! advert banned after complaints View the full article

And so another year draws to a close, and it’s been a busy one in the ever-expanding world of 3D... although a lot of it felt quite familiar. Several smaller outfits were gobbled up by the big guys, while lots of companies jumped on the software-as-service subscription bandwagon. Pixologic released yet more free updates for ZBrush, while big hitters Adobe and Autodesk produced a series of solid updates without really delivering anything revolutionary. It was also good year for free stuff, whether it’s the continued onslaught of Blender (the best free 3D modelling software, we think), the launch of yet more free online asset sites or Intel’s popular image denoising technology, which is everywhere these days. Here are some of the bigger events that hit the headlines in 2019… Adobe caught in possession of Substance Allegorithmic's popular 3D toolset now belongs to Adobe The year kicked off with a story that was unexpected, and not met with an entirely warm reception: pioneering French company Allegorithmic was acquired by Adobe. The deal meant that Substance Designer, Substance Painter and Substance Source became part of the Adobe group, alongside Substance Alchemist, which came out of beta a few months ago. As many of the Substance Suite’s users feared, it wasn’t long before Adobe announced it was going subscription-only, starting at $20 a month/$219 per year. Existing perpetual licenses will be honoured until 2021, but after that users will either have to subscribe or lose maintenance updates. Epic goes shopping Epic Games has bought a number of companies this year, including Quixel Late in 2018, Epic Games raised $1.25 billion in another round of funding, and immediately went on a spending spree. Over the course of 2019, it announced seven major acquisitions, starting in January with gameplay programming language firm Agog Labs and 3Lateral, a Serbian company specialising in digital human technology. This was followed in May by the purchase of real-time visualisation app Twinmotion – which was made available for free – plus Rocket League developer Psyonix. In June it picked up social video app Houseparty, and finally in November, Epic bought Quixel – known for its Quixel Suite and MegaScans – plus Joe Alter’s Shave and a Haircut, which will be offered for free to Unreal Engine users. By our reckoning Epic still has a few dollars left to spend in 2020. Maxon buys Redshift, Cinema 4D goes rental Redshift joined the Maxon family in April At the NAB show in April, Maxon’s new CEO David McGavran announced that Redshift, the popular GPU-accelerated unbiased renderer, was now part of the Maxon family. For the most part, nothing much has changed in terms of support for competing apps (Maya, 3ds Max, Houdini and so on) and pricing. In September, Cinema 4D users hoping for Redshift integration or some tangible benefits of Maxon’s reworking of C4D’s underlying architecture were disappointed, when instead they got R21 – a somewhat meagre update compared last year’s version – and the news that Cinema was joining the subscription-only crew. The news was met with a mixed reaction, and some long-term C4D users have noisily jumped ship to Blender. New Mac Pro finally announced It's still not available to pre-order though... Six years after unveiling the cylindrical ‘trashcan’ Mac Pro – and two years after admitting it got the thermally constrained design wrong – Apple finally announced its newest Mac Pro at the 2019 World Wide Developers Conference in June. Borrowing the overall design of the earlier ‘cheesegrater’ model, the Mac Pro supports Intel CPUs up to 28 cores, plus AMD GPUs including a pair of Radeon Pro Vega II Duos, promising 56 teraflops of compute power. Sadly, the base machine starts at $6,000 and still isn’t available for pre-order at the time of writing, so for most buyers it’s looking more and more like a 2020 release. Blender hits the big time Version 2.8 was a milestone release for this hugely popular free 3D software After three years of work, the free, open-source app Blender hit its milestone release. Version 2.8 brought with it a user-friendly interface, a host of new features, plus updates to its Eevee real-time display and Cycles renderer with support for Cryptomattes. This was followed four months later by 2.81, with yet more updates. 2019 proved to be a big year for the app, with the likes of Nvidia, AMD, Adidas and Ubisoft joining the Blender Development Fund, while Epic Games awarded the Blender Foundation a $1.2 million grant. The future of Blender’s development looks very bright indeed. Intel versus AMD heats up AMD's newest processors dominate the benchmarks for multithreaded tasks After years of dominating the high-end desktop (HEDT) market, this year Intel has had to take a back seat to some pioneering work by AMD. While Intel has struggled to make the transition from 14nm to 10nm wafers, AMD has surged ahead, first with its 7nm Zen 2 Ryzen 3000 chips, and latterly with the phenomenal PCIe 4.0-compatible Threadripper 3000. Released at the tail end of November, the 24-core TR 3960X and 32-core TR 3970X completely dominate the benchmarks for multithreaded tasks, with the 24-core model often beating Intel’s 28-core Xeon W-3175X. And the bad news for Intel is that AMD has a monster 64-core version waiting to be released in early 2020. GPU rendering forges ahead Octane is one of several companies that now supports RTX-accelerated rendering GPU rendering took several strides forward in 2019, not least with the ongoing development of Nvidia’s RTX cards featuring dedicated ray tracing hardware (see our guide to the best graphics cards for more). Traditionally CPU-bound renderers like Arnold and KeyShot gained CUDA-accelerated functionality, while Octane, Modo, V-Ray, Blender Cycles, Clarisse, Substance Painter and Autodesk Flame all added support for RTX-accelerated rendering. Later this year/early 2020 we can also look forward to Octane and Redshift supporting Apple’s Metal API (which is useful given that Apple won’t support Nvidia GPUs and Nvidia has terminated CUDA support on macOS). AMD is also rumoured to be launching its Navi 23 GPUs next year with support for hardware-accelerated ray tracing. Interesting times ahead… Read more: The best internal hard drives of 2019 19 tips to master ZBrush What's new in RizomUV 2019? View the full article

In a digital age of apps, email and instant messaging, it's almost incredible that the 19th century tradition of sending Christmas cards to friends, family and colleagues remains in good health, with around a billion cards sold last year. According to the Greetings Card Association, the market is worth £1.7 million, and so with so many people getting involved, it's perhaps understandable that there's a temptation to let loose with designs, sometimes leading to unintentional hilarity. Other times, intentionally bad designs can raise a smile from even the most jaded Ebenezer Scrooge. Here are our favourites of the bad, the ugly and the downright weird. And if you're feeling inspired to make your own creation, you could always take a look at our how to draw tutorials to help you on your way. 01. Awkward smiles Smile? No? Then just bare your teeth To many of us there might seem something strange about sending a Christmas card with your own image on it, but it’s long been a tradition among public figures – the first ever commercially produced card designed by civil servant Sir Henry Cole in 1843 depicted his own family, and family Christmas cards are a tradition in the US. The strangest thing about this 2014 card from former British prime minister Tony Blair and his wife Cherie is that presumably this shot, in which Cherie seems to be holding her husband back from setting upon the photographer, was chosen as the best from the session. Comments on Twitter at the time ranged from "Menacingly odd", to "terrifying". 02. All-out bling The Kardashians show there’s no such thing as OTT at Christmas – click to see the card in all its glory The Kardashian-Jenner clan took family Christmas cards to a characteristically OTT extreme with this 2013 offering, which cost a reported US$ 250,000 to produce. The photo shot by David LaChappelle shows the women of the family in black dresses, Kim in a revealing gown and Kris wearing a Metropolis-esque head-piece, against a gaudy carnivalesque backdrop decked with neon lights, pop art, Olympic gold medals, mannequins and graffiti reading 'fame', with discarded Rolling Stone magazines on the floor showing Kanye West as Jesus for an extra festive touch. It’s horrendously (or wonderfully) garish and perfectly captures the out-of-control consumerism of the season. 03. Nothing says Christmas like a semi-automatic Pity Santa coming down the chimney to this scene If Tony Blair’s stance seemed aggressive on the Blairs’ 2014 card, it’s not half as terrifying as this dose of festive cheer from Republican politician Michele Fiore a year later. Then a sitting assemblywoman for Nevada, Fiore embraced the US tradition of sending family self-portraits as Christmas cards by having her kin dress in festive red and then pose with a terrifying arsenal of firearms in front of a Christmas wreath that was presumably purchased to place on Santa’s grave. Even Fiore’s grandson, then aged five, is packing a semi-automatic pistol. Fiore explained to Fox News, “I think getting firearms as a present and giving firearms as presents is a great present, and I think again because Christmas is a family affair, our ultimate responsibility is to protect and make sure our family is safe.” Ho ho ho! 04. Random animals Animals feature highly in the great Christmas tradition of greetings cards, from robins in the snow to airborne reindeer and penguins relocated to the arctic. So why not cats? Manchester’s Chetham’s Library thinks this card is the worst in their Edwardian collection and the choice of picture seems to be as random as it is ugly, but, produced by Raphael Tuck & Sons in the early 1900s using artwork by French artist Maurice Boulanger, the randomness of the image and the message 'Splashing with loving Christmas wishes' gives it a certain charm. 05. Cringeworthy in-jokes A Christmas message from the Bake Off star There’s nothing like turning to popular culture for some pop references and more puns and Christmas humour, like this delightful wish for the season from celebrity chef and TV presenter Paul Hollywood, a judge on The Great British Bake Off known for his appreciation of a moist fruit cake. It’s so squirm-inducing that it’s brilliant. 06. Unfortunate composition Umm... As with any project, designers need to pay close attention to composition, scale, colour and the juxtaposition of all the elements in a design for a Christmas card. The snowman in this card sent out by a company to its customers seems to be just a little too excited about the imminent holiday season. Read more: The 10 best Christmas ads of all time 8 best new free Christmas fonts 7 famous logos that pass the silhouette test View the full article

The arrival of the festive period is accompanied by many traditions, from switching on the lights to office parties, but the season’s advertising perhaps defines our feeling of what is Christmassy as much as advent calendars, pine needles and the ordeal of secret santa shopping. From direct sells to stirring sentimental pieces with heartwarming messages, festive adverts have made us smile, laugh, cry, and above all feel like it’s Christmas. Here we look at ten of the best, from the simple but enduring Hershey’s Kisses Christmas Bells to Sainsbury’s 2014 cinematic depiction of the 1914 Christmas truce. And for more adverts of a different medium, see our favourite ever print ads. 01. Christmas Bells – Hershey’s Kisses (1989) Running for three decades now, Hershey’s Kisses’ Christmas Bells advert by Ogilvy has lasted so well thanks to the sheer simplicity of the idea. The ad shows Christmas coloured foil-wrapped chocolates playing the tune of We Wish You a Merry Christmas and so capitalising on the chocolate brand’s popularity as a stocking filler in the US. In 2012, the ad was updated with CGI animation and a new recording of the audio, and it’s even proved perfectly adaptable to social media, with the brand last year giving the public the chance to 'play the bells' themselves and record their own melodies using different sound effects, from cowbells to DJ horns, and then share the results on Instagram Stories. Festive merriment for all! 02. Mistletoe by Yellow Pages (1992) Can this really have been 27 years ago? This AMVBBDO-created icon of 1990s advertising delivers a short but sweet dose of yuletide nostalgia and made such a lasting impression that Dean Cooke, the then six-year-old child actor who plays the boy who reaches for a phone book in order to be able to kiss a girl under the mistletoe, says he still gets recognised in the street. A piece that felt warm and nostalgic at the time feels even more so now that the phone books feels like an arcane relic from the Dark Ages. 03. Holidays are coming – Coca-Cola (1995) Some consider Coca-cola to have all but invented the Christmas ad if not Christmas itself, and while we wouldn’t go that far, it was certainly one of the first brands whose ads became an event recognised as a greater harbinger of the festive season than chestnuts roasting or Slade being played in every high street shop. The brand already had form – see this 1971 Christmas version of its famous hilltop singalong – but it was the arrival of the trucks in this 1995 ad by WB Doner that truly enshrined its association with Christmas and created a motif on which it could capitalise endlessly, even bringing the trucks into city centres to the delight of Christmas shoppers. 04. This is not just – Marks and Spencer (2006) Unlike the tearjerkers that came later in the decade, there’s no deep and worthy message here. By simply showing seductive slow motion close ups of festive dishes with a voiceover that seems to have been intended to produce ASMR before it became a thing, the ad revels in the pure hedonistic enjoyment of posh Christmas food, unashamedly recognising eating as one of the most important elements of the festive season. The Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R campaign with its iconic strapline 'This is not just...,' pioneered the concept of food porn long before the Instagram age and left enough of an impression in the collective memory to serve for a tongue-in cheek revival this year. 05. Phenomenal Christmas – Irn Bru (2007) You have to be careful about messing with such a much-loved treasure of Christmas tradition as Raymond Brigg’s magical classic The Snowman, but The Leith Agency’s cheeky reworking for Scotland’s top selling soft drink gets the tone just right. The snowman, outraged when the little boy won't share his Irn Bru with him, steals the can and lets go of the boy’s hand in a piece that’s completed with local references, with the duo flying over landmarks such as the Falkirk Wheel, the Forth Bridge, and Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall. It’s respectful and irreverent in just the right measure, like an expertly dosed mulled wine. 06. El Color Reserva – Freixenet (2008) Audiences outside of Spain may not be familiar with Friexenet’s advertising – the 158-year-old cava brand only made its UK TV advertising debut this year – but across the Bay of Biscay, its Christmas commercials have been hotly anticipated annual events since way back in 1977. This 2008 JWT-produced spot directed by British music video director Howard Greenhalgh replaced international celebs (previous years’ ads had starred Demi Moore, Gwyneth Paltrow, Pierce Brosnan and Penelope Cruz) with Spain’s synchronised swimming team fresh from medal-winning success at the Beijing Olympics, celebrating the joy of drinking bubbly with something that felt fresh, festive and unmistakably Spanish. 07. The Long Wait - John Lewis (2011) It might already feel like a Christmas tradition that goes as far back as stockings, crackers and ridiculous jumpers, but John Lewis only launched its first Christmas ad in 2007. Since then the department store’s festive offerings have become something of a British national tradition, often aiming to produce as many tears as It’s a Wonderful Life. They do so via stirring emotional denouements backed by slowed-down cover versions of well-known songs, setting records for Christmas ad budgets in the process. This 2014 ad by Adam&Eve DDB begins with a young boy impatiently waiting for Christmas. Reinforced by the lyrics of Slow Moving Millie’s cover of Please Please Please, Let Me Get What I Want by The Smiths, we imagine he’s desperate for his presents, but on Christmas morning, he ignores his own gifts and rushes to deliver a present to his sleeping parents. With the strapline 'For Gifts you can’t wait to give,' it firmly puts the focus on the giving rather than the receiving. 08. 1914 by Sainsbury's (2014) The mid 2010s saw Sainsbury’s go head to head with John Lewis in a battle to create the most sentimental Christmas tearjerker and this was one of the most epic. Inspired by real events that took place 100 years earlier, the simple narrative tells the well-known story of Christmas Day 1914 when around 100,000 combatants laid down arms to socialise and play football on the Western Front. Made together with The Royal British Legion, this advert by AMV BBDO did more than advertise a supermarket, with profits from the sale of a chocolate bar going to the charity, which provides support for members and veterans of the armed forces and their families. 09. Special Because - Boots (2014) High street pharmacy and retailer Boots also joined the battle in 2014 by switching its usual festive fare to a more emotional offering from Mother that celebrates the work of the UK’s National Health Service staff. A mum is surprised by her family after a long Christmas day shift at the hospital in an ad with sterling direction and an attention to realistic, humble, perhaps even gloomy details, that make it immediately relatable to much of its audience. Those details also make it feel traditional but modern at the same time. 10. English for Beginners – Allegro (2016) Christmas can be a lonely time, particularly for older people and a flurry of adverts sought to highlight the issue at around the same time. John Lewis had taken it on with its Man on the Moon the previous year and in Germany, supermarket Edeka took a harsher approach with the slightly guilt-inducing Heimkommen (Homecoming). Polish e-commerce platform Allegro tackled the topic with winning humour in Bardzo’s story of an elderly man teaching himself English to be able to communicate with the granddaughter he’s going to meet for the first time when he visits his son in London for Christmas. Although the brand is little known outside of Poland, the universal humour and reality of families living across borders made it a hit on social media in many countries. BONUS: The Miracle Ham – Aldi, Australia (2019) As a bonus, something from this year’s crop. We’ve already declared our love for IKEA’s first-ever offering, with its hip-hop tune, but another favourite has to be Aldi Australia’s The Miracle Ham by BMF. We love seeing a take on Christmas from the southern hemisphere and the ever so slightly bonkers idea of a magic never-ending ham bringing people together offers some welcome light relief. There’s no snow, reindeer or Santas, but a fun message about community, while surely we can all relate to the lady who’s driven to throw Christmas dinner off a cliff in a fit of pique. Read more: Why the latest John Lewis advert is fundamentally flawed What NOT to get a graphic designer for Christmas UK finally bans sexist adverts View the full article

In a coffee-shop scenario, attackers can hijack "secure" VPN sessions of those working remotely, injecting data into their TCP streams. View the full article

You're reading Examples of Magical Winter Email Newsletters with Tips & Tricks, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook! Winter is a season of contrast. It welcomes entrepreneurs with one of the most profitable periods of the year then pours cold water over them in January which is notorious for economic stagnation. However, you can’t just stop email marketing … View the full article

A bit of a retro feel is always a good way to get people's attention. Nostalgia's an easy button to press; that's why people are guaranteed to lose it for shows like Stranger Things and Mad Men, and why each year's design trends are almost certain to incorporate elements from bygone decades. If you really want a vintage twist to hit home, though, you need to aim for an era that's not being milked to death already; does anyone really want to see another 1980s-inspired design at the moment? So we're delighted to see the new poster designs for DC's upcoming Harley Quinn movie, Birds of Prey, which take nostalgia to a new level. Forget the 1980s; these posters, revealed on the Birds of Prey Twitter account, are rocking a killer 1480s vibe. Respect. Is this the defining movie poster trend of the decade? The main poster's inspired by Botticelli's most famous work, The Birth of Venus. Painted at some point in the 1480s, it depicts the Greek goddess Venus emerging from the sea in a giant scallop shell, fully-grown and completely nude. If you want to see the original it can be found in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy, Botticelli's The Birth of Venus is the clear inspiration here Harley, played by Margot Robbie, isn't nude in this poster, but the look clearly comes from the Botticelli original. There's the giant scallop shell (adorned with chunky diamonds) and the sea, and while Venus is attended by the got Zephyr and other minor deities, here Harley is backed up by the likes of Black Canary, Huntress and Cassandra Cain. Oh, and a beaver in a pink tutu, because why not? It's a strong look that's quite unlike the current trend in movie posters for a moody extreme close-up of the main character with a bunch of text plastered over it; we'd much rather look at something colourful with plenty of details to pore over. Supplementary posters feature other characters, as well as that tutu-sporting beaver As well as the gorgeous main posters, DC has also released a series of supporting posters featuring individual characters from Birds of Prey, again carried off in that Botticelli style and giving you a closer look at everyone already mentioned as well as Victor Szasz and Roman Sionis (played by Ewan McGregor), all backed up with more bits of weird pre-Renaissance iconography to ponder over. There's no word from DC on who's responsible for these fantastically weird illustrations; whoever it is, though, we like their style. And after the massive success of this year's Joker movie, it's good to have another Batman spin-off to look forward to. Birds of Prey is scheduled for release on 7 February 2020; there's no official site yet, but you can find out more on its Twitter account. Related articles: Check out these incredible posters for movies that never happened A designer's guide to printing a poster 39 stunning poster designs to inspire you View the full article

Why might you want to learn how to Photoshop someone into a picture? Assembling your friends for a photo can be an uphill struggle and there’s no guarantee you’ll fit everyone in – there’s always one straggler, standing awkwardly just outside the frame. This beginner’s tutorial will guide you through the process of taking a person from one image and adding them to another. While directed specifically toward adding people, many of the techniques used in this tutorial can be used in any other compositing work. Get Adobe Creative Cloud to follow this tutorial and explore other projects in Photoshop. If this isn't quite what you're after, or you'd like something more advanced, see our comprehensive list of Photoshop tutorials. 01. Find your image Ideally your person would be on a plain background to make cutting out much easier When picking your two images, it’s important to consider matching perspective and angles, ensuring that any inserted image has the best chance of looking natural and in situ. Try to mimic the resolution and lighting conditions of the original image, since tiny differences can immediately spoil the credibility of a composition. When cutting a person out from their background, it is preferable to have a sharp edge around your subject. If a background is clean enough, such as a plain, block colour, you can often get away with using the Magic Eraser tool for a quick cutout. This involves cycling through the eraser tools by clicking and holding on the icon in the toolbar or pressing Shift + E, until you get to the Magic Eraser. With this tool selected, click on unwanted areas of the image to remove. If it is a blank white background, it should usually disappear in one click. This is destructive and permanent, so it is worth duplicating the layer or backing the image up. 02. Use the Pen tool Draw around the body using the Pen tool. Either draw exact curves in as you go or add them in later The most accurate way to cut out an object in Photoshop is by drawing a path with the Pen tool. Select the Pen tool in the toolbar or with the shortcut P, then make the first point on your path by clicking onto the canvas, somewhere on the edge of your subject. Continue clicking around the whole body, until you connect the final point with the first (ignore the head and hair for now, just roughly draw around it). As you click, hold down the mouse to drag out bezier handles and draw curves. You can add these to anchor points later with the Convert Point tool or edit existing ones with the Direct Selection tool. Hold the alt key as you click to change just one handle independent of the other. You can save this path in the Paths panel or select it by right clicking and pressing Make Selection. 03. Focus on the hair Experiment with the controls in 'Select and Mask' until you are left with just the head and hair The Pen tool is excellent for hard, sharp lines, but unsuitable for anything that has rougher edges, such as hair or fabric. Each designer has their own ‘tried and tested’ trick for dealing with this, including any combination of masks, brushes and alpha channels. But the quickest and most effective method is Select and Mask (previously known as Refine Edge). Use the Quick Selection tool to roughly select the head and hair of your subject, using the square brackets keys to change the size of your brush. Then click on the Select and Mask button in the taskbar to refine your selection. It is then a matter of trial and improvement, experimenting with Radius, Contrast and Shift Edge until you have removed as much of the background as possible. You can then use this selection to either mask out or delete the background until you have removed as much of the background as possible and the hair looks natural. Confirm the selection and then either press the mask button in the layers tab or reverse the selection (right click and Select Inverse) and delete. You can combine this with the Pen tool by performing each process on a separate layer and merging the layers later on (selecting the layers and right clicking in the layers panel). 04. Copy person into your image Use the Free Transform tool to reposition your person on the image. You may have to flip them if they are facing the wrong direction Having cut out your subject with the Pen tool and Select and Mask, flatten any layers, then copy and paste into the other document. Position your person into the picture where they look most natural, without breaking any perspective or proportions. Use Edit > Free Transform to resize and rotate your layer. You may need to mask any areas that are meant to be behind foreground objects. You can use the Pen tool for this, selecting your area before pressing the mask button. 05. Consider lighting Position your adjustment layer above a layer, then hold down alt as you click to adjust just that layer Simulating the lighting conditions of the original image will help your subject really inhabit the world of the image. The easiest way to do this is by adding shadows and editing colour balance. Simple shadows can be added by painting black onto a new layer with a feathered brush. You can then use the opacity of this layer to control the weight of the shadows. Alternatively you can use the Burn tool to darken the areas of the image that need more shadow, though it is worth duplicating the layer first so you don’t make permanent changes. Normally you would adjust the colour balance by clicking on the adjustment layer button in the Layers panel, then selecting which adjustment you want, however this would affect every layer below it in the composition. To make sure an adjustment layer only works on the layer you want, position it above the active layer, then alt click between the layers. You can duplicate adjustments by clicking on the layer and pressing Command + J. 06. How to remove someone from a photo Content Aware Fill can be unpredictable, especially if the background is complex Removing a person is a lot easier than adding them. Photoshop has the perfect tool for this exact situation – Content Aware Fill. The success of this largely depends on the rest of the image and how complicated it is. In an ideal world you would make your selection with the Pen or Lasso tool, then go to Edit > Fill and select Content Aware fill. This would then redraw the selected area, making an educated guess from the rest of the information in the image. In reality this can be a little hit and miss, so it is sometimes easier to do the hard work yourself. There are a few options for this – the Patch tool, the Healing Brush or the Clone Stamp tool, though the latter gives you the greatest control. Select the Clone Stamp tool and alt click to select the area you want to clone from. Then paint onto the layer, keeping a soft brush and a low flow. Again it is worth duplicating the layer so you have something to reference back to. Read more: How to flip a layer in Photoshop How to make a meme in Photoshop The best alternatives to Photoshop View the full article

Apple is always looking to add a big new feature to sell us yet another version of the iPhone. The latest model - the iPhone 11- brought with it, its bug-eyed looking dual‑camera system, the fastest chip ever in a smartphone and all‑day battery life. A great set of specs, but how is Apple going to raise the bar for future models? Rumours from respected Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, whose research note was seen by MacRumors, suggests that the iPhone is heading towards a "completely wireless experience" in 2021. If you don't own a pair of wireless headphones, now is a great time to get yourself a pair. Alongside the lack of a headphone port - remember the fuss that caused, but we all came around in the end - there will be no Lightning port to power up your shiny new iPhone. Kuo said "Among new 2H21 iPhone models, we expect that the highest-end model would cancel the [Lightning] port and provide the completely wireless experience." So, no headphone port and no Lightning port. What is an iPhone owner to do? Wireless charging is not a new revelation, with several generations of iPhone's being able to charge wirelessly. But, this has always meant purchasing a wireless charger, and why would you when you can charge for free with the supplied charging cable. The lack of a Lightning port also means you can't even use your old headphones with an adaptor. Looks like now is the time to fully embrace the wireless revolution, because it is coming, in 2021 apparently. How is Apple going to better the iPhone 11 in 2020? What will the next generation iPhone look like? We all know there will be a new iPhone in 2020, and we are all desperate to know what features the latest generation will add. Kuo suggests two and three rear cameras (dependent on model), OLED screens, support for 5G, and more interestingly, it will resemble the iPhone 4. A retro iPhone look will get creatives excited. Make sure you check out our iPhone 12 concept suggests 2020 phones could go retro post to get the lowdown on what to expect and a peek at what it might look like. Read more: The best running headphones in 2019 Amazon takes on AirPods with its own true wireless headphones The 100 greatest Apple creations View the full article

You need new and updated software deployed throughout your organization constantly. Security updates, replacement of software that has reached end of life, new releases, application migration efforts attached to a Windows Migration—the list of reasons goes on. Organizations spend way too much time investigating what new software is available and … Source Continue reading Save Time and Money by Enabling IT Staff to Update Software Better and Faster at Flexera Blog. View the full article

The annual Eurovision Song Contest has long been a favourite of anyone who appreciates an evening of cheesy international pop combined with a nail-biting judging process. And while it's generally been a Europe-focused event, the rest of the world is gradually catching on to its kitsch delights, and the contest is becoming bigger every year. The first Eurovision Song Contest, 65 years ago, involved just six countries; over the years, more and more countries have got involved, and next year's contest in Rotterdam sees 41 countries participating. And to celebrate the contest's ever-expanding inclusivity, next year's Eurovision has a data-driven logo design that cleverly involves every country taking part. 8 of the biggest logo redesigns of 2019 The abstract logo design is the work of data visualisation agency CLEVER°FRANKE, and follows on from previous circular designs used when the Netherlands have hosted the contest in the past. Informed by the minimalistic, experimental and innovative characteristics of Dutch design, the new logo features the flag colours of each country competing in the 2020 contest, in the order in which they first participated in Eurovision. As well as the flag colours, CLEVER°FRANKE has also squeezed in a couple of cheeky little references to the Netherlands' own Eurovision record. Not only does the design start off with the Dutch colours – fair play, as the Netherlands opened the first Eurovision Song Contest in 1956 – but the radial background of the design also features five bright beams of light, each one representing the five times the Netherlands won the competition, the last time this year. Next year's design follows a tradition of circular Dutch logos It's not an especially minimal logo, but it's hard not to like this dynamic and versatile design from CLEVER°FRANKE, and we love how it can be used in various ways, focusing on small sections of the design to create vivid, eye-catching bursts of colour that look great on all manner of applications. Imaginative use of details from the logo makes for some eye-catching applications The 2020 Eurovision Song Contest takes place in Rotterdam between 12-16 May; you can find out more about the logo design here. Related articles: 7 famous logos that pass the silhouette test World Cup 2022 logo revealed Facebook's new logo is just about worth a Like View the full article

First hitting the newsstands in 1995, Computer Arts has become an institution in the creative industries; educating, informing and encouraging generation upon generation of graphic designers and illustrators. Now, a quarter of a century on, it's celebrating its 300th issue... in style. The opening pages of Computer Arts 300 feature The magazine has undergone a complete design overhaul, and now boasts a fresh and exciting new look that's perfectly placed for the 2020s. Every page and section has been beautifully redesigned, breathing fresh visual life into Computer Arts' features, showcases and reviews. Get your copy of the new issue! Discover what 'beauty' means in the world of modern design. And what features there are! In a 12-page special, we speak to some of design's biggest names about the impact of the magazine across 300 issues, and how the industry has evolved over this time. With input from the likes of Neville Brody, Paula Scher, Milton Glaser, Stefan Sagmeister, Michael Wolff and many more, this article is a must-read for anyone working in design or illustration. Exclusive F1 competition – enter an animation and stand to win £4,000 and have your work used in the new season Save up to 70% with a subscription now! Issue 300 also contains an exclusive interview with New York Times designer Tracy Ma, and a big feature on the importance of beauty in these ugly times. Elsewhere, Sagi Haviv shares his two favourite pieces of design, Matt Baxter offers tips for creatives wanting to speak in public, and artist collective Sucuk und Bratwurst share the secrets of their success. Leading the digital charge at The New York Times, Tracy Ma wants to develop an original visual language, as she reveals in our exclusive interview. Also in this issue, we take a deep delve into Someone London's identity work for progressive law firm Simmons & Simmons, illustrator Alva Slog explains to draw against stereotypes, and Monotype shows us around their cool creative space. All this, plus the news, reviews, insights and visual inspiration from the creative industries you need to keep up with the latest trends. Swedish illustrator Alva Skog explains how to draw against stereotypes and use illustration as a form of activism. Buy Computer Arts issue 300 or subscribe to Computer Arts magazine. Read more: Branding quotes: The good, the bad and the ugly 32 beautiful examples of paper art 20 top design trends for 2020 View the full article

Applying your design skills to the gaming industry is a high-demand opportunity you may have not previously considered. Job opportunities are growing daily in the field, and more and more qualified applicants are being scouted. This extensive School of Game Design: Lifetime Membership brings you everything you need to kickstart the career of your dreams, now at an additional 15% off with code MerrySave15. All game designers must first learn the fundamentals of the industry to be successful. Starting from the basics and leading up to more technical skills, The School of Game Design brings you access to over 120 hours of step-by-step training videos. You'll start with the core elements and work your way up to performing advanced techniques with Unity3D. From logos and backgrounds to coding and animation, the endless lessons will help navigate you into the programs you need to learn to be successful in the industry. (See our best 3D modelling software post if you want to learn to model in 3D first.) The extensive program comes complete with access to thousands of royalty free game designs and images, helping you find the perfect asset for any gaming project you tackle. Lifetime access to the content will ensure you'll always be up to speed on the newest advancements in both digital artistry skills and coding as new updates are added. Original illustrator files are provided, allowing you to create genuinely custom assets that reflect your aesthetic and can be used time and time again. Plenty of hands-on exercises from industry experts will provide you with easy to follow instructions and allow you to put what you've learned to the test. You'll be able to create advanced 2D and 3D games and receive tips and tricks on how to work faster and create better-designed character assets through detailed lectures. 24/7 access to the lessons and plenty of online support ensures that you can learn at your own pace and keep coming back whenever you need to. While a lifetime membership is valued at $5,990, it is currently price-dropped to only $59 + an additional 15% off using code MerrySave15. It's certainly a great way to kick off your game design ambitions and get started on the next phase of your professional design career. Begin your gaming journey today! Read more: The 8 best retro gaming consoles Inside Games Workshop Unity vs Unreal Engine: Which game engine is for you? View the full article

The authentication bypass (CVE-2019-19521) is remotely exploitable. View the full article

It's hard to choose the best Lego sets for adults because, let's face it, they are all great. Not only can Lego be a brilliant way to get some much-needed downtime, it can also work as a tool to help artists and designers prototype. There really is no limit on the creativity and expression Lego can offer, as proved in these incredible examples of Lego art. In this post, however, we are going to focus on the best Lego sets for adults, which have come on leaps and bounds in recent years. No longer known as just a toy for kids, Lego sets have become more and more sophisticated, now coming in the form of complex film scenes, vehicles and iconic architecture. Here we take a look at the best Lego sets for adults money can buy... Give the gift of Lego this Christmas with this charming winter set Every year Lego releases a new creator set at Christmas, and the 2019 Gingerbread House offering is one of the best Lego sets we've seen. Guaranteed to get you in the festive spirit, this charming set would make a wonderful Christmas gift for the family to enjoy. The Gingerbread design is a two-storey house, which comes features all the home comforts you would expect from a loving family home. There's a comfy-looking bedroom, complete with sweet-themed bedside lamp, full bathroom suite, with toilet and full-sized bath, living room with couch and even an open fire with a battery operated light to give it a real cosy feel. And don't forget the gingerbread family that's included too. There's a gingerbread man, lady and the baby even has it's very own pushchair. The separate elements to this design make it a brilliant set to share and build with others. This spectacular Lego replica of the Buggati Chiron supercar is the perfect set for the car lovers and petrol heads among you. At over 3500 pieces, this is an epic set, which features the most fine detail any supercar fan would wish to see. Developed in partnership with Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S, this hugely impressive set captures the essence of the impressive sports car perfectly. Including a wealth of luxurious features, the bricks for the Bugatti Chiron will enable you to build its aerodynamic bodywork with an active rear wing, logo clad spoked rims with low-profile tires, detailed brake discs and a W16 engine with moving pistons. An 1:8 scale model also features a true-to-life duo-tone blue colour scheme, with a set of stickers for additional detailing. If all that wasn't enough, the set comes delivered in luxurious box packaging and includes a colour collector’s booklet with comprehensive building instructions. This set is far from cheap, however when you add up the number of Lego pieces included, the detail, collectors extras and luxury packaging, it actually offers good value for money. Lego has released a number of high-speed vehicle sets over the years, but if you're a supercar fan, they don't come better than this. OK, so it's a bold claim to call this the best TV Lego set, especially if you're not a fan of Stranger Things (although we've yet to come across anyone who isn't). But we're sticking by it. And we'll tell you why. For a start, the Lego team couldn't have chosen a better scene, opting for Joyce Byers house in a design that features it in both the real and upside down worlds. In true Lego style, this 2,000+ piece set boasts the most intricate detail, including everything from tiny lava lamps in Will's room to the faded, slightly off colours of bricks that represent the terrifying alternate world he gets drawn in to. But probably the biggest highlight comes in the form of a recreated alphabet wall, which fans of the series will instantly recognise. The price tag might initially seem a little steep, and there's no doubt the Stranger Things association has bumped it up somewhat, but for true fans of Lego and the TV show this is a very worthy investment. The build is brilliant, just be mindful after making each world, the set has to be turned upside down, so ensuring everything is fixed together properly is vital if you don't want gravity to do any damage. Overall, an absolute delightful Lego set, that you'll never get tired of looking at. If you're into space and rockets, then this incredible Nasa Apollo Saturn V Lego set is the one for you. Just incase you're wondering why this particular rocket has been immortalised in the famous little brick, between 1967 and 1973, the Apollo Saturn V took multiple missions beyond the limits of earth’s atmosphere and on 16th July, 1969 took the first manned mission to the moon. This almost one meter-high (approximately 1:110 scale) model is built in a way to replicate the craft as much as possible. Just like the real-life rocket, it can break apart into three elements, with removable S-IC first and removable S-II second rocket stages, and removable S-IVB third rocket stage with the Apollo spacecraft and rescue rocket at the top. The set is made up of 1969 pieces - yes, the same year as the moon landing – with the three parts making this a brilliant set to share other space and/or Lego lovers. We couldn't do a list of the best Lego sets for adults without including a Lego Star Wars set. And if we're talking about the best, you can't get much better than the Millennium Falcon. Lego does an unbelievable collector's edition of this set, which, if you've got cashing burning a hole in your pocket, you can pick up here. But aware not everyone has hundreds to spend on Lego, the company has also released this much more affordable model of the famous Star Wars ship. This version of the iconic Corellian freighter features an array of details Star Wars and Lego fans will love, including rotating top and bottom gun turrets, 2 spring-loaded shooters, a lowering ramp and an opening cockpit with space for two minifigures. Speaking of minifigures, this set also includes seven Lego Star Wars characters – Finn, Chewbacca, C-3PO, Lando Calrissian and Boolio, R2-D2 and D-O droid. If the Falcon isn't top of your list, never fear, Lego has developed a huge amount of just as impressive Star Wars-inspired sets over the years, all of which you can find here. Read more: Lego has the final word on Tesla's Cybertruck Introducing Lego, as you've never seen it before The Knight Bus Lego review View the full article

You've just got your hands on a pair of cool white Apple AirPods and you are the envy of your friends. No wires to negotiate, nothing to get tangled in your clothing, just a simple slip-in-your ear experience. Yeah, you know you are looking pretty fly. These bad boys are not cheap, but if you want a pair to join the 'cool crew' then check out the latest we could find. You can save yourself a pretty penny and laugh at those less fortunates with their wired headphones. So you've got the coolest headphones on the planet, and – even if you managed to snap up an Apple Airpods deal, chances are you've shelled out a not-insubstantial amount for them. What accessory could you possibly want? How about some carry straps to make sure that you don't lose them? This is exactly what the retailer Nordstrom is selling for a mere $60 (don't worry, shipping is free). That's right, we've now come full circle, and people are paying extra to turn their expensive wireless earbuds, which are expensive because they're wireless, back into tethered headphones. Amazing. But maybe we are wrong. When we looked at the Nordstrom site, it said 420 people were viewing the AirPods carry straps. Surely out of curiosity? Surely they weren't really going to buy them? Even with the free shipping. Of course we are not wrong, and it seems that the interweb agrees with us. Tech investment banker Ellie Frost, summed up the additional cost nicely. We will not be buying any of these delightful carry straps any time soon, but how well will they sell? Is it a clever marketing ploy from the people at Nordstrom? Or do they simply think they are providing a much-needed product? Whatever the reason we can guarantee that this is the kind of publicity they couldn't buy. But what we are looking most looking forward to is seeing someone walking down the street with their Apple AirPods neatly connected to a set of carry straps. Read more: Why we're unexpectedly excited about Apple's AirPods Pro These fake AirPods are utterly ludicrous 23 best iPad Pro apps for use with Apple Pencil View the full article

If you missed all Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals over the weekend, never fear, one of the best offers we've seen this year is still available. Right now you can save a huge 40% off an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription, wherever you are in the world. But you need to hurry, this mega deal ends today! The price reduction applies to the complete Adobe Creative Cloud suite, which encompasses over 20 different apps. That includes all the big players – photo editing favourite Photoshop, digital artists' go-to Illustrator, video editing software Premiere Pro, web prototyping tool Adobe XD and motion effects creator After Effects. You'll also be able to explore the new additions to the Adobe family, tablet-based art app Adobe Fresco, and Photoshop on iPad. If you need any extra encouragement, remember that when you buy Adobe's full All Apps package you're also getting 100GB of cloud storage (with the option to upgrade to 10TB) and premium features like Adobe Portfolio, Adobe Fonts, and Adobe Spark. Created on Illustrator by Karan Singh The programmes are fully integrated, so you can switch between them (and jump from one device to another) seamlessly – whether you’re out and about or in the studio. Built-in templates help you jump-start your designs, while step-by-step tutorials will help you sharpen your skills and get up to speed quickly. This deal isn't expected to last for long, so if you want to save big on Adobe's entire suite of creative software, grab it now. Related articles: Top-class Photoshop tutorials to hone your skills The 13 best alternatives to Photoshop The best web hosting services for designers View the full article

Who needs to waste time with words or a static image when you can use a GIF to express yourself? GIFs are easy to share and easy to consume. They are cute, funny and popular plus they instantly engage. What more could you want? Google got involved in the world of GIFs last year when it acquired the GIF-sharing service, Tenor. With 300 million monthly visitors and over 12 billion (yes, billion) searches every single month, Tenor also powers GIF search in Google products. This includes Google Images and the popular apps Twitter, WhatsApp and Facebook. (If you're on the lookout for some other great free iPhone apps then try this selection for designers.) This list of the greatest GIFs was created using data from Tenor's GIF Keyboard iOS app. Sorry Android people but there isn't one for you yet. Who's number one? Keep reading to find out. (Hint: it isn't a cat). 01. Grr Poor old Stitch (of Lilo and Stitch fame). He's not looking happy, but this GIF offers more than one simple emotion which is probably why it's so popular. He's frustrated, mad, upset and annoyed. He just wants to be alone. And he's not the only one. 02. So frustrated This one is all about the unmistakeable talents of rubber-faced comedian, Jim Carrey. In this scene from Liar Liar, Carey is frustrated, very frustrated, and you can tell 'cause he's pulling his hair out. 03. Sad Stitch Rain rarely makes anyone happy, and Stitch (of Lilo and Stitch fame) is looking sadder (and wetter) than ever. With his ears down, a quivering lip and a tear in his eye he is miserable – but adorable. 04. Minion spitting out popcorn laugh Those crazy incomprehensible minions make everyone giggle. Providing the humour in children's film Despicable Me, the minions have been known to make children (and some adults – sorry to the people in front of us at the cinema) spit their own popcorn out with laughter. So this GIF is delightfully apt. 05. No Elf Elf's Will Ferrell can't believe it. His dad is a miserable old cynic and so are most of the New Yorkers he meets on his journey. You can see the disappointment in his face. A super-fun selection, and this only the top five. So who else made the top ten? Well, there's a WOW from Mark Wahlberg's not-so-cute-and-cuddly sidekick TED and a fierce "Oh Snap" from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, to name just two. And the fun doesn't stop there. Google also identified the top trending GIF expressions used in North America in 2019. It includes a "Psh" from YouTuber Ed Bassmaster, and "Peasants" inspired by Game of Thrones. But our favourite has to be the incredibly cringeworthy Dad Joke. We won't spoil it and tell you more, but you can find out for yourself by taking a peek at the complete list. Enjoy. [Via CNET] Read more: 33 standout packaging designs Pantone launches a whopping 294 'trend relevant' colours 8 brands that rule at social media View the full article

You might think that branding quotes would be a good place to start when looking to create visual identities. Our pick of branding quotes from some of the world’s brightest brains are sure to help. But are they really that useful? Effective branding is the keystone to any successful business; the set of values by which prospective customers can identity what you do, how you do it, and – crucially – whether or not they want to buy into it. But what exactly constitutes effective branding? What is it that sets the ‘haves’ apart from the ‘have nots’ and the ‘almost certainly will nots’? Well, you could start by looking at some of the best branding books, or graphic design books if you prefer. Aside from writing books, many of the world’s greatest marketing minds – everyone from CEOs to motivational speakers – have had their say on this hottest of topics, providing a deep well of wisdom from which both startups and established companies can source inspiration. Or not, as the case may be. Having spent the past couple of weeks scouring just about every branding quote that’s ever been uttered, we’ve come to the conclusion that some are more useful than others. So, to help you gain the maximum amount of benefit in the least amount of time, we’ve categorised some of the standout nuggets into three distinct categories: the good, the bad and the ugly. Of course, this is purely our opinion and should not be taken as gospel. If you're after more sound advice on creating identities, then see our logo design guide. Click the right-hand corner of each image to enlarge it. The good... Entrepreneur and Ditch, Dare, Do! author William Arruda calls himself ‘The Personal Branding Guru’, and he has the CV – and the teeth – to back up that claim. This gem of a quote pretty much sums up the whole point of branding in seven glorious words. To put it another way: stand out from the crowd and ye shall be noticed! No, actually, we prefer what he said. Howard Schultz founded Starbucks, so he’s clearly no (ahem) mug. And here he succinctly identifies one of the main reasons why consumers return to the same brand time and time again. If you make your values clear from the offset – whether they be political, ethical or social – you might scare some people away, but then you’ll probably gain some customers for life. Virgin founder Sir Richard nails it with this quote, pointing out that consumers in general feel a greater affinity with brands that are passionate (or at least seem passionate) about what they do. Reading this quote from graphic design god John Morgan – author of Brand Against the Machine – seems like a real ‘Eureka!’ moment. But it’s a fairly obvious comment, really: pinpoint exactly what it is that your customer wants, and then ensure that you’re the only brand to deliver it. The bad... Far be it for us to disagree with the richest man in the world, but we’d like to think that our ‘brand’ amounts to more than: 'Has he farted?' 'Who wears bootcut jeans in this day and age?' or 'Does he know he has baked-bean juice down his shirt?' US author Chris Guillebeau is best-known for his book The Art of Non-Conformity. Sadly, he appears not to have conformed to the idea that some alphabets don’t have 26 letters. Better move on to plan Ω, Chris. We can see what Meg – CEO of mobile video platform Quibi – is saying here. People often talk about ‘Hoovering’ the stairs, ‘Tarmac-ing’ the road or ‘Sellotaping’ their Christmas presents. But in most cases, the concept simply wouldn’t make sense. When’s the last time you 'Andrexed' your bottom? German designer Walter Landor was undoubtedly a genius, helping to shape such iconic brands as Coca-Cola, Levi Strauss and Shell Oil. But we’re going to have to throw this one into the ‘Bad’ bin, because surely everything is created in the mind – unless you’re an amoeba, and then nothing much is created at all. And the ugly... The Tesla founder’s quote could be the most brilliant piece of advice in the world… if only we knew what the hell he was talking about. And didn't know that he was the man behind the Cybertruck. What Virgin boss Sir Richard seems to be saying here is: “You can be the owner of a very successful business and have shit hair.” This quote – from US author and ‘lifehacker’ Tim Ferriss – is one of those where you go: 'Yeah, man, that’s really great advice', before remembering all those terrible drunken photos you posted on Facebook. No? Okay, maybe it was just us. The late David Ogilvy was known as ‘the father of advertising’, and we agree with his sentiment to some extent. Does Mr Kipling really make ‘exceedingly good cakes’, or do we just believe that because the TV advert tells us he does? On the other hand, we can’t accept that everything is of the same quality. We bought a black forest gateau from a bloke in a pub once, and it was bloody awful. Read more: Has branding become boring? Are these OTT brand guidelines as ridiculous as they seem? Are trends any good for branding? View the full article