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Rss Bot

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  1. In the search for the best web browser, many of us will look for performance, security, interface, feature-set and customisability, but today the main players are all strong in all those departments, so how do you choose between them? Aside from testing out how each browser views web pages (why not try them out on our favourite landing pages?), our take on this is that your choice is likely to be part ideological. It comes down to how you feel about the ethos behind the browser – as well as some features that you especially like or that are suited to your particular situation. This article therefore focuses on the values and nature of the organisations behind each of the main browsers, plus particular features of interest. We have covered Firefox, Chrome and Opera, as well as the less well-known Brave, which offers an interesting alternative. We haven't looked at Internet Explorer as it has been discontinued, and we have also left out Microsoft Edge as the original Edge is being scrapped in favour of a new re-built version that's currently in beta. Aside from this, there's also the ultra-customisable browser Vivaldi that you build yourself to suit your preferences – it's more of a niche thing than the others, but definitely check it out if that sounds good to you. Before we dive in to our top four, we'll take a quick look at the inner workings of web browsers. Inner workings of web browsers An interesting thing to know about web browsers is that today most of them are based on Chromium, which is an open source project by Google – most of the source code of Google Chrome is from Chromium, and anyone can make their own version of a Chromium browser. Opera, Brave, Vivaldi, the new Microsoft Edge – and of course Chrome – are all based on Chromium. Opera and Edge used to have their own browser engines but they made the switch. Firefox is different: it has its own browser engine (and also a huge extension ecosystem). A big consideration for you is that Chrome extensions usually work on Chromium-based browsers, so they all benefit from that massive ecosystem. You can read about why browser engine diversity is a good thing for the future of the web here. Another difference between Firefox and the rest is that it is made by a non-profit organisation, Mozilla – you may be more comfortable using software made by people who have less incentive to make money out of you. Brave is made by a very "values-driven" company co-founded by one of the co-founders of Mozilla. Opera was bought out by a Chinese consortium in 2016, and became a public company in 2018. Vivaldi is made by a company founded by the co-founder and former CEO of Opera Software. With this background information in mind, we now look at each browser in more detail. 01. Firefox Quantum Firefox Quantum is the overhauled version of Firefox A few years ago Firefox was becoming known as a bit of a memory hog but that's all changed since Mozilla unveiled Firefox Quantum in 2017, a new version with an overhauled browser engine that's twice as fast as the old one. The new Firefox is leaner and quicker than ever, using around 30 per cent less RAM than Chrome in Mozilla's tests. User privacy is a central concern for Mozilla – it's the first feature-set mentioned on the Firefox website and it doesn't appear at all on the Chrome homepage, which gives you some insight into the relative priorities of these two browser makers. Firefox's Enhanced Tracking Protection massively reduces the number of cookies that accumulate as you browse the web, and, like Brave (below), the new Firefox reduces data usage by not downloading content from tracking domains, which in turn improves page load times. You can read about this here. Cookie control in Firefox vs Chrome Since cookies are used for both good and evil – that is, sometimes they do things that are useful for you, other times they are used to track you – you're always going to be doing a balancing act between convenience and protecting your privacy. Firefox gives you a good deal of control over this. You can take its default settings that balance privacy and performance, or you can choose strong cookie blocking and do the work of manually unblocking any sites that are broken by this. Chrome always wins brownie points for its minimal interface, but if you're prepared to do some tweaking you can customise Firefox to similar effect. Like Chrome, Firefox will also let you synchronise settings, passwords and bookmarks across devices with a Firefox account. Overall, Firefox is comparable to Chrome in terms of performance and features, so if you like the idea of a browser made by a non-profit organisation with a privacy-oriented ethos, this is your pick. Also see our favourite Firefox add-ons. 02. Google Chrome Google Chrome is the most widely-used browser Google Chrome is the world's most widely used browser with up to two thirds of the market share according to most estimates; Safari is around 10-15 per cent and the rest are all in the single figures. This dominance sometimes results in certain benefits and conveniences for the end user – in recent years we've started to see "works best in Chrome" messages appearing around the web, even on large sites, and sometimes you'll encounter things that require Chrome to work. When a website's user base is so dominated by one browser it's likely that it will be prioritised to some extent by the engineers working on that site, so there may be lots of little features around the web – and especially in Google products such as Gmail – that run a bit more smoothly on Chrome. Sometimes people release Chrome extensions and follow up with the Firefox one later, so early adopters may lean towards using Chrome for this reason. Omnibox and performance in Chrome vs other browsers If you're a fan of minimal interfaces you'll like Chrome's approach – a single 'omnibox' is for entering both URLs and search terms, and in general all interface elements are as pared down as possible. There's quite an emphasis on reducing the number of clicks or keystrokes to achieve something – when you type in the address bar, answers to your query from Google Search appear as you type, and you can translate an entire foreign language site in a single click. Chrome works in harmony with Gmail and Google Drive – typing in the address bar automatically searches your Drive as well, so you can get straight into things from that omnibar. Chrome enables you to synchronise your settings, history, bookmarks, passwords and so on across devices, so that everything is just as you like it whether you're using your laptop, mobile device or desktop machine. In terms of performance, it's not always easy to say that one browser is better than another because it depends on your operating system, which sites you're visiting, what extensions you have installed and other factors. And it changes over time – run the same tests a few months apart and you get different results. Mozilla has some impressive test results on the Firefox Quantum website, but these independent, fairly recent benchmarks from PC World put Chrome ahead of Firefox overall in performance terms. However these kinds of tests can't tell you for sure which browser is going to run best for you – the most reliable way is to try out different browsers with the extensions you use installed. In summary, Chrome's market dominance means that developers tend to prioritise making sure things work perfectly on Chrome. It's fast and secure. It's really good at syncing across devices, and it works in harmony with your Google Account, so you may find that Chrome is the most convenient browser for you. Also see our favourite Chrome extensions. 03. Opera Opera's special features set it apart from the others Opera has a bunch of fantastic features that the other browsers don't even try to compete with, so the fact that many non-techie people haven't even heard of it – even though it has been around since the mid-nineties – is something of a mystery. The first thing that might excite you is that there is a free, unlimited VPN built into the browser. At first glance this sounds amazing, but Opera's VPN known for being slow. That said, this is a fairly new feature so it may well improve over the coming years, and it's terrific that a browser is making the move to build this right into the software. (A VPN enhances privacy and security by putting a kind of barrier between you and the rest of the internet – it replaces your IP with a virtual one so websites can't identify you. It's particularly good for shielding your browsing when you're on a public network. See our post on the best VPN service.) The next special and unique feature is Opera Turbo. When you turn this on, web pages go through Opera's servers where they're compressed – so you receive the same content but download a fraction of the data. This means the data limit on your mobile device goes much further and you can speed up browsing on busy WiFi networks. Opera has a social sidebar that works with Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp so you can keep your conversations going without switching tabs while browsing. There's a built-in ad-blocker, a dark mode that makes websites dark for night-time browsing, and a battery saver mode that reduces activity in background tabs and pauses plugins to save power. We also love the Flow feature which solves the disconnect between your phone, tablet and computer – instead of emailing yourself links, you can use Flow to make a connection between mobile devices and your desktop machine. Like other browsers on this list, there is a sync feature that works across devices for bookmarks, history and passwords, and Opera's sync works for open tabs, too. Opera performance While it's true that a lot of these things can be achieved in other browsers via extensions, Opera has made some very smart decisions about which features ought to be built into the browser – all of this great stuff is ready to go with Opera without any need to research and mess around with extensions. That said, if there are particular add-ons that you like, this is a Chromium browser so they likely will work here and can be installed from the Chrome Web Store. On top of all this, Opera came out best in those performance tests we mentioned earlier. Opera has a really thoughtful and also trailblazing feature set that will make a big difference for some people. If you have to deal with a data limit or busy wifi network, Turbo could change your world – and the battery saver mode could also be a big deal for you. If you do a lot of Facebook or WhatsApp chatting, you might choose Opera just for the social sidebar. There's no real downside to picking Opera over Chrome or Firefox, so if the interesting features appeal to you it's an easy decision. 04. Brave Brave proposes a new revenue model that rewards creators while protecting your privacy Brave is a very different proposition to most browsers in that it seeks to change our approach to online revenue-generation and privacy. By default, Brave blocks adverts and trackers, and plugins are turned off. Most browsers download a lot of data that doesn't benefit the user at all, and leaving all of this behind makes Brave faster and more secure – on mobile, it can be up to eight times faster than other browsers. All this ad-blocking is great for the end user but websites need a way to make money, so users are encouraged to support the sites they visit via the Brave Rewards system, an ad exchange platform based on the cryptocurrency Ethereum. There are two ways to get BAT (Basic Attention Token - the rewards currency) in your Brave Wallet: by transferring cryptocurrency (in the future you will be able to use a credit card) or by allowing some non-intrusive adverts. These so-called ‘Private ads' appear as notifications within Brave, separately from the websites you're looking at, and are targeted based on data stored locally on your computer so no information about you is collected. Once there's BAT in your wallet, either accrued via Private ads or transferred directly, rewards are allocated automatically according to time spent on the sites you visit, and you can remove sites that you don't want to support. Read more here. This financial model rewards creators without invading the privacy of users or eating up mobile data allowance with adverts, and the people behind Brave are aiming to make the per-user rewards greater under this system than the current advertising model. Since Brave is based on Chromium almost all browser extensions that work with Chromium will work on Brave, and you install them from the Chrome Web Store – so you're not going to miss out on the extensions ecosystem by switching to Brave. Unlike other browsers on this list, the sync feature is currently in beta and only syncs your bookmarks across devices. If you're a web lover who's disillusioned with how things have turned out and still have hope for the utopian ideals of the web's founders, Brave could be the one for you. It's fast, it's secure, and it's making a daring yet realistic proposition for an ethical and efficient online revenue model for creators. Read more: The 7 best old-school web design tools 8 steps to inclusive web design The best smart home devices for creative professionals View the full article
  2. The internet can be a dark place. Even within the relatively friendly world of design, sometimes it feels as if all anyone is doing is saying mean things about other people's work. Just look at the roasting the Paris 2024 logo got if you don't believe us (and yes, we're fully aware that we're complicit too). That's why it's even more heartwarming when we stumble across something that draws mostly positive attention, such as this logotype using the word 'table' shared by Reddit user r/logopaul (aka Paulius Kairevicius). What makes this design so appealing is that it uses the form of a picnic table to create the 'A' – this small touch is a good example of how simplicity can lead to effective design, as we discuss in our logo design guide. The design, which is presumably a concept and not for a real company, has been overall well received by the people of r/design. One user comments it was "sturdy," another says "this is beautiful!" while Lamenameuser (who is getting namechecked for well... their great name) says: "Clever. I see what you did there." r/rickcubs points out that the design is similar to that of Texas State Parks, and we can't really argue with that. Check out the Texas State Parks branding as seen on its website below: This Texas State Parks branding was also analysed on the forum. "I like how they didn't go overboard and make all three As into table," says r/sprogger. "It works especially well since it's in the dead centre of the logo. Really well designed," adds r/jagoman. This, people is what design forums should be for. No one has raged at r/logopaul for creating (or sharing) something similar to someone else, no one has talked about how much they hate an idea or how anyone needs to revert to an old logo (it helps that there isn't one). This just a bunch of nice constructive and helpful comments from a group of people who really care about design. The sort of thing that happens in design studios the world over, but doesn't always quite translate once you people create a username, password and online persona. And that's why we think this design is the nicest thing you'll see today. You can check out the Reddit thread here. And cross your fingers that things haven't got all negative by the time you read this post. Read more: New NASA logo celebrates women on the moon HP pokes fun at witty clients in nightmare campaign 15 fun fonts to put a smile on your face View the full article
  3. White-hat hackers will now have the chance to win $20,000 for sniffing out remote code-execution flaws in industrial control systems. View the full article
  4. CVE-2019-11043 is trivial to exploit -- and a proof of concept is available. View the full article
  5. A Magecart skimmer, discovered on the site of First Aid Beauty, was only just removed after being in place for five months. View the full article
  6. You're reading The Best Time to Send Email Newsletters for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook! Black Friday and Cyber Monday are marked with red ink on every retailer’s calendar. Combined, these dates offer an excellent opportunity to increase revenue. They are peak volume days when potential clients are eager to wander around digital stores. Use … View the full article
  7. With Black Friday and Cyber Monday just around the corner, retailers around the globe are kicking things off early with some brilliant savings. And this amazing iPad deal from Walmart is no exception. Up there with one of the best Black Friday iPad deals we've seen so far, this brand new Apple iPad (6th Gen) is reduced by a whopping $130 to just $299.99! Apple discounts are a rare find, so if you've been wanting a new iPad, now's the time to buy. But if a new tablet isn't what you're after, never fear, we'll have details of discounted Pencils, laptops and accessories in our best Apple Black Friday deals pos too. Below you'll find all the details of today's epic iPad deal at Walmart. Hurry though, we expect these to fly off the shelves. If you're not in the US, you don't have to miss out, here are the best iPad deals in your region: View the full article
  8. Almost every piece of creative work – whether it's a TV ad, side project or street mural – requires some sort of creative collaboration. But working alongside other creatives is about so much more than just following a meticulous design style guide. The old saying that two heads are better than one has never been truer than when it comes to creative work. So what makes for a successful collaboration? How do you forge relationships that you’ll want to celebrate, rather than banish from your inbox? How can you choose a partner who will bring out the best in you, and you in them? Is there a ‘collab formula’ or certain traits you need to look out for? Or is it simply a case of the right chemistry? To find out, we speak to leading creatives from around the globe about some fantastically creative collaborative projects, and discover the secrets of a successful collaboration in the process. 01. Make sure your skills complement each other The best collaborators don’t just have complementary skillsets, they also bring out the best in each other. “Jon makes me better – it’s as simple as that really,” says co-founder of design studio Non Format Kjell Ekhorn. “I tend to get tired of my own head and visual expressions, so having Jon there to mix and remix projects with is a blessing.” 02. Use a time difference to your advantage “We tend to either tag-team a project, or divide up the tasks,” explains other Non Format co-founder Jon Forss. “Some projects require certain skills that one or other of us tends to prefer or is more suited to.” Being 4,000 miles and seven time zones apart, one of the pair will work on it during the day and then hand it over to be continued by the other. “We never get tired of starting a new day and seeing that some real progress has been made overnight,” says Forss. 03. Forget competitiveness Like many collaborations, a key part of the success of Non-Format’s relationship is mutual respect, and a non-competitive spirit. “Everything we do together is Non-Format’s work, not our own. If either one of us isn’t happy with the way a project is going we quickly accept that it has to change to make it better,” says Forss. “We’re both constantly open to ways that things can be developed and improved, rather than merely defending our own position as individuals.” 04. Agree at the concept stage The team at Non-Format also puts an emphasis on the “chatting and brainstorming” stage, meaning that any disagreements surface early on. “Perhaps one clue to our success is that both of us like to invest plenty of time on concepts and ideas both before and during the execution of a visual direction, which means that the result is never based solely on design style; design thinking is equally important,” says Ekhorn. 05. Don’t be afraid to scrap projects The Non Format duo are also both open to shelving ideas altogether. “If we think something isn’t working, even if it took a long time to get to that point, we’re not afraid to voice our objections and to scrap it and shift to something else,” explains Forss. “Experimenting always leaves us open to the very real possibility of failure, so we’re used to sometimes making something that just doesn’t work out.” 06. Don’t micro-manage As a freelance art director, SooJin Buzelli is careful to guide artists, rather than solve problems for them. “When I receive sketches that are not quite on the mark, I communicate why it’s not working, not how to fix it,” she says. “I’m collaborating with the artist so the concept can be solved from their unique perspective.” 07. Remember your goals “Chris Buzelli told me not to ‘fight’ with my clients but to ‘dance’ with them early on in my career,” says illustrator Victo Ngai. “It took me years to understand what he meant – remember you and your clients share the same objectives when negotiating the disagreements.” 08. Don’t rely just on phonecalls “Face-to-face meetings are important,” says Alice Goss, business development manager at Design Bridge. “We usually get a lot more out of half an hour in the same room than we would do on the phone.” 09. Share work constantly “Share work in progress and ideas super-often,” says Tom Sharp of The Poetry Says It All. “Don’t treat it as a client project where you need a polished presentation of work. Bounce ideas backwards and forwards. Don’t be afraid to be foolish.” “Keep in touch,” adds Superunion’s Katherina Tudball. “Don’t just go away and do ‘your thing’. Talk about concepts and meaning before you get anywhere near execution.” This article was originally published in issue 295 of Computer Arts, the world's best-selling design magazine. Buy issue 295 or subscribe to Computer Arts today. Read more: Streamline your workflow and collaborate better How to become a master of creative collaboration Starbucks' style guide reveals subtle brand refresh View the full article
  9. Calls to actions (or CTAs) count. The vast majority of the websites or applications will have at least one form of call to action, this could be anything from signing up to a newsletter to following you on social media or confirming a payment. However, there are a number of obstacles in the way of actually getting users to complete a CTA, and also considerations about the next steps they should take once completed. To fully understand why users are dropping out of your booking flow or failing to notice your newsletter sign up button on your landing page, you should engage your analytics team and ensure that you rigorously test your digital products with the people using them. That said, you may not have an analytics team, or might need a bit of extra help. Here are a few things to contemplate when you're in the design phase that will tilt the scales of conversion in your favour. But first, up, let's make it really clear what a call to action actually is. What is a call to action? Calls to action (or CTAs) is anything that tries to get the user to do something. This is often to buy something, fill in a form, follow on social media or simply to click on a piece of content. The more engaging and persuasive your CTAs are, the more likely it is that your users will click on them, or engage with them. Here are three tips on creating successful calls to action. 01. Introduce calls to action at the right time When it comes to calls to action, timing is key. Introducing a sign up for a newsletter to someone who is about to make a purchase can be a fatal distraction and lead to abandoned checkouts. At the same time, displaying a full-screen overlay within seconds of a user landing on your website can have a detrimental effect, as you’ve not yet given them time to explore your offering and decide whether or not they’d be interested in exchanging their email address for your juicy discount code. The current Uniqlo site introduces a full-screen overlay with an enticing £10 off voucher when you sign up to receive its marketing emails. The overlay appears pretty soon after landing on the homepage, meaning new users have had very little opportunity to see what’s on offer. Furthermore, Uniqlo have made some interesting UX decisions within the overlay itself. The hairline-thin close button in the top right is not instantly available and takes a full eight seconds to appear, leaving users with the dull grey, ultra-uninviting ‘No thanks’ button under the email form as the one way to immediately close it down. Mapping out user journeys can really help work out where to introduce calls to action These kinds of timing decisions stand to influence the behaviours of users and negatively impact their experience on your website. Mapping out user journeys can really help work out where to introduce calls to action. Knowing where users are coming to your site from is a great start, and understanding the journeys they take through your site will enable you to show calls to action at appropriate moments. It would need testing, but the Uniqlo sign up may have served better on a confirmation screen post-purchase, as you’d then have a converted customer who might enjoy a discount on their next visit. 02. Make credible claims In pursuit of conversions, we have the capability to promise the world with the copy used in our calls to action, but while attention-grabbing links and headlines can result in click spikes, your long-term goals may suffer as a consequence. If, for example, your dating website claims to ‘find your soulmate’ with one click, it better have some Black Mirror-like algorithms going on in order to deliver on that promise, or people will be disappointed not to have met their match and are unlikely to return. Even less life-changing products or services need to balance what they say with what they deliver. If you are saying that something is free, it's important to not then ask for a user's credit card details, or at least be clear about that if you are. Slack offers collaboration tools for teams around the world. And its main CTA reads 'try for free'. When we type in our email address, we get further options, rather than an immediate pesky email welcoming us before we have even figured out if we want Slack. Opting for credible claims in your call to action copy, with trustworthy copy lines over attention-grabbing clickbait, will ensure that you’re delivering on your promises and establishing trust with your users in the short term and into the future. 03. Provide post-click feedback The Gov.UK Design System includes lots of confirmation details Pouring all of our creative energy into getting that all-important click can often result in less attention being paid to the user experience post-conversion. However, lack of feedback or direction around ‘what happens next’ at the end of a process can leave users confused and uncertain about the consequences of their actions, especially if they suffer from anxiety. Tasks like transferring large sums of money or applying for a disability benefit can be stressful, so while it’s important that you empower users to complete these processes, it’s vital that they are given reassurance of what’s to come next, or how to make contact to resolve any issues that may arise. The Gov.UK Design System includes a number of design patterns specifically for confirmation pages. These resources have a strong accessibility slant and are a great source of information and inspiration as to how and why these considerations are so important. Post-conversion interfaces can be an opportunity to upsell products or grow your email database, but there may be more useful functions for these pages that should be reviewed in the design phase to better serve your users. This is an updated article of a piece that was originally published in creative web design magazine Web Designer. Related articles: Perfect object-oriented UX Performance UX: A primer Get to grips with the theory of UX View the full article
  10. Did you know that Nando's hold the world's largest collection of South African art? You can enjoy the 21,300 pieces of art (and admire the impressive art techniques used) alongside your peri-peri chicken in branches around the country. But the chicken chain's foray into art has recently met some controversy as one of the paintings has been labelled racist. A Half a Loaf Is Better Than None, a painting by black South African artist Khaya Sineyile, was on display on the wall of a newly opened Birmingham branch of the restaurant until a customer spotted it and contacted Nando's CEO, Colin Hill. The customer expressed his outrage and Hill responded with an apology, and a promise that the artwork had been immediately removed following the complaint. Hill admitted that on this occasion Nando's had "got it wrong" and assured the customer the art selection process would be reviewed. But the customer felt the apology didn't go far enough, accusing Hill of "corporate nonsense". He later explained his reaction: "It shows four people of colour who would have been historically subject to degradation and hardship in an implement – here, a toaster – used to cook or burn bread. To me, it’s akin to hanging a picture of someone in an oven or being chopped up. It’s completely dehumanising people of colour." There's no denying the imagery is shocking, but what were the artist's intentions? Is it fair to say it is racist? Or is there more going on here? Let's look at what we know about the artist. Sinyile is an artist from New Crossroads in Nyanga, Cape Town. Freelance writer Themba Tsoti describes his approach as "attempting to cultivate an alternative consciousness regarding how artists from his background are perceived." Sinyile's artwork often plays with the connection between people and household objects, exploring how social station or personality can be imprinted on an object, and how the physical environment effects and impacts the psyche. The work above – Usana Olungalilyo Lufela Embelekweni, 2017 – depicts people inside an eggbox in another example of the interplay between society and the objects ingrained within it. Lorna Ferguson, Former director of the Tatham Art Gallery in Pietermaritzburg, put the piece into this context when she gave her interpretation of A Half Loaf Is Better Than None to Sunday Times Live: "South Africans are used to having open talks around race and racism, this translates into our artwork. We are used to seeing protest work. This piece does not mean that black people should be toasted, instead it can be interpreted as black people have been toasted by racism and oppression." Ferguson added, "Of course there are many ways to interpret art… The background is a total juxtaposition which creates a quirky piece." Nando's has since defended the work, labelling it a statement on the "far reaching effects of social inequality in South Africa". South Africa has a nuanced and complex history, and its artwork is likely to reflect that. It isn't easy to explain, especially in the time it takes to eat that peri-peri chicken. So to take a piece of art with imagery as horrific as this and place it in a restaurant, with no context, explanation or background on the artist, was perhaps not a wise move. It's not the first time that a bold branding choice has resulted in controversy (see our post on 18 controversial moments in branding), but this is more complex than most. Read more: 'Monstrous' hand statue results in controversy Should I go to art school? Pixel art: retro examples View the full article
  11. League of Legends has a new logo to accompany its 10th anniversary this month, and it seems that no one is happy about it (or else the happy people are keeping their joy very quiet). The action-strategy game, owned by Riot Games, is the biggest PC game in the world, and has a maximum of eight million players playing at the same time every single day. That's a lot of users, and therefore a lot of angry people. What are people complaining about? Our logo design guide discusses the importance of striving for difference. And some people aren't so sure this new look helps League of Legends stand out from the crowd. Plus, as usual, they don't like change. Let's compare the two logos. The old League of Legends (LoL) logo had a definite feel to it. You can have no clue what the game is about, yet look at the logo and you are transported to a world of warriors, treasure, deadly battles and eerie landscapes. Saying that, that feel is quite similar to other gaming or fantasy logos, so perhaps it wasn't the best in terms of standout. What about the new logo? It conjures up... well... something gold. And a bit distressed. It looks a little Indiana Jones, if we're honest. It does look more contemporary, but we wouldn't exactly say it wins on striving for difference, either. In its official announcement blog talking about the game's anniversary, Riot Games said: "We think this is the perfect time to set the stage for the next ten years by modernising the official League of Legends logo." But users were not convinced. The comments are pretty brutal. See below for the most popular one: Ryan Rigney, communications lead on LoL posted this tweet in response to some of the Reddit hate. When BrandNew recently posted about the logo, designers weighed in to share their dislike of the new look. Tom Neish said: "Another piece of interesting type bites the dust." Sandy34 said it was "Boring as hell." While Vincent Biss said: "Feels like a Guardians of the Galaxy logo, but without any soul or energy. A least it doesn't feel like a D&D old kitsch logo like the old one. There must be a perfect proposition between those two?" A few weeks after the official launch of the new logo, we're interested to see that Riot Games has not updated the logo on the official League of Legends site. Although when you go on the site to play the game, you do get the new branding. And actually, in context, it doesn't look too bad. A video compiling 10 years of LoL music has been doing the rounds over the past few days (see below), and has been receiving a lot of love. Which just goes to show that people are fickle (and that the music is very cool). As for the new logo, will gamers get used to it? Will designers ever stop moaning about new logos? Will Riot Games give in and revert back to the old logo? Only time will tell. Read more: The surprising story behind the Joker logo These logo design mashups will mess with your head Paris 2024 is mercilessly mocked View the full article
  12. As a designer you're going to need stock content regularly, and you'll be aware of just how many libraries there are to choose from. And while you're probably already familiar with the iStock name, what you might not know is just how its content stands out from the competition, no matter what you need. Read on to learn more about iStock, and how it gives you access to world-class, premium content – at not-so-premium prices. Localised content from over 200,000 contributors iStock's contributors use their local knowledge to get the best shots Whenever you search on iStock you'll find content that feels authentic – and that's because it is. iStock's contributors come from all over the world, bringing local knowledge to their work and offering different perspectives that translate to professionally-photographed content. They know how to take the relevant pictures you need to elevate your creative work and make connections with your audience. So, when you're out to impress a picky client that's asking for specific regional or travel imagery – whether it's from the mountains of the Andes or the plains of Kazakhstan – rest assured that iStock has contributors there, creating visuals that your audience can relate to, in a way that only a local can authentically capture. Expert content curation Well-curated content means you'll soon find what you need Don't you just love it when you search for a term and find that the exact image you need comes up straight away? That's a regular feeling on iStock, but there's nothing magical about it; rather, it's all down to the hard work of its expert visual editors. They meticulously vet every single image that gets uploaded to iStock to ensure that it's not carrying duplicates, or a dozen versions of the same image with slight variations – iStock cares about quality, not quantity. As authorities on visual trends, iStock's editors are able to compile galleries of its best-in-class, top-trending content into collections and galleries. So whenever you're not exactly sure what you're looking for and need a spot of inspiration, simply find a gallery on iStock's homepage or on individual content pages, and you'll be able to browse through it and find the content you need to give your creative work the edge it needs. It's not just images iStock also has templates, vectors, video and illustration While you're probably coming to iStock for images – that's what it's known for, after all – bear in mind that it has many more content offerings that can make your creative life easier. If you're in need of a template for a restaurant menu, or some vectors to add a stylish twist to a design, there'll be something to fit the bill. iStock also has an expansive video collection, covering everything from b-roll to ultra-high quality 4K stock footage, and whether you're after something quirky with hipster appeal or straight-edged stock for B2B purposes, you're sure to find it. iStock's illustration collection is similarly broad, ranging from the whimsical to the business-focused, with everything in-between. Best of all, iStock upholds the same standards for its templates, icons, illustrations, videos and more, as it does for its images, so you can be sure that everything you find will be high quality and affordable. Everything you need in one place Finding the perfect images, illustrations and videos for your creative projects shouldn't be stressful – and with iStock it's a breeze, thanks to flexible plans and pricing (and images starting from only $12) that offer a solution for any budget. Regardless of the nature of the project, you'll be able to find the perfect creative assets for it – and much more besides – on iStock. iStock's visual experts are constantly updating its collection, so keep checking in to find the latest and greatest visuals in the industry. You can also save 10% on all credit packs until the end of the year. Just use code ISTOCK10 at checkout. View the full article
  13. The hardest part of any creative endeavour can often be simply getting started. The fear of a blank page can be an overwhelming thing, but a new addition to popular iOS sketching app, Paper, aims to help get nervous artists past all that and start drawing. We're big fans of Paper; it even made it to our list of top iPad apps for designers. Paper is a fun app that's suitable everything from note-taking and annotating pictures through to doodling and sketching, with quick and easy gesture-based navigation to help keep things flowing. But if you simply don't know what to draw then there's now a whole stack of inspiration available. How to draw: the best drawing tutorials The new Paper Store features a collection of journals that are designed to encourage budding artists, make drawing, sketching and doodling more approachable, and help bring your ideas to life. There are three types of journals available: tutorials that'll teach you how to draw anything and everything, exercises to kick-start your creative thinking, and artist showcases that provide inspiration from some of the leading names in the business. A few minutes with Jon Burgerman and you'll be doodling all over everything There are 28 journals available in the Paper Store right now, and one of them hooks you up with a free doodling lesson from the kind of doodles himself, Jon Burgerman. At his doodle school he wants you to have fun and feel creatively uninhibited, and he takes you on a step-by-step journey through the world of doodling using Paper's tools. There are all manner of handy exercises designed to help you approach a blank page without fear, until finally you're rewarded with your own doodle school diploma proving that you've mastered doodle art. Chuck out that silly Central Saint Martins diploma and stick this on your wall As well as Burgerman's doodle school there are also showcases from other artists including Catherine Madden and Lucy Bellwood, and if you have a dig through the Paper Store you'll find guides to drawing creative creatures, faces, flowers, cacti and much more. Each journal is available as an in-app purchase from the Paper Store, at $1.99 a shot. The Paper Store has plenty of journals to get you drawing WeTransfer promises that there'll be more inspiring journals from top creatives and artists coming soon, as well as more journal categories to expand your talents even further. If you don't yet have Paper you can find out more about it here, or simply download it for free from the App Store. Related articles: Art techniques: top tutorials for painting and drawing Create a fast and anatomically correct sketch Boost your creativity with daily sketching View the full article
  14. Building a website for yourself or your company can often feel like a daunting task. However it might not be as difficult as you think. Create beautiful, functioning websites today with these comprehensive web design training bundles, now with an additional 40% off during the month of October. Simply enter code 40LEARN40 on any of the following courses to get the extra discount. Devslopes Coding Academy: Lifetime Membership With over 300 hours of programming courses and essentials, this training will help you create the website you've always wanted. Finesse your coding expertise and master the most relevant, desirable skills, from iOS and Android development to back-end development to game creation and achieve your goals with the help of expert instructors at Devslopes. Now just $29. The Complete Web & Mobile Developer Bundle Ft. Rob Percival If you're hoping to leverage your web and mobile app development skills in the ever-changing design world, you'll want to start by learning the core fundamentals. Rob Percival, the best-selling co-creator of CodeStars, brings you six unique courses that will guide you into the development industry and all that is required to thrive in the process. Now just $35. The Complete Python Certification Bootcamp Bundle Learn the leading general-purpose language that is Python with this 85-hour bundle. The 12-course bundle is filled with tutorials and will teach you how to build programs, analyze data, master the major plotting libraries, and so much more. Now just $34.99. The Complete Full Stack Web Development Master Class Bundle With over 250 lessons covering today's hottest web frameworks and technologies, this bundle brings you an endless amount of materials to learn the complexities of web development comprehensively. Seven in-depth courses will teach you applications such as Angular, Spring, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and more and help you become the rarest type of coder out there. Now just $19. The Complete Microsoft & Oracle SQL Certification Bundle If you're looking to take a deep look at Microsoft and Oracle database concepts and tools, this bundle is for you. The 11-course certification will guide you through 1,400+ lessons that will help master the fundamentals and fast track your way into the data-driven career you've been dreaming of achieving. Now just $39. View the full article
  15. Instagram bios are an important part of your Instagram feed. They're often the first thing people look at when they click on your feed, and if you don't include the right information in them (i.e. your contact details), you could end up losing clients. But what exactly makes the perfect Instagram bio? Here, we examine some of our favourite Insta bios, and extract five top tips on making your own killer bio. An extra trick you may also like to try is adding your own custom font to your Insta profile, see our dedicated how to change the font in your Instagram bio post for a step-by-step on how to do this. To edit your Instagram bio, just go to Edit Profile on Instagram, and then click on the Bio section to edit. Once you're there, here's what to do... Follow Creative Bloq on Instagram 01. Be super-succinct You only have 150 characters to play with in your Instagram bio, so you can't waffle on too much even if you wanted to, but keep your message as succinct as possible. Think about what a person who has no idea who you are and has just stumbled across your feed needs to know. Who are you? Where are you? What are your interests? What should people expect to find on the page? What you write in your Instagram bio will depend on what exactly you are aiming for with your Instagram account. Personal accounts might list your interests, while more work-focused accounts should list what you do, perhaps including the company you work for or any clients (with an @), perhaps not. It's a good idea to list your location, if you think that's relevant. You can also include hashtags and keywords (see the next point). Concept artist Donglu, who has over 28,000 followers, keeps things simple with her bio, which says what she does and links to her employer. 02. Include hashtags We don't recommend including lots of hashtags in your bio, because that usually looks a bit #toomuch, but the odd hashtag can help people find your page, and also shows what you're about. To search for relevant hashtags, click search within Instagram and look under 'Tags'. You can then see a list of hashtags and how many posts use them daily. You can also include any hashtag that you want people to use when referencing your content, or a particular campaign you're involved in, just as D&AD does (above). Also note how D&AD has quite a long Instagram bio, but that it is still clear and succinct, and tells you exactly what you need to know about the organisation. Including your own hashtag can seem a bit over-the-top if you're just starting out, so probably don't include your name as a hashtag if you've only got 100 followers. You might find it isn't used in the way you'd hoped. In general, remember that people have a limited attention span online, particular on Insta, so keep all of your bio text short and sweet, and make sure it is easy to scan. You can do this using line spacing and emojis (see below). 03. Use line breaks and emojis One way to break up your bio and make it look better is to space it out, and add interest and colour with emojis. Paper artist Hattie Newman does this brilliantly in her bio, which lists what she does, her location, and describes her book. She breaks this info up on different lines and with emojis, ensuring that nothing gets lost and it all looks eye-catching and colourful. Creating line breaks in your Insta bio can be a bit fiddly, and the same rule applies in your bio as it does when creating line breaks in captions on Instagram (read our post about Instagram hacks such as making line breaks if you're not sure what we mean). To create a line break, write on one line, and then click Return immediately afterwards. If you leave a space before you click Return, you won't get a proper line break. You may find this is easier to do on desktop rather than mobile. Getting the spacing of your emojis right can also be a bit fiddly on mobile. Make sure you check everything is lined up nicely once you've clicked save. And if not, just go back and edit until you get it looking how you want. 04. Include a call to action It's best to include a call to action (CTA) on your Instagram bio. This sounds like a marketing term (because it is), but calls to action are vital for anyone who wants people to interact with them, their work, or their feed. Think about someone you don't know clicking on your feed. What do you want them to do? Would you like them to buy your work? Click on your website? Follow your other account? Comment on your posts? Whatever it is, don't be shy about it. Include this information in the form of a button that says 'email' or 'contact' for example. This is for business accounts only and happens automatically when you include your contact details on your profile (see how to switch to a business account in our post on how to make money on Instagram). Your CTA could also be a link, and you can use emojis to point at this link to direct people to it. Note how doodle artist Hattie Stewart keeps her profile short and sweet with just two words and an emoji, and then one link to her website – that's her CTA. Also note the use of emojis for her Instagram Stories – read more about crafting Instagram Stories here. Remember that you only get one link on your Instagram profile, so choose it wisely, you might want to include your website, a link to your shop, or perhaps a link about you and your work you want to direct people to. You could even link to another social media account if you have more work there. If you want to include more than one link, there is a way (sort of). See the tip below. 05. Use Linktree for multiple links Instagram doesn't let you include more than one link in your bio. But if you want to be sneaky, you can use Linktree to add more than one. Linktree is designed specifically for Instagram and it creates one URL that then links out to multiple links, so you can have your website, your shop, your Facebook page, your Behance, and so on, all in one place. It's free, you just need to sign up. You can see Linktree's own Linktree (meta, we know) above. Read more: Instagram designers: Who to follow for creative inspiration How to make money on Pinterest as a creative 5 social media tricks to make your brand thrive View the full article
  16. We all know how NASA loves a good logo design, and as well as the new Artemis mission logo, which draws inspiration from the classic NASA 'meatball' logo as well as the original Apollo mission logo, it's just released an Artemis logo to celebrate it sending a woman to the moon. There's a special meaning to the Artemis programme's name; the first moon mission, Apollo, took its name from the ancient Greek god, and Artemis was Apollo's twin sister as well as being goddess of the moon. The main Artemis mission logo is inspired by the original Apollo logo And that's especially relevant to this new mission, with NASA's commitment to sending both men and women to the moon. While space exploration has traditionally been a bit of a sausage party (although tell that to Margaret Hamilton, who famously led the team that developed Apollo's in-flight software), NASA's aiming to set things straight this time around, and has already demoed a spacesuit design that's suitable for both men and women. NASA has kept Artemis' features deliberately abstract in this logo Artemis, NASA explains, encompasses all its present efforts to return humans to the moon and, as her role as the "torch bringer", will light NASA's way on the journey to Mars. The logo shows a representation of Artemis illustrated by the highlights and shadows of the crescent moon topography; it's a stylish and minimal design that keeps Artemis' features deliberately abstract, so that all women can see themselves in her. Apparently. There are loads of colourful desktop and mobile backgrounds to download That's a fantastic touch; while the first woman went into space in 1963 (the Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova), it's always been men that have dominated the space business. This new logo changes all that and provides a much-needed piece of feminine iconography for the space programme. Clearly hoping to fire everyone's imagination with this forward-looking logo, NASA has provide a whole stack of designs based around it to be used as desktop and mobile wallpaper, in plenty of colour schemes. You can find them all here, and you can read more about the Artemis programme here. Related articles: These logo design mashups will mess with your head 7 logos by famous designers and why they work Design a killer logo in Illustrator View the full article
  17. Houdini software is a 3D animation program that's invaluable for 3D artists. We've got a set of tips and tricks to speed up the animation process and help to get great results, fast. First up in this post are some general tips on using the new tools and functions found in Houdini 17.5, followed by a tutorial on creating hair in Houdini (jump straight to page 2 to create hair in Houdini, and follow the links opposite to jump straight to the section you're after). Elsewhere on the site, our comprehensive review has our full verdict on Houdini 17 Banshee , and if you want to check out other 3D software, we also have a rundown of the best 3D modelling software around. 01. Condensation tool Find it on the Particle Fluids shelf On the Particle Fluids shelf we can find the new Condensation tool. This creates the usual triple geo level node setup, one with the selected geometry which prepares it for the simulation, a DOP network with particle simulation, which uses the new POP fluid solver, introduced in the Whitewater tool in H17, and the output geometry which generates the continuous surface around the particles for rendering. So for now we are just a few clicks away to add the usual rolling droplets onto the glass for a beverage ad. 02. Measure 2.0 Check the documentation for detailed notes for every mode This is a revamped version of the original. Now we can use it on points, not just on primitives – there’s also many variations of measurement modes. It’s advised you check the documentation, as there are detailed descriptions and extra notes for every mode. We can use this node to drive shading effects from SOPs, rather than relying on render-time calculations, define selection groups or weights for procedural modelling, or prepare objects for simulations: separate parts, measure the volume of the parts, slope, curvature etc. 03. Viewpoint volume rendering Convert the other geometry to volume, gain its density and combine with the main volume The display of the volumes in the viewport now use ray traced OpenGL shaders, thus the self-shadowing effects are pretty accurate. However they still doesn’t use the parameters of the attached render material, so we need to use Volume Visualization for that. The shadow interactions with other objects are also missing. The work around is to convert the other geometry to volume, gain its density and combine with the main volume. 04. Select output and visualize The right-click menu offers all the outputs for viewport display under the Flags/Output for View submenu Using the middle mouse button on any input or output of a node displays the node info panel with the data related to the specific input or output. Pressing Ctrl while clicking keeps the panel open after release, where we can also choose the desired output. Here a click on any underlined attribute creates a quick scene level visualiser for that in the viewport, however we may tweak its type in the visualiser settings panel. The right-click menu offers all the outputs for viewport display under the Flags/Output for View submenu, but clicking on any of them with the Shift+Ctrl+Alt brings up the items in the Hotkey Manager, so we don’t need to navigate to this submenu if we bind hotkeys for these. 05. SOPS 2.0 It automatically includes all the upstream nodes From H16, we can access the optimized and multi-threading based version of the SOP context by using compiled blocks, which is basically the optionally accessible SOP’s 2.0 environment. There are some restrictions and nodes which aren’t compatible with this yet, that’s why we should manually manage it. However in H17.5 there are additional compatible nodes such as File, Volume, and Cloud Light. The most significant speed gain using compiled blocks is with for-each loops, but it’s still useful for others, because Houdini handles the nodes in a block as a single node, so the memory use especially with OpenCL nodes is more efficient. The Compiled Block in the Tab menu creates two nodes and is the easiest way to wire the last node of the original node chain to the bottom one (Block End Compile). It automatically includes all the upstream nodes, so it may fail if there are nodes which aren’t compatible with it. The Non-compilable SOP Badge in the Network View Display Options flags all of these nodes with a crossed cog icon, so we can wire the top compile node (Block Begin Compile). 06. AliceVision The AliceVision framework is open source We can say that the price of Houdini includes an advanced and versatile photogrammetry module, as the AliceVision framework is open source and recently the developers of Game Tools implemented it as a toolset, for Linux as well. For further info, check the Resources page on my ArtStation site. 07. Physics painter This tool is useful for layout artists This tool can be very useful for layout artists, even for ones working in film and animation. As a versatile interactive scattering tool, we can populate the scene with arbitrary objects, much like how set dressers do their job. The input of this node is for the geometry on which we want to paint. The easiest way to pick the objects for the brush is selecting all of these SOP nodes and drag & drop to the Quick Add field in the Dynamic section of the physics painter parameter panel. It automatically creates slots for each of these geometries and we can also define higher resolution render meshes and dynamic properties here. There are two modes of the brush in the viewport, one is the normal: as you draw the curve it lays down the objects piece by piece. We can activate the second mode with the Paint Bucket Mode toggle to spread the objects more rapidly. With our brush, the red sphere in the viewport represents the volume of the scattering. It can easily slow down the interaction, so it’s also possible to paint in normal mode and use this toggle occasionally to see the result. 08. Building generator This node was much requested Luckily the developers of Game Tools added this very complex and much requested node to the toolset. It is a rule-based module system, we can feed our building part assets into it and use a base mesh as the floor plan of the building. Additionally with the Mapbox and OSM tools we can generate real world data based cities. Check the Resources page on my ArtStation site for further info. 09. Dirt Skirt and Voxelmesh These tools melt together interpenetrating geometries We can use any of these tools to melt together interpenetrating geometries. The Dirt Skirt node generates a connectivity geometry between the two input geometries. The Voxel Mesh node is a single node tool for the common VDB from Polygons > Convert VDB workflow, thus it is more versatile, an alternative to the boolean union tool and a good remesher. Switching on the Sharpen Features allows us to use this tool for hard surface modelling, as it avoids the otherwise voxelated sharp edges. The Adaptivity slider simplifies the geometry on the less detailed and flat areas. 10. Curve branches We can achieve tree-like geometries This node feels like a first attempt for a tool similar to Maya Paint Effects. Not at that complexity, but if we chain together multiple, copies of this node, each representing a level of the structure, we can even achieve tree-like geometries. 11. Thicken Thicken is an easy tool for a simple task An easy tool for a simple task, as it adds thickness to a surface geometry. With this tailored version of PolyExtrude we can simply extrude all the faces of a geometry using a single slider, namely Depth, without getting lost amongst the other parameters. 12. Straighten and axis align This task can be quick with these two Game Tools nodes It’s a boring and time consuming task to manually align and rotate objects to a neutral pose, especially with photogrammetry ones. Luckily this task can be quick with these two Game Tools nodes. Firstly we orient the object with the Straighten node by selecting the desired upward and forward facing parts for the two input fields respectively. Then the Axis Align node brings the geometry to the origin and we can chose the actions for all three dimensions. The default setting is useful, as it lays down the object on the ground using its lowest part. 13. Quick material Create and assign materials to objects or groups without leaving the SOP context The advanced version of the original QuickShade node. We can quickly and effectively create and assign materials to objects or groups without leaving the SOP context, and access the basic parameters and texture inputs of the available material types: Principled Shader, GameDev PBR and Matcap. 14. Quick merge Start by selecting the nodes you want to merge Select the nodes you want to merge, then Alt+drag down the output of any of them. If you press Ctrl rather than Alt, or just simply click with RMB, it will popup the tab menu, and you can choose other nodes with bulk input like Switch. 15. Viewport hotkeys Open the HotKey Manager and check the available actions It’s worth opening the Hotkey Manager and checking the available actions under Houdini / Panes / Geometry Viewers / Operations / View Operation context. This is the secret place where we can add or modify all the Space+something keystrokes for the viewports, like Frame Selected (default shortcut: Space+F). So all the shortcuts here work just by holding Spacebar, or with the active View tool (left toolbar). Actually, we can change the Space to anything else, or add alternatives, which is the Volatile View Operation, directly in the Operations context. There are some really useful shortcuts like the Cycle View Context and Toggle Local/World View Context. They affect the state of the view context switch, the second button from the right on the network controls bar above the viewport, so we can quickly hide/unhide/ ghost all other geometries except the ones in the active SOP context. The Move Camera to Geometry shortcut is also useful, as a kind of teleport function – the viewport camera jumps to the geometry element under the cursor. 16. Fullscreen mode Finally, a dark mode is here Usually a work session in Houdini takes a while, so most of the time we don’t need the interface elements of the operating system. On Linux it’s easy to go fullscreen, the KDE environment offers it in the titlebar’s right click menu. In the System Settings we can also bind shortcuts to any UI actions like this. In comparison customising the other two OS feel extremely restrictive, but at least after decades of user requests macOS finally ships with an optional Dark Mode. It matches with Houdini’s native colour scheme, thus the menubar at the top doesn’t feel like an interrogation lamp. 17. Nextgen Renderman for Houdini It's worth trying the new Renderman for Houdini You may find Mantra slow, laggy and memory consuming so it’s worth trying the new Renderman for Houdini (22.5+). It feels more cosily integrated with its state of the art interactivity. Do we need dedicated lighting/rendering softwares anymore? Next page: How to create hair in Houdini Tips for creating hair in Houdini 17.5 These tips are for grooms, so have been written with fur in mind, but most of them are all-purpose. Artists ranging from beginners to mid-advanced in Houdini will be able to use these tips, but note that this is not the step-by-step guide. You should know the Houdini interface, basics of creating guides and hair, brushing it and editing. Houdini comes out with three shelves for creating and manipulating hair and fur. The tools from Hair Utils shelf are for setting up hair and fur objects, jumping between object nodes, and setting up animation and simulation. The Guide Process shelf contains the procedural tools for styling hair. This article was originally published in 3D Artist magazine. Buy issue 134 now. Read more: These 3D portraits are unbelievably realistic Brilliant free 3D models The best free 3D apps View the full article
  18. It’s that time again. Amazon’s offering deals on products you didn’t even know existed. Adobe’s no doubt planning some discounts on Creative Cloud subscriptions. Every newspaper on earth suddenly seems to care about the cost of kettles. Yep, it’s Black Friday, which sometimes feels as if it starts in August and ends somewhere the following summer. But while some might think it’s all a bit daft and overhyped, it can still be an important time for creatives – and not just because it might mean a slightly cheaper laptop. This year the main event falls on Friday 29 November, but recent years has seen the sale period run throughout the whole of November, with retailers kicking things off as early as October. There’s also Cyber Monday, which falls on the Monday immediately after Black Friday – so this year it’s on the 1st of December. If you are on the lookout for a creative bargain, be sure to bookmark our best Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals articles, which we will update with all the best creative offers as they arrive. Black Friday history: how did it come about? There’s some disagreement on when the term Black Friday was coined, but History.com reports that it was first used back in the 1950s by US police in Philadelphia. They used Black Friday to describe the hordes of shoppers in Philadelphia who flooded the streets the day after Thanksgiving for the big Army-Navy football game held on that Saturday every year. While many retailers kicked off the shopping season with what we’d call Black Friday deals for decades, the term didn’t really take off until the late 1980s – and in recent years the internet turbo-charged it. Black Friday wasn’t always the biggest online sales event of the year, however. That honour went to Cyber Monday, the Monday after Thanksgiving. That’s when everyone went back to work, realised they hadn’t ordered their Christmas presents and secretly shopped at work. Retailers started extending the duration of their sales, and eCoupons.com coined the phrase Cyber Black Friday in 2009. The cyber bit was quickly dropped because it was rubbish. It was several more years before the UK got the Black Friday bug. The first really big Black Fridays in the UK were in the early 2010s, although retailers didn’t really seem to know what they were doing and appeared to be running around the place putting SALE stickers on anything that happened to be lying around. Things got serious in 2015, and longer too: by then Amazon was well into its ever-lengthening Black Friday deals. And by 2016 the week of Black Friday was an established part of the retail calendar on both sides of the Atlantic. Why should creatives care about Black Friday? As a creative, the obvious reason to get involved with Black Friday is to get your tools for less. There will, of course, be all manner of offers on pro-level laptops and devices, which we will round-up in our best Apple Black Friday and Microsoft Black Friday deals articles, to discounts on pencils, software subscriptions and ergonomic office equipment (including the best office chairs). Black Friday is also a great opportunity for creative businesses But Black Friday is also a great opportunity for creative businesses. You can take advantage of the Black Friday ecosystem, where websites try to get all the traffic by listing every conceivable Black Friday deal no matter how small or how obscure, to drive traffic to your own sales efforts. It’s a good opportunity to shift stock to make room for new products, or to attract new or repeat business with time-limited Black Friday deals. If that’s what you’d like to do, don’t wait for Black Friday to do it. The big retailers tried panicky discounting years ago and lost a fortune; now, Black Friday is planned far in advance and discounts are carefully calculated. In many cases, they’re being used to offload end-of-line stock; in others they’re used as bait for profitable cross-selling, upselling and subscription sign-ups. How creatives can make the most of Black Friday? The big sites’ Black Friday speculation and predictions start in October, and it pays to have a dedicated Black Friday deals or offers page up and running as early as you can to ensure it’s indexed and noticed in advance of the event. All the usual promotional advice applies here: make your products or services look utterly alluring and instil a sense of urgency in your copy. Customers need to feel they’re not only getting a brilliant deal, but that the brilliant deal needs to be bought right now. Advance planning and publication is particularly important if you’re going to try and get any Google/news coverage. Planning is also important for any search advertising buys and, of course, it’s crucial for email marketing and social media marketing where you’ll want to craft scintillating copy and plan your timings well in advance. Last but definitely not least, don’t forget about the practical stuff. If your site has a checkout process, speed test everything from the landing page to the final payment processing. Online shoppers are fickle at the best of times, but they’re even more so when every other site in the universe is trying to attract their attention. Black Friday is not the day to realise that bad UX or slow servers are causing people to abandon their baskets from sheer frustration or slow page loads. That’s not the kind of Black Friday any creative business needs. If you are waiting for Black Friday to get a great deal, be sure to bookmark our dedicated product and brand hubs, which we will update with all the best offers as they arrive: The best Wacom Black Friday deals The best Surface Pro Black Friday deals The best iPad Black Friday deals View the full article
  19. When you've got something to promote, you need to think of smart or clever ways to get it noticed, which is what HP has done to promote its HP Z workstations. The tech company has teamed up with creative network Movidiam to help creative freelancers get better access to computing power, and the resulting campaign includes a witty 90-second spot. How does HP try to grab your attention? A trio of talented freelance artists might tempt you to take notice. Still not convinced? Then you need to watch its little film, 'Deal with annoying comments faster…' and also note that the range its advertising includes several machines that made it to our best laptops for graphic design post. (If you're on the lookout for tech bargains then keep an eye on our Black Friday deals post, and if you're after a new screen rather than a laptop, take a look at our best 4K monitors post.) What's the film about? Well, anyone who has dealt with clients will know what joy (we use the term loosely) they can bring to a project. "It's amazing but we think..." is a line that only means one thing. More work. Then comes the inevitable question, "When do you need it by?". It's usually yesterday, but it's not in the video. The especially irritating project manager asks "Is it finished now?". The designer's answer will make you laugh. Then it's back to the client who once again puts a spanner in the works. "We love it but...". As you might expect, that leads to more ridiculous suggestions that go nowhere near the original brief. But by now there's no time to argue, whatever you might think. Is the client always right? We'll leave that one for you to ponder. Other big name brands that've recently had a go at using smarts to get their message across include Coca-Cola. Diet Coke's new campaign – the one with the two old ladies and Derek. It's definitely cringeworthy, but at the same time memorable. Probably a bit like those client comments. To find out more about HP's campaign, where you can sign up to get a 10 per cent discount on its workstations, go to the HP website. You can also see today's best HP bargains via our dedicated price-checker below. Read more: Has Diet Coke lost the plot? How to win over clients 28 amazing design portfolios to inspire you View the full article
  20. Samsung is reportedly rolling out fixes for a glitch that allowed anyone to dupe its Galaxy S10 fingerprint authentication sensor. View the full article
  21. You're reading Bootstrap Carousel Guide: Examples and Tutorials, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook! Bootstrap carousel is a generic unit of the framework that it is a standard component for cycling through elements. However, it can do much more than that and is undoubtedly one of the most sought-after details in interfaces these days. … View the full article
  22. Smart home devices are becoming the norm. A lot of homes have 'smartened up', whether it’s with something as basic as a smart speaker or with a host of smart devices that includes a smart fridge or smart washer and dryer. After all, the best smart home devices do make doing things faster, and therefore make life easier. At best, smart home devices on the market can make creative professionals’ daily routines and workflow much e more seamless. By taking over the simplest and perhaps more tedious quotidian tasks at hand, the best smart home devices for creatives allow photographers, videographers, artists and designers to focus more on their artistic endeavours. If you're looking for more devices to make your life easier, you might also want to check out our guides to the best laptops for graphic design or the best ereaders money can buy. Benefits of smart home devices for creative professionals As creative professionals and self-professed smart home fanatics ourselves, we know this first-hand. There’s nothing better than to have our lights automatically fade in slowly like sunrise to wake us up and help us start our day right, or to have our smart assistant adjust the temperature in the room when it gets too hot or too cold. Well, at least, besides getting notifications from our phone so we can see who’s at the door without having to get up. When we’re in the middle of editing a video or a batch of photos (see our best video editing software), it’s nice to just tell Alexa to turn the music down when it becomes too distracting or have a smart switch start brewing a fresh pot of coffee. At the beginning of our day, it’s great to simply ask Alexa to start running the robot vacuum so we have some time to meditate or do yoga before hunkering down at our desk for 12 straight hours. So, you too can enjoy the benefits of having smart home devices installed in your home or home office, we gathered the best of them, all of which we tried and tested ourselves. Among the other smart speakers out there, including Google Home and Sonos Smart Speaker, the Amazon Echo Plus certainly comes out the winner in our book. It not only offers support and connectivity for most smart devices out there, but also boasts excellent range, and utilises Amazon Alexa, which is a pretty great voice assistant. As a plus, its speakers, though not audiophile level, deliver a surprisingly solid audio quality. Consider it the gateway device to other smart devices, as it lets you control everything from your smart lights and thermostats to your smart plugs and robot vacuums. For creative professionals, that means having access to practically everything without having to take your eyes off the laptop display or drawing monitor. That includes menial tasks like calling someone on their mobile, creating lists and reminders, going through the day’s headlines, and even calculating conversions. Sure, there are other cheaper smart home devices out there, such as. Google Home or Amazon’s own Echo Dot. However, with a better speaker and more capabilities, the Amazon Echo Plus is certainly worth the extra cash. Considering they’re just light bulbs, it’s astounding how many things Philips’ very popular Hue smart bulbs can do. We’re talking more than just turning on and off with voice commands, adjusting light intensity without a dimmer, and setting timers and schedules here. Having a set of the Philips Hue Colour Ambiance Smart Bulbs in your home gives you seemingly endless applications. Want your living room lights on just before you get home? You can set up a routine so that the app tracks your location and automatically turns on the lights in that room a few minutes before you get to your front door. Need brighter lights to make you feel energised and more productive while working in your home office? The Hue app has the perfect scene for you. These lights can even be set up to follow the rhythm of the music you’re currently playing, reflect the weather conditions outside or notify you if the space station is overhead. Boasting 16 million colours, the Philips Hue Colour Ambiance Smart Bulbs are pretty nifty, and it's well worth paying the premium price for all the immersive benefits they offer. If you’re looking to fill your home with the best smart home devices for creative professionals, these bulbs are a great start. Whether you like it or not, how comfortable your workspace is has a huge impact on your productivity and workflow. The temperature in that space, for one, is vital, and simply by installing a smart thermostat makes a difference. There are many reasons why we love the ecobee4 Smart Thermostat for this. That, of course, includes the fact that it includes a room sensor, which manages hot or cold spots for you, as well as reads the temperature and detects occupancy in a room, adjusting accordingly to reduce energy consumption. Unlike other smart thermostats on the market, however, this one gets our vote because it has built-in Alexa features. That means that it can perform some Alexa voice commands like playing music, setting up timers, creating shopping lists and utilising Drop In, Alexa’s intercom feature. Even better, it’s so easy to install that you can forgo the exuberant expert installation fee and do it yourself. It’s one of the priciest smart home devices on this list, but it more than gives you your money’s worth. While there are already a lot of smart home devices out there, including smart refrigerators that can organise your family schedule and even order your groceries for you, there are a large number of appliances out there that are still very much stuck in the 20th century. Though worry not; there’s still a way to ‘smarten up’ such appliances and electronics. Thanks to a plethora of smart plugs, smart power strips and smart switches out there, you can – to a degree – control them remotely through your voice assistant and/or a phone app. The Kasa Smart Plug is one such smart device, compatible with small electronics that run at up to 12 AMPs. This means that you can plug your fans, coffee makers, lamps and radios into it, then control them with voice commands, turn them on/off remotely and even set them on schedules. It even offers a feature called Away Mode, which allows you to set your appliances to on and off at random intervals to make it look like you’re home even when you’re not. Home security camera systems are not just for keeping your home and office safe from intruders anymore. With smart home security cameras taking home security by storm, they’re now also a great way to check package deliveries, talk directly with visitors when you’re not home and even see who’s at the door without having to get up from your desk. And with Arlo Pro 2, you’re getting even more bang for your buck with features like weatherproofing, wireless connectivity, 300 plus feet line of sight, and a rechargeable battery. Of course, all the essential features are there too: sound and motion detection, night vision and local backup storage. There’s two-way audio and instant notifications as well, so you can chase off intruders, if you want to. For even more coverage, you can even expand the system to include up to five cameras for free and up to 20 cameras by upgrading. Like most security cameras, this only has up to 1080p video capabilities – though, it’s not like you need 4K video quality for this purpose. When you’re a busy creative professional clocking in 12 to 16 hours of work a day, you’ll hardly find time doing menial tasks like washing dishes and cleaning your home. This is why we find robot vacuums so practical – they may not offer that deep cleaning regular vacuum cleaners offer, but they’re good enough in keeping your floors debris-, dust- and dander-free on a daily basis. If you can't concentrate on work when your workspace is a mess, that’s already plenty helpful. With the iRobot Roomba 690, you’re basically taking that further with app and voice assistant control. You can now easily customise its cleaning process, start cleaning anytime remotely, set up cleaning schedules and even tell it to go back to its home unit for charging, all without having to physically get up. It’s still plenty noisy, but all that hands-free control should give you more time to focus on other things – like doing morning yoga or making lunch. Should the noise prove a little too loud and distracting, that’s what the best noise-cancelling headphones are for. If you work from home most of the time and like to put on a show or a movie in the background or watch videos online for inspiration and tutorials, then the Fire TV Cube could be for you. Sure, our smart TVs do plenty already and offer a world of convenience when it comes to streaming content or Netflix. But, we also love the idea of not having to get up to scour the living room for the remote or simply controlling the TV without it. Touted by Amazon as its most powerful Fire TV device ever, the Fire TV Cube makes our best smart home devices for creative professionals list because it lets us do just that. Whether it’s to turn on the TV or put on your favourite shows using voice commands through Alexa, the Fire TV simply delivers a level of convenience that no other streaming device could. Great extras include built-in speakers, Bluetooth headphones compatibility and music streaming. Read more: The best mechanical keyboards The best wireless chargers The most powerful laptops available View the full article
  23. If you're lucky enough to own a Surface Pro device, whatever version you have, you'll know they are powerful little machines, capable of high-labour intensive tasks. One of the best tablets with a stylus in our roundup, the Surface Pro is packed with brilliant features to help make a creative's day just that little bit easier. Some you'll be very aware of: that gorgeous screen, full-fat desktop software compatibility, for example. But the Surface Pro has other more under-the-radar features and functionality that might just surprise – and delight – you. If you're looking to invest in a Surface Pro, be sure to bookmark our Surface Pro Black Friday deals page, which we will keep updated with all the best offers as they arrive. Now let's take a closer look at some of the things you can do with a Surface Pro devices that you probably didn't know about, but which could be game-changers. 01. Take screenshots with the Surface Pen The Microsoft Surface team has been working hard to develop the functionality of Surface accessories in recent years, the Surface Pen being one of them. One of the features in Windows 10, Snip & Sketch enables the ability to take a screenshot with the Surface Pen. Simply double-clicking on the pen's eraser button will take a screenshot, which can then be edited, cropped and saved. 02. Collaborate remotely, in real time Whiteboard is an app that you can download for free on any Microsoft PC or Surface device. With an interface designed for the Surface Pen, the Surface Pro 7 lends itself perfectly to this virtual canvas, which allows you to connect and collaborate with other artists anywhere in the world. We caught up with Microsoft's Head of Industrial Design Ralf Groene, who shared his own experiences of working with Whiteboard and the Surface Pro X. "I was working with my daughter on a school project recently when she was in Rhode Island. We used Whiteboard to work through a problem, sketching together remotely," he explains. "That's such a new and profound, very productive experience. Being able to work on a project together in real time, that's a game-changer." 03. Make better human connections The recently announced Surface X (see our hands on Microsoft Surface Pro X review here) brings with it a number of impressive new features that creatives will love; touchscreen display, slim, sleek design, plenty of storage, lots of power, and so on. There's also another feature you will notice, literally, and that's gaze correction, which uses AI to adjust the appearance of your eyes so you appear to be looking straight at the camera when you’re on a conference call. "Not looking into someone else's eyes when you have a video call can cause just this little bit of friction, a little bit of distance, and so us changing this gets you one step closer to better, more natural human interaction," says Groene. "Those are the details that we spend an enormous amount of time on at Microsoft, you can make all the difference in the world this is just this tiny change." Can't wait until Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals drop? Here are the best Surface device and accessory deals in your area: View the full article
  24. Having a well-curated collection of your finest work on show is the surest way to impress people with your portfolio, but never underestimate the power of displaying it in the best possible way. To really turn heads, it pays to spend time – or money, if you're not that technically inclined – on building a portfolio website that takes full advantage of the latest trends and technology. And if you're not sure what approach you should take with your site, you've come to the right place. We've found six of the most best new portfolio sites around, each of which do things in their own individual way and look stunning while they're doing it. Read on for a delicious helping of portfolio inspiration. You can also check out our general post of more inspirational design portfolios. 6 big portfolio trends of 2019 01. Hello Monday We could play with these squishy thumbnails for hours It's hard not to love Hello Monday's mission: to make Mondays better for everyone. This creative studio has an eight-point code of honour that starts off with the simple commitment to being nice, and its portfolio site is equally delightful. We love the squishy thumbnail images on the index page, and the way in which you can drag the edges inward until they finally snap back into place. Every project page is packed with detail and lovely big images, and if you need to know even more, many of them have a little 'In depth' link that makes an even more detailed case study slide into view. 02. Antidote Antidote's animated thumbnails tell you exactly what each director is about Antidote is a Dublin-based agency that specialises in high-end commercials, and its portfolio site's designed for instant visual appeal. Rather than drop a big mission statement in front of you – the kind that every scrolls straight past to get to the good stuff – it puts its directors front and centre; a simple list of names, each one bringing up a set of animated thumbnails as you mouse over them. It's an effective way to get an instant taste of each director's style, and clicking through takes you a page of massive animated previews that you can click to see the full videos. Further written details are available, but overall Antidote's counting on showing, rather than telling, and it's a brilliant strategy. 03. Design Embraced Design Embraced's portfolio is full of lovey eye candy As seen on Hello Monday's portfolio site, getting some movement into your page designs by deforming the edges of images is a great, on-trend look, and it's one that freelancer Anthony Goodwin, under the name Design Embraced, uses to excellent effect. As you scroll through his portfolio the assorted images ripple gently and zoom in slightly as you mouse over them; clicking activates a transition in which the thumbnail expands into the centre of the screen and the page loads behind it. Mesmerising stuff. 04. Headless Horse Come for the horses, stay for the massive portfolio gallery A glorious combination of cutting-edge technology and old-school styling, Headless Horse's portfolio site opens with full-screen video of a pack of horses, over which there's a simple text interface asking: Initiate system? Typing 'yes' takes you to the main portfolio, but there's fun to be had from typing 'no' and seeing what happens next. Once you've finished playing with the text interface, the portfolio itself takes the form of a massive black-and-white photo of pictures pinned to a wall; click on each one to see Headless Horse's various projects in depth. 05. Jamie Hunter Jamie Hunter's minimal portfolio makes a big impact with a light touch Berlin-based Jamie Hunter describes himself as a holistic design and development person, and his beautifully minimal portfolio site does a splendid job of showcasing his work. Its index page does the job with a combination of kinetic typography and animated video loops of each project – along with plenty of white space to let the work breathe. While there are only a few non-agency projects on display (he notes that a most of freelancing is agency work covered by NDAs), each one is displayed thoughtfully, with a detailed case study and enough enticing browser effects to leave you in no doubt as to his abilities. 06. Tangent Tangent takes a clever approach to luring you in to inspect its work Finally, we absolutely adore Tangent's approach to showcasing its work on its portfolio site. An identity and art direction studio based in Glasgow, it lures you in with a gallery of big black and white thumbnails; mousing over the thumbnails turns them full colour, and the briefest details of the project – the client's name and the nature of their business, and the work that Tangent did for them – appear in the four corners of the window in big, bold Helvetica. Clicking through takes you to long case studies that are all about the full-screen imagery laced with short chunks of explanatory text; the perfect way to get a feel for each piece of work. Related articles: The wrong way to build a portfolio 7 free portfolio hosting options for designers How to refine your design portfolio View the full article
  25. Some brands make us feel as if they've been around since the dawn of time. The likes of Nestle and Heinz sport packaging and logo designs that are instantly recognisable, and people pick up their products without even thinking about it. It's a level of consumer trust that brands all over the world aspire to. Artist Ahmed Morshedi recently shone a light on the concept of brand trust with a series of brilliant but brain muddling packaging redesigns. The Experiment is comprised of brand design mashups that aim to make you stop and think. And it certainly made our heads hurt. Toothpaste on your toast, anyone? The above Nutella/Signal mashup is a good example of how Morshedi has managed to confuse us. It's like we've gone through the looking glass to an upside-down world where, though nothing makes sense, everything still works. And let's be honest, who doesn't love the idea of brushing their teeth with Nutella? Well, mouthwash is basically disinfectant anyway Morshedi explains his work: “I redesigned the logos, printed them out and repackaged well-known brands in a way that will mess with your head … in a good way,” he says. But Morshedi hasn't just created this art to turn us all topsy-turvy, he also thinks there's an important message here for designers. "It's simply a different way of looking at the brands, which most of the time their teams are afraid of tackling it in such a way," Morshedi told Bored Panda. This approach makes us consider whether some brands are too ingrained in our consciousness. Do we still see them, or are some in danger of becoming background noise? Morshesdi's work certainly emphasises the impact of a brand refresh, and the importance of thinking outside of the limitations of a brand image. Cigarettes as the essence of life is super-disturbing Branding couldn't be more important for this cigarette/water switcheroo. After the transition cigarette branding has gone through over the last decades – from bright and alluring to plain with unsightly pictures and impactful messaging – it's jarring to see how the brand message of a pack of cigs can be altered. This pack looks like it could be straight out of the mind of an early Don Draper (before all the important legislation came in), bringing cigarettes to the masses with misleading and harmful imagery. Also the idea of water, the essence of life, being covered with cigarette branding is, frankly, disturbing. And not one we ever want to see come to fruition. Orange ketchup could certainly have its uses We especially like this 'Orange Ketchup', not only for the smart redesign but for the opportunity to add ketchup to a different type of meal. It also reminds us of the time purple ketchup was a thing, and we wonder why Heinz didn't continue the shake-up. Though it did have it's own wacky branding, and we kinda like the classic twist Morshedi has put on things. This isn't the first time we've seen brands go though unofficial logo mashups, but every time it happens it makes us consider whether everything we know is true, and it seems it doesn't ever get less confusing. Read more: The surprising story behind the Joker logo Is this the most blatant logo theft ever? 10 iconic logos with hidden meanings View the full article
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