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You're reading SERPStack – Free, Real-Time Google Search API, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook! It is hard to neglect the importance of search engines. Almost anyone who uses the internet goes to Google and other search engines for what they need. You can’t remember or know all the URLs in the world, hence your … View the full article

Researchers warn XML macros embedded in SYLK files can sidestep Microsoft Office for Mac protections. View the full article

A simple attack on an unpatched server could have been catastrophic for the Utah-based utility. View the full article

A great mind never stops learning. So if you want to pick up a new skill or perhaps even branch out into a second career path, you'll want to check out these comprehensive training courses. The best laptops for graphic design in 2019 Covering everything from productivity to SEO and data analysis, these bundles will equip you with the capabilities to take your professional life to the next level. What's more, you can save an additional 20% on the massively reduced prices when you use these download codes. Project Management Professional Certification Training Suite Start leading your own team Learn how to become a brilliant project manager with this 5-course training suite. The 60-hour certification course teaches you various principles involved in managing a project effectively and guides you through each lesson to easily pass the required PMP exams. MSRP: $1,248 / Buy Now: $39 (96% OFF) Take an additional 20% off with code 20LEARN20 The Complete Computer Programmer Super Bundle If your dream is to become a computer programmer, this may be the bundle for you. You'll walk step-by-step through the world of programming fundamentals for programs such as Python, Linux Command Line, JavaScript, and so much more. The lifetime access 12-course bundle comes with exercises for each course so you can practice and finesse what you learn. MSRP: $2,400 / Buy Now: $45 (98% OFF) Take an additional 20% off with code 20LEARN20 The Data Science for Business Mastery Bundle Even beginners can boost their data skills Take your data analytics skills to the next stage with this all-inclusive data science for business 10-course bundle. Perfect for beginner-to-advanced students, lessons in data visualizations, econometrics, statistics, and so much more will help you master the fundamentals to boost your business. MSRP: $790 / Buy Now: $29 (96% OFF) Take an additional 20% off with code 20LEARN20 The 2019 Ethical Hacker Master Class Bundle Get hacking the right way With major businesses like Facebook and Equifax falling victim to cyberattacks, the demand for skills to protect businesses is rising. This 12-course bundle, complete with real-world scenarios, will teach you everything you need to know about ethical hacking and how to monetize on neutralizing threats. MSRP: $4,883 / Buy Now: $39 (99% OFF) Take an additional 20% off with code 20LEARN20 The Ultimate Productivity Bundle Tick off your to do list with this bundle Tired of not having enough time in the day to reach your daily goals? This 500+ lesson bundle teaches you tips and tools straight from the minds of some of the most successful people. Learn step-by-step techniques and frameworks in order to start taking control of your time and becoming a more productive individual. MSRP: $1,274 / Buy Now: $36 (97% OFF) Take an additional 20% off with code 20LEARN20 The Complete SEO & Digital Mega Marketing Bundle Start climbing Google Build your brand's digital marketing presence with 15 comprehensive courses and 900+ lessons of digital marketing tutorials. Straight from the minds of the experts, this bundle teaches you best practices in copywriting, SEO, social media, email marketing, and much more. Easy to follow instructions allow you to build your brand's digital footprint to its full potential and reach through essential digital outlets. MSRP: $2,330 / Buy Now: $49 (97% OFF) Take an additional 20% off with code 20LEARN20 The Learn to Become an Expert Photographer Bundle Get snap happy with this course This 9-course beginner-to-expert bundle brings you everything you need to know in order to become a successful photographer. Courses include best practices on capturing the best night shot, how to make money as a wedding photographer, DIY food photography tips, and so much more. There are even courses included for effective and stunning editing, making your images professional and unique. MSRP: $818 / Buy Now: $29 (96% OFF) Take an additional 20% off with code 20LEARN20 Related articles: 13 of the best creative resumés 6 foolproof ways to improve your graphic design skills 9 pro tips for successful creative collaboration View the full article

Green UX is probably a term you'll hear more and more in the coming years. For all the benefits that technology brings, there is a dark cloud that hangs over all of us. This cloud chases us in newspapers every day and is felt across the entire world. It makes us fear for the future and question our habits – our youth is even skipping school to demand action. This cloud is mostly made up of CO2 and its name is climate change. Among the many culprits of rising carbon emissions is the IT sector. It embodies the very thing that has defined the 21st century and includes everyone from UX designers to tech giants such as Apple or Google. It connects the entire globe and, unsurprisingly, requires a lot of energy to operate. Data – and our growing need to send and receive it faster than ever before – are key pieces in understanding this puzzle. Each time we use data, be it by browsing ecommerce websites, using Facebook or sending an email to a coworker, we spark a chain of events that needs electricity to get us that data. With technologies like 5G being part of a near future for the market, we can no longer ignore the energy consumption linked to IT. More electricity-intensive demands for IT usually means coal burning. Fortunately, UX designers are doing their part to mitigate this trend of consuming more without worrying about the consequences: that's where green UX design comes in. 7 golden rules of UX What's the environmental impact of the internet? With the consequences of the climate crisis already being felt by many people in the world, global warming is on everyone's mind. It's usual for us to discuss Chinese or American emissions but we often overlook the role of specific industries. In all this, exactly where does the internet fit in? The internet, as pointed out by a 2017 report by Greenpeace, consumes 7 per cent of world electricity as it stands. That may not seem like much but it's the source of the electricity that raises concerns. Data centres alone are responsible for 2 per cent of carbon emissions – the same amount as the air travel sector, as reported by Adam Vaughan with The Guardian. As explained by Greenpeace, all this energy can be divided into four categories when it comes to energy consumption: data centres, communication networks, end user devices and the manufacturing that is needed to supply all three. All this need for energy represents a problem when we take into account the growing human population and the rise of new technologies, such as 5G, which uses up more electricity to deliver data faster. It is true that not everything is within our power to change. Big and powerful companies are still the ones who call the shots and decide on carbon emissions, with transparency and lack of access to renewable energy being the two main obstacles on this front. But we are not completely powerless in the face of this significant environmental threat. UX designers from all corners of the world are coming to realise that many things in the IT sector need to change – including the way we design and create. That is what green UX is all about: finding ways to deliver a truly great experience to users while also managing to mitigate energy consumption. Green UX: accounting for the environment in design So what is there to do? How can UX designers create products that are smart about their data and electricity consumption? You may be surprised to find that many of the tactics in green UX that work to make products more energy efficient also work to improve the user experience – and are reflected in common web performance indicators. When it comes to UX design, the main area where most energy is used is also the one with most room for improvement: data usage. This is a factor that is under our control and that we can monitor over time with ease. The key questions here are: how can we cut back on data usage? How much of the data we send is actually being consumed by our users? Is there a better way to transfer this data? A simple way to make sure you deliver the same experience while using up less energy is to simply send that data from a closer distance with a content delivery network (CDN). A CDN works, in very broad strokes, as a proxy server that stores a copy of data once users have requested that data once. This can be a handy tactic, as it tends to ease some of the pressure on your internal servers and results in a faster website for all users. The way CDNs work is that they avoid having to load data repeatedly, which inadvertently results in less data moving around and means less electricity is required to get to user's screens. Careful optimisation can help users have a better experience while considerably improving the carbon footprint of your product Another way to aim for efficiency is to consider the actual size of the pages we send to users, along with all the content that is in them. An interesting point made by Tammy Everts in her book Time is Money: The Business Value of Web Performance, is that the weight of pages has been growing over time (at an average of 16 per cent per year), which means more coal is needed to move them. Historically, the heaviest part of web pages has been images. However, more and more pages use videos, which are even heavier. In a 2016 report by Sandvine (Global Internet Phenomena: Latin American and North America), it was found that real-time entertainment platforms for video and audio streaming are the largest category of traffic on all examined networks. The takeaway here is that heavy content is becoming the norm – long web pages that require a lot of data to load properly. Careful optimisation can help users have a better experience while considerably improving the carbon footprint of your product. Performance budgets are a handy tool, so designers can check the maximum weight of each type of content for the pagespeed to reach the target goal. It works in a similar way to how governments try to assess the real impact of taxpayers' money in the budget – and can be a good guide on where optimisation is needed the most. Green UX won't save the world – we will Designing with sustainability in mind has an effect on the dirty energy the IT sector consumes but it is only a small part of a large and complex equation. Designers shouldn't assume that by changing the way we think about data and how we send it will, by itself, bring about an end to climate change. But it works as a positive philosophy to have in your design process: just as we want to design for the inclusion of visually impaired users, we want to account for our planet as we plan what a page will look and feel like. We depend on powers beyond our control, such as the infrastructure of our general location, but that is not to say we need to stick to our inefficient ways. Energy is a key concern in the climate crisis and we should think of it as a precious resource that cannot go to waste. Green UX is an invitation for designers to see the many benefits the internet brings us but, above all, to notice all that it requires to keep going. It encourages people to look for ways to use less, in an era when using more has dark omens for us all. This article was originally published in issue 322 of net, the world's best-selling magazine for web designers and developers. Buy issue 322 here or subscribe here. Related articles: The best new UX books of 2019 13 design-led ways to tackle climate change at WDCD The 20 UX tips you need to know View the full article

Google warns exploits in the wild against a Use After Free vulnerability in Chrome's audio component. View the full article

McDonald's has become one of the world's biggest brands thanks in no small part to its adverts. But while it might be behind some of the best print ads we've seen, a recent poster campaign spotted in its Portugal stores has provoked an online backlash so intense that it's been forced to remove them from display. The posters in question promote a Halloween-themed two-for-one offer on McDonald's strawberry sundaes with the phrase 'Sundae Bloody Sundae'. Considering that Bloody Sunday is a term used to refer to one of the worst days of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, when 13 people were shot dead by the army, it's an unfortunate choice of words to say the least. 7 design fails – and what we can learn from them As is the case with these sorts of mistakes, the posters were promptly distributed online for everyone to pick apart and shame. Twitter user @bigmonsterlove shared an image of the posters taken by James Timoney with the caption: "Portugal is cancelled", which soon went viral. In the replies, Twitter users soon began the back-and-forth debate over whether or not the posters were an honest mistake. We think @bigmonsterlove summed things up well by saying, "I'm not pissed off, but like an ad agency clearly didn't do its homework, or did and maybe knew it would ruffle feathers." In response to the controversy, a spokeswoman for McDonald's Portugal told the BBC: "We sincerely apologise for any offence or distress this may have caused." She then explained that the campaign was intended as a celebration of Halloween, not as an insensitive reference to any historical event or to upset or insult anyone. This isn't the first design fail to strike McDonald's recently. Back in August thirsty patrons in McDonald's Japan spotted an accidentally smutty side to its summer romance themed cups. At least McDonald's France seems to be getting its posters right. In July it used minimalist ads inspired by French fries to guide motorists to the nearest store. Related articles: McDonald's is turning its billboards into bee hotels McDonald’s defaces classic artwork in new burger-selling low We can't stop watching these hypnotic McDonald's animations View the full article

Swedish furniture giant IKEA has had a bit of a thing this year for making little tweaks to its logo that you might not notice. Back in April it unveiled a brand new logo that looked almost exactly the same as the previous one, and now it's come up with a version that's surrounded by quotation marks. What's this new logo design all about? It's to promote IKEA's latest collaboration with top fashion designer Virgil Abloh. The founder of achingly hip label Off-White, and the artistic director of Louis Vuitton's menswear collection, he's got together with IKEA to create the MARKERAD collection, a range of 15 pieces that, says IKEA, fuses functionality with street cred and high cultural references. 10 of the best logos ever The MARKERAD range is available now, if you're lucky And what exactly does that have to do with putting quotation marks around the logo? Well, as all the cool kids amongst you will know, Off-White often uses quotes around the names of its collections, and a few of the pieces in the MARKERAD collection do the same, such as the green high pile rug that reads "WET GRASS" in big white letters, and the wall clock with "TEMPORARY" printed across the face. Deep. Other pieces in the collection include a low pile rug in the form of an IKEA receipt, a pair of carrier bags decorated with the word "SCULPTURE", and a 17-piece tool set; prices start at £12 for the smaller of the carrier bags and for the tool set, while the most expensive item on offer is the solid wood MARKERAD table, a snip at £250. The collection launches today, and to mark the event, IKEA's Wembley branch boasts a temporary logo upgrade complete with quotation marks, making it look, really, like, ironic, yeah? And to go with the new look, the branch has also installed the world's comfiest queue for all the people clamouring to get their hands on some instant IKEA collector's items, complete with sofas, armchairs, blankets and cushions. "IKEA" has installed the world's comfiest queue at its Wembley store It's not going to be there for long, though; the event runs from today until Sunday 3 November at IKEA's Wembley, Croydon and Dublin stores, and if you fancy getting your hands on your own MARKERAD piece then you're almost certainly too late. Anticipating huge demand, IKEA is restricting access through a ticketing system that sold out last month in under five minutes. You snooze, you lose. If you have deep pockets, though, you can already find MARKERAD pieces on eBay at unsurprisingly massive markups. Happy shopping! Related articles: IKEA's free typeface is the 'comfiest font ever' 10 iconic logos with hidden meanings 7 logos by famous designers and why they work View the full article

Instagram is a popular place for artists and designers to share their work and build a following. But it's also a platform where brands can engage audiences in creative ways. Just take the Chewy Channel, a new entertainment network from Haribo where its popular gummy bears are the stars. Proving that there are more ways to get noticed on the social media site than just playing around with personalised Instagram fonts, the Chewy Channel is the first-of-its-kind gummi-themed entertainment network. And it's made specially for Instagram's streaming platform, IGTV. A designer's guide to Instagram Stories Created in collaboration between Haribo and social creative agency Barkley, the Chewy Channel sees gummy bears become characters in a batch of short and quirky series. These include a workplace comedy called Bearly Corporate and a fantasy show named Sour Sorcerers. A new series is scheduled to drop on the Chewy Channel every month. But if you're still making your way through the top Netflix documentaries for graphic designers, fear not. Each series runs for just five minutes in total, making it incredibly easy to binge-watch the lot. Think of them as suitably snack-sized bites of content. To discuss the thought process behind the Chewy Channel, Katie Waller, vice president of marketing at Haribo, told Little Black Book that, "we know that when our fans open a bag of Haribo, they’re inspired to play with the gummies before enjoying a sweet treat. It’s part of the fun. “We’ve been creating moments of childlike happiness for nearly 100 years, and this mission of inspiring joy through treats and listening to our consumers is what fueled the thinking behind the Chewy Channel.” It's a cute idea, but will it hold the attention of audiences? Older viewers will surely skip it and the younger IGTV users, who we assume the Chewy Channel is targetting, have plenty more engaging online distractions to choose from. That's even before the launch of the behemoth that is Disney+. And while we can't quite get our head around why exactly the Chewy Channel exists, other than to function as a Haribo advert, although we kind of admire the amount of effort that's gone into the shows. Each series boasts handmade dioramas, and the cast of sweets are controlled by small wires, magnets and fishing lines. On occasion you can even see these tools in shot to keep the tone light. After all, these are fun little clips that are designed to appeal to your sense of humour as well as your tastebuds. “We wanted to build on the creativity that is inherent to HARIBO to build must-see content worth following,” adds Katy Hornaday, executive creative director at Barkley. “It seemed only right for the world’s first gummi bears to be the world’s first gummi IGTV stars.” Related articles: How to turn on Instagram's Dark Mode Instagram and WhatsApp get a rebrand How to download Instagram photos: a complete guide View the full article

For decades, creatives have been using Lego for everything from creating prototypes and amazing Lego art to spending hours engrossed in a themed set to relax. The ultimate creative tool, the humble little bricks can work wonders when it comes to design solutions and offering busy artists and design some creative downtime. Recent years have seen Lego sets for adults become increasingly intricate, detailed designs. And today the company has taken things up a notch once again, releasing a 5:1 upscaled wooden minifigure Lego set. The premium model (set no 853967) is handcrafted from FSC-certified oak, with adjustable yellow plastic hands, and measures over 7 inches (20cm) tall, 4 inches (11cm) wide and 3.5 inches (9cm) deep. Lego's wooden figures are larger than you're used to Those of you familiar with the Lego company will know the bricks weren't originally plastic. Founded in 1932, the first Lego toys were handcrafted from wood by founder and master carpenter Ole Kirk Kristiansen. After the Second World War, wood supplies became sparse, so Kristiansen began supplementing production with plastic, and the rest, as they say, is history. Until today. The over-sized minifigure model is the first Lego product to combine both wood and plastic since the 1130 Bedford firetruck 60 years ago in 1959 (got one, anyone?). And the thinking Lego's decision to mix the two materials again now is unclear at present. There are no obvious anniversaries or milestones to celebrate, which leaves us pondering the motivation behind the new hybrid set. We're hoping for more of these wooden creations Is it simply a case of a creative collaboration with Room Copenhagen, a design agency known for its links with Lego and playful Nordic designs. Or is this a bigger move by Lego as part of its commitment to use more sustainable materials by 2030? The press release for today’s unveiling mentioned 'a range of new products for dedicated Lego fans who love a bit of nostalgia', which suggests the minifigure isn't the only wooden set in the pipeline. Whatever the case may be, there's no denying the excitement and anticipation around this model, specifically the change of material chosen to create it. What's it like to build wooden Lego? Is it different, better, worse...? We'll let you know. Read more: Stranger Things Lego set available now – and it’s EPIC! How Lego reinvented itself as a super brand The Knight Bus Lego review View the full article

Photography in design can be more impactful than graphics or illustration as it communicates the message with a sense of realism, and often packs more of a visual punch, too. However, when your design features photography, some key aspects can get lost in the creation. In this post, eleven top designers share their wisdom of how to maximise the power of photography in design. If you're still struggling to decide whether you want to use photography or illustration for your project, we've got a handy guide to help you decide over on our 5 reasons to use photography in your designs post. Or check out these photography websites for some killer inspiration. 01. Save bad photography Food photography by Made by Parent Chris Harman, founder of Made by Parent advises: "Sometimes you're presented with bad photography for a design project, which is usually a hindrance to your final design. I find that creating monotone/duotone versions of photos can help turn a bad image into something a lot more useable." "For an interesting visual twist on this, save the image as a one – or two – colour GIF for a really nice dot-matrix effect." 02. Use more than Brightness and Contrast Harman points out that "the Brightness and Contrast tools are often the only adjustments that designers make when looking to enhance the colours and sharpness of an image. Accompany this with the use of the Smart Sharpen tool to add definition and depth." 03. Let it breathe James Kape recommends letting your designs breathe with white (or in this case, blue) space "For me, one of the most important elements to consider when working with photography in design is the appropriate use of white space," says James Kape, director and co-founder of OMSE. "There should always be some room left on the page to avoid your work becoming cluttered. "Whilst it might seem obvious, sometimes it can be the hardest element to conquer." 04. Don't overthink it "Selecting which shot you should use can often be the most time-consuming stage within your process, especially when you might have upwards of 100 seemingly identical photos to choose from," Kape advises. "Try not to spend hours deliberating: often your first thoughts are the ones that make the most sense." 05. Let it go in order to punch it up Lose details from the background picture, says Guillen Artist Mauricio Guillen says that when you're using a picture as the background of your layout, you should try to lose details. If you go darker and more blurry, your fonts and design will jump out and have much more impact. Your image won't suffer if you're subtle, because the reader's brain makes up for the details that are missing. 06. Never assume the basics Guillen thinks you should always double check the basics. He explains: "Always be sure to check the resolution of your images when working with photography in design. New photographers think that in the digital world everything is done on automatic. It's not." "If at all possible, try to talk to the photographer in advance to ensure that you're both on the same page as far as the technicalities go." 07. Sketch out, then step away Seednine designed Poor but Sexy magazine "When I have layout work to do that involves photography and text, I'll start with a few preliminary sketches of how I envision the page to look with the elements," says Ingrid Jones, multi-disciplinary artist and filmmaker, and co-founder of Seednine. "Then I walk away from the project and go out in search of inspiration. It could be a museum, gallery, book store, or wherever there is visual work that piques my interest. I give myself a chance to get excited about the layout, then begin." 08. Utilise emotion Jones believes that "photography has an emotional component to it" and advises that you "select images that make you pause – not for shock value necessarily, but because they connect to your theme or story." "I usually do two or three different versions of a layout before getting to the look and feel I'm after. The trick is not to over-design. Edit yourself, and remember KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid." 09. Know the limits Johnson Banks digitally removed the hands and feet from the photographs to turn them into stamps for a Great British Fashion set of stamps (for Royal Mail in 2012) Co-founder of Johnson Banks, Michael Johnson discusses the legality of using photography in design, and explains the restrictions: "Well, we'd love to be able to crop images more than we can, but sometimes there are copyright restrictions on cropping works of art. When we can we'll look for the best, tightest and most powerful crops. But with a Picasso, you can't crop at all." 10. Don't forget your glue "When you have multiple images in a single layout, you have to keep searching for a way for them to work together, or you'll have to try and bring in other elements," Johnson says. "When you're dealing with disparate 'art' style imagery, the other elements (symbols, typefaces, colours and so on) become really important as visual glue." 11. Blow up the images Photography for Leslie Van Duzer's House Shumiatcher book marketing Pablo Mandel, book designer, art director and director of Circular Studio offers his perspective on image size: "If the client doesn't have an in-house marketing department, you'll probably need to spend a lot of time looking for right-sized images, helping them search their archives." He suggests investing in software to enlarge images without losing quality. "I use Genuine Fractals: if the image is great quality, this software will enable you to do huge enlargements with acceptable results." 12. Don't confuse the eye "When working with architectural images, for example, design-wise it makes sense not to put day and night shots together as it confuses the reader – unless you're comparing the same view of the building during night and day, of course," Mandel advises. 13. Be bold Bold photography from Six for the Roger Dubois Aventador S Owner/Creative Director of design studio Six, John Kariolis thinks you should be bold with the way you create designs. "Be creative with images that are not of a very high-resolution, or have been poorly shot. Edit, crop, manipulate or convert to black-and-white (or duotone) any images that are not of desired quality. "And print your layouts out at full size: you can't always guarantee that what looks good on-screen will look good on the page." 14. Take your time "Don't start designing until you have all the imagery you know you'll be using. The quality, size and subject may well dictate the design direction as a whole," says Kariolis. "Similarly, try to avoid cropping an image in Photoshop before placing it into your design. If you use InDesign to crop the image, it's a lot easier to tailor it on the fly to suit the design as it progresses." 15. Go on shoots Garavin suggests being at the shoot to make sure you get what you want. (New Graphic's work for Arts & Disability, Ireland) "Good photographers make the designer's job easy, but if the photos are going to be combined with type later, it's always good to be at the shoot to really get what you need," asserts Dave Garavin, co-founder of strategic design firm New Graphic. "Why? Great photos with no space for text, or where the text fights with the image, do not generally make for great design." 16. Be flexible "We often use grids for our designs, but sometimes photos demand their own individual space. Break the grid." says Garavin. 17. Have an opinion Morgan's photography for Louis Vuitton "As a photographer," says Jamie Morgan, "I find a really good art director will help me pick the right image – one that has the right form and shape for the design. It might not be the best photograph from my point of view, but it's best for the job. "It fits their vision. There are always five or six choices, and it's a matter of opinion about which one works best – and a good art director will always have a very strong opinion." 18. Don't skimp on the photographer's brief "If my art director has a layout in mind, I work my stuff around it. There are lots of practical things to take into consideration, such as the right cropping and so on," suggests Morgan. "If there's going to be a lot of type, you can't have a busy background, or if it's for a DPS, you have to make sure the subject is on one side of the spread. I need to know all of that in advance." 19. Adapt and overcome Calderly recommends that you unify press shots by creating a duotone with black and grey Founder and creative director of Graphic Therapy, David Calderly recommends that you learn to adapt. "When working for some of the smaller independent record labels, you can be faced with the unexpected introduction of the 'press shots'. Here's a way of unifying said shots: once you've done your surgery and retouching, create a duotone with black and a light PMS grey. "Take most of the black out of the lighter tones and increase it in darker areas, and then save the preset in case you need any more further down the line. Take your duotone images and convert them to CMYK, finally adding just a small amount of noise to imitate film grain. "You now have a wonderful four-colour B/W-looking print that complements your other graphics, and can be applied to different shots taken by different photographers, making them seem like they're all from a single shoot." 20. Learn the rules "You need to know, for example, that monotype fonts are less readable on images than serif or sans-serif typefaces," says Xavier Erni, co-founder of art direction and graphic design studio Neo Neo. "If you use monotype for long texts your design will be less readable, so if you do it, make sure that's the effect you're going for." But don't stick to them too tightly, he adds. "In Swiss graphic design, the rules and grids are often very strict. Trying constantly to comply with these rules can make design a bit monotonous and you don't want that. You must know how to be creative in bypassing the rules sometimes. Like using huge type on an image to make the image unreadable." This article is from the Computer Arts's archive. Subscribe to Computer Arts. Read more: The best photo apps and photo editing software The best camera for wildlife photography right now Street photography: 11 expert tips View the full article

Whatever you're designing - a poster, a brochure, a book cover, a web page - the right image can often be vital in bringing everything together and making your creation come to life. But we don't all have time spend hours searching for the perfect picture. Luckily, with Adobe Stock, you don't need to. It's sophisticated interface gives you easy, clear and concise options that help you narrow down your search quickly, helping find what you're looking for, often in seconds. In this article, we explain how to search on Adobe Stock using text (steps 1-3), or skip to step 4 to learn about performing an image-based search. 01. Pick your search term Our first search for 'volcano' throws up a ton of results. The first step is finding the perfect image is to go to Adobe Stock and type your keyword or keywords into the search bar. Alternatively, if you’re already working within one of the Creative Cloud apps, you can search directly within the app, which is a real time-saver. (To learn about the nuts and bolts of doing that, about how to do that, check out this article). If you know exactly what you’re looking for - in our case, a picture of a volcano - an Adobe Stock image search couldn’t be easier. Sometimes, though, what you’re looking for may not be an obvious physical thing. For instance, you may be looking for an image that suggests something more nebulous like ‘determination’. But that’s no problem: just put that exact word into the search box, and Adobe Stock will return a selection of images that fit your brief. Try it, and you’ll soon see what we mean. 02. Refine your search We narrow our search by adding more words. Often, your first search on Adobe Stock will return a lot of fantastic images... but simply too many to realistically search through. For example, our ‘Volcano’ search returned a grand total of 351,319 images. So the next step is to add more words to narrow it down further. Usually, when you glance through the first set of results, it helps you realise exactly what you are and aren’t looking for. In our case, we’ve decided that we’re specifically interesting in volcanos erupting at night, so we’ve added the terms ‘eruption’, ‘night’ and ‘dark’, which narrows things down considerably. 03. Refine your search further with filters Try searching for illustrations only. Adobe Stock has a great range of sophisticated filters that can help you narrow things down even further, and find the perfect image for your purposes. Here are the main ones, and how they can help you refine your search appropriately: Sort by > Popularity: This filter list images in terms of popularity, which is measured by the ratio of downloads to views. In other words, these are the images which people have historically been more likely to buy once they’ve seen them; although that doesn’t mean they’re necessarily been the ones that have been downloaded the most. Sort by > Downloads: Unlike the ‘Popularity’ filter mentioned above, ticking the the ‘Downloads’ filter shows you the images that have been downloaded the most overall. Sort by > Undiscovered: The exact opposite to the ‘Downloads’ filter, ticking the ‘Undiscovered’ filter returns the images that have never been downloaded from Adobe Stock. This gives you the images under your keyword(s) that have been downloaded from Adobe Stock. Subcategory > All Photos/Illustrations/Vectors: These filters let you choose between illustration, photo and vector files (available in JPEG, AI, EPS, and MOV formats). Unless you specifically tick one of these boxes, you’ll be shown all three image types as the default. Orientation: Looking for a particular image shape? Use this filter to choose between Horizontal, Vertical, Square or Panoramic images. If you only want to see vertical images, just select the appropriate filter. Copy space: This is a really useful filter if you need to put words on an image, for example if you’re using it to design a poster, brochure, or magazine article. Tick ‘Images with Copy Space’ and you’ll only see images that have enough space to add words. Vivid Color: With this filter you can control whether your results are bright and colorful or darker and more muted. People: This filter enables you to see only images with people, or images without people. For example, there are a total of 8,727 images of volcanos that feature people. Size: This filter allows you to only view images of a certain size. This is a really good time-saver for designers working on print projects, for example, where only large, very high-res images will do. Isolated assets: Isolated assets have subjects that appear alone on a solid background. Tick the ‘Isolated Only’ option and you’ll just see images with isolated subjects on solid backgrounds. Color: This allows you to return images with a certain colour palette. Click on the search box and you’ll get a colour chart, from which you can select your perfect hue. 04. Search based on image Just click the camera icon and then drop in your image In steps 1-3 we looked at text-based search, but that’s only one way of searching on Adobe Stock. If you’ve already got an image that’s pretty similar to the one you’re looking for, you could perform an image-based search instead. For example, you might have a photo you took on your phone, but need something that’s more professionally shot. If that’s the case then just click on the camera icon in the search bar and the box shown above will pop up. Drag your image across, and Adobe Stock will return similar images from its extensive library. You can choose to ask for images that are similar in terms of content, colour, composition, or just leave it set to the default of all three. And of course, you can use all the same filters that you would use in a text-based search. Search for similar images in terms of content, colour or composition. Conclusion The number of images on Adobe Stock for any one image search can be quite intimidating. But with a combination of easy-to-use filters and Adobe Stock’s in-built AI, you can narrow down your search quickly and easy, and you’ll soon find the perfect image for your design project. Adobe Stock will save you time and energy, and help bring your designs to life for a very affordable cost. So don't delay. Start using Adobe Stock today! View the full article

The Google Pixel 4 and 4 XL have landed; they’re the latest best camera phones in a line once renowned for having iPhone beating cameras, but times have changed. Apple has finally upped the imaging ante with its iPhone 11 Pro. It has an ultra-wide, GoPro-a-like camera, which the Pixel 4 doesn’t, and it’s also catching up when it comes to night photography too. The competition from other Android phones is also fierce, with the Galaxy Note 10 Plus delivering one of the best on-the-go creative solutions around, and the OnePlus 7T packing in more and costing less. The question is, should you still be considering a phone that’s made by Google in 2020? Let's find out. Google Pixel 4 review: Price The Pixel 4 is pricey, starting at $799/£669 for the 64GB model, and climbing up to £769 for the 128GB version. The larger model, the Pixel 4 XL, has better battery life and a bigger screen, and that starts at $899/£829 for 64GB, or £929 for the 128GB version. We filled up the 64GB Pixel 4 with photos and videos in less than a month. If you’re big on imaging, therefore, 128GB is the way to go. Google Pixel 4 review: Design and screen The screens of the Pixel 4 looks very good indoors We love the playful design of the Pixel 4 and 4 XL. Available in three colours, black, white and orange, the latter two have a matte glass finish, while the black one is high-gloss-glass. Not only does the black one look more traditional and less exciting, but it also clings onto fingerprints, so gets grubby very quickly. The other two, by contrast, always look fingerprint-free and their high-contrast aesthetic with the Pixel 4’s black frame pops in just the right way. The screens of the Pixel 4s look very good indoors, and they’ve got all the acronyms you’ll want from a phone display - 100% of the DCI-P3 colour space is covered and they support HDR video playback too. With their 19:9 aspect ratio, movie watching on both is a treat, with the Pixel 4 screen measuring 5.7 inches (the iPhone 11 Pro is 5.8 inches), while the Pixel 4 XL measures 6.3 inches (the iPhone 11 Pro Max is 6.5 inches). Whichever Pixel you go for, they’re both sharp, but are not as bright as the best out there, so outdoor viewing isn’t fantastic. Google Pixel 4 review: Face and motion detection Above the screen are sensors that detect movement. These can also scan your face just like an iPhone 11 Pro’s Face ID, replacing the fingerprint scanner found on the Pixel 3. This is more secure than traditional Android face unlocking, and Google has added some functionality beyond security: wave your hand over the phone when music’s playing and it skips a track. Shoo a phone call away, and your phone’s ringer is silenced. These features work most of the time, but they’re definitely not a reason to pick up these phones. Google Pixel 4 review: Camera What’s most exciting about any Pixel is the camera, and the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL are the first to feature two around the back, a regular wide angle and a telephoto module. These are 12.2MP (f/1.7, 28mm) and 16MP (f/2.4, 45mm) respectively, and, unsurprisingly, are excellent performers. Google’s special sauce of software smarts means that creatives who want an incredibly reliable smartphone camera can pick up a Pixel 4, point, shoot and be confident they’re getting amongst the best images possible from a phone, every time. That Google’s included a zoom lens is handy, and when you punch in on your subject, the Pixel outperforms the new iPhones. There’s also a clever new UI option to adjust highlights and shadows separately before you take your shot, and this is for challenging subjects like black cats - potentially the difference between a bad photo and a great one. The Pixel 4's new zoom lens outperforms the new iPhones As for Night Sight, Google’s night mode, it’s still amongst the best out there. Apple has closed the gap, and for anyone who is a straight-up point and shoot photographer, whichever you go for will deliver. That said, if you like dabbling in astrophotography, Google’s night mode edges ahead with its 4-minute exposure time when held perfectly still. That’s not the whole story though; Apple has recently updated its iPhone 11 Pro with Deep Fusion. This improves the phone’s ability to grab textures, and clarity from an iPhone camera running this update is sharper than the that captured by Pixel. Graphic designers or anyone who works with fabrics or grains would probably benefit more from an iPhone camera as a result. Flipping it back to the Pixel, it has a better selfie camera, which clocks in at 8MP and unlike the iPhone, features its own night mode. Finally, for video recording, it’s back to the iPhone 11 Pro, which obliterates the competition with higher framerate capture (60fps versus the Pixel’s 30fps), and better results across lenses and lighting conditions. Google Pixel 4 review: Additional specs and battery The Pixel 4s are powered by a Snapdragon 855 processor which is coupled with 6GB RAM, and that’s plenty powerful for everything from mobile gaming to on-the-go video or photo edits. The phones also support fast charging and wireless charging too, which is handy, and just like the iPhone 11 Pros, are IP68 water and dust resistant. They both run Android 10, the latest version of Google’s mobile OS, so offer excellent app support and a clean look and feel. In turn, Adobe’s range of mobile creative apps all works to perfection on the two flagships, though unlike phones like the Note 10 Plus, neither feature pen support. The worst thing about the smaller Pixel 4 is its terrible battery life. If you’re thinking about a Pixel, we’d recommend you opt for the Pixel 4 XL for this reason alone. As we mentioned earlier when running through storage options, we’d also recommend you go for the 128GB version - and an XL with 128GB is a spec that’ll set you back by £929 - that’s a lot of money for a good smartphone with a sensational camera. Google Pixel 4 review: Should you buy it? The Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL are decent phones in isolation - they look great, literally have stellar cameras if you’re into astrophotography, and are as powerful as they need to be. In a year when even Apple is upping the ante with its iPhone 11-series and delivering much better imaging and battery performance, this time, Google just hasn’t done enough to retain its camera crown or make its latest handset a no-brainer. View the full article

While it remains difficult to attack critical infrastructure successfully, adversaries aim to use past experience to launch more destructive future attacks, according to analysis. View the full article

Everything moves in cycles. Trends come and trends go in every creative field, and if you want your designs to stay relevant, then it pays to be aware of trends and deploy them when they work for you. Web design, though, is a fast-moving world, and every year you'll find any number of new ways to define a site's look and feel; some ideas stick for a while and others are quickly cast aside. Other trends, however, hang around for too long, and either lose their impact through over-use or simply get in the way of an effective website layout. Here are six trends that we hope to see a lot less of in the future. The hottest web design trends of 2019 01. Hamburger menus You want fries with that? All right, we accept that #NotAllHamburgerMenus are problematic. They exist for a very good reason: providing instantly recognisable navigation on mobile, where small screen sizes aren't any good for traditional nav bars. The big issue with hamburger menus is that they've leaked onto the desktop, where they're either a redundant secondary navigation option on top of the existing nav, which is irritating, or they've replaced the nab bar altogether, which can be infuriating when you're looking at a big display with plenty of room for providing a way to get to what you want with a single click. We get the need for hamburger menus; they just don't have to be everywhere. 02. '90's styling We love Britney OS '99, but we don't want to deal with a whole stack of look-alikes One of the inescapable facts of life is that there's always going to be a revival of a recent decade's style and fashions, and right now there's a bit of a '90's revival going on in web design. Designer Ulrich Schroeder points out to us that he's already sick of '90's and Windows 95-revival typography, gradients and styling. "It's not a renaissance," he says. "Taking giant steps back in design isn't innovative or revolutionary. It's lazy." He makes a good point; while it's fun for a bit to see sites like Poolside FM, Britney OS '99 and the Geocities-style Captain Marvel site, the retro novelty starts to pall pretty quickly. 03. Infinite scroll Infinite scrolling is a web design tricks that definitely has its place, and that's on ecommerce websites where you're likely to be presented with a lot of stuff to choose from and you don't want to have to click through a stack of pages to find what you're after. We're all absolutely fine with endless scrolling in that situation, right? Everywhere else, though, it's not so welcome. News sites that automatically load a related story under the one you've just been reading. Portfolio sites that keep on loading images as you scroll down. We understand the thinking behind each case – the need for retention and for getting that dwell time up – but we've lost count of the number of sites where we've needed to get to the footer for contact information or similar, and been defeated by thoughtlessly-implemented endless scrolling. Stop doing it! 04. Flat cartoon figures Flat cartoon figures are so ubiquitous now that we've all tuned them out "Bored of this now!" says Lex Lofthouse of Nottingham agency, JH. And adorable as they are, it's safe to say that we're probably all becoming a little tired of those flat cartoon figures doing their thing all over corporate sites. It's easy to see why these minimal illustrated people have become so completely ubiquitous; they're the go-to solution for any corporation that wants to give the impression that it's fun and approachable, but also that it's getting stuff done. These figures are never just standing around; they're always full of energy, nailing their KPIs and chasing down the next big lead. Ubiquity brings its own problems, though: when you see something all the time, you pay less and less attention to it, and we're arguably at the point now where if you use these cartoon humans in your designs they're going to make a lot less impact than you hoped for. It's time to wean yourself off them. 05. Massive hero images Everybody loves a massive hero image, right? So much visual impact! And if your business is largely based on image, there's a great case for hitting visitors with something big and visual as soon as they land on your site. However, in a lot of cases your users don't want to be confronted by an enormous image; they want to find whatever products or information that they've come for, and that hero image is getting in the way. Worse, it could be slowing them down if they're on a mobile connection, and let's not even start on full-screen video backdrops. Keeping things minimal isn't just an aesthetic decision; it's a way to ensure your visitors can find what they're after without unnecessary obstacles. 06. Modals You're already instinctively trying to click on the X, aren't you? Remember popups? They were the bane of every web user until web browsers started blocking them by default. And it was lovely to be able to browse the web without having to swat unwelcome popups for a while; that is, until someone discovered modals. When we asked on Twitter for opinions on which web design trends had had their day, modals were one of the top answers. And it's easy to see why; it's near-impossible to visit a site without getting a modal in your face, particularly in the EU where you're constantly harangued by GDPR compliance dialogs. A well-paced modal can be a useful way to drive engagement; yet another appearance of a needy modal if you dare to mouse out of a site's window is just a turn-off, and we've become so used to them that we all dismiss them instantly. Related articles: 6 big portfolio trends of 2019 Master minimalism in web design 5 inspiring web design case studies View the full article

Sites with parallax scrolling continue to be popular for a reason: they create a pleasant and engaging browsing experience for the user. We've already looked at the best stunning parallax scrolling websites to inspire you, but what do you do if you want to make one of your own? Luckily, French creative developer Renaud Rohlinger is here to show you the ropes for how to create a parallax scrolling background that you can control with your mouse. Check out the amazing results on his site, and then learn from Rohlinger himself below on how you can replicate the effect in your next project. 01. Define the HTML document framework Opening to a monochrome splash screen, the site immediately juxtaposes animated 3D backgrounds with Japanese typography The first step is to define the framework of the HTML document. This consists of the HTML container that describes the document as having sections for head and body. While the head section links the external JavaScript and CSS files, the body section is used to define the page content elements in step 2. 02. Identify the HTML content The body content consists of display text and a div container using the data-parallax attribute. It is this container element that will be used for the parallax background, with each of its child elements to be styled with the required background images. In this example, the container has three image layers to be created from the child div elements. 03. Create a CSS parallax container Scrolling down, things get more colourful, with encouragement to follow the cat character, and click your way through to the main portfolio Create a new file called styles.css. The first step in this file sets the default content colour to be white, and the settings for the parallax background container. Fixed positioning is applied to the parallax container to allow it remain in the same position as content scrolls over it. A default colour is applied as the page colour, while a negative z-index allows the container to appear under the page content. 04. Set up CSS parallax layers Each of the image layers is set to use absolute positioning with a size to match the browser window. The parallax image in this example will be be based on a specific sized pattern that is set to repeat. You may choose to only repeat the image vertically using repeat-y, or horizontally using repeat-x. 05. Use CSS background layers Keen to find development work from the site’s publicity, Renaud wastes no chance to showcase his WebGL prowess While each of the image layers share the position and size settings defined in step 4, each layer uses a unique image. The nth-child selector is used to reference each individual element within the parallax container. The background-image attribute is used to draw two lines which creates a grid effect when tiled. Lower layers use darker colours to help provide a perception of depth. 06. Perform JavaScript layer initiation Create a new file called code.js. This step finds the parallax container and initiates each of its image layers with the data-index attribute that will be used in step 7. This must be performed from a function attached to the browser window’s load event, so that the code is only executed when the page’s body content is ready. 07. Calculate JavaScript mouse movement The effect relies on moving the images associated with each parallax layer in response to mouse movement. The parallax container identified in step 6 has a mousemove event listener attached, which triggers a function to reposition background images of the parallax layers whenever there is mouse movement. Each layer has a motion calculation based on the index number applied in step 6. This article was originally published in creative web design magazine Web Designer. Buy issue 290 now. Related articles: 10 best CSS frameworks in 2019 How to add animation to SVG with CSS 52 web design tools to help you work smarter in 2019 View the full article

Logos are everywhere. They are such a part of our environment that we can recognise the most famous ones immediately, and sometimes just by a shape or a patented colour (we're looking at you, Cadbury). This consumer knowledge was put to the test recently by Adler, who asked 100 people to draw some of the most well-known logos from memory. We have to say that, even with our logo obsession (and even after reading our logo design guide), we're not entirely sure how well we would have done. In the Adler challenge, the Aldi logo was the one that most people got wrong. Some people – 17 per cent in fact – didn't bother writing the whole word at all, they just drew a single 'A' in various colours. Though most representations have nailed at least one of the correct colours from the distinctive colour palette. We are pretty impressed with the folks who got the direction of the lines spot on in the logo graphic, and we can only guess that those occupying the top-left of the graph must live in a Waitrose area. Moving on to the Cadbury logo, it's clear that Pantone 2865c has imprinted in the minds of the public as almost everyone got the colour right. And despite those famous milk glasses not having ever been a part of the official logo, they have clearly made a serious impression on consumers as 24 per cent of participants thought they should be included. Most amusingly, though, half of the 'artists' aren't sure exactly how the brand name is spelled or pronounced, with responses including Cadbury's and Cadburys. We can see why, we're usually too eager to get inside the packet to even notice the brand name. And tbh we just call it Dairy Milk, anyway. The Puma attempts are perhaps the funniest, because of the variation of animals included. It seems people struggled to remember the exact position of the leaping puma (those people at the bottom-right must actually work for Puma). We can see a lovely looking pet cat in there, though. Whether it's because most of us actually click on this logo multiple times a day, or because of its super-simple, striking circular design, Spotify was extremely accurately represented. All but one of the drawings resemble the original. Only the shade of green tripped people up, with 46 per cent of the group using a darker shade of green than in the real thing. This isn't the first logo memory challenge we've covered, and it probably won't be the last. But it's still as fascinating to see the extent that branding is rooted inside the brain of the consumer (or not). Think you could do better? Send us your results via Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. Read more about the Adler challenge here. Read more: 6 of the most iconic drinks logos 10 best circular logos of all time Where to find logo design inspiration View the full article

Earlier this month, the official logo for the Paris 2024 Olympics was unveiled, and, like many logos before it, the design was met with some heavy criticism. Maybe the Olympic logo creative team should've have read our guide to logo design before starting? Or maybe, this offering from design agency Graphéine should have won the Olympic logo bid? Graphéine's concept Olympic logo design (above) draws inspiration from the official Paris 2024 Candidacy logo (below, this is the one used for the official Olympic bid). The latter uses the year 2024 and the Eiffel Tower to create a clever visual trick, while the former concept logo uses sweeping lines in the Olympic colours to form the shape of the iconic French architecture to make a striking and clever design. And we love it. Compare both to the official Paris 2024 logo, and the reactions it got, here. Can you see the number 24? But is Graphéine's Eiffel Tower logo too predictable? A report from the design team stated: "We were aware of entering a particularly used visual territory where the kitsch border is very close. It is also a powder keg, where the risk of accusations of plagiarism hangs high." The answer, in our humble opinion is no. The combination of the landmark and Olympic colours is elegantly realised, and the swooping shape, as the Graphéine intended, certainly conveys a feeling of sport momentum. Plus there's more than meets the eye, with the Eiffel Tower graphic not only representing the city's most recognisable feature, but resembling a sports track and symbolising five continents coming together to compete. On your marks, get set... logo! Just like any logo design pitch for the Olympics, it also comes with a Paralympic iteration. This design uses the same visual language to establish a symbolic link between the designs. According to the agency it's a "strong gesture that can act as a bridge between the world of valid athletes and that of disabled athletes." The Paralympics concept logo shares the same visual language While ultimately this design will only see the light of day on design sites like ours, Graphéine's Paris 2024 Olympics logo offers valuable insight into what it takes to design such a prolific event. Related articles: Tokyo 2020 strikes gold with its recycled Olympic medals Is the Tokyo 2020 logo better than the official design? The surprising story behind the Joker logo View the full article

You're reading How to Scrape the Google Search Results with ZenSERP API, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook! Scraping SERPs is hard for developers – proxy networks, captcha-solving, etc. You can’t afford to sit and do it manually. It will not only take a lot of time but it may also leave you irritated and frustrated. Fortunately, there … View the full article

Black Friday's still the best part of a month away, but retailers are starting to get itchy feet. With so much competition for your spending money, many stores have realised that they can't depend so much on making their traditionally massive sales over the Black Friday weekend, and they're shunting their deals out earlier and earlier to beat the rush. What that means is that the bargains are going to be arriving thick and fast over the next few weeks, and here's one that's hard to ignore if you're after the best Black Friday MacBook deals: up to 10 per cent off a brand new MacBook Air at Amazon, Currys and John Lewis. The best cheap Apple laptop deals in 2019 This is the shiny new 2019 model that's only just gone on sale, so being able to grab a deal this sweet is particularly unexpected. The best saving to be had is on the 13.3-inch model with a Core i5, 8GB RAM and 128GB SSD in Space Grey – that's currently available for £985, getting you 10 per cent off the usual retail price of £1,099. There are smaller discounts to be had on the Silver and Gold models, but unless you're especially dead set on a particular colour we reckon Space Grey's the way to go. If you need more storage, there are also discounts available on the 256GB SSD model; if you opt for the Gold version you can have it for £1,199, saving £100.33 – that's 8 per cent off the RRP of £1,299. If you want Space Grey you'll only save 5 per cent, and only at Amazon, while the Silver model can be had for £1,229 at all three stores. For anyone after a lightweight laptop that's perfect for most design jobs, the MacBook Air's a pretty good choice. It might not have the punch of the MacBook Pro, and with 8GB of RAM you're likely to see heavyweight apps struggle at times, but for day-to-day creative work it'll see you right, and it's wonderfully portable, weighing in at just 1.25kg, and 15.6mm thick. We're not sure how long these MacBook Air deals will last – Amazon was reporting limited numbers on the 256GB model in Gold last time we looked – so we'd advise snapping these up if you have a hankering for an early Apple bargain this year. And check below for other MacBook Air deals. Related articles: Why we're unexpectedly excited about Apple's AirPods Pro Surface Laptop 3: The MacBook Air killer? The 100 greatest Apple creations View the full article

PSD to 3D, the latest plugin released by e.d. films, aims to bypass the 3D modelling phase of production and help artists with little to no 3D experience turn their Photoshop CC sketches into mouldable, animation-ready scenes and characters. "An illustrated look is hard to replicate in 3D, even if you know the software," says Daniel Gies, art and tech director at e.d. films. "With PSD to 3D, every line and brush stroke is passed onto the 3D meshes, so artists can bring a unique look to their animations." The best 3D modelling software 2019 The tool was produced in-house at e.d. films' Montreal studio, an establishment that has actively avoided fully 3D productions and characters in favour of capturing an illustrative, handmade style. "As our projects became more ambitious, we found that After Effects could no longer support the style we were doing without slowing us down," Gies continues. As the studio began incorporating Maya and game engine technology into their work, they had to resist the urge to fully embrace 3D, doing so would increase their workload and necessitate a higher level of expertise than they had. "We found that, in many cases, it was faster just to paint a new 2D asset, bring it into Maya and deform it a little, than it was to make a fully 3D prop," adds Gies. PSD to 3D can convert a layered painting into a 3D landscape Although PSD to 3D's conversion technology is production-grade, it is designed to be simple enough for a novice to start converting Photoshop drawings and paintings into 3D art within mere minutes. "We've been working with Maya for over 15 years and recognise how daunting that program can be," says Gies. "We also see where other programs, like After Effects, have done a really good job at being accessible to Photoshop users by making the entry point really easy. This became an important reference point for us." e.d. films ultimately landed on a two-tier approach, one method was to automate the process, meaning a Photoshop artist could export their painting and have the whole thing modelled and textured in Maya within a few minutes. This approach, however, was deemed limiting for more advanced users. It can also turn flat characters into solid-looking 3D models "We added another export method that would enable a Photoshop artist to create the exact geometry they want," Gies explains, "by using the Pen tool they can draw a mesh in Photoshop that will then be regenerated in Maya, point for point." Not only have Gies and the team delivered a tool for quickly creating meshes for 3D geometry, they've presented users with a new way to learn Maya. "There is so much coming up at the studio in the next two years," says Gies, looking towards the future of e.d. films. First up is a short entitled Giant Bear, which premiered at Annecy 2019. "We're wrapping up another internal short film that is actually using PSD to 3D and a bunch of our store assets extensively," adds Gies. The studio also has a roadmap for the next PSD to 3D release, which will include OSX support, more robust mesh generation options, faster import, better texture management and interactive mesh tweaking that won't stretch UVs. PSD to 3D is available from the e.d. films shop in both Pro and Lite versions. This article was originally published in issue 134 of 3D Artist. Buy issue 134. Related articles: 9 of the best free 3D apps 3D art: 28 amazing examples to inspire you 10 ways to build better 3D world environments View the full article

There was a time when, if you wanted to do professional work on a Windows PC, then Adobe's design apps were the only game in town. In the 2010s, however, all that started to change, with rival software companies upping their game. But Adobe, in turn, hasn't taken this lying down; fighting back with both new features and brand new design apps. In this post, we select – in no particular order – what we consider the best design apps for Windows on the market today, and explain how to choose between them. 01. Adobe Photoshop CC Like it or not, Photoshop remains the industry standard First launched in February 1990, Photoshop is the grand old warhorse of the design industry. Although it was originally focused on image editing, it’s grown over the years into a sophisticated tool for graphic design in general. Now in 2019, its longevity is both a blessing and a curse. Dominating the profession for the last three decades, Photoshop is undeniably the go-to software for design studios, and you'll struggle get a job without knowing how to use it. If you’re a freelancer, of course, you have more scope for using other tools in your day to day, but it will probably be difficult to avoid it altogether. Beyond that, though, is it any good? Well, you don’t stay on top in an ever-expanding industry for nothing, and Adobe has made strident efforts to update its tool to keep it relevant over the years, recently adding powerful 3D modelling and 3D printing capabilities, for example. It’s also been made faster and more efficient in operation, and perhaps most significantly, the latest version contains small but important tweaks to speed up your workflow. To take one example, you are now able to undo multiple times simply by pressing Ctrl+Z, which might not sound revolutionary, but actually saves a lot of time in practice. The main reason to consider an alternative is price. Photoshop, like other Adobe tools including numbers 2 and 6 on our list, is now only available as part of a Creative Cloud subscription, and those monthly amounts can really add up. Having said that, there are discounts to be had (check out the latest deals here), and if you’re using multiple CC tools, then the interoperability between them, and other services like Adobe Fonts and Adobe Stock, can often make the extra cost worth it in terms of reducing work time and stress. 02. Adobe Illustrator CC Illustrator has been enhanced and improved across the decade in response to its rising rivals First launched in 1987, Illustrator has been the natural companion to Photoshop for generations of illustrators and graphic designers, and it’s long been considered the standard vector drawing tool for the industry. That dominance has started to fray quite a bit in recent years, though, with a rush of new rivals into the space. As with Photoshop, this has been largely about price, and for those whom money is less important than efficiency, Illustrator remains a hugely powerful and versatile tool, that Adobe is constantly making efforts to improve further. The latest version, for example, comes with a Freeform Gradients tool that makes it super-easy to create rich gradients, and a Global Editing feature that lets you simultaneously make changes across all instances of a similar object. There’s also a smart cropping tool that automatically suggests crops based on AI, and the ability to customise your toolbar. More broadly, the same issues that apply to Photoshop apply to Illustrator too. On the plus side, its industry ubiquity makes it a good tool to learn for your career, and the integration with the Creative Cloud as a whole can help make your workflow smooth and speedy. On the downside, well, there’s that monthly subscription. 03. Affinity Designer Cheap and subscription-free, Affinity Designer is giving Adobe a run for its money For most of Illustrator and Photoshop’s life, its rivals have been low-cost and low quality. For designers who didn’t need all that much power, and just wanted to do some simple tasks, there were many alternatives... but none ever came close to offering the breadth and depth of what Adobe’s software could offer. In the 2010s, however, that all changed. First, in 2010, came Sketch, a sophisticated vector graphics editor that wasn’t just cheaper, it was actually free. It was, however, purely aimed at digital design rather than print, and only available for Mac. Then in 2014 came Affinity Designer, a vector graphics tool that was fast, powerful and intuitive, and as useful for print design as it was digital. Just one problem: this one was also Mac-only. Finally, in November 2016, Affinity Designer was released for Windows. Now PC users at last had a decent alternative to Illustrator, which included a complete vector and pixel editing toolset, 10 million percent zoom, non-destructive effects and adjustment layers, and more. While some capabilities in Illustrator are missing, such as object warping, the majority of what you can do in Adobe’s tool, you can do in Affinity Designer. And to anyone who’s used Illustrator in the past, the Affinity Designer interface is similar enough that it’s easy to pick up and use intuitively. Coded for the latest chipsets, makers Serif claim that Affinity Designer runs faster than Adobe’s products, and many designers have told us that’s the case, although obviously this depends on the equipment you’re using. Affinity Designer is also staggeringly cheap, and you only pay once: there’s no subscription fee. That said, Illustrator remains the industry standard, and so there’s somewhat of a chicken-and-egg problem; most studios don’t want to use it until most studios are using it. Also, while Affinity Designer is interoperable with sister tools Affinity Photo and Affinity Publisher (see below), there’s not yet anything approaching the complexity of the Creative Cloud ecosystem, with its endless number of tools, and integrated Adobe Fonts and Adobe Stock options. For freelancers who have more freedom to organise how they work, though, Affinity Designer certainly worth considering, especially as you can import and export .ai files when necessary. Read our review of Affinity Designer. 04. Affinity Photo Affinity Photo doesn't quite match Photoshop yet, but it's getting there Just as Affinity Designer rivals Adobe Illustrator, Affinity Photo provides an alternative to Photoshop. And it’s a pretty familiar experience. Brushes, layers, masks, for example are all treated in the same way as in Adobe’s tool. Affinity Photo is not, however, a carbon copy by any means. There are some big differences with the interface, and there are many tools and features you’ll find in Photoshop than are absent here. What that means in practice will depend on what you’d use Photoshop for in your day-to-day work, In this short video from Jigsaw 24, Simon walks through some of the different ways the two tools stack up against each other. His verdict is that it’s not quite as fully formed (yet) as Photoshop, and that seems to be the general consensus across the industry too. If you’re new to graphic design tools and have never used Photoshop in the first place, though, Affinity Photo's low price makes it a good choice. And even if you’re a regular Photoshop user, you may find Affinity Photo does all that you need: so why not take out a 10-day free trial to find out? 05. CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2019 CorelDRAW continues to chart a third way between Adobe and Affinity First launched in 1987, CorelDRAW is a vector-based illustration tool that’s mainly focused on Windows (although in 2019 it did finally launch on MacOS). It’s difficult to recommend it over Adobe Illustrator for features, while Affinity Designer easily beats it on value for money. But CorelDRAW continues to be popular amongst everyone from artists to graphic designers, so its makers are clearly doing something right. In recent years, its standout improvement has been the LiveSketch tool: an innovative line drawing solution for designers and illustrators who want to bypass producing thumbnails on paper and freely sketch-out vector art at the source; this is particularly useful on a drawing tablet. Other cool features in CorelDRAW include Colour Harmony, which lets you change the look of an object from one group of complementary colours to another; Pointiliser, which lets you create vector mosaics; and the way that every layer is represented with a thumbnail representation of the shape in question. 06. Adobe InDesign InDesign dominates print publishing, and has some nice digital publishing features too Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator were pioneers in their respective fields of image editing and vector graphics. But when InDesign arrived on the scene in 1999, it was somewhat late to the party. The market for desktop publishing software at that time was dominated by QuarkXpress. But InDesign quickly took over, largely because of its lower price. For two decades now, InDesign has been the undisputed king of print publishing, and has evolved over the years to include some pretty nifty digital publishing features too. The main recent innovations have been small but important ones, such as support for endnotes and better font filtering, as well as better integration with the Creative Cloud. But on the whole, Adobe has avoided too much radical change. Which is actually smart, because one of the biggest appeals of InDesign is its familiarity to designers who’ve been using it for years, if not their entire careers. 07. Affinity Publisher Affinity Publisher is the (very) new kid on the publishing block Launched last year, Affinity Publisher is a low-priced alternative to InDesign, and the sister app to Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo. This relatively young tool enables you to work with dynamic photo frames, tables, baseline grids and linked resources, all backed up with end-to-end CMYK, and headline features include advanced typography options, linked text frames, master pages, and facing page spreads. The focus is very much on print publishing, and this isn’t a particular useful for digital design, not yet anyway. Nor is it as powerful or feature-rich as InDesign. But it’s nicely integrated with the other two Affinity apps, it’s cheap, and it’s nicely intuitive and responsive in use. 08. Adobe XD Adobe's response to Sketch is free to download As we mentioned earlier, the launch of Sketch has been the biggest challenge to Adobe’s dominance in this decade, and it was inevitable that they would develop a competitor. That eventually became Adobe XD, which launched in 2016, and remains to this day delightfully free. Dedicated to making it easy for designers to prototype apps and websites, XD was a powerful tool on launch, and Adobe has continued to add newer and better features on a regular basis. Which is good news for Windows users, because not only has Sketch not developed a Windows version, it's specifically ruled out doing so. The next lot of improvements to XD will focus on co-editing capabilities, which means a whole team of designers will be able to work together on a document at the same time, and making it easier to create design systems. 09. Photoshop Elements Photoshop Elements is a lighter and cheaper version of the main Photoshop software Like Photoshop, but don’t need all the features and want to save some money? Photoshop Elements is a raster graphics editor for entry-level photographers, image editors and hobbyists which contains most of the features of the professional version but with fewer and simpler options. Photoshop Elements is still about twice as expensive as Affinity Photo, so we’d suggest you take out a free 10-day trial of the latter first before committing. But if you’re really familiar with the Photoshop interface and don’t want to mess around learning something new, it may well be worth the money. Read our review of Photoshop Elements. 10. Inkscape Inkscape is free, open source and surprisingly powerful If you’re in the market for a free graphic design tool for Windows, then don’t overlook Inkscape. This open source vector editor comes with a surprisingly advanced feature set, including complex path operations, node editing, bitmap tracing and path-based text. The main downside of Inkscape, and the reason you might prefer to pay for a more sophisticated tool instead, is the speed of its operation, which is relatively slow and clunky. As always, though, that depends on the equipment you have. If you’re using a super-speedy machine, you might find it’s not a problem, and the fact it’s free means it’s certainly worth giving it a go. Read more: The best video editing apps in 2019 9 of the best free 3D apps The best photo apps and photo editing software View the full article

So you’ve got an iPad, and filled it up with some lovely apps, now all you need is an Apple Pencil. You might think you can live without one, but we're here to tell you why you'd be missing out without one. Before you starting looking for an Apple Pencil, especially if you're looking to nab an Apple Pencil Black Friday deal ahead of the big day, you need to make sure that your iPad is compatible. There are two styluses on the market, imaginatively titled the Apple Pencil 1 and Apple Pencil 2. If you own an iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation) or iPad Pro 11-inch then its the Apple Pencil 2 for you. If you own any other iPad, the Apple Pencil 1 is what you need. So how much do they cost? The original Apple Pencil (released in November 2015) from the Apple Store has an RRP of $99/£89, while the Apple Pencil 2 (released in November 2018) will cost you $129/£119. So what can the best iPad apps and the slim white design beauty do for you? Here are four reasons why you should get one. 01. It's the perfect partner for drawing If you’re an artist or illustrator, then the Apple Pencil is for you. It offers a smooth natural experience that recreates the smooth flow of a brush or pencil. The low latency means that there is no lag between the movement of the pencil and what appears on screen. Plus, the pressure sensitive tip gives greater control on how strokes appear on screen. You can create realistic, subtle shading and produce a wide range of smart-looking artistic effects. There's no need for a rubber, simply experiment, practise and play with your styles and tools. Quickly switch tools with a double tap and delete whatever you don’t like with the eraser. And you won't waste any paper. 02. It's much more precise than a finger The fine point of the Apple Pencil gives you greater control over all your interactions with the UI. Sometimes a finger is just a little too big to accurately tap or select what you want on screen. Who wants to zoom in every time you need to pinpoint what you need? The Pencil is great for highlighting text in an article, something that is really frustrating with a finger. It also enables you to get fine control over sliders in the settings of your favourite app and navigate more precisely on the web, meaning you're less likely to miss links or buttons. 03. Get more from design apps The right apps make the the Apple Pencil even more powerful and useful. There is a plethora of apps that complement the stylus and give it a real purpose. See our best iPad apps for designers that make the most of the Apple Pencil for a full list. For example, if you want to turn your iPad into a graphics tablet, you could try the Astropad app. If you’re an artist, designer or illustrator, you can get your hands on Affinity Designer for iPad, the ever-popular Procreate software and as you would expect a host of Adobe tools, including the new Adobe Fresco (read our Adobe Fresco review here). If you're looking to build 3D models then try Shapr 3D or even uMake for more casual 3D design. 04. Write, sign and annotate documents The Apple Pencil is not all about the creative, it has plenty to offer on the business side of things. Imagine you are sitting in a meeting and need to take notes and create drafts. You can quickly scribble down notes, highlight keys areas and circle critical information, and all without killing a forest. If you need to sign a digital document then the Apple Pencil is also useful. You can add an extra level of security to a digital signature by recreating your unique signature just like when you sign with pen and paper. Got a document that needs more information? It might be time to call upon the Pencil to quickly add annotations and markup ready to share with your colleagues. If you're convinced you need an Apple Pencil, see today's best deals on an Apple Pencil 1 and 2 below. View the full article

Why use a circle in your logo? There are many potential reasons. A satisfyingly pure and simple geometric shape, circles are found everywhere in nature and in our skies, from the moon to the sun, and can often convey a sense of calm, harmony and trustworthy. They can also be used to echo the physical properties of a product, in a minimal, 2D way. Or they can be a great framing device for letters, text or icons. In this post, we point to some famous examples of circular logos, and explain how they came into being. 01. Pepsi The 2008 redesign of the Pepsi logo gave the stripes an upward flow, resembling a smile Coke may be the world's number one soft drink, but Pepsi has done pretty well over the years too. And its simple, classic, circular logo is nothing short of iconic. First launched in 1893 as "Brad's Drink", in 1903 the beverage - originally marketed as a digestive aid - became Pepsi-Cola. Its logo was initially based on script lettering, but then in 1940, the CEO decided to put this wordmark on top of the bottle cap, along with distinctive red, white and blue colouring. By adding wavy stripes that resembled a flag, to show support for the troops in the Second World War, he unwittingly created what would become the default Pepsi logo. A picture of the bottle cap itself was incorporated in the logo design in 1972, which then morphed into a pure geometric circle in the 1973 version. The Pepsi logo has remained pretty consistent ever since, most recently being redesigned in 2008 to give it a "smiley" appearance, as shown above. 02. LG LG incorporates a (sort of) hidden smiley in its logo When Lak Hui (pronounced 'Lucky') Chemical Industrial Corp merged with Goldstar Electronics in 1983, the Korean conglomerate Lucky-Goldstar, aka LG, was born. Created in 1995, its circular logo punches well about its weight to this day. Combining the letters LG - both the name of the company and the abbreviation of its slogan "Life's Good" - in a way that resembles a winking, happy face, the design also feels like a button you might expect to see on an electronic devices. That's a lot of different boxes to tick, and overly clever logos like this can often be off-putting. But somehow, in the case of LG's logo, it all works together in perfect harmony. Few things in life more likely to generate an emotional reaction than a smiling face, even if you don't subconsciously register it. So it's not surprising this sleek logo has stood the test of time. 03. HP HP's logo is instantly recognisably, warmly familiar, and nicely scalable Another electronics company making great use of a circular logo, HP Inc. was founded when the personal computer and printer arm of Hewlett-Packard split off in 2015 to form a separate company. HP's circular logo dates back to 1946, when it was first created to represent Hewlett-Packard as a simple line drawing. In later redesigns (1979 and 1999), the circle was enclosed in a rectangular box with curved corners, before returning to a purely circular design in 2008. HP Inc. also released a radically minimalist logo in 2016 for its premium products only. But although it's a nice gimmick, we can't ever see this logo taking over the main one, because the traditional circular logo just seems so warm and familiar, not to mention infinitely scalable, whatever your screen size. 04. Nivea The circular nature of the Nivea logo provokes a sense of nostalgia for its iconic tins Founded in 1882 by the pharmacist Carl Paul Beiersdorf, NIVEA is a global skin- and body-care brand based in Germany. Its best-known product, Nivea Crème, was first packaged in the distinctive blue tin in 1925, and since a 2013 redesign, the logo has been encircled a circle that reflects the shape of these iconic tins. It turned out to be a very smart move: the circular logo both looks great and evokes a sense of nostalgia in people who've been using Nivea throughout their lives. 05. USA Today Wolff Olins's rebrand of USA Today's logo causes much controversy Wolff Olins caused controversy with its 2012 rebrand of USA Today, by stepping away from the traditional approach to newspaper design. The core of rebrand was based around a large, flat-colour blue circle; a super-minimal rendition of the previous globe graphic. This was well in keeping with the app-driven trend throughout the 2010s to flatten, simplify and minimalise logos and visual identities. But at the time, the new look drew tremendous ire from readers more accustomed to fussy and ornate typographical treatments in their newspaper mastheads. In retrospect, though, the circular logo holds up well seven years on. As well as making the brand look modern and up-to-date, it's also versatile, with the circle acting as a container device for content, and appearing in different colours to identify various sections of the paper. 06. Target The US retailer's logo is right on target If simplicity is the goal in logo design, then you can't get a much more successful circular logo than Target's. The US retail brand's name is reflected perfectly in the bullseye-style graphic, and it tells a subconscious story to consumers too; that this store is perfectly targeted towards your shopping needs. This deceptively sophisticated logo was first created in 1962, streamlined in 2006 and is now one of the most recognised symbols in North America, whether it appears with or without its accompanying wordmark. 07. BMW No, it's not an airplane propeller, but it's still very cool Just as the Pepsi logo was inspired by bottle caps, and Nivea's by its tins, the famed BMW logo is said to have been inspired by an aeroplane propeller. That's because the car company began life as an aircraft engine manufacturer, which produced aircraft engines for the German Air Force, the Luftwaffe. It's a lovely story, but as we revealed in this post, it's sadly not true. The fact that the circle is divided into quarters is to reflect the Bavarian flag. That doesn't stop it being one of the world's most recognisable and loved logos, of course. So much so, we could ultimately see the brand dropping the letters altogether, as it would still be easily recognisable. 08. Pinterest Pinterest's icon shows exactly what the platform is about Launched in 2010, Pinterest became one of the internet's biggest brands, by serving as a virtual pinboard for people's favourite images. It wasn't the easiest concept to convey visually, so the platform struck gold with their logo, based around a 'P' icon – which transforms the first letter of its name into a pin. Combined with the phrase 'Pin it', this emblem makes it instantly clear what it is you're supposed to do, and it's not surprising it's remained largely unchanged since. (The 2017 redesign made the lettering more business-like but left the emblem well alone.) 09. Starbucks The Starbucks logo is instantly recognisable ever Founded in Seattle in 1971, Starbuck's went on to populate the world with its high-priced coffee shops. Why would people agree to pay above the odds for a drink they could get cheaper elsewhere? There are a lot of factors, but one of them is branding, and the logo is an important part of that. Because the company was named after Captain Ahab's first mate in Moby Dick, the original logo design was based a 16th-century Norse woodcut of a two-tailed mermaid. The design has been through many changes since then, but its essence remains, and it's become so recognisable that the need for words like 'Starbucks' and 'coffee' has melted away; nowadays the emblem alone can do all that work and more. 10. Beats by Dr Dre The Beats by Dr Dre logo contains a hidden symbol The world’s hippest headphone brand, the logo for Beats by Dr Dre is the most modern on our list, and yet another example of how circles can be used to signify the product itself. Produced in collaboration with California's Ammunition, the logo encases the 'b' inside a circle, creating a "hidden symbol": the head of a person (the red circle) wearing one of the headphones (the white ‘b’). If you notice the trick, then it makes you smile. If you don't, you haven't lose anything; it still works as a great logo all the same. View the full article

Ahead of the upcoming Day of the Dead celebrations, the streets of a neighbourhood in Mexico City have been disrupted by giant skeleton sculptures that appear to be emerging from the tarmac. Photos of the impressive sculptures, which have sprung up in Tláhuac, quickly went viral on social media due to their striking appearance. Thanks to the rubble surrounding their limbs they really look like they're bursting out of the ground. And while they're not quite as convincing as our roundup of mind-bending trompe l'oeil illusions, they'll certainly turn the heads of passers by. We particularly like how the sculptures, which were built by a group of local artists, are made out of cardboard and rocks salvaged from a construction site. The Day of the Dead festivities begin on 31 October and end on 2 November, and traditionally the event is an opportunity for Mexicans to celebrate the lives of the departed. As well as these impressive sculptures, people have also been getting ready for the occasion by dressing up as La Calavera Catrina. This elegant skeleton woman was originally drawn by Mexican cartoonist José Guadalupe Posada in 1912 and has come to personify the Day of the Dead. Related articles: 13 fearsome free fonts for Halloween Halloween doodles: the best spooky Google Doodles 10 creepy Halloween wallpapers View the full article