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From government surveillance to domestic abuse, technology is being used in new and disturbing ways that threaten human rights - how can the security industry fight back? View the full article

Dino Dai Zovi, mobile security lead at Square, discusses ongoing transformation in security's role in the workplace during the keynote. View the full article

The adversaries have retooled with EternalBlue and credential theft to add a new "access mining" revenue stream. View the full article

Researchers demonstrate a new side-channel attack that bypass mitigations against Spectre and Meltdown. View the full article

A kid's tablet with security vulnerabilities is only the latest privacy faux pas in a children's connected device. View the full article

Hamburger chain Byron has revealed a new logo, which forms part of a wider redesign for the struggling UK brand. The new logo aims to bring people back together, with each letter of 'Byron' representing a person around a dining table, accompanied by the tagline 'All Hail the Table'. The brand redesign comes at a tricky time for Byron, which has faced financial difficulties and a wave of restaurant closures in recent years – not to mention a scandal involving its treatment of immigrant workers in 2016 that put a serious dent in its reputation. It looks like the chain is hoping the rebrand will help improve public perceptions – but will it provide the fresh start the company needs? The new look is set to roll out to restaurants later this year. You can watch the logo in action, and see how the letters or 'people' in the logo come together around a table, in the video below. Alternatively, see our guide to logo design to see how the best logos have created impact. According to Food Service News, Byron’s CEO Simon Wilkinson said, "The rationale behind the logo stems from our desire to bring people back around the table, to connect with each other and share quality time with friends. The logo is quite a literal translation of this, and brings Byron’s sense of fun to the visuals. "As the UK dining scene continues to evolve, our logo represents the way we hope people will experience Byron in the future – together. It's a very simple idea, but one that we really believe in." We're not 100 per cent sure that we "believe in" the new design, but it does make a refreshing change from many of the similar-looking sans-serif wordmarks we've seen lately, such as in the Uber rebrand. This new design feels like a paring back more in the style of the BT logo, yet with more of an edge. It's simple, yet feels surprisingly clever. A previous logo, often used as just the wordmark It's also worth noting that Byron has had a pretty experimental approach to its branding in the past. In the chain's early days, the logo often appeared in different iterations across different locations. So perhaps this new look also represents the brand becoming more unified. The new logo unveil also coincides with a shake-up on the brand's social media. The chain's Facebook page looks to have been removed, and the brand's Twitter handle (unverified but linked from the official website) is new this month. Its only activity so far is a note to its rival, GBK, saying its burgers were better. It seems a slightly aggressive way to turn over a new leaf – is Byron perhaps looking to start a rivalry in the style of McDonald's vs Burger King? The company's Insta account remains the same – presumably because those likes are too precious to lose. The new logo is in pride of place as its profile picture, but so far, there aren't any posts about it. Watch this space to see how this one unfolds. Read more: McDonald's McFails with accidentally smutty cups Boots reveals biggest logo redesign in 170 years Instagram and WhatsApp get a rebrand View the full article

Of all the devices that could benefit from a smart assistant built in, a clock would not be our first choice. However, the latest Amazon device to be added to the retailer's UK selection is the Echo Wall Clock. If you're thinking that Alexa can do everything a clock can do, without the need for an actual clock... you'd be right. Need to know the time? You can ask. Want to set a timer? It's only a simple voice command away. The whole point of voice interfaces is that they're not confined to a screen. But anyway. See the Echo in the corner? Your smart clock won't work without one The next piece of surprising news is that this smart clock doesn't even have Alexa built in, so you'll need to have a compatible Echo device within nine metres of the clock to get the 'smart' benefits. If you don't want to shell out for an Echo or similar, you could use the free Alexa App. So what does this clock offer? Impatient users, or those with trust issues, might like the timer tracker. Sixty LEDs around the rim of the clock visually count down one or more timers and alarms, so you can see how long you have left at a glance. It'll also automatically adjust for things like daylight savings. And it's also only £29.99 (or $29.99 in the US), which is pretty reasonable. The Echo Wall Clock was announced in September 2018 and released in the US later in the year. Presumably, sales have been high enough to warrant the UK release, so perhaps the joke's on us. Read more: How to build a voice controlled UI NHS partners with Amazon to offer health advice via Alexa Infographic: How people really use voice assistants View the full article

In today's fast-moving world of technology, a web designer and developer's work is never done when it comes to gaining new, trending skill sets. The minute you master one programming language or design software, there's an update to consider or a new hot tool on the block to master. So iterating on your skills is all but essential if you want to stay relevant. And these four online training courses can help you do just that. Plus right now, you can get up to 98% off the retail price. If you're after more specific training, check out our round-up of the best online web design courses available right now. The Ultimate Front End Development Bundle Whether you've tinkered with front end development before or it's completely new to you, the fundamentals are accessible and digestible in The Ultimate Front End Development Bundle. Over 45 hours of in-depth coursework touch on key languages and tools such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery, and more. You'll learn valuable concepts that are a great starting point if you decide to make front end development a core part of your skill set down the line. Plus, you can access over 500 lessons at any time, making it easy to revisit if you need a refresher. MSRP: $1,016 / Sale Price: $39 / Buy Now: $29 (97% OFF) The Complete Learn to Code Bundle If you're looking to go beyond just front end skills and take a more holistic approach to learning development, this option may be for you. This easy-to-follow bundle includes 11 courses, covering instruction on Python, Ruby, JavaScript, and more. Learn the difference between each programming language with over 50 hours of detailed and guided lectures. You'll soon be able to talk the talk, and decide which coding niche is right for you. MSRP: $1,783.99 / Buy Now: $29 (98% OFF) Web Design: HTML & CSS For Rookies Perhaps you're a graphic designer looking to transfer your skills to web – this comprehensive (and now only $9) course sets you up with a strong foundation. With step-by-step tutorials put together by software engineer and entrepreneur Brett Romero, you'll learn the most basic tools from which you can build a website from scratch: HTML, CSS, and Animate.css. MSRP: $47 / Buy Now: $9 (80% OFF) The Complete Web Developer Course: Build 25 Websites Designed for anyone – no matter where you are in your coding journey – this course is overflowing with fresh content to help you learn to build websites of all kinds. With over 280 lectures and 30 hours of content, The Complete Web Developer Course covers the basics of coding and then gives you a taste of a ton of different tools at your disposal. To start, you'll learn how to create 25 responsive websites with jQuery, PHP 7, MySQL 5, and Twitter Bootstrap. The course is taught by web developer and top-rated online instructor Rob Percival, and comes with free unlimited web hosting for one year. MSRP: $149 / Buy Now: $11.99 (91% OFF) Read more: The best web design jobs in August 2019 12 web design tutorials to keep your skills updated The 20 best wireframe tools View the full article

Since Jake Knapp popularised the design sprint, it's been used by design teams all over the world. Many write about their successes, some even shortening it from a week. I wanted to share how breaking a key convention led to a form of creative tension that can sometimes go missing in the sprints that I have been involved in. Rather than co-locating the team in a war room, our design sprint ran across our London and New York studios, requiring us to work differently. We found this created an empowered team that collaborated and competed with one another. Also, the time difference meant that we could work around the clock (see our web design tools for more help on collaborating). 18 of the best collaboration tools for designers The key lessons learned Digitise the war room – we worked in a collaborative online document to share and refine our research into insights, including photos from co-creation and whiteboard sessions and tagging each other when something needed to be clarified or assigned. We communicated on Slack with 15-minute daily scrums on Zoom. Rather than losing consensus with the lack of a physical location, the experience was liberating, giving the team visibility of each other's thinking and creating 'streams of consciousness', spawning new ideas. Competition over collaboration – there were two teams, each with a strategist and designer. After day one, we split the opportunity areas across the different teams, creating some healthy competition. The result was more divergent concepts and less group-think. When we had similar ideas, we built on and stress-tested them to see which was better. The best ideas won out as everyone felt they had ownership of developing them. 24-hour shifts – rather than letting the fact we were across time zones constrict us, we turned it to our advantage. It gave us the added energy that comes with two competitive tribes versus the collaborative single-space environment. A 2pm scrum with an evening 'baton pass' between the design teams created a 24-hour work shift with a high cadence. Generate CSS is a bespoke conference brought to you by Creative Bloq, net and Web Designer. Click to book your Early Bird ticket! The anatomy of the 'remote sprint' Start and end with the user – we augmented our marketplace review with research and co-creation sessions in our London and NY studios, each using slightly different approaches. The London team shadowed and interviewed one type of user while our NY team ran interviews and co-creation sessions with another. The different approaches allowed us to go deep on attitudinal insights and revisit users with our ideas once they had started to take shape. The first 24 hours: define the problem – we brought together our marketplace review, trends and customer insights into a set of problem statements. London kicked things off by starting to define problem statements with NY coming online to build and pivot on what we were proposing. The second 24 hours: ideate, sketch, and storyboard concepts – we were ready to hit the ground running with our scrum and were able to show where we had taken the opportunity spaces and begun turning them into storyboards and concepts. The last morning: validate and refine – at the end of their day, NY referred back to the user research to rank the concepts based on which pain points they addressed. Doing the research up front meant we had a catalyst for ideas from the start and were able to validate ideas based on the contextual inquiry with users. Nurturing a stream of consciousness A multi-disciplinary team from both sides of the Atlantic allowed us to develop hypotheses, ideas and validate them quickly. It allowed the best ideas to thrive in a form of creative tension and explore a stream of consciousness together. Sometimes this is missing in sprints when the team is together. A design sprint can provide a structured way to explore a business-critical issue or product but don't be afraid to tweak it for your organisation – it worked for us. This article was originally published in issue 320 of net, the world's best-selling magazine for web designers and developers. Buy issue 320 here or subscribe here. Related articles: Agile development: How to use it in your web workflow The benefits of working remotely 3 big reasons Agile projects fail (and how to avoid them) View the full article

Street photography captures unposed brief slices of time. This unpredictability means that as a photographer, you need to develop a keen eye for what will make a good image. Improving your street photography skills can help improve your skill in all types of photography, from portrait to landscape, and macro to wildlife. Due to the chaotic complexity of the discipline, there are several techniques that a photographer may want to consider before and during a shoot. For example, by having an awareness of how weather affects the light, as it restricts your compositional technique and determines exposure settings, both of which alter the look of the final shot. Of course, shooting with one of the best cameras is going to be a great way to shoot, but one of the best camera phones is just as sharp a weapon. A smartphone also has two main benefits over a traditional camera: one, you'll usually have it on you, and two, phones aren't as conspicuous so subjects are less likely to notice they’re being photographed. The latter is helpful when wanting subjects to remain unposed and unaware of your presence. So let’s take a look at 11 tips to up your street photography game. For more general tips, see our post on improving your photography skills. 01. Look for the light As the railings move diagonally through the frame in shade, direct sunlight pours onto the stairwell providing contrasting lines moving perpendicularly through the centre of the image Bright, clear days are a great opportunity for harsh, contrasting shadows. These sharp shadows can be used as devices that intersect and interplay between other shapes in the frame. For example, strong light flooding through a stairwell. Conversely, clouds on overcast days spread the light and provide softer shadows. This can be more suited for subjects that have more rounded contours, and naturally produces a narrower dynamic range (difference between shadows and highlights), which can make it easier to expose subjects. 02. Remove the unessential Messy sections of the graveyard are covered here by poppies in the foreground. The link between death in war, the graves and poppies also adds a layer of gravitas to this shot Since photographs are two-dimensional images, the only information a viewer collects is what is captured in the photo. Therefore, anything that isn’t in the frame, doesn’t exist. Shooting with this in mind will help sharpen composition better than following any of the standard compositional tropes such as the rule of thirds. The best method is to practise removing anything unessential from the frame by either repositioning yourself, the camera, or blocking part of the frame with objects in the scene. 03. Take a selfie Shooting closer to the subject makes it more difficult to get unposed shots, so you may need a degree of tact If you need to get particularly close to a subject to make the shot work, instead of holding the phone in their face and snapping away, you can become more inconspicuous by pulling a silly face to the camera, pretending like you’re taking a selfie, without actually using the front-facing camera. 04. Search for the moment As the baker leans towards the window the morning light isolates him from the darker background The fastest way to getting better street photographs is to get out and shoot. Chance encounters are more likely the longer you spend shooting, so make your street shooting more regular for a better hit rate. Actively search for pockets of light that will isolate subjects, or place yourself amongst bustling trade from busy markets for ample photographic opportunity. 05. Wait for the moment The three primary colours are in use with red in the background, blue in the woman’s dress and yellow in her hair Active searching for photographic opportunity is one thing, but preparing your shooting position can be equally advantageous. Notice key elements in the environment and then wait until a complementary subject presents itself, even for a brief moment. Here we used a crane to make a frame within the frame and waited for the right subject to walk by. 06. Look for connection The subject on the left looks into frame, towards the space around the subject on the right as they hold hands walking down the street Good street photography tells a story, and a great shot will convey the story without much need for supplementary text. Look for interaction between people, gesticulation and eye contact – these will produce strong emotive characteristics that viewers can latch on to. Frame subjects with lead space into the photo – if someone is looking in one direction, give them more space on that side of the frame. Doing the opposite of this can look jarring, but that might be useful if that’s the intended message from your shot. 07. Revisit locations Revisiting this street in both winter and summer provides strong juxtaposition in visual style despite the subject matter (the bike, railings and house) remaining the same Finding good local spots makes it easy to revisit at a later date. Attempt to shoot at different times of the day and in different weather conditions and use smart device apps to help. For example, PhotoPills is an app that provides exact solar and lunar positioning anywhere around the world at any time. Combine this with a weather apps such as MetOffice or AccuWeather and you can build a picture of when the light will be most favourable for certain locations. 08. Use black and white In black and white our eye is drawn to the brightest part of the image, our sleeping subject, rather than being distracted by the vibrant colours in the painting behind Shooting in black and white, rather than converting to black and white later on, gives a glimpse into the tonal and textural side of photography. By removing colour, you also remove distracting elements. A bright sign or vivid painting is now rendered as grey instead and no longer draws attention. This practice is also known as chiaroscuro. 09. Be selective with colour Living in a tent on wasteland next to a busy main road is a stark departure from the impeccably maintained studios that stand just metres away, but both are linked through the use of red in this photo Find colourful subjects that work well together to combine background and foreground elements. Here, a tent, pitched next to the road on some wasteland is coupled with the well-kept studios behind through the use of the colour red. It links the two despite the apparent juxtaposition between wealth and poverty. 10. Shoot from oblique angles A low angle combined with the rails in the ground here give authority to the subject and lead the eye to the centre of the frame Get up high and shoot down, or get low and shoot up. It’s easy to get shots at head height while you wander, but taking the time to change the perspective may produce more unique imagery. Lower angles, looking up at subjects tend to convey a sense of superiority and size to the subject, whereas the opposite is true when shooting down on something. 11. Use the continuous shutter As action unfolds quickly in front of you, you might not have much time to recompose or wait for a perfect expression. Instead of taking one picture at a time, hold down the shutter release button for short periods to get a burst of images. That way, you can choose your favourite later on. Read more: 6 expert smartphone photography tips The best cameras for beginners The best photo apps and photo editing software View the full article

Patient medical history and over 6 million email addresses tied to Democrats were detailed in a misconfigured storage buckets over the past few weeks. View the full article

Flaws in Qualcomm chipset expose millions of Android devices to hacking threat. View the full article

The winning designs from the BBC's controversial Peaky Blinders poster competition have been unveiled – and we're seriously impressed. The contest attracted over 1,200 entries from all over the UK, and the results showcase incredible artistic talent from illustrators of all kinds and from all backgrounds. The contest asked creatives to design a poster design based on one of the characters from its hugely popular period crime drama Peaky Blinders, with the winning designs appearing in the marketing campaign for the fifth series. The aim was to provide a platform for the huge quantities of professional-quality fan art the show has inspired since its debut. As a result, the contest was open to "anyone with a creative mind" – from professional illustrators to budding hobbyists. Inspired to get creative? Take a look at our guide to how to draw just about anything The winning designs appear in the official marketing campaign for the fifth series So why was it controversial? Although the designers behind the winning posters received £1,000 each, unsuccessful illustrators were not compensated for their time and effort. When the competition was announced, a number of creatives questioned why a massive organisation such as the BBC was soliciting spec work. Whatever your views on how the contest was run, there's no denying it has uncovered some incredible design talent. Read on for a closer look at some of the winning designs. Matt Clough created On a Razor's Edge (above left). "I wanted to create an image with duality, that would show both the gravity of the decisions Tommy Shelby has made, and the looming impact of the violent lifestyle he has lived in his pursuit of power," he explains. Adam Martins' ink creation, Violent Men are the Easiest to Deal With (above right), was also successful in the competition. The aim was to capture the idea that "no matter how brutal [Tommy Shelby's] actions become, he retains respect and honour". Alice Matthews turned her attentions to another key character, Polly Shelby, in her competition entry. "Polly is a powerhouse of a woman, but her character is more than just being the matriarch of the family," she says. "I wanted to paint something that showed her strength and resolve." To capture the duality of Polly's character, Matthews contrasted a strong pose with a soft colour palette and delicate detailing. Sam Ding's Already Broken (above left) explores the price Tommy pays for the difficult decisions he has to make. The artist sought to capture both strength and vulnerability in the poster design. Peter Carroll's pencil and ink Sundown (above right) is equally emotional and powerful. "I felt it was important to design a piece that was bold yet simple, so I limited myself to three primary colours, with strong black shapes and silhouettes," he says. Explore the showcase of posters on the BBC’s website. If you created any of the artworks included here and would like your website linked up, get in touch with the details. Read more: How fan art can get you paid 20 best iPad Pro apps for use with Apple Pencil How to find your art style View the full article

YouTube influencers can be an incredibly useful promotional tool for brands. Used correctly, they can help you reach new audiences and strengthen your identity. But knowing how to get the best results from YouTube influencer marketing can be tricky – which is where InflueNex comes in. This handy tool is designed to act as the nexus between brands and leading YouTube Influencers. It will help you find and contact the right influencer for your business and needs, then help you maximise marketing potential by providing you with tools to manage your relationship and analyse results. Read on to find out how, or try InflueNex straight away. Find the right influencers for you The first step in YouTube marketing is finding the right influencer for your brand. InflueNex boasts a library of over two million talented influencers. Filter by interest, location, language, reach and more to help narrow down your search and pinpoint the ones that will fit best with your business needs. Explore InflueNex's library of over two million influencers The intelligent search function makes it even easier to navigate the platform by suggesting content and channels related to your market. Use the clear dashboard to view key information about each influencer, including posting habits, viewing trends and subscriber numbers. Make a connection InflueNex will then help you get in contact with your chosen influencers so you can kick off your journey – their reply will land straight in your email inbox . Once you've connected with your ideal YouTube influencer, you need to make sure you're making the most of the partnership. InflueNex's tools help you manage your relationships easily and effectively. Analyse your results Finally, you need to make sure the marketing efforts are working for your brand. InflueNex's Analytics tools are designed to help you see which content is connecting most with your audience, so you can tailor your campaign to help boost your brand effectively. View channel data quickly and easily You can track sponsored videos in real time to enable you to calculate your conversion rate and cost per view. As an InflueNex user, you'll also have access to video analytics, a live subscriber count, money calculator and channel ranks and statistics. Want to take your first steps in YouTube influencer marketing? Try InflueNex today. View the full article

If you're having a bad day at work, spare a thought for BrewDog's James Watt, who thought it would be an excellent idea to share an early preview of the packaging design for the company's new Young Blood punk whisky on Twitter. Getting feedback on a work-in-progress design can be a great help, especially at that point in the process when you're so close to the work that you're unable to look at it objectively any more. A fresh pair of eyes on your project is often just the thing you need to help clarify what's working and what isn't. Of course, it depends on who you ask. Some trusted colleagues would be a good choice. Posting your work-in-progress up on Twitter, on the other hand, is a slightly riskier proposition; we all know how reasoned and thoughtful the discourse is there, right? What could possibly go wrong? You might infer from the fact that we've posted a screengrab of his tweet, rather than simply embedding it, that it may not have gone down too well. And you'd be right. 3 huge branding trends that might have had their day BrewDog has had its fair share of misfires along the way – let's not forget its ill-judged Pink IPA – but it can generally be relied on to produce some great-looking packaging for its products, with plenty of strong typography, bold graphics and good use of colour. Its whisky design, though, seems to miss the mark, with a black bottle obscuring the contents and a label that looks like a photocopied flyer for a punk night in the back room of a pub. Naturally, Twitter users were quick to point out its shortcomings with a slew of critical tweets, variously describing it as "tacky and cheap" the "middle aged Dad of whisky bottles", "as edgy and punk as Songs of Praise", and looking "like $7 mystery booze that might put you blind". Harsh but fair. We do rather like this alternate design put together by Fun Creative Agency, though: And as if all the hate for the design isn't enough, BrewDog's also come under fire from whisky Twitter, which seems to be just as irritable as design Twitter and even more pedantic. From a whisky point of view, BrewDog couldn't be doing it more wrong. There's no mention of Young Blood's whisky category (i.e. whether it's blended, single malt, single grain and so on), no age statement and, to top it all, the type for the bottle size and strength might be slightly too small. It all adds up to quite the perfect storm of Twitter fury, and while BrewDog's usually happy to ride these things out when it gets people worked up, that's not the case this time around; Watt has simply deleted his tweet. Whether that means BrewDog is going back to the drawing board with this remains to be seen; watch this space. Related articles: The good, the bad and the WTF of brand apologies Liquid Death is 2019's stupidest branding 9 embarrassing branding blunders View the full article

If you're a digital artist, have you considered applying your skills to the gaming industry? Gaming is a booming industry that is in constant need of fresh faces and creativity. And if you also love gaming in your free time, that's just the icing on the cake. In order to get started, you'll have to get familiar with the tools and techniques used specifically for game creation. From creating realistic game character designs to developing action-packed levels with Unity 3D, The School of Game Design will help you learn the skills needed to make game design a full-time job. With 120 hours of content and an extensive training library that ranges from beginner-level right up to advanced, this lifetime membership allows you learn game development and design at your own pace, starting from whatever level suits you. Tutorials led by leading developers include topics such as coding, 3D modelling (take a look at our guide to the best 3D modelling software), animation techniques, digital art skills, and much more. As a bonus, you'll also get unlimited access to thousands of dollars worth of royalty free game art and textures to help build up your asset library and assist in the completion of your game design projects (if that's not enough, take a look at the best places to download free textures). The content is regularly updated accordingly, so you can continuously revisit the courses as you wish to keep your knowledge relevant. While a pay-monthly lifetime membership would set you back $5,990, for this week only the price has been dropped to just $49 – that's an extra $10 off its original sale price. It's certainly a great way to kick-off your gaming development skills and get started on the next phase of your professional design career. And if you need a little help finding your next challenge, we've got lots of amazing art jobs just waiting to be filled. Read more: The best graphics cards in 2019 How to design video games cinematics you won't want to skip 20 Cinema 4D tutorials to up your 3D skills View the full article

Welcome to our guide to the best standing desks in 2019. There are lots of reasons to choose a standing desk for creative work: they encourage you to be less sedentary, decrease your risk of illness and help reduce back pain, and it's even been suggested that they can help reduce anxiety. To make sure you're comfortable, it's best to look for a standing desk with adjustable height so you can make sure the working position is exactly right for you. Some of the best standing desks even let you program different heights, and let you switch between sitting and standing height at the touch of a button. There are also solutions that can turn an ordinary desk into a standard one, which are more affordable and a great choice if you want to keep your existing furniture. However, if you want to give your studio a complete overhaul, don't miss our guides to the best office chairs and best desks (for those of you who are happy sitting, that is). With all that in mind, here's our pick of the best standing desks available for designers and artists. Flytta is a Nordic word meaning 'move', and the smart Flytta 2 standing desk can do exactly that. It features dual motors that adjust its height smoothly, with collision-detection technology to avoid accidents when lowering it. It has a lift capacity of 120kg, making it suitable for even heavy desktop computers, and can store your preferred stitting and standing heights for future use. The Flytta 2 is available as a frame only (if you have an existing top that you want to use) or a complete desk, so be sure you pick the right option when ordering. Many of the best standing desks are adjusted by electric motors, but the Ikea SKARSTA uses a manual crank handle instead. Not only does this make it a more affordable option (those electrical components don't come cheap), it also means that this desk is lighter than many others without compromising on strength. You can adjust the height between 70cm and 120cm, letting you work comfortably either sitting or standing. The crank can be fitted on either side, depending on whether you're right or left-handed, and can be tucked neatly out of the way when not in use. The Humanscale Float will make switching to a standing desk effortless. Rather than a crank or motors, it uses a counterbalance mechanism (much like a sash window) that lets you change its height in seconds. You can adjust it single-handed, even fully laden with computer equipment, reference books and other work; just turn the weight adjustment handle a few times to compensate, then press the handle under the desktop and lift or lower it. The Humanscale Float is tough too, and environmentally sound with a frame made from recycled steel and a tabletop made without toxic chemicals. Install the Desk Control app on your smartphone or tablet, and you can adjust the height of the Ikea IDASEN standing desk without even touching it. Just tap with your thumb to choose exactly the right level for sitting or standing, and let the motors do the rest. The veneer desktop might not be to everyone's liking, but it's durable and wipes clean easily (handy if you use soft media like charcoal or pastels) with contours to support your wrists. A net underneath helps keep wires and cables out of the way, leaving you more room to work. If you use a shared workspace then the Yo-Yo Desk 90 might be the tool for you. It folds down flat for easy carrying, and allows you to transform any regular desk into a standing one. It's not flimsy, either; this portable standing desk solution a strong gas spring that allows it to open and close smoothly, and lock securely in place. The keyboard tray is detachable too, letting it pack down even smaller for stashing in a bag. This model is recommended if you're between five and six feet tall, but Yo-Yo also makes desks for shorter and taller people. Like the Yo-Yo Desk 90 above, the Varidesk Pro Plus 36 collapses flat for transport and storage, and can be raised and lowered easily thanks to its spring-loaded design (with 11 different height settings). The Varidesk has a more plush, premium feel than the Yo-Yo, with a less industrial look and smoother edges. It's seriously strong too, with an upper level that's easily capable of supporting a dual-monitor setup, or a monitor and laptop. The lower deck provides enough space for a full-sized keyboard, mouse, plus a graphics tablet for illustrators. If you're looking for the best standing desk to make a statement in your studio, take a look at the Eiger Pro. Simply slot this standing desk adaptor together (choosing your own height for the monitor and keyboard sections) and you're ready to get to work. Its unusual design means it's not suitable for desktop PCs, but if you use a laptop it's surprisingly practical thanks to thoughtfully designed cable management, a smartphone dock, and even a pen well. It's made from sustainably sourced birch coated with a clear lacquer that'll keep it looking great for years to come. The Ergotron WorkFit-TX is designed to help you maintain good posture while you're working long hours on a project. This standing desk adaptor's adjustable drop-down tray helps you maintain the correct distance beween your hands and monitor, and can also be used while you're sitting (the whole unit flattens down to just a few inches). The WorkFit-TX provides a huge workspace for monitors, laptops, graphics tablets and other devices, and it can support up to 40lb of equipment without so much as a wobble. It's not cheap, but it's an impressive feat of engineering that will transform your workspace. View the full article

Making chiaroscuro art is all about using the composition of light and shadow to create depth, and more importantly, mood. In this tutorial, we will delve into the artistic realms of darkness and learn how to create the effect. Chiaroscuro creates an emotional atmosphere in both art and film, as seen in film noir classics such as Blade Runner, Sunset Boulevard and Eraserhead. If you would like to dial down on more fundamental drawing skills, check out how to draw, our post rounding up the best drawing tutorials out there. You can also improve your figure drawing with our step-by-step guide. Click on the icon at the top-right of the image to enlarge it. A chiaroscuro photoshoot The single, directional light creates the atmosphere The single directional light source works to define the figure above, and creates an atmosphere that holds our attention. The lights are positioned high to recreate an artificial afternoon sun in a dark studio background. The benefit of artificial light is that it remains constant, but you don't need to buy a lighting setup to create a chiaroscuro photoshoot. You can produce the same effect using a smartphone camera on a tripod and any indoor space with an open roof. Let's get started. 01. Interpret the photo Interpret rather than copy the photo Here we have our wonderful photo and pose to draw from. But how can a drawing compete with such a great photograph? Well, it doesn’t have to. Photographs and drawings live separate lives in the world of art. With that thought in mind we’re free to interpret rather than copy the photo 02. Plot the main structures Work from big shapes to small With my willow charcoal I plot out the figure with two major structures: a long tube for the upper torso and a ball for the hips. Working from big shapes to small I add the scapula (wing bone) and below the scapula I indicate the serratus and latissimus bulges as a converging V-shape. 03. Add simple structural shapes Structural shapes are just versions of anatomy I continue adding smaller structural shapes to define areas such as the hip bone. Structural shapes are simple versions of anatomy. If I were to draw the intricacies of each anatomical shape as I go, the drawing would get so complicated that I might lose the sense of the whole figure. 04. Create the smaller anatomical details Strong structure has real benefits From here we begin to reap the benefits of strong structure. As I go over the drawing’s simple shapes again it’s easy to add smaller anatomical details such as the ribs, the sacrum pad above the gluteus, and the two serratus notches visible at the left of the breast. 05. Spot the flickering changes Step back and glance back and forth at the model then make adjustments I smudge the charcoal into softer forms. In life drawing classes I have my students step back at this stage and glance back and forth at the model until they see every flickering change between their drawing and the pose in order to make adjustments. Time spent analysing forms early is time saved later. 06. Assess your progress Make sure the anatomy and interlocking forms work structurally and gesturally With all due diligence done I step back again from the art for a final assessment. This doesn’t mean I want exact proportions, I’m simply making sure the anatomy and interlocking forms work both structurally and gesturally. With everything working to plan, I start to pencil on top. 07. Find balance The balance can fall apart at any time I’m strolling down easy street now as I continue pencilling over my self approved structure, or so it seems… In my quest to make every line more gestural I’ve made the raised scapula too rounded. Keep in mind that structure and gesture are a fine balance of back and forth, which can fall apart at any time. 08. Harness the magic of the chiaroscuro Use your bedside light Now on to the subject at hand: the magical chiaroscuro. I’m thinking of the single source of light and how it tumbles across the forms as I blend with my fingers. To study the power of chiaroscuro use your bedside light and turn any model around. Notice how the strong light and shadow changes as you do this. 09. Create a sense of sfumato The misty quality is called sfumato I make the shadows darker than I need so I can judge the light better. Note the misty quality of the shadowed leg. This is called sfumato and gives us both atmosphere and a clearer focus toward the more contrasting upper figure. Often what we don’t show is more interesting than what we do show. 10. Place straight lines on top of curved lines Add authority to a line by adding a straight to a curve I’ve finally addressed that pesky scapula by drawing a straight line across the upper curve. Placing straight lines on top of curves can add authority to a line. This is something I do more often on the male figure to add a more rugged look, but this approach can work on the female figure, too. 11. Bring in detail If it's too bright, add more depth After a round of tissue blending the drawing becomes a lighter affair. I add some head ornament with an eraser, then pencil in detail. I could call the drawing finished at this stage, but it’s a little too bright and breezy. I feel I need to add more depth, mood and atmosphere. 12. Lay in the background Use compressed charcoal to lay in the background With a block of square compressed charcoal I lay in a gestural abstract background. Artists, most notably Caravaggio, often kept their backgrounds dark, and sometimes black, to bring the figures forward for the ultimate chiaroscuro effect. The echoing texture also adds suggested movement to the figure. 13. Place texture against flesh Avoid repetition when texturing I continue texturing the background with tissue, shammy leather cloth and kneadable eraser, turning my hand as I make shapes to avoid repetition. Texture not only adds interest, it can also make flesh seem softer by contrast. At this point I use a paper stump to soften some edges. 14. Enjoy the finished product The drawing is finished Here I call the drawing finished. The photograph is already a distant memory, a component that has been put aside to live its own life elsewhere. The drawing stands alone now, a new-born creation of organic line, tone and gestural energy that can only come from an artist’s hand. 15. Note the effect of the single source light The single light source makes the figure appear to be carved from light and shadow As long as the light comes mostly from powerful single source the figure will appear to be carved from light and shadow, regardless of time or place. For my oil painting, Blood Temple I worked with chiaroscuro to create the mood of a misty twilight scene. This article was originally published in issue 173 of ImagineFX, the world's best-selling magazine for digital artists. Buy issue 173 or subscribe to ImagineFX. Read more: How to draw an arm The best pencils for colouring, drawing and sketching How to draw a face View the full article

Working on the web means you can never let your skill set stand still. While the fundamental tools and languages that have been around for years will serve you well, newer technologies, libraries and frameworks are turning up all the time, and while you can't possibly keep track of all of them, it pays to be up to speed with the most popular additions to the web toolkit. To help you fill in any gaps in your web know-how, we've gathered together some of the best tutorials for the most popular recent web design technologies and techniques, covering everything from CSS animation through to JavaScript frameworks and web typography. Read on to start giving your web expertise a serious boost. The hottest web design trends of 2019 01. Create a WebGL 3D landing page A 3D landing page is a surefire way to impress visitors A WebGL 3D landing page is an excellent way to grab people's attention as soon as they hit your site. With WebGL you can create amazing 3D content in the browser without the need for plugins, and your site will work on all modern browsers as well as mobile devices and tablets. This WebGL 3D tutorial demonstrates how to make a dramatic landing page featuring a 3D object that moves in response to the mouse, plus colourful particle effects. 02. Get started with WebVR Try some WebVR for a truly immersive experience For a more immersive 3D project, look no further than WebVR. It's a JavaScript API for creating 3D virtual reality experiences in the browser, and rich, console-quality VR that renders in real time on desktop browsers and mobile devices. With a bit of JavaScript knowledge and this WebVR tutorial you'll soon be on your way to creating your first WebVR experience. 03. React crash course These days you can't just rely on vanilla JavaScript if you want to build great web apps. If you want the best results then you need to add React to your list of web skills; it's the most popular JavaScript library on the block, and it's used by huge sites such as Facebook (where it was developed), Instagram and Netflix. This video tutorial from Mosh Hamedani will help you get started; for a more in-depth look, follow this React course. 04. How to create an app with Vue.js Get to grips with the basics of Vue.js Another useful JavaScript framework to know is Vue.js. It's easy to learn because it's a relatively small library compared to competitors, it's written in plain HTML, CSS and JavaScript, and the documentation is regularly updated. In this Vue.js tutorial you'll learn the basic structure of a Vue app, and how to use Vue to create your own full-featured blog app. 05. How to quickly add microinteractions to your website Add visual interest to your site with microinteractions Microinteractions are a brilliant way to add visual interest to your site as well as improving accessibility. They're small, subtle animations that you can add to elements to provide visual feedback when they're clicked on or moused over. And while adding animation to your site might feel like a lot of effort – especially if you know nothing about animation – here's an easy way to do it using Micron.js. 06. Flexbox step by step Create web layouts that look as good as the printed page For creating responsive sites that look good in every browser, Flexbox is the tool you need to know about. It enables you to create magazine-style layouts without the limitations of floats or, lest we forget, tables, and gives you complete control over the alignment, direction, order and size of your page elements. This step by step Flexbox tutorial will take you through everything you need to know. 07. Create animated CSS art Who knew CSS could be this adorable? Creating CSS imagery in the browser isn't as easy as, say, simply drawing it in Photoshop; you're basically drawing vector artwork using CSS code, and it can take a fair bit of head-scratching and experimentation before you get it right. The benefit of creating CSS shapes, though, is that they're lightweight and, once you've figured out what you're doing, easy to animate. This CSS animation tutorial will get you started. 08. How to add animation to SVG with CSS CSS and SVG: a match made in animated heaven Here's another way to create great-looking web animations. Using CSS you can control individual paths within an SVG image to create assorted effects, and if you know the basics you can use these techniques to turn ordinary icons into something more impressive. It's a good way to implement microinteractions on your site, and the possibilities are endless; follow this guide to adding animation to SVG with CSS to find out more. 09. HTML Canvas tutorial The canvas element is a powerful tool for creating graphics in the browser A third way to generate visuals in the browser is by using the HTML canvas element. With it you can draw graphics and text, create colour gradients and animate everything, as well as adding interactive elements. It's suitable for everything from basic graphics through to HTML games, and this tutorial from W3Schools covers all these applications. 10. How to start with variable fonts on the web With variable fonts you can let your typographic instincts run riot The biggest development in web typography since web fonts, variable fonts are fonts that can behave like multiple fonts, giving you all the weights and styles you need in a single, relatively small file that you can control through style sheets. This online primer will explain all the things you need to know in order to start making the most out of them. You can also read more about variable fonts here. 11. Create a PWA from scratch Pick up the basics of building your own PWA If you want to create lightweight sites that'll work on every device and don't even need a internet connection to function, Progressive Web Apps are the way to go. This quick guide to PWAs by Yassine Benabbas will walk you through the four main steps you need to know about – preparing an app shell, adding a manifest, implementing a service worker and caching – in order to build a PWA from scratch. 12. Build an AI-powered chatbot Use Google's machine learning tools to keep your users happy Artificial intelligence is a vast and complex subject, but it's surprisingly easy to implement it in ways that can make your life a lot easier. In this AI chatbot tutorial you'll learn how use AI to build a natural-language chatbot that'll help users interact with your site. Powered by Google's Dialogflow toolset, it uses machine learning and speech-to-text, and can be customised to your needs and added to your site in the form of a widget. Related articles: The future of web design 10 new web design tools for July 2019 The 7 deadly sins of web design View the full article

Thanks to leaps in technology and tools, we can do incredible things with CGI nowadays. As filmmakers start using CG more and more enthusiastically, in more and more movies, we are reminded by the speech by Dr. Ian Malcom in Jurassic Park: "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they stopped to think if they should." We know more about how to create effective CG than we ever have done before, yet we're still faced with abominations such as the recent disturbing trailer for Cats, with its uncanny valley human-cat hybrids and creepy snaking tails. There have been other examples where the unbridled application of CG has resulted in visuals that range from bizarre to incomprehensible to just plain bad. The ’90s and ’00s were riddled with them, from The Mummy Returns’ Scorpion King to most of the effects in the risible Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull. Here are some recent examples of CG gone wrong… The best 3D modelling software in 2019 01. Sonic The Hedgehog Long before it had even arrived in cinemas, the Sonic movie had fans in uproar, thanks to some bizarre design choices. The spiny, stick-legged character of video game lore was replaced with something that would look more at home in Cats. It’s not bad CG per se, but it’s that uncomfortable combination of human-like expression (plus human teeth) grafted on to some mutant animal body. It’s like they went into the uncanny valley and out the other side. That, plus it just doesn't really look like Sonic, more like a cheap Chinese knock-off. The outcry – and accompanying memes – was so great that the release date has been postponed (twice) to give Paramount Pictures time to completely redesign the character. 02. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Now we’re big fans of The Hobbit movies. Yes, they’re over-long and a bit rambling, but they’re full of exciting action and generally a fun watch. However, they are guilty of overusing CG, and they also look like movies where the VFX budget has been stretched to breaking point. There are particular low points, like the barrel-riding sequence, which is overloaded with clumsy CG (and also intercut with GoPro footage which sticks out like a sore thumb). But our pick is the scene in which the dwarves pour molten gold all over Smaug the dragon. The entire sequence looks super-fake and destroys all the good work Weta Digital did in creating Smaug in the fist place. Plus it doesn't even scar the beast, let alone kill him. 03. Justice League When the scheduling of Mission Impossible: Fallout clashed with reshoots for Justice League, someone in the VFX department was tasked with removing Henry Cavill’s moustache, which had to remain in place. A simple task you might think: they de-aged Samuel L. Jacksons for Captain Marvel; they created realistic simians for Planet of the Apes; heck, they made an emotionally engaging CG Gollum nearly 20 years ago. However, the end result was Superman looking like he’d been stung on the lip by a wasp, or was wearing one of those masks from Bo’ Selecta!. It’s terrible CG work, and to make matters worse, a guy online did the same thing with a $500 PC, and did it way better (below). 04. Black Panther What, the Black Panther? The Oscar-winning film that delivered the first mainstream black superhero, garnered endless praise and took a billion dollars at the box office? Yes, that Black Panther. We know it's a good (if not great) movie, but the VFX work is surprisingly variable. The war rhinos in the big battle scene really bring the whole thing down to earth with a lacklustre thump, and the supposedly climactic fight between Black Panther and Killmonger is reduced to two besuited CG models duking it out, with no real weight or emotional connection. Contrast that with the fight between Tony Stark, Captain America and Bucky Barnes in Captain America: Civil War; there’s still a lot of CG involved, but it has so much more impact. 05. Baywatch There’s really one major VFX scene in Baywatch, so you can happily blow the entire budget on it, right? It also involves fire, which was once terribly hard to simulate, but now you can do it, practically real-time, on a mid-range PC. So quite how it looks so bad here is anyone’s guess. The flames are all so fuzzy and floaty that there’s never any real threat of danger. This is the perfect example of where a few dollars spent on some gasoline and a box of matches would have been the better option. 06. Gods of Egypt Sigh… where do you even begin with this? Alex Proyas’ mythical fantasy film is awful on every conceivable level – acting, script, pacing – but the visual effects are surprisingly bad for a movie that boasted a $140 million budget and employed the likes of Iloura, Cinesite, RodeoFX, UPP and Tippett Studio. Perhaps it’s the fact that almost everything is shot against green screen with tons of CG backdrops and characters added afterwards; it’s possibly too much work, even for a budget of that size. And while the general quality is pretty average, there are several scenes – such as the Minotaur battle presented here – which has visuals so glaringly fake that most video games would be ashamed of them. 07. Rogue One The prequel to Star Wars: A New Hope features some astonishing CG; the destruction of Jedah and the battle for Scarif just two examples of the stunning work by ILM. But when it comes to the digital recreations of Peter Cushing and Carrie Fisher, things don't look so good. Grand Moff Tarkin is mostly effective as they have him lurking in the shadows, but the final pivotal scene, in which a young Princess Leia receives the plans for the Death Star is just weird. You recognise the character, but the odd discrepancies between your memory of the cute, spirited princess and the CG-enhanced double (played by Ingvild Deila) are just too much, and the result is jarring if not downright disconcerting. Despite hours and hours of footage and thousands of press photos (plus Fisher was still alive at this point) we can't believe ILM got it so wrong. 08. Transformers: The last Knight This is a slightly controversial choice because ILM’s VFX in the Transformers series is, almost without exception, amazing. But (and we can level the same complaint at any of the movies) the CG is all just too much: too dynamic; too hyper-real; too confusing. Every battle between Transformers and Decepticons is a swirling, clanging, bewildering mishmash of spinning cogs, pumping pistons and splintering shards of metal. It’s all beautifully choreographed and rendered, but no one has any idea what’s going on, mainly thanks to Michael Bay’s hyperkinetic directing style, who thinks more is most definitely more (plus the film had six credited editors!). By comparison, check out Travis Knight’s Bumblebee, which is far more sedate, yet has the highest review scores of all the Transformers films. Read more: 20 Cinema 4D tutorials to up your 3D skills These 3D portraits are unbelievably realistic 10 ways to improve your 3D anatomy View the full article

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You're reading Creating Interactive, Highly Optimized Emails with Google’s AMP Framework, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook! Google’s AMP framework – Accelerated Mobile Pages is a powerful tool that can make highly interactive and user-centered emails that load faster than traditional emails. This framework can be a powerful tool for sending dynamic and useful content through AMP … View the full article

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McDonald's Japan has released a set of cups to promote its new range of soft drinks, McFizz. The cups are supposed to elicit a theme of summertime romance, showing naive line illustrations of a boy and girl on opposite sides of the cup, who share an innocent moment when the empty cup is lined up in a certain way. However, fast food fans have discovered that when you turn the cups a different way, you are faced with a range of decidedly less innocent scenes. We're not sure if this was an intentional design quirk, created in an attempt to stir up publicity and enter inspirational lists of packaging design, or whether it's a case of something looking amazing on screen, but not being user-tested quite thoroughly enough. Get 40% off Adobe Creative Cloud Here's what McDonald's was hoping customers would see in the cup (or see video above). And here's what people actually saw... This summertime romance doesn't seem quite so innocent when you look at it this way (as @Mao_Kila pointed out) The wink on the right-hand image really makes it. And don't worry, this isn't a one-sided love affair, either. They're lovin' it (Captured by @_chocolation_) With another subtle manipulation, the illustrations take on some interesting proportions, where either the boy or girl becomes huge next to their partner. Surely McDonald's didn't really want to promote a huge age gap, or worse, paedophilia? Despite several people pointing out these not-so-innocent variations on the McFizz love story, McDonald's has refused to pull the cups, which are apparently now in serious demand. The fast food chain is known for its strong ads and design. Most recently, there were minimalist posters in France, which used fries to guide motorists, and even a mini-McDonald's for bees in Sweden. Has McDonald's in Japan been neglected? Or is someone somewhere having a good ol' giggle at what they've unleashed into the world? Read more: McDonald's proves its brand strength with blurry ads KFC bucket-hat: genius or one-way ticket to chicken hair? Tour de France rebrands and drops the 'le' View the full article