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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

Personal data of 2,000 journalists was found publicly accessible on a spreadsheet on the website for popular trade show E3. View the full article

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

Microsoft says its Azure Security Lab will allow researchers to attack its cloud environment in a customer-safe way. View the full article

Buffer overflows, race conditions, use-after-free and more account for more than half of all vulnerabilities in the Android platform. View the full article

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

If you're in the market for a new laptop, check out this deal: right now you can pick up a 2018 13-inch MacBook Air for just $849.99 at Best Buy – saving you a massive $350. This model has a lot to offer creatives: there's a beautiful Retina display, slick design, and it's thin and light enough to tote around easily. It's also one of the very best laptops for video editing right now. Full price, this particular model would set you back just under $1200 – but you can pick one up at Best Buy for under $850. That's a lot of bang for your buck. Apple recently launched a MacBook Air 2019 – this deal is on the 2018 model, so you're not getting the True Tone technology of the refreshed version. However, prices on the new model start at around $1000, so you'll need to decide how important that feature is to you before making your purchase. Best Buy is offering some impressive deals across a range of different MacBooks right now – browse all the offers here. Not in the US? Explore the best prices on the MacBook Air (2018), wherever you are in the world, using the widget below. Read more: The best MacBook Pro alternatives for designers The best computer for graphic design in 2019 The best mouse for Mac in 2019 View the full article

Facebook is set to assert its authority by rebranding WhatsApp and Instagram to 'WhatsApp from Facebook' and 'Instagram from Facebook', respectively. While the new names don't exactly roll off the tongue, they do cement a connection that had previously been a little ambiguous – and make it clear who's boss when it comes to social media. Facebook bought photo app Instagram in 2012 and popular messaging platform WhatsApp in 2014, but the brands had traditionally been allowed to operate independently. It looks like the move is part of a wider effort to closer integrate its sister apps into the 'Facebook family' – the co-founders of both WhatsApp and Instagram left Facebook abruptly last year, to be replaced by veteran Facebook executives. The news also comes as Facebook’s acquisitions of both apps come under scrutiny by antitrust regulators. We suspect the new names aren't going to filter down into everyday speech ("Just WhatsApp-by-Facebook me the address, yeah?"), but are interested to see how they are incorporated into each brand's logo design. The 'by Facebook' tag does appear on other sister apps – including enterprise chat tool Workplace. How to change the font in your Instagram bio A Facebook spokeswoman confirmed the change in a statement to The Information: "We want to be clearer about the products and services that are part of Facebook." Their concerns aren't unfounded, either: a 2018 survey found that 57% of Americans weren't aware that Facebook owns Instagram, and another survey reported that over 50 per cent of WhatsApp users didn't know that app was owned by Facebook. Other sister apps already use a 'by Facebook' tag So is it a good idea? On the one hand, the autonomy of the sister apps has protected them through various privacy scandals Facebook has been hit by in recent years. On the other, it makes sense that Facebook might want a little more recognition for the part it has had in growing both apps to the social media monsters they are today. Read more: Everybody hates new Twitter Instagram designers: Who to follow for creative inspiration How to nail your social media strategy View the full article

When it comes to learning typography and refining your skills, there are plenty of excellent typography resources online, not least on this very site (check out our Typography tab to see the full range of articles). But if you’re serious about your typography, nothing beats a good book that's properly researched and written to the highest standards by an authoritative source. And in a fast-moving, increasingly digital world, it helps if they’re bang up-to-date, too. With that in mind, we’ve brought together the best typography books that have been released this year, so far. All are both well-written and beautifully designed .So whether you’re a type novice or a true veteran, you’re sure to find something here you like. 01. Typography: A Very Short Introduction, by Paul Luna A great introduction to typography for beginners New to the discipline? Then Typography: A Very Short Introduction is a great place to start. Author Paul Luna, a professor at the University of Reading, begins by looking at where the letters we use today originated, and what the principles are that underly their design. He goes on to discuss topics such as layout, legibility, and picture language; the differences between type design for print and screen; the relationship between art and typography; and the reasons why key typographic decisions are made. Usefully, he offers plenty of real-world examples to make his points clear. For instance, in the chapter ‘Presenting language’, he harnesses the Shipping Forecast as an example of how different typographic presentations can enhance a text, and allow for different kinds of reading. Overall, this 176-page paperback takes a comprehensive and in-depth approach to the art and science of typography, and is written in a way that the ordinary person can easily follow. A great buy for typography beginners. 02. The Designer's Dictionary of Type, by Sean Adams Take a deep dive into 48 common fonts, from classic typefaces to modern fonts The only two-term national president in AIGA’s history, designer and educator Sean Adams scored a big hit in 2017 with his Designer's Dictionary of Colour. Now comes his follow-up, The Designer's Dictionary of Type, and it’s just as colourful, user-friendly and insightful. The 256-page hardback focuses on 48 common fonts, from classic typefaces such as Garamond and Helvetica to modern-day digital fonts including OCR-A and Keedy Sans. Adams takes a deep dive into each, describing their history, analysing their stylistic traits, and examining what they’re best used for, with lots of eye-candy examples (mainly from the world of print) sprinkled throughout. In short, this is an excellent foundational guide for any designer, and would be particularly useful for students looking to gain a understanding of the art, practice, and history of typography. 03. The Big Book of Font Combinations: Hundreds of Typeface Pairing Ideas for Graphic Design & Typography Enthusiasts, by Douglas N Bonneville Get some fresh perspective by perusing over 350 typeface pairings Whenever you start a new design, it’s natural to reach for the same tried-and-tested font pairings you know will work. But that’s hardly going to help you get to somewhere unique and original. So why not flick through The Big Book of Font Combinations, which contains hundreds of typeface combinations you probably wouldn’t have considered, to get some fresh perspective? Best of all, most of the typefaces featured in this 370-page hardback will probably be ones you already own. Basically, author Douglas Bonneville, a graphic designer and developer, has researched the most popular typefaces and combined them amongst themselves, yielding over 350 typeface pairings. He describes the book as like: “A sketchbook with some ideas filled in for you; the final masterpiece is up to you.” 04. Typography Essentials Revised and Updated: 100 Design Principles for Working with Type, by Ina Saltz A first-class reference book that’s easy to dip in and out of A popular reference for designers since 2009, Typography Essentials has been completely refreshed to mark its 10th anniversary, with updated text, new graphics and new photos. The book’s mission, however, remains the same: to distill, organise and compartmentalise the complex issues surrounding the effective use of typography. Written in an accessible style by Ina Saltz, an art director and former professor of design, this 208-page paperback is divided into four sections: The Letter, The Word, The Paragraph, and The Page. And as with all good reference books, it’s easy to dip in and out; you don’t have to read it from start to finish. The 100 principles cover a range of practical issues surrounding designing with type, and each is accompanied by nice-looking visual examples, taken from international books, magazines, posters, and more. 05. Jan Tschichold and the New Typography: Graphic Design Between the World Wars, by Paul Stirton A brilliantly researched book about a pivotal point in the history of typography To truly understand typography, you have to understand its history. And Jan Tschichold and the New Typography will certainly expand your knowledge of a pivotal period. In this 272-page paperback, author Paul Stirton, an associate professor of modern European design history, offers a fascinating account of the life and work of legendary designer Jan Tschichold and the role he played in the creation of modern graphic design in Weimar Germany. Along the way, Stirton analyses his collections, including illustrations, advertisements and magazines, as well as books by well-known figures, such as Kurt Schwitters, El Lissitzky, Aleksandr Rodchenko and László Moholy-Nagy, and other lesser-known artist-designers. And, as the title suggests, there’s a strong focus on the New Typography, a broad-based movement across Central Europe in which Tschichold played a crucial role, documenting its theory and practice in his 1928 book The New Typography, still regarded as a seminal text. Whether or not you’re familiar with the historical period and its iconic design figures, this brilliantly researched and engaging book will grip you from the outset. View the full article

The internet has made it incredibly easy to access millions of images. But you can’t just download what you want from the web, and use it whenever you feel like it. Even if someone has uploaded an image to social media, or a photo sharing site like Flickr, they still retain ownership of that image, unless explicitly stated otherwise. And so if you use an image in your design work without obtaining permission, they may take legal action against you. This is no idle threat. Pixsy - just one company active in this area - has worked more than 70,000 copyright infringement cases since its launch in 2014. For that reason, a number of “free” image sharing sites have sprung up in recent years. But be warned: legal dangers apply here, too. The dangers of image sharing sites Even where a website appears to offer images for free, you have to be careful. For example, photographer Simon Palmer was recently threatened with legal action for using a photo he downloaded from Unsplash. Unsplash describes itself as “the internet’s source of freely useable images”. However, a closer read of its terms and conditions state that this doesn’t cover images of people “if they are recognizable in the Photos”, which was the case for this particular image. (You can read the full details of the case here). Even if pictures from free image sites don’t contain people, there can be problems. Whether mistakenly or maliciously, people often upload images to free photo sharing sites that they don’t own. And so even if they add a Creative Commons notice to it, that doesn’t protect you, because it’s not theirs to grant! There’s also the practice of “copyright trolling”, whereby unscrupulous people who do own an image upload it to a free sharing site, wait for people to download and use it, then remove it from the site and claim that copyright has been infringed. The stock alternative Happy woman looking away while moving up steps, by Cavan Images (Adobe Stock) Given the high costs involved in dealing with such legal headaches, it’s clearly a false economy to spend time and effort hunting for free images on the web. After all, Adobe Stock offers millions of high-quality curated and royalty-free photos, videos, illustrations, vector graphics, 3D assets, and templates for use in your creative projects. What does that mean, exactly? Well, a royalty-free asset is licensed such that it can be used for any illustrative purpose, even in a professional context, without geographical restrictions or expiration dates. That said, there are still a few things to bear in mind to ensure you stay on the right side of the law. 01. Model images can’t be used in an offensive way Businesswoman on the phone in her skincare studio, by Trinette Reed (Adobe Stock) Adobe Stock advises that if an image features a model, it must not be used in a manner that the models could perceive as offensive. For example, it says: “Avoid using images with models on the cover of a steamy romance novel, or a book about politics or religion." This is really a question of common sense. Ask yourself: if you were the model in question, what objections might you feasibly have to being portrayed in this way? And if you can’t think of anything, it may be worth asking friends or colleagues too, just to get a second opinion. 02. Stock images can’t be used for logos This is the big one for designers to bear in mind: you can't use Adobe Stock images as part of a logo, trademark, or company identity. Why? Because importantly, Adobe Stock’s licence grants you the right to use images under certain conditions, but they don’t transfer the copyright of these images to you; that remains with the creators. Typically, though, a business will be considered to own the copyright to its own logo and trademark. For this reason, Adobe Stock, or indeed any stock imagery, should not be used to create it. A simple rule, with no exceptions. 03. Different licences come with different restrictions A camel herder walks near Adhen Village, by Christopher Pike/Reuters (Adobe Stock). This image is available for editorial use only. It's important to remember that not every Adobe Stock image is available for commercial use. For example, assets labelled "Editorial Use Only" are for use in news and events-related articles, blogs, film and broadcasts. You may, for example, want to use a press photograph of a real-life riot on the cover of a fictional novel about a similar event. However, if that photo is marked "Editorial Use Only", you simply cannot do so. You can check out all the different types of licences here, and you can view the type of license associated with an image on the image preview page, in your web browser. 04. You're good for half a million views A standard Adobe Stock licence covers you for up to 500,000 copies or views of the asset in question. For instance, you can use an image on a book cover as long as allowed if the print run is fewer than 500,000 copies. If you’re going to print more than that, you need to choose a different type of licence. However, note that with a standard Adobe Stock licence, web views specifically are unlimited. So if your design is for a website or a social media campaign, you don’t need to worry. Conclusion There are a small number of legal issues to pay attention to when it comes to using Adobe Stock in your designs. But once you’ve taken those into account, you really have nothing to worry about. With Adobe Stock, you can be sure that all images have been sourced properly and the copyright owners have allowed the assets to be used in the manner specified by the licence. So as long as you follow the simple guidelines above, you can sleep easy at night, knowing you’re safe from any form of legal action relating to image use. View the full article

The most convincing deepfake examples show us how deep learning technology could transform pipelines for filmmakers and 3D artists and greatly reduce manual editing time. But there’s growing concern over the potential abuse of increasingly realistic doctored videos. Deepfakes have already made it into some of our favourite 3D movies, and they are certainly cropping up more and more in the mainstream. Here, we look at eight landmarks in the rise of deepfakes. But first, a bit more info on what deepfakes actually are. What are deepfakes? Deepfakes are so-named because they use deep learning technology, a branch of machine learning that applies neural net simulation to massive data sets, to create a fake. Artificial intelligence effectively learns what a source face looks like at different angles in order to transpose the face onto a target, usually an actor, as if it were a mask. Huge advances came through the application of generative adversarial networks (GANS) to pit two AI algorithms against each other, one creating the fakes and the other grading its efforts, teaching the synthesis engine to make better forgeries. Hollywood has transposed real or fictional faces onto other actors, for example, bringing Peter Cushing back to life in 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, but the technique used complex, expensive pipelines and face-mounted cameras. Simple software tools such as FakeApp and DeepFaceLab have since made a comparable effect available to all. The technology offers interesting possibilities that range from dubbing, improving and repairing video to solving the uncanny valley effect in video games, avoiding actors having to repeat fluffed line, the creation of apps that allow us to try on clothes or hairstyles, and even to train doctors, but many fear it being used for nefarious ends. These are the fakes that have scared people the most so far. 01. Obama’s public service announcement Many of the most convincing deepfakes have been produced using impersonators capable of mimicking the source’s voice and gestures, as seen in this warning produced by BuzzFeed and comedian Jordan Peele using After Effects CC and FakeApp. They pasted Peele’s mouth over Obama’s, replaced the former president’s jawline with one that followed Peele’s mouth movements, then used FakeApp to refine the footage through more than 50 hours of automatic processing. Politicians and celebrities are the most common victims of deepfakes. Less than a year before the above video, University of Washington computer scientists had used neural network AI to model the shape of Obama’s mouth and make it lip synch to audio input. High-profile figures are used because their public profiles provides ample source material for AI to learn from, but with the amount of selfies the average person takes in a lifetime and technological advances, perhaps soon anyone could be used as a source. 02. Nancy Pelosi slowed down This deepfake example is not actually a deepfake but an example of why their potential misuse has become so feared in politics. This really was Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the US House of Representatives, but the video was slowed down by 25 per cent and the pitch was altered to make it seem like she was slurring her words. The video was posted by a Facebook page called Politics Watchdog and was shared widely, including by former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, who tweeted: “What is wrong with Nancy Pelosi? Her speech pattern is bizarre.” Facebook initially refused to remove the clip but said it had reduced its distribution after it was fact checked as false. The post was later deleted but it’s unclear who by. The case illustrates the kind of misuse people fear could be made of tech presented by Stanford University in June that allows audio in a video to be edited as easily as a text document. 03. Zuckerberg speaks frankly In response to Facebook’s refusal to remove the video of Nancy Pelosi, artist Bill Posters posted this on Facebook-owned Instagram in June, showing Mark Zuckerberg boasting of how the platform "owns" its users. Would Facebook react differently when its own founder was being manipulated? The film originally formed part of Posters’ and Daniel Howe’s Spectre piece, commissioned for Sheffield Doc Fest to draw attention to how people can be manipulated by social media. It was made using Israeli startup Canny AI’s VDR (video dialogue replacement) software, which it's promoted with a deepfake singalong starring various world leaders. Instagram didn’t take the Zuckerberg video down, but said it would, “treat this content the same way we treat all misinformation on Instagram. If third-party fact checkers mark it as false, we will filter it.” Posters had flagged it using the hashtag #deepfake. While the video is reasonably convincing on mute, the voice gives it away, showing that a good actor is still needed to make plausible fakes, but with AI voice synthesis already mooted by Lyrebird and Adobe VoCo, it may not be long until passable voices can easily be added to deepfakes. 04. Donald Trump lectures Belgium In the first known case of a political party using a deepfake, Belgium’s Socialistische Partij Anders (sp.a) posted this video on Facebook back in May 2018 showing Trump taunting Belgium for remaining in the Paris climate agreement. With Trump’s hair looking even stranger than usual and the crude movement of the mouth, it’s very clearly fake, and the voiceover says as much, though the final line “We all know that climate change is fake, just like this video,” isn’t subtitled in Flemish, but it was still enough to provoke one user to comment “Trumpy needs to look at his own country with its crazy child killers,” and for sp.a to have to clarify it was fake. A more convincing Trump (below) was created this year by YouTuber Derpfakes, who trained DeepFaceLab to map a composite of Trump’s face over Alec Baldwin’s Saturday Night Live impersonation of the president, showing how far the technology has come in a year. The video has been blocked in the US and Canada. 05. Yang Mi travels in time In February, a video pasting the face of Yang Mi, one of China’s best-known contemporary actors, into 1983 Hong Kong television drama The Legend Of The Condor Heroes went viral, racking up a reported 240 million views before it was removed by Chinese authorities. Its creator, a fan of Yang Mi, issued an apology on microblogging site Weibo and said he’d made the video as a warning to raise awareness of the technology. While it seems likely that there will be an initial backlash against deepfakes from the film and television industry, it’s also possible to see how the industry could eventually embrace the technology and turn it to profit by allowing viewers to play director on home releases through manipulating dialogue, incorporating alternative scenes or even inserting themselves as characters. Expect also to see video games chock-full of celebrity appearances. 06. Salvador Dalí comes back to life Agency GS&P pulled off the kind of headline-grabbing stunt publicity-loving Dalí would surely have appreciated himself when they resurrected the Catalan artist as a charismatic host at the Dalí Museum in Florida. Billed as “art meets artificial intelligence”, Dalí Lives was created by pulling more than 6,000 frames from old video interviews and processing them through 1,000 hours of machine learning to be able to overlay the source onto an actor’s face. The text was composed from a mixture of quotes from interviews and letters with new commentary designed to help visitors emphasise with the artist and relate to his work. The novelty here is that this deepfake is interactive. A total 45 minutes of footage split over 125 videos allows more than 190,000 possible combinations depending on visitor responses and even includes comments on the weather. It finishes with Dalí turning around and snapping a selfie with his audience. Dalí claimed it was unlikely he would ever die, and maybe he was right, because he was brought to life a second time recently by Samsung’s AI lab in Moscow, this time by training AI on landmark facial features from just a handful of images rather than the usual thousands. 07. Gabon’s president shows prompts questions For the moment at least, the majority of deepfakes online are clearly flagged as such and are not intended to fool anyone, usually being played for laughs, for example putting Nicolas Cage in everything ever produced, or for sordid fantasy – it was through fake celebrity porn that the technology first took root. But while there’s been no confirmed case of anyone trying to pass one off as real, one case has been questioned. No one knows quite what to make of this video of Gabon’s president Ali Bongo, who had been absent from the public eye for some time – leading to speculation about his health. This New Year's video address was supposed to lay doubts to rest but backfired due to opposition claims that it was actually a deepfake, allegations that possibly played a role in provoking an attempted military coup. The incident shows that the simple fact that deepfakes exist now means that any video that looks slightly odd could be called into question to sow doubt. It’s a fear that’s being taken seriously enough that the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is investing in research into how to detect fakes, while both China and the US are discussing new legislation. 08. Bill Hader morphs into Pacino and Schwarzenegger Ctrl Shift Face is one of the most prolific creators of deepfakes on YouTube. He’s put Jim Carrey into The Shining and Sylvester Stalone into Terminator 2, but this is one of his most eerie pieces yet, showing former Saturday Night Live star Bill Hader appear to seamlessly transform into the two actors he impersonates during this interview. The change is so subtle you almost don’t notice it happen. Currently, DeepFaceLab, the programme used, can only replace the target’s face below the forehead, but Stanford University has achieved a method of transferring an entire 3D head – the people of Reddit are desperate for the source code – and Heidelberg University has presented a technique that allows a source’s entire body to be mapped onto a target. Shimmer and distortion can be still be a giveaway for now, but with the technology improving all the time, for how much longer will we be able to tell fake from reality? Read more: 35 greatest CGI moments of all time 4 inexplicable CGI decisions in the Cats movie trailer The best 3D modelling software View the full article

Variable fonts enable font designers to define type variations within the font itself, enabling one font file to act like multiple fonts. Standard fonts are grouped into font families that contain multiple separate font files, each representing a different style, for example a light weight or a bold weight. Variable fonts contain all this same information in a single font file. Using Source Sans Pro as an example, the variable version of the font totals approximately 394kb and comes in a wide variety of weights. If we were to use these font weights individually as standard font files, they are, on average, 234kb each – resulting in a combined file size of approximately 1856kb. Of course, this calculation assumes that all the font weights exist individually as a standard font, which they don’t. (Although if you are looking for just regular fonts, check out our post on the best free fonts available.) If we remove the fonts that don’t exist as a standard font, the combined file size is still nearly three times the size of the variable font and with significantly fewer styles. Even if you just wanted the bold and regular versions, common in many web projects, two versions of the standard Source Sans Pro font are still larger than a single variable font. What this demonstrates is that with variable fonts we have the potential to make massive savings on bandwidth without compromising our designs and creativity. A comparison of the file sizes of a range of font weights between the standard and variable version of the font Source Sans Pro Variable fonts work by interpolating the master variations along an axis, essentially constructing new points in-between. This means you could set font weights at arbitrary points along the axis presenting a much larger number of styles and variations. Furthermore, it’s because the variable fonts can be interpolated that we are able to animate between each variation, enabling smooth transitions from say a thin weight to a bold weight – something we have never been able to accomplish before. What makes variable fonts even 
more exciting is that designers aren’t restricted to just a single axis. Variable fonts can contain many different axes representing a range of different styles. This could include condensed, italic, optical size or other more creative or custom options. 01. Understand axes in variable fonts Looking at the interpolation of a variable font across a weight and width axis reveals the range of customisation that’s available Using variable fonts in our CSS is very similar to how we would normally use fonts on the web: using the @font-face at-rule. However, we first need to understand the different types of axes inside a variable font as this determines which CSS properties we make use of. There are two types of axes in a variable font: a registered axis and a custom axis. A registered axis refers to an axis that is common enough that it was worth standardising. There are currently five registered axes; weight, width, slant, italic and optical size and these are often mapped to existing CSS properties, such as font-weight. Custom axes are defined by typeface designers, can be any kind of variation and only require a four-letter identifier within the font file, which can be referred to in CSS. 02. Use a registered axis Weight variations are defined on an axis, from light (200) to black (900) When it comes to a registered axis, we want to make sure we are using any associated CSS properties, for example, font-weight or font-style. We can set up our fonts using the @font-face at-rule as we normally would; the change is in how we define the variations for descriptors like font-weight, font-stretch and font-style. Previously we would have set a font-weight of 200 and defined this as the light version of the font, we’d then set up another font face block for the bold version and the regular version until we had all the weights that were required for the design. With variable fonts, we only need a single font face block. So instead of using multiple instances, we specify a range of values that correspond to the minimum and maximum values that are defined on the font axis. In this example, we set a font weight of 200 to 700. Once our range is defined, we can choose any number within that range as our font weight, for example 658. Importantly if you set your font weight range as 200 to 700 and then try to define a weight of 900, even if the font has a 900 weight defined in its axis you will not be able to use it. The range defines what you have access to in your CSS. 03. Set up custom axes Since no pre-existing CSS properties will exist when using a custom axis, we need to make use of a new CSS property called font-variation-settings. This will enable us to define as many named and custom axes as we need. In the example here, wght refers to the registered axis of weight and INLI refers to a custom axis called inline, each with an associated number value corresponding to a point along the axis of variation. While you can reference a registered axis as a value for font-variation-settings, it is recommended you make use of their mapped CSS properties instead. To ensure support in the older browsers, we can use fallback fonts for unsupported browsers by making use of CSS feature detection. By checking for font-variation-settings support, we can include our variable font styles inside the supports CSS block, ensuring they will only be used in browsers that can support variable fonts – with our standard fonts used in the unsupported browsers. 04. Combine JavaScript and variable fonts Variable fonts enable smooth transitions from, say, a thin to a bold weight; this allows you to create smooth transformations utilising JavaScript variables We can make use of JavaScript events for situations where we want more fine-tuned control or to change the font based on events that we cannot access with CSS alone. A simple example would be matching our font weight to the size of our viewport – as the viewport gets smaller, the font weight gets heavier. In order to create the fluid scale, we must align two sets of values and units –  the font weight and the viewport size. We can access the current viewport width using window.innerWidth and create a new percentage-based scale by converting it to a range of 0–0.99. By including the minimum and maximum viewport sizes we can control the range of the effect. We then determine the font weight based on our viewport size. Using CSS custom properties, we can use our JavaScript value to update the font weight in our CSS. When this is combined into a function and attached to the resize event listener, we can update the font weight based on the new size of the window. With this basic approach, we’re able to modify our typography based on all manner of events and experiences. Where the viewport is wide we can have more detail; conversely, when it’s smaller and in a more confined space, we might look at reducing the font width or increasing the weight, providing better control of our content and typography in terms of legibility, usability and design. You can view the code for this on CodePen. This article was originally published in issue 318 of net, the world's best-selling magazine for web designers and developers. Subscribe to net here. Discover more about variable fonts at Generate CSS In her talk at Generate CSS, the focused CSS conference for web designers taking place on 26 September 2019 at Rich Mix, London, Bianca Berning will explore how variable fonts can create new opportunities for the written word within traditional media as well as new, immersive experiences, such as AR, VR, and mixed reality. If you want to catch this and other great talks, it's worth snapping up your tickets now. If you grab yours before by 5pm UTC on 15 August, you can save £50, paying just £199 + VAT. Buy your ticket now! Related articles: 3 ways tech is changing type Get started with variable fonts in CSS Transform your type online with variable fonts View the full article

Comprehensive testing of 21 free Android antivirus apps revealed big security vulnerabilities and privacy concerns; especially for AEGISLAB, BullGuard, dfndr and VIPRE. View the full article

When it comes to sharing the best free fonts we've discovered online, we usually like to bring you the most visually appealing sets. This isn't the case with Ugly Gerry though. As its name suggests, the font is unsightly. In fact it's downright grotesque. However Ugly Gerry looks bad deliberately because it's inspired by the equally unappealing practice of gerrymandering. If you're not down with the political lingo, gerrymandering is the process by which political parties manipulate district boundaries in order to win a numeric victory over the opposition. It's can be a difficult concept to get your head around, but all you need to know is that many people consider it a blight on the political system. It's fitting then that the ugly process has lead to the creation of an ugly font. Created by Ben Doessel and James Lee, Ugly Gerry uses the shape of gerrymandered US districts to form letters. Check out some of the letters in the gallery below. "After seeing how janky our Illinois 4th district had become, we became interested in this issue,” said the Ugly Gerry team in a press statement. "We noticed our district's vague, but shaky U-shape, then after seeing other letters on the map, the idea hit us, let's create a typeface so our districts can become digital graffiti that voters and politicians can’t ignore." Not all of the letters were easy to create. For some, Doessel and Lee were forced to combine two different districts, although this seems weirdly in-keeping with the boundary-blurring political process they're attacking. So while Ugly Gerry might not be the most attractive font you'll ever see, it does highlight a problematic issue beautifully. Its creators also explain in the font's Twitter bio that they want people to use Ugly Gerry to tell congress "how happy you are your vote doesn't matter". If this sounds like something you want to get involved with, you can download Ugly Gerry for free, and tweet your representatives about it for good measure. Related articles: Font vs typeface: the ultimate guide Font types: A designer's guide IKEA's free typeface is the 'comfiest font ever' View the full article

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The Nike Swoosh is one of the world's most recognisable logos. To celebrate the legacy of this iconic piece of branding, Nike recently released a trio of new footwear ranges that feature different versions of the tick-shaped design. It's also worked with nine animators to pay homage to the Swoosh. The shoes have been released alongside Foot Locker Inc as part of a collection called The Evolution of the Swoosh. In our guide to logo design we looked at how the Swoosh's simplicity is the secret to its enduring success, so it makes sense to revisit classic iterations for this range. And when you consider that the designer of the Swoosh, graphic design student Carolyn Davidson, was only paid $35 for her logo idea back in 1971, it looks like Nike has made a significant return on her work. As for the shoes in the new range, they include the Script Swoosh, Sunburst, and Swoosh Chain 'packs'. As its name suggest, the script pack features Davidson's hand-drawn Swoosh. Meanwhile the Sunburst shoes sport a circular variation of the Swoosh that appeared on apparel. Finally, the Swoosh Chain sneakers are decked out with little interlinking Swooshes. Take a look at them in the gallery below. Nine animators at the Portland-based agency One Hundred were also called upon to promote the impact of the Swoosh in their own distinctive art styles. These include cult animators such as Mason London (aka Joe Pyrtherch), as well as Tiago Majuelos, Julian Glander, and Drew Tyndell. Take a look at how they interpreted the Swoosh in the looping animations below. It's worth noting that these clips interpret popular trainers such as the Air Max 97, the React Element 55, and the Nike Air Force 1, all of which are part of the Evolution of the Swoosh collection. The Swoosh isn't the only successful piece of Nike branding, either. Earlier this year its tagline, 'just do it', was voted the most memorable brand slogan. So clearly Nike knows how to make a lasting impression with customers. Related articles: 45 free retro fonts How to reawaken a brand's heritage 5 brands that hit nostalgia hard View the full article