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Us by Night is unique among creative events, not least because – as the title suggests – it's a nocturnal affair. After all, who wants to stumble into a conference centre early in the morning, bleary-eyed, when you could instead enjoy talks, networking and entertainment in the much more civilised evening? Taking place in Antwerp, Belgium between 26 and 28 September, Us by Night features an arcade, a night market, a delicious selection of local food, and the extraordinary delights of fluorescent ping-pong. But of course, the main reason to head to Us by Night are the inspirational speakers, and one of the top attractions this year will be the return of Tyrsa. Who is Tyrsa? Tyrsa, aka Alexis Taïeb, first discovered graffiti in 1999, and fell in love. But unlike other graffiti enthusiasts, he decided not to pursue the route of 'pure artist', but instead went to study design and typography at the Gobelins School of Visual Communication and Arts in Paris. Since graduating in 2007, Tyrsa carved out a rich and successful career as a freelance designer, with work ranging from murals, logos, posters and installations to packaging designs. His distinctive, hand-crafted typography has won him countless fans, and clients including Nike, Carhartt, Louis Vuitton, Timberland, Foot Locker, Issey Miyake and Childish Gambino. We caught up with Tyrsa to find out what he'll be talking about at Us by Night, and why no one should miss it. What will your talk at Us by Night be about? 9.50 x 8.3m mural by Tyrsa for the Mr Freeze festival in Toulouse, France Firstly, I should mention that I did a talk at Us by Night three years ago. But anyone who saw that should know that my 2019 talk is going to be pretty different. I'll be discussing my work, of course, but I want to provide a perspective on it that can help people think about their own designs in a different way. I don’t like talks at creative events where it’s just people showing their portfolio and going through each project, one by one. After all, if you want to look at my work, you can go onto my website and just check out my portfolio! Instead, I'm not just going to show the finished work, but also stuff from behind the scenes, to show how each project developed from start to finish. And I want to talk about the mistakes I made and the things that went wrong, as well as the things that went right. I think you can learn a lot more from that than just hearing about people’s successes. Your style is pretty distinctive - how would you describe it? Well, I started in graffiti and moved into typography, so I brought that street style and energy into my work in a way that seems to connect with people. But of course, I know that I’m not the only person who’s followed this path. So I think one thing that helps make my work distinctive and different is that it’s underpinned by a proper understanding of the fundamental principles of typography, which I taught myself. In other words, it’s not just cool-looking lettering, it really follows the function of typography in an organised manner and I try to always do something appropriate to each project, each client. Also, I’m always trying to take in new influences and develop my work, so it doesn’t stay looking the same but constantly evolves and improves over time. You've done a lot of work for Childish Gambino, can you tell us a little about that? After a rocky start, Tyrsa has established a strong working relationship with Childish Gambino I've been working with Childish Gambino's team for about three years. In the beginning, I was working on an album cover, which was originally titled “Operation High Jump”. I spent months working on getting type lettering for the title right. They were happy with what I’d done, but then at the last minute they decided to change the name of the album to "Awaken, My Love". That was very frustrating after I’d done so much work on it! But we continued to work together, and I went on to design for other covers, merchandise, a wordmark, and typography for the ‘This is America’ music video. So it’s worked out really well in the long term. I'd say that we’ve reached a point in our relationship where we know each other and understand each other’s perspective so well. So when they need something, they know I can create something they’ll be happy with. What else have you been working on lately? Art-directing the food court of the new Galeries Lafayette concept store has been Tyrsa's biggest project to date In the last year, I’ve been working on my biggest project to date, art-directing the design of the food court of the new Galeries Lafayette concept store, on the famous Champs-Élysées avenue in Paris. This has been a big challenge, because it’s a huge area, with 10 different food stands, and each restaurant already has its own branding and identity. My job was to reinterpret each identities into a broader general branding, so there was an overall look and feel to the place as a whole. I also did individual, two-metre tall illustrations for each of them, using mosaics, plus there's a lot of neon, a lot of signage... I’ve designed all of this, and it's been great because the client has given me a lot of freedom in how to approach it artistically. How do you see your career developing in future? I don’t have specific plans, to be honest. I just want to keep working and evolving my style. If you make too many plans, I think it just closes off a lot of potential opportunities to do new things and to grow. And really, I just feel blessed to be doing what I’m doing. My parents were very unhappy with me doing graffiti originally, so every day I feel blessed that I can work as a designer and keep creating cool new things. And will you keep coming back to Us by Night? Typography by Tyrsa for the Childish Gambino movie Guava Island I certainly will! This will be my fourth time at Us by Night, in fact. As I said, I did a talk three years ago, and for the last two times I did a mural there. I really love the event: it has a great atmosphere and it’s such a great opportunity to meet other creative people and get inspired by them and their work... whether that’s photographers, designers, artists or whoever. In fact, I think that if they carry on doing Us by Night for the next 20 years, I’ll want to go to every single one. Us By Night takes place at Antwerp, Belgium from Thu, Sep 26, 2019 – Sat, Sep 28, 2019. Don't miss out: buy your tickets now! View the full article

You're reading Free Generators for Web Designers and Developers, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook! Are you looking for a way to ditch the routine and have more time for art and creativity? The harsh reality is that every project involves boring, mundane tasks that need to be done. But it does not mean that … View the full article

Working as a creative professional undoubtedly means, over time, you will build a library of design assets, which is invaluable if you're short on time. If you need to add to that collection but are on a tight deadline, thankfully there are many resources offering ready-made design elements like icons, vector graphics, and stock images to help ease the pressure. But with so design assets now on offer, it can be confusing to find the best when it comes to quality and value for money. Luckily, there are reputable sites ready to supply you with high-quality design assets without breaking the bank. So, whether you're on the hunt for eye-catching imagery or unique icons, these top design asset repositories will deliver what you need. 01. StockUnlimited Vector Plan If you're on the hunt for quality stock vector graphics and clipart, StockUnlimited is a great place to start. A subscription gains you access to over half-a-million premium vector designs (with fresh designs added monthly), all of which are royalty-free for commercial and personal use. Its collection only comprises of exclusive one-of-a-kind, quality content that you won't be able to find in other sites. You're also given the freedom to download anything you wish an unlimited number of times, allowing you to use the assets in a variety of projects. Grab a lifetime subscription, on sale for $34.99. 02. EpicPxls Design Assets Premium Plan Cut the time you spend toiling away on projects with the assets you collect from EpicPxls. The site offers a slew of premium curated fonts, graphics, templates, mobile app designs, and more to help aid your creative workflow. The subscription affords you 20 downloads on premium items each month, for life. Grab a lifetime subscription, on sale for $49. 03. Storeshock WordPress Themes & Elements Who says you have to learn code to create stunning websites? Storeshock boasts a myriad of WordPress themes and elements like plugins and web packages to streamline the site-building process. Upon signing up, you'll immediately receive lifetime access to more than $50k worth of premium products. Indulge yourself in thousands of web elements to get your dream site into fruition. Your subscription even includes a drag-and-drop page builder so you can create your website even faster. Grab a lifetime subscription, on sale for $59. 04. Icon54: Unlimited Membership Icon54 is the place to go for line and glyph vector icons. Drawn by hand and approved by top designers, their array of assets nets you 5,000 unique icons in over 100 different categories ranging from web and apps use to iOS and Android use. Each icon is designed to precision on a grid system, and you can easily customise them to suit your needs using your preferred design software. Plus, each icon comes in line and solid versions, giving you double the options. Grab a lifetime subscription, on sale for $19. 05. The Stock Photo Mega Bundle: 80,000+ images Stock imagery is a handy addition to have in your designer toolkit, and with the Stock Photo Mega Bundle, you can get access to a rich library of over 80,000 royalty-free stock images, for more than 750 diverse themes, niches, and categories spanning nature, travel, lifestyle, and more. Plus, not only will you be supplied with images, but you'll also get drone video footage, animated motion backgrounds, and premium cinemagraphs to bring your projects to life. Grab a lifetime subscription, on sale for $29.99. Related articles: 15 essential tools for graphic designers in 2019 The best laptops for graphic design 10 of the best 4K monitors for designers View the full article

Apps that change your face are all the rage at the minute. From animal filters to tools that make you look thirty years older, there's no shortage of portraiture fun to be had. But the site AI Portraits Ars goes further than other photo editing apps by completely redesigning your face, and shows you what you would look like as a Renaissance painting. The results are truly stunning, and have taken social media by storm as people upload their photos to see what they would look like if they were painted by Rembrandt, Caravaggio or Titian. And if you want to have a go, it's really simple. Just take a selfie, save it to your device, then head over to AI Portraits Ars. All you have to do then is upload your photo, and let the website work its magic. (We say magic, we really mean extremely complicated Generative Adversarial Network models that can reproduce portraits with different styles and levels of abstraction.) We gave it a go in the office, and here's a taste of how AI Portraits Ars can transform a photo into a classical piece of art. What do you mean "he's no oil painting"? Part of the appeal with AI Portraits Ars is that you have no control over the process. The 4K resolution portraits are redesigned by the GAN models, which use data from the photo to decide on a style. If you don't like the result, tough. This also means that AI Portraits Ars is more sophisticated than your bog-standard app, which likely uses a style transfer edit. "In style transfer, there is usually a strong alteration of colors, but the features of the photo remain unchanged," the site explains. "AI Portraits Ars creates new forms, beyond altering the style of an existing photo." Just take a look at the incredible work it's capable of: And before you attack AI Portraits Ars for merely being a front for data harvesting, relax. The site's privacy policy explains that you can upload your photo without having to worry about it being passed on. "Your photos are sent to our servers to generate portraits," it says. "We won’t use data from your photos for any other purpose and we'll immediately delete them." So what are you waiting for, head on over and see how you'd look if you were painted by a Renaissance artist. And if you want to have a go at image editing yourself, check out our guide to the best digital art software available right now. Related articles: How to find your art style 10 apps for endless design inspiration Tackle portrait painting with oils View the full article

It's been a big weekend for Marvel. Not only did Avengers: Endgame overtake Avatar to become the highest-grossing film of all time, but at last weekend's San Diego Comic Con the studio announced a glut of new films, series and animations for fans to look forward to over the coming years. And to give audiences a taste of what to expect from these upcoming titles, Marvel also revealed their accompanying logos. These include a thunderously retro logo for Thor: Love and Thunder, and a Stranger Things-esque design for Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness. But perhaps the most notable identity is the unashamedly chaotic look for the Disney + series, Loki, which throws out of the window everything you need to know about logo design. Check it out below, but you might want to brace yourself first. Okay. Deep breaths. Just remember that Marvel Studios is a massive entertainment company so they know what they're doing with this logo. To a designer with no interest in Loki or the Marvel Cinematic Universe though, this identity sure looks like a ransom note written in WordArt. But perhaps the logo makes some sort of sense when you consider that Loki is based on the Norse god of mischief. So what better way to represent a troublesome god than with a logo that flies in the face of typographic convention and the principles of good design? You could even argue that, given the circumstances, the Loki logo is so bad it's good. However social media, with it's knee-jerk reactions and hyperbolic opinions, has been less patient with the Loki logo. Plenty of people even suggested that Marvel Studios use a popular fan logo designed by BossLogic. Whatever your feelings on the logo, there's no denying that it's an unforgettable design. If we were to try and defend it, we'd say good on Marvel Studios for daring to try and do something different. The MCU is a franchise that's pretty much printing its own money at this point, so at least they didn't let themselves go stale. And perhaps the studio felt it could be more creative with this logo because it's for a Disney + series, not a fully fledged film. The other logos for Phase 4 (that's what Marvel calls the next batch of releases) were all uploaded individually on the Marvel Studios Twitter page. But you can take a look at them all in one handy image courtesy of this post by Logo Geek. Which is your favourite? Related articles: Marvel reveals new X-Men logo Scantily clad Marvel heroes subvert the pin-up genre Captain Marvel website is a beautiful '90s mess View the full article

Getting a web banner designed professionally can give your brand that much needed ‘sparkle’ to stand out in the mad clutter of cyberspace. But enlisting the services of a design studio can prove costly and frustrating – after all – nobody knows your brand quite as well as you do. Adobe Stock provides all the tools you need for the best of both worlds, a quick and easy solution that doesn’t cost a lot of money. In this tutorial you will learn how to use one of Adobe Stock’s professionally designed templates to create your own personalised web banner, populated with stock images from its extensive library. 01. Choose a document template The New Document window presents lots of options for different document types as well as a selection of stock templates Open Photoshop CC and create a new document. For these banners I used one of the free templates made available in Adobe Photoshop CC, but you can browse the Adobe Stock website for a wider variety of options. Click on the ‘Web’ tab in the New Document window and scroll down to the ‘Modern Web banner Layout’. This template presents a simple and clean layout, allowing plenty of space for words and images. Double-click on the template or on the Download button in the bottom corner. This will make the template available in your New Document window. Open the template in Photoshop CC. This file uses the typeface ‘Roboto Slab’ for all of the text. If this is missing from your computer then a window will open letting you resolve the missing font issue with Adobe Typekit, available to all Creative Cloud subscriptions. The canvas contains four banners in basic display advert sizes, which are written above the top edge of each artboard. Pick one to work on and perfect that design before applying it to any others. It’s possible that you have different size requirements for a specific website. You can change the dimensions of the artboard in the Properties panel or by clicking on the artboard in the Layers panel and using the Move tool to drag the corner points. Some of the layers will need to be resized to account for these changes. 02. Add your own text The Character tab lets you switch your typeface and adjust your text size, leading and kerning Each layer is named and grouped to make it easier for you to edit. Use the Type tool to click into text boxes and insert your copy. If you already have your own logo you may want to insert a graphic into the document to replace the top two layers, which currently read ‘Company Name Here’. You can do this by clicking their eye icon off in the Layers panel or simply deleting the layer. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different typefaces, especially if your company has its own brand guidelines. I used a combination of 'Brush Script Std' and 'Adobe Caslon Pro' to add style to my company name ‘Sweet Dreams’. Use the Character panel to adjust the size, leading and kerning of your text to fill the space, focusing on making the text as readable as possible. 03. Experiment with images Search for images in the Library panel, then drag them into the canvas for low-res versions This document uses smart layers for image placement, allowing nondestructive editing of the layer while preserving the original image data. You can access the smart layer source file by double-clicking on the layer thumbnail or through Layer > Smart Objects > Edit Contents, which opens the file in a new window. It’s possible that you already have a selection of your own images to use, but it is unlikely you can match the quality and variety of Adobe Stock’s library. I used the image search function in the Library panel to browse for images of cakes, breads and tarts, without ever having to leave the app window. You can test low-res versions directly on your design, by dragging them into the canvas, before making any final decisions to purchase. When I was happy with my choices I right-clicked on them and licensed them, making high-res versions available. If you have already placed these images into your file, simply right-click on the image thumbnail and select ‘Update Modified Content’. 04. Personalise the style It's hard to predict how different blending modes will affect your image, so it can be worth trying them all out With all the content in place it’s time to transform the banner into something that really sings of your own style. Start by changing the background. Under the group labelled ‘Background Options’ you can edit both the colour and texture of the background (from three textures supplied). I chose a punchy magenta that would stand out in digital format, but you may have your own brand colours or prefer to use the eyedropper to pick a colour from one of the images. I chose the Marble Texture and switched it to a Divide blend mode. It may be worth experimenting with other blend modes as they can often lead to unpredictable results. If you have more specific textures in mind, you can always import your own images and experiment with different blending modes and opacities. Edit the other elements, in this case the text and button, to complement the colours you have already chosen. I don’t like to confuse a design with too many colours so I stuck with a simple scheme of magenta, white and black. 05. Save and export Exporting artboards is a little different from saving normal Photoshop documents, but the Artboards To Files option makes it a simple task Save the document in .psd format. The file will already be RGB and ready for digital platforms. To export one of the artboards, without the surrounding pasteboard, go to Export > Artboards to Files. After designating a file name and destination, you get the option to export all artboards or just the one selected. Change the filetype to jpg and turn the quality up to 12 in the Export options. Then press Run and upload the finished banner to its desired location. View the full article

When you're stuck in a creative rut and searching for inspiration, your first port of call is usually the web. But if you subscribe to Netflix, you may be missing a trick. The streaming video service is packed with inspiring documentaries on all kinds of creative subjects, ideal for helping resurrect your mojo and give you fresh ideas and inspiration. The only problem is that there's such a huge amount of content on Netflix (much of it mundane) that the best stuff can get lost in the mix. So we've done the work for you and unearthed the best creative documentaries available to watch on the world's favourite streaming platform right now. Remember that the best shows don't always stay on Netflix forever, though, so catch them while you can! Not available in your territory? Use one of the best VPNs to access foreign Netflix catalogues. 01. Abstract: The Art of Design Illustrator Christoph Niemann is one of eight leading creatives profiled in this groundbreaking docu-series Created by former Wired editor-in-chief Scott Dadich, docu-series Abstract: The Art of Design offers eight standalone profiles of prominent designers and creatives. Each is around 40 minutes long, lavishly shot and beautifully edited. And even if you don't think you'll be interested in the individual profiled, you soon get sucked into their world. It's not just an exercise in backslapping, either. There's a great deal of insight and information along the way, as each creative reveals their process and the challenges they face in their work. In short, if you watch one Netflix show this year, make it this one. The first season, which first aired in 2017, profiles graphic designer Paula Scher, illustrator Christoph Niemann, Nike shoe designer Tinker Hatfield, stage designer Es Devlin, architect Bjarke Ingels, automotive designer Ralph Gilles, photographer Platon, and interior designer Ilse Crawford. 02. The Creative Brain Canadian singer and visual artist Grimes is among the interviewees sharing her thoughts about creativity We'd all like to be more creative and productive in our work, but often struggle to do so in practice. The Creative Brain is an insightful 52-minute documentary aims to help us find a way forward. Neuroscientist and best-selling author David Eagleman takes as its starting point the idea that "Creativity doesn't mean creating something out of nothing. It means refashioning something that already exists." To find out how that works in reality, he meets accomplished professionals from across the creative spectrum - from pottery to nanotechnology – and tries to unravel their creative process in a way that makes logical sense. The results are truly fascinating, and will make you think about your graphic design work in a whole new way. 03. Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things This documentary uncovers the social and cultural forces behind the minimalism trend Right now, minimalism is a huge trend in graphic design, from app interfaces to logos. But what's minimalism really about, and how can you make it enhance your creative ideas, rather than just make them look like everything else? Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things is a 2016 documentary by Matt D'Avella examines the roots of minimalism as a reaction to modern consumerism and media overload, and how it's let to new movements such as decluttering and simplified ways of living. It's important to note that this documentary, which runs to 1 hour 18 minutes, doesn't actually talk about the use of minimalism in graphic design. But it will help you reach a deeper understanding of where the minimalism trend comes from and why it has a cultural resonance in today's society. 04. Jeremy Scott: The People's Designer Showcasing the life and work of an iconic fashion designer, this documentary has a lot to say about the creative process Directed by Vlad Yudin and running at one hour 48 minutes, Jeremy Scott: The People's Designer is a documentary movie showcases the life and work of American fashion designer Jeremy Scott. Known for his designs for Adidas and Moschino, Scott has also worked with countless celebrities, and many of them contribute here including Miley Cyrus, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Rita Ora, and Paris and Nicky Hilton. Charting his journey from humble roots on a Missouri farm to creative director of Moschino, this 2015 documentary highlights the fact that despite his success, Scott's designs have had mixed reviews throughout his career, a fact that clearly irks him. It's a fascinating reminder that however good you are, every designer has to deal with criticism and people who don't understand your work. 05. Floyd Norman: An Animated Life There's a lot we can learn from the first African-American animator to work for Disney Now 83 years old, Floyd Norman is an American animator, writer, and comic book artist who's worked for pretty much every big player in the business, including Disney, Pixar and Hanna-Barbera. In 1956, he became Disney's first-ever African-American animator. Then after founder Walt Disney's death, he left to start his own company, which produced black history films for high schools. This intriguing documentary, Floyd Norman: An Animated Life, was made in 2016 and charts how Norman continues to impact the industry and battle ageism. Running at 1 hour 34 minutes, it's an incredible story of a man who comes across as humble yet charming, incredibly creative yet unassuming and underappreciated: an inspiration, in short, for us all. 06. Struggle: The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski Stanislav Szukalski's story shows that fame and recognition for your work doesn't always follow a linear path Never heard of Stanislav Szukalski? Nope, neither had we, and that's kind of the point of Netflix Original documentary Struggle: The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski. Its starting point is 1968, when pop culture collector Glenn Bray, who had an interest in surrealist art, discovered an unusual book featuring the art of Szukalski. He delighted in showing its drawings and photos of sculptures to his circle of friends in the underground art comic world, including Robert and Suzanne Williams and George DiCaprio, who found the forgotten Polish master's vision far ahead of its time. Then a few years later, Bray discovered this "lost genius" was not only still alive, but living in the same area code. Offering an eye-opening look at how history can stand in the way of true creative genius in one generation, then reveal it dramatically in the next, this documentary is quite riveting. Running at 1 hour 45 minutes, the film makes you really think, especially about what creative legacy you might leave yourself. 07. I am Sun Mu Sun Mu is truly putting his life on the line with his provocative, political work Many graphic designers like to describe their work as "edgy" and "risky". Well, just to put that in perspective, here's the captivating story of someone who really does risk everything for their work. Sun Mu worked as a propaganda artist in North Korea before fleeing to South Korea in the 1990s. Today, he creates satirical art about Kim Jong Il's regime that parodies the propaganda style he was once tasked with creating. In 2014, he embarked on what many saw as a risky move: a solo exhibition of his work in China, North Korea's greatest ally. Documentary film I am Sun Mu, which runs to 1 hour 27 minutes, follows events as Mu prepares his show undercover, before an unexpected turn of events puts him and his friends and family in danger. 08. The Toys that Made Us This doc takes a deep dive into the design of our most beloved toys Many of us found our first real appreciation for design – albeit a subconscious one – through interaction with our childhood toys. It's a love which often sticks with us throughout our lives. And so quirky docu-series The Toys that Made Us, which looks at the creation of some of the world's most iconic toy franchises, is a great way to think about design in a way that's both nostalgic and familiar, and provides new insights into what goes into crafting a classic. Its 40-50 minute long episodes investigate everything from Star Trek and Transformers to LEGO and Hello Kitty. In doing so, this series goes beyond the superficial and really digs into how toys are conceived, designed and made. 09. The 100 Years Show You can still be creative at 100, and here's the proof Feeling like you haven't had the career success you deserve? Well, there's still time, and here's a great example of how it's possible to get recognition for your work late in life. Born in Cuba in 1915, artist Carmen Herrera sold her first piece aged 84, and held her first solo exhibition at 89. Her abstract and minimalist art has since brought her international recognition, and this documentary was made to celebrate her 100th birthday in 2015. Directed by Alison Klayman, 29-minute documentary The 100 Years Show celebrates a "fame that literally took a lifetime to happen”. An excellent watch that will inspire creatives of all stripes and all ages. 10. The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman's Portrait Photography Elsa Dorfman's story is at turns uplifting, enlightening and entertaining It's not always the most famous creatives who make the best documentary subjects; sometimes it's quite the reverse. And that's definitely the case with 2016 documentary The B-Side. Directed by Errol Morris, it explores the life and career of his friend Elsa Dorfman, a Polaroid photographer. This 80-year-old woman comes across as warm, charming, insightful and inspirational, as she reminisces about her photography career, publishing, feminism, friendship with Allen Ginsberg, and more. The fact that you probably don't know anything about Dorfman makes the story of her life all the more compelling, and Morris brings it all together in a way that keeps up the pace and remains captivating throughout its one hour 16 minute length. Read more: 5 podcasts every freelancer should listen to The 10 best 3D movies of 2019 5 logo redesigns that got it right View the full article

Visual builders have existed for a long time for WordPress, but have always caused division with their use. Most had significant drawbacks in terms of page speed and the code that they generate, and more often than not the drag and drop blocks in the editing screen were not a realistic representation of the final result. On the other hand, sometimes you just want to be able to design and prototype quickly without having to write code. Using the pagebuilder plugin Elementor with the right setup, WordPress can be converted into a minimalistic visual website builder, almost independent of the theme, that wields an array of settings, allowing you to create complex designs with ease. Using the Twenty Nineteen default WordPress theme, you can build a ready-to-use canvas that can be used to prototype or build production-ready WordPress websites. With this canvas, we will make a simple page with two sections and a contact form. We will make the web page mobile-friendly, and using two plugins, we will address the main concern with using a visual builder and minimise the page’s already minimal load time. Use the icon in the top right of each image to enlarge it The best WordPress hosting services in 2019 01. Install a copy of WordPress To kick things off, install a copy of WordPress on the system you are using. We are using a program called Laragon which offers a quick install option to create an instance on my machine. 02. Remove the parts you don’t need Give yourself a clutter-free page to work with Head over to plugins, and delete everything that comes bundled with WordPress. At the time of writing, it will streamline our efforts to install the ‘Classic Editor’ plugin to disable the new Gutenburg editor. To reduce clutter, we should also go to Appearance > Widgets and remove all widgets. 03. Pick a theme with a header and footer The only part of the theme we will use is the header and footer – everything else will be stripped back. We will be using the default Twenty Nineteen theme, and will show you some quick alterations to make it look sharp. When using Elementor, the less the theme does the better. 04. Install Elementor and create a page You'll find Elementor in the WordPress plugins library Use the WordPress plugin search to find Elementor and install it. Once installed and activated, create a new page. Name the new page ‘Home’ and save it as a draft so that it exists in the database. Click ‘Edit in Elementor.’ This will load the Elementor visual builder. 05. Full width the page Looking at the page, it’s constrained to the boxed layout of our theme. To disable this, click the cog at the bottom left of the Elementor editor and change ‘page layout’ to ‘Elementor Full Width’. If you are making a website without many pages, you might consider the ‘Elementor Canvas’ option, which removes the header and footer too. 06. Add some content Give yourself some content to work with Now that we have a blank page, we should give ourselves something to work with. Click on the Elementor grid icon at the top right of the editor to see all available elements. A header block and text block are added by dragging these into the middle of the page. These two elements will help us style our typography. 07. Remove heading lines You may notice when using the Twenty Nineteen theme that a line is rendered above all headings. Let’s remove that using the WordPress customise tool. While we’re here, I will also add a logo in the site identity settings and some menu items. 08. Fix the content width Ensure the content lines up with the header Our content section doesn’t quite line up with the header. This is because Twenty Nineteen uses a calculated margin to set the width of the header and footer. We can replicate this on our Elementor sections for consistency with some CSS. We should also increase the content width in the main Elementor settings page. 09. Make an opening section Drag in the elements you want to include We’ll start with the top section of the page, which will contain a small amount of text and an image. Delete our section from earlier and replace it with a new two-column section by clicking the red plus. Drag in a header, a text editor and a button to the left column. On the right we’ll drag in an image. 10. Add a background Select the section either by hovering over it and clicking the blue tab, or using the navigator at the bottom right of the Elementor buttons. You will see three tabs – layout, style and advanced. Using the layout tab, give our section a height of 80vh. Select Style to find the options, and use the background option to set a background of #0073aa. 11. Style the text You can change the font for your whole document in one go To change the font for our entire document, we can click on ‘Default fonts’ in the hamburger menu at the top of the Elementor bar. You can also click on your individual text elements and use the Style tab to change colour and other options. 12. Use a background overlay effect A great addition is the ability to quickly add background overlays from the section style tab. Select our section and go to the background tab. Give our background an image to give it texture, then go to ‘Background overlay’, the dropdown below, and select a gradient background overlay. 13. Create a call to action The second section of our page will be a call to action section. We will embed Contact Form 7, but anything that can generate a shortcode will work. Make a new section with two columns, or right click on our last section and duplicate it. Install your contact form plugin and generate the shortcode for your form. In the right column, drag in a shortcode widget and paste the shortcode into the box. 14. Mobile friendly Don't forget to tweak your design for mobile To access mobile options for our page, you will need to turn on ‘Responsive options’ at the bottom of the Elementor panel. By selecting ‘Mobile’ mode, we can see that our sections will need some padding. Using the mobile option, which you can check by making sure there is a blue icon next to each setting, our choices will not affect the main desktop view. However, any layout changes made in this mode will affect the desktop view. 15. Optimise images To minimise page load speed concerns, we should run an image compression. This can be done through a plugin or through your web server. For now, let’s use a popular plugin, EWWW image optimiser, to set a maximum quality and width for our images, and then run an optimisation. 16. Cache pages to boost performance Make your site lightning-fast with help from a cache plugin Finally, we will install a cache plugin to maximise load times for our page. There are many cache plugins out there, but currently, Cache Enabler is low profile and works well with this setup. With the cache enabled, the website loads quickly. It also has a fully functional visual builder in the background. It’s the perfect fast-working blank canvas for you to design on. Join us on 26 September for Generate CSS, a bespoke conference for web designers brought to you by Creative Bloq, net and Web Designer. Save £50 with an Early Bird Ticket when you book before 15 August 2019. This article was originally published in creative web design magazine Web Designer. Buy issue 287 or subscribe. Read more: 40 brilliant WordPress tutorials Use WordPress as a headless CMS What’s new in WordPress 5.0? View the full article

It probably won’t surprise you to know that the creative industry is full of shy and introverted people; we’re all familiar with the idea of the quiet artist, beavering away studiously in the corner. But there are two things you might not be aware of. Firstly, although the terms are often used interchangeability, shyness and introversion are not the same thing. An introverted person finds social activity tiring, and craves periods of solitude to recover (as opposed to an extroverted person, whose energy rises when being actively social). But that doesn’t necessarily mean they lack confidence: so it’s possible, for example, to be a shy extrovert, or a confident introvert. A second thing you might not be aware of, if you’re a shy and/or introverted creative planning to go freelance, is that you’re in good company. It might not seem like it, but many of the most successful people in our industry are in exactly the same boat. Even if it doesn't show in their portfolios (see our favourite design portfolio examples and see if you can guess who's an introvert). But how do you promote yourself, if the mere idea of learning how to network or selling your services to strangers makes you want to crawl up into a ball? Clients enjoy someone who actually listens to them when they talk, and introverts are most of the time very good at listening to people Mylène Boyrie First of all, you should realise that introversion or shyness can be beneficial to your creative life. As freelance designer Mylène Boyrie points out: “Clients enjoy someone who actually listens to them when they talk, and introverts are most of the time very good at listening to people. If you take advantage of this, it helps you to better understand the clients' personalities and how you’re going to communicate effectively with them.” In this post, we speak to a range of freelance creatives who’ve felt daunted by self-promotion, hear about their experiences, and get their top tips for breaking out of the self-promo panic. 01. Pursue personal projects Cerberus is a series of images championing three great sportswomen and was a personal project collaboration by photographer Philip Haynes and designer Craig Minchington Award-winning designer Craig Minchington has suffered from social anxiety throughout his freelance career, and speaks openly and thoughtfully about his mental health challenges on his Medium blog. “Anxiety can make everything difficult, and can be crippling at times,” he tells us. “And as a freelancer, it often makes it difficult to deal with self-promotion. Things like networking events and meet-and-greets, making yourself known face-to-face, or cold-calling studios can be gut-wrenching and exhausting. I certainly wasn’t up to facing that at first. So I looked in to alternative ways to promote myself.” One strategy he found useful was to focus producing personal projects or collaborations. “Think about it,” he says. “You have new work to show off, and it’s often your best stuff because it’s what you want to be creating and you’re excited to show it to the world. “You can produce and promote it all from a comfortable place, at home, via social media channels, or if you collaborated on the work then your partner in crime can help promote it too.” 02. Set yourself goals Work for O2 by Craig Minchington, covering web, animation and art direction Another way that Minchington often promotes himself is to make tailored portfolios and send them out to contacts. “These can be people you know, peers you have made over the internet, or people you have searched out online,” he explains. “Do you want to have your work seen by the creative director from XBox? Then jump on LinkedIn and take the time to find the right people to send work to. If there is a studio you love, then don’t send a portfolio to their generic ‘Hello@example.com’ email address; give them a call and ask for the best person to send an email through to. People are generally nice and will often look to help you out.” Of course, a lack of confidence can hold you back in doing these things effectively. “I used to start all my emails with an apology, like I was taking up their time,” he recalls. “Something like ‘Sorry for bothering but was hoping that if you had a second you may take the time to look at my portfolio”….what the hell is that? So remember that you went freelance because you feel that your work offers something to the world; if not why are you doing it? You need to wear that confidence, just don’t be arrogant.” Most importantly, he stresses, don’t expect instant results. “It is unlikely that you’ll officially stick your ‘freelance’ flag pole in to the ground and that second work will start flying in,” he notes. “So have a plan of what you would like to achieve, how you’re going to go about getting work, and what you’ll do if you don’t get anything for a little while. Have a passion project in mind to fill those quiet days. Having daily, short-term and long-term to-do lists and goals will help keep you on track.” 03. Make the most of online communities Client work by Sush Kelly for OpenActive, a community led initiative using data to help people get active in England An interactive designer and web developer based in Birmingham, Sush Kelly describes himself as “mainly introverted but a little bit shy. I can speak to people but have to suppress anxiety, which sometimes means I don’t focus 100 per cent on the conversation.” For this reason, he’s channelled his networking efforts online throughout his career. “Real-life networking is never on the top of my list, as it pushes all my shy/introvert buttons,” he explains. “Having to approach a group of people I don’t know and talk to them, retain names, and big myself up are things that don’t come naturally to me. I've toughed it out when needed, but only when the potential outweighed the things holding me back.” Being able to break down these initial barriers means a future meeting won’t be half as anxiety-inducing Sush Kelly In contrast, he’s found the web a much better place to promote himself. “You can have conversations and engage with people you most likely wouldn’t in real life situations,” he enthuses. “For example, I chat to quite a few notable designers and developers on Twitter, but would probably have bottled walking up to them at a conference. Being able to break down these initial barriers means a future meeting won’t be half as anxiety-inducing.” Of course, social media can often be anxiety-inducing in itself, but he stresses that you don’t have to flaunt yourself. "For example, Instagram Stories and vlogging are not my thing at all, but I do like a nicely framed arty Instagram shot and writing, so I know can have an impact in those areas," he says. "Just stick to channels that don’t trigger you. Try and force yourself to engage in things if the opportunity is really good, but don’t sweat it if not.” Finally, he notes that: “Video chats are not as hectic as real life. In fact, after having a fear about them, I'm starting to quite like them. Just remember to drive the conversation so you don’t have those weird moments of silence or both speaking!” When it comes to interacting with people in real-life, Boyrie finds it a great help if she’s previously spoken to them on social media. “There are people whom I've known on Twitter for years, and have never met them,” she says. “But when I do meet these people, usually at conferences, we already have a common ground, stuff to talk about, and have a sense of the other's personality.” And this is something she feels is getting easier and easier. “Introvert personalities are a little more understood and accepted than 10 years ago, and there are many introvert accounts to follow” she says. “So try to find likeminded people. They’re dealing with the same difficulties as you, which means you can both relate, share tips, have meaningful conversations and feel less like outcasts.” 04. Do your research Artwork and design for Axel Boy’s single Escapism (Circus Records) by Mark Leary Based in Nottingham, Mark Leary is an artist, illustrator, designer, photographer, project manager and art director. Shyness is not a big day-to-day issue for him, he notes. “When I'm in a situation where I feel I know what I'm doing, such as in my work, I'm relatively confident,” he says. “I’m only really shy in situations where I'm uncertain, such as on the first day backstage at an event where I don't really know my way around yet.” He does, however, class himself as an introvert. “I enjoy collaborating creatively and chatting through ideas, but find social interactions quite draining,” he explains. “So if I have a few days that are packed full of calls, meetings and collaboration, I'll try to plan in a couple of days of work by myself after that, to collect my thoughts and recharge my social batteries.” All this limits his options when it comes to self-promotion. “I'm not someone who feels confident marching into an unfamiliar situation unprepared, so cold-calling around studios, publications or record labels was never going to be in my skill set,” he says. If I want to self-promote, I have to do the research and build the connections over time, in order to be able to do so confidently Mark Leary Over time, though, he’s come to realise that that's a good thing. “Because it means that if I want to self-promote, I have to do the research and build the connections over time, in order to be able to do so confidently, and I’ve found that gets better results than cold calling anyway.” Importantly, he feels that building personal relationships is not all about one-way traffic. “Recommendations and introductions are a big part of my self-promotion work,” he says. “For example, I work with artists, producers, labels, managers, PRs and printers across the music industry. So I can often introduce one to the other to help fill a gap in their production chain. And equally, I'll ask them to look out for opportunities to connect me with anyone who might be able to use my services” “It's a really organic process and it's not a straight transaction like, ‘You recommend me for X and I'll recommend you for Y’. It's more a case of making those connections when the opportunity arises, so all the time, I'm seeing new client enquiries come in where it's a case of, ‘I was given your name by…’. 05. Don't avoid chances to network Artwork and design for Massive Wagon's album Full Nelson by Mark Leary (Earache Records) Many people find the idea of real-world networking at events terrifying. But you don’t have to spend the whole time hustling and thrusting your business card into strangers’ faces. Leary suggests that even if you spend most of the time in the corner, attending the event in itself can be worthwhile “It's easy to avoid events and opportunities to network because you feel like you're too introverted for it to be worthwhile,” he says. “But even if you only talk to one person, it's one more connection you wouldn't have made from your desk. Also, people get to know your face, and being able to put a face to a name can make all the difference when it comes to recommendations.” 06. Write a blog Blogging is a great way to get your name out there, as long as you do it regularly! Boyrie first went freelance in 2010. But being both shy and introverted, she initially suffered greatly from 'imposter syndrome'. “At that time, most of the advice I found about promoting yourself was written by, and for, extroverts,” she recalls. “So for a while, it felt like I didn't belong in this community, because I wasn't this outgoing person who mingles easily with other people in social gatherings and has no problem giving a spontaneous elevator speech to a total stranger.” One self-promotional technique that did work for her, though, was writing a blog. “I published tutorials and tips in line with the work I was doing, and got some really good feedback,” she explains. “That brought me some new clients, as well as setting myself up as knowledgable and articulate about my work.” She went on to design video courses, and the feedback was even better, which got her more gigs. “I was then asked to give real-life training in professional training centers and design and web schools. These experiences were hard at first, but they gave me a little more self-confidence, and I started to enjoy training people.” 07. Get involved with events If you're shy or introverted, speaking at or organising events can be easier than just being an attendee Boyrie’s blogging helped to both promote her services to clients and boost her confidence generally. “I started attending meetups, more to learn than to mingle, to be honest, which is still difficult for me,” she says. “But then I started being part of the local WordPress community where I live, and soon was part of the organising team too. We organised two WordCamps, and I found that I helps a lot with talking to people and mingling.” In short, being in an official capacity breaks down many of the psychological barriers to chatting with strangers. “People spontaneously come to talk to me, because they know who I am, or just see that I'm part of the team on my badge and T-shirt, and that takes a lot of anxiety out of being sociable,” says Boyrie. And as technology leader Kevin Goldsmith noted, this applies to giving talks too. “One of the reasons I like speaking at conferences is because it makes networking a lot easier,” he tweeted. “People know who you are and have something to talk to you about. Seems counterintuitive, but one of the best things for introverts is to become speakers!” 08. Find an event buddy Finding a conference buddy can make attending seem much less intimidating Boyrie’s final tip for real-world networking is to try to find someone who can accompany you to meetings and social gatherings. “It's really hard to be in the situation where you don't know anyone in the room and hang out alone in a corner while eveyone ignores you,” she says. “I experienced this several times. It sucks.” Who to ask? “Maybe you have a friend that work in the same line of work than you, or have met one or two people who are frequent visitors of your coworking space. Also, when going to a meetup, for example, you can check on the website who is going to be there. Maybe you already know someone, or you can ask someone if they want to go to the event with you? “Also, some conferences try to create ice breaker situations to help people talk to each other and mingle, so take advantage of that, if you can. And if you know someone on Twitter and know they are going to be there, you can ask them if they want to meet with you, too.” 09. Make the trade-off Kayla Naab's website invites users to take up space While there are many strategies to help you self-promote, there’s no sugar-coating it: as a shy or introverted person, you’ll probably be at a disadvantage compared to more confident and extroverted people. And so at a certain level, that’s probably going to mean making some kind of trade-off between your life and work. Kayla Naab offers a good example. Based in Washington, she’s a consultant helping entrepreneurs and small businesses with their branding and content marketing. Yet she describes herself as “introverted full-time and socially uncomfortable sometimes”; something she’s aware doesn’t always mesh well with her line of work. “Referrals are a huge part of service businesses, so being averse to networking is something I struggle with,” she says. “I’m a good writer and that's been a saving grace for digital promotion, but a lot of it has been saving up all my social energy for business. And so I don't do as much recreationally social any more. Plus I try to spread out my prospecting calls or other overwhelming tasks, so I don't burn out.” It's important to understand this is all a trade-off Kayla Naab And yet she has no regrets about making the plunge from salaried worker to freelancer. Because the former wasn’t exactly a cakewalk either, and freelancing does at least let you manage your activities in a way that suits you. “It's important to understand this is all a trade-off,” says Naab. “Instead of eight straight daily hours of pretending to care about your co-workers’ problems, making small talk with your boss, and being in meetings in person, you can spread out your people-handling, mute yourself in meetings, and cuddle a pet of your choice. “Yes, you'll trade for having to be on sales calls, manage client relationships, and promote yourself but theres another hidden benefit: all that work is worth it when it's an investment in you. Why do that same amount of work and be just as uncomfortable at a job, plus lose time commuting, gain less diverse experience, and give it all to make someone else's dream come true? Decide what's worth it to you.” Read more: 5 inspired self-promo ideas for design agencies 5 essential rules of self-promotion The expert guide to working from home View the full article

Researcher creates 'Selfblow' proof-of-concept attack for exploiting a vulnerability that exists in "every single Tegra device released so far". View the full article

We all had an awkward phase when we were growing up, and Photoshop is no exception. And thanks to this visual history, you can now track the design history of the popular Adobe software from 1990 all the way through to its current form. This is thanks to the Version Museum, an online resource which showcases the visual history of popular websites, games, apps and operating systems. While you might not find perfect examples website layout here, you will find an amusing glimpse into the history of your favourite platforms. "Much like walking through a real-life museum, Version Museum aims to illustrate the visual, tangible elements of various versions of technology, rather than just the written history behind it," the site explains on its about page. And what better place to show how far design has come than Photoshop? After all, it's the platform we'd use to airbrush out all the dodgy haircuts and poor fashion choices from our own, unfashionable histories. The best Adobe deals in 2019 For readers of a certain age, the Design History of Photoshop will make you feel warmly nostalgic. For our younger audience, it'll make you look on in amused fascination that these pixelated controls were once considered cutting edge. Check out some of its iterations in the gallery below, the head on over to the Design History of Photoshop to see the full archive. The screen shots in the Version Museum have been compiled from a variety of sources, including fandom.com, winworldpc.com and guidebookgallery.org. It's interesting to see how some elements of Photoshop have changed radically, such as its logo design which morphed from an eye, to a feather, to the 'Ps' lettering we all know today. Meanwhile other parts, such as the Color Picker controls, have just been given a spit polish over the years. If this has whetted your appetite for more retro web designs, check out the responses to the 10 year challenge, which saw the world's biggest websites reveal what they looked like back in 2009. Related articles: Photoshop CC 2019 review The 10 commandments of Photoshop etiquette How to resize an image in Photoshop View the full article

From the cover to the last page, Computer Arts magazine in championing new talent this issue – showcasing the winning entry of its cover competition, by Hazel Mason, with accompanying spot UV and pink Pantone to give the illustration and extra punch. Inside, the team reveal their top picks of creative UK graduates that you should keep an eye on in 2019. They've scoured the UK for the very best, most original graphic designers and illustrators, and the results speak for themselves – the future of the creative industries is looking pretty healthy! > Buy Computer Arts issue 295 now Elsewhere in the issue, explore five amazing examples of collaboration, from creating a book of poetry to producing an award-winning line of confectionary products. The mag also lifts the lid on the process behind two major new projects – the new redesign of Foilco. by Studio DBD and the new identity of The Syrup Company. > Save up to 71% on a Computer Arts subscription Catch up with the irreverent Spanish creative duo Twee Muizen, and look at their genre-mashing work that spans massive murals to friendly taxidermy. SODA Studio open up their headquarters to show you how they blend architecture and design, and as ever there's loads of insight from the industry leaders inside. Get your copy now! Computer Arts is the world's best-selling design magazine, bursting at the seams with insight, inspiration, interviews and all the best new design projects. For all this delivered direct to your door each month, subscribe to Computer Arts. Right now you can save up to 59 per cent on a print subscription. Digital editions are also available. Related articles: Broaden your horizons: why you should study design abroad 7 ways to make your studio more Instagram-friendly Discover 2019's hottest design books View the full article

Did you pick up a bargain this Amazon Prime Day? If so, you probably didn't find a better deal than these lucky photographers who saved tens of thousands of dollars on camera gear due to a pricing error. We tried our hardest to bring you the best Prime Day deals this year (and you'll still find the cheapest prices on our roundup of the best cameras), but even we couldn't compete with this Amazon blunder that saw the reduced price on a range of different products appearing as $94.50, rather than the intended discount price. For snappers looking to take their photography skills to the next level, this was a once in a blue moon opportunity to grab expensive equipment for next to nothing. The pricing error was first noticed on a Sony Alpha a6000 and 16-50mm lens bundle, which had been accidentally reduced to $94.50 instead of $550. This miraculous deal was soon shared on Slickdeals, where it unsurprisingly hit the front page. Not everyone was able to see the hugely reduced price, but those that could were able to add a mega bargain to their baskets. It's important to add that this wasn't an error being pulled through by third-party sites, these orders were being processed and shipped by Amazon itself. Slickdeals member 'Steeve' confirmed that his order had been shipped The discount price of $94.50 was soon being spotted on other products and bundles. One lucky shopper was able to pick up a Canon EF 800mm f/5.6L IS, which usually retails for $13,000, for less than $100. Now that's what we call a discount. They even registered their disbelief with the comment: "LOL waiting for the cancellation but that's like 99.3% off." And while it's reasonable to expect that Amazon would cancel orders that are obviously too heavily discounted due to an error, Slickdeals member 'Steeve' shared confirmation that the photography gear had been handed over to UPS and would indeed be shipped at the unbelievably cheap price (see above). The forum thread over on Slickdeals is filled with hundreds of comments where photographers celebrate that they managed to nab a discount camera. Meanwhile others commiserate that they missed out. Related articles: The best camera phones in 2019 Photography cheat sheet helps you take better photos The best cameras for beginners in 2019 View the full article

A trailer has finally dropped for movie adaptation of Cats, and... honestly, we're not quite sure what to say. When the venture was announced, we were sceptical, but happy to suspend judgement – after all, progressions in VFX and mo-cap have unlocked exciting new doors in movies. In a world where a plastic spork can become a legitimate main character (Toy Story 4) and singing warthogs seem perfectly believable (The Lion King), surely rendering a plausible take on this feline fiesta shouldn't pose too much of a problem? Well it seems not. Judging by what we've seen so far, Tom Hooper's reimagining of the phenomenally popular Andrew Lloyd Webber musical is all kinds of wrong. One thing's for sure, this 'demented dream ballet' isn't likely to enter our ranking of the best 3D movies any time soon. Take a look at the full trailer below, then read on for what we think are the four most bonkers CGI decisions. 01. The cats look like humans covered in fur What am I looking at? First up, let's decide what you're going for here. Realistic creatures conveying human emotions? That works – just look at the Lion King remake. Humans that give the impression of cats through stylised costumes and body movements? Another strong approach – go ahead. But no. The film-makers here have opted for something between the two: super-realistic CGI cat fur (achieved using 'digital fur technology' nonetheless) paired with entirely human faces and human proportions, but (understandably) no accurate anatomical details. Whoever decided this eerie hybrid of human and feline could be anything other than a one-way ticket to uncanny valley was sorely mistaken. We'll see you in our nightmares, Mr Mistoffelees. 02. No one can decide what size the cats are By all means bend the rules of nature and ask the audience to suspend their disbelief, but if you're going to do that you at least need to be consistent. In the Cats stage show, the cats are human sized. Here, the technology is there to shrink them down to the scale of a natural cat. However, across the course of this two-and-a-half minute trailer the feline characters are variously the size of a piece of cutlery, roughly real-cat-sized, and entirely human-sized. It's all a bit distracting. 03. Only some cats wear clothes Cover up, won't you? How clothes work in this nightmarish alternate world is incredibly hard to fathom. Many of the cats, as you would expect of a cat, are naked but for the aforementioned realistic fur. However, others wear clothes, ranging from jackets to top hats. Judi Dench's gender-swapped Old Deuteronomy, already a fairly fluffy breed, sports a fur coat in the same colour as her fur. Where does this fur come from? Another cat? Let's not dwell on the logistics there too much. 04. Lady cats have cleavage Taylor Swift as you've never seen her before The last of our gripes is perhaps the most upsetting of all: there are a number of shots that suggest these kitties – the females in particular – are meant to be sexy. While the addition of animal ears or tails might float some people's boats, even Hefner would surely have been thrown by a furry Taylor Swift wearing heels. And absolutely no one wants to see a cat with cleavage. Read more: 30 greatest CGI movie moments of all time View the full article

Every CG artist knows the pain of trying to keep track of design changes that are buried deep within email chains with a subject line like "Client Meeting 12 Dec". Large VFX and CGI studios have appreciated that this is a problem for a while and have switched to using tools such as ftrack as a result, which keeps a record of project management and asset development, as well as handling all internal and external review systems. While undoubtedly powerful, ftrack’s previous range of options could be a daunting proposition for smaller studios or standalone freelancers who want to keep track of their 3D art only, without all of the other project management tools (and expense) that software like ftrack offers. To meet this demand, ftrack has now released a 'lite' version – ftrack Review. The best 3D modelling software It is a standalone online review system that gives artists the ability to create online repositories of work, such as shots and stills, and share these with other artists working on the project. This software also enables clients to collaborate and approve or reject shots through an easy-to-use player and online notation system. It has two distinct areas. The 'library' enables users to collate assets into projects, and then when the ftrack review system has encoded them to play back easily online, the assets can be added to a 'review'. A review enables users to comment and notate using shapes, comments and online doodles directly onto the player, as well as supply multi-page PDFs when required. Artists and collaborators can draw and doodle directly onto the player, speeding up the review process These changes are tied to the timeline, enabling the user to start inline conversations around the comments, and due to the clean ftrack Review interface and the helpful methodology of adding distinct colours to users as they are added, it is easy to see who has added what comment and when. This ease of use is extended to those who need to approve shots. Called 'collaborators', their interface is subtly different and only enables access to the elements that need to be approved, which can be easily done via the large 'Reject' or 'Approve' icons in the middle of the player. There are a number of online tools similar to ftrack Review currently appearing on the market, but ftrack Review stands its ground, which is impressive for an initial release. It is helped by its easy-to-use and stable interface, as well as the fact the 'less is more' paradigm, prevalent throughout ftrack Review, is underpinned by the fact the full version of ftrack Studio (which will bundle ftrack Review) is there if and when a project scales up. Even if ftrack Studio is not needed, the team at ftrack have ensured that ftrack Review feels like an application that will easily collate and clarify feedback on a CG artist’s work, and will banish the pain of change control to the past. It is certainly worth a look for projects of any size. (Please note: this review was performed on a beta version of ftrack Review – features and UI elements in the final release may be slightly different to those reviewed.) This article was originally published in issue 131 of 3D Artist. Buy issue 131 or subscribe to 3D Artist. View the full article

Got an amazing idea for an app? Turn your idea into reality with Mobile Design Master Class: Learn UI/UX & Start Your Freelancing Career. You can get it for just $12.99. An idea for an app is a great place to start, but you have to also know how to create a great-looking app that's also easy to use. And this means that you have to develop skills revolving around UI/UX design. The best cloud storage 2019 This course features quizzes, assignments, and lots of helpful lessons that teach you how to build beautiful apps from scratch which your users will love. The course mainly focuses on iOS 8 Mobile App Design, but the skills you pick up here can easily be applied to all iOS, Android, and Windows platforms. Mobile Design Master Class: Learn UI/UX & Start Your Freelancing Career is yours for only $12.99 -- that's 93% off the regular price! Related articles: The 29 best iPhone apps for designers Mobile app design: A beginner's guide 19 best drawing apps for iPad View the full article

Generate CSS is a bespoke conference for web designers brought to you by Creative Bloq, net and Web Designer. This year's event will take place on 26 September in Shoreditch, London, on 26 September. We’re excited to bring you two more exceptional talents that will inspire and make your CSS world brighter and better: new speakers creative director Bianca Berning and frontend developer Cassie Evans are joining the Generate party. Make sure you don’t miss out – get yourself an Early Bird ticket today and save £50. Bianca Berning During her talk Bianca will look to answer the following questions: How can typography respond to constant, unpredictable change of perspective in media, such as AR, VR, and mixed realities, where the physical boundaries of the page and screen are completely removed? Will these new technologies, and combination of technologies change the way we consume written content? And, How can we improve our user’s experiences using variable font technology on screens? Bianca is a designer and engineer based at the intersection of typography, type design and technology. She is the creative director at font foundry Dalton Maag who boast an impressive portfolio of finely-crafted typefaces. To keep herself inspired and informed she is also and active member of Alphabettes, Association Typographique Internationale (ATypI) and the Unicode Consortium. With an expert insight into type Bianca will be using her expansive knowledge to deliver a talk on variable fonts. The obvious benefits they bring over static fonts, how the technology can create new opportunities for the written word within traditional media as well as new, immersive experiences, such as AR, VR, and mixed reality. Cassie Evans A frontend developer with a love for animation, especially animation on the web. Cassie can usually be found tinkering on CodePen and nerding out about colour palettes. She is a core organiser of codebar Brighton, a non-profit initiative that runs free programming workshops and currently works as a front-end developer at long-established and loved agency Clearleft in Brighton. In her talk ‘Limitation breeds creativity’ she delves into how in web development, the sheer volume of things to learn can be overwhelming. Pair this with anxiety and a tendency to procrastinate and you’ve got the perfect recipe for doing absolutely nothing. Constraints might not feel like what you want when you’re trying to kickstart creativity or start a new project. But working within constraints can help you get started and provide unconventional ways around a problem. Come along to see me demo a few of my favourite unconventional CSS solutions. Generate CSS, the conference for web designers, takes place at Rich Mix in Shoreditch, London on 26 September 2019. SAVE £50 with an Early Bird Pass! Only £199+VAT when you book before 5pm on 15 August 2019. First speakers announced for Generate CSS Get started with CSS art Create cool UI animations with CSS View the full article

Google is announcing much higher bug bounty payouts for Chrome, Chrome OS and Google Play. View the full article

"It's time for our global visual language to get a little bit tougher, with a brand new pickup emoji," says the pitch for a pickup truck emoji design that's pending approval by the Unicode Consortium. However the document failed to mention that car manufacturer Ford has been involved with its development. Why is this a problem? Well, when you consider that the proposed design bears more than a passing resemblance to the Ford Ranger, and that it would appear on the keyboards of smartphones the world over, it's looking an awful lot like a sneaky piece of backdoor advertising. At least Ford didn't go so far as to deck the emoji out with its logo design. The pickup truck emoji was announced by Ford in timely fashion on 17 July, also known as Emoji Day (yes, that's a thing now). In the pitch document you can also see that the emoji displays the distinctive Ford Blue colour. It's interesting to note though that Ford didn't mention its connection to the project when the pitch was provisionally approved by the gatekeepers of emoji design, the Unicode Consortium, back in May. Instead, the author of the pitch is listed as Nathan Maggio, a former creative director at the digital strategist Blue State. Speaking to The Atlantic, a vice chair of the Unicode emoji subcommittee, Jennifer 8. Lee, said that Ford's sponsorship "probably should have been disclosed". When Ford did eventually announce its connection to the emoji, it went all out with a flashy video narrated by Bryan Cranston. But just because the pickup truck emoji is being run by the Unicode Consortium, it doesn't mean that it's definitely going to see the light of day in its current form. The Ford Blue colour could be changed, the shape of the truck could be tweaked, or it could be turned down altogether. The pitch does try its hardest to push things through though. It even cites the tweets of Dwayne 'The Rock Johnson, who has been hustling for the development of a pickup truck emoji for years. Ford isn't the only company to try and 'hack' a system for its own commercial gain. Only recently North Face found itself in hot water after it tried to rank first in Google image searches via an unethical manipulation of Wikipedia. Needless to say, the stunt didn't go down well. If the pickup truck emoji does get approved in its current form, we can't help but worry if it will set a precedent for brands to infiltrate our smartphone keyboards, and in turn our emotional reactions. Pepsi already had a go at hijacking emojis with its 'Say It With Pepsi' campaign, so where will it end? Burger emojis sponsored by McDonald's? Apple emojis endorsed by, well, Apple? Only time will tell. In the meantime, we've got to wait until early next year to see if the Unicode Consortium approves, denies, or changes the pickup truck emoji. Related articles: Discover the origins of everyday emoji There's an emoji for everyone in this new 2019 update Emojis are coming with these Game of Thrones hashtags View the full article

In our rapidly changing world, boundaries between different operating systems are often subtle, which is good news for web masters who consider using Linux on their development workstations. Content creators that come from Windows and macOS often expect to continue using their professional-level software like Adobe Dreamweaver in Linux but find that it is not available there. Although it is possible to run many Windows applications (including Dreamweaver) in Linux via Wine, the experience and desktop integration will not be the same. The state of software availability in Linux is constantly improving, with many commercial products being released nowadays for all major platforms – Windows, macOS and Linux – but potential switchers should be willing to compromise and sometimes change their habits. We’ve selected the most useful specialised Linux applications that will make the transition more comfortable. Just like the tools and resources in our web design tools roundup, some of them are free and open source, others cost money, but there is no obvious dependency between the quality and the price. Let’s look closer at what’s available. 01. Seamonkey Seamonkey Composer is a WYSIWYG editor with three modes: document, markup and source-code editors Seamonkey Composer is one of the easiest to use website builders and has a great compatibility with Mozilla products. The application is a WYSIWYG editor with three modes: document editor, markup explorer and source-code editor. In the simplest case, a user can just arrange text, images, tables and other objects without writing a single line of code, similar to what a text processor like MS Word provides. Seamonkey Composer will automatically create an appropriate HTML markup, which will be enough for static web sites. Obviously, most modern web projects use a lot of JavaScript and other remote scripts but that does not make Composer useless. You can still prepare a basic design with it and master the rest of your projects with other tools. By default, Composer stores all rich-text formatting and styles right inside the plain HTML code but it is possible to tell Composer to use CSS styles and later outsource it to a separate file. There is also the nice Preview tab, which renders a browser-like preview of your project live, as if it was loaded in a web browser. The browser part is the Gecko-based Seamonkey Navigator, which does not differ much from Mozilla Firefox in terms of displaying web content. One of the most handy tools in Composer is the Publish button on its toolbar. This enables quick and seamless upload of your code right into the site’s directory via FTP. 02. Quanta Quanta may not be as popular as it once was, but is a good choice for those who code by hand Quanta is perhaps a less known piece of web development software nowadays, but it was a number one choice not so long ago. The famous Quanta Plus application was an integrated IDE specifically tailored for web designers and developers but later on it was absorbed by KDevelop, an even more powerful cross-platform IDE. However, the original Quanta Plus project lives on under the patronage of Trinity Desktop Environment (TDE), a community effort for maintaining KDE3. Anyhow, it is still possible to install Quanta in a modern Linux distribution and benefit from its rich set of features. Though a bit old-fashioned, Quanta has proven to be a viable choice for the present-day web project. The editor sports a tabbed interface and allows for working with text styles, tables, lists, forms and scripts. It is still assumed that a Quanta user is expected to code by hand but there are many tools to support you with this in Quanta. The Tags menu offers a sorted catalogue of frequently used tags and is ideal for quick tag look-up. Most of the other tools are also easy to find. Thanks to the traditional interface layout of Quanta Plus, there are dozens of advanced features here and there, yet it is unlikely that a user will get lost. Every feature sits in the right place and therefore exploring the possibilities of the Quanta editor is never troublesome. 03. Bluegriffon BlueGriffon can be an HTML editor for complex web sites BlueGriffon is a web editor built around the Mozilla Firefox rendering engine but this is perhaps the only thing it has in common with Seamonkey. BlueGriffon is certainly a more advanced tool in all regards and it can serve as an HTML editor for complex web sites. The interface has a sane layout and feels close to an average word processor, except maybe for the default dark theme BlueGriffon uses. The application is offered in three variants: the freeware version has essential WYSIWIG editor features; the Basic version (75 euros) adds a lot of tasteful features including dedicated editors for CSS styles and MathML formulas, code snippets, a mobile version preview tool, project manager and a bunch of handful pro-level tools. The priciest EPUB license (195 euros) is targeted more at EPUB designers and delivers support for exporting projects to EPUB 2/3. However, the free version of BlueGriffon is already a full-fledged application worth trying for producing high-quality web content. The Preferences section in BlueGriffon is very similar to the one in Firefox and besides the numerous things you can customise to your liking, it is also possible to extend BlueGriffon with extra plug-ins. For instance, a good start is to add missing spell-check dictionaries and perhaps things like FireFTP for quick code uploading. Overall, you can’t go wrong with having a powerful web editor that fully conforms to the latest W3C standards, including HTML5, CSS 2.1 and large parts of CSS 3, CSS Media Queries, MathML, SVG etc. 04. Sublime Text The ability to use plugins elevates the Sublime Text software Sublime Text offers yet another approach to working with web sites. The application is basically a super-charged text editor based on the Electron framework, so that it has a browser engine in its heart. The interface is minimalist and code-focused; it consists just of a text-editing area, whereas all advanced features are hidden inside the menu-bar items. However, it is easy to adjust the Sublime Text UI layout to a more demanding taste. The View menu lets you multiplex the editor’s panel either by columns or rows and also add the left-most panel with the list of opened files. It turns out Sublime Text is a wise tool to use to boost your productivity as it allows for working with several files at once, even without the need to switch between tabs. Sublime Text supports plugins and that’s the point where we can make this general-purpose text editor more web focused. Start by installing Package Control, a plugin manager for Sublime Text. Then you’ll be able to get various extra goodness, like Emmet for code snippets in JavaScript, HTML and CSS, the Git integration plug-in, colour picker, code minifier and many others. Plug-ins really add a lot to the editor’s functionality. For instance, the SideBarEnhancements plugin enables file renaming, moving and duplicating, which is not possible otherwise. Pay a visit to the Package Control site, which hosts hundreds of plugins of all sorts, many of which can transform Sublime Text into a stunning Swiss Army knife for web development. 05. Visual Studio Code VS Code is another tool that works with plugins and boasts a very intuitive UI Traditionally, VS Code draws comparisons with Sublime Text, as both code editors boast modern design, a dark theme and a respectful set of extra plugins. Again, it is plugins that can turn a general-purpose development tool into web-focused software. In the case of VS Code, the must-have list includes Font Awesome codes, CSS Peek, CSS Tree Validator, Live Sass Compiler as well as a code minifier plugin. The strongest thing about VS Code is that it has all the most frequently used tools at close reach: the side bar hides a project explorer, a search and replace tool, a source control panel, a debugger and a built-in extensions manager. There are also over 10,000 available extensions for virtually any purpose and taste, all can be installed with a couple of mouse clicks. The goal remains the same: extensions help make VS Code users more productive in writing and editing source code. The editing features in VS Code are superb; for example, indentation, snippet execution and bracket matching simply work and don’t get in your way. It may be a little laggy when chewing extra-large files (those weighing in at 5MB and more) but this is hopefully not the case for most web projects. With the support of screen split, tabs, bread crumbs and a bunch of useful View parameters, VS Code is easy to pick up and get using straightaway. Although hopefully Linux users don’t mind that VS Code looks and feels like a Microsoft product. 06. Pinegrow Similar to a vector editor, Pinegrow supplies templates for you to enhance Pinegrow is a powerful web studio with developed means for styling and visual editing. While many other web editors may resemble word-processing apps, Pinegrow could be better compared with a vector editor. The interface is somewhat unique compared to its contemporaries, yet it is quite comfortable to use. Although you can start a new Pinegrow project with an empty index.html and write everything by hand, the application encourages you to use page templates, which are of very high quality. It takes far less effort to populate the template-based project with your own text and images than to do the same from scratch. Pinegrow is also the only application in our guide that hides the source code of a web project by default – press Ctrl+E to bring it up. On the other hand, using your mouse to select logical blocks on the page and then adjust them proved to be faster and more effective than writing code. On top of that, Pinegrow adds a marvellous CSS visual editor, a handy sidebar with widgets that you can drag and drop on the canvas (buttons, tables, text fields etc) and some (paid) extra plug-ins. For all these plentiful features, Pinegrow offers developers purchasing options that vary from $36 to $111. The basic license should be enough for one-page web sites, whereas the costly pro license includes a collection of WordPress themes. Anyhow, there is a 30-day trial period, which is enough for taking Pinegrow for a spin. 07. Pingendo Pingendo’s templates enable you to quickly get up and running In many regards, Pingendo is like Pinegrow, only a bit simpler and running on a paid monthly or annual subscription basis (like $9 per month). The application is ideal for producing landing, portfolio, food menu or personal web pages thanks to the 17 nicely styled templates. Of course, this limits creativity in some ways but in return you get quick recipes for getting things done. Pingendo offers a rich set of things to drag and drop to your web page, including all sorts of navigation items, spinners, switchers, badges, cards, Google Map parts and more. The Pingendo interface may feel more basic than Pinegrow’s but it is also clearer and easier to get used to. The top bar has preview options and lets you instantly see how the web page will look on a smartphone, tablet or notebook screen. The retractable left side panel is a good example of hiding a huge number of elements inside a compact toolbar. While most panels and sections are docked to the sides, some elements float like separate sub-windows. For example, you can arrange the Projects tree and HTML/SASS windows how you like or close them if they get in your way. The only possible letdown of Pingendo is that it is solely a Bootstrap builder and not a universal webpage editor. At the same time it is one of the best solutions for building Bootstrap-based sites, using a superb interface with a lot of fit and finish. 08. Aptana Studio Aptana is free and offers a lot for web developers and administrators Aptana will give you a little rest from paid software, as the big blue Download button from the official site leads directly to the project’s GitHub page (head over to Releases to get the software quickly). Aptana is Java-based software that looks more like a developer’s IDE. The software has, however, a strong focus on web-related things and may be interesting for web developers and administrators. You start with an empty screen and probably first go to the New project wizard. Notice some handful presets that include Ruby, Rails and PHP templates. Using the Project Explorer panel on the left side of the screen, it is possible to navigate inside the directory structure and create files. The main area of the Aptana Studio window is devoted to a text editor with line numbering, code highlighting, tabs and other essential features. Similar to other high-quality IDEs, Aptana has a code assistant that provides tips for HTML5 and CSS tags, as well as for Java and PHP/Ruby objects. There are also a code debugger and advanced deployment tools included and, in our view, this alone makes Aptana a more preferable web development tool than a browser-based editor. For instance, Aptana works just fine with modern secured SFTP and FTPS connections right out of the box, which is apparently a problem point for many simpler applications. Also, don’t miss the Terminal tab below the main editing area in Aptana. Terminal is an efficient way of deploying web applications (eg with $ mvn clean deploy), as well as quick access to code pulling, syncing and merging (eg via Git). This article was originally published in issue 319 of net, the world's best-selling magazine for web designers and developers. Subscribe to net. Join us at Rich Mix, Shoreditch on 26 September for Generate CSS, a bespoke conference for web designers brought to you by Creative Bloq, net and Web Designer. Book your Early Bird ticket before 15 August at www.generateconf.com. Read more: The hottest web design trends of 2019 The best web design jobs right now Colour in web design: all you need to know View the full article

Life as a designer doesn't always work out as you might have hoped. You might have your heart set on working within a particular area of design, but the realities of paying the bills often means that you spend most of your time on less thrilling corporate work. It all helps to hone your skills, but if you're not feeling the love for the day job then a good self-initiated side project can be a massive boon. A side project can provide an outlet for your own creative dreams and give you the chance to explore more experimental design, but it can also provide opportunities down the line. A good side project demonstrates your skills and your passion to potential clients and employers, and can add to your design portfolio. Side projects can lead to you getting the sort of work that you want to do, rather than the jobs you have to take to keep the money coming in, and in some cases a side project can grow into your main source of income. You may already have your own side project on the go; if you don't, these are sure to inspire you. 01. Tivit Like most of us, the team at Si Digital love a game of table tennis, but they're not so enamoured with the whole business of keeping track of scores and maintaining leaderboards. So they built an app to do that, leaving them free to concentrate on perfecting their spinning backhand shots. Tivit works as a virtual umpire, arranging matches, logging scores and feeding results through into leaderboards, and the team have made it available for anyone; since opening it up to the public, Tivit has logged nearly 14,000 games worldwide. 02. Rooki.design Rooki.design is all about inspiring and informing young designers Eduardo Rainoldi is an award-winning digital product designer from Italy, and in his spare time he's launched Rooki.design, an online magazine for young creatives. It features interviews with established designers, sharing their tips and tricks for getting ahead in the creative industries, and regularly showcases the work of up-and-coming designers. Most recently it's launched its own design awards, with the help of Awwwards and the FWA. 03. This is Non-Binary Learn what non-binary's all about with August Tang 'Non-binary' is one of those terms that you've probably heard but might not quite get what it means. Thankfully August Tang, a non-binary multidisciplinary creative from Phoenix, Arizona, is here to help with an informative and sometimes personal side project. This is Non-Binary explains what being non-binary actually means and what it's like to be non-binary, as well as explaining all those pronouns and their importance, plus how to be supportive to a non-binary person. The navigation's a little eccentric, but August says that they're planning to add page transition animations to make it more intuitive. 04. TypoStories If you love typography and the potential of interesting font pairings, this side project by Davide Baratta, design lead at Impero, is sure to delight you. TypoStories is an ongoing study of typefaces and font pairings, featuring an assortment of typographic illustrations inspired by Davide's need to explore typographic solutions and stay up to date with the latest releases from his favourite independent foundries. Vol. 1 is available now; he's currently working in Vol. 2. 05. Liam Neeson: Once More Into the Fray Oliver Gareis' massive Liam Neeson illustration took six months to complete Oliver Gareis is lead designer at Appico in Hamburg, and he's worked with top brands such as Volkswagen, Audi and EA Games over his design career. He's also a big fan of Liam Neeson, which has inspired him to create this massive, detailed illustration combining his favourite Neeson characters into a single digital artwork. Once More Into the Fray was created entirely in Illustrator CC, and between tracking down source imagery and finishing the digital piece, the process took him around six months. 06. Holarchy There's not a lot to it right now, but Holarchy looks fascinating Some side projects are big, finished projects, while others are works in progress, and the latter's the case for this project by Martin Silvertant, a Canadian graphic designer and sporadic type designer. Holarchy, he explains, is a layered modular typeface for a website that he's about design; it's in the early stages right now, but definitely looks promising. 07. Illustrated Tapes Mixtapes! Illustrations! Interviews! What's not to love? Who can resist a good mixtape? And if you also love great illustration then Sam Ailey, a London-based illustrator and designer, has a fantastic side project for you. Illustrated Tapes does exactly what it says on the tin: he gets creatives to curate their own Spotify playlists and supply their own artwork for them, and he also chats to them about their musical tastes and of course their work. It's the perfect way to hear some new sounds and discover some fantastic illustrators. 08. Illo Notes Taaryn Brench hopes to demystify the world of illustration Another illustration-based side project, Illo Notes is the work of Taaryn Brench, an illustrator and designer based in Leeds. It's an illustration blog that aims to showcase amazing illustrators and also demystify the illustration business, with a mix of interviews and tips. It's been up and running since April this year, and Brench is looking for more illustrators to interview; if you're interested, drop her a line. Related articles: How to start a side project: 21 pro tips 9 tips for better side projects How to self-publish a book View the full article

At least 26 people are dead and dozens have been left injured following a suspected arson attack on the Japanese anime studio, Kyoto Animation. In response to the tragic incident, fans of the popular studio have taken to social media to pay their respects, and launched an appeal to raise funds to support those affected by the attack. The incident took place at about 10.30am, with local residents living near the studio saying that they heard an explosion before seeing smoke emitting from the building. Roughly 30 fire engines and ambulances responded to the attack. According to local police, a man in his 40s was allegedly seen spraying petrol in multiple areas of the 1st Studio before igniting it. He is now in police custody. Over 70 people were in the building at the time, which is located in Fujimi ward, Kyoto. Currently there are 36 people in hospital as a result of the attack, some in a critical condition. In a tweet, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed his sympathy to those injured and prayed for their quick recovery. Japanese television news network ANN captured this footage of the studio. Kyoto Animation was founded in 1981 by anime producer Yoko Hatta. It has produced several popular anime TV series and films, including A Silent Voice: The Movie, K-On!, and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Unlike other studios, Kyoto Animation pays its animators a regular salary, instead of the industry standard of paying per frame. In response to the attack, the anime community has taken to social media to share their thoughts and pay their respects. Related articles: How to draw manga characters How to create an authentic manga comic strip Recreate a manga classic View the full article

Would Apple be the world’s most valuable brand if it were named Banana? In branding, few things are more important than choosing the right name. If things go well, you’ll be stuck with it for a long time. If things go very well, you might just add a new word to your language, if not to several languages, as demonstrated by Hoover, Xerox, Kleenex, and, well, Portaloo. While logos play a major role in how we see a brand (see our guide to logo design), verbal communication means it’s still through a name that we usually first encounter a brand, spread it through word of mouth, ask for it, and look it up online. Names are “the primary constituents in the product’s signification system,” semiotician Marcel Danesi says in his book Brands. They’re also one of the things that makes a brand protectable in law. Here we’ll look at how some of the world’s biggest brands got their names and what lessons can be learned from their stories. Want more branding inspiration? See our post on the world's best logos. 01. Think familiar and accessible Apple’s everyday name doesn't usually appear as a word – it lent itself to the design of an instantly recognisable logo Startups might agonise endlessly over a name, while sometimes inspiration strikes in the most unlikely of places. According to his biographer Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs was visiting an apple farm while on a fruitarian diet when it occurred to him that this common fruit could provide a fun, accessible name for a computer company. It was short, catchy, un-intimidating, easy to turn into a logo, and the fact it had nothing to do with computers made it stand out from the coldness of the IT world – in contrast to other names Jobs was considering, such as the threatening sounding Executex. That the word is part of the existing vocabulary of many people also created a poetic resonance evoking associations Jobs probably never even considered back on that fruit farm – the tree of knowledge, the innocence of childhood, Newton’s apple (which provided an early logo), and even a urban legend that the brand was named as a tribute to Alan Turing, who committed suicide by biting into a cyanide-laced apple. Despite leading to almost 30 years of disputes with Apple Records, the name was perfect. If Jobs had gone gooseberry picking instead, it’s hard to imagine similar success. 02. Experiment with spelling Google was born when someone didn’t Google how to spell googol Sometimes names pop up more through accident than inspiration. Larry Page and Sergey Brin had been calling their initial search engine BackRub because it analysed backlinks, which made sense to the initiated but sounded like a massage device to anyone else, and might have been difficult to develop into the world’s second most valuable brand (Amazon is number one, see point 6). The words googolplex then googol, both very large numbers, came up during a brainstorming session, and the latter was then apparently misspelled when fellow Stanford grad student Sean Anderson checked whether the domain was available. It’s since become a verb used the world over, while we’ve yet to hear anyone tell us to 'Bing' something. It partly works so well because it almost seems to sound like it should mean what it’s come to mean, with an existing verb suffix (-le) and a similarity to 'goggle', which means to look. Here, the spelling change was accidental but there are plenty of companies that changed spelling intentionally to gain memorable, and legally protectable, names, though The Sci-Fi Channel’s heavily mocked transformation into SyFy should also serve as a warning to handle with care. 03. Sometimes literal works Facebook – it does what it says on the tin Some names are so literal that it would seem they couldn’t have taken much time to think up, whether they’re named after their founder or a descriptive summary of what they do. 'The Facebook', as it was originally known – the 'The' was later dropped only to be added back in by grandparents everywhere – was named after the physical paper directories distributed to freshmen at US universities, and it initially served the same purpose, first for Harvard then the Ivy League, and then overseas universities before opening to all in 2006. The name was literal and simple enough to quickly transcend boundaries. Another of the world’s biggest brands, Coca-Cola was similarly direct when it was named in 1886 after what were then two of the main ingredients, coca leaves and kola nuts, helped by the alliterative phono aesthetics of the repeated 'co' syllable. In both cases, distinctive fonts helped very literal names take on the personality to stand out as a brand (see our post on the fonts of big brands, or our guide to free fonts to create your own designs). 04. Be inspired by the Gods Whichever way you pronounce it, Nike’s name is a branding victory Hundreds of companies have turned to the classics, to Latinate words and to ancient mythology with an almost superstitious faith that they’ll bring luck, and the idea that they’re a universal part of the collective consciousness, even if most people have little idea of who they were or what they mean. Nike was the Greek goddess of victory, making it a great choice for a company that makes footwear for athletes, even people can’t agree on how to pronounce it, while the swoosh symbol perfectly renders the wind of victory to such a point that the logo alone is enough to identify the brand (as we examined in our post about textless logos). Just a few other brands to follow the same track include Oracle, Mazda, Alax, Argos, Olympus, Athena, Orion Pictures, Pandora jewellery, Subaru pickup trucks, Dionysus wine suppliers – and Isis Pharmaceuticals, which renamed itself Ionis to avoid trading under the ISIS ticker on the Nasdaq following the rise of the Islamic State. 05. Look out of the window Adobe is named after a creek in California Sometimes it pays to take a glance away from the whiteboard and look outside. There are many companies named after where they were founded, even if it’s not immediately apparent. Adobe was named not after the building material, which is a nice association, but after a creek that runs behind the area where founders John Warnock and Charles Geschke lived in Los Altos, California. Spot the bridge Cisco Systems meanwhile is simply a shortening of the name of tech city of San Francisco – take a look at its logo and you’ll see it’s actually the Golden Gate bridge. Oil and gas giant Shell, founded in 1897, is also named after something that had nothing to do with its business but which founder Sir Marcus Samuel had around him – his father, Marcus Samuel Senior, had run a business selling exotic seashells to collectors in London. 06. Think big, and think first Amazon comes early in alphabetical lists and also conveys scale Plenty of companies have chosen names that start with the letter 'A' purely to appear close to the top of alphabetical lists. Why that worked so well for Amazon was that choosing the name of the world’s largest jungle set out the scale of its ambition to become the biggest online store and to stock everything under the sun. It was a happy accident that there’s also a 'Z' in the name, allowing designers at Turner Duckworth to create the smile logo linking the A to the Z, perfectly re-emphasising the concept behind the name. According to Brad Stone’s The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon, Bezos has his lawyer to thank for talking him out of his first choice of name – Cadabra – which he dropped after his lawyer misheard it as Cadaver. Branding experts and dabblers in the occult will tell you that certain letters have magical power, while 'A' gets you near the top of the list, 'K' – Kodak, Kraft, Kelloggs, Kmart – is considered to be a strong and incisive, while 'X' and 'Z' also appear in brand names much more than they do in general speech. 07. The shorter, the better It would be hard to fit Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd on the side of the store Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd is a bit of a mouthful and would be unlikely to make it as an international brand. IKEA on the other hand is short, snappy and sneaks into the top 40 most valuable brands in the world according to Forbes. Ingvar Kamprad was the founder of the company, Elmtaryd is the name of the farm where he grew up, and Agunnaryd the name of the village where the farm’s located. There’s no shortage of brands that amputated parts of their original name on the way to success. Sky Peer to Peer was shortened to Skype, Peter’s Super Submarines became Subway, Nintendo Playing Card Company became simply Nintendo. And it doesn’t only apply to English. Toyota Motor Corporation was founded by the Toyoda family but changed its name because 'Toyoda' takes ten strokes of a pen to write, while 'Toyota', in both the katakana and hiragana systems, uses only eight, which is considered a lucky number in Japanese culture. 08. Don't be afraid to change The familiar logo of Big Blue IBM While it can be difficult to change names after becoming established, it’s not impossible. Changes most often come due to mergers and buyouts or forays into new markets that needs a more international-friendly names that can be pronounced by customers in other countries. IBM stands for International Business Machines Corporation, which is more expansive than the original and awkwardly hyphenated Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company. C-T-R was so named because a consolidation of several companies with different focuses, and IBM, adopted in 1924, proved to be a much better definition for the course the company would take and its global ambitions as it began to expand beyond the US. There’s also speculation that Thomas Watson, the man who led the expansion, wanted to get one up on his former employer National Cash Register Company – grudges can spawn creativity! Another lesson to learn from IBM is that it can pay to embrace your nickname. IBM accepted and used its Big Blue sobriquet which was seemingly coined by customers themselves owing to the large blue mainframe computers the company manufactured in the 1970s. 09. Work with what you have Zara’s new logo, which was revealed earlier this year The world’s most valuable general clothing brand after the self-named Louis Vuitton is Spain’s Zara. Founder Amancio Ortega Gaona originally planned to call his first shop Zorba after Zorba the Greek, but it turned out he wasn’t the only person in the town of La Coruña to have been inspired by the 1964 film, and a nearby bar with the same name complained. Ortega had already had the moulds made up for his signage, so he hastily rearranged what he had to come up with Zara. Yet another near miss, and like most of the names on this list, the result is concise, distinctive, memorable, and trips off the tongue (in several languages). Today high streets the world over would seem almost to be missing something without Zara’s logo (although its latest iteration contains some controversial kerning). Read more: Top TV logos of all time The best logos of all time 6 ways to turn a brand into a household name View the full article

Jony Ive – the man responsible for some of the tech world’s most iconic designs is leaving Apple to start his own design firm, LoveFrom, with Apple as a major client. So, what will this mean for the world’s largest tech company? Will its designs take a radical turn for the worse, or go on to reach new heights? Will its logo go back to its rainbow roots, as rumoured recently? Will the company ditch its 'i' now that it's got rid of iTunes? And you will you ever be able to get a decent Apple Pencil deal? We examine five of the most likely possibilities. 01. Apple’s design gets better Without Ive’s insanely strong obsession for thinness and lightness, Apple could become freer to explore new designs. Decisions like the one to make the MacBook Pro’s keyboard as thin as possible (at the ultimate expense of reliability) could be avoided. The balance of function vs form therefore may tilt a little more towards function. After Ive’s departure, he’ll be replaced by Evans Hankey (Apple’s industrial design chief) and Alan Dye (the company’s user interface head), who will report to operations lead Jeff Williams. That could mean less workload placed on one person’s shoulders, more opinions being given on design, and perhaps less of a one-track-minded approach. Without Steve Jobs, Ive had no-one on his level or above to temper his decisions. Now with Hankey and Dye working together, that process could be restored. Jony Ive was a hardware guy. Think about the videos he narrated: almost all of them were about the hardware aspects of the product. Now with two people in charge of design, one from hardware and one from software, there should be more passion for software design being added to the mix, ultimately improving the balance of Apple’s designs. 02. Apple’s design gets worse Without Ive’s insanely strong design talent, Apple could be left without inspiration. With its talismanic design chief departed, Apple’s position may slip as rivals catch up with stunning designs of their own. These days, Apple isn’t alone when it comes to amazing design in the tech world. The competition has seen how valuable inspiring, aspirational design can be, and companies like Huawei are coming out with some superb devices. Let’s, err, not talk about Samsung’s Galaxy Fold, though. But while its rivals are working hard, we wouldn’t bet the farm on Apple losing its design mojo. Jony Ive never worked alone, instead collaborating with a carefully curated team that was put together over many years. They all share similar design sensibilities and understand each other extremely well. Ive’s departure is not being followed by a mass exodus of these designers; the core of Apple’s design lab is staying put, even if its chief designer is on the way out. While we may see fewer flashes of Ive brilliance, that doesn’t mean the whole design philosophy is going down the pan. 03. A new design maestro emerges from inside Apple As we mentioned before, Apple’s design team is an incredibly talented bunch of people that works together closely every day. You don’t get hired by Apple unless you’re something special, and that’s especially true for its elite, exclusive design team. With so much talent on hand, it’s entirely possible that the next Jony Ive emerges from within Apple’s ranks and is already at the company right now. With Ive taking the spotlight, few people even know the names of his fellow design team members – could this be the time for one of them to step into the limelight? Ive took a break from managing Apple product design from 2015 to 2017 in order to oversee the design and creation of Apple Park; he stepped back to more of an oversight role with Apple’s devices, leaving his team in charge of day-to-day product design. That he was able to do this attests to the trust he placed in the abilities of his team, so we wouldn’t be surprised if one of them (or two, in the form of Hankey and Dye) steps into his shoes. 04. Apple hires a world-class replacement. Alternatively, Apple may instead decide to hire a replacement externally. There’s plenty of talent out there, and a lot of people who share Ive’s keen sense for design. Apple has deep pockets and could afford to pry away any designer they wanted. While this is possible, we don’t consider it too likely. Apple has hired famous names in the past, such as when it brought in Angela Ahrendts from Burberry, but in these cases it’s done so because it didn’t have anyone in the company ready to step up. With its legendary design studio, it most definitely does in this instance. Still, it’s not outside the realm of possibility. Neither Jony Ive nor Tim Cook will be short of contacts who they can consult for the biggest and brightest talent to bring to the company, so don’t be too shocked if an outside design luminary heads to Cupertino in Jony Ive’s stead. 05. Things stay more or less the same Apple will be one of Ive’s major clients, and the naming of his new company (LoveFrom, which was inspired by a Steve Jobs quote) suggests the link between the two will be strong. Few people (if any) understand Apple like he does today, and that’s a valuable asset the company won’t want to part with completely. As well as that, many of Ive’s projects are years from being released. Apple likes to spend a long time perfecting a product before it ever sees the light of day – just look at the iPhone X. With his influence continuing to course through the company, it could be years until we notice any significant shift in Apple’s designs. However, we’re a little sceptical of this angle. Although Apple has said it will remain a “major” client of Jony Ive, things won’t just continue as they are because Ive simply won’t have time. He’ll be taking on other clients for major projects of their own and will be up to his eyeballs in work. While he may work with Apple on a few big projects here and there (Apple’s rumoured smart glasses or self-driving car, for example), he won’t be active at Apple on day-to-day design issues. Whether that means Apple’s design will improve or slide downhill isn’t yet clear, but we’re sure things won’t just carry on as normal. Read more: The best Apple Pencil deals right now Is an Apple Paintbrush on the way? Epic Apple iPad deal blows Amazon Prime day out of the water View the full article

This issue, along with our usual reviews, inspiration and regular Q and A sections, we take you behind the scenes on the blockbuster Toy Story 4. More importantly we celebrate our 250th issue, a huge milestone for any magazine, so we decided to do something extra cool, by bringing you our biggest ever expert tips collection. 250 tips on every aspect of 3D. With a mix of features, interviews and training, you'll soon be on the road to mastering your own 3D projects. We take a look inside 3D World 250 to find out what else is in store... Buy issue 250 of 3D World here Feature: 250 issue of 3D Discover the past and future of CG In this feature, explore some of the highlights from the history of CG and of 3D World. Plus check out what our expert panel of CG veterans thinks about the future of CG. Tutorial: Our biggest ever tips collection! Discover the best tips to boost your skills To celebrate in style we talked to our tame 3D artist, plus industry experts and veterans from around the world and bring you their combined knowledge in the form of 250 top tips. Level up now! Tutorial: Megastructures Part two of our iPad kitbashing training Adam Dewhirst takes you on the second part of his training, showing you how to use kitbashed elements to create megastructures. Training: CAT rigging Part one of our new series on rigging. Rigging is a complex topic but fear not. We start a new series this issue showing you exactly how to master the dark arts! Subscribe to 3D World here Read more: Become a better 3D artist The 10 best 3D movies of 2019 The best new 3D tools for 2019 View the full article