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Modern sites often combine all of their JavaScript into a single, large main.js script. This regularly contains the scripts for all your pages or routes, even if users only need a small portion for the page they're viewing. When JavaScript is served this way, the loading performance of your web pages can suffer – especially with responsive web design on mobile devices. So let's fix it by implementing JavaScript code splitting. How to code faster, lighter JavaScript What problem does code splitting solve? When a web browser sees a <script> it needs to spend time downloading and processing the JavaScript you're referencing. This can feel fast on high-end devices but loading, parsing and executing unused JavaScript code can take a while on average mobile devices with a slower network and slower CPU. If you've ever had to log on to coffee-shop or hotel WiFi, you know slow network experiences can happen to everyone. Each second spent waiting on JavaScript to finish booting up can delay how soon users are able to interact with your experience. This is particularly the case if your UX relies on JS for critical components or even just attaching event handlers for simple pieces of UI. Do I need to bother with code splitting? It is definitely worth asking yourself whether you need to code-split. If your site requires JavaScript for interactive content (for features like menu drawers and carousels) or is a single-page application relying on JavaScript frameworks to render UI, the answer is likely 'yes'. Whether code splitting is worthwhile for your site is a question you'll need to answer yourself. You understand your architecture and how your site loads best. Thankfully there are tools available to help you here. Get help For those new to JavaScript code splitting, Lighthouse – the Audits panel in Chrome Developer Tools – can help shine a light on whether this is a problem for your site. The audit you'll want to look for is Reduce JavaScript Execution Time (documented here). This audit highlights all of the scripts on your page that can delay a user interacting with it. PageSpeed Insights is an online tool that can also highlight your site's performance – and includes lab data from Lighthouse and real-world data on your site performance from the Chrome User Experience Report. Code coverage in Chrome Developer Tools If it looks like you have costly scripts that could be better split, the next tool to look at is the Code Coverage feature in the Chrome Developer Tools (DevTools>top-right menu>More tools> Coverage). This measures how much unused JavaScript (and CSS) is in your page. For each script summarised, DevTools will show the 'unused bytes'. This is code you can consider splitting out and lazy-loading when the user needs it. The different kinds of code splitting There are a few different approaches you can take when it comes to code splitting JavaScript. How much these apply to your site tends to vary depending on whether you wish to split up page/application 'logic' or split up libraries/frameworks from other 'vendors'. Dynamic code splitting: Many of us 'statically' import JavaScript modules and dependencies so that they are bundled together into one file at build time. 'Dynamic' code splitting adds the ability to define points in your JavaScript that you would like to split and lazy-load as needed. Modern JavaScript uses the dynamic import() statement to achieve this. We'll cover this more shortly. Vendor code splitting: The frameworks and libraries you rely on (e.g. React, Angular, Vue or Lodash) are unlikely to change in the scripts you send down to your users, often as the 'logic' for your site. To reduce the negative impact of cache invalidation for users returning to your site, you can split your 'vendors' into a separate script. Entry-point code splitting: Entries are starting points in your site or app that a tool like Webpack can look at to build up your dependency tree. Splitting by entries is useful for pages where client-side routing is not used or you are relying on a combination of server and client-side rendering. For our purposes in this article, we'll be concentrating on dynamic code splitting. Get hands on with code splitting Let's optimise the JavaScript performance of a simple application that sorts three numbers through code splitting – this is an app by my colleague Houssein Djirdeh. The workflow we'll be using to make our JavaScript load quickly is measure, optimise and monitor. Start here. Measure performance Before attempting to add any optimisations, we're first going to measure the performance of our JavaScript. As the magic sorter app is hosted on Glitch, we'll be using its coding environment. Here's how to go about it: Click the Show Live button. Open the DevTools by pressing CMD+OPTION+i / CTRL+SHIFT +i. Select the Network panel. Make sure Disable Cache is checked and reload the app. This simple application seems to be using 71.2 KB of JavaScript just to sort through a few numbers. That certainly doesn't seem right. In our source src/index.js, the Lodash utility library is imported and we use sortBy – one of its sorting utilities – in order to sort our numbers. Lodash offers several useful functions but the app only uses a single method from it. It's a common mistake to install and import all of a third-party dependency when in actual fact you only need to use a small part of it. Optimise your bundle There are a few options available for trimming our JavaScript bundle size: Write a custom sort method instead of relying on a thirdparty library. Use Array.prototype.sort(), which is built into the browser. Only import the sortBy method from Lodash instead of the whole library. Only download the code for sorting when a user needs it (when they click a button). Options 1 and 2 are appropriate for reducing our bundle size – these probably make sense for a real application. For teaching purposes, we're going to try something different. Options 3 and 4 help improve the performance of the application. Only import the code you need We'll modify a few files to only import the single sortBy method we need from Lodash. Let's start with replacing our lodash dependency in package.json: with this: In src/index.js, we'll import this more specific module: Next, we'll update how the values get sorted: Reload the magic numbers app, open up Developer Tools and look at the Network panel again. For this specific app, our bundle size was reduced by a scale of four with little work. But there's still much room for improvement. JavaScript code splitting Webpack is one of the most popular JavaScript module bundlers used by web developers today. It 'bundles' (combines) all your JavaScript modules and other assets into static files web browsers can read. The single bundle in this application can be split into two separate scripts: One is responsible for code making up the initial route. Another one contains our sorting code. Using dynamic imports (with the import() keyword), a second script can be lazy-loaded on demand. In our magic numbers app, the code making up the script can be loaded as needed when the user clicks the button. We begin by removing the top-level import for the sort method in src/index.js: Import it within the event listener that fires when the button is clicked: This dynamic import() feature we're using is part of a standardstrack proposal for including the ability to dynamically import a module in the JavaScript language standard. Webpack already supports this syntax. You can read more about how dynamic imports work in this article. The import() statement returns a Promise when it resolves. Webpack considers this as a split point that it will break out into a separate script (or chunk). Once the module is returned, the module.default is used to reference the default export provided by lodash. The Promise is chained with another .then() calling a sortInput method to sort the three input values. At the end of the Promise chain, .catch() is called upon to handle where the Promise is rejected as the result of an error. In a real production applications, you should handle dynamic import errors appropriately. Simple alert messages (similar to what is used here) are what are used and may not provide the best user experience for letting users know something has gone wrong. In case you see a linting error like "Parsing error: import and export may only appear at the top level", know that this is due to the dynamic import syntax not yet being finalised. Although Webpack support it, the settings for ESLint (a JavaScript linting tool) used by Glitch have not been updated to include this syntax yet but it does still work. The last thing we need to do is write the sortInput method at the end of our file. This has to be a function returning a function that takes in the imported method from lodash.sortBy. The nested function can sort the three input values and update the DOM: Monitor the numbers Now let's reload the application one last time and keep a close eye on the Network panel. You should notice how only a small initial bundle is downloaded when the app loads. After the button is clicked to sort the input numbers, the script/ chunk containing the sorting code gets fetched and executed. Do you see how the numbers still get sorted as we would expect them to? JavaScript code splitting and lazy-loading can be very useful for trimming down the initial bundle size of your app or site. This can directly result in faster page load times for users. Although we've looked at adding code splitting to a vanilla JavaScript application, you can also apply it to apps built with libraries or frameworks. Lazy-loading with a JavaScript library or framework A lot of popular frameworks support adding code splitting and lazy-loading using dynamic imports and Webpack. Here's how you might lazy-load a movie 'description' component using React (with React.lazy() and their Suspense feature) to provide a "Loading…" fallback while the component is being lazy-loaded in (see here for some more details): Code splitting can help reduce the impact of JavaScript on your user experience. Definitely consider it if you have larger JavaScript bundles and when in doubt, don't forget to measure, optimise and monitor. This article was originally published in issue 317 of net, the world's best-selling magazine for web designers and developers. Buy issue 317 here or subscribe here. Related articles: 9 of the best JavaScript frameworks 15 essential JavaScript tools you should be using 14 of the best JavaScript APIs View the full article

Not every logo design stands the test of time. For every classic logo there are hundreds that age less than gracefully, and even the best designs can start to look a little past it after a while. If a logo design is past its prime – or if it no longer accurately reflects a brand's identity – then the temptation can often be to bin it and start again. This is always a great way to attract attention to a brand – not always the sort of attention you want, to be fair – but it also runs the risk of alienating loyal customers who have grown comfortable with the old logo design. (For more on logos, see our ultimate guide to logo design.) Rather than start anew, sometimes the best approach is to play it safer and give the logo a thorough refresh, retaining the aspects that still work and getting rid of – or simply changing – what doesn't. Here are five tried and tested approaches you can take, and five brands that have used them to stunning effect. 5 logo design terms you should know 01. Change the palette Eating under these golden arches feels a lot less like a meal of shame [Image: McDonald's] Colour and colour theory play a vital part in good logo design; each colour has its own connotations and a well-chosen palette can both communicate a brand's psychology and speak directly to its core market. And once a brand becomes widely recognised, you mess with the palette at your peril. Sometimes, though, the colour scheme that worked in the past might no longer accurately reflect a brand's values – or at least the ones it wishes to focus on – and a shift in palette becomes a viable option. This most recently paid off for McDonald's; long associated with junk food and wanting to reposition itself as a healthier, more eco-conscious operation, it's pulled back on the brash primary colours of its old branding, and while it retains those iconic golden arches, in many European restaurants it's replaced the vivid red background with a more refined hunter green. 02. Lose the text This is still clearly Mastercard; can your brand get away with a similar trick? [Image: Mastercard] Having an instantly recognisable brand identity is a marketing dream, but it can also be a bit of a millstone around a company's neck. When your logo's well-established, changing it becomes almost unthinkable. One option, though, is to use that recognisability to your advantage, focus entirely on your well-known logo and get rid of the text entirely. It's a high-stakes move that requires a stack of confidence and absolutely depends on having a logo to work with that's already incredibly well-known, but if a brand can get away with it then it scores a huge promotional win, with a mark that provokes an instant reaction and also feels more personal and less corporate. Most recently Mastercard pulled this one off with a Pentagram rebrand that reduced its logo to a simple pair of overlapping circles, and it's also worked for the likes of Apple, Starbucks and Nike. 03. Switch the font Switching to its own sans serif was a smart move for Google. [Image: Google] While the fundamental rules of design never change, tastes and fashions just keep on moving on, and this is particularly noticeable where typography is concerned. There's a slow but regular shift back and forth between serifs and sans serifs, so while at one point a serif wordmark makes a brand look authoritative and respectable, give it a few years and it just looks stuffy and out of touch. Every logo designer has to face the fact that sooner or later the fantastic font that they picked for a wordmark is going to look horribly outdated, and while it'll doubtless go back to looking on-point in another few years, right now it needs changing. Google grasped that particular nettle in 2015, ditching its outmoded serif wordmark for a friendlier model using its own Product Sans font, while retaining its colour scheme and the playful tilt on the final 'e', and giving a brand that's ancient by internet standards a fresh, modern look. 04. Play on nostalgia Bringing the Co-op's clover leaf logo out of retirement was an inspired move by North [Image: Co-op] Any brand that's been around for a while will have accumulated a small pile of discarded logos over the years, and sometimes it pays to have a hunt through the archives to see if anything there's worth digging out and dusting off. A logo designed in the 1960s may have been well past its prime 20 or 30 years later, but today it might look fresh and exciting again once it's been cleaned up and re-rendered in crisp vectors. And with a repurposed logo from the past there's sometimes an added bonus in that you get to hook into consumers' sense of nostalgia; people love it when a much-loved brand from their childhood makes a comeback, as seen in 2016 when North did away with the Co-operative's overly corporate branding, turning it back into the Co-op and bringing back its caring, sharing clover leaf logo from the 1960s. 05. Simplify Dan Lawrence did away with all the unwanted detail and fussy extras in Grolsch's branding [Image: Grolsch] Another thing that can happen to a long-lived logo design is that people can't resist tweaking and refining it over the years. A drop shadow here, a bit of highlighting there, some extra on-trend detailing… it all adds up, and the end result of all these little adjustments can be a massive mess. Even if a logo's been left largely untouched over the years, it may not be fit for purpose today. Logos need to work a lot harder these days; they need to look good on everything from massive banners down to social profile images and app icons, and older logos weren't necessarily designed with that degree of scaling in mind. When you're dealing with either case, often the only option is to go back to basics and strip the brand down to its bare essentials, something best exemplified by Dan Lawrence's recent redesign work for Grolsch. Having decided that the brand's originality and story had been lost across many redesigns, he threw out everything in the branding that served no purpose, even recreating its logo in a simplified vector style. The end result is minimal, functional and powerful; still recognisably the same brand but completely reinvigorated. Related articles: 18 controversial moments in logo design and branding Where to find logo design inspiration 5 logo design apps for beginners View the full article

For the first time in 61 years, American music label Warner Bros. Records has rebranded itself. Say hello to Warner Records, which was launched earlier this week with a new brand identity and logo created in partnership with the world's largest independent design consultancy, Pentagram. Previously the label had been recognised for a good part of the last six decades by the famous Warner Bros. shield logo. Subtle variations over the years saw it accompanied by the word 'records', while a merger with Seven Arts in 1967 saw the brief use of a more angular design based around the letter 'W'. Pentagram's new logo (below) breaks from convention though as it sees the name Warner Records put front and centre. Accompanying the name is a simple sun graphic that appears to be rising thanks to a subtle but effective piece of cropping.(To learn more about the art of logos, see our post on logo design.) It's the dawn of a new identity for Warner Records. [Image: Warner Records] The Pentagram rebrand follows some behind-the-scenes reshuffling at Warner Bros. Records. Having been sold by Time Warner in 2004, the label was under obligation to keep trading as Warner Bros. records for the next 15 years – a decision that stipulated that the label kept using the same name and logo. That agreement has now expired, allowing Warner to usher in the rebrand. And in a way it couldn't have come at a better time. The Warner label has seen a recent leadership change, and in March the company relocated from Burbank to downtown Los Angeles. A press release from Warner Records says that, "[f]or the first time in the label's history, we've had the opportunity to create a distinct, modern identity entirely of our own." It goes on to say that the new logo will succeed thanks to its "artful simplicity and impactful typography that are ideally suited to the digital world. The circular icon—suggesting a record, a sun, and a globe—is a nod to the label’s past, present and future. The openness of the design gives it the flexibility to embrace all Warner Records artists and all genres of music around the world." Related articles: The 25 greatest animated music videos 10 of the best logos ever 11 steps to better logos View the full article

Knowing how to resize an image in Photoshop is a fundamental skill for designers. Whether you're uploading an image to the web or preparing it for print, it's important to get the size correct. Luckily Photoshop offers plenty of tools to help you perfect your picture size. Although the process can be a bit of a minefield if you haven’t attempted it before. In this beginner's Photoshop tutorial, we will examine how to resize an image in Photoshop. We'll address the dangers involved, and explain some methods that will help you deal with them. As well as covering how to manipulate canvas size and image size, we'll also cover resampling, cropping, and how to edit an individual layer. Want to learn more about Photoshop? See our roundup of the best Photoshop tutorials. Get Adobe Creative Cloud here How to change Canvas Size You can set the width and height of your canvas in the Canvas Size dialogue window. When the layer is unlocked, increasing the canvas size will add transparent pixels Perhaps the simplest and least problematic method of resizing a Photoshop document is to change the size of the canvas itself. In doing this, the image content will remain the same size while the boundaries around the asset change. Increasing the canvas size will add transparent or coloured pixels around the image, depending on whether your layer is locked or not. Decreasing the canvas size will crop into the image, removing image data from around the edges. You can make these adjustments by going to Image > Canvas Size in the Menu bar. The dialogue window lets you enter new values for both the width and height of the canvas, offering a range of measurement units to suit your purpose; you should be using pixels for digital, and inch/centimetre for print. The canvas anchor point is automatically set to be centred, adjusting the canvas size uniformly around the whole image, but can be moved if you wish to add or remove pixels from any particular edge. By selecting the Relative checkbox you will be able to add or takeaway an equal number of pixels from around the current canvas size. Photoshop CC also allows you to do calculations inside all number fields. Use Trim and Reveal All Trim and Reveal All are both functions that affect canvas size, without having to enter the Canvas Size dialogue window. Trim removes unwanted areas of transparent pixels or background pixels of a specified colour. In a similar fashion to using the Canvas Size dialog window, the transparent option will only be visible when your layers are unlocked. Reveal All will resize the canvas to show any content that exceeds the document boundaries. Both of these can be found under Image in the menu bar, but should only be viewed as quick fixes that offer limited control over the process. If all this seems too complicated, you can always just create a new document with the correct dimensions (File > New and choose your dimensions) and place your image into it, moving it around until it fits. Changing canvas size can be helpful when making graphics in Photoshop, but is less useful when altering the actual size of an image. For that you will need to use Image Size. Adjust Image Size in Photoshop Resampling will change the image size without affecting the resolution. Choose the correct resample method for the best results The sensible choice for resizing an image in Photoshop is the appropriately named Image Size, found under Image > Image Size in the Menu bar. But before jumping straight into this, you should first try to familiarise yourself with the idea of resolution and why it matters. When resizing an image, your aim should be to change the image size without compromising on resolution. You’ll probably already have a vague idea that resolution is something to do with the detail in an image. The confusion arises when you begin to talk about resolution in terms of pixel density, displayed in Photoshop as ppi (pixels per inch). Image resolution in Photoshop A higher resolution means a sharper image, right? Well actually it all depends on the resolution of the image relative to its size; as the size of the image increases, the relative ppi will decrease. This is especially important in printing, where ppi defines how many dots of ink are used per inch (often referred to as dpi). For example, imagine a one-inch by one-inch image, with a resolution of 100 ppi. Increasing the size of this image to ten-inch by ten-inch will decrease the ppi to 10. If you go on to use the image at that size, there will only be ten pixels per inch and it will appear pixellated and have jagged edges. The general rule is that you can make an image smaller without having any major issues, but you will encounter problems when making it larger. When sending an image to print, a dpi of 300 is recommended, although this depends on the quality of the image and the size you’re printing to. A 300dpi image is suitable for an A4 page, but you can get away with using a lower dpi for a billboard, since people will be viewing it from further away. For digital images, the most important number is the number of pixels in the image rather than density. A 500px x 500px image will always be 500px x 500px, no matter what the pixel density is. To test this effect, make sure resample is turned off at the bottom of the Image Size dialogue window. You will now notice that changing the height, width or resolution will alter the other two values proportionally; the total number of pixels in the image has not changed. If you type your desired resolution into the number field, the resulting width and height show the maximum size your image can be used at. Resampling an image Using an image at the wrong size can lead to pixelation issues. Enlarging an image without losing resolution is the white whale that all designers are chasing. That's because there is no enhance button that magically removes pixilation and sharpens an image. In reality your best hope is the resample function. Resampling changes the pixel dimensions of an image by actually adding or deleting pixels. It does this through a process called interpolation, which analyses the original pixels and creates new ones, essentially by making an educated guess. You can turn resample on at the bottom of the Image Size dialogue window. This time when you alter the width or height it will not affect the resolution at all. This is because Photoshop is filling in the missing pixels to retain the same resolution at the larger size. Turning Constrain Proportions on means the width and height will remain at a fixed ratio, preventing you from squishing or distorting your image. You might find that doing your upscaling in steps works better than doing it in one big jump. Resampling is generally not a good idea, since you will lose clarity and sharpness from the image When performing the upscale, make sure you have selected the correct resample method from the drop down menu at the bottom of the Image Size dialogue window. There are two options clearly marked for reduction and enlargement, the Bicubic Sharper and Bicubic Smoother. The 2018 update of CC (see our review of the latest Photoshop CC) introduced us to Preserve Details 2.0 Upscale, a new algorithm for upscaling images. It is not yet an official part of Photoshop, so if you wish to try it out, you will need to turn it on in Preferences > Technology Preview > Enable Preserve Details 2.0 Upscale. You will then need to locate this as a resample method in the Image Size dialogue window. Resampling is generally not a good idea, since you will lose clarity and sharpness from the image, but is the best of a bad world if you have no other options. There are a few tricks you can use to alleviate the resulting softness. After the resampling is finished, duplicate the layer and add a High Pass filter, found under Filter > Other > High Pass. Turn this new layer onto soft light in blending modes and it will add sharpness and contrast to the image. You can also try using an Unsharp Mask on the original layer, found under Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask. Crop images in Photoshop Use the crop tool to rotate and reframe your image, using the shift key to lock the aspect ratio Sometimes you may be happy with your image size, but want to focus in on a specific area to improve the overall composition. To do this, you need to use the Crop tool. Select the Crop tool in the toolbar or with the C shortcut (this is one of many Photoshop shortcuts). The crop borders will appear around the image, allowing you to drag the edge and corner handles to adjust the fit. Holding down the Shift key down will ensure your crop retains the same aspect ratio as the original image. Alternatively you can set a specific ratio in the number field on the menu bar. Clicking just outside the frame will let you rotate the crop and straighten the image. You can also draw a new crop box straight onto the canvas by clicking and holding over the image. When you’re happy with the crop either press enter or double-click to go back to normal edit mode. Resize a single layer The Free Transform tool will allow you to resize and distort an individual layer Instead of changing the entire image, Photoshop also lets you edit individual layers. Select the layer you wish to resize and go to Edit > Free Transform or press cmd + T. The transform box has the same controls as a crop box; use the handles to scale up or down, click outside to rotate, and hold shift to scale proportionally. By holding the cmd key you will be able to move individual corner points around and distort the image. Double-click or press enter when you’re happy. There are more creative options for resizing your layer under Image > Transform, such as Warp and Perspective. You should bear in mind that enlarging a single layer has the same pixellation problems as changing the entire image size, unless your layer is a vector graphic. Other tools that could be used to change the layer size are the marquee tool, to literally select and delete areas of content, or the mask tool to hide areas. [Images: author's own] Related articles: 66 free Photoshop actions The 10 commandments of Photoshop etiquette How to compress images: a web designer's guide View the full article

When you're setting up your studio or home office, you need to get your priorities straight. Naturally you need decent computer hardware, the right desks and some comfortable office chairs, but you also need all those little extras that turn a workspace into a welcoming environment. A few plants can make a big difference to your studio ambience; a little greenery here and there can really brighten up the place and make things feel less sterile, and some good-looking plants are also handy models to help you improve your sketching skills. If you're clever about it, though, you can choose greenery that helps improve productivity and wellbeing in your workplace. 19 super-cool design offices to stir the senses The plant experts at online florist, SerenataFlowers.com, have put together a helpful infographic featuring 10 plants that'll have a really beneficial effect in the studio (plus a few more with less work-related benefits). Here are five ways in which they can improve your workspace; take a look and then head for the nearest garden centre, and don't forget to pick up a watering can while you're there. 01. Increase productivity Choose Bamboo Palm or Golden Pothos for a more productive workspace [Image: SerenataFlowers.com] According to a study by the University of Exeter, simply having plants in the office can increase productivity by 15 per cent. They reduce stress and fatigue, improve memory retention and also regulate humidity and reduce carbon dioxide, helping workers remain energised. Particularly useful choices are Bamboo Palm, which is great for combating indoor air pollution, and Golden Pothos, which removes air toxins and also absorbs unpleasant smells – put one near the fridge or office microwave. 02. Reduce anxiety Both Lavender and Snake Plant bring mental health benefits [Image: SerenataFlowers.com] People are much more switched-on about mental health and self-care than they used to be, and while it's in no way a quick fix for mental health issues, having plants in the office can be an effective way of improving your mood and reducing anxiety. Lavender can slow your heart rate and lower blood pressure, making it particularly good for reducing stress, while Snake Plant is thought to reduce anxiety, cure headaches and improve respiratory problems. 03. Clean the air Improve the air quality in your studio with these plants [Image: SerenataFlowers.com] If you want to literally improve the atmosphere in your studio, a few plants can really help in removing harmful toxins such as harmful toxins such as benzene, formaldehyde, carbon monoxide and xylene. Rubber Plants and Spider Plants are especially good at scrubbing toxins out of the air, and become even better as they age, and Peace Lilies are believed to improve air quality by up to 60 per cent – but be careful with them if you have office pets. Some lilies are fatal to cats, and while the Peace Lily isn't one of them, it can still make cats and dogs very unwell if ingested. 04. Repel critters Mint and Basil will keep unwanted visitors at bay [Image: SerenataFlowers.com] With summer around the corner, it's the perfect time to open a window and let some fresh air in, but that inevitably results in unwanted insects buzzing around and getting in your face. But by having some Basil plants around doors and windows, you're less likely to be bothered by insects. Another option is Mint; it repels loads of insects including mosquitoes, and it can even keep mice at bay. 05. Help you sleep Get a good night's sleep by having Aloe Vera and Jasmine by your bed [Image: SerenataFlowers.com] Maybe not one for the studio unless you really value nap times, but if you want to feel refreshed at work then a couple of plants by your bed can help you get enough restful sleep at night. Aloe Vera produces oxygen at night, which can combat insomnia and improve your quality of sleep, while Jasmine flowers reduce anxiety levels and produce a gentle scent that can lull you into a deep sleep. Looking for more than work benefits from your plants? Here's the full infographic from SerenataFlowers.com. Click to see the full-size infographic from SerenataFlowers.com Related articles: The best desks in 2019 for your home office or studio 8 must-have products for a smarter studio The best computer for graphic design View the full article

Want to become an in-demand front end engineer? The Ultimate Front End Development Bundle can help you get there for just $29. In 48 hours of training, you'll become comfortable with programming languages such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. These primary languages will greatly increase your job prospects, as well as your income! The best web hosting services in 2019 You'll practice building your own websites from scratch, and you'll even learn how to get prepared for technical interviews. You'll also learn the tricks of the trade that can help streamline the web development process. Pick up The Ultimate Front End Development Bundle, and use code WEEKEND60 for 60% off the already price-dropped price of $29. Related articles: 27 top-class website templates The future of web design A web designer's guide to CSS methodologies View the full article

Wise and knowledgeable people are never truly done learning, and Stone River eLearning believes that with a passion. That's why a Lifetime Membership will guarantee you're always expanding your skill set and knowledge base. This online school offers 300+ courses and 2,000 hours of online learning, on topics ranging from the graphic design industry to how to develop iOS apps. Certification exams, unlimited ebooks, and even personal guidance are all a part of the one-time fee. And you'll also get in-depth guidance through courses such as Bootstrap, Unity 3D, Java, MySQL, etc. The best cloud storage 2019 Get Stone River eLearning: Lifetime Membership for just $59, and use the code WEEKEND60 for an extra 60% off. Related articles: How to make an app 14 of the best JavaScript APIs 16 top free Bootstrap themes View the full article

It’s not long till Prime Day, Amazon’s annual bargain bonanza. We're expecting to see some huge savings on Prime Day 2019, but how do you ensure that you’re really getting a good deal – and how do you ensure that you don’t miss out on the best ones? Naturally part of the answer involves bookmarking our constantly updated list of the best Amazon Prime Day deals for designers, but there are some things we definitely recommend you do in advance and on the day too.These are our top tips for making sure you bag a genuine bargain on Prime Day. 01. Do your homework Amazon pre-announces many of its Prime Day deals either in the days running up to the event or in the hours before a Lightning Deal begins. If you haven’t already signed up for Prime, you should think about doing so soon: Lightning Deals are usually open to anybody, but on previous Prime Days Amazon made them members-only. It’s free for 30 days and you can always cancel it later. It’s worth keeping an eye on Lightning Deals in particular because they’re only available for a very short time. 02. Check the price history We’re big fans of price comparison services because they enable us to see whether a deal is too good to be true. Once a price goes live on Amazon, you can use CamelCamelCamel to see that item’s price history. The site works for various Amazon sites, not just the US one, and it can tell you whether that Prime Day Instant Pot deal is really a one-off. You can use general price checkers such as PriceSpy too. They don’t tell you the Amazon price history, but they do tell you what lots of other retailers are charging. That’s particularly useful with product categories where the price retailers charge often bears very little relation to the price the manufacturer says they should charge, such as 4K monitors and Ultra HD TVs. By seeing what everyone else is charging you can see if that massive price drop is really a discount or just a comparison to an inflated RRP. 03. Choose a section, not a SKU You’ve more chance of bagging a deal if you think in terms of categories rather than specific products and SKUs (SKUs are retailers’ stock keeping units). You’re much more likely to get an Amazon Prime Day deal on, say, a 4K OLED UHD TV or a Core i7 laptop than on a very specific LG 4K OLED UHD TV or specific model of laptop. That said, if a laptop is what you're after and you can't wait, we've got a great selection of the best laptops for graphic design, all at the best prices. 04. Know what's current Just like in traditional retail, deals are often applied to items that Amazon or its partners wants to get rid of. That often means discontinued or end-of-line stock. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but if you know what’s current and what’s on its way out you can adjust your price expectations accordingly. It’s particularly important to do this with electronics such as TVs, computers and mobile devices as it makes a mockery of any quoted RRP: that was the recommended selling price when it was new, not what it’s actually worth now. For example, as we write this Apple has just updated its iPod touch. Let’s say the old one gets discounted by 25 percent, bringing it down to £133 compared to £199 for a new one. That’s not necessarily a bargain: the outgoing model’s processor is four years old. The new one is twice as fast with three times better graphics performance, and it’ll be supported with iOS updates for longer. 05. Buy the things Amazon wants to sell you Without fail, some of the best discounts on Prime Day are on Amazon products, Amazon products you didn’t know were Amazon products and products that play nice with Amazon Products. In the first category you have the Kindles and Kindle Fires, Echo devices and Fire TVs. In the second, Ring doorbells (and keep an eye on Amazon’s fashion labels such as Find or Truth & Fable for that next fancy design event). And in the third category are primarily smart home devices such as Hue lights and smart plugs. If it can help Amazon sell more products or services, there will be a Prime Day deal to be had. Read more: The best cheap iPad deals in 2019 The best super-fast fibre broadband deals in 2019 The best Dell XPS 15 9570 deals View the full article

High-risk applications that require zero latency, like remote surgery, could cause loss of life in the event of a cyberattack. View the full article

Marvel's team of mutant superheroes, the X-Men, have been going strong since their debut way back in 1963. In that time the franchise has spawned some of the comic book publisher's most famous characters, not to mention tons of blockbuster films. Change is at the heart the X-Men's longevity, and with a new chapter for the comics just around the corner, it was decided that the time was right for them to get a new logo. (To learn more about logo craft, see our post on logo design.) Created by graphic designer and creative director Tom Muller, the recently unveiled logo design will appear on the pages of House of X and Power of X when they hit shelves this summer. This pair of comics form a mini-series that set up a complete reboot of the franchise spearheaded by acclaimed writer Jonathan Hickman, and artists Pepe Larraz, R.B. Silva and Marte Gracia. Unlike the new logo for Justice League, which was revealed last week, Muller's design doesn't fall back on specific reference points from the series' past. He does however rely on the tried and tested piece of X-Men iconography: the letter 'X'. This symbol has been at the heart of X-Men logos for decades, so it's good to see the letter is retained and refined for a new age. Muller worked closely with Hickman and Marvel to develop several iterations of the logo (in the gallery below) before settling on the final design, which sees the letter X split in the middle by a vertical line. This is then displayed on a pair of yellow and red backgrounds. "Part of the design references one of the initial teasers Marvel released that said 'When two aggressive species share the same environment, evolution demands adaptation or dominance'" Muller tells Creative Bloq. "In part the new logo design reflects ideas on the evolution of species and the duality of social groups that has always permeated the X-Men stories. The halves of the X can also be read as > and < signs or even arrows. "The final logo is a clear evolution and refinement of those initial concepts. It was important for everyone that we struck the right balance between being new and future-facing whilst keeping that clear X-Men ‘X’ recognisable and build on the foundations of the X brand." The new logo will appear on the Power of X and House of X series. Image: Comicbook.com The first issues of House of X and Power of X go on sale this July. For more information and to stay up to date with releases, head over to Marvel. Related articles: How to colour comics 14 imaginative web comics to inspire you How to combine 3D and comic art in ZBrush View the full article

Sometimes the world doesn't seem such a happy place, particularly on Twitter. That's why we've decided to celebrate the work that makes us smile. It may not be exactly the same as the work that brings you cheer, of course, but perhaps it'll be a starting point to find more happiness-inducing projects. Once you've got your own curated list of work that makes you grin, it might be time to update who you follow, or create your own 'happy list'. And if you're looking to update your own design portfolio, then why not create something with a bit of humour or cheer in mind? It could go down well at your next job interview (see our design jobs board if you're looking for a new challenge). We should also say that we were originally inspired by Luke Tonge's tweet on this subject. See the thread below for more suggestions to bring cheer. Without further ado, here are our top five projects sure to raise a smile. 01. Soft Spot Philippa Rice's work combines a mish-mash of styles, and this video of animations made with her partner Luke Pearson is a random mix of shorts involving her characters. There are crochet characters on the washing line, dancing paper characters, and a creature playing what we think is a banjo. What can we say? We like it. 02. Liquid Death Liquid Death couldn't be more different to Soft Spot. It's vulgar, it's violent, and it's selling... bottled water. So it's probably best not to delve into why we like it, but it does still make us laugh. Liquid Death was created by Mike Cessario, who has a background in advertising and marketing, Pat Cook, a heavy metal bartender, JR Riggins, a manufacturing expert and animator Will Carsola, who's best known for animated sitcom Mr Pickles (created for Adult Swim). Read more about Liquid Death here. 03. NOYO NOYO's identity embodies the word 'joyful' This campaign for National Open Youth Orchestra– the world's first disabled-led youth orchestra – never fails to cheer us up. It combines vibrant colours with bold shapes, and bold statements, and was created by Fiasco Design. "No more barriers," says the campaign. "Just great music." And who are we to argue with that? 04. Enough Multi-awarding winning short film Enough by Anna Mantzaris isn't exactly the jolliest of films, but it did make us laugh. The animated short chronicles characters losing control, in a number of familiar irritating situations. If you've ever felt like throwing your computer on the floor or shoving a plate of spaghetti in someone's face, this one's for you. 05. Viva la Vulva Viva la Vulva, a campaign for Libresse by Somesuch, recently won a Black Pencil at the D&AD Awards, and we're not in the least bit surprised. Instead of all the usual elements of a period product campaign: people in white trousers, rollerskating and blue liquid, it instead has singing vulvas, a Barbie doll looking in horror at her smooth genitals and real women talking about their vaginas. We also love the soundtrack – a reworked version of Fatboy Slim's Praise You. Viva la Vulva indeed. Read more: World's smallest McDonald's opens for bees – and it's amazing! How to make money on Pinterest as a creative How to connect with your audience (while staying true to your brand) View the full article

Want to get on the fast track to a career in a creative field, such as graphic design, content creation, or photography? This 41-Hour training school will get you up to speed with Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator - three of the most useful tools for anyone in a creative industry - for just $39. Learn how to produce beautiful artwork on the computer using Illustrator, discover the art of designing magazines and newsletters with InDesign, and bring your photos up to a professional level with Photoshop. Get Adobe Creative Cloud Get Graphic Design + Adobe CC Certification School for just $39, and use code WEEKEND60 for an additional 60% off. Related articles: The 38 best Photoshop plugins Design a killer logo in Illustrator The 15 best photography websites View the full article

If you're a digital artist who's always worked in 2D, the thought of stepping up to the third dimension probably sounds exciting but daunting. That's exactly how designer and developer David DeSandro felt, so he decided to create Zdog, a straightforward 3D modelling engine designed for use on the web. And after working on it for the last year, DeSandro recently launched it as a beta-release to the public. On the Zdog site, DeSandro explains that the 3D JavaScript engine is designed for use with <canvas> and SVG. And once you get to grips with it, you can design and render simple 3D models. What separates Zdog from other engines that have been used to create inspirational 3D art though is that while its geometries exist in 3D space, they are actually rendered from flat shapes. This has prompted DeSandro to describe Zdog as a pseudo-3D engine. "Zdog was designed to bring the simplicity of vector illustration into 3D," he reveals on the Zdog site. "Drawing circles and squares is easy and fun. Zdog just adds another dimension." His engine takes its inspiration from Dogz, a 1995 virtual pet game that used 2D sprites to render models in a 3D scene. "Zdog uses the same principal. It renders all shapes using 2D drawing API in <canvas> or <svg>. Spheres are actually dots. Toruses are actually circles . Capsules are actually thick lines. It’s a simple, but effective trick." For DeSandro, the decision to create Zdog came about after he struggled to get his head around other more powerful and complex 3D engines. "I made Zdog so I could design and display simple 3D models without a lot of overhead," he adds. The small but powerful library only weighs in at 2,100 lines of code, and the modelling is all done with a straight-forward declarative API. And because all round shapes are rendered as proper circles, they won't be distorted by polygonal jaggies. We've been blown away by the work DeSandro has created in Zdog. Take a look at some of the amazing examples he's shared below, complete with CodePen demo links, and head over to the Zdog site to download it for free today. Related articles: The best cities for 3D artists The hottest new tools for 3D artists this spring Check out these unbelievably realistic 3D portraits View the full article

ZBrush 2019 by Pixologic has some excellent new features for both 2D and 3D artists. The only downside (for some) may be that it has now migrated to a subscription model. There are monthly and six-monthly options, alongside its one-time perpetual licence offering. The price has grown steadily in recent years, but if you factor in that all upgrades have been free of charge (since the early 2000s), then there is not a lot to moan about. Plus, having a monthly option is always great news for small studios and freelancers who may need a small number of licences for a short period of time or a specific contract or 3D project (see our pick of inspiring 3D art). Let's take a look at the new tools ZBrush 2019 offers: Buy ZBrush 2019 from $39.95 a month ZBrush 2019: Non-photorealistic rendering Non-photorealistic rendering is a great addition for illustrators, designers and mixed-discipline artists [Image: Glen Southern] Accessed from the Render panel, NPR or non-photorealistic rendering adds a whole new system to change the look of your final renders. The range of styles is actually mind-boggling as there is now a huge range of sliders and settings to choose from and then combine. You can turn sculpts into a comic style with heavy outlines, overlay textures and paper styles, create hand-drawn effects similar to Photoshop filters or actions and even add halftone effects. This is not a huge bonus for traditional 3D artists perhaps, but it’s a great addition for illustrators and mixed-media artists wanting to stand out from the crowd in a saturated market. ZBrush 2019: ZRemesher and new folder system More of an improvement to subtools than a new feature, this version brings folders and a range of folder settings [Image: ZBrush] ZRemesher has been through two iterations already and both have been well received. It is essentially an auto retopology tool and it makes quick work of making really high-resolution models usable by giving you a fairly clean topology and edge loops for the most part. This latest version works better for hard-surface models as it can detect sharp surface angles and even maintain creased edges, as well as giving you polygroups. One big gripe with the subtool system in ZBrush has always been that you can’t easily group and manage your subtools effectively. This becomes a real issue when you get into hundreds of subtools per character. Good naming conventions helped, but a true folder system was needed and that’s now been added. Subtools can be placed into folders and there is even a folder setting button allowing you to access lots of folder actions like delete, transpose, merge and Boolean. The ability to move, scale and rotate the whole folder is a real bonus. Having used it for a few days it is a massive help in organising your creations, and it seems a shame that we only have one folder level and we can’t nest them (yet). ZBrush 2019: Snapshot 3D Snapshot 3D is an enhancement to the functions found on the Spotlight wheel. Spotlight was introduced to allow an artist to take any image (texture) and project it onto the surface of a model using Polypaint. It came in the form of a wheel that, when activated, allowed you to place the image or portion of the image over your model and then paint through, adding the texture to the surface below. Snapshot 3D works in the same way and as part of the Spotlight wheel. What’s different is that the textures, rather than applying anything to the model below, allow you to convert the image to a 3D model as a subtool. For example, if you take a greyscale image of a white cube on a black background and apply it through Spotlight, it will create a cube of that shape and size. Using complex greyscale images and the live Boolean function in the SubTool panel enables you to make extremely complex shapes very quickly. It is a novel way to add 3D geometry from 2D patterns and shapes. ZBrush 2019: Universal camera This release brings a new camera system that will be more familiar to 3D artists [Image: ZBrush] The ZBrush camera has often baffled new users as you could argue that it doesn’t really exist in any recognisable way. It is there as we are looking through it when we work, but it has always been seen as a weakness. ZBrush 2019 adds the Universal Camera, which now gives us some of the basic functions we would see in other 3D cameras. There is a focal length control, crop factor and even import and export functions. You can match the focal length of imported photographs and you can save some of the settings to reuse in other scenes. Of course, this now plays well with programs like KeyShot. Pixologic also added some new plugins, including Intersection Masker, allowing you to use a mesh to mask, and ZColor, which enhances digital painting tasks. ZBrush is still clearly the market-leader in digital sculpting packages, and this 2019 update brings some diverse new features and tools. Pixologic doesn’t always respond to industry needs, but has a habit of coming up with unique ways to solve problems. There’s plenty in this release for illustrators, designers and mixed-discipline artists, plus some much-needed additions for 3D artists such as the camera and folders. This article originally appeared in 3D World magazine; subscribe here. Buy ZBrush 2019 from $39.95 a month Read more: The best 3D modelling software in 2019 View the full article

For some reason, unlike any other industry we know of, non-creative folk have this idea that artists and designers like to do stuff for free. Actually, we do know why, it's 'for the exposure', right? Wrong. It's a misconception that has plagued the design industry since the beginning of time, and one which, quite rightly, gets on every creative professional's last nerve. In fact it's a cause of such frustration that many artists over the years have used their creative prowess to express exactly how they feel about it. The only free work creatives should really be considering is side projects that inspire, hone skills and help make yours one of the best design portfolios going. A prime example of such work is this offering from comic artist Joey Alison Sayers, with this tongue-in-cheek illustration of an 'alternative' dollar bill. The 'it's funny but not' currency replica replaces the original The United States of America and Federal Reserve Note text with 'The United States of Freelancio' and 'Just a piece of paper'. It also sees the removal of the Department of Treasury stamp in favour of a steaming pile of turd, leaving absolutely no doubt about how Sayers' feelings on working 'for exposure'. Posted on Twitter, it's no surprise Sayers' new currency has been liked, shared and commented on by many, all of whom clearly share the same discontented feelings about being asked to work for free. While we, like many, long for the day when projects like this no longer have to exist, we can't help but enjoy the fun and admire the craft and effort that has gone into this piece. Here's hoping art like this will continue to raise awareness and soon make the problem a thing of the past. Read more: 'New Coke' makes a comeback It burns! Vampire posters catch fire in the sun Asus reveals new dual screen laptop - and it looks EPIC! View the full article

Amazingco, an events planning firm, exposed 212,220 records with personal data relating to children's parties, wine tours and more. View the full article

Researcher discloses vulnerability in macOS Gatekeeper security feature that allows the execution of malicious code on current version of the OS. View the full article

If you're like most everyday computer user, you probably have large amounts of data stored on your device. But data can get lost or stolen and hard drives can sometimes crash beyond the point of repair, which is why it's always good to have a back up plan. To keep your work safe from malware you should seriously consider investing in one of the best antivirus software packages. If you want to protect, manage and share your files with ease, the Degoo Premium: Lifetime 1TB Backup Plan. is a great option. The best cloud storage 2019 Using Degoo, you get 1TB of secured backup space. High-speed transfers make it easy to move your data around or send files to friends, and you can perform backups to all the devices you own (and let's face it, lots of us own more than one). Automatic file change detection automatically keeps your backup up to date, so you don't have to! Get Degoo Premium for just $49.99 – sign up here. Related articles: The best 404 pages: Excellent error pages to explore The best computer for graphic design in 2019 9 security tips to protect your website from hackers View the full article

Researchers have discovered one million devices that are vulnerable to a "wormable" Microsoft flaw, which could open the door to a WannaCry-like cyberattack. View the full article

The potential of Patreon for artists is life-changing. In case you haven't heard, Patreon is a membership program for artists that keeps creators creating through regular donations from supporters. Whether you make street art or 3D movies, it might be just what you need to push you forwards with your projects. To many onlookers, Patreon can appear to be a numbers game. Artists who use the platform jockey for subscribers, and therefore funds, as part of a transaction for their work. As for the site itself, the statistics speak volumes. Set up five years ago, Patreon has sent over $150 millions to its creators, who in turn get to keep 90 per cent of received donations. The site has had an impact beyond these figures, though. Patreon has put creators back in the driver seat and freed them up to create more personal work. How to make money on Pinterest as a creative For many, it’s been the platform they’ve been waiting for. "I’d been dreaming of Patreon for 10 years before it existed," explains Peter Mohrbacher, a fantasy illustrator whose passion had always lain in personal work. "After about seven years working in the games industry, I stopped seeking new employment because I wanted to pursue the dream of making a full-time living from my personal work. Not long after that, Patreon launched and I jumped right on board." We've found artists who are using Patreon to achieve their goals, and asked for their tips on how you can utilise it with maximum success. So read on for seven things you can do to get the most out of the platform. Click on the icon at the top-right of the image to enlarge it. 01. Embrace the new model Wylie Beckert released her first playing card deck, Wicked Kingdom, via Patreon [Image: Wylie Beckert] Illustrator and artist Wylie Beckert turned to Patreon out of frustration with the traditional career model of working for clients, brands and commissions. "I realised that if I was ever going to make it in the industry, I had to cut out the middleman and create that product myself," she explains. By setting up shop on Patreon, Beckert was able to concentrate on her own work. Seeing her art turn into a reliable income is an immensely gratifying draw to the platform for her. "There’s this poisonous misconception in our culture that if a creator isn’t creating sheerly for the joy of it, then they’re somehow less of a legitimate artist. Yet in reality, it’s a heck of a lot harder to create something worthwhile when you’re stressed about money or burned out after a long day at your ‘real’ job." 02. Build an audience Michael Lim built his fanbase before creating a Patreon page [Image: Michael Lim] Despite the fulfilment it offers, Patreon won’t do the legwork for its users. "Having a fan base is key, and is probably one of the most important aspects of creating a Patreon page," says Michael Lim, aka Daarken. "All of the people I know who are making a decent amount on Patreon had a large fan base beforehand. With the oversaturation of art and tutorials online, trying to make a name for yourself can seem almost impossible." Concept artist Irshad Karim agrees, "Patreon’s a great tool for monetising an audience, but I don’t find it to be effective at building one from nothing. Before you even think about launching your Patreon campaign, get out there and show people you’ve got something to offer." 03. Find your fit Orc and Gnome's Mild adventures is one of Karim's Patreon-funded projects [Image: Ishrad Karim] Karim explains that every project requires a different approach: "Unfortunately, it’s not a one-size-fits-all scenario. My Drawabox campaign has grown steadily since it was launched. I also draw a web comic, Orc and Gnome’s Mild Adventures, which itself has a Patreon campaign – and it’s a whole other beast to contend with. Balancing what to give away for free and what to hide behind a pay wall is an inherently uncreative decision." 04. Offer incentives The enamel pin Beckert produced as an incentive [Image: Wylie Beckert] To attract an audience, and therefore more funds, Lim suggests offering personalised incentives. "If people think they’re receiving something that no one else does, then it becomes more valuable. It feels more like the creator created something specifically for them. Patrons want to feel like they are a person, and not a number." This is exactly what Beckert did when she launched a Patreon-exclusive enamel pin, promising one to every patron who signed up by a deadline as a signing bonus. "My patron count nearly tripled in a month," the artist reveals. "This was a bit of a risky investment. Manufacturing and shipping around 700 pins cost me thousands of dollars and many days of stuffing envelopes. "Yet while a lot of people dropped their pledge as soon as they got their pin, today [six months later] I still have about twice as many patrons as I started out with, and Patreon has gone from supplementing my commercial work to almost completely replacing it." 05. Support and share Karim's Orbs of Knowledge: Patreon is a way of garnering support [Image: Ishrad Karim] Patreon also gives creators the chance to support the development of other artists by sharing their knowledge. Karim found himself moving on to the platform after spending time passing on his accumulated expertise via Reddit and amassing a large community in the process. "People started asking how they could help contribute and give back for what they’d received," Karim says. "At that point I hadn’t thought about monetising the community. Rather, I figured it could help me develop a reputation, and then further down the road perhaps I’d offer mentorships or something, when I felt my skills and experience levels were ready for that. And so, my Patreon campaign – as well as the Drawabox website itself – was born. "I’ve always seen Patreon not specifically as a way to make money, but as a means of garnering support," Karim adds. "It just so happens that the easiest way for someone to support you is with a burger’s worth of dollars each month." "If I hadn’t been lucky enough to enter the field at a time when this platform was available to creators, I’d probably be building spreadsheets instead of strange fantasy worlds," says Beckert. 05. Value the community Giving back to the community is just as useful for the teacher as it is the student. "Tutorials serve a hidden purpose for me," says Beckert. "Normally, it’s all too easy to zone out while working on a piece and start to rely on habit instead of conscious decision-making – at which point, the quality of my work starts to suffer. Documenting the process as I go keeps me engaged and reviewing my photos and notes after the fact helps me find ways to fine-tune my process." And Patreon has an inbuilt way of connecting with your audience, Karim explains, "Patreon’s Discord chat integration is a seemingly minor feature, but truly an amazing one. It’s simple to set up and enables you to build a stronger bond with your community. And that is how one succeeds on Patreon!" 06. Use Patreon to balance tough industry conditions Morbacher's Redux. Morbacher couldn't have devoted his full attention to his work without Patreon [Image: Peter Mohrbacher] "There are a lot of creative industries where the pay and the terms of work continue to slide into unliveable conditions,” says Mohrbacher. “Illustrators in particular have become abused and exploited by their industry. “I’m hoping that an alternative to working for big companies will create the competition we need to help improve wages and terms." For artists like Lim, though, Patreon hasn’t really affected his freelance work because he uses the platform to offer a different service altogether. "Since the decline of my mentorship attendance, Patreon has enabled me to keep the lights on," he explains. "Without the monthly revenue stream from Patreon, I wouldn’t be able to pay my bills." This article was originally published in issue 170 of ImagineFX, the world's best-selling magazine for digital artists. Buy issue 170 or subscribe to ImagineFX. 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Nobody wants a straightforward website or app any more. These days you need a more than just an excellent website layout; you need a whole design system that provides you with all the elements you need to create a whole set of sites, pages and apps that follow the same design rules and can evolve as required. Having a robust design system in place can really ease the process of designing and building apps and sites, and now Adobe has taken the first steps to enabling you to deploy them using Adobe XD. In its May update, XD introduces new features aimed at helping you create cloud documents with reusable colours, character styles and components that can be shared with team members to create their own documents. Everything you need to know about design systems The key part of XD's new design system toolset is the introduction of components. Replacing XD's symbols, components are reusable elements that designers can bring into their own designs, and customise them if necessary. Crucially, though, if the master component is updated - say, if the client changes their mind about the colour scheme - these updates are rolled out across all non-customised instances, so every design based on that particular system is updated to reflect the changes. The various components, colours and fonts that might make up your design system can be controlled and curated through XD's assets panel. And beyond that, there's also the option to create style guides in the form of 'sticker sheets', which can be published online for reference by external designers or developers. Adobe's guide to how design systems work in XD The beauty of design systems is that everyone, from designers to developers, is reading from the same hymn sheet throughout the build process, so if you're using Adobe XD in your workflow then this should be an exciting update. Adobe says it plans to follow up with refinements offering more fine-grained control over permissions and distributing updates to design system elements. Other new additions in the Adobe XD May update include the ability to drag guides onto artboards, support for keyboard and gamepad triggers within prototypes, a new polygon tool and improved text formatting with the ability to make text upper, lower or title case as well as defining strikethroughs. You should be able to check them all out in the updated Adobe XD right now; find out more on the Adobe blog. Related articles: The best new web design tools of 2019 so far Explore top companies' design systems Develop reusable React components View the full article

Taiwanese electronics company Asus has a track record of releasing innovative and top of the range devices, but it might just have out done itself with its recently announced dual-screen laptops. Unveiled at Computex, the ZenBook Pro Duo and ZenBook Duo feature two in-built 4K screens, with the aim to help users create more intuitively. Building on 2018's ZenBook Pro 15, which came with a touchscreen trackpad, the ZenBook Pro Duo features an impressive 4K main screen and an accompanying touch-sensitive 4K 'Screen Pad Plus' located directly underneath. An LED backed touchpad completes this device's unique setup. We've yet to see the device in action, but if early reports are anything to go by, the ZenBook is headed for a spot in our best laptops for graphic design round up. Super Screen Pad Plus If you're trying to figure out how the Screen Pad Plus works, think of a supersized MacBook Pro Touch Bar. The secondary display is the same width of the laptop's 15.6-inch 4K main screen, and can still be classed as 4K itself thanks to its 3840 x 1100 resolution. In comparison, the main screen packs more of a punch thanks to its 3840 x 2160 pixel display. So what can you use the Screen Pad Plus for? According to the promotional video and press previews, it looks like it's ready for a whole number of tasks. Digital artists can use it with a stylus for an intuitive drawing experience that looks set to make the best Photoshop brushes pop. Meanwhile gamers can view info and stream simultaneously. It also functions as an extended workspace, a multi-app launcher, or as a storage space for content creator galleries. Stylus compatibility gives the ZenBook Pro Duo an intuitive feel. Image: Asus The secondary screen also shakes up web browsing. Users can either view websites on the main display and line up other sites in the Screen Pad Plus, or they can sync them so pages appear descend all the way down to the keyboard. Speaking of the keyboard, the additional screen doesn't put the squeeze on it as it comes in a regular size. In terms of power, the 2.5kg laptop boasts a 9th generation Intel Core i9 CPU, a GeForce RTX 2060 GPU, Wi-Fi 6 capability, up to 32GB of RAM and up to 1TB PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD worth of storage. On top of this, it also comes with a Thunderbolt 3 port, a pair of USB-A ports, a full-sized HDMI port and let's not forget the headphone jack. Fans of Asus will be all too familiar with its range of innovative laptops, including the Asus Chromebook Flip, which we chose as one of the best 2-in-1 laptops available right now. But with the ZenBook Pro Duo, Asus is pushing the limits of the laptop even further. Currently there's no pricing information, but we've a feeling the ZenBook Pro Duo might be quite pricey. Good news is there's a smaller version too, the 14-inch ZenBookPro Duo, which will almost certainly be cheaper than it's bigger sibling. This slimmed down model comes with a 12.6-inch ScreenPad Plus, an Intel Core i7 CPU and GeForce MX250 GPU. At the time of writing Asus haven't mentioned any concrete release dates for these devices, but it's expected to announce a Q3 shipping date in the coming weeks so stay tuned for further updates. Related articles: The 5 best laptops for Photoshop in 2019 The best laptop cooling pads in 2019 The best Walmart laptops in 2019 View the full article

Once you get stuck into a serious font collection it's almost impossible to stop adding things to it. Not only are there all the classic fonts that every designer ought to own, there's also an ever-growing selection of free fonts available online, all clamouring for your attention. There's so much to choose from, though, that it can be hard to pick out the best ones and avoid the dross. So to help you out, we've looked around and found 10 of the best free sans serif fonts released this year; whether you want a sensible all-rounder or something quirkier with a bit of visual flair, there's certain to be something here to give your font library a welcome boost. 19 great places to download fonts for free 01. Red Hat Red Hat's not just for Linux nerds The name might not mean much to you if you're not into Linux and open source, but Red Hat is big enough to have recently brought in Pentagram's Paula Scher to redesign its branding, and part of this process has been a Red Hat type family. Designed by Jeremy Mickel, it's a fresh take on a geometric sans and inspired by American sans serifs such as Highway Gothic and Tempo. It comes in two optical sizes and in a range of weights, including italics, and the entire family is available to use under the SIL Open Font Licence. 02. Mattone Mattone's bold, curvy and versatile A highly visible sans serif designed by Annunziato Mazzaferro, Mattone is a wonderfully wide and curvy font with sharp, straight-cut endings, and is built to fit beautifully with bold graphics. It'll also work as an attention-grabbing display font or a stand-out paragraph font. 03. Luciole Luciole mixes visibility and Gallic flair The result of a two-year project by France's Centre Technique Régional pour la Déficience Visuelle and typographies.fr, Luciole has been designed to be easy for people with impaired vision to read. It features strong, heavyweight characters and extra-bold punctuation, accents and mathematical symbols, and it comes in four weights: regular, bold, italic and bold italic. All of them are available under a Creative Commons licence. 04. Public Sans Public Sans is a sensible font for serious stuff Created as part of the United States Web Design System, Public Sans is a free and open source webfont designed with interfaces, text and headings in mind. It's based on Libre Franklin and is a strong, neutral font with a broad range of weights and as few quirks as possible. If it's a no-nonsense sans that you're after, you can't go far wrong here. 05. Sophia Sophia is wonderfully retro and slightly quirky On the other hand, if you're after something a little more sophisticated then allow us to direct you towards Sophia, a free sans serif from Goicha for personal use only. Its gloriously thick stems and thin hairlines give it a lovely retro feel, and it has some excellent little quirky touches that really draw the eye. If you like what you see, you might want to check out Goicha's bundle of 17 fonts for just $48. 06. Köhne Makina Köhne Makina also comes in lovely textured version Another pleasingly quirky font, this time from Krafti Lab. Köhne Makina is a tall vector all-caps font with lovely rounded ends with an urgent but friendly feel to it, and it's free for personal and commercial use. If you want something a bit grungier it's also available from Krafti Lab in a textured version. And the name? Apparently Köhne means old, worn or outdated in Turkish and Persian. 07. Aire Exterior Get that '50s B-movie feel with Aire Exterior One for fans of terrible cult sci-fi, Aire Exterior is a public domain geometric sans serif that's based on the title screen of Ed Wood's infamously bad 1959 classic, Plan 9 from Outer Space. Despite its truly awful heritage, the font itself is quite a looker; we'd advise grabbing the font but not bothering to check out its inspiration. 08. Ferghaus Sans We love the free version of Ferghaus; you might want to pay for all the OpenType features, though Described as a modern sans with a twist, Ferghaus is a versatile font with plenty of OpenType features such as alternate characters, ligatures and swashes, and is suitable for everything from classic-style designs or more modern creations. This free demo version only contains the standard characters, but it's more than enough to give you a feel for Ferghaus' capabilities. 09. Gorgeous Grafix Gorgeous Grafix is perfect for drumming up a bit of excitement Looking for a sans serif that's a little bit futuristic? Darrell Flood's Gorgeous Grafix could be just the thing; we reckon it has a bit of a Star Wars feel to it, with thick, sharp strokes really stand out on the page. It's free for personal use, but Darrell adds that he appreciates donations. 10. Goodlight We'd like to wish you all a very Goodlight A modern header font designed by Daler Mukhiddinov, Goodlight is a sans serif that's apparently inspired by walking home at night; we'll take Daler's word for that. It's a splendidly clean-looking font that comes in normal and light flavours, and it's free to use in commercial projects under the SIL Open Font Licence. Related articles: 15 top typography resources Typography rules and terms every designer must know The 41 best free web fonts View the full article

New American television series, The Passage, found a brilliant way to promote its premiere in Brazil. The show, which sees scientists battling against genetically altered vampires, is the latest in a long line of fiction centred around the folklore monsters. But with its combustible posters, the show has proven that there's still plenty of ways to drum up interest in the famous blood-suckers. Created in partnership between Fox and ad agency BETC São Paulo, the marketing campaign for The Passage includes four displays of The Vampire Poster. This design comfortably sits alongside the most inspirational poster designs we've ever seen thanks to its vampiric aversion to sunlight. As we all know, vampires can't stand a direct hit of sunlight as it causes them to curl up in flames. It's one of their biggest weaknesses, along with stakes to the heart, garlic, and door thresholds. And while a dose of vitamin D is bad news for vampires, it's a dream opportunity for advertisers. The posters appeared on the streets of São Paulo [Image: BETC/Havas] By coating the back of the posters in a special paint that combusts in sunlight, the creative team were able to make an advert that truly reflected its subject. Not that vampires have reflections, mind. But you know what we mean. Upon being exposed to daylight, the posters burst into flames, garnering lots of interest and online impressions in the process. A glass case stopped the posters from harming passers by, and a message on the base of the display told viewers all they needed to know about the upcoming series. Bizarrely, this isn't the only ad campaign we've seen recently that centres around posters going up in flames. Burger King recently invited customers to set fire to its competition's posters in exchange for a free Whopper. Although that was an AI campaign, so there were no real-life fires. The Vampire Posters have a brief lifespan, given that they can't survive the day. But having achieved a reach 688 per cent higher than estimated by investors (according to the stats at the end of the video), this short and sweet campaign appears to have hit the spot. Related articles: The 12 best London Underground posters A designer's guide to printing a poster 14 beautiful travel posters View the full article

Even the biggest successful brands don't get it right all the time. But the most successful ones learn from past mistakes, and, best case scenario, find ways to use them to an advantage. Right now Coca-Cola is attempting just that, reintroducing a product that failed first time round 34 years ago. If you haven't heard the story of 'New Coke', let us take a moment to fill you in. Recognised as a brand so strong it doesn't need a logo, Coca-Cola took arguably the biggest risk in consumer history back in the mid-80s when it changed the formula for its flagship product. The term 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' springs to mind. But Coca-Cola did. And it failed spectacularly. 18 controversial moments in logo design and branding The change marked the first time Coke had altered its recipe in 99 years, and the Coca-Cola website reports it 'spawned consumer angst the likes of which no business has ever seen'. The backlash was so fierce, New Coke was withdrawn a mere 79 days after its initial release. A point in Coke's history you'd think they'd want to forget, right? Wrong. Despite New Coke being an utter flop, Coca-Cola is resurrecting the formula following a recent partnership with Netflix's Stranger Things. Set in the summer of 1985, when New Coke was first released, the old-now-new design will feature in various episodes of the third series, giving the show added authenticity. (We can't help but wish New Coke also featured in this epic new Stranger Things Lego set too). Speaking to CNN Business, Stuart Kronauge, president of Coke's business unit and senior vice president of marketing for Coca-Cola North America, said: "Maybe a while ago we wouldn't have done this. But we're changing and trying to innovate in ways that are beyond traditional new products. This is a cultural innovation." Kronauge also stated the comeback of New Coke is a way for Coca-Cola to "not take ourselves too seriously." It's a brave move for a brand to resurrect a product that was originally such a monumental disaster, but something tells us things will be slightly different this time around. The ability to recognise and play on a not-so-successful part of Coca-Cola's history shows strength and personality from the brand, which we can't help but admire. Want a New Coke can for yourself? You can find them at various Stranger Things-themed pop-up vending machines in various cities this summer. But you’ll need to be quick. Coca-Cola has produced under 500,000 of the New Coke 12-ounce cans, and we don't expect them to hang around for long. Read more: 21 outstanding uses of colour in branding Can you guess the brand from its original logo? Liquid Death is 2019's stupidest branding View the full article