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You're reading Gmail Big Redesign for Android and iOS, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! After it was announced that Google is pushing a new redesign, we should definitely take a look to see the differences between Gmail 8 version and the new one (Gmail version 9.x). The important thing is that both Android and … View the full article

This issue, along with our usual reviews, inspiration and regular Q and A sections, we review the Wacom Cintiq engine and the latest version of Ziva, teach you how to create cityscapes in 3dsMax and master colour theory. Buy 3D World 244 today We take a look inside the issue to find out what else is in store... Feature: Discover Megascans Discover Quixel Megascans and what they can offer your projects. We talk to Quixel to find out what makes Megascans, along with its suite of bridging and creation tools, so special. These tools are rapidly gaining popularity amongst the CG community. Feature: Shadow Go behind the scenes on the historical action film Trevor Hogg delves behind the scenes of this historical visual effects spectacular, uncovering some of the tools and techniques used to solve problems in recreating some breathtaking action sequences. Training: Master colour theory Master colour theory and have an emotional impact on your viewers In this tutorial, we show you how to master your colour theory, allowing you to control your viewers emotion response, making your work more impactful. Feature: Replicas Delve into the making of Replicas In this feature, we uncover the tools and techniques used by the artists behind the visual effects of Keanu Reeve's latest action film. Training: Create cityscapes with 3dsMax and Railclone Create cityscapes with 3dsMax Subscribe to 3D World today Veteran trainer and 3D World regular Paul Roberts returns this issue to teach you how to create sprawling cityscapes using 3dsMax and Railclone, in order to easily distribute your assets across a large scene. 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

Eleven critical bugs will be patched as part of the February Android Security Bulletin. View the full article

You're reading Ut aut reiciendis voluptatibus maiores – Checklist example, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! Inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Quia consequuntur magni dolores eos qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit. Laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Ut enim ad minim … View the full article

To download the accompanying files for 3D World issue 244, simply click the link below each article and a zip file will automatically download the content to your Mac or PC. Videos, which were previously part of the download, are now hosted on this page, for streaming. If you've missed this issue or other editions of 3D World, order a copy. If you have any problems downloading this content, please email: rob.redman@futurenet.com Tutorial: Cell shaded renders Create stunning comic art This guide, from Cover artist Glen Southern, will take you through the process of creating comic art using VR and Zbrush, from initial concept right through to post production and finishing in Adobe Photoshop. Download the files here (48MB) Tutorial: Substance Designer In this issue our Q and A panel discuss various topics. Of particular interest is solution to creating realistic stone materials in Substance. Download the files here (13MB) Training: Colour theory Master your CG colours. Informed and considered use of colour can have a dramatic effect on the outcome of your renders and you can direct your viewers emotional response by thoughtful application of colour in your work. In this tutorial we show you how to understand and use colour in your 3D scenes. Download the files here (10.5MB) Tutorial: Create stunning cityscapes 3dsMax has many useful tools for creating cityscapes and the community has developed many more. Paul Roberts of iTooSoft demonstrates his method for generating impressive cityscapes in this tutorial. Download the files here (12.5MB) Read more: Become a better 3D artist The 10 best 3D movies of 2019 The best 3D modelling software right now View the full article

They say that if you want to ruin someone's life, simply teach them how to spot bad kerning. But if you want to take things a step further, just point them at Can't Unsee. Can't Unsee is a little online game created by Alex Kotliarskyi that'll draw your attention to all the little details that make up good – and bad – UI design. Each round shows you two similar images of an interface, and all you have to do is decide which design is the most correct. Once you've made your decision, Can't Unsee overlays the images on top of each other so that you can compare the two by switching between them. Take the Can't Unsee quiz here This one might take you a few seconds, but it's pretty easy Kotliarskyi's quiz starts off nice and easy with dodgy web fonts and wonky icons, but quickly becomes more difficult as it asks you to identify more subtle UI design errors such as poor padding, incorrect alignment and bad image aspect ratios. By the end of the quiz, you'll find yourself staring at pairs of near-identical images, trying to spot the difference, then not being sure which one's worse and finally questioning your entire sense of aesthetic judgement, which is always fun. 20 best UI design tools Each correctly identified piece of good design earns you points, and at the end of the game you can opt to have your score – and the time it took you to complete the quiz – submitted to an online high score table for additional bragging rights. Wait, what? It's the subtle details like this that can make the difference between a good and bad design While it's all maybe just a little too focused on iOS interfaces, most of the fundamentals it covers are applicable to all areas of UI design. And while much of it is stuff that you, a designer, are likely to already know about, it's a perfect way to test your attention to detail. It's also a great way to educate friends and family who don't really understand what you actually do all day. So go on, share it with them, and who knows, maybe you can ruin their lives a bit at the same time. Related articles: Top UI trends for 2019 The 29 best iPhone apps for designers The 10 commandments of user interface design View the full article

Several flaws in both open-source RDP clients and in Microsoft's own proprietary client make it possible for a malicious RDP server to infect a client computer – which could then allow for an intrusion into the IT network as a whole. View the full article

Very occasionally, a branding genius nails an iconic, timeless mark first time – and it just needs the occasional polish. Other times, a once shiny, on-trend brand fades and dulls with time, and is left to wither before more progressive rivals. If your brand falls into the former category, you're lucky – make it count. If it's the latter, you're lazy – sort it out. More often than not, iconic brands and the world's best logos evolve over time. They aren't born fully formed, but must go through stages of refinement. In the case of many household-name brands, that process took decades. The changes in between rebrands can be subtle, or they can be so dramatic that the earliest iterations are almost unrecognisable to modern-day consumers. Read on to discover three stories of well-known logos that have been on a long journey to reach the form we know today... 01. IBM These monogram logos for IBM's predecessor companies are unrecognisable from the brand's modern-day wordmark Okay, so it may be a bit of a cheat to include a company that's changed its name, as the logo will inevitably be unrecognisable. But the journey from International Time Recording Company to International Business Machines, better known as IBM, is a fascinating one nonetheless. Back in 1888, ITRCo was encapsulated in a rather clumsy and confusing five-character monogram. By comparison, the 1891 monogram logo for the Computing Scale Company was beautifully decorative, albeit fairly illegible. In 1911, the even more catchily named Computing-Tabulating-Recording-Company – a fusion of the two – found a middle ground between its predecessors' logos, locking four letters together in another monogram, complete with ornate serifs. Wrapping the new company name around a globe, this 1924 iteration is a radical departure from earlier monograms It wasn't until 1924 that the name IBM finally came along. For the first and only time in the brand's history, the logo design spelled out the name – wrapped boldly and futuristically around a globe shape – rather than settling for an acronym. Those famous three letters made their appearance in 1947, set in a chunky, outlined slab serif typeface. Eight years later, in 1956, the legendary Paul Rand refined the letterforms – adding distinctive details such as exaggerated, even more chunky slab serifs, square counters within the 'B', and a razor-sharp spike on the 'M'. Paul Rand redesigned IBM's slab-serif wordmark in 1956 (top right), 1967, and finally 1972 (bottom) Rand improved on his own work in 1967, defining the shape of the logo using 13 equally sized, equally spaced blue horizontal bars. He refined this further in 1972, to just eight bars. In the early days of computers when a logo had to be crudely rendered on a low-resolution screen, it was a stroke of genius to turn such a restriction into a strength. 02. Pepsi Between 1898 (top left) and 1940 (bottom right), Pepsi sported a script-style logo not unlike its arch-rival's Until the 1960s, Pepsi had a script-style logo not unlike that of its arch-rival, Coca-Cola. Its original, spindly 1898 mark – which joined the 'P' of Pepsi with the 'C' of 'Cola' with a swoosh-like flourish – was further developed in 1905 to smooth out the letterforms, scale up the capitals for emphasis, and add a fluttering banner to the 'C'. Arguably it was all flourish and no substance, as the brand name was barely discernible – the smaller letters dwarfed by the flamboyant 'P' and 'C'. Evidently Pepsi thought so, as just one year later, in 1906, the logo was reworked again – fattening up the letterforms, refining the overall shape and making the whole mark tighter, as well as setting the word 'drink' inside the banner. This iteration had a respectable lifespan until 1940, when a neater, pared-back version was introduced. It kept a few flairs and flourishes – including the distinctive loop on the 'C' – but ultimately felt much bolder and more confident. In 1962, Pepsi dropped the script in favour of bold, modern sans-serif type, combined with a stylised bottle cap Perhaps to detach itself from its rival's distinctive Spencerian script, swooshes and fondness for red, Pepsi ditched its script logo (and the 'Cola' part of its name) in 1962 in favour of modern, all-caps sans serif type. It was set over a stylised red, white and blue bottle cap, a device first introduced in 1950 alongside its script logo. In 1973 (top), Pepsi modernised its logo further with a flat-colour design, which evolved again in 1991 (bottom) Wavy red, white and blue stripes within a circle have helped define Pepsi ever since, despite many other changes to its logo. The simplified, flat-colour mark introduced in 1973 stayed put for almost 20 years until 1991, when for the first time, the brand name was pulled out, leaving the circle as a standalone symbol. Redesigned again in 2008, Pepsi now sports a lowercase wordmark that's unrecognisable from its original logo After two more cosmetic overhauls, with an increasing number of graphic effects added, Pepsi pared things back once again with its widely criticised 2008 rebrand. Both the circle and the thin, lowercase type have a certain distorted wobble about them, but that's the only similarity to the logo's spindly 19th century origins. 03. AT&T These early iterations of the Bell System / AT&T logo from 1889, 1900 and 1921 feature the same distinctive bell Back in 1889, the company we now know as AT&T – Bell Telephone Company – was represented simply with a bell in a box, a nod to the company's founder Alexander Graham Bell as well as the device he created in 1876. A little over a decade after Bell's game-changing invention, the bold claim 'long distance telephone' inside the black bell would no-doubt have been enough to get the general public excited – no company name required. 'American Telephone and Telegraph Co and Associated Companies' was added in all its glory in 1900. There was an additional claim, too – now, the bell announced both local and long-distance telephones, with Bell System beneath for good measure. To say the 1900 iteration of AT&T's logo was wordy is an understatement. By 1921, the novelty value of offering both local and long-distance calls had probably worn off, and Bell System instead took pride of place on the distinctive bell, which had remained largely unchanged as a symbol for over 30 years. Saul Bass gave the Bell System bell a masterfully stylised twist in this 1969 iteration of the logo In 1969 – thanks to the magic touch of another legendary brand designer, Saul Bass, the bell was given a stylised, modern look, and the now-distinctive cyan blue was first introduced to the brand. But a bell it remained. In 1983, however, the bell – a symbol of AT&T in one form or another for almost a century at that point – was replaced by a striped globe. AT&T acquired its globe / Death Star icon (top left) in 1983. It has been reworked twice – most recently in 2016 (bottom) The USA, as the birthplace of AT&T, is subtly indicated in the fluctuating pattern of the lines on the globe, although the resulting mark was also nicknamed the Death Star by employees. Several more iterations later, we have the modern-day logo – reworked by Interbrand in 2016. Without bells on. Read more: Where to find logo design inspiration 6 huge logo trends for 2019 8 famous logos that look unbelievably similar View the full article

If you dream of headlining electronic music shows and performing head-pumping music for a sea of eager fans, you need The Ableton Live Mastery Bundle by Noiselab. You'll learn everything from how to DJ professionally to how to produce electronic music. Ableton Live is the digital audio workstation (DAW) that's used by DJs all over the world. Dozens of effects, instruments and sounds are at your fingertips, and you'll also learn to create your very own unique sounds, completely from scratch. The Ableton Live Mastery Bundle by Noiselab is yours for $29.99 – 95 per cent off the regular price. Related articles: The best wireless headphones right now The best noise-cancelling headphones right now The best computers for video editing right now View the full article

In real-world photography, rays of light are at their most visible when they have a surface to bounce off, such as dust, pollen or a mist. When these sources are unavailable, isolating the light against a dark surface generally works well. In the virtual computer environment, these same beams or shafts of light can be simulated with an effect known as volumetric lighting, or god rays. This is useful for creating atmosphere and suspense in 3D movies, for example, or to add an extra layer of realism to any CG scene. God rays might appear when shining through clouds, trees or small cracks in an otherwise dark room. This effect can be achieved by using a Volume Light effect, which is available in the Environment dialog of 3ds Max. Here you can pick a light source for the effect and apply a Density value as well as a Noise and even a Wind Strength value. How to make God rays in V-Ray However, this Volume Light effect does not work well when using V-Ray and it only produces results when linked to a ‘standard’ direct light source. If, like me, V-Ray is your render engine of choice, then the best way to produce these God rays is to use the environmental effect VRayEnvironmentFog. This is able to very quickly and easily produce the desired effects. After attaching a light source from your scene to this effect, the density of your rays will be affected by the light intensity values, and the controls in the Effects dialog box can determine the length, colour and density of the beams and their overall ambient affectation. As an additional finish to the atmospheric drama you could also add dust particles to your scene using a particle cloud from the Particle Systems dropdown. Alternatively, there is a handy script named GoldenDust available online, which similarly is able to quickly create a particle cloud formed from your own bespoke geometry-based particles, for realistic-looking dust. Or, if you prefer and it is appropriate to your scene, the script also has a nice ready-made dandelion fluff that comes as part of the plugin. 01. Create your light source Add a VRaySun to your scene and put in values of between 1 and 3 for the intensity multiplier and 5 for size multiplier. Point your light source in the direction you would like the rays to travel. The size value will change the sharpness of the shadows cast. Big values will soften the edges while smaller values will give sharper edges to any projected light. The light intensity will add density to your rays. Change the filter colour to a bluish tint. 02. Add the camera Keep your scene dark to allow for maximum God ray impact Next you need to put a new V-Ray Physical Camera into your scene. Switch on Exposure and adjust the ISO and Shutter Speed values to suit the dark environment of your scene. Continue to tweak and experiment and try out small test renders until you are satisfied with the level of lighting. The assumption is that your scene is relatively dark in order for the God rays to be visible. 03. Use VrayEnvironmentFog Test renders will help you get the correct fog height Under the Rendering tab in the main menu, choose Environment and then in Atmosphere, click Add and choose VRayEnvironmentFog. The distance and height values in this effect are dependent on the scale of your scene and you will need to do a few small test renders to set it up correctly. The fog height value will determine how high above the ground plane the rays will stretch. 04. Set up fog Adjust your fog distance and height as required In my example I have set the fog distance to 30 metres and the height to 12 metres. Adjust the fog colour if you want a colour tint to the rays, and the fog emission colour affects the ambient illumination produced by the fog itself. Scroll down to the bottom of the dialog where you can add the light source producing the effect. You can also switch off such things as affect background and affect reflections if required. 05. Contain the rays If you want to contain your God rays within a smaller area, you can create a gizmo by making a standard primitive shape, such as a box, changing its properties so that it is not renderable, and add the box as a gizmo to the VRayEnvironmentFog nodes box. Give it a falloff value to remove any hard edges. This article was originally published in issue 241 of 3D World magazine. Buy issue 241 or subscribe 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

You're reading Microsoft Outlook Update: Animated GIF and Other Features, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! Although Microsoft Outlook is most widely used for B2B customers, something like sending an email with the unique layout is practically impossible. The reason for this lies in the fact that the Outlook is not compatible with most HTML innovations. … View the full article

Unity vs Unreal Engine – it's been a debate between digital artists and game developers for years now. Arguably two of the most popular game engines available today, Unity and Unreal Engine are used by large studios and indie developers alike. But what, if anything, sets them apart? And which of the two best suits your needs? Here, James Burrows, technical director at Immersive Studios, reveals the four key things you need to consider when choosing between these two leading game engines. 01. What level of visuals are you after? One of the main differentiators when considering Unity vs Unreal Engine is the quality of visuals. Unreal offers high-fidelity visuals straight out of the box, whereas Unity – while still able to produce high- quality visuals – takes a lot more work to get your assets looking close to the same level as Unreal. And even then, it won’t produce quite the same quality. It’s for this reason that you’ll find Unreal used more on big games and productions from large studios. So, if you want as close to photorealistic assets as possible, it’s quicker and easier to achieve this with Unreal. 3D art: 27 stunning examples to inspire you 02. What device is your project aimed at? If you’re looking to create a project to run on lower-powered devices, such as mobile phones, then the high processing power demanded by Unreal isn’t necessarily for you. This is where Unity really comes into its own. Originally designed to run on devices like consoles and phones, Unity enables you to create complex projects for low-end devices without requiring such a powerful PC setup as Unreal. If, on the other hand, you’re creating an experience for high-end devices, then either Unity or Unreal will set you right. But that also depends on... 03. What's your team size? The consensus amongst the collective experience of the Immersive dev team is that to get the very best out of Unreal, you need a large and specialist team that’s dedicated to different parts of the process – for example, someone dedicated just to particles or someone just to shaders. Unity, on the other hand, is much easier for developers to get to grips with straight away – making it a good choice for one-man bands and smaller teams to create an effective experience. Its asset store is also significantly bigger, making it simpler to populate your game or experience if you don’t have a massive team. 04. Are you a developer or a visual artist? There’s no doubt about it, this seems to affect preference. Our developers prefer Unity, but our visual artists opt for Unreal – and this is purely down to the difference in visuals. Both game engines offer the same sort of functionality and capability, just packaged in different ways. For a while now, the lines differentiating the two have started to blur as Unreal – starting out as an AAA game engine – aims to make itself more accessible for smaller teams and experiences, while Unity – originally preferred by indie studios for simple games and experiences – continues to work its way up to the top by adding pro-level features. The main difference is visual quality and your target platform – but we think it won’t be long until both engines reach a similar level in both respects. In which case, soon it’ll simply be a case of personal preference." This article originally appeared in issue 242 of 3D World magazine; subscribe here. Read more: How to create a video game character in ZBrush The 10 best 3D movies of the year The best 4K monitors for digital artists View the full article

If you decided to binge on your favourite Netflix Originals series or movie last weekend, you might have seen the streaming service's new animated logo in action. Created by Netflix's in-house design team in collaboration with an unnamed independent creative agency, the new animated logo sees the familiar 'N' ribbon icon appearing on a black background before rushing towards the viewer in a flurry of neon bands. This brief but effective piece of branding was two years in the making. By ditching the old white background in favour of a black one, Netflix wants to create the sense of depth and atmosphere you feel in a cinema when the lights dim and the film is about to start. For a service that likes to usher you onto the next piece of content while the credits are still rolling on what you've just watched, the Netflix animation is a welcome pause that gives its own content a sense of importance. It's also the first big change to the Netflix logo design in five years, and signals its intent to stand out as a production company in its own right, rather than just relying on its position as a streaming platform. On its official blog, Netflix says that the new ident animation "reflects the diversity and variety of our content. Our favourite part is when the Netflix symbol breaks out into an array of colours – which is inspired by the spectrum of stories, emotions, languages, fans and creators that collectively make up who we are as a brand." This inspiration sees thumbnails from Netflix titles collapsing like record covers, which then rush out of the screen in vibrant colours. Check it out in action below. The new animated icon is currently running before new Netflix Originals series and films, and will be added to all its original titles retroactively as the year goes on. Related articles: Traditional branding is dead 21 outstanding uses of colour in branding 8 imaginative ways to use animation in mobile apps View the full article

I'm very lucky in that my career has let me attend all the main CG events on the calendar. There are many events for digital painters, animators, visual effects artists and visualisers of all kinds, across the globe. From Tokyo to LA, you can find something that will inform you about the latest trends, upcoming tools and that will showcase the best of the most recent projects. THU in Malta is one of very few (along with our own Vertex) events that I have been to that not only demonstrates tools and techniques, but will inspire you to greater heights, reigniting your drive to create. It also totally transforms your outlook – not just in terms of creativity but in your approach to many aspects of your life and relationships. THU has often been described as a transformative experience and I have to agree. Not only do you come away energised and raring to get back to whatever form of art you create, but you leave with a bigger family than you arrived. There is limited space so get your tickets soon! Every edition of THU enables you to reconnect with old friends and make many new ones. This year's edition takes place 23-28 September in Valetta, Malta. If you go with the intention of growing your working network, then you wont be disappointed but that network will be comprised of as many new friends as it is professional acquaintances. If you want to catch up, talk art and have a few drinks you can, or you can spend your time sketching, swapping tips with your fellow artists and getting invaluable advice from your heroes. THU has absolutely changed the way I work and play. It has let me catch up with old friends and colleagues from many years ago, it's helped me learn new skills, make many new lifelong friends and built an urgency in me that drives me to better myself. It isn't the place to see demos of new software, so if you are looking for a trade expo, then look elsewhere, but it is the place to find new friends and light a fire in your artistic belly. Tickets go on sale on 5 February, and start from €492.5 – buy your ticket to THU here. And if you do make it over to Valetta, then do come and find me to say hello! Read more: Land your dream 3D job 27 free 3D models Which CG discipline is right for you? View the full article

Want to learn how to design games, rather than just building them? The 2019 Game Dev & Design Mega Mastery Bundle can be yours for $39. You'll learn all about video game art, you'll create a clone of a viral game for practice, and you'll pick up Unity 5, a powerful game design tool. You'll even get the hang of 3D modelling software, an important skill to have under your belt when you launch a career in game design. For some hands-on experience, you'll finally create your very own trivia, platformer, and first-person shooter game with the help of Unity 3D. The 2019 Game Dev & Design Mega Mastery Bundle can be yours for just $39. Related articles: How to create a video game character in ZBrush Convert Flash games to HTML5 Create an atmospheric game environment View the full article

You're reading Improving the UX with Userstack API, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! Userstack is a REST API, designed by apilayer, the developer behind amazing tools such as ipapi or streetlayer. The API reveals important data sets about the users visiting your websites such as their browser, OS or device in an easy … View the full article

There are a lot of UI design tools out there, many more than there ever used to be. It's not difficult to find UI design tools, but there are so many good ones to choose from (see our list of the best UI design tools) that narrowing the choice down to the tool that's right for you can be a bit of a challenge. Deciding which tool to use is made more difficult by the fact there is a lot of crossover in terms of features, so where do you start? Here are a few things to consider to help you decide: 01. Support offered Does this design tool offer tutorials or continual support? When learning something new, it's great to quickly find answers to those initial hurdles. Check out what help there is and how active the support is. 02. Project requirements If your needs are broad then an all-in-one solution like Proto.io could be right for you Perhaps the number one reason for using a web design tool is being sure it will meet your project requirements. How big or complex is the project? What is the required output? These answers will help you find the right tool for the job. It always pays to try a few tools and swap between them for different projects. So don't pin your hopes and dreams on one. Experiment and think about requirements. 03. Upgrade frequency Like all products and tools, they'll need to adapt, reinvent and offer better ways of doing things. Does this tool look like it would upgrade or offer you more as time goes by? You don't want to be left with a tool that doesn't keep up with the industry standard. 04. Number of integrations Whatever your workflow is, does this tool help speed things up with compatible integrations? You will likely be using a number of different solutions to help you get through the day, so any form of integration could be of interest. 05. Collaboration needs UXPin is a great UI tool for large teams that need to collaborate seamlessly Who else do you need to consider when choosing your design tool? It will make work harder if you're all working with different tools. Collaboration might not always be necessary but sharing files with others could be. 06. Learning curve and resources Is this tool something that requires a lot of learning and is it a big step from what you were previously using? Trialling a new tool is always a good idea before launching it on a client's project and only you will know if you find it easy to use. See what resources are available to help you learn and what time you can dedicate to it. 07. Price and value Always a pinch point in any situation. Can you safely maximise the potential of using a tool against its cost? Whether it's subscription or a fixed licence fee, factor in what value you would gain. 08. Community available Check out what other designers are using and how supportive they are of these tools. Does the tool offer its own community? Some tools do, and it's always a wonderful experience to share and gain inspiration from like-minded designers. 09. Company/developer InVision is dedicated to understanding customers' needs and delivering the right tools Who's behind the tool? Where else are the developers focusing and to what purpose? InVision, for example, says: "We believe the screen is the most important place in the world. That's why we are dedicated to helping you deliver the best possible digital product experience, with our platform and best practices from your peers." This dedication gives you confidence in the continual development of the company's tools and that it understands your needs. This article was originally published in issue 313 of net, the world's best-selling magazine for web designers and developers. Buy issue 313 here or subscribe here. Related articles: Top UI trends for 2019 The pro's guide to UI design 6 UI mistakes that are killing your conversion rates View the full article

Effective UI design can, without a doubt, improve your conversion rate. However, there are at least three criteria that your user interface needs to satisfy in order to attract, convert, and retain visitors to your site or app: it has to be engaging, captivating, and it needs to trigger an emotional response. Read on for six of the most most commonly made app and website layout mistakes that are sure to turn your customers off and kill your conversion rates. 01. Unresponsive design It's no secret that people now regularly use a range of different devices to complete a task. That means your website needs to be responsive in order to engage the audience no matter how they access your site. A poor user experience caused by a site that hasn't been optimised for mobile or tablet users is sure to dissuade potential customers. If that doesn't convince you, complying with Google’s ranking requirements is another major reason to consider placing a lot of emphasis on responsive web design principles. Back in 2015, the search giant released an algorithm that prioritises mobile-friendly pages. 02. Uninviting CTAs Koto created an inviting look for Airbnb Plus It’s impossible to over-stress the importance of calls to action. Not giving your CTAs the love they deserve is one of the most commonly made UI mistakes. To help up your clicks, these are the things you should be considering: Shape: Clickable buttons are usually rectangular and surrounded by white space, to help define them and make them stand out Location: Position CTAs right next to the main proposal – this is the most logical next step in your customer’s journey Colour: There isn’t a universal 'best' colour for CTAs – aim to fit with your site's colour scheme, but ensure these elements stand out the most Size: Make your CTAs large enough to stand out, yet not overwhelming 03. Lack of social proof Customers trust other customers. A recent survey showed that 60 per cent of consumers look for Google reviews before putting their trust in a business. Not only should you definitely consider displaying positive reviews of your product or service, but you also need to make sure they're positioned properly. Customer reviews can help reassure potential customers of your brand's credibility, if you display them somewhere towards the beginning of your sales pitch. 04. Too much of everything A cluttered layout is one of the most off-putting things a user can come across. While it’s understandable that you want to display as much information as you can, this approach won’t get you far in terms of conversions. Robot Food created a simple but appealing UI for this cereal Here are some good rules of thumb to get you started. First, the design scheme that you choose shouldn’t contain more than three main colours and more than two font types. For more advice, take a look at this article on how to choose the perfect colour palette. Second, you need to guarantee that the imagery you do use is of top quality. Avoid using low-resolution videos, photos and illustrations. If you can't afford to shell out for a pro, don't worry – there are plenty of places you can find good quality free vector art online. UI animations have been a growing trend for some time time. They can help guide your users and create interest, while also ensuring your interface stands out (want to get started? Here are some CSS animation examples you can recreate yourself). 05. Slow loading pages Did you know that one of the most common reasons for abandoned ecommerce shopping carts is slow page load time? Data shows that 40 per cent of people abandon a website that takes more than three seconds to load. But loading speed isn’t just important for conversions  –  it’s important for your overall site discovery, especially in 2019. In the video above, marketing expert Neil Patel revealed that page loading speed is going to be an increasingly important factor for SEO in 2019 (jump to just after the 3 minute mark for Patel's advice on this). 06. Little to no video content Our brains process videos about 60,000 times faster than they process text. Videos can entertain and explain in a visual way. And they're  incredibly underused. Take a look at the explainer video for Young Alfred by Fireart Studio below as an example. Here are a couple of quick tips you might want to consider if you’re using video content already. First, it’s a good idea to insert some sort of the lead capture elements in the video. For example, remind people to subscribe at the beginning of the video or thank them for watching and liking at the end of the video. Second, it’s also very important to make use of customised thumbnails – you need to encourage people to watch your video in the first place. Read more: 20 best UI design tools 8 imaginative ways to use animation in mobile apps Top UI trends for 2019 View the full article

Tired of working for someone else and dream of forging your own independent career? If so, you're not alone. Over a quarter of UK adults have ambitions of setting up their own business, and that number is on the rise. To learn how you can go about starting your dream business, the latest issue of Computer Arts sits down and talks with designers and creatives who have done exactly that. Perhaps, with their practical advice, 2019 will be the year you achieve your goal? Buy Computer Arts issue 289 now Packed with insights that cover the essentials every new business needs to survive, plus killer tips to make sure your portfolio attracts those all-important clients, this lead feature is here to guide you through choppy waters. And remember, if the commissions start to take off, it's okay to say no to work! Start landing your dream clients and create work you're passionate about Save up to 60% on a Computer Arts subscription Elsewhere in issue 289, we take a look at the latest lettering developments from Fontsmith in our showcase. As if there wasn't enough hot new talent to soak up there, we also take a look at the 15 graphic designer game changers who are poised to shake up the industry. Meanwhile, design agency Koto explains how to rebrand for an experimental age, and Dalton Maag reveals how it creates successful type design. Take a closer look at what's inside Computer Arts issue 289 by scrolling left to right through the gallery below. 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 60 per cent, and receive a free Computer Arts tote bag when you subscribe. Related articles: Why you should start your own agency 12 things no graphic designer should be without The best computer for graphic design in 2019 View the full article

Professional photographers don't just snap a bunch of photos – they know that good pictures need editing in order to be great. Learn how to use Adobe Lightroom, one of the most popular and powerful photo editing software in the world, with Adobe Lightroom CC: Photo Editing Masterclass. This course will teach you how to properly import and organise photos, how to use the editing tool to improve your pictures, and how to edit on the go with Lightroom Mobile. Get all this knowledge for the low price of $41. Don't have the right software? Get Adobe Creative Cloud here). Related articles: Lightroom CC 2018 review The 10 commandments of Photoshop etiquette 5 best laptops for Photoshop View the full article

Swarm technology may be a game changer for the bad guys if organizations don’t change their tactics. View the full article

When it comes to the 2019 Super Bowl ads, we've got some high expectations. The unofficial competition for the 'best Super Bowl commercial' crown is already underway, with some awesome-looking teasers from the likes of Pepsi, Doritos and Bumble. But what will the full ads look like? And will they be put into the shade by as-yet-unseen spots from Audi, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Disney, Verizon, the NFL itself and others? There are few events that generate as much global buzz as the American Super Bowl, which this year takes place on Sunday, 3 February 2019. And for creatives, there are plenty of branding lessons to be learned from the world's biggest players – not to mention some spectacular set and costume design during the half time show. Happily, if you want to catch the action this year, there are a number of ways to live stream the Super Bowl 2019 for free no matter where in the world you live. As a sports event, the annual showdown between the two best American football teams in the NFL – this year, the New England Patriots, and the Los Angeles Rams – is exciting enough. But its cultural importance extends beyond this. Treated by many Americans as an unofficial holiday, Super Bowl Sunday is a time for friends and family to gather together, sink a beer, eat unhealthy snacks and watch TV. And it's a real occasion: more food is consumed on this day, for example, than any other day of the year, save Thanksgiving (including an estimated 28 million pounds of potato chips and 1.25 billion chicken wings). Plus, as we've mentioned, it's not just about the sport. The biggest global pop stars perform during the half-time show, and the specially made TV commercials have become an art form in themselves. In this article, we profile six of the best Super Bowl commercials of all time. These are among the most influential and iconic Super Bowl ads ever – but will they be superseded by those that appear this year? With the cost of advertising rising to an eye-watering $150,000 per second, brands have never before had such an incentive to create something truly special. Their challenge is to capture the world's imagination and change the way we think about them overnight. We may be living in the era of time-shifted TV and Netflix boxsets, but every now and again, something approaches that reminds you of the thrill of watching TV live – along with millions of people round the world. Take a trip back in time with us, as we relive the best Super Bowl ads of the last five decades... The best Super Bowl commercials ever 01. “Hey Kid, Catch!”/Coca-Cola (1979) 'Mean Joe Greene' lives up to his name in this classic ad... This Clio-award winning Super Bowl commercial, shown during the 1979 showdown between Los Angeles Rams and the Pittsburgh Steelers, appears in countless lists of the greatest ads of all time – and for good reason. The setup is simple, classic advertising, effortlessly tugging on the audience’s heartstrings. A nine-year-old boy approaches the notoriously surly Steelers defensive tackle ‘Mean Joe Greene’ after a game as he limps back to his dressing room. The child offers him his Coca-Cola but gets only a scowl, and turns away dejected. Then comes the payoff, as the player calls after him, smiles, and throws him his jersey. ... but the offer of a Coke turns his frown upside-down There’s nothing flashy about this Super Bowl ad. It’s just about giving the viewer a sweet, feelgood moment that’s grounded in a sense of reality; both Greene’s injuries and aggressiveness seem real, making his eventual smile all the more winning. Art directed by Roger Mosconi and written by Penny Hawkey, the footage was shot in May 1979 at a small stadium in Mount Vernon, New York. Greene later recalled that he’d had to do a number of takes of the final line without burping. "Between me belching and going to the men's room, it took three days to film it," he told the Baltimore Sun. Creative lesson: By telling a simple story that’s anchored by a sense of realism, it’s possible to make an emotional connection with the audience that takes seconds, but lasts a lifetime. 02. "1984"/Apple (1984) Apple's ad introduced a figure similar to 'Big Brother' from George Orwell's 1984 Nowadays, we’re used to Super Bowl ads with big budgets and epic visions. But in 1984, audiences had yet to experience such things. And then Apple came along and blew their minds – or made them utterly befuddled – depending on who was watching. At the time, IBM dominated the personal computer market and Apple was struggling to break through. So to announce the launch of the first Apple Macintosh computer, director Ridley Scott created something that was less a standard ad and more a mini-movie. This Apple Super Bowl ad presents a dystopian world similar to that envisioned by George Orwell’s novel 1984. Cue an unnamed heroine, played by English athlete Anya Major, who represents the coming of the Apple Macintosh as a means of saving humanity from "conformity". The ad showed an uprising against authority, as a metaphor for Apple's challenge to IBM The OTT ad was widely ridiculed, but Apple didn’t need to appeal to everyone; just the minority who were interested in buying this relatively new device called a personal computer. And their strategy undeniably worked. About $3.5 million worth of Macintoshes were sold just after the Super Bowl commercial ran, and the company didn’t even need to pay for the ad to be shown again, because so many TV shows reported on it, and rescreened it for free. Creative lesson: Advertising doesn’t need to please everyone, just the target audience, and ultimately that’s the only measure of success worth worrying about. 03. "Wassup"/Budweiser (1999) 1999's Budweiser ad introduced an earworm no one could avoid A full 20 years after this Budweiser Super Bowl ad aired at the 1999 play-off between the Denver Broncos and the Atlantic Falcons, its catchphrase remains instantly recognisable to an entire generation of viewers. If you haven’t seen it, the ad shows several young men talking on the phone and saying "whassup?" to one another in a way that’s right on the border between amusing and irritating. The hilarious scene is tied to both football and the brand by the repeated answer to the question: “Watching the game, having a bud.” The catchphrase went around the world and back, and still remains in the public consciousness The Super Bowl commercial was created by DDB and directed by Charles Stone III, based on a short titled True, which he had previously made and shown at film festivals. It has since been recreated and parodied countless times, and won numerous awards. But more importantly, after airing at the Super Bowl, the catchphrase was repeated incessantly by ordinary people worldwide in a way that has rarely ever been matched by an advertising slogan. In a largely pre-internet world, it’s an example of how you don’t necessarily need the web to make a viral impact on popular culture. Creative lesson: In an era in which advertising experts pour over spreadsheets of page views and social shares, it’s important to remember that you don’t need technology to get into people’s heads: a great idea will spread regardless. 04. “The Force”/Volkswagen (2011) The ad turned a dry technical innovation into a subject for family fun These days, the world might be getting a little bit weary of the Star Wars juggernaut, with new movies appearing all the time. But back in the pre-Force Awakens year of 2011, Star Wars nostalgia meant that this clever conceived Super Bowl commercial for Volkswagen was an instant hit. Aired during the 2011 Super Bowl between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Green Bay Packers, the ad shows a young boy dressed in a Darth Vader costume trying to control items around the house, including the washing machine and clothes dryer, using ‘The Force’. As his efforts fail, he becomes increasingly disheartened. Then he tries his magical powers on the family car, and is astounded when it roars into life… although the viewer knows that it’s actually his dad using the remote control. The spot quickly became the most shared ad online ever Directed by Lance Acord and produced by Park Pictures for Deutsch, the Super Bowl ad features note-perfect acting and makes excellent use of the ‘Death March’ music from the Star Wars movies to push our nostalgic buttons . But most importantly, it taps into a primal desire, especially in children, to be able to assert control in a chaotic world. It quickly became the most shared Super Bowl ad of all time on YouTube. And more broadly, it’s credited for changing the way the industry approaches Super Bowl campaigns in general, putting much greater emphasis on internet previews before the game and the use of social media to drive interest. Creative lesson: Nostalgia is a powerful tool in advertising. But it only really works if it’s combined with a simple, killer concept; one that’s easy to understand and clearly ties in to the overall branding message. 05. “So God made a Farmer”/ Ram Trucks (2013) This ad for Ram Trucks firmly associates the brand with traditional values For ads to make that emotional connection that’s vital to success, humour can be a powerful tool. But Super Bowl ads don’t have to be funny. Serious can work too. "So God Made a Farmer" began life as a speech given by radio broadcaster Paul Harvey at the 1978 Future Farmers of America convention. A pastiche of the creation narrative in the Bible Book of Genesis, it stirringly describes the noble characteristics of a farmer, beginning with the phrase: “And on the eighth day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, 'I need a caretaker.' So God made a farmer.” The trucks themselves play only a minor part in the sequence The speech is used in this 2013 Super Bowl ad for Ram Trucks, accompanied by a slideshow of stirring photography of real-life farmers. It's a campaign that associates Ram Trucks' brand with the traditional values of rural America; which is a far more powerful and engaging proposition than just talking about speed and performance. Created by The Richards Group, the ad was made in collaboration with the National FFA Organization, a youth organisation promoting agricultural education, to which Ram agreed to donate up to $1million based on the number of YouTube views it received. It got 108 million in 2013 alone, making it easily on of the best Super Bowl commercials ever. Creative lesson: Advertising that taps into shared values can be more effective than focusing on the specifics of a product. And if serious money is raised for charity as a result, accusations of empty sentiment can be easily batted away. 06. “The Next Big Thing”/Samsung (2013) Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd pitch ideas for a Super Bowl ad in this mega-meta commercial In the 2010s, TV audiences had become increasingly sophisticated. But this 2013 Super Bowl ad starring Hollywood stars Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd, and directed by Jon Favreau of Iron Man fame, pushed the envelope of knowing irony like nothing before it. In this extended comic sketch, shown during the 2013 Super Bowl between the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers, Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen are asked to come up with an idea for a Super Bowl commercial for Samsung. Bob Odenkirk mercilessly parodies the excesses of modern-day admen in the spot A highly charge and increasingly ridiculous brainstorm meeting ensues with a narcissistic adman played by Bob Odenkirk (known best as Saul Goodman in Breaking Bad) that perfectly parodies both the ad industry and advertising itself. Even the product placement of Samsung devices is ironic. For the intended audience, it was the perfect ad for the age – earning its place in our round-up of the best Super Bowl commercials ever. Throughout the 2010s, brand loyalties have become more fluid, and this ad recognises that, leaving behind the hard sell and replacing it with a prime piece of entertainment that’s finely honed for tech-savvy and social media oriented audiences. Creative lesson: All brands must move with the times and reflect how the audience is, not how you’d like them to be. In the 2010s, most of us don't want to pick sides in the smartphone wars, we just want something that works, from a brand we can trust. Give us an ad that’s fun and relatable, and the rest will follow. Read more: How to live stream the Super Bowl 2019 for free 7 lessons every brand can learn from the Super Bowl 21 outstanding uses of colour in branding View the full article

While Apple offers its premium tablet – the iPad Pro – in a couple of sizes and a variety of colours, Samsung is keeping things simple with this new, similarly priced device. The Galaxy Tab S4 just comes in one size, a 10.5-inch display, and you can choose between an austere grey or a glossy black body that’s so impenetrable you could almost use it to recreate the monolith scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey. The best tablets with a stylus for drawing and note-taking So what's it like to draw and paint with? The answer for the Tab S4 is 'very good indeed'. The sensation of drawing is sublime, with just the right balance of smoothness and bite on the display. The S Pen (which is included in the price, unlike the iPad Pro’s Apple Pencil) features 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity, and feels responsive as you sketch, moving from the lightest of strokes to heavy mark-making without a glitch. A discrete clip on the pen prevents the stylus from rolling when you set it down: a thoughtful touch. The pen also features a single shortcut button that’s so inset that it’s hard to locate it by touch – an annoyance if you tend to rotate your pen in your fingers as you draw. The S Pen includes a discreet clip to stop it rolling away Sadly, the minimalist feel of the device design isn’t reflected in the Android operating system driving the Tab S4. It seems to get busier with each release, with a lengthy setup sequence offering piles of settings and optional software downloads, and early use interrupting your activity with tips and advice. The feeling of busyness isn’t helped by the new DeX mode, which presents an alternative interface more reminiscent of Windows running on a laptop. You can get an optional keyboard cover to clip on to your Tab S4 to complete the laptop transition. As might be expected from the first try, DeX on the Tab S4 doesn’t really compare with Microsoft’s Surface running Windows 10, which offers a far more sophisticated pairing of desktop and tablet interfaces. Right now Samsung’s Tab S4 is better at being a tablet than it is a laptop. And while the display is bright and colourful, its narrow 16:10 ratio won’t suit every artist. But these are minor quibbles against one of the best tablet-based drawing experiences you can find – and the inclusion of the S Pen in the package when so many rivals charge you extra makes the Galaxy Tab S4 a compelling option for creating art on the move. This article was originally published in ImagineFX magazine (subscribe here). Read more: 80 awesome Adobe Illustrator tutorials. View the full article

In theory, creating diagrams is not difficult. Handling the trigonometry required for a pie chart is among the most classic jobs used for training programmers. There are a lot of diagramming libraries vying for developers' attentions right now, but in this article, we're going to focus on how to use open source tool Chart.js. We will put the library through its paces, creating a set of printable diagrams from randomly generated data. Chart.js is an especially popular web design tool because it offers a unique trade-off between ease of use and advanced features, enabling you to create interactive charts and engaging infographics. With Chart.js, you can choose from eight different chart types to add to your websites with minimal effort. The recently-added animations module enriches the diagrams with snazzy-looking visuals. Let's get started. Click the icon in the top right of each image to enlarge it. 01. Deploy the library As use of Chart.js is widespread, you can find its minified version from various CDNs such as Cloudflare. Simply load it with a <script> tag, and ensure that a <canvas> object is nearby – Chart.js does its magic by using the rendering infrastructure provided in this widget. 02. Start initialisation First, load up the framework When the framework is loaded, the next step involves getting a Canvas2D handle pointing at the <canvas> instance created in the preceding step. This can then be used to create a new instance of the Chart() class, which is responsible for data handling, rendering and interaction. 03. Add a data source For our line chart, only one DataSet is required Chart classes take a data pointer which provides one or more DataSet objects containing the actual measurement information. In the case of our line chart, only one DataSet is needed. It comes with the obligatory data element and a few optional parameters governing the actual display process. 04. Stop any flickering Chart.js comes with sophisticated resizing logic, which – unfortunately – tends to get screen sizes wrong from time to time. Limiting the size of the <canvas> element via CSS, sadly, does not do the trick. Instead, both aspect ratio maintenance and responsivity must be disabled via the options field accompanying the Chart classes constructor. 05. Add layouts To paraphrase Andrei Tupolev: now that the small one is flying, let us bring up the bigger one. The scaffolding shown accompanying this step 'multiplies' our diagram – instead of working with one Canvas element, we now create a total of four of them and arrange them on the screen in a fashion similar to a LeCroy oscilloscope. Sadly, this does not quite work out as intended. 06. Tame any rendering errors Wrapper <div> tags enforce a structure from the outside The safest way to handle Chart.js diagrams in complex layouts involves using wrapper <div> tags. They enforce a structure from the outside, thereby ensuring that the internal layout engine can not do more harm than necessary. In this case, however, ensure to re-enable the responsivity feature. 07. Try bars Creating bar charts is simple Always rendering line charts gets tedious quickly. Let's spruce things up by changing the type property to bar, thereby yielding bar diagrams such as the one shown in the figure accompanying this step. We promote the data field to 'global' scope in order to eliminate reuse. 08. Avoid pies Pie charts require special treatment if you don't want them to fill your whole screen In theory, a pie chart can be rendered along the same lines. Remove the colour properties to prevent uniform appearance, and set the type property to pie. Sadly, this does not quite work out – when done, the pie chart will fill the entire screen. This is caused by a speciality of the pie renderer which uses the 'larger' of the two properties to determine pie radius. 09. Solve the problem Open the 'index.js' file created in step 1. Begin by specifying the graph type as line and adding the data to be visually represented as shown below. 10. Let Chart.js rescale the diagram Another approach to solve the problem involves re-disabling the maintainAspectRatio feature. This way, the diagramming engine is allowed to rescale the diagram as it sees fit, ensuring that the entire circle shows up on the screen. Next page: Finish creating your interactive chart with Chart.js 11. Improve pie colouring Adding patterns makes your charts accessible for colour blind users Chart.js does not contain a random colour generator – if you don't provide a colour array, colours won't change. As designing systems based purely on colours is inefficient – many individuals suffer from colour blindness. A nice way around the problem is the patternomaly library. 12. Use patterns Actually applying a pattern is not difficult. As shown above, simply instantiate them using the name from the figure and a colour screen to be used as a background. Ensure that the array contains enough elements to cover each member of the data field. 13. Address tooltip issues The tooltip window cannot discern colour information at the moment Running the program with enabled developer tools finds an interesting problem. When passing the mouse cursor over the chart elements, errors pop up. This is caused by the tooltip window, which is not able to discern colour information from pie elements loaded with a pattern. 14. Overwrite information The problem at hand can be remedied by overriding parts of the tooltip's element. Chart.js lets you submit event handlers that get called as a tooltip window pops up – overwriting labelColor disables the snooping algorithm responsible for the emission of the warning seen before. 15. Add a title Especially when diagrams are intended for export or saving, adding a title improves the meaningfulness of the information displayed. The code shown next to this step takes care of the problem effectively – additional customisation, such as the choice of fonts, can be accomplished with additional parameters. 16. Add one more chart Make sure you include the Labels array at this point So far, our diagrams were limited to one bit of information at a time. Adding a second 'level' to a data field motivates Chart.js to create a chart made up of more than one data set. The Labels array is important, as its omission makes the program skip parts of the data. 17. Populate the data array Generating the label's array can get tedious. If your information is sourced from somewhere where ordinal information is readily available, the data array can also be populated with an array of Point[] fields. In this case, use the syntax shown below. 18. Adjust placement of charts The above-mentioned spacing problem makes positioning diagrams difficult. Chart.js addresses this problem via the padding attribute found in the options field – it allows you to declare a keep-out zone on each of the four margins of the container, thereby constraining rendering. 19. Set the layout globally Assigning layout settings to each diagram is tedious. A smarter approach involves the Chart.defaults.global element. It exposes the default settings Chart.js will use for new diagrams, and can save a lot of code if multiple diagrams are to be hosted next to one another. 20. Look at examples The Chart.js developers provide a set of examples to show the framework in action. Take a look at the various options – the source code, usually, is commented well. The library also comes with extremely detailed documentation. Simply open it in a browser of choice, and navigate to the sector which interests you the most. This article was originally published in creative web design magazine Web Designer. Buy issue 281 or subscribe here. Read more: The 38 best tools for data visualization Interactive infographic charts the growth of #MeToo A guide to Google's web tools View the full article

Super models, yachts and swimming pigs sound like the sort of expensive luxuries that only the social elite can afford. But in the first video for its It's Not Stock campaign, Shutterstock reveals that the average Joe can access the high life too as it recreates the infamous Fyre Festival trailer with stock footage (below). You remember Fyre Festival. It was the disastrous 2017 luxury music festival that couldn't possibly live up to the viral hype it generated with the help of super model social media influencers. There's also a brilliant Netflix documentary about it that's probably filling up your timeline at the minute. “After watching the documentary and getting a better understanding of what it took to create the first trailer, we knew we could create the same thing much cheaper and from our desks, so we decided to have some fun and do it," Shutterstock CMO Lou Weiss tells us. And that's just what the stock art specialists did. See how its effort compares to the real Fyre Festival trailer... "We thought it would be a great way to show marketers and creative teams that you can truly create anything you want from our 12 million video clips and tens of thousands of music tracks in our Premium Beat library at an amazing value compared to shooting original footage or creating your own music," Weiss adds. Completed in less than a day for a budget of less than £1,600, Shutterstock's cost-saving parody makes an impressive saving on the Fyre Festival's promo, which reportedly saw the organiser's pay influencers in the region of a quarter of a million dollars. Related articles: The 15 best photography websites The best computers for video editing in 2019 The best online video editing courses View the full article