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Does your website need a healthy dose of visuals? This huge collection of logo templates will get your site where it needs to go. The DesignShock Stock Logo Templates Bundle features 1,000 stock logos that will help enhance your brand visually, with themes ranging from vintage to gradient to handmade. You can each edit each theme using Adobe Illustrator, as they're all in the .ai format. Feel free to resize them, change up the colours, add some additional features, and more. Bring a splash of visual interest to your brand with DesignShock Stock Logo Templates Bundle. This bundle is 34 per cent off right now, so it's yours for only $19. Related articles: Design a branded loading animation in After Effects The designer’s guide to using colour in branding 15 web design secrets from the world's biggest brands View the full article

You're reading Web Designers, Eliminate These Design Pains Before They Kill Your Productivity, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! Every job can have its ups and downs. Yet, it seems that this is especially true for those brave souls who decide to be web designers. Constantly experiencing the highs of new projects and displaying their masterpieces to the world. … View the full article

With such huge branding budgets at their disposal, you'd think the world's most iconic logos would have every detail carefully considered. After all, if they're so ubiquitous, they must be polished to perfection, right? Well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Logo design is not an exact science – often, it's about establishing an emotional connection with a brand – and sometimes perfection somehow... looks wrong. Sometimes brands will deliberately introduce little imperfections and idiosyncrasies, and unusual logo designs will often have fascinating stories behind them as a result. In other cases, the imperfections are very far from deliberate. Many of the world's most-hated logos are flawed for all the wrong reasons, or kick up controversy and offence by missing the mark entirely. Read on for six of the biggest imperfections in world-famous logos – some of which are intentional, others very much not – and what we can learn from them.... 01. Google's imperfect circle Google's 'G' deliberately deviates from a perfect circle to make it more approachable and unconventional When Google swapped serif for sans serif as part of its 2015 rebrand, that wasn't the only aspect of its new logo that attracted attention: the shape of its G sparked a whole correct design debate. Detail-obsessed designers soon clocked that although the on-trend typeface choice was a geometric sans serif, the 'G' – frequently used as a standalone icon – is not based on a perfect circle. On the one side there are advocates of perfect symmetry who believe the clean, simple minimalism that permeates the rest of the brand should be adhered to here, and criticise the slight deviation from perfection. Google insists it was intentional, to make the brand appear more approachable and unconventional. When you place the 'G' side-by-side with a geometrically perfect equivalent, some argue the latter feels a little off-balance to the naked eye – in short, it's a deliberate imperfection that soothes some, and irks others. You can't please 'em all. 02. Starbucks' asymmetrical mermaid Lippincott elongated the shadow on the Starbucks siren's nose to break the symmetry and make her more human And so we come to another deliberate 'flaw' in an iconic logo, almost imperceptible to the untrained eye. When Lippincott rebranded Starbucks, as well as breaking the famous siren out of her branded restraints and turning her green, the agency also introduced a tiny imperfection. While conventional wisdom holds that perfectly symmetrical facial features are the most attractive, in practice Lippincott found that conversely, symmetry made the mermaid look cold and inhuman. The solution? Making the shadow on the right-hand side of her nose just a fraction longer than the left, to inject some more warmth and humanity. 03. Wikipedia's Chinese blunder Wikipedia swapped out a problematic Mandarin character on its globe as part of a 2010 rebrand How much attention have you paid to Wikipedia's logo over the years? The world's fifth most popular website had a brand overhaul in 2010, simplifying its distinctive puzzle globe, and making it easier to scale. But you might need to be a bit more eagle-eyed – or a native Mandarin speaker – to spot what else changed. To show the vastness of its global reach, each piece in Wikipedia's logo features a letter from a different alphabet. Many of these represent the letter that most closely resembles the English 'W' for Wikipedia. In the case of Mandarin, this would be the character anglicised as 'Wi', but its first iteration had an extra stroke added that effectively made it gibberish. After a small tweak, it did become a recognisable character, but the wrong one – 'Jie'. In 2010, Wikipedia gave up trying to nail 'Wi', and replaced it with a different character altogether. It also replaced its Klingon character for one from the Ethiopian Ge'ez language instead. It's tough enough to make sense of 16 Earth languages, after all, without attempting interstellar communication too. 04. 7 Eleven's lowercase 'n' According to 7-Eleven, its strange approach to capitalisation was intended to make it look more graceful You don't need to be a typography aficionado to spot the difference between lowercase and uppercase, and you'd certainly hope that 7-Eleven's rather blatant mixture of the two – rounding off its all-caps 'ELEVE' with a cheeky lowercase 'n' – wasn't a result of a designer nudging the shift key with their elbow. 7-Eleven's official story is that back in the 1960s, the wife of the company's then-president believed that an uppercase 'N' looked too harsh at the end of the wordmark, and dropping it to lowercase was more graceful. It's an interesting theory – and her suggestion has stuck ever since, despite flouting one of the most basic rules of the English language in the process. 05. London 2012's accidental offence London 2012 attracted its fair share of design critics around the world, but some had more political objections Despite making a lot more sense in application, the poor old London 2012 logo remains a popular inclusion on most-hated logos lists – with criticisms ranging from the blunt to the bizarre, such as drawing similarities to Lisa Simpson in a rather compromising position. Others just disliked the logo on a more basic level, finding its abstract graphic shapes and neon colours to be garish and illegible. Other criticisms would be significantly more serious, if they weren't so tenuous. Some likened the shape to a Swastika – which is something of a stretch – while the Iranian Olympic team threatened to boycott the Games as they believed it spelled out 'ZION'. They were duly convinced otherwise, but it just goes to show how the harshest critics of a logo can find flaws and imperfections in the most unlikely, unintended places. 06. Pepsi's middle-aged spread With a few little additions, Lawrence Yang transformed Pepsi's ill-advised 'smile' into a bulging belly Pepsi has undergone many rebrands over the years, but has always struggled to attain the kind of effortless brand recognition that its fiercest rival Coca-Cola has enjoyed – Coke is arguably one of those brands so strong they don't need a logo. Pepsi's most recent major overhaul in 2008 rotated its circular red and blue icon, distorting the long-established wiggly white line in the centre into a kind of lopsided smile, designed to vary depending on the product in question. Unfortunately, this introduced an unintended flaw that designers soon pounced on with glee. With a few simple additions, the 'smile' is reframed as a bulging belly, spilling out between a red shirt and blue trousers. Obesity is not something a fizzy drink manufacturer ever wants to be associated with, and artist Lawrence Yang wasted no time in pointing this out, as did many others. Creatives can be brutal. Related articles: The best logos of all time 10 most-hated logos (and what they teach us) 6 great logo ideas that break the mould View the full article

Flash is slowly being abandoned by Adobe in favour of HTML5 and JavaScript; its official end-of-life is set for the year 2020. And that's where this article will come in handy. Rebuild a 2004 Flash website for 2018 The tips described below aim to help HTML5 game developers avoid common mistakes when converting Flash games to JavaScript, as well as making the whole development process go as smoothly as possible. All you need is basic knowledge of JavaScript, WebGL and the Phaser framework. Changing your game design from SWF to JavaScript can yield a better user experience, which in turn gives it a modern look. But how to do it? Do you need a dedicated JavaScript game converter to get rid of this outdated technology? Well, Flash to HTML5 conversion can be a piece of cake – here's what an experienced JavaScript game developer has to say about the matter. 01. Improve the HTML5 game experience Converting a game to another platform is an excellent opportunity to improve it, fix its issues and increase the audience. Below are few things that can be easily done and are worth considering: Supporting mobile devices Converting from Flash to JavaScript allows reaching a broader audience – users of mobile devices support for touchscreen controls usually needs to be implemented into the game. Luckily, both Android and iOS devices now also support WebGL, so 30 or 60 FPS rendering usually can be easily achieved. In many cases, 60 FPS won't cause any problems, which will only improve with time, as mobile devices become more and more performant. Improving performance When it comes to comparing ActionScript and JavaScript, the latter is faster. Other than that, converting a game is a good occasion to revisit algorithms used in game code. With JavaScript game development you can optimise them or completely strip unused code that's left by original developers. Fixing bugs and making improvements to the gameplay Having new developers looking into game's source code can help to fix known bugs or discover new and very rare ones. This would make playing the game less irritating for the players, which would make them spend more time on your site and encourage them to try your other games. Adding web analytics In addition to tracking the traffic, web analytics can also be used to gather knowledge on how players behave in a game and where they get stuck during gameplay. Adding localisation This would increase the audience and is important for kids from other countries playing your game. Or maybe your game is not in English and you want to support that language? 02. Achieve 60 FPS When it comes to JavaScript game development, it may be tempting to leverage HTML and CSS for in-game buttons, widgets and other GUI elements. Our advice is to be careful here. It's counterintuitive, but actually leveraging DOM elements is less performant on complex games and this gains more significance on mobile. If you want to achieve constant 60 FPS on all platforms, then resigning from HTML and CSS may be required. Non-interactive GUI elements, such as health bars, ammo bars or score counters can be easily implemented in Phaser by using regular images (the 'Phaser.Image' class), leveraging the '.crop' property for trimming and the 'Phaser.Text' class for simple text labels. Interactive elements such as buttons and checkboxes can be implemented by using the built-in 'Phaser.Button' class. Other, more complex elements can be composed of different simple types, like groups, images, buttons and text labels. 03. Loading custom fonts If you want to render text with a custom vector font (eg TTF or OTF), then you need to ensure that the font has already been loaded by the browser before rendering any text. Phaser v2.6 doesn't provide a solution for this purpose, but another library can be used – Web Font Loader. Assuming that you have a font file and include the Web Font Loader in your page, then below is a simple example of how to load a font. Make a simple CSS file that will be loaded by Web Font Loader (you don't need to include it in your HTML): Now define a global variable named WebFontConfig. Something as simple as this will usually suffice: Remember to put your code in the 'active' callback shown above. And that's it! 04. Save the game Now we're in the middle point of our Flash to JavaScript conversion – it's time to take care of the shaders. To persistently store local data in ActionScript you would use the 'SharedObject' class. In JavaScript, the simple replacement is the localStorage API, which allows storing strings for later retrieval, surviving page reloads. Saving data is very simple: Note that in the above example the 'progress' variable, which is a number, will be converted to a string. Loading is simple too, but remember that retrieved values will be strings or null if they don't exist. Here we're ensuring that the return value is a number. If it doesn't exist, then 0 will be assigned to the 'progress' variable. You can also store and retrieve more complex structures, for example, JSON: There are some cases when the 'localStorage' object won't be available. For example, when using the file:// protocol or when a page is loaded in a private window. You can use the 'try and catch' statement to ensure your code will both continue working and use default values, which is shown in the example below: Another thing to remember is that the stored data is saved per domain, not per URL. So if there is a risk that many games are hosted on a single domain, then it's better to use a prefix (namespace) when saving. In the example above, 'myGame.' is a prefix and you usually want to replace it with the name of the game. If your game is embedded in an iframe, then localStorage won't persist on iOS. In this case, you would need to store data in the parent iframe instead. 05. Default fragment shader A custom default shader can be used to replace the tinting method in Phaser and PixiJS. The tanks flash white when hit When Phaser and PixiJS render your sprites, they use a simple internal fragment shader. It doesn't have many features because it's tailored for speed. However, you can replace that shader for your purposes. For example, you can leverage it to inspect overdraw or support more features for rendering. Below is an example of how to supply your own default fragment shader to Phaser v2. 06. Change tinting method A custom default shader can be used to replace default tinting methods in Phaser and PixiJS. Tinting in Phaser and PixiJS works by multiplying texture pixels by a given colour. Multiplication always darkens colours, which obviously is not a problem; it's simply different from the Flash tinting. For one of our games we needed to implement tinting similar to Flash and decided that a custom default shader could be used. Below is an example of such a fragment shader: This shader lightens pixels by adding a base colour to the tint one. For this to work, you need to supply negatives of the colour you want. Therefore, in order to get white, you need to set: 07. Inspect overdraw The picture on the left shows how a player sees the game, while the one on the right displays the effect of applying the overdraw shader to the same scene Replacing a default shader can also be leveraged to help with debugging. Below we've explained how overdraw can be detected with such a shader. Overdrawing happens when many or all pixels on the screen are rendered multiple times. For example, many objects taking the same place and being rendered one over another. How many pixels a GPU can render per second is described as fill rate. Modern desktop GPUs have excessive fill rate for usual 2D purposes, but mobile ones are a lot slower. There is a simple method of finding out how many times each pixel on the screen is written by replacing the default global fragment shader in PixiJS and Phaser with this one: This shader lightens pixels that are being processed. The number 7.0 indicates how many writes are needed to turn pixels white; you can tune this number to your liking. In other words, lighter pixels on screen were written several times, and white pixels were written at least seven times. This shader also helps to find both 'invisible' objects that for some reason are still rendered, and sprites that have excessive transparent areas around that need to be stripped (GPU still needs to process transparent pixels in your textures). 08. Why physics engines are your friends The left part of the image is a scene from a game, while the right side shows the same scene with the Phaser physics debug overlay displayed on top A physics engine is a middleware that's responsible for simulating physics bodies (usually rigid body dynamics) and their collisions. Physics engines simulate 2D or 3D spaces, but not both. A typical physics engine will provide: Object movement by setting velocities, accelerations, joints, and motors; Detecting collisions between various shape types; Calculating collision responses, i.e. how two objects should react when they collide. There is a Phaser plugin that works well for this purpose. Box2D is also used in the Unity game engine and GameMaker Studio 2. While a physics engine will speed up your development, there is a price you'll have to pay: reduced runtime performance. Detecting collisions and calculating responses is a CPU-intensive task. You may be limited to several dozen dynamic objects in a scene on mobile phones or face degraded performance, as well as reduced frame rate deep below 60 FPS. 09. Export sounds If you have a Flash game sound effects inside of a .fla file, then exporting them from GUI is not possible (at least not in Adobe Animate CC 2017) due to the lack of menu options serving this purpose. But there is another solution – a dedicated script that does just that: How to use the script to export sound files: Save the code above as a .jsfl file on your computer. Open a .fla file with Adobe Animate. Select Commands > Run Command from the top menu and select the script in the dialogue that opens. Now another dialogue file pops up for selecting the export destination directory. It's done! You should now have WAV files in the specified directory. What's left to do is convert them to, for example, MP3, OGG or AAC. 10. How to use MP3s The good old MP3 format is back, as some patents have expired and now every browser can decode and play MP3s. This makes development a bit easier, since finally there's no need to prepare two separate audio formats. Previously you needed, for instance, OGG and AAC files, while now MP3 will suffice. Nonetheless, there are two important things you need to remember about MP3: MP3s need to decode after loading, which can be time-consuming, especially on mobile devices. If you see a pause after all your assets have loaded, then it probably means that MP3s are being decoded Gaplessly playing looped MP3s is a little problematic. The solution is to use mp3loop, read more in this article posted by Compu Phase. This article was originally published in issue 277 of creative web design magazine Web Designer. Buy issue 277 here or subscribe to Web Designer here. Related articles: 5 casual games for designers Build your own WebGL physics game Understand the Unity asset import pipeline View the full article

Various brush types and application can result in a soft and dewy composition, or a hard-edged, vibrant scene. Primarily, I’ll use the highest quality round Kolinsky Sable brushes I can find, but I began developing my watercolour techniques with student-grade brushes to discover my preferences. A beginner's guide to watercolour tools Although they got the job done, cheaper brushes suffer from stray brush hairs, an inability to hold as much water as I like, and pointy tips that don’t last too long. Once I invested in higher-quality brushes, my technique improved greatly. Once you’ve discovered the brushes that you enjoy working with most, it’s important to treat those brushes kindly. While watercolour doesn’t require harsh mediums and rigorous rules to work with, some care goes a long way in preserving your brushes, and that includes reserving them for water media only. Working with a brush that was previously used with oils or even acrylics will diminish its effectiveness in carrying water and pigment. Keep your brushes upright or flat and pointy and your paintings will thank you for it. 01. Watercolour brush types The types of brush Kelly uses from top to bottom: Size 1 Kolinsky Sable Liner brush, Size 2 Kolinsky Sable round brush, half-inch synthetic Flat brush, size 1 squirrel hair Mop brush Every brush has the potential for many uses with watercolour, and some are better than others for specific tasks. Round brushes are the most commonly used because of their versatility. Liner brushes are excellent for maintaining width, and Flat brushes are able to create crisp edges. Finally, a Mop brush is ideal for soaking and distributing large amounts of water. 02. Contouring with a steady hand McKernan paints on Arches 140lb hot press watercolour paper To achieve precise strokes, your application technique requires a steady hand. Sitting while aiming for precision is best, but you can also stabilise your hand with your little finger anchoring the paper (I tend to use Arches hot pressed watercolour paper.) Another technique when using a Round brush is to twist the brush while dragging, to achieve thinner lines. Remember, the larger the Round brush, the more versatile your stroke will be. Another thing to keep in mind is that, when loading up your brush with watercolour, you need to pay attention to the ratio of water pigment as this affects the fluidity of the paint as it's applied to the surface. It's also important to practise gaining control of the brush by creating strokes that butt up against each other but don't overlap. 03. Varying the line width With experience you can create consistent colours in a single stroke To get the most out of your brushes, learning to vary the line width can contribute to some expressive strokes. This helps to develop a sense of the watercolour that your brushes contain in one stroke, which in turn assists in consistency. Take the tree paint test on the left in the image above. A large round brush is excellent for creating its branches that vary in width. Meanwhile the trunk is a good example of how, once you're comfortable, you can challenge yourself to maintain consistency as the watercolour dries. As for the brush test on the right, this shows how a Flat brush can create flat shapes, zigzags and expressive marks. It's possible to create varying widths with Round and Flat brushes, demonstrating their versatility on paper. 04. Drybrushing creates interesting effects Test out different brushes and discover the different kinds of drybrushing marks they can make Especially effective with a Flat brush, drybrushing is achieved when the bristles separate because there’s less moisture present. This can be used to create a range of effects, including hair, grass and wood grain. The shorter the brush, the easier this is to achieve. Try varying your application technique with coarser brushes, such as scrubbing, patting or dragging at various angles. I enjoy creating expressive eyelashes by twisting a lowmoisture Round brush. Drybrushing can be tricky with sable brushes, so you may want to experiment with brushes that encourage more texture with coarser hair, such as synthetic blends, hog or ox bristle brushes. 05. Combining brush techniques This lively portrait uses several different watercolour brush painting techniques With time and practice, you’ll discover ways in which you can combine techniques to create interesting results. In my portrait above I've combined several different brushstrokes to create a dynamic painting. For filling in the face, I’ve used my trusty size 2 Round brush, layering several times to build up my value range. Meanwhile I’ve used my liner brush on the hair outline. This enables me to more easily maintain a consistent width in the stroke. If you look closely, you'll see pencil marks in the bottom left hand corner. To lighten pencil lines before applying watercolour, roll a kneaded eraser over the lines to gently lift the graphite. Later on, this makes it easier to erase once the watercolour is dry. Finally, I’ve used a Flat brush to lay down a base layer with dry brush texture at the edges. Watercolour requires some intuitiveness and so the more comfortable you are with your brush techniques, the more receptive you’ll be to those magical moments when the watercolour tells you what your next move will be! This article originally appeared in issue 163 of ImagineFX, the world's leading magazine for digital artists. Subscribe here. Related articles: How to choose which paint brush to use Review: Rosemary & Co Pocket Watercolour Brushes Choose the right brushes for watercolour painting View the full article

The world of social media is a fickle one. Even if you're lucky/dedicated enough to amass a million followers on Instagram, you'll still need to work hard to keep from losing those followers once you've got them. To find out the worst social media sins, those ones that have you reaching for the Unfollow button, we asked our readers on Twitter and Facebook what annoys them the most about brands and other creatives on social media. How to network successfully We also, rather unscientifically, asked around our office to see what gets design journalists' and art editors' backs up online. Here's what you shouldn't do if you want to keep your hard-earned followers... 01. Talk politics Various people mentioned this as a big no-no, which is interesting seeing as some big brands, such as Nike, have used politics in their campaigns recently. Nike's decision to use outcast American football player Colin Kaepernick in its campaign with the slogan 'Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything' led to admiration from some, and outrage from others (for more on this, take a look at our article on divisive ad campaigns). The thing is, Nike is big enough that it doesn't matter if a few thousand people decide to burn its trainers or boycott it. But if you're not Nike, steer clear of politics, even if you're pretty sure a lot of your audience agrees with you. 02. Post irrelevant content If your account primarily shows your illustrations, then it's fine for you to also show your followers glimpses of your everyday life. In fact, it's a good idea. But if you suddenly go on a five-post rant about your latest car, or decide to share every minute of your day, documenting every meal consumed, for example, then you're playing with fire. This leads nicely to our next point. 03. Post too often There's nothing more annoying than opening an app to find it flooded with posts from one account. We don't want to see all the images of your holiday drip fed to us one at a time over a period of hours. Nor do we want to see images of the same bag from 100 different angles across 10 different posts. How often should you post? That depends on how much you have to say, but according to Social Report, you should post three to five times a day on Twitter, once or twice a day on Facebook and Instagram, once a day on LinkedIn, and three times on Pinterest. Most of all, you should try not to post just for the sake of it. Post because you have something you want to share with your audience, or else you run the risk of boring people with 'filler' content. You should also be wary of posting exactly the same thing across platforms, as people may get irritated by seeing the same thing several times. Try and tailor your message for each platform. 04. Try to be too cool Several people also mentioned their pet hate as brands trying to be too 'millennial' or 'cool' by using slang, or overusing the same phrases – one Twitter user, Krissy, gave the example of using 'Fri-yay' every week. Frankly, we don't know what you kids are talking about, we ❤️ Fri-yays. Seriously, though, if you wouldn't use a phrase or word in real life, you should avoid it on social media. We also agree with the commenter above who said you should aim for originality and creativity in your posts. Think about it: if you can't be creative on social media, why would someone hire you to be creative elsewhere? 05. Use too many hashtags We've all #seen this one. #allthetime Brands that overuse hashtags in their main posts, so you can barely read what they're trying to say are #annoying. There's also the ones that post about 50 hashtags under the main post, or in the comments. This seems a little needy. #sorrynotsorry Read more: How to change the font in your Instagram bio 6 Instagram hacks to transform your feed 6 ways to go viral on Twitter View the full article

The flaw has existed for eight years thanks to a security change in Apache. View the full article

A favourite for many at Adobe MAX 2018, Sneaks is the session where audiences get an inspiring and entertaining look into future technology at Adobe. Hosted in the South Hall of the LA convention centre, it was quite a sight to see the main doors open and MAX attendees quite literally running to the front to find seats. Excitement and anticipation filled the room, and, as the show got underway, it quickly became apparent why. Sign up for Adobe CC now This year's Sneaks was co-hosted by senior Creative Cloud evangelist Paul Trani and comedian Tiffany Haddish, who came into her own as she helped Trani introduce each project, leaving the audience laughing their way into the next Sneak. But the real magic came when the Adobe engineers made it to the stage. This year there are some truly outstanding innovations, which were, quite rightly, met by huge appreciation and applause. But before you get too carried away, remember these tools don't exist yet and some might never actually make it into Adobe's shipping software. However, the innovations inform the future product development at the very least, so everything you see here has serious potential. So, without further ado, here's the MAX Sneaks class of 2018... Brush Bounty Sneaks kicked off with Brush Bounty, a new tool that allows users to add simple motion to illustrations using a brush. Impressive in itself, but it didn’t stop there. With Brush Bounty, the motion can be altered depending on a number of variables, including the number of likes a project gets on social media and the weather conditions in a certain country, at a specific time. With Brush Bounty, a smartphone can also be used to control the direction of the animation. Mind blowing stuff. Project Smooth Operator Using Adobe Sensei technology, Project Smooth Operator identifies the most interesting parts of video footage and reframes it accordingly. The technology intelligently works out what’s important in the video and crops it to that, so you always have your point of interest in frame. Genius. Fantastic Fold Designers everywhere dealing with complex packaging designs rejoice! This Fantastic Fold tool analyses a dieline and automatically determines the folded 3D shape as well as interactive mapping between the 2D and 3D representations. This tool not only bridges the 2D and 3D worlds, it would also mean never again will you design a super-cool box and not have the designs match up when it's folded. Project Waltz A mobile companion app, Project Waltz allows you to control 3D virtual cameras more precisely on a 2D surface, with precise and natural camera motions. Fontphoria The project that easily got the biggest cheers, Fontphoria uses Adobe Sensei technology to automatically transform a static image into an alphabet or complete set of fonts. It makes modifying text so easy, it's magical. Project Fast Mask Rotoscopers beware, there's a new tool (almost) in town. Project Fast Mask is another project utilising Adobe new’s AI technology, with Adobe Sensei accurately identifying an object and applying a mask across multiple frames of a video, making a laborious manual editing process almost automatic. Project Model Morph One for the 3D artists among us, Project Model Morph is an intuitive and easy-to-use tool for editing 3D man-made objects. Anyone who works with 3D geometry will know how time-consuming editing thousands, if not millions of polygons can be. Project Model Morph does all the hard work, scaling objects easily and quickly, preserving symmetry, and eliminating distortion. Moving Stills Want to animate a photo? The Moving Stills tool animates any image, so that it appears in 3D. Again, using Adobe Sensei technology, Moving Stills uses deep learning to generate videos from a single still, meaning that a job that would usually take hours to achieve can be done in a matter of minutes. Project Kazoo Charismatic Adobe engineer Zeyu Jin put on quite a show, impressing the audience with Project Kazoo, another tool using Adobe Sensei magic to effortlessly turn your voice into music. Project Good Bones This was another huge crowd pleaser, and seeing as editing vectors can be a complicated process, it's not hard to see why. Project Good Bones enables intuitive and shape-aware editing of complex vector graphics objects via automatically added segment handles and ‘bones’ connecting them, thus creating a skeleton. Read more: The Photoshop tools you've been waiting years for Creating infographics in Illustrator: 10 top tips 5 things you didn't know about Photoshop for iPad View the full article

Companies are always trying to become more efficient in their operations, and that's what makes project management so important. If you want to build a career for yourself in this promising field, check out The All-Inclusive Project Management Bundle. This bundle gives you access to more than 100 courses that will teach you project management disciplines and performance analysis techniques, and you'll even explore Agile, Lean and Scrum. Tests and quizzes will help to guide your learning, and at the end of each course, you'll receive a certificate of completion. Try The All-Inclusive Project Management Bundle for just $19. Related articles: Top tips for nailing project management Best project management software The tools of the trade for project management View the full article

We are pleased to announce the launch of, our new package for professionals in the web, design and CG industry . Join today to get: Join 3D World Pro Join 3D World Pro Join Computer Arts Pro Join Computer Arts Pro Join Net Pro Join Net Pro View the full article

ZBrush tutorials are widely available on the web, often for a cost but sometimes for free. The best ZBrush tutorials can help novice 3D artists to get started with the application, and more competent users to learn a new trick or two about some of the best 3D modelling software around. But how do you separate the useful ZBrush tutorials from the ponderous or pointless? Well, we're here to filter out the dross for you. In this article you'll find our pick of the best ZBrush tutorials on the web. You'll find tips on everything from the basics you need to get started making 3D art, to specific tutorials to help you create fur, hair, fabric and more. 01. ZBrush: core skills Pluralsight's tutorials are tailored to your skill level If you sign up for a free trial account with Pluralsight, you can access easy-to-follow suite of ZBrush tutorials that cover everything you need to learn more about the sculpting software. You'll start by doing on of Pluralsight's 'IQ' tests to determine your ZBrush skills, and ensure you start at the level suitable for you. 02. ZBrush 4 essential training Everything a beginner needs to get started with ZBrush This course from online software training website Lynda introduces ZBrush to artists that are making a transition from another sculpting program. It covers the most popular tools and techniques for digital painting and sculpting in ZBrush. This course may be a few years old now, but the basic functions have not changed in this time, making this a great place to learn core skills. And with a free month's trial, you can get started at no cost. 03. Workflow tips for ZBrush Madeleine Scott-Spencer shares insider techniques for better sculpting in this video tutorial Weta Workshop veteran Madeleine Scott-Spencer sits down with 3D World magazine to share some of her insider techniques for sculpting better-looking models in less time with ZBrush. 04. Gnomon Workshop tutorials There are few better places to get ZBrush tutorials than the Gnomon Workshop The Gnomon Workshop offers a wide range of ZBrush tutorials, but you do need to pay a subscription fee to access them. If you're not sure, sign up for a three-day free trial, which should be enough time to try a few of them out. This training website doesn't just cover ZBrush: there are also tutorials for a whole host of other programmes, too. 05. Speed sculpt a creature In this workshop for ImagineFX, Adam Dewhirst walks through how to combine Zbrush and Photoshop to turn a loose concept into a fully realised idea, playing to both programs' strengths. Find the video above and click here to discover how to follow the process. 06. Sculpt a demon Titouan Olive shows you how to use ZBrush to push your sculpts to the next level In this tutorial, lead character artist Titouan Olive shows you how to use ZBrush to apply Hollywood model-making techniques without a Hollywood budget. There's a clear walkthrough to follow, plus handy videos to illustrate trickier points. 07. Make a hair texture in ZBrush Ensuring hair looks as realistic as possible is a difficult task for any ZBrush user. This short video tutorial sums up how you can create texture to guarantee the best outcome. 08. Cloth fold sculpting in ZBrush Creating realistic look cloth folds is no easy task in 3D. In this two-hour video tutorial, 3D artist David Richardson explains the process behind it. 09. Create characters from scratch In this popular tutorial, 3D artist Liam Shaw walks through the process of creating digital characters from scratch in ZBrush. It's aimed at those still getting to grips with the software. 10. Model a stormtrooper in Maya and ZBrush Learn to create a 3D model of the iconic Star Wars character For this project, 3D artist Juan Martin Garcia Forn give some tips about how to model a Stormtrooper from the Star Wars franchise using all the best bits of Maya, ZBrush and Photoshop. He reveals how to plan the composition ahead of beginning the modelling, and how rendering proved the most challenging aspect. "Since I had a very clear idea of how the final image should look, the lighting and camera angles had to be planned before the execution," he tells 3D World. "Everything was then pretty easy thanks to KeyShot's very friendly interface." 11. Modelling ears for beginners Let's face it, that looks pretty freaky doesn't it This super-quick and simple tutorial shows you how to model humanoid ears. You should already know the very basics of ZBrush to do this tutorial. 12. Sculpt realistic anatomy This tutorial explains everything including adding muscle volume This tutorial is ideal for those who want to look beyond the easy option of downloading free 3D models and learn how to sculpt realistic anatomy using ZBrush. ZBrush provides you with the much-needed freedom required when shaping forms – perfect for this type of sculpting. 13. Making of Alien in ZBrush Create the alien from Alien with this tutorial You'll already be aware that we're pretty obsessed with H.R. Giger's alien, thanks to our previous sci-fi design features. Here, you'll discover how to reincarnate the alien character using various ZBrush tools such as the ZSketch feature. 14. Model an alien pirate creature Discover how to sculpt realistic fine details to complete an alien creature’s face Darrell Abney demonstrates how he sculpted the face of his creature, Worgrock, to help you learn how to create a 3D alien pirate character. Abney chose ZBrush as his main weapon of choice due to its "many sculpting tools, and generally being fun to sculpt with", but he also uses Maya, Substance Painter and V-Ray in this tips feature. 15. Creating tiling meshes in ZBrush Not just for video game design, creating tiling mesh is a useful skill Tiling meshes are helpful for creating video game environments. This tutorial is particularly effective when it comes to those little details on cliff faces and rocks. It's important to get these looking realistic and this step-by-step guide will help you to do just that. 16. Pose a character in ZBrush Harness the tools of ZBrush to create interesting character poses If you're after a way to make your 3D models more interesting, making them walk or hold an object can work wonders. ZBrush has a wide range of tools to help with this, with various posing processes to choose from. This tutorial runs through exactly what those processes are and drops in some tips to ensure you get it right. 17. Using PolyPaint with PolyGroupIt Paul Gaboury shows how to use PolyPaint with PolyGroupIt Paul Gaboury demonstrates PolyPaint in conjunction with PolyGroupIt, first by creating the helmet panels on a character head sculpt by artist James Cain, then by adding gold panelling to a ring created by Nacho Riesco Gostanza. Related articles: ZBrush 2018 review The best online animation classes in 2018 10 things you didn't know you could do with ZBrush View the full article

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Remember when branding used to be called 'corporate identity’? It spoke to one of the key branding rhetorics of the day: ‘you can trust me because I’m a big, global business.’ But last year’s damning research by Ipsos Connect revealed that 42 per cent of people claim to distrust big brands and 69 per cent distrust advertising. As a result, brands don’t always want to look big, corporate and powerful anymore. They want to look real and personable and reflect their true values and roots. Some attempts to do this can be very successful, building brand loyalty and bolstering beliefs in what a brand stands for. But equally, some attempts to appear more human can be met with massive scepticism and at worst, fury. So, how can brand designers successfully navigate this minefield? Apologise when necessary This brand apology was particularly memorable Success comes from telling the human story and getting the tone just right. An example of brilliant thinking when it comes to this was KFC’s response to the recent ‘chicken crisis’. In a genius print ad by Mother, the letters of the ‘KFC’ identity were playfully rearranged to read ‘FCK’. It expressed a genuine, human reaction to the issue with the brand holding its hands up and acknowledging its failings with a perfect, relevant tone of voice for the moment. Implicit in the art direction is the idea that KFC’s chicken is so good that it’s unsurprising supplies ran out. It’s one of the best brand apologies we've ever seen, and has since won awards. Make it obvious BrewDog was called out for its 'patronising' product aimed at women Other attempts to reflect a brand’s ‘human’ values through design do not always hit the mark. BrewDog recently created a ‘beer for girls’ to raise awareness of the gender pay gap, available a fifth cheaper for “those who identify as women” to make the point. Unfortunately, many viewed the pink packaging and ‘beer for girls’ slogan patronising and stereotypical. BrewDog explained the ‘Pink IPA’ product was a pun on its flagship product ‘Punk IPA’, and the branding was deliberately satirical and ironic. However, if you have to explain the rationale behind a creative ‘big idea’, it’s probably not the right idea. Don't patronise your audience Maclean's used clear messaging to address the gender pay gap The Canadian magazine, Maclean’s, had the same idea as BrewDog in addressing the gender pay gap, but it was executed without feeling at all patronising. It made the point clearly, without gimmicks that ran the risk of being misinterpreted. Another brand that didn’t quite hit the mark when addressing gender inequality is McDonald’s. It flipped its logo upside down for International Women’s Day, causing a backlash from people claiming the brand should spend more time addressing its own pay and equality issues, and less on creating symbolic gestures of ‘corporate feminism’. Make it personal Lacoste's range of polo shirts featured endangered species helped it build on its brand equity Showing that a brand cares about more than just its profits carries through to broader issues. Earlier this year, fashion brand Lacoste launched a range of polo shirts that replaced the iconic crocodile logo with various endangered species, to raise money for their protection as part of a three-year commitment. It’s a great creative execution. The shirts look good and build on the brand’s equity, but issues can arise if there is not complete transparency around the results or how much the initiative will actually make a difference. Consumers are now so cynical about brands with a ‘human purpose’ that they will question everything. Burberry got it right when it incorporated rainbow-hued stripes into its classic tartan to show solidarity with the LGBT community. It avoided being seen as a ‘big brand’ jumping on the bandwagon by making it about one individual, creative director Christopher Bailey, who designed the special edition tartan for his final collection for the brand. This made the story a human one. In parallel to announcing the rainbow tartan, it also announced donations to three LGBT charities. Discover what makes the brand human Design Bridge helped The National Archive of the Netherlands position itself as the nation's 'true north' It doesn’t always have to be about cause-related issues. Another approach is for brands to celebrate what it means to be human. At Design Bridge, our recent work for The National Archive of the Netherlands celebrates human connections. Once seen by many as an irrelevant institution, the new identity places the archive at the heart of the Dutch national identity. A compass logo, and supporting visual language, positions the archive as the nation’s ‘true north’, helping people discover where they’ve come from – as an individual, a family, and a nation. Some of the big digital players have also managed the human touch really well. YouTube’s recent rebranding shows an understanding of how to connect to consumers in a more human way: it’s turned the red play button that millions of people engage with everyday into its main visual asset. Ultimately, it’s all about discovering what makes you – as a brand – human, expressing this with clear creative execution that’s relevant to the people you’re trying to reach, and then backing it up with transparency about how you act and what you do as a brand. The era of distrust may not be set to change anytime soon, but brands have the power to make changes, big and small, to ensure they help keep people engaged. This article originally appeared in issue 282 of Computer Arts, the world's leading graphic design magazine. Buy issue 282 or subscribe here. Read more: 8 divisive ad campaigns (and what they teach us) Top brands of 2018 revealed How to choose the right typeface for a brand View the full article

Affinity Designer is a popular vector editing tool for Mac, Windows and now iPad. The app is cleverly broken down into three interchangeable personas: the Draw persona for vector editing, the Pixel persona, and lastly the Export persona. In this tutorial we’re going to briefly look into the Pixel persona, and how to use it in your vector art. While Affinity Designer is primarily for working with vectors, you can make use of a selection of raster editing tools within its Pixel persona. This is incredibly useful if you need to make quick retouches to images. Alternatively, if you illustrate with vectors and are also interested in digital painting, combining the two can yield some interesting results. Watch the video below for an overview of what you need to know, or read on for five essential tips to get you started. 01. Switch to the Pixel persona Select the Pixel persona with this icon When you fire up Affinity Designer, by default you'll be in the Draw persona. To switch to the Pixel persona, select the middle icon in the top left (as shown in the image above) – hovering over should confirm. As you switch to the Pixel persona you will see the toolbars will change to raster editing tools. 02. Raster selection tools This toolbar includes marquee tools, a pixel lasso tool and a selection brush The top set of tools on the left are for raster selection. These include marquee tools, a pixel lasso tool and a selection brush, which work much like other raster editing software would. Do note that they won't work on vectors unless you rasterise them. To rasterise a vector object, right/alt-click on the object in the Layer panel and scroll down to the Rasterise option. 03. Pixel editing tools These tools are useful for creating pixel art Below the raster selection tools on the left-hand toolbar you'll find some pixel editing tools. The Pixel tool enables you to change the colour of individual pixels to whatever colour you have currently selected. This is particularly useful for pixel art. You can also change the size of your brush. Next up is the Brush tool, which enables you to make use of all the raster brushes that come with Affinity Designer (these can be found in the Brushes panel to the right). Last up is the Flood Fill tool, which you can use to fill in sections of pixel layers only. Again, make sure you rasterise your layer before attempting this. 04. Retouch tools Affinity helpfully includes some retouching tools in Designer There are also a selection of retouch tools, which are useful to have if you are looking to make quick changes to imagery. Normally if you wanted to retouch a photo you would have to take it into a photo editing software. The fact that Affinity includes these tools in Designer streamlines the design process and saves time. 05. Combine vector and raster Try combining vector and raster elements in your designs It may seem counterintuitive but Affinity Designer makes it incredibly easy to combine vector and raster together. For example, you may illustrate a character or a scene in the Draw persona, then switch over to the Pixel persona to apply raster textures with the brush tool. This opens up a whole new world of creative possibilities. Read more: How to create a retro logo with Affinity Designer Key terms every graphic designer should know The 14 best iPad apps for designers View the full article

Conversions are often a clear driver of profit. It’s no surprise then that keen developers religiously test their websites and put together data visualisation reports to find the design that drives the most conversions. While the process may seem simple enough, the key to higher conversions is not always intuitive. Enter AI. Using the enormous power of artificial intelligence, it’s possible to test every idea a marketer could imagine, shedding light on the mysterious world of what makes people convert. Here are five counterintuitive findings uncovered by AI-powered conversion testing. 01. Be indirect Directional text improved HR GO plc's conversion rate Conversion experts always stress that specific, direct CTAs are paramount to driving conversions. However, using biometric tests, HR GO plc, a job placement firm, found that visitors felt stressed on its website and that urgent messages discouraged them. AI revealed that directional text like ‘Read more’ increased conversions far more than previous variations. These changes resulted in a 153 per cent conversion rate increase. 02. Expand your palette ABUV Media creates content-rich websites that help people make informed decisions about their future. It wanted to test hypotheses about its form that connects users to universities. Using AI, it found the best-performing form variant was a designer’s worst nightmare: a hot pink form widget whose fields contained green text. Nevertheless, this design increased conversion rates by 45 per cent. 03. Reorder your funnel Nexway found unique ways to shake up the purchasing funnel We’re all used to a shopping funnel: add item to cart, input your address, then your payment option and finally hit the order button. But Nexway, which provides full-service ecommerce and marketplace solutions, found that this formula was dated. It saw a 17 per cent conversion rate increase by simply reversing the payment and address fields in the checkout process, among a few other small changes. 04. Focus on the search bar Sometimes highlighting a feature like the search bar is just the extra push the customer needs in order to engage with it. One online tobacco company, for instance, outlined its search bar with a thick, dark border so it would be easier to find. This visual highlight increased the customer’s interaction with the search bar, so that they found exactly what they were looking for faster than when browsing generic categories. As a result, this company saw a 4.4 per cent conversion lift towards its goal of increasing online sales. 05. Defy colour convention Pink colours gave Cosabella's click-throughs more oomph We were surprised to find that when we tested pink buttons against the original black buttons on online lingerie retailer Cosabella’s website, the pink outperformed the black, betraying our intuition about Cosabella’s shoppers. Lingerie is usually thought of as sexy, sleek and sophisticated so black seemed like the perfect colour – except it wasn’t. With traditional A/B tests, these companies might have tested more conservative hypotheses because their testing volume is limited. With AI, however, they were able to test all of their ideas at once, leveraging the power of evolutionary algorithms to reveal the best performing variants quickly. This all goes to show that testing more and not being afraid to try new ideas can lead to massive improvements. This article was originally published in issue 309 of net, the world's best-selling magazine for web designers and developers. Buy issue 309 here or subscribe here. Related articles: Will designers be replaced by robots? New skills in UX design 10 steps to great UX testing View the full article

Many different factors can influence the search engine ranking of your website. The Complete SEO & Backlink Master Course will teach you all about the forces that are at play here, giving you the knowledge it takes to boost your site's ranking. You'll learn all the essential techniques of search engine optimisation (SEO), including keywords, backlinking, and more. You'll find out what links to include in website that will help it rank better, and you'll also learn about how email marketing can increase your reach. Try out The Complete SEO & Backlink Master Course for just $9.99 – that's 89 per cent off the regular price. Related articles: 5 ways to boost your website's SEO Climb the Google rankings: How to master SEO 10 must-know SEO tools for search success View the full article

You're reading Motion Design in Digital Experiences of the Future, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! When designers create products, they tell stories to users. Designers have a lot of tools to make a story more interesting. Motion design is one of the most powerful tools designers have. The true power of motion can be seen … View the full article

Should graphic designers know how to code? Learning coding is certainly near the top of many designers' professional development wish lists, and coding abilities will open up a raft of new opportunities, as well as making you much more versatile and employable across the board. But if you haven't found the time to learn coding skills yet, fear not. There are plenty of simple web design tools on the market that can give you a decent result, even as a coding novice. We're not talking about template-based tools such as Squarespace, Wix or WordPress here – although with a bit of custom coding know-how, tools such as these can yield impressive results. At the opposite end, we're steering clear of advanced text editors for programmers to build a website line-by-line. While they all have their limitations, the kind of web design tools that are available for non-coders are getting more powerful all the time. Read on for six of the best tools to use if your coding skills are still in progress... 01. Muse (RIP) Adobe Muse will be discontinued from March 2020, but remains an option until then If you have a Creative Cloud subscription, Adobe Muse is right there at your fingertips – for a couple more years at least. Adobe's solution for non-coding designers to create fixed, fluid and adaptive websites will be officially discontinued from March 2020, and had its last feature update back in March 2018. Adobe argues that more complex website and app solutions tend to be produced in partnership with third-party developers, and designers can still use Adobe XD to design and build prototypes – if not export web-ready code, as you can with Muse. At the simpler end, it draws attention to the proliferation of customisable template-based DIY sites – a space that Adobe Portfolio competes in. Meanwhile, one-page websites such as newsletters or landing pages can be created with Adobe Spark. So you still have options in your CC toolkit post-2020, but Muse remains a short-term option if you're already paying for a sub. If you'd rather not invest time learning something that's discontinued, try one of the following... 02. Sketch Combined with the Launchpad plugin, Sketch enables you to publish responsive sites with no coding required Presenting itself as a "design toolkit", Sketch is a front end design and mock-up tool that, in conjunction with the Launchpad for Sketch plugin, enables you to publish responsive websites with no coding required. As well as layouts and graphic elements, you can create simple animations and clickable prototypes to test out the UX quickly and easily. Using the Sketch Mirror tool, you can also preview designs immediately on a phone or tablet. Sketch has plenty of other flexible, time-saving functionality too, such as Symbols that can be repurposed and resized throughout a design, and shared with collaborators via cloud-based Libraries. Exclusively available for Mac, it will set you back $99/year for a single license, reducing incrementally for volume licensing, and bottoming out at $59/year for 50 or more devices. There's a free trial to test it out. 03. Webflow Despite its entirely visual drag-and-drop interface, Webflow generates surprisingly clean HTML/CSS code As it was created with the express goal of making web design accessible to those without any coding knowledge, cloud-based tool Webflow is a no-brainer for this list. It provides "the power to design, build, and launch responsive websites visually", using a crisp drag-and-drop interface. Unlike many WYSIWYG editors however, Webflow generates surprisingly clean HTML/CSS code – even if you select the 'I have no coding experience' option during setup. Features such as parallax scrolling effects, mouse-based motion and multi-step animations are all at your fingertips. Using its versatile CMS, you can build blogs, portfolios, ecommerce stores and more, pulling in data as required. Various training videos from 'Webflow University' help get you started, and rather than a time-limited free trial, you can create up to two projects for free with Webflow's Starter package – hosting not included. From that point on, prices start from $15/month. 04. Webydo With the compelling tagline "craft without code", Webydo is a cloud-based service that makes the transition from designing flat screens in Photoshop as smooth as possible, using a drag-and-drop interface to create "pixel-perfect, responsive websites without code". With full control over every element on the page, designs can be adapted easily to suit a variety of devices and screen sizes. Sites can be pushed live straight onto Webydo's hosting servers, and you can give clients access to the CMS to update their content. You can even bill them through the integrated dashboard. A week-long free trial is available, then prices escalate quickly – it's a full-service package, after all. An individual account is $90/month ($75/month billed annually), including hosting for 10 sites. A three-person team (30 sites) is $180/month ($150/month annually), or a 10-person agency (100 sites) is $480/$400. 05. Carrd We're ending with the simplest tool on the list: Carrd takes on Adobe Spark by offering an easy way to create simple, responsive one-page sites. Either starting with a blank page or one of the supplied templates, you can assemble and customise your ideal layout using pre-defined content elements. While one-pagers are Carrd's bread and butter, it's technically possible to break your site up into separate pages – or at least, to achieve a similar effect – using the Section Break tool. While this can be as simple as jumping to different areas of one long page, adding a section change animation will provide a smoother transition. Best of all: it's totally free for up to three sites, and costs just $9/year to upgrade. With a Pro account, you can attach a custom domain, add contact or sign-up forms, plug in Google Analytics, custom code or third-party widgets. Clearly the functionality is basic compared to a platform like Webydo, but the price reflects that, and this is a great option if you want to create something sleek and simple. Related articles: 5 simple logo design software alternatives 10 plugins to make your design process easier 5 great Instagram Stories templates for designers View the full article

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DesignStudio is the name behind some of the biggest branding stories of recent years, and is fast developing a reputation for turning startups into household names. Its work for Airbnb helped propel the company to dizzying heights. A similar case with Deliveroo. Speaking at Design Manchester's D(isrupt)M conference, studio co-founder Ben Wright shares some of the processes behind DesignStudio's success stories. 01. Don't over-strategise When DesignStudio first launched, it did so to try and find a happy middle ground between the big branding agencies (which put lots of thought into strategy, and tended to tag on the actual design process as a bit of an afterthought) and small, boutique agencies (which cared all about the craft, but neglected strategy somewhat). What they aim for now, is to do "just enough" strategy. There are three core principles guiding this: Make it useful, make it understandable, make it usable. Beyond that, each project is different. 02. Seek out clients with ambition Depop asked DesignStudio to help it build its first global brand campaign While many branding studios will specialise in a particular type of client, DesignStudio's co-founders never set out to focus on one specific industry. Instead, they sought out companies they found interesting. However, as the studio grew, certain themes emerged, and became a benchmark for the projects that would follow: Wright says DesignStudio now actively seeks out clients with drive and vision. "Do the clients, when they come and speak to us, have the ambition to do something big?" he elaborates. So while they're rightly proud of their work with the big-name brands, they're also very excited about the interesting companies, such as Depop, that fly a little more under the radar (for now, at least). 03. Get involved with your clients Designers followed Deliveroo drivers for an evening Many branding agencies will evangelise the power of working closely with your clients, but DesignStudio seems to take it a little further than most. With Deliveroo, that meant sending out designers to shadow the cycle couriers for a night. With Airbnb, it meant setting up a listing within their own studio space (although at $2000 a night, no one took up the offer of actually staying there). "Successful relationships create successful brands," says Wright. This means establishing a connection with the CEOs and management boards – these are the people that need to buy in to your idea, so it's important not to be scared of them. 04. … but retain some critical difference While getting hands-on is great, remember that outside design professionals are brought in to see things that those within the company might not; and to view the brand as a potential customer would. So while DesignStudio's creatives do immerse themselves in their client's culture, they also step away and design in their own offices, and take care not to get too swept up in the client's enthusiasm for itself. 05. Find the meaningful difference DesignStudio sought to emphasise that the Champions League is not all about the footballers "We make a point of trying to discover what makes a brand truly amazing," says Wright. "We call this the 'meaningful difference'." The branding schemes that follow then become all about amplifying this difference, in everything from the logo and tagline to the brand messaging around it. So for Airbnb, it was all about making people feel they could 'belong anywhere'. The brand symbol (dubbed the Belo) was designed to transcend language barriers, and the messaging and photography on the website became all about making the interface feel more human. Even the brand colours are named after early Airbnb listings. When it came to finding a new look for the UEFA Champions League, DesignStudio was lucky to enter the scene at a pivotal moment: Barclays' corporate sponsorship hadn't been renewed. "We had an amazing opportunity to give the brand its own voice," recalls Wright. The new look centres around the slogan 'we all make it'; the implication being that it isn't just about the superstar footballers, but everyone from the die-hard fans to the employees serving the drinks at half time that make the Champions League so great. 06. Stand by your rebrand The Belo drew unkind comparisons when it was revealed The launch of any significant rebrand these days comes with an inevitable social media storm. Everyone has an opinion, and often it's the scathing voices that get amplified. So how do branding studios deal with this? According to Wright, it's all about standing by your work, which in turn requires everyone at the company to be fully on board with the new branding scheme before it launches. He cites Gap's awkward back-track as an example of what not to do. Airbnb's new look received more than its fair share of negativity when it launched – the Belo in particular – but everyone there was confident it was right for the brand. It was just a case of standing strong, waiting for the drama to blow over, and for the new scheme to be given a chance to bed in. "Brands aren't just a logo. They need to live and breathe in the real world before you see what they're about," says Wright. Now the Belo seems to fit perfectly. Read more: 20 iconic brands – and why they work 5 big-brand logos that pass the silhouette test 5 rebranding hurdles designers face today View the full article

It’s been an interesting few months for new graphic design tools. Apple hogged the headlines in September with the announcement of its three new iPhones; and this month we’re on the verge of seeing a new iPad. But if you’re not tied into the iOS creative ecosystem, fear not. There are plenty of other new and noteworthy tools for graphic designers this month too. From idea-inspiring books to brushes and a new app, here are this month’s most exciting new tools for graphic designers. Apple unveiled three new iPhones in September – iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and the cheaper iPhone XR – and our reviews will be on the site soon. A new sensor in the iPhone XS noticeably enhances the images it takes, while a bigger screen, generous storage and a power bump courtesy of the A12 Bionic chip show that Apple’s taking competition from the likes of the Huawei P20 Pro seriously, and pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with smartphone photography. Of course, if you’ve got more cash to spend, you’ll get an even better phone in the iPhone XS Max; but the most interesting release is the iPhone XR, thanks to its cheaper price point. New desktop publishing app Affinity Publisher was released in beta recently – and you can test it for free on either Mac or Windows (an iPad version will follow soon). The much anticipated app from Serif offers advanced typography options, linked text frames, master pages, dynamic photo frames and more. Plus, it’s completely stripped of bloat, and integrates fully with the company’s popular existing creative apps: Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo. Given that it’s a Beta release, the app will likely have a few bugs at this stage. But overall, this move takes Serif one step closer to providing a powerful, credible non-subscription-based InDesign alternative that – if the final version is as good as Affinity’s other two apps – promises to free designers from Adobe’s CC subscription system. And while it won’t help anyone whose clients and collaborators are invested in a CC workflow right now, Affinity Publisher is potentially great news for anyone who doesn’t have a boss to pay their CC subscription. There are 52 exercises and activities to jump-start your creative juices in A Few Minutes of Design, a colourful card deck from author Emily Campbell. Designed to free you from creative block, help start a new project or finish an existing one, it also comes with a glowing recommendation from design legend and Pentagram partner Michael Beirut, who calls it: “A marvellous invitation to anyone with an interest in creativity, invention, and design.” Each exercise offers insight into the countless small decisions involved in design, such as how to establish a pattern or continue a series; how to say it without words; how to name a project; what fits, and what doesn’t. The deceptively simple and fun exercises are equally beneficial for new or established designers, and take around 15 minutes. Quickly add texture and depth to your illustrations, sketches and photos with these 34 Grunge Toolbox Procreate brushes from creative MiksKS. There are three categories of tool in the set: pressure sensitive brushes, for add detail or shading; texture stamps, to cover large areas at once; and border stamps, for adding a grunge border to your images. Need to quickly add rock or meteor textures to your work? Introducing the Rock, Stone and Meteor Photoshop brush pack – 76 high-res Photoshop brushes from Creative Graphics that, all being well, mean you’ll never lose time searching for the perfect stone texture ever again. Happily, they’re compatible with Photoshop CS2 upwards, and you can own all 76 for $10. Several thousand people might work on Apple's campus in Cupertino, California, but only a handful sit at the drawing board. Creative Selection offers a look inside Apple’s creative process through the eyes of highly respected software engineer Ken Kocienda, who worked in the final years of the Steve Jobs era, the Golden Age of Apple. Kocienda pioneered the iPhone keyboard. For 15 years, he was directly responsible for experimenting with novel user interface concepts and writing powerful, easy-to-use software for everything from the iPad to Safari. In this book, he reveals the real secret of Steve Jobs's leadership and Apple's magic – pushing people to think for themselves – while recounting moments of struggle and success, crisis and collaboration, and highlighting each with lessons learned during his Apple career. If you’ve ever wondered what it was like to work on the cutting-edge of technology at one of the world's most admired companies, Creative Selection is one to read. Read more: 20 tools that make freelancing easier The best laptops for graphic design The best camera phones in 2018 View the full article

The bugs let hackers crash IoT devices, leak their information, and completely take them over. View the full article

No one really likes the traditional line-of-business applications – neither the end-users nor the developers. The reason behind that is called ‘fixed screens’. Think about the user experience when you do simple things like booking a meeting within a traditional fixed-screen application today – you have to input the names of all attendees, choose a room, select start and end time, etc. Ask yourself how natural it feels to go through all these steps? Probably the interaction with the computer isn’t very natural because the UI defines its flow and it feels like a compromised user experience that we are all now used to. At the same time, developers have to spend a lot of time building every single one of those ‘fixed screens’ and then update them to reflect the constantly changing business requirements. Intelligent chatbots are changing that. Now we can interact with computers in a close-to-human way that enables the UI to follow the conversation. Vesko Kolev The increased availability of data and cognitive machine learning capabilities are enabling the intelligent chatbots to bring the interaction between humans and computers to a whole new level that hasn’t been possible before. Now we can interact with computers in a close-to-human way that enables the UI to follow the conversation. So what does this mean in reality for developers and end users? For consumers, they are going to see a far more enjoyable, seamless and natural interaction with chatbots. Rather than having to ask exact questions or follow a fixed path, they will be able to speak naturally and jump around with their requests in much the same way they would if talking to another human. If you look at science fiction, the desire for computers that resembles a human has always been popular, and now we are seeing the first bits in action. Everything from booking a flight to receiving banking advice is achievable through the use of intelligent chatbots, with the cognitive element offering a far more sophisticated level of personalised advice to the consumer. For businesses deploying chatbots, the increased interaction with consumers will give them more data and therefore insights into their behaviour. We are already seeing a lot of businesses building bots for channels like Viber and Facebook Messenger. At the same time a lot more chatbots are expected to be built into their own web, desktop and mobile applications in order to improve the employees’ performance and the customer experience. Out-of-the-box tools like NativeChat are making chatbots more accessible For developers, the benefits of cognitive chatbots are great. The availability of out-of-the-box tools, such as Progress’ NativeChat and Telerik and Kendo UI Conversational UI components, means that it’s never been easier for developers to start building cognitive chatbot applications capable of being deployed at scale. If you look at how applications are built today, especially from the front end, you have to build a series of windows with different properties. But, when you look at how cognitive chatbots function, the concept of a screen disappears, allowing you to redefine the UI to follow the natural conversation rather the other way around. Cognitive chatbots offer a means to automate a number of processes of the application development lifecycle. Vesko Kolev Another benefit for developers is using them to automate some of their own processes. Cognitive chatbots offer a means to automate a number of processes of the application development lifecycle and integrate them with the team’s Slack channel for example. The rise of cognitive chatbots is inevitable. What’s most exciting is that as more companies introduce them, allowing them to gain and access more and more data, the smarter and more helpful they will become. Developers will not be required to constantly update as they will in many ways update themselves, learning at their own rate. At the same time, developers would need to work on the UI far less because the UI will be almost auto-generated based on the flow of the conversation, allowing for more time to address the next business problems. Get on board before the chatbots start to build themselves! What are the key chatbot benefits for businesses? The key benefits are time, money and improved user experience. Developers can iterate multiple orders of magnitude faster on defining and improving a chatbot compared to the traditional way of building applications, thus being truly agile and able to get feedback from actual users almost in real-time. Chatbots also get smarter over time and the UI is in many cases being generated automatically, requiring less human intervention. Finally, if you have powerful front-end tooling, then you are able to have cognitive chatbots in all your channels. What accessibility issues do chatbots create? I can’t think of an accessibility issue that the conversational UI creates. Actually, it is quite the opposite. One of the most exciting features of cognitive chatbots is that they will allow for a far more enjoyable experience for those with visual defects. Up to now, unless the application has been specifically developed for visually impaired people, it is practically not accessible for them. With the voice recognition technology, intelligent chatbots allow visually impaired people to get an experience that almost equals the experience of everyone else. How advanced will chatbots be in 5 years? The tipping point will be when enough organisations start to use them in their daily operations. If they begin to experiment with cognitive chatbots then they will see their power. As more data is generated and fed in, the more they will offer the business from a competitive edge perspective. Heightened user personalisation, increased productivity, sophisticated advice, will become available to apps that have this technology. The beauty of where we will be is that so much is dependent on how the cognitive chatbots teach themselves! This article was originally published in creative web design magazine Web Designer. Buy issue 277 or subscribe. Related articles: Create slick UI animations The pro's guide to UI design Add UI animations to your site View the full article

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Texture is often what blurs the lines between traditional and digital artwork. Often it’s easy to tell the difference between the two if your digital artwork doesn’t have any kind of canvas behind it, but by applying your own textures in Photoshop, you can help to give your artwork a little more realism. In this Photoshop tutorial, we’re going to be applying a simple noise and canvas texture, which will look and feel a bit like paper. We’ve created a simply chalk and charcoal drawing to use it on so that we can see it clearly, and it’s going to help add a little more shape and tone to the image. This is why texture is great; without some kind of texture behind this picture, it looks rather obviously digitally drawn. Get Adobe Creative Cloud It’s not just paper textures that you can add to your artwork. You may want the illusion of a film texture for more realistic pieces, or even a wall of some sort for a street art effect in your urban sci-fi composition. There are plenty of pre-made and even free textures online that you can insert into your work and change the blend mode of. Okay, let’s see how much of a difference a texture makes… 01. Add noise as the basis of your texture Creating a new layer over your painting means that we can apply the effect to blend it with the layer below Start by setting your foreground and background swatches as black and white by hitting D. Create a new layer then go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise. Choose an amount of 400 per cent, check the Monochromatic box and make sure you choose Gaussian, before you hit OK. We're using black and white as it makes a subtle grey colour from a distance; this means that altering the blend mode will display the texture cleanly. However if you wish to add a colourful tint to your texture, create a new layer, fill with colour and alt/opt-click to clip it to your texture. 02. Adjust the Blend mode of the texture Experiment with different Blend modes Because we want to blend our noise texture in a little with the digital artwork that’s sitting on a layer beneath it, this is the stage where we’re going to change the Blend mode. Set the Blend mode to Linear Light in this case, and reduce the Opacity to around 40 per cent. You don’t have to use Linear Light; experiment with Color Dodge for a more dramatic effect, or Overlay and Soft Light for a more subtle look. Reducing the Opacity can also help to lessen the effect slightly without taking away from the actual noise. Press 4 to set the layer at 40 per cent Opacity. You can also drag horizontally where it says Opacity in the Layers palette, to change the Opacity. You can tweak your custom texture by clipping adjustments to it using clipping masks. You may wish to edit the tone, brightness or exposure of the texture. 03. Blur the texture layer Applying a blur smooths things out Now we’re going to apply a blur to the noise to just smooth it out a little. Go to Filter >Blur > Gaussian Blur to apply your blur, and choose a radius of around 3-5px before hitting OK. You can see in the preview dialog how it will affect your work before you apply it. Photoshop will show you how the blur looks when applied over your actual picture, as well as in the preview. You can use the slider to alter the blur, or simply enter a value, and use the Magnifying glass icons to zoom either in or out of your image as a whole, to see the blur in action. 04. Set up a canvas texture A canvas texture gives a more believable base Next up we’re going to use a canvas texture, just to give this image a more believable base. Go to Filter > Filter Gallery and choose Texture, then Texturizer. Choose a Scaling value of 200 per cent and a relief setting of 10, with light in the image coming from the top, before you apply. Also note that there are other canvases are available from the drop-down menu, including brick. You can use the Invert option to display a reverse of what you’re applying. Hold cmd/ctrl to bring up the Default button, below the OK button. Clicking this will revert your changes back to the values that were originally set. 05. Sharpen and smooth your texture Sharpening the texture can make your image look crisper Finally, duplicate this texture layer and go to Filter > Other > High Pass. Set your value as 5px and click OK, before setting the layer to Overlay. Merge this with the layer below, set to Linear Light again and then go to Filter > Noise > Reduce Noise to further smooth out the texture. Choose a strength of 5 and leave all other options free to smooth out the texture a little after you’ve sharpened it up slightly. If the texture now looks too prominent, reduce the Opacity a little further. By sharpening and smoothing the texture, you’re blending it further into the picture, while making sure it looks crisp. This article originally appeared in ImagineFX, the world's leading magazine for digital artists. Subscribe here. Read more: How to remove a background in Photoshop 5 best laptops for Photoshop The 38 best Photoshop plugins View the full article