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We all love a bit of nostalgia every now and then, and retro product designs are a surefire way to have us hankering for simpler times. That's no doubt why Classicbot's latest Kickstarter campaign has been a runaway success. iBoy is a tribute to "the beloved iconic mp3 player that changed it all" (we think we know which one Classicbot means), and while the desktop accessory doesn't play music, it does feature an adorable smiling face, and removable arms and legs – because why not? The iBoy figure is the brainchild of Classicbot designer, Philip Lee. It is 100 per cent free of electronic parts or functions, but the clickwheel is both rotatable and clickable, making it "the perfect fiddle toy for when you're bored or stressed". And the optional magnetic arms, legs and earphones allow for a variety of poses. Classicbot is kind enough to offer a few suggestions (below). The original iPod remains one of Apple's most iconic designs, despite having long been replaced by products like the iPhone and iPad (check out our best cheap iPad deals in you're in the market for a new tablet). We don't remember our iPod being able to do this While iBoy's original Kickstarter target was £7,400, it's on course to smash a stretch goal of £20,000. If it hits that target, Classicbot will offer a brand new colour option (below), based on the famous red and black U2 Edition iPod released in 2007. Those who have already pledged for iBoy will have the option to swap their order for this edition. iBoy's U2 Edition Classicbot was born out of "a soft spot for product designs from the '80s and '90s", and the iBoy isn't the only one of its retro Apple-based collectibles. Check out its website to find other nostalgic figures based on models such as the iMac G3 and even the original Macintosh. Now if you'll excuse us, we're off to search the attic for our original iPod. Related articles Want to own Apple's original rainbow logo? iPhone 11 Pro review Apple reveals new iPad Pro (but we're more excited by the Magic Keyboard) View the full article

You may naively believe that an eye-catching subject line and killer copy is enough when it comes to email marketing; however, everything begins with email deliverability and avoiding spam/junk folders. The success of an email marketing campaign depends on the …View the full article

If you're looking to beef up your resume, make a career change, or expand on your coding foundation, it may be time to start learning the most in-demand coding language in the US with The Absolute Python Programming Certification Bundle, now only $29.99. Wanting to up your web design game? Try our roundup of the best web design tools around. Familiarise yourself with Python Every new skill starts with acquiring the basics. With over 130 lessons and content available 24/7, you'll start your programming journey with an introduction to Python training. You'll learn the fundamentals of Python and soak up basic concepts such as how to manipulate strings in Python, learning flow control and file processing on the platform, and so much more. With real-world exercises, you'll be able to practise what you learn comprehensively. Enhance your data analytical skills Are you looking to use your Python skills for data analytics? If so, this course is for you. With access to over 40 lessons, you'll start by learning how to use Jupyter Notebook, a leading tool for writing, testing, and sharing quick Python programs that are essential in analytical positions. This course will also teach you how to use NumPy, a library for Python that makes working with arrays and matrices much more efficient, and pandas, a software library, which facilitates analysing and manipulating data. You'll also master simple data visualisation techniques with Matplotlib, a plotting library for Python and NumPy, and put your newly acquired skills to the test. Go from beginner to expert You've got the basics down, and now it's time to amp it up. Designed to take students to the next level in Python expertise, this course will teach you advanced techniques in the map and filter lambda functions, sorting, expressions, databases, object-oriented coding, and more. With over 90 lectures, you'll be exposed to hands-on exercises that will take your skills to new heights. You'll even be rewarded with a certification of completion, bringing valuable skills to your résumé. Usually $600, you'll learn the leading general-purpose language that is Python for only $29.99! Bring on the learning with The Absolute Python Programming Certification Bundle and start up a career as a developer from the comfort of your home. *Prices subject to change. Read more: 6 huge web design trends for 2020 Write HTML code faster The best monospace fonts for coding View the full article

The world is a strange place right now, and creatives across the world are finding ways to adjust to the current way of life imposed by social distancing. But while it's great to use this time to throw yourself into a new project, there are moments when all we need is a calming distraction from the world around us – and we've found just the thing. Photographer and painter Walker Boyes has begun posting an incredibly simple series of videos to his Instagram page, in which he mixes paint. That's it. As Boyes says in the first video's caption, seeing the colours slowly transform is "just something enjoyable to watch" – and sometimes, that's all we need. We've been staring at the first clip, SUNSHINE (below), for hours. Inspired to pick up your own brushes? Check out our must-know painting techniques. And it seems that the calming clips are just the tonic for viewers on Instagram. "So satisfying!!!" says one follower, while another adds, "So much better than anything to do with Covid-19. Bless you!!!" The simple videos are even inspiring others to follow suit: "These videos have inspired me to finally break out the oil set I bought two years ago. I've been to intimidated up until now!" says @rogers.spencer. We love the latest video, FOREST GREEN: As well as painting and photography, Utah-based Boyes also works with embroidery. A series of flower studies can be found on his website, and they're almost as meditative as the paint-mixing videos. Little things like this are keeping us calm right now – take a look at some of the simple pleasures we can't wait to revisit when things are back to normal. We feel calmer already We're loving seeing examples of creativity in the face of adversity right now, from a huge collaborative artwork by French illustrators, to free drawing lessons for kids stuck at home. But right now, all we want to do is watch Boyes' colours slowly transforming into other colours. So if you need another moment of calm, here's one more for good measure: Related articles: Canvas painting for beginners: Top tips 10 oil painting techniques to transform your artwork Essential art supplies for painting: everything you need to get started View the full article

Between the coding team and clients, website development goals can become lost in translation. A significant issue with traditional web development is the communication loop (and breakdown) between software engineers, designers, product managers and their clients. Unless the client is skilled and confident in using QA or bug-tracking-specific software, which is necessary for the website’s hardcoding and front end styling, it can be a struggle to collect feedback, issues and change requests. It’s rare that a customer possesses deep programming skills or is as technically literate as the dev team. Even if the changes and alterations appear small, most clients are unlikely to provide technical information such as browser, OS or a conveniently annotated screenshot. You’re more than likely to receive a long-winded email or spreadsheet highlighting the issues. Unify your feedback Track all feedback easily with BugHerd To empower clients and customer experience specialists who don’t live and breathe coding, or possess deep tech knowledge, there’s BugHerd. An innovative web development tool from Australia. BugHerd allows users to easily flag changes and feedback directly on a webpage, to with developers or designers. It is just like adding sticky note to refer to the specific issue. With BugHerd, the feedback loop is made much more intuitive with visual annotation. How many times have you seen a suggested update or styling change, but found clients struggling to comment on it in a way that is easily replicable? BugHerd solves the problem by allowing you to visually select and input feedback. It gives developers and designers a unified and smooth feedback structure from clients or product managers. The visual bug tracker is like an overlayer fault-finding system, which sits on your website or development project, ready to be a trigger into action when required. Identify a fault and the BugHerd feedback tool immediately pings it to a relevant project Kanban board, ready to be assigned to a developer. There’s a sidebar tracking tool enriched with status, dateline, file attachment and comment functions. Every task includes full metadata such as browser, OSS and selector data, plus a screenshot that may be annotated. Bridge the communication gap Ease communication with BugHerd What makes BugHerd so powerful is its bridges the gap between developers and other members of a website development project. Client or customer experience specialists can provide valuable input without experiencing the frustration of having to master a new software interface. It’s almost like a translator between tech and non-tech people. Web development teams need to concentrate on creativity and problem-solving. They don’t need the burden of additional software plugins, updates and installing admin. BugHerd’s unique feature is that it requires negligible onboarding (less than five minutes) and no install. If you seek a true click-and-suggest feedback tool, BugHerd is it. Having the ability to seamlessly accept and process feedback on the smallest detail, at every stage of the web development project, creates wonderful workflow streamlining for your team and clients. Websites are visual and their feedback stream, during the developing stage, should also be. Constructing feature-rich websites which look spectacular in their styling and exceed client expectations, involve powerful software and skilled coding. But asking the correct questions and incorporating the feedback to create them, should be far simpler. Which is why you need BugHerd. Visit the BugHerd website to find out more. View the full article

Now in its third year, Vertex is the conference for 2D and 3D artists, and is organised by our sister titles ImagineFX and 3D World. This year, all tickets quickly sold out. So what drew over 1,200 artists to London’s Olympia Conference Centre on 27-28 February? With so much going on, it’s difficult to know where to start... There were opportunities to receive feedback on your work from top professionals, including portfolio reviews (see our inspirational design portfolios here if you missed it) and a Bring Your Own Animation meet-up. There were life-drawing classes, and live art battles. There were workshops on everything from character design to lighting. And of course, there were must-see talks from some of the creative industry’s biggest names, and must-see stands from a range of top sponsors. Highlights included Pixar technical artist Dylan Sisson revealing the mind-boggling secrets of Toy Story 4 and Onward, Tom Reed delving into creature design for The Lion King, and artists Karla Ortiz and Lois Van Baarle (aka Loish) sharing key insights from their own careers (read our exclusive interview with Loish here). Ortiz, for instance, told the audience: “It’s okay to doubt yourself. We all do. You’re not an artist unless you want to quit at least once.” (Discover more of her tips here.) The highlight of Vertex, though, was how open and friendly everyone was, allowing artists and speakers to freely mingle, learn from one another, and progress their careers. Indeed at the talk How to Get a Job at ILM, supervising art director Jason Horley revealed that a recent hire was recruited after they’d chatted at 2019’s Vertex, where she was advised to develop skills in 3D tools. If that’s not a reason to grab a 2021 ticket, we don’t know what is. You can see the full showreel from Vertex 2020 below. Next year’s event is expected to be a huge success, so don't miss out on your chance to attend. Register your interest at vertexconf.com This article originally appeared in issue 186 of ImagineFX, the world's leading magazine for digital artists. Buy issue 186 or subscribe to ImagineFX. Read more: The best online art galleries for stay-at-home inspiration The best Lego City sets 37 standout packaging designs View the full article

They say you don't know what you've got till it's gone, and many people are finding that now that they are having to stay inside, the banalities of their previous daily lives are more appealing than ever. And while the things people are missing about life before coronavirus will vary from person to person, we bet there are some that creatives in particular will be craving. Below, we've listed some of the activities that we can't wait to do once this is all over. Note that we are speaking from a position of complete privilege, we could of course be able to live without the things below, and we understand why it's important not to do them right now. But in future, we'd really like to enjoy them if they are available, please. In the meantime, we'll just be here trying to make the best from working from home. If you're stuck for ideas as to what to do with your time, then don't miss these free online resources for designers and artists. And make sure your studio is kitted out as best as it can be with our roundups of the best desks and best office chairs. 01. Going out for a coffee We just can't make such pretty patterns at home If you've stocked up on some decent coffee, then we're not saying that staying in to enjoy a good caffeine hit doesn't have its benefits, but you still just can't beat going out for a cup. At this point, we don't even really care if its not the best cup of coffee ever brewed. We'd just like to be in a café surrounded by plants, people on laptops and breathing in the smell of freshly baked bread while we cradle a cup of Joe. Obviously, if we could have a friend or two to talk to while we're at it, that'd be even better. 02. Physical contact Those who live with other people are probably okay on this front, depending on who they're co-habiting with, but spare a thought for the people living on their own. Self-isolation or lockdown may mean that lone dwellers might not touch another human being for a good few weeks yet. Save us a hug for when this is all over? 03. Supermarket shopping without the panic We know we're still allowed to go the shops (at the moment), but doing so isn't exactly a pleasant experience right now. Apart from the half-empty aisles, everyone has a slightly harrowed look in their eyes, and we can't help but feel bad if we happen upon any sort of tissue-related good, let alone pick it up and buy it. Remember the glory days when all you used to worry about in the supermarket were unexpected items in the bagging area? Take us back there, please. 04. Real-life meetings Meetings in a café = even better Okay, we never thought we'd say we miss meetings, but there you go, we do. We're all for staying in contact via the internet, and yes, there are a host of tools that make it super-easy to hold meetings online (we're looking at you, Zoom), but things are just easier when you're physically in the same room together. You can do novel things like pore over a magazine or a piece of paper together, or even look at the same laptop screen. Plus, there are sometimes snacks. 05. Cultural pursuits Does anyone else miss the luxury of going to see a really bad film at the cinema? A really good film would be lovely too, with popcorn, ideally. We also wouldn't mind taking a casual stroll around an art gallery, or perhaps catching something at the theatre. Hell, we wouldn't even mind watching a bad busker. Meanwhile, check out our best online art galleries for some stay-at-home inspiration. 06. Group exercise Daily exercise has literally never seemed so appealing, we find ourselves saving it up like tokens to spend before the sun sets. But real-life group exercise... remember that? While we usually try and inch away from our sweaty gym-mates, the thought of being surrounded by them suddenly seems more appealing. Imagine being able to talk to someone else while you do an activity together, or receive real-world corrections from a teacher or instructor on your technique. To some of you, this will seem like a nightmare, but if you've got the bug for exercising with others, then you'll know what we mean. 07. Design events Events like 2D and 3D art conference Vertex now seem like a lifetime ago Too many of our favourite design events have been cancelled recently. We love nothing more than a good creative event that brings people together. Even though some of these events have gone virtual, we miss the chance encounters that happen when people meet in real life. Those chats you have while you're waiting to see the next speaker, or queueing for a drink, plus the chance to meet our design idols in real life, of course. 08. The pub Last but not least, if we could all just depart to the pub at the end of the day to chew the fat about what's happened (or even better, not happened) that week, that would be marvellous. Clutching a glass of wine on your own – even while on Zoom – just isn't as good. We'll have some chips on the way home, while we're at it, thanks. Read more: Brilliant album cover concepts make social distancing look cool Want to own Apple's original rainbow logo? 33 must-read graphic design books View the full article

Threatpost Senior Editor Tara Seals is joined by Russ Mohr, engineer and Apple evangelist at MobileIron along with Jerry Ray, COO at SecureAge, for a discussion about the now postponed Tokyo Games and its use of 5G and the myriad of security concerns Japan is preparing for. View the full article

Gadgets are an ever-present temptation for most of us, but we reckon that right now, many of you could use a new toy to buck your spirits up a bit. These are weird, uncertain times, and while gadgets won't make everything better there's always something you can buy to make your life a bit easier. That's why we've gathered together this little selection of great gadgets; none of them are essential, but any of them could easily improve things while you're working from home, as well as helping to keep you on an even keel mentally. Read on for six life-enhancing slices of tech. 10 stress relief gadgets 01. Oculus Quest The Quest is the all-in-one VR platform you've been waiting for A VR headset is an increasingly must-have piece of kit, but it's easy to be put off by the need for a reasonably powerful PC or Mac and the potential for cables everywhere. While the specs required for VR don't feel quite as exotic as they did when the Oculus Rift first launched, cables are still a big part of desktop-powered VR, and until recently there wasn't an option that worked wirelessly while delivering experiences of the same quality as wired VR systems. However the Oculus Quest comes beautifully close. It's an all-in one VR system, so it doesn't need a computer driving the visuals and there's no need for cables, and it's a joy to use with a wonderfully sharp display. While it's targeted at gamers, there are some great creative apps available such as Tilt Brush, Gravity Sketch and SculptVR; if you fancy dipping a toe into the VR waters to escape the real world for a bit, this is the perfect entry point. 02. Airpods Pro They're not cheap but the AirPods Pro live up to the hype When you're working from home and trying to avoid distractions, a pair of noise-cancelling headphones is a must. And while Apple's AirPods Pro don't quite match a pair of full-size cans when it comes to noise cancellation, the results you get from them are really quite remarkable, especially when you consider how lightly they fit in your ears. They also deliver fantastic sound quality, with lovely deep bass and sharp higher frequencies, all managed by Apple's adaptive EQ, and as they're water and sweat resistant, they're good to take out for a walk or a run, even if the weather's looking questionable. And unlike standard AirPods, they're a lot less likely to fall out thanks to their silicone ear tips. 03. ReMarkable 2 There are plenty of tablets for drawing and note-taking, but if you love the old-school feel of pen and paper then you likely feel that they come up short. In which case, the ReMarkable could be just the thing you're looking for. It's an E Ink tablet that's designed to feel like using a pen and paper; use it for note-taking and writing and it'll convert your written words into text, and it's also the perfect surface for sketching. Unlike other tablets it's not intended to be a replacement for a computer; there's no web browser, email or social media, just the ability to sync your notes and documents via wi-fi, and of course to load up with free ebooks. The standard ReMarkable is on sale now, but the thinner and more powerful ReMarkable 2 is available for pre-order and might be the better option. 04. UGREEN 6-In-1 USB C Hub Turn a USB-C port in to a bunch of handy connectors You can never have too many USB ports. No matter how many USB ports you have on your computer, there'll always come a time when you have to work out which accessory you need the least so that you can unplug it and charge your phone. It can be bad enough on a desktop computer; if you're on a laptop then you can find yourself in a constant state of port management. Which is why a decent USB hub is an absolute must-have gadget. This slimline 6-in-1 model from UGREEN plugs into a USB-C port and gives you a 4K HDMI output, a USB-C charging port and two USB 3.0 ports, as well as SD and TF card readers. It doesn't mean you won't ever run out of ports, but you'll be able to plug a lot more into your computer than before. 05. Fitbit Charge 3 The Charge 3 is the best all-round Fitbit right now Let's face it, you're stuck at home right now and probably not getting enough exercise. And while you might well have an Apple Watch with all its built-in health apps, that's not an option for everyone, so a dedicated fitness tracker could be a really useful gadget to have right now. For the best balance of build, features and price, it's hard to beat the Fitbit Charge 3. Available for just £89.99 from many stores at the moment, it's a slimline fitness tracker with a decent-sized display, and it's completely waterproof. It features automatic exercise recognition and it'll monitor your heart rate 24/7, let you know how many calories you're burning, track your sleep patterns and much more besides. If you don't want to be out of shape when we all get out of lockdown then this is a brilliant tool to help you stay on the right track. 06. Roomba 980 Also works as a cat taxi It's not easy being at home all the time, and it's all too easy to let things slide. Any help you can get in keeping things clean and tidy is a bonus, so maybe now's the time to get one of those robot vacuum cleaners you've always had half an eye on. The Roomba 980 from iRobot works on all manner of floor types, it can cope with pet hair and large debris such as spilled cereal, and it'll navigate its own way around your home, happily going under furniture and around clutter. If it's running low on power it'll recharge and then resume where it left off, and you can even hook it up to an Alexa or similar. Bottom line: it gives you one less thing to worry about, and the sight of your brave little Roomba doing its thing never gets old. Related articles: The best drawing tablet: Our pick of the best graphics tablets in 2020 Galaxy Z Flip: Is Samsung's new foldable phone all style and no substance? How to avoid losing your Apple Pencil View the full article

Apple's security update included a slew of vulnerabilities in various components of iOS, macOS and Safari - the most severe of which could enable remote code execution. View the full article

Brands are continuing to respond to the spread of coronavirus, with many using their platform to highlight the importance of social distancing. Last week, McDonald's shared a minimalist ad in which its two famous golden arches became separated – and the internet was not impressed. The ad, created by agency DPZ&T, appeared across all of McDonald's Brazil's social media accounts to convey the idea that we are "separated for a moment so that we can always be together". However, after a fierce backlash, the altered logo and accompanying social media posts have already been deleted. It's safe to say this attempt won't be gracing our best logos list. We're not lovin' it While speculative creative efforts (such as Jure Tovrljan's iconic logos reimagined for the age of coronavirus) have gone down well online, it seems it isn't enough for corporations to make fun, creative tweaks if they aren't backed up by actual action. Twitter users were quick to blast McDonalds's seemingly opportunistic effort. "Shame on everyone turning this pandemic into an award brief" said @rafapcolombia, while @VanLigon simply asked, "How about pay your workers a living wage?" Perhaps @LaurelLu puts it best: Not only has McDonald's Brazil removed all trace of the tasteless ad, but it has also apologised. A statement to the New York Post, said: “As a brand that operates in nearly 120 countries, we share a collective responsibility to help our communities in times of need. We apologise for any misunderstanding of the intent to remind our customers and communities on the importance of social distancing during these uncertain times.” We hope this will be a lesson to other brands considering a quick, tokenistic response to the current situation. Fortunately, many brands are making an effort to help those who are struggling, such as Adobe offering two free months of Creative Cloud. While McDonald's has made some successfully bold creative moves in the past (such as these minimal, type-only ads), it's safe to say this was a supersize mistake. Related article: McDonald's posters go viral for all the wrong reasons The genius concept Guinness ad we don’t want to love (but really do) Nike reveals bold new ad (but there's a problem) View the full article

Researchers say that APT41's exploits are part of one of the broadest espionage campaigns they've seen from a Chinese-linked actor "in recent years." View the full article

As we are all at home, it's the perfect opportunity to find stimulating activities to fill our free time. You could take on the retouching techniques you've wanted to learn, and finally polish your photos (because those images aren't going to retouch themselves). Edit your photos like a pro with The Professional Adobe Photoshop Retouching Certification Bundle, now at 98% off. With eight courses, 19 hours of lectures, and over 200 lessons, this complete master bundle is bound to bring you an endless amount of material to add to your retouching bag of tricks. But if that's not enough, you can check out our pick of top Photoshop tutorials. Be taught by seasoned photographers You'll learn everything you need to know about dealing with photography post-production efficiently and effectively. Perfect for expertise levels of all stages, this bundle includes techniques, tips, and best practices for all kinds of photo retouching in Adobe Photoshop. By the end of the master courses, you'll be proficient at the ins and outs of portrait retouching, beauty retouching, retouching family/wedding images, black and white retouching, and more. Step by step, easy to follow tutorials are taught by seasoned photographers who have years of experience in retouching photos for different industries. They'll guide you through using the dodge and burn tools, enhancing colour palettes, adjusting light, exploring various brush tools, and more. Hands-on exercises are included in the bundle, allowing you to practise each new technique at your own pace. You'll soon become an expert at processing RAW files, cleaning up an image's background, retouching skin and hair, and using masks to make your final images works of art. Certification is also included upon completion, making it a valuable asset to add to your portfolio. Access to The Professional Adobe Photoshop Retouching Certification Bundle is valued at $1,600. For a limited time, this bundle is price-dropped to only $24.99, a saving of 98 per cent. With all the content available 24/7, you'll be able to effortlessly finesse your retouching skills and put your time to valuable use. *Prices subject to change. Read more: The best laptops for graphic design The 13 best alternatives to Photoshop Photoshop 2020 review View the full article

We've seen lots of amazingly creative responses to the rise of self isolation and social distancing over the past few weeks, and this album cover project by Los Angeles agency Activista is another brilliant addition. Designed to raise awareness of the importance of staying at least six feet away from each other, the 6 Feet Covers project takes several iconic album artworks and, with a little digital trickery, separates the band members. From hip-hop to rock, the collection by Activista's art director Paco Conde and copywriter Beto Fernandez covers a broad spectrum of famous covers. Most of them, like all the best album covers, are instantly recognisable. Abbey Road by The Beatles The Beatles' Abbey Road cover now sees the fab four crossing the road at entirely different points. And a genius piece of graphic design sees the members of N.W.A now poking out of the windows of the building behind the huddled group in the original cover for Straight Outta Compton (below). “The original idea was movie posters,” Conde told AdWeek. “But we thought album covers could be a simple visual solution. The main criteria was that the cover should be iconic enough for people to recognise." Perhaps the most impressive thing about the new concepts is that they still manage maintain the attitude of the originals. Social distancing has never looked so rock and roll. Blondie's eponymous debut abum “[The coronavirus crisis] is very sad,” Conde said. “With these album covers, at least we’re making people smile. But at the same time, we’re making the message clear. Better to be six feet apart than six feet under." Below are more of our favourites – visit Six Feet Covers for the full collection. It's great to see the creative community coming together in the face of adversity. If you're an artist or designer stuck at home right now, check out our list of the best free online resources available for you right now. U2's The Joshua Tree Combat Rock by The Clash Fugees' The Score Read more: Illustrators depict their perfect self-isolation scenario Illustrator gives free drawing lessons to inspire kids stuck at home VW 'fixes' iconic Beatles album cover View the full article

Lego City sets offer you the joy of constructing your own civilisation from scratch, and in theory we'd love to buy every single one of them. But in practice, they don't come cheap, and you'd have to spent an awful lot of money to do so. So here, we bring together the best Lego sets for building an urban environment: everything from public amenities to local businesses, plus some epic additions to the range such as the Deep Space Rocket Launcher. Most of these Lego City sets aren't flawless, and so along with the things that are great about each one, we also mention the few areas where they could be improved. But overall, these Lego City sets all offer excellent value to both young and old Lego fans alike. Crime is a major theme throughout a number of Lego City sets, so it’s not surprising the brand has put effort into its Police Station. And it’s paid off handsomely: this is our favourite of all Lego City sets, for a number of reasons. One is its complexity. This is not just a single building but essentially three integrated ones: a jail section, a headquarters building and a garage. In fact, the designers have squeezed in more besides that, in the form of a lookout tower on top of the garage, and a helipad above the main headquarters. Best of all, everything is nicely connected together through a series of catwalks, stairs and doors, allowing plenty of variety in where you place your minifigures and accessories. Also, of all the Lego City sets, this boasts the best attention to detail, making this a particularly believable world. For instance, we love that there’s a place for taking criminals' mugshots, complete with a height chart. We also appreciated the inclusion of both a water cooler and a coffee maker: if there’s one thing we know from cop dramas, they like their drinks. Additionally, there are some super-fun action features here, including the launcher arm on the garage, which causes the car to come rushing out, and a mechanism that allows you to blow the side of the jail clean off after placing dynamite in the climate control unit on the side. In conclusion, this set isn’t cheap, but it does offer excellent value. Along with a cop shop, every city needs a fire station. And Lego’s done a very good job with its Fire Station, which has a very realistic look and features some beautiful design touches. We particularly love the fire fighting water scooter, with rotatable water gun (we're not sure how many of these there are in real life, but who really cares?). Plus the inclusion of a drone, with spinning rotors and its own landing pad, brings things nicely up to date for 2020. It's not the biggest of Lego City sets: the building as a whole is best described as compact, and it’s a shame there’s no fire pole, or even stairs to connect the rooms. Note also that the garage is only just big enough to house the truck. But this does keep the cost of the set down, and overall, this is a very well designed set that brings back the feel of classic Lego in its stylish simplicity. We mentioned earlier that Lego City seems riddled with crime, and here’s an offbeat example. This Donut Store may be dominated by a giant pink donut sign, along with a cool crane for lifting on and off. But what you may not notice is the ATM on the side, which is waiting to be broken into by a crook called Duke DeTain, one of 10 minifigures in this set. You can then use a trigger to release the giant donut that then rolls off the roof and crushes him, which is either authoritarian overreach or brilliantly funny, depending on how developed your social conscience is. By itself the Donut Shop might look a little forlorn, so Lego has also supplied a neighbouring toy store. This is a little plain and unexciting, to be honest, but it’s more than made up for by the impressive crane, which comes with lifting and extending features that add a lot of fun to this set. We also love the coffee cargo bike; because hipsters are people too, even in Lego City. Okay, let’s get this out of the way first: this is not actually a service station, it’s what Americans would call a gas station and Brits would call a petrol station. As Lego is a Dutch brand, maybe something got lost in translation. With all that said, though, we love this Lego City service station set. It comes with a great range of very well-designed vehicles, and there are some lovely, up-to-date touches, including a modern style pump with credit card machine and an electric car charging station for the red car. Our only criticisms are that the tiny branch of City Pizza inside the station is a bit basic, and the back of the sign looks kind of unfinished. But other than that, this is a solid Lego City set that ticks all the boxes and offers very good value. As you’ll see from the picture above, the Lego City Tuning Workshop set is more about vehicles than buildings, but to be fair, they are some pretty great vehicles here. The breakdown truck with working boom, the classy hot-rod and the rocket-powered motorbike, in particular, masterfully tread that fine line between being very cool, without being over-the-top and silly. The camping trailer is very good too, and while you won’t necessarily expect it to be there, the doghouse (complete with dog, of course) is actually quite brilliant. At the centre of the set lies one large building with large sliding door at the front. Inside, everything works together very cleverly, from the gantry crane which slides up and down, forward and back, along the ceiling, to the (removable) jack stand, which allows you to lift any vehicle in the set. Above all, though, Lego has really got the rock'n'roll look and feel of this place nailed, and an environment that could easily have missed the mark has turned out a triumph. While the Tuning Workshop (above) has a gritty, grown-up feel to it, the Garage Centre in comparison has a much more colourful and simple look. It comes with three fairly simple but nicely designed buildings: a drive-through car wash with hose and bucket, a toy garage with car lift, and a petrol station pump with flexible hose. There are also three attractive vehicles, in the form of a sports car, a tow truck and a fuel tanker with flexible hose. To be honest, there’s nothing hugely exciting about this Lego City set, but then again, there’s very little to criticise either. All in all, this is a solid, dependable product with no obvious flaws, that feels particularly suitable for younger children (indeed, Lego's given it the lowest age rating on this list, at just 4+). If many parts of Lego City are riddled with crime, it seems that the Ski Resort is riddled with injuries. Lots of injuries. Because this set seems very heavily weighted towards dealing with ski-related calamities. The main building is a two-level rescue base, and the vehicles (snowmobile with trailer, helicopter with opening cockpit and rescue truck) seem mainly designed for getting people out of trouble too. If your vision of a ski resort is all about fun in the snow and apres-ski, then, this set might not be perfect for you; most notably, it doesn’t actually include a ski lodge. But if you’re more interested in action on the slopes, along with a healthy slice of drama and disaster, then you'll love it. This nicely designed set also features a beautifully realised half-pipe, with stair access and a separate grind rail; a booth for cocoa and cakes; a ski shop with (bizarrely) a huge TV on its roof, and a ton of accessories and minifigures to keep you entertained. This set is centred around a very cool control tower, with lots of interested elements packed into quite a tight space, along with some fun vehicles, accessories and minifigures. We particularly love the Buzz Lightyear-style jet pack, which you can easily attach to your characters. There's also a jail attached to the tower, because it seems that in Lego City, criminals really are everywhere. The least successful part of this set is the parachute. It's actually nicely constructed, but like all toy parachutes, if dropped from a normal height (ie a few feet) in calm weather, it just drops to the floor with a thump, rather than the floating descent pictured in the image above. Despite that issue though, this is a lovely set that's full of fun and imaginative possibility. Some older children and adults might find it a little unsophisticated, but it's certainly well geared to younger children. Who in their right mind wouldn't want a rocket launch pad in their city? And luckily this Lego City Deep Space Rocket set is very nicely designed indeed. The highlight is the rocket itself, with different parts that are all detachable, representing the different stages of ascent. There’s even a space telescope inside, ready to be launched into orbit with its own solar wings. The launchpad also works beautifully, with the refuelling towers on the sides retracting automatically on lift-off. And the main launch control building, with its huge windows, is suitably epic. The only slight bum note comes from the track and car mechanism to transport the minifigures between the two, which works fine but seems a little pointless. On the whole, though, this is an original and brilliantly designed Lego City environment that any space junkie will love. Read more: The best Lego Harry Potter sets Coding for kids: 7 top toys 37 standout packaging designs View the full article

The world, right now, faces a huge amount of uncertainty, which we are all feeling the effects of in one way or another. But despite this time of crisis, artists and designers are harnessing their talents to help spread positivity and powerful messages to all. And this latest offering is one of the best we've seen so far. Created by copywriter Luke O'Reilly, this concept Guinness ad is being praised online for its simple perfection. The ingenious design uses a trend we've seen pop up a lot recently, invisible branding. The clever technique sees well-known images replaced with perfectly placed objects to create an optical illusion, whereby your brain has to fill in the gaps (see our round-up of negative space art for more optical illusion inspiration). In this case, the iconic pint of Guinness' foam head has been substituted with a sofa, in it's signature creamy colour, of course. The middle is stamped with the the old Guinness logo and harp icon, and a simple, well-positioned 'Stay at home' message at the bottom provides all your brain needs to complete the image. O'Reilly created the clever image as part of a One Minute Brief project, and the creative community is giving it a resounding thumbs up. Although not everyone is comfortable, including us, on the developing crisis being used as a subject for marketing campaigns. Twitter user Mark Gallo said: "Even though I share the opinion that brands should lay low with Coronavirus marketing – this is my favourite ad/message." And we have to agree. But credit where it's due, the creativity on display here is undeniable, and the concept executed perfectly – the lack of gimmicks make it feel poignant but not inappropriate. A striking visual, it reiterates the simple message being heard across the world right now, all the while staying true to the brand. Thankfully, we've not seen many brands use the coronavirus for marketing purposes, but we like to hope for any that might be planning to that they'd exercise the same amount of respect and integrity shown here. If you're in need of even more inspiration, or a little bit of support, don't miss our round up of free online resources being offered during the Covid-19 outbreak. There's free software, art lessons, books, read-alongs and much more to help you navigate this difficult time. Read more: 5 brands so strong they don't need a logo 6 magnificently minimal logos Iconic logos reimagined for the age of coronavirus View the full article

Adobe has fixed a critical flaw in its Creative Cloud Desktop Application for Windows. View the full article

Disney Plus has become a huge hit since it launched in November 2019. It's currently available in the US, Canada, the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand and some European countries such as UK, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Austria, Switzerland and Germany. Its release has been delayed in India and France due to coronavirus, but if it's not in your area yet then watch this space – the streaming service is projected to be in most territories within the next two years. Looking at what's on offer, it's not hard to see why Disney Plus subscriptions have become so popular. The platform is certainly giving the likes of Netflix and Amazon a run for their money. The on-demand service hosts over 500 movies and 7,500 TV episodes produced by Walt Disney Studios. This includes all the classic Disney films, as well as content from Disney's Marvel, National Geographic, Pixar and Star Wars brands. And there are plans in place for even more hit films and original content to be added in future. What else do you need to know about Disney Plus? You'll find all the latest information on pricing, getting a free trial, key releases, compatible devices and more in this guide. And if you want to make sure you're getting the best experience watching your favourite movies, make sure you've got one of our best monitors or one of the most powerful laptops. How to get a Disney Plus free trial If you're not sure whether a Disney Plus subscription is the right service for you, a seven-day Disney Plus free trial is available via the website. Available with standard membership, this completely unrestricted Disney Plus free trial is a great way to see if the service and content is what you expected. Seven days might not seem like long, but it should plenty of time to help you get a feel for how Disney Plus works and whether you like what you see. If you decide Disney Plus isn't right for you, you can avoid a month's bill by simply cancelling your Disney Plus free trial like so: Log into Disney Plus Click on your user profile Select 'Account' and 'Billing details' Click 'Cancel Subscription' Click 'Complete Cancellation' Et voilà! You're done. Disney Plus: What's included? When it comes to content, this streaming service's library is seriously impressive – it feels like it would almost be easier to list what Disney Plus doesn't include. First and foremost, users can access all the classic Disney movies and shows, which in itself offers hundreds of hours of entertainment. But it doesn't stop there – on Disney Plus you'll also find blockbuster movies and TV shows from brands such as Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic and Pixar. And then there's The Simpsons (every single season, just saying). More hit shows are also set to hit Disney Plus throughout 2020. You can also download all of the content on Disney Plus, making it easier to watch wherever you are (and however dodgy the WiFi). Disney Plus: Shows and movies available now Some of the Disney Plus originals available There are plenty of movies already available on Disney Plus, and lots coming up throughout the year, some, such as Frozen 2, have been released early. Here are just a few of the Disney Plus shows and films we're most excited about, which are all available to stream now. Classic Disney films: Cinderella, Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King Newer Disney films: Frozen 2, live action remakes of Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast Pixar films: Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Finding Dory Star Wars films: All of them, excluding the most recent The Rise of Skywalker Marvel films: Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Captain America: The Winter Soldier Disney Plus originals: The Mandalorian, High School Musical: The Musical Other: 10 Things I Hate About You, Willow Disney Plus: Upcoming shows and movies Onward (3 April) Solo: A Star Wars Story (9 July) Avengers: Infinity Way (25 June) Ant-Man and the Wasp (29 July) The Incredibles 2 (30 July) The Falcon and The Winter Soldier (Aug) The Mandalorian season 2 (Oct) WandaVision (Dec) Loki (TBA, 2021) Ms Marvel (TBA, 2021) Obi-Wan Kenobi series (currently untitled, TBA, 2021) Monsters Inc sequel series (Monsters at Work, TBA) Home Alone remake (TBA) We have to say, the volume and quality of content available here is a pretty mind-boggling. And its frankly unbelievably low cost makes it really excellent value for money. If by some miracle you do manage to find a hit film or TV show that isn't listed on Disney Plus, you can bet it won't be long until it is. Be sure to keep an eye on the official Disney Plus Twitter feed for details of any new releases. Disney Plus devices Just download the Disney Plus app to watch it on the following: Android phones and tablets Apple phones and iPads Amazon Fire tablets Web browsers Android TVs LG WebOS Smart TVs Roku TV Samsung Tizen Smart TVs Amazon Fire TV Apple AirPlay Apple TV (4th generation and later) Chromebook Chromecast Sony PlayStation 4 XBox One Roku Sky Q devices Is Disney Plus worth it? We're sure all the information so far has answered this question already. But just to be clear, the answer is, unequivocally, yes. Disney Plus and all its delights will set you back a measly $6.99 / £5.99 per month. That's the same price you pay for the lowest monthly Netflix fee in the UK. And, let's be honest, the non-HD stream to a single device service is nothing to shout about. A bumper Disney Plus pack also available in the US for $12.99 gives users access to Hulu and ESPN Plus streaming services too. View the full article

Life is changing in ways we never dreamed of due to the Covid-19 outbreak. But despite these uncertain times, the creative community is leading the way in its supportive efforts. Each day we are seeing more and more individuals and companies offer their time, talents and services for free, in order to help others. And the very least we can do is help share this abundance of love. Here we've rounded up the online resources and services we've found being offered for free during the pandemic. You'll find everything from creative software and drawing lessons, to free books and talented authors doing daily story times. Some things here are aimed specifically at artists and designers, while others are simply to help you manage being stuck at home. Rest assured whatever situation you find yourself in right now, you'll find something here to help make life a little brighter. Please feel free to share any resources we've missed at contact@creativebloq.com or on Twitter @Creativebloq. Let's get started with some amazing free tools... There are a number of companies offering services for free in an attempt to support creatives financially. Here are all the current offers: Get Adobe CC free for two months Adobe is offering two months Creative Cloud for free to already existing individual CC subscribers. With the Covid-19 outbreak hitting everyone hard, this will no doubt come as very welcome news to artists and designers reliant on Adobe apps. Adobe CC free for students and teachers Adobe is also offering temporary free licenses to students and teachers, which could be a lifesaving offer for students currently reliant on Adobe software to complete vital coursework. In order to be eligible, you must attend a school or college registered as an Adobe education customer. Free Affinity apps from Serif Serif is offering everyone 90-days free access to Affinity Designer, Affinity Publisher and Affinity Photo. And at the end of the trial, should you wish to purchase the software, you can do so for half the retail price. Serif has also pledged to engage 100 creatives with paid work amid the virus outbreak. Nice one, Serif. Get ftrack Review for free Say goodbye to multiple emails and messages for the next few months with free access to collaborative media review and approval platform for content creators ftrack Review. The tool is free until at least 31 May 2020 (with date to be reviewed as the pandemic develops). Join Rob Biddulph every Tuesday and Thursday for DrawWithRob A number of artists have taken to doing regular online tutorials as a way to help creatives develop their skills and keep kids busy while they're at home. Here's a list of all the ones we've heard about so far: Free art lessons with Aaron Blaise If you want to learn how to draw, you'll be hard pushed to find a better teacher than legendary Aaron Blaise. The former Disney artist has today announced he will be publishing his lessons either for free or at a huge discount. Home schooling suddenly never looked so good. Draw with Rob Illustrator Rob Bidduph is sharing draw-along videos for kids every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 10AM (GMT), using the hashtag #DrawWithRob. And they've gone down a storm. Even if you don't want to join in, we urge you to take a look at the fantastic submissions so far, which are guaranteed to put a smile on your face. Quarantine Art Club Award-winning American children's book illustrator and artist Carson Ellis has set up her very own Quarantine Art Club for adults and kids alike. Ellis There's a step-by-step video and handy reference material to help you get stuck in. Art club with Noel Fielding British TV presenter Noel Fielding has set up a Twitter-based online art club, which anyone can join in with. Participants are invited to submit their art to his Twitter handle – @noelfielding11 – and so far they've been glorious. Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems Lunch doodles with author Mo Willems, posted at 1PM (EST) every day on Twitter (and streamed after if you miss it). Visit Mo's virtual studio every day and then post your artwork online, using the hashtag #MoLunchDoodles. Elsewhere, illustrators and authors are taking to Instagram Live to read their books aloud in daily story times. This is a great way for adults and kids to spend some time together, so check individual Instagram feeds for times and tune in. Oliver Jeffers Author of the popular children's books, How to Catch a Star and Lost and Found Oliver Jeffers has taken to Instagram to doing daily readings. Tune in at 2PM (ET), where posts will be available for 24 hours, and the recording then available on his website after. Sophie Blackall Author and illustrator Sophie Blackall is also taking to Instagram to share artists tips and tricks, based around her favourite books, including Ivy and Bean and Hello Lighthouse. There doesn't appear to be any post schedule, but videos are popping up every other day at the moment. Mac Barnett A daily book club is running from children's book author Mac Barnett, every day at 0900 (ET). Videos are available for 24 hours after posting, so you can catch up after if you miss it. If your stuck at home and want to get stuck in to a good book, there's plenty of free online libraries available. Free ebooks for designers: hone your skills with these 22 amazing resources for both beginners and pros Apple Books currently has a ‘stay at home’ collection of free read-alongs for kids and audiobooks That's a long list of free resources to help keep you in all sorts of ways while stuck at home. If you need some kit to help with remote working, we've also got a number of super-helpful buying guides to help you choose the correct equipment for you. This bit isn't free, sadly, but our price comparison widget will make sure you get the best price possible. The best office chair for your home office The best desks to keep you comfortable Laptop stands to keep you and your device cool The best laptops for students View the full article

A leaked spec list for the update to the Surface Go, Microsoft's cheapest tablet, suggests we might have serious rival to the iPad Air on our hands. Much like the Air, the Surface Go is a cheaper alternative to a pro tablet (in this case the Surface Pro 7), but shares many of its pricier sibling's features in a smaller package. The specs reveal that two options will be available. The top-spec model packs an Intel Core m3-8100Y CPU, as well as 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. The base model has half the storage (128GB) and features an Intel Pentium 4425Y CPU. One benefit of the Microsoft device over the iPad is that it runs on full Windows, supporting desktop versions of apps such as Photoshop (although there are a huge number of iPad apps for designers). 2018's original Surface Go The processors revealed in the specs (shared by Twitter user _rogame) are a definite improvement, and it's good to see a 256GB option, doubling the storage of the original Surface Go. We're a little disappointed however to see that the previous model's 8GB RAM has remained unchanged. Still, the smaller Surface was never intended to be a powerhouse – as we said in our Surface Go review, it's the bright screen and great inking experience that makes it a solid option for creatives on the go. The iPad Air could be the Surface Go's main competitor And when it comes to its most obvious competitor, the iPad Air, the Surface Go with these specs definitely take a bite out of Apple. Not only does the iPad contain just 3GB of RAM, but it's also much more expensive – starting at $499 for only 64GB of storage. If the Surface Go maintains its $399.99 price for the base model, it could look like great value next to the iPad. Ultimately, it boils to down to which software ecosystem you prefer – for iOS fans, the iPad Air is a great digital canvas (read our iPad Air review). But with access to full Windows apps, improved specs and a great price, the Surface Go 2 might end up turning the heads of more than a few Apple fans. Check out some of the best Microsoft Surface offers below. Read more: Surface Pro 7 review Apple reveals new iPad Pro (but we're more excited by the Magic Keyboard) The best drawing tablets View the full article

Using landing pages to test new product ideas is a smart strategy. And, it’s not too complicated. The process can be boiled down to four steps. But, what makes landing pages a useful tool to test new product ideas? Landing …View the full article

Apple's marketing wasn't always the sleek, silvery-grey affair it is today – indeed, there was a time when it burst with colour. And now you can own a rainbow-hued piece of Apple history, as a vintage 1978 retail sign is up for grabs in an online auction ending in two days. All you need to do is make a minimum bid of $20,000. Easy. The sign simply features the words 'apple computer' (all lower case) below a giant Apple logo. Whether rainbow-coloured or plain black, Apple's mark is unmistakable. No wonder it's one of our best logos of all time. Those colours make us happy According to Nate D. Sanders Auctions, the sign didn't actually belong to an Apple retail store. It was displayed by an authorised reseller who first learned about Apple after attending a 1976 computer conference. The sign is "yellowed", but those all-important rainbow colours are "bright and in good condition". Seeing the rainbow logo again, we can't help but miss the the colourful charm of the old Apple aesthetic. We'd love to see the retro apple make a comeback (and it was rumoured to be happening last year). Also charming are the old apple's imperfect proportions – it appears to have something of a hunchback compared with the current logo, said to be based on perfect circles (below). Sure, okay We learned a few amazing facts from the Apple logo's original designer Rob Janoff last year. If you think $20,000 is a lot for a retail sign, wait until you hear how much it cost to digitise the apple. Check out our interview here. Read more: Apple WWDC 2020 moves online (but not for a few months) New Apple Pencil could get dramatic redesign Apple reveals new iPad Pro (but we're more excited by the Magic Keyboard) View the full article

What is beauty? Well, beauty is a six-letter word, and a loaded one, especially when it comes to working in the creative industries, but, while there’s the old adage that it’s 'in the eye of the beholder', some argue that what is (and isn’t beautiful) is far from subjective. The Oxford Dictionary defines beauty as "A combination of qualities, such as shape, colour, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially the sight." But we all know it’s more than that: we often say a person is beautiful, or that they have a beautiful soul. Beauty, then, is nebulous – it isn’t dependent on certain aesthetic qualities, but has a deeper resonance that’s more about feeling than composition or colour. If it were that simple, we’d all make things that were universally agreed to be beautiful. (If you want to focus on your own creations, see our guide to oil painting techniques, or our how to draw tutorials). What is beauty? Maria-Alina Asavei is a lecturer and postdoctoral researcher in Russian and East European Department at the Institute of International Studies at Charles University in Prague and an independent curator of contemporary art. "We often fail to make clear what we mean by 'beauty', even if we use this word quite frequently, in all kinds of occasions, related to art or not," she writes in the essay Beauty and Critical Art: is beauty at odds with critical–political engagement?. Asavei continues: "When we appreciate that something has beauty, we implicitly accept that X is a source of positive aesthetic value or positive aesthetic appreciation. In the history of philosophical aesthetics, there are many theories and definitions of beauty. Despite differences, most of these theories connect the experience of the beautiful with a certain type of pleasure and enjoyment." Alan Moore, in a suitably beautiful setting Yet many would argue that by our very nature, there’s a certain universal set of indices that inform beauty. Alan Moore, a former designer and typographer who worked under the mentorship of letterpress guru Alan Fletcher and in roles including head of art at Publicis in London, now focuses his entire career on beauty in design, and its role in successful businesses. However, his take on beauty isn’t about what something looks like: he often speaks about it in terms of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, Dirac’s theorem, spirituality and the laws of nature. "At an atomic level, everything is connected; they dance and are attracted to one another at a nuclear level. The law of nature seeks things to be made of symmetry and harmony, and even in opposites they’re complementary: we have night and day, up and down. We’re all made of the same stuff molecularly, so we intuit beauty – we know it to be the life-enhancing force." As a designer, your duty is to only bring good things into the world As such, Moore sees beauty not just as symmetry, but as regeneration: the first law of thermodynamics, also known as Law of Conservation of Energy, states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed; energy can only be transferred or changed from one form to another. This is intrinsically related to good design. "It’s about the idea of bringing good into the world and regeneration," Moore says. "People really connect to the idea of beautiful people because it relates to values, it relates to ethics. You have to think about if someone asked you as a designer, 'Is that the most beautiful decision we could make?' If you see that, then as a designer, your duty is to only bring good things into the world." Is beauty useful? These are big concepts, but are increasingly ones that designers have to think about in times of climate crisis and political turmoil. They’re as crucial (and as such, as "beautiful") as how good their type looks, or which Pantone they’ll select. It’s also about utility: Moore points out that "Mother Nature works with purpose in everything she does." In legendary designer Paul Rand’s 1947 book Thoughts on Design he stated that, "Ideally, beauty and utility are mutually generative"; the combination of both is when you reach the pinnacle of design. "Visual communications of any kind… should be seen as the embodiment of form and function: the integration of the beautiful and the useful." While this doesn’t help us to define what is and isn’t beautiful, it does underscore the notion of beauty as being a concept we all understand, but that can be mutable and dependent on context. Asavei echoes this view: "What we know about an event or object and our world-view and moral values always determine our perception about what is beautiful, why it is beautiful, and what is not beautiful." Will this be considered beautiful in one hundred years? It goes without saying that what is and isn’t considered beautiful has changed throughout history, whether in art, design or the human form (for women in particular – think fetishising plumpness when it signified wealth during the Renaissance era; 90s "heroin chic" waifs; today’s Kardashian-esque big ass, little waist, big lips). At one end of the historical beauty-definition spectrum is the "rational understanding of beauty and the search to boil down the essence into formulae and models for application," as Alan Powers, a design writer and professor of architecture and cultural history at the University of Greenwich puts it in Beauty: A Short History. This was seen during the Renaissance when the prevailing belief around beauty was that it was based on numbers "akin to the harmonies of music and the movements of the planets". At the other end is a far more romanticised notion, such as the Middle Ages’ view of beauty as part of the "divine order" or poet John Keats’ "beauty is truth, truth beauty" from his Ode on a Grecian Urn. Then Modernism came along: everything was stripped back to its most basic components and that continues to play a huge role in today’s frequently Swiss-leaning, grid-loving design education. It was the far-reaching cultural shifts (at least in the Western world) of the rise of Modernism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that saw the earlier decorative values of pattern and opulent lettering styles in print, or the decorative flourishes of architecture that had formerly dominated, fall out of favour. It also saw a swift shift toward pared-based design and prioritised rigid proportions and functionality. This marked the start of an underlying reluctance to embrace beauty as a core value, which continues to this day. The idea of beauty, to many, is (perhaps subconsciously) seen as trite or old-fashioned – an aesthetic principle at odds with the rigid frameworks of 21st century design. The divisive Guardian art critic Jonathan Jones wrote a piece in 2012 about the rejection of beauty in contemporary art, which aligned this view with far older beliefs that "beauty is the most dangerous idea in art… It tantalises and confuses, inspires and crushes", and that "beauty has been worshipped as the highest artistic value and denigrated as a pagan temptation." The value of beauty Beauty isn't in the eyes of the beholder, argues this book Yet in design, it’s not so much about "pagan temptation" or danger, but a focus on problem-solving, form-following-function, conceptual rigour and evolutions in technology that drive how interfaces, software and even print design are viewed. As grids and rules came in, beauty in its more traditional sense went out. As Alan Powers puts it, "The ideal of pure geometry remains deeply rooted in western consciousness as the basis of beauty. It sits well with the idea that beauty is an expert business, not accessible to the untrained mind." However, one designer who consistently rails against the notion that beauty is unimportant, subjective or "not accessible to the untrained mind" is Stefan Sagmeister. In his talks and the book Sagmeister & Walsh: Beauty, created with Jessica Walsh, he uses numerous scientific and cultural examples to point out that beauty is far from being "in the eye of the beholder" (he points out the phrase only came to prominence thanks to a line stating as such in Margaret Wolfe Hungerford’s 1878 novel Molly Bawn.) In talks, Stefan has shown his audience a slide with five different colours, another with five different shapes, and asked people to vote for their favourite. The results are almost identical wherever and whenever he does this (turns out circles and blue or purple come out top). Sure, it’s a crude experiment, but it says a lot about how our tastes are not as unique or subjective as we might have thought. Stefan often blames Modernism for the devaluation of beauty, and the suspicion that beautiful work might not be taken seriously, or derided as merely decorative or commercial. Inside Sagmeister & Walsh's book To avoid this risk, the grid was firmly laid out in design schools as the safe, clean, rational solution, to the point that it became non-expressive to the exclusion of physical beauty. Jan Tschichold – one of the most famous proponents of Modern ideals through his Die Neue Typographie – eventually went back on his espousal of modernist values, describing Modernism as "inherently authoritarian and fascist", and a style that had become a "default" that lacked wit and innovation. The public will respond to any attempt to rehabilitate beauty Jan Tschichold Although his text is still a staple in design education, Tschichold went further, saying that a designer doesn’t have to be inventive or innovative to create design work based around the grid. Despite this apparent ongoing renunciation for many designers of beauty as a priority, "there is every reason to work with it again," says Powers. He cites MORI research that showed "the public values beauty and not only wants it in their homes, clothes and other personal belongings, but also in the great outdoors, the public realm and public life… especially in these difficult times, the public will respond to any attempt to rehabilitate beauty." Designers, take note! Alan Moore’s views echo this, and make a case for the importance of beauty in commercial design: "Beauty is a powerful quality for a business to have," he wrote in The Business Case for Beauty, originally published in Management Today. "People experience the world qualitatively, not quantitatively… a Temkin survey shows that customers with a positive emotional experience of a company are six times more likely to buy more, 12 times more likely to recommend and five times more likely to forgive a mistake." This, clearly, defies any suspicions that beauty in creative work has no function, or serves a merely decorative purpose. Alan Moore’s commitment to preaching the values of the beautiful was born of a "road to Damascus" moment, he says. This arrived after many years working for various organisations and agencies and his view that there was a "form of myopia in the way they were working: making money at any cost until it cost them everything," he says. "I got very angry at the greed across incumbent industries, whether they were TV, radio or print. I thought ‘this is not okay, we’re supplanting the idea that a good life is one born out of material consumption – nothing to do with the wealth of life’." If there are so many cases in favour of beautiful design, why then in recent years and even decades have we seen designers move towards not just function over form, but deliberately "ugly" design: the post-ironic clashing of typefaces and so on? We’d suggest that this is because such work isn’t in fact ugly at all when it’s done well, but what we mean by beauty has radically shifted. Nature and beauty Alan Moore points out that if everything in nature is beautiful, and that nature thrives on diversity and regeneration, then how we view what is and isn’t beautiful or aesthetically appealing will patently shift over time. Therefore, the notion of beauty as either a representation of subjective, aesthetic pleasure or something purely aesthetic with little intellectual or conceptual underpinning, is something that the designers who consider their role as simply "problem solving" might want to rethink. Indeed, Jonathan points out that artwork that shuns beauty may well be in vogue; but once we’ve "look[ed] at it earnestly," we then go and look at gorgeous photos, films, magazines – the true art of our time." With so much of the commercial creative landscape responsible for such imagery, this suggests that a great editorial layout or careful selection of typefaces, a well-art directed campaign, or even a brand film has as much need for beauty as an artwork simply created for art’s sake. Dazed Beauty One newish platform pushing radically new and innovative ideas around what’s beautiful is Dazed Beauty. Launched in late 2018, and art directed by Ben Ditto, who’s also creative director of Ditto Publishing, with creative direction from Isamaya Ffrench, the pair brought a more internet-led, fantasy-like, occasionally gore/horror-inspired look to the platform. The platform stated its mission as "celebrating identity, self-expression and creativity through the transformational power of beauty." This means alongside covering faces and products, there’s a considerable focus on art. Pieces range from the sexuality of maternal women to nipple removal and other "extreme body modification" to profiles on creative coders and an artist who claims that we’re "already living in a video game". Beauty is personal, and platforms like Instagram have helped people to leverage beauty on their terms Nellie Eden This idea of creativity and self-expression as integral to beauty has meant the design of the site is thoroughly futuristic, using gloopy metallic type that floats around the pages, lurid neon green lines to break up the site’s grid and sections that are predominantly image-led, clearly taking a cue or two from certain image-sharing platforms. It’s a far cry from the usual look of beauty or fashion publications: all clean, neat layouts; white space, femininity and mastheads set in black, traditional serif capitals. "This is beauty for the social media age," as Ffrench puts it. "Beauty is personal, and platforms like Instagram have helped people to leverage beauty on their terms," says Dazed Beauty’s editor Nellie Eden. "Our design is informed by the convergence of the beauty and the tech industries. When we talk about beauty it’s not about products or who’s the face of YSL – it’s what a teenager in Poland is doing with his contact lenses." Dazed Beauty's logo Eden continues: "Dazed Beauty has a distinctive personality: you can put something on Instagram that people find disgusting or appalling or strange, and that’s fantastic, because beauty imagery has become so sanitised and so far from what it means to be human… We always say make it weirder or more digressive or obscure." These presentations of future-facing, deliberately "weirder" or "appalling" takes on what is beautiful doesn’t mean that beauty needn’t be a consideration for designers – quite the opposite – but it does mean they need to dig deep to think about what could make their work more beautiful, and their approach to doing so. Beauty, states Powers, is "cultivated through a deeper understanding of what we already have, and by looking after and appreciating the unique characteristics of the places where we live." He adds, "we should commit ourselves to living better on less. Perhaps the key thing is to have the confidence to say beauty matters, and not to be afraid of the reaction." But it’s not just about these deeper philosophies, or trend-bucking. In Sagmeister and Walsh's book, they state the case that attention to form (in other words, beauty) in turn makes a design more functional. Beautiful packaging design, for instance, sells better. Moore firmly backs this: "Beauty as a frame, philosophy, language even, shows how to build businesses that are more relevant and needed in the world we all live in today: businesses that build legacy, that go beyond sustainability, that are places the best people want to work for, and that deliver outstanding customer experience, all of which translates into long-term growth and profitability." Alan Moore also argues that rather than form making something more functional, "beauty flows from purpose", citing companies such as Patagonia as exemplary in attracting creative talent and effective decision-making and leadership through the sense of purpose embedded across the business. To him, beauty isn’t just about design or even design teams: it’s about a workplace culture built around generosity and positivity. This in turn brings deeper engagement with the tasks at hand, trust and overall better well-being. It’s also about sustainability, for both the business and the world: Moore states that "beautiful businesses… take less, make better with less and waste nothing" – they are "regenerative, existing as part of living systems rather than trying to disrupt or destroy them." Moore adds, "Beauty isn’t incompatible with rigour. It won’t hurt your bottom line or your return on equity to have a beautiful business with a beautiful culture, making beautiful products. Indeed, in the long term it could be one of your greatest assets." Which one is most beautiful? To make more beautiful design runs deeper than the images you put into the world, it’s about the social purpose of what you’re doing and how you’re running your creative business. So if we run with the idea that beauty remains vital to design, but the foundations of what is seen as "beautiful" are more mutable than ever, how as a designer do you make more beautiful work? Describing beauty as "the sweet spot between order and chaos" (rather than the Modernist designers’ rejection of chaos of any form); Sagmeister and Walsh use the equation M = O/C to decide on something’s beauty (beauty, M, is the ratio of Organization (O) to Complexity (C).) Whether a commission requires simplicity, ornamentation or boundary-pushing image-making, beauty is, and always will be vital. In an age where designers increasingly see AI and other tech innovations gradually making gains on the grub work of design, one thing that computers will never be able to do is judge an innate, more nebulous sense of what is beautiful. Beauty is innately related to humanity, and whatever face you put on it, computers will never be truly human. This article originally appeared in issue 300 of Computer Arts, the world’s leading design magazine. Buy issue 300 or subscribe here. Read more: Graphic design history: 25 landmark events Design for good: ways to use your creativity to make a difference Design's gender problem, and what you can do about it View the full article

If you promote your creative work via social media, the best social media schedulers could relieve you of a significant chunk of your weekly workload. Users who share upwards of seven posts a week gain the most engagement across their social media pages, and you could be spending that time working on creative projects instead of staring at social media platforms. This is where a social media management tool, or scheduler, steps in. You can plan your content in advance and then schedule posts to be sent out automatically. There are a host of other features built into these programs, all designed to help you understand what audiences respond to across different platforms, increase engagement and build a bigger following. Some contain a variation of analytical tools to help you understand optimum times to post, or what content is working best for you. This post mostly focuses on schedulers, so keep in mind that there are loads of other options if you need a tool that does it all. Remember, scheduling content is helpful but it isn't the best way to increase engagement with your social media accounts. Instead of simply putting out content, you need to deploy a well-rounded set of strategies. For more on this, see our post on how to boost Instagram engagement. You may also want to try simple tricks such as how to change the font in your Instagram bio. Smarter Queue is just coming out of Beta, and it's shaping up to be a fierce contender in the social media tools space. The platform is category-led, which means you set up multiple categories each with different posting plans, such as which profiles are to be posted to, and add content to each category as you create or find it (including directly from your Twitter feed). You do this by inputting urls or dragging and dropping into the visual calendar so your plan is laid out clearly in front of you. Smarter Queue's analytics are pretty powerful and will give you information on optimum posting times, enable you to compare engagement between content types and analyse your social history plus your competitors. The evergreen content recycler keeps your repeated content going on a cycle, with no ending (unless you ask it to stop). There are engagement tools such as sharing or retweeting from within the platform, and content curation and editing tools, too. One downside is that the mobile app is very limited. Its only purpose at the moment is to remind you when to publish content on Instagram (which doesn't have an auto-post function), and to bookmark content. However, the product roadmap details some great future features for the platform, which could outweigh this negative point. This scheduler boasts that it saves you over eight hours a week, and indeed it is a great choice if you want to be totally hands-off (remember, this won't necessarily create the most engagement). Establishing your content settings is the only time-consuming part, but once that is done, you can let it tick over. Later is unapologetic about being mostly for Instagram, in fact it tags itself as the number one Instagram scheduler. And it does that job really well. Due to Instagram's regulations, you can't auto post content on the site unless you're a business page (and even then, only on single image posts), so bear in mind that if you're not, you'll only be able to schedule posts then publish them manually. But, you'll get notifications from Later at the specified times, and all you need to do at that point is press publish on the content you've already created. The fact that the platform is so image-led means Later works incredibly well with Instagram, but not so well with Twitter or Facebook, which aren't so focused on the visuals. The grid layout within Later displays your content just as you would see it on Instagram, so you can curate brand consistency at a glance, as well as check you're posting a mix of content. There's also a handy hashtag search which allows you to repost content based on specific keywords. Later provides stats on your account that become more detailed as you move up the price plans, but these are pretty limited at the lower price points, and even the most in-depth analysis doesn't match that of other schedulers. If you're a visual content creator, focused on Instagram, this is an easy-to-use scheduler that doesn't overcomplicate things. But it's not the best choice for writers, or anyone wanting to delve deep into stats across social channels. A powerhouse of a social media management tool, Sendible really does do it all. Aimed at increasing productivity for agencies managing multiple clients, the platform has a slick dashboard interface that allows you to switch between clients easily, and the facility to collaborate with teams/clients on content and campaigns. Functions for scheduling and auto-posting are included in the toolkit, alongside powerful analytics via reports, automation tools (like automatic replies), grouping posts by teams, and content libraries that house all your evergreen content for reuse. This is a serious choice for larger outfits, but the app can be somewhat unstable. This isn't something we'd expect from such a professional program so it's a niggle, but the other tools definitely have the goods to back up the price. If you're looking for a scheduler that does just what it says on the tin, this is your best bet. Postcron is ridiculously simple in its focus: it schedules and auto posts, and that's it. (As with most other apps, it won't auto post to Instagram, you'll need to respond to the notification.) You can bulk upload, which saves time, and the ability to add a watermark is a nice touch. There are no extras here – there are zero analytics, and no editing or curation tools. But if you just want to be able to schedule, for a reasonable price and with a clean, useable UI, this is a safe choice. Hootsuite is one of the leading social media management tools, and it truly does do it all. It offers a free forever plan that will do the job well if you just want to schedule content. It can be hard to find a decent free scheduler that works this well across all channels, and Hootsuite's free plan even has basic analytics. The Streams tool is a clear winner, allowing you to schedule, manage and sort your posts (and your followers' posts/mentions) across social media channels without having to log in to your separate accounts. Bear in mind that you are limited to scheduling only 30 posts at one time, and to three user profiles, but this should be enough to get you started if you're a single user. If you choose to upgrade your plan, Hootsuite's wealth of features won't leave you wanting in any area – it offers functions we didn't know we needed. We were particularly impressed with the Hootlet – the browser extension. It helps with topic searches, retweets and replies and more. However, it's worth mentioning that the UI does feel a bit dated, especially compared to other platforms. TweetDeck is a pretty basic scheduler that was bought by Twitter, and, unsurprisingly, it only encompasses Twitter itself. However, though there are not many other features, it does do Twitter scheduling well, in an uncomplicated way. It may only be a browser platform but it has a clean, bright UI, plus there are a few nifty tricks that will improve your experience immensely. Content is organised through custom columns, which you can create yourself to track pretty much anything you like through targeted streams. Think keyword mentions, lists and saved searches. You can filter searches (to track whenever someone mentions your business, or your competitors), and all this can be done with up to 200 Twitter accounts at once. You can also manage multiple accounts from one dashboard. TweetDeck will not provide enough functionality for power users, but it is a solid option for a single user, or a small team. Recurpost has found a niche in its approach to recycling evergreen content, so if you have content that you want to resurface and recycle, it could be particularly useful as part of a wider social media strategy. The content variation tool automatically suggests alternative wording to your existing content, potentially saving you a lot of time when trying to mix things up for Twitter's reposting rules. Other than that, it is a simple scheduler. The free plan means you could use this platform for recycling content alongside something more heavy hitting. It would also be useful for testing the strategy of automated recycled content, or for people who don't have a huge amount of content to push and purely want to post recycled content regularly. The free plan allows you three profiles and 100 pieces of content. Loomly is a calendar-based tool with a useful angle. The software will help keep your ideas and content fresh with its content creation toolkit, and make it easy to collaborate. Loomly uses AI to generate dynamic suggestions based on time of day, location and what is currently trending on Twitter. Its calendar view contains key dates and events to help you out, and you can also connect your RSS feeds to generate further content. The collaboration aspects are also a massive plus. Posts can be set up and shared with team members or clients for approval and edits, and the post view function saves all previous versions of a post. This includes who has made edits and what they were, which is great for feedback and accountability. Slack integration is also great for workflow. The fine-tune each channel tool allows you to tweak posts for each social media channel individually, enabling you to perfect format, picture, links and so on. Loomly's main function is to be a calendar-based scheduling tool with a focus on content creation assistance and collaboration, and it does these things very well. Read more: The best Instagram font generators The ultimate guide to social media for creatives Brands that rule at social media View the full article

A good logo has to achieve an awful lot with not very much collateral. It needs to be distinctive and memorable, it has to effectively communicate the identity and values of the brand that it represents, and it absolutely has to be versatile enough to work at every conceivable size, from browser favicons up to large-scale signage. That's a big ask. A well thought-out minimal logo design can be the best way to meet all three criteria; the challenge can be coming up with an end result that hasn't been done before. The simpler a design, the more likely you are to find hundreds of similar creations ready to be confused with your client's brand. It can be done, though, and if you get it right you'll have a brand identity that sticks in people's minds. Here are six logos that are utterly minimal but which still manage to be instantly recognisable. 5 big logo design trends for 2020 01. Volkswagen Volswagen's recent rebrand features its most minimal logo in years Probably the most complex of our selected designs, the Volkswagen logo is still beautifully minimal, especially in its latest iteration, launched last year. The distinctive monogram has been central to Volkswagen's branding since its launch before the Second World War; it originally featured additional ornamentation in similar style to the Nazi swastika, but this was quickly dropped after the war. The logo's been tweaked various times over the years and until recently it was an unsightly, chunky work of non-minimal chrome and 3D edges. The latest version, however, takes it back to basics with a simplified flat design that's a lot more pleasing to the eye. 02. Red Hat Red Hat has stripped its logo back to the essentials Red Hat isn't a name that's going to be familiar to most people, but it's one of the biggest names within the world of Linux. With a name like Red Hat (the company's named after the red lacrosse cap worn by one of its founders, Marc Ewing) it's obvious what the logo should be; each of its logos since 1995 has featured some kind of red hat. The original 1995 logo – a stylised stovepipe hat – is probably the most minimal of the lot, but the most recent, developed with Pentagram's Paula Scher is a fine looker. It's an evolution of the long-standing Red Hat logo featuring a figure in a red fedora, reduced and refined to simple hat in a shade of red that works better across both light and dark backgrounds. It's all part of a larger branding system that you're not particularly likely to come across, but you'll know it whenever you see it. 03. Beats The Beats logo does a lot with just a couple of elements Love or hate the headphones it represents, it's hard to deny that the Beats logo does a lot of heavy lifting with minimal elements. A simple lower-case 'b' against a circular background, it not only signifies the Beats brand but also works as an abstract representation of someone actually wearing a pair of headphones. Conceived as not only a high-performance audio brand but also as body art, Beats got its iconic look from Ammunition in San Francisco, which not only designed the hard-working logo, but also the headphones themselves and the whole brand identity and visual language. 04. Apple In its current incarnation, the Apple logo's deliciously minimal The original Apple logo, created by Ronald Wayne, was the very opposite of minimal: an elaborate hand drawing of Sir Isaac Newton sitting under his apocryphal apple tree, with a fluttering banner pronouncing the company name, it was a piece of branding straight out of the 19th century and barely lasted a year. The logo that we all know was designed by Rob Janoff in 1977, and it's a glorious example of a designer getting it right first time. Janoff didn't have any backup designs when he presented his work to Apple; he describes his simple silhouette of an apple with a bite taken out of it as the clearest bell of a visual he's ever had, and his confidence paid off. While the visual treatments of the Apple logo have evolved over the years, its iconic shape has remained untouched. You can find out more about Janoff's design here. 05. Mastercard Pentagram managed to reduce the Mastercard logo to this utterly minimal version The Mastercard logo, consisting of a pair of overlapping circles, originated in 1968, and like Rob Janoff's Apple logo it's one whose silhouette has remained largely untouched over the years, while the inner details have been sporadically tweaked. From 1990 until 2016, the overlapping section in the middle consisted of interlocking lines – a striking look but one that's less suitable for modern usage as it doesn't scale gracefully across all its possible implementations. Pentagram's 2016 redesign simplified the logo with a look reminiscent of the 1968 original, but with a more vibrant palette; a beautifully minimal look that works at all sizes. And then at the beginning of 2019 a refresh took things further, removing the Mastercard name from the design to create what's almost the ultimate minimal logo. 06. Nike Nike's swoosh is a masterpiece of minimal design Of course if you really want the ultimate minimal logo, you'd be hard pushed to do better than Nike's swoosh. Famously created by design student Carolyn Davidson for a whole $35 (she was handsomely rewarded for her contribution to the Nike brand later on) the swoosh is a simple but unmistakable shape that demonstrates just how much you can achieve with well-executed stroke – or a pair of Bézier curves. Inspired by a wing in reference to the Greek goddess of victory, Nike, the swoosh, like the most recent Mastercard logo, doesn't need any other Nike messaging to communicate exactly which brand it's talking about, and its elegant minimalism means that it scales effortlessly for all possible uses. For a logo designed back in 1971 which has undergone only minimal adjustment since then, that's quite an achievement. Related articles: 8 of the biggest logo redesigns of 2019 Iconic logos reimagined for the age of coronavirus Where to find logo design inspiration View the full article