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Bug submission program uses the SecureDrop platform to ensure anonymity. View the full article

The big Snapchat story this week may be the angry user reaction to the new Snapchat icon, but right now Snap Inc. is more focused on something entirely different: the brand new version of its weird sunglasses/camera combo. The first two versions of Snap's Spectacles – why on earth couldn't they call them Snaptacles? – haven't exactly set the world on fire. But the latest iteration, Spectacles 3 – or Snaptacl3s as any right-thinking company would have called them – could be the ones to change all that. The best video editing apps Spectacles 3 are the new high-fashion, high-price of Snap's not-really AR glasses Coming in at twice the price of Spectacles 2 (Snap2cles, obviously), the big selling point of Spectacles 3 is that they feature not one but two HD cameras, one mounted on the corner of each lens. And that means you can use them to take 3D photos and shoot 3D video. By tapping either of the Spectacles' buttons you can shoot up to 60 seconds of video at a time, or by pressing and holding a button you'll take a still photo. The Spectacles also feature a four-microphone array to provide high-fidelity audio for your videos. Once you've taken your shot you can transfer it wirelessly to your phone and add 3D effects within Snapchat before uploading to your Snapchat account (you can also export straight to your phone's camera roll). And if you want to see your photos and videos in full 3D, Spectacles 3 also come with a Google Cardboard-like 3D viewer that enables you to do just that. These are by far the coolest-looking version of Spectacles yet; they feature a striking stainless steel frame with circular lenses, and they come in two colour options. There's Carbon – black with a semi-matte finish and high-gloss details, and Mineral, a lighter tone with just a hint of gold. Spectacles 3 magically charge in their special carrying case Spectacles 3 come with 4GB of storage,enough to hold up to 100 videos or 1,200 photos, but you'll need to recharge before you hit that limit. Snap says that one charge will be enough for shooting 70 videos or around 200 photos, and once you're out of juice, simply put your Spectacles in their charging case, which will rejuvenate them in about 75 minutes. They're available to pre-order now, with delivery promised for the autumn. Whether Snap has got it right this time around remains to be seen; Spectacles 3 certainly look good, and the ability to create 3D video and imagery definitely feels like a bonus, but at $380/£330 for what still feels like something of a gimmicky wearable, this is quite a tough sell. Colour us intrigued, but not intrigued enough to stump up that much money. If course if they'd called them Snaptacl3s it might be a different matter, but you just can't tell some people. Find out more about Spectacles 3 here. Related articles: The best camera phones in 2019 15 ways to improve your photography skills Street photography: 11 expert tips View the full article

To celebrate 10 years of serving coffee, McCafé US has given its branding a refresh. The coffee chain, which is owned by McDonald's, is set to get a bright new identity this month, and it's one of the subtlest logo changes we've ever seen. This is probably a wise move on McCafé's part. In our guide to logo design we look at how it's important to tweak and refine a logo's typography to add personality, and that's exactly what McCafé has done. The subtle changes see the wordmark's lettering (above) ever so slightly rounded out. Meanwhile the removal of the underline stroke creates a bold and minimalist brand identity that's more in line with the rest of McDonald's products and promotional material, such as its recent set of French fry-themed billboard ads. See how it compares to the old McCafé logo, below. The previous McCafé logo made its debut in 2006 Other changes to the McCafé brand include the introduction of bright gold cups, which McDonald's modestly claims in a press release will "match our gold standard for quality coffee". The new look will also appear across pastry bags and other items of packaging. Let's just hope it doesn't lead to a viral gaffe like McDonald's accidentally smutty cups. Topping off the rebrand is the tagline 'good is brewing', which is inspired by the concept that "good is always brewing with McCafé because good people deserve good coffee." Seems like McCafé wants to be associated with "good". If you're already a fan of McCafé, rest assured that the taste of its coffee will remain the same. And for extra peace of mind, all of its hot beverage cups will remain FSC-Certified. The new branding will start rolling this month "Over the years, we’ve been focused on elevating the McCafé experience – from adding more choices, evolving the in-restaurant experience and broadening accessibility to this important brand," said McDonald's Vice President of Menu Innovation, Linda VanGosen. "This latest update is a natural evolution of the steps we’ve taken to modernise the brand experience and deliver growth. We remain excited about coffee, and will continue to prioritise making McCafé a go-to coffee destination for customers." Related articles: Snapchat updated its icon and everything's ruined World's smallest McDonald's opens for bees – and it's amazing! McDonald's proves its brand strength with blurry ads View the full article

Whether you use the Adobe Creative Cloud programs or something comparable for your graphic design needs, there always seems to be more to know and more tricks to learn. After all, part of being a creative is consistently trying new mediums, new tools, and new projects. For those of you that live by that sentiment, this Graphic Design + Adobe CC Certification School bundle may be just what you need to fuel your growth as a creative. The bundle includes courses in the big three Adobe CC programs, and it’s currently available for over 95% off at $39. Get Adobe Creative Cloud Featuring three courses and over 300 lessons, this training bundle will teach you the basics, even if you've been using a different creative software or none at all. On top of that it also introduces you to the more advanced elements of Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop. In the first course, you’ll learn how to produce pro-level artwork in Illustrator with instructions that walk you through everything from image sizing and editing to layering and colour management. Next, you’ll learn how to use Adobe InDesign in order to craft everything from composite documents to manuals via lessons that teach you about templates, formatting, and style configuration. Finally, your Adobe Photoshop training will teach you how to professionally edit photos and correct things like lighting and exposure - all through hands-on instruction that utilises real-world examples. Make your work look as good as can be with the best laptops for Photoshop. When you’ve completed each course, you’ll earn a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) certification that you can use in order to showcase your skills on your résumé. And since you’ll have lifetime access to the content, you’ll be the first to receive any updates as soon as they become available. Further your career in graphic design or expand into new mediums with the Graphic Design + Adobe CC Certification School bundle, available for just $39 for a limited time. Related articles: Get started with Adobe Dimension CC Adobe MAX 2019: News, rumours and predictions Adobe updates XD with design systems View the full article

At the heart of any creative project is communication and storytelling. Whether that’s something as intangible as a wordless comic strip, a single illustrated figure conveying an emotion, a TV ad telling us to buy something, or a government campaign poster advising us how best not to get run over, characters can be a powerful tool to bring that story to life. Today, we’re more familiar with – and bombarded by – character design than ever. We've even got a collection of cracking character design tips for you to enjoy. All of this means that the Jolly Green Giants and SpongeBobs of yesteryear are no longer the preserve of big ad agencies or professional image-makers, thanks to the democratisation of software and proliferation of free tools. Lars Denicke and Peter Thaler have been running the Pictoplasma festival for character design for the past 15 years, and over that time Denicke says he’s seen a huge change in the way illustration and character design have become a "stronger voice" in our wider visual landscape. According to Denicke, part of the reason for starting Pictoplasma Character Face-Off contest was in reaction to the "terrible, vulgar" animation style of the time, as he puts it. "Now, as a genre, character design is everywhere: gaming culture is huge, and editorial illustration has changed so much. The image is not just there to illustrate an article; people like Christoph Niemann, Jean Jullien and Laura Callaghan are telling the story just through an image. That’s changed the way they’re pitching and how they’re briefed, too." Each year Pictoplasma runs contests. These are some of the entries from 2017's Character Face-Off competition The festival’s focus has naturally shifted as technology has rapidly evolved. "When we started we were looking for very graphical and reduced – almost typographic – work without too much detail," he says. "Digital media was so slow at the time. It was still the era of dialling into a modem, so there was no room for photography, moving images and so on. Instead it was things like pixel graphics, simple graphics… maybe flash animation." Style-wise, Denicke says things have shifted from a time in the early 2000s when "everyone wanted to be a street artist"; to a time around seven years ago where animation was popularised by the increasing affordability of software; to today, which he describes as "anything goes." Denicke explains: "We’re a bit post-digital now. Even if you’re working in oil painting, digital informs what everyone does, whether you’re using it 20 per cent or 100 per cent of the time." Use your personality to stand out Promo splash from the Pictoplasma website Digital in 2019 is a part of life that’s so pervasive that it’s unremarkable. The impact that’s had on character design is not to be underestimated. "The divide between us and the object was far stronger 15 years ago," says Denicke. "Now, the lines are blurred. Characters still function as a way to take us by the hand as the reality of the virtual has become more normal for us. Not as directly as Clippy in Microsoft, for instance, but we’re used to interactivity with characters. These days, you can take a character into any context and the audience doesn’t ask ‘why’, or question the reality or the function." The flipside of our widespread acceptance of, and familiarity with, characters is the pressure placed on the designer. It’s all the more imperative that they create something which is unique, smart and striking. "I like to believe that when one loves what they do and one pursues that constantly, it shows and stands out automatically," says animator Elenor Kopka. Of course, passion and a sense of creative authenticity are all well and good, but these attributes alone don’t make for a successful, impactful piece of design. There has to be personality, too and to a certain degree, a mastery of your medium. This can be complex commercial digital art programs, free open-source software, monochrome GIFs or decidedly analogue processes such as collage and crochet. We spoke to some of our favourite practitioners about how they work, the importance of having an ownable style, when you know you’ve hit on the perfect character and more; and garnered some practical tips on how they do what they do. Find your designator Julian advises you to keep your characters simple and save a lot The work of Julian Glander is instantly recognisable: pastel hues, cute, strange, occasionally blobby character designs that are entirely his own. For him, a signature style is crucial. "It’s important to have something that’s a designator, whether that’s the visual style, the sense of humour, or the way they play with the forms or mediums they’re working with. There are artists who reinvent themselves and do something new with every project, but being a chameleon is a style, too. Having a continuity online is nice, so that people know it’s you. Having a signature visual style means I can focus on the writing, and what’s happening to my characters, not just what they look like." For Glander, the beauty of using Blender to work in 3D is that once you’ve made the models, you can work pretty quickly. "You can get the characters in as many angles and poses as you like without redrawing them. I have a whole pipeline figured out that’s very specific: part of my focus and practice is making that [process] really quick, so I’m always looking for shortcuts." Muscleman is a prime example of Glander's distinctive style So what makes an effective character artist today, in a world of characters and images? Glander recommends that to make things stand out, "a big face is good: the classic baby stuff like big eyes or a simple silhouette." He adds: "I don’t want to sound like an expert in character design as I’m very instinctive. I think about what they have to have: so if someone is going to pick something up, I’ll give them hands; if they’re walking, they’ll have feet. Otherwise they might just be a floating head." "I know I’ve hit on something good when a bell goes off in my head. I might put a triangle on a character’s head, and that doesn’t work; then I put a square there instead and it does. I follow my instincts. I’m just completely goofing around. I have no proper experience." Trust your instincts and learn to let go This still comes from Kopka's unofficial video for Timber Timbre Elenor Kopka has carved a highly unusual, very original approach to animation and illustration, using grainy textures and shades of black, white and grey to delineate characters that are both simple and incredibly expressive. Kopka’s distinctive style isn’t something she says she does "on purpose or tactically," although the artist reckons it makes life easier when working with commercial clients, because "it certainly makes them trust you a bit more, when they see what they can expect of you. It makes people reach out to you, that already like what you do so they know right away that it will go well with whatever mission they have in mind," Kopka says. "Nobody ever contacts me when they look for an animator who does neon-coloured vector-based infographics, and that’s great because I would be terrible at that." Her process, while technically adept, is largely based on instinct. Her characters are deceptively complex: how else could something like, say, an egg with a line for a mouth and two inky black dots for eyes feel so alive? "Sometimes I get a character right on the first sketch, sometimes it takes ages for me to feel happy," Kopka says. This still comes from an MTV ident "It’s hard to tell exactly why it works when it works, but I believe that I need to feel some connection to the character. It might feel alive or like it’s coming from a ‘real’ place. When it finally feels right, it’s undeniable and I know that I don’t want to change it any more." A few years back, Kopka founded computer games studio Ghostbutter with her brother Konstantin. She’s learned a lot from gaming for her multidisciplinary approach: "Things have to be thought through in literally all directions [in gaming]. There can’t be any gaps or holes in the systems because the player will find them all," she says. "You can’t get too attached to pretty visuals – if something doesn’t work in the gameplay, it just gets thrown out again." "So overall I learned how to let go of a bit of control about how my graphics look once they’re in the game. Then I started to really enjoy the surprises that can occur, once all graphics are implemented and suddenly get combined in an unexpected way." Think of characters as brands This character design was created for EyeBuyDirect While much of the character design world is dominated by those working on editorial projects or self-initiated designs (albeit those that likely lead on to commercial commissions), certain branding projects often benefit hugely from the addition of a character-based approach. Last year, design and motion studio ManvsMachine worked on a campaign for prescription glasses retailer EyeBuyDirect, with one half based on lifestyle-leaning photography, and the other on a character that was used to discuss the specific benefits of the service. According to Michaeljohn Day, associate creative director at ManvsMachine, a character works for brands that "don’t take themselves too seriously," and which appeal to a "switched-on, modern and youthful audience." Day reckons that the use of characters has changed with the proliferation of images we all now encounter every day. Audiences outside the world of design and illustration are just as likely to encounter character design, for instance, and as such, mascot or brand personification feels far less jarring or cartoonish that it might once have. "We’re used to seeing more content, and not just curated by ad agencies and companies – everyone has access to Instagram, for example," Day says. Keep things simple The ManvsMachine characters appeared in four commercials and a series of animations The designs for EyeBuyDirect aimed to feel "designed, not cartoony," Day adds. "It’s simplified and reductive. Do they need arms and legs, for instance? That simplification keeps it premium and makes sure it’s fed into the whole style of the campaign, which is a contemporary campaign for a fashion brand." The project was created entirely in Cinema4D, and Day recommends with any such project that you create a "set of rules you use to define the world you’re working in. Then you always have something to refer to, so you know what’s working and what’s not. Those parameters might be something like, ‘we wanted the designs to be like sculptures or ornaments,’ and that guides the way you design a character." Day adds: "Keeping this simple was really good for us. We’d never done characters before, so we’d never worked with things like rigging, so we animated almost in a stop-motion fashion, which turned out to be a lot more interesting. Don’t feel like you have to know everything about character design when you use Cinema4D: you can approach things in lots of different ways. There’s often 10 ways of doing the same thing, and I think that’s helpful for developing a style." Stay true to your story This still comes from Jeron Braxton's short film, Octane Jeron Braxton is entirely self-taught in the world of animation and visual arts, yet at just 24 years old he’s already made a name for himself through work that’s both nonlinear yet somehow familiar. At last year’s Sundance Film Festival, he took home the Short Film Jury Award for Animation for his brilliant short Glucose: an occasionally surreal, always powerful exploration of police violence, our relationship with the digital world, and internet culture and the loneliness it can engender. Braxton got into animation as a teenager when he wanted to make videos for the music he was making. "I was always drawing for as long as I could remember and I sort of stuck with it," he says. "Not to say I was a good drawer, but I was always drawing comic books. I’d create these robust worlds with all these characters." He decided against going to art school, taking one semester as he was already "five years deep" into creating animation. "[Art schools] turn their noses up at anything commercial or palatable, but I’m not about to get penalised for making the art that I wanna make," he says. Tell the stories you want to tell that are important to you Jordan Braxton Where Braxton’s work is often so compelling is in his explorations of big, difficult issues: things like the Black American experience through more accessibly playful, colourful, dynamic animations. "With Glucose, I wanted to make something that was sweet on the surface, but with dark undertones," he says. "For a lot of people some of these themes are a hard pill to swallow, so the animation and style makes it more palatable. If you’re captivated by the design and by the movement, you’re more receptive to the message. Even though my work has a political message, I think back to the happy-go-lucky 2D stuff I like." Braxton’s advice to people getting into animation is to "tell the stories you want to tell that are important to you. You need to stay inspired to be creative and if you’re not then you probably shouldn’t do it. You’ll have to invest a lot of time: it doesn’t matter if people are unfamiliar or uncomfortable with the story. If you wanna tell it, tell it." Escape the uncanny valley This still comes from Jeron's short film, Glucose Braxton learned all he knows about his choice of software, Blender, through internet tutorials on sites like instructables. His advice for those using digital tools for character design is to "get out of the uncanny valley," he says. "If you’re making stuff that feels creepy and you have some skill in drawing you should use image tracing: you take an image and 3D model around that to get a more stylised look." Braxton adds that it’s crucial not to fall into the trap of believing that as an artist, you should constantly be on to the next thing. "I feel like at times, we creatives think that once we produce one idea, we have to move on and do something new, especially with 3D modelling where you feel like once you make a character, it’s locked in." "But if you create something and it’s not quite there, or your skill evolves, it’s okay to revisit it. What’s not okay is to settle and get stuck. You can always revise things, which means you continue to explore and evolve your style." Explore handmade mediums A collection of characters from My Cardboard Life Philippa Rice works across an impressive range of media, from comics, illustration and animation, to model-making and crochet. As such, her style isn’t dependent on her tools, but a more innate commonality in her work that runs through all her work, from her stop-motion crochet character shorts to her books that draw on real-life relationships. Rice studied animation as a degree, and used the skills she learned to start creating her collage-based webcomic My Cardboard Life about a year after graduating, moving on to creating animated GIFs and longer animations. Currently, she’s particularly enjoying the crochet side of her practice: "Even though it takes a long time, the final result is always worth it," she says. "I love completing a real, 3D object that I can hold in my hands!" Her work often appears incredibly tactile, something she favours for its "immediacy and sense of realness: it gives you a feeling of connection to the work." Rice adds: "I find comics more rewarding than fun, because it’s a chance to share a story." The unusual techniques she uses are both clearly something she enjoys, but also a smart way of making her work stand out. "I think a signature style can develop naturally by making the things that interest you, using the tools you enjoy, and telling the stories you want to tell," she says. "Your signature style is already within you, but you have to make the work first to see it." This is one of the title pages from Rice's web comic, We're Out Rice knows when she’s hit on a good character when it begins to naturally take on a life or personality of its own. However, many of her comics are partly autobiographical, or about her family, partner and daughter. "For fictional characters and situations I often base them on real life too," she says. "With fictional characters I often make them rude or obnoxious, or any other bad personality traits that I feel like I’m not allowed to have in real life myself." Rice continues: "I think you just need to get across a feeling of realness that people can relate to. Maybe not directly, but if we believe that a character can have real thoughts and feelings, then I think that makes it a successful design." This article was originally published in issue 293 of Computer Arts, the world's best-selling design magazine. Buy issue 293 or subscribe to Computer Arts. Related articles: Insider advice from a master film character designer Are trends any good for branding? 5 key trends in character design View the full article

Great design is often invisible to people. And that’s not surprising. Unlike art, which aims to grab attention and provoke people’s imaginations, design is primarily about serving a function and solving problems. If you do this perfectly, then by definition, it's likely that no one will notice. Or to quote God in Futurama: "If you do things right, people won't know you've done anything at all." In this post, we look at eight designs that we truly consider game-changers, and pay tribute to the conceptual design thinking and superior execution behind them. And just to emphasise their genius, we've also included a few examples of how NOT to do the same thing... 01. Graphic design: London Tube map Best idea: The London Underground Map The London Tube Map was originally created by London Underground electrical draughtsman Harry Beck in 1931, whose revolutionary idea was to abandon geographical accuracy in favour of geometric simplicity. Inspired by the electrical circuit diagrams he drew during his day job, the map represented London's complex and sprawling network as a simple system of coloured, criss-crossing lines. This approach was initially rejected by his employers too radical, but a test run was hugely popular with the public, and so they quickly did an about-face. And although it's been updated periodically since, as more lines and stations have been added, the basic design remains intact. There is a downside, of course: the map does make it less easy for visitors to work out how far places are from each other. Transport for London has consequently had to post signs at key stations, advising tourists that it may be quicker to walk between them. But overall, that’s a sacrifice worth making, because the design really has become the gold standard around the world for clarity and usefulness. (Though it doesn't mean people haven't created concept tube map redesigns over the years.) From New York to Shanghai, subway maps have followed its basic template of colour-coded circles and lines, and it’s even been used for other purposes, visualising everything from US National Parks to the solar system. And the wider lesson for designers is clear: making something simpler is usually the path to making it better... even if that might mean sacrificing some accuracy along the way. Worst idea: Lots of other transit maps Worst idea: The County Transit Bus Map for Josephine, Oregon If you’re a lifelong Londoner, you probably take the Tube Map for granted. And yet, when you compare it with those featured in the Transit Map Hall of Shame, such as the example above, its artistry soon becomes apparent. 02. Digital design: What3Words Best idea: What3Words divides the whole world into 3m squares These days, geolocation technologies allow anyone with a mobile device to identify their exact location. But annoyingly, sharing that location with others is not that easy. Yes, you could give someone a complex, 18-digit long series of coordinates and in theory they could find you, or use Share My Location on your phone. But if you're one of the millions in the developing world without a proper street address, good luck trying that with your local pizza delivery firm, or your neighbourhood mail carrier. Enter What3Words, a more user-friendly geocoding system that divides the entire world into three-metre squares, and identifies each using just three words (random example: 'belly rises indeed'). This might sound weird, but it's both easy to remember and easy to convey to others. Plus if an error is made, it’s immediately apparent: a misheard word will almost certainly point to a place in another country, alerting both parties to instantly realise a mistake has been made. Best idea: The system is allowing Mongolian nomads to offer their tents on Airbnb It’s already been adopted as an address standard by the postal serves of Nigeria, Kiribati, Mongolia, Sint-Maarten, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Tonga, and Solomon Islands. "In Mongolia you can get a pizza, you can get a taxi, you can open a bank account, all with a three-word address,” CMO Giles Rhys Jones told our sister site Tech Radar. Travel companies have also been keen to use the system, including Go Fjords, who say: "In the past we’ve had tourists book our tours and then miss their entire trip because they couldn’t find the meet up point, so we decided to add three-word addresses for all departure points." It’s now included as a standard feature in the navigation system of all new Mercedes-Benz cars. And the list goes on. In the UK, What3Words is also being used by many of the emergency services, and has been instrumental in, for example, the police rescue of an abducted women in Humberside, a man who fell down a railway embankment in Sheffield, and a woman who crashed her car into a ditch near Bristol. As with many game-changing designs, the secret to What3Words lies in its simplicity. In fact, a day will problem soon come when a new generation is so used to it, they won’t even consider it ever needed designing. 03. Packaging design: Smart sunscreen Best idea: Blue Lizard sunscreen bottles change colour in UV light Nowadays most of us know about the importance of sunscreen in protecting our skin. But we’re often a bit muddled about how much of what factor to use, and when. So Australian sunscreen maker Blue Lizard has pioneered a simple but brutally effective solution: bottles that change colour in UV light. Its 30+ Baby Sunscreen , for example, turns from blue to bright pink, which is particularly useful on cloudy days when you may not have realised the sun protection was needed. It’s significantly more expensive than other sunscreens, but could potentially save your children from significant pain and suffering. In a way, it’s reminiscent of Dulux’s Magic Paint, which goes on pink and dries white, thus helping you notice if you’ve missed any spots. Both are great examples of how thoughtful design can make life easier for the customer. And that’s an excellent principle to apply to any design work, whether you're crafting an app interface or laying out a brochure. 04. Print design: The tourist picture dictionary Best idea: When words fail you, a picture dictionary is a great backup When you’re stuck in a country where you can’t speak your language, and no one speaks yours, Google Translate can be a lifesaver. But when your phone is out of battery, or there’s no available internet, then you might need to fall back on more traditional, printed means. However, if you’re travelling around a lot of different countries, or a country where multiple languages are spoken, then you don’t want to be lugging around a ton of phrase books. So a more elegant solution can be a picture dictionary like the Tourist Picture Dictionary. Need to find a toilet? Point to the picture of a toilet. Simple! Okay, it’s quite a niche product, and ideally one you hope you'll never need. But it’s a great fallback for when all other attempts at communication break down. And another example of a design idea that’s so simple, it’s brilliant. 05. Font design: Dyslexie font Best idea: A font set that makes letters more distinct from each other has been a winner for dyslexic people When it comes to choosing a font, readability is always an issue. But what if the reader is dyslexic? To answer this question, Christian Boer has developed a special typeface, Dyslexie, to overcome some of the problems that people with dyslexia, including himself, can have when reading. His aim was to develop the kind of typeface that he wished existed when he was a child. Its design is all about making it easier to distinguish different letters from each other. For example, the openings of the letters are enlarged to make them look less alike and easier to recognise by their shape. Punctuation marks and capital letters are bold, emphasising the breaks, endings and beginnings of phrases. And the distance between individual letters and words is enlarged, which makes reading more convenient and avoids the 'crowding effect'. The font has been downloaded more than 300,000 times, and the lesson is clear. If good design is about solving a problem, then the best person to solve it is often someone who it’s affected most of all, on a personal level. If that's you, then great! If not, it's worth getting in touch with the relevant people and doing some serious research before you start designing. Best free fonts for designers Worst idea: Ink-saving font Worst idea: Ecofont Vera Sans aimed to save ink, but other regular fonts use less Dyslexie is not the only font design that's aimed to change the world. Another recent trend has been the design of fonts that save printer ink. It's a great idea, but as ever, the key is in the execution, and some type makers have been seemingly caught out on this score. A study by the University of Wisconsin, for example, looked at Ecofont, a system which adds holes to existing font families in order to reduce ink use. And yet it found that some Ecofont fonts, such as Ecofont Vera Sans, actually used more ink than regular fonts, such as Century Gothic. 06. Interior design: the toilet-sink combo If you live in Japan, it may perplex you to know that in other countries, bathrooms separate their toilet and sink. Because the standard toilet model here is based on a much more elegant and efficient system. Quite simply, your toilet incorporates an in-built sink (note that this design doesn't above washing your hands in the toilet, but above it), and so the water for washing your hands is then recycled for flushing. This design originally came about in the 1950s as a space saver, because apartments in Japan are on the smaller side. But with the rising importance of environmental issues, we’re sure it will start become more widely adopted across the world. This device doesn’t just present an important way to conserve water, it also offers a broader lesson in not taking everyday designs for granted. If we continually ask, 'Could this be put together differently?', who knows what game-changing ideas we could come up with. 07. Industrial design: Cat’s eyes Best idea: the cat's eye lights your way by reflecting back from your own headlamps Here’s another brilliant design that some take for granted, but which is unknown in many countries around the world. The cat’s eye is a type of road marker that uses a retroreflector to illuminate your night-time journeys via your own headlights. Its key features are a flexible rubber dome which can withstand the passage of traffic if driven across. It’s also self-cleaning, thanks to a build in rainwater reservoir; resistant to snow ploughs; and proves particularly useful in fog. The original design was the work of Percy Shaw of Halifax, England in the 1930s. His inspiration came from the tramlines that reflected his headlights, helping him to see at night. One night, though, the tramlines were shrouded in heavy fog and he was completely blindsided... until suddenly he saw light reflecting from the eyes of a cat. While there are many reasons that Britain has one of the best road safety records in the world, this clever design, which its used on the vast majority of its roads, has certainly made a big contribution. And its success offers an important lesson to designers everywhere. Namely, if you find something useful by accident (in this case, shiny tramlines and wandering felines), why not design something that does the same thing, on purpose? 08. Product design: Ride-on suitcases Best idea: navigating airports can be a challenge for kids, but this product makes it fun Product design student Rob Law was 21 when he came up with the idea for taking a suitcase and turning it into a ride-on vehicle for kids. And anyone who’s had to put up with an overtired and cranky child in a long-haul airport will appreciate what a fantastic idea this was. However, putting into production was a long slog for Law. He was turned down by both luggage companies (who said they weren’t interested in toys) and toy companies (who said they weren’t interested in luggage). He also failed to get investment on the BBC’s Dragon’s Den, the equivalent to Shark Tank in the US. Law finally got funding from The Prince’s Trust enterprise fund and launched the Trunki in May 2006. Within 10 years he'd sold over three million suitcases in over 100 countries, and won over 100 design awards. There are two lessons here. Firstly, a good idea is not always enough; you often need bucketloads of patience and perseverance to convince people of your vision. And secondly, new product designs don’t have to involve radical new materials, processes or technologies. Sometimes just combining two things that already exist can be the game-changer everyone is looking for. Worst idea: 3D TVs Worst idea: Designing TVs that could show 3D movies turned out to be an expensive waste of time Of course, it's important to remember that just bringing two popular things together doesn't always add up to a good idea. Sometimes it can lead to truly terrible ones. An example from the recent past is when tech companies decided to capitalise on the popularity of 3D movies such as Avatar and spend millions developing 3D TVs. In fact, while people were happy to wear clunky 3D glasses in a darkened cinema, far fewer were keen on doing so in their (more sociable) living rooms, where in any case the smaller size of the screen made the effect far less awe-inspiring. Only a few years later, no company is manufacturing 3D sets, and broadcasters like Sky have closed their 3D channels. It seems that in the rush to design a revolutionary new product, everyone forgot to ask if people actually wanted it (also see, Amazon's latest smart clock). Read more: 3 times brands tried to be woke and failed 10 innovations that changed the world of CG How to create work that could change the world View the full article

The flaws allow remote code-execution without user interaction or authentication, and are highly exploitable. View the full article

Patched critical flaws in Adobe's Photoshop CC photo editing application enable arbitrary code execution. View the full article

Despite the best efforts of many within it, the design industry is still very much a predominantly white, male and middle-class edifice, and one that needs to check its privilege. And a new online campaign has been launched that wants to help the design community to become more inclusive. It's called Design Can and it's been set up with the aim of disrupting the design industry status quo and making it more representative of the world it serves. It's the brainchild of a group of designers, editors and activists including Priya Khanchandani, editor of Icon magazine, and Ella Ritchie, co-founder of Intoart, a South London studio that works inclusively with people with learning disabilities. Join the fight for gender equality in design Fix inclusivity? Yes design can! The Design Can site, which launched on Monday, is an online tool that maps out in its manifesto what steps the design industry needs to take in order to better represent everyone, and how everyone involved in design can do their bit for equality and diversity. "We're calling on designers, curators, editors, writers, filmmakers, event organisers – everyone who influences the design industry – to be allies," it says. "It's time for the design community to confront its prejudices and eliminate discrimination." Design Can also provides a ten-step guide for anyone wanting to join its campaign and help change design for the better. Its practical tips include recognising your own privilege and educating yourself, becoming an ally, driving recognition for unsung creatives and standing aside from a project where a person from an underrepresented background would be better suited. The campaign manifesto is clear about how the design industry can do better "The design world can be significantly improved by celebrating - and representing - the rich diversity that exists in the real world," says Khanchandani, "We need to see people of all backgrounds authoring design books, curating design weeks and standing at the helm of design institutions." The site also features a comprehensive resources section packed with useful articles, videos and podcasts devoted to equality, diversity and inclusivity. There are also links to relevant events and social accounts, and if you've seen something online that deserves sharing through Design Can there's a page where you can submit resources. The Design Can site was designed and build by recent Central Saint Martins graduates Not Flat 3, and its founding team hopes that the site will become a diversity-focused community where uses can share useful resources and celebrate designers deserving recognition. There are plenty of links to helpful reading, listening and viewing "Design is a powerful tool and I believe it can change the world but we need to switch it up massively, and bring in some new tastemakers from diverse backgrounds," says co-founder Yinka Ilori, "It's important because it gives people the opportunity to have their voice heard and tell their own story." To find out more and to get involved in improving diversity in the design world, head straight to Design Can. Related articles: How accessible are your designs? 8 steps to inclusive web design Do these provocative ads go too far? View the full article

A vulnerability in British Airways' e-ticketing system could enable a bad actor to view passengers' personal data or change their booking information. View the full article

You might think that a meal isn't complete unless it's doused in a healthy dollop of Heinz Ketchup, but you're probably not as big a fan of the sauce as Ed Sheeran. The music megastar likes the red stuff so much that he even has a tattoo of the brand's label on his arm. And it's proven to be a piece of inspirational tattoo art as Heinz has used it on a new range of limited edition bottles (above). The collaboration between Sheeran and Heinz was announced on the musician's Instagram account yesterday. Only 150 of the themed bottles have been made, in a nod the ketchup company's 150th anniversary this year. As well as featuring Sheeran's tattoo of the Heinz Ketchup label, the bottles designed by creative agency DAVID will also feature other design elements associated with the singer, such as colourful jigsaw pieces and a red rose. This isn't a shameless cash-in on Sheeran's love of the sauce, though. Money raised from the sales of the bottles will go towards nonprofits Rise Against Hunger and East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices. It also isn't the first time Ed Sheeran and Heinz have worked together either. Earlier this year the pair made a commercial that was inspired by a DM that the singer sent to the ketchup company. If you want to be in with a chance of picking up one of the Ed Sheeran-themed bottles, check out this giveaway which sees 104 of them up for grabs. Meanwhile three other bottles will be sold at auction house Christie's, while the rest will be displayed in museums or handed out to superfans. Could you bring yourself to crack the bottle open if you got one? Related articles: Online packaging archive is a design delight 6 times brands temporarily changed their packaging 20 packaging concepts we wish were real View the full article

Audio logos might seem like an odd concept. After all, when you think about logos, you probably think of something visual. But branding is not just about what we see, but what we hear, too. And so in recent years, the phrases 'audio logo', 'sonic logo' and 'sonic trademark' have sprung up to describe the aural equivalent to a graphic logo. So what is an audio logo, exactly? It's essentially a soundbite, no more than a few seconds long, which either accompanies the appearance of a visual logo, strengthening brand recognition overall, or substitutes for it in audio-only media such as radio, podcast or apps like Spotify. It will usually be trademarked by the company, just like with a graphic logo design (see our logo design guide for our favourite visual logos and why they work). Similarly to the best logos, a good audio logo is instantly recognisable, catchy and provokes an emotional reaction in the listener. Here are some of the best-known and most iconic examples. 01. Intel Created by Austrian musician Walter Werzowa in the 1980s, Intel's three-second audio logo has become one of the most well-known in history. A simple five-note mnemonic, it's estimated to be played somewhere in the world every five minutes. Werzowa was originally hired by Kyle Cooper, a friend employed at R/GA LA, and told the sound needed to convey reliability, innovation and trust. He spent 10 days composing the jingle, and finally had a breakthrough when he started singing the words 'Intel Inside'. It works partly because it's a very catchy sequence of notes, but also because of the sound of those notes. The original recording used a combination of different synthesisers, xylophones and marimba. And while it may sound simple, it's actually made up of 20 different audio layers. Nailing the sweet spot between computerised and physical sounds, Werzowa's composition is unique, relatable to a broader audience, and timeless. And although it's been gently updated over the decades since, it still shows no sign of needing to be retired. 02. THX When your business is based on providing high quality sound, a distinctive audio logo is the perfect place to showcase that quality. Founded in 1983 by George Lucas, THX is best known for developing its high fidelity audio/visual reproduction standards for cinemas. And its in a huge auditorium, surrounded by huge speakers, that this thunderous blast of audio makes the most impact. Here is the sheet music in case you fancy recreating it at home: Based around a distinctive glissando – a glide from one pitch to another – THX's audio logo is an epic wall of sound based around a rumbling low pitch, created by James A. Moorer, and known as the 'Deep Note'. Climaxing in joyous synthesised triumph, this heady blast of sonic branding leave you in no doubt that THX is a confident, industry-leading company. 03. McDonald's Love it or loathe it, McDonald's certainly knows branding. So it's perhaps surprising that the corporation, first launched as a franchise operation in 1955, waited almost half a century before it launched its first global marketing campaign, in 2003. The wait, though, was worth it. The slogan 'I'm lovin' it', accompanied by a super-catchy “ba da ba ba ba” vocal hook, was universally popular and instantly recognisable. So much so, that there's been a great deal of controversy within the pop and hip-hop communities about who actually wrote it. The truth is confusingly complex, but essentially a succession of creatives contributed to the final jingle, including the German ad agency Heye & Partner, Justin Timberlake, Pharrell Williams, Pusha T, and others. (There's a full blow by blow account on Pitchfork plus an excellent video explanation from Hodges U.) Composition claims aside, the secret to this audio logo is that it's ultra-flexible, and easily adapted to local markets, languages and cultures everywhere, as well as specific campaigns and different musical styles. Partly because of this, it still seems fresh and relevant today, 16 years on, as it did on first release. Even if the mangled grammar of 'I'm lovin' it' makes professional writers like ourselves recoil in horror. 04. Apple Audio logos don't just appear in advertising, of course. For generations of Apple users, the sound that accompanies the switching on of their desktop computers is one that strikes an emotional chord to this day. Just listen to the series of beeps and chimes in the video above, from the first 1984 Mac onwards, and you might just feel a shiver down your spine the moment you hear 'your' sound. As you'll notice, many different sonic approaches have been taken over the years, but the most well-known sound is the chime used first in the iMac G3, and subsequently for all Macs from 1998-2016. In case you were wondering, the chord is a F-sharp major, and was produced by pitch-shifting the 840AV's sound. Mac models from late 2016 and newer, though, don't have a startup sound, with the single exception of the 13-inch, 2017 MacBook Air. And we think that's a real shame. In the words of Jim Reekes, who created countless Mac sound effects during his time at Apple: "Now that there’s no startup sound, it’s like sitting down at a restaurant and there’s no one there to greet you.” 05. Windows 95 by Brian Eno While historically Apple has been the hipper choice for creatives, Windows scored quite a coup with its Windows 95 release, by getting art pop icon Brian Eno to compose its startup sound. While Eno played in Roxy Music and has worked with everyone from Bowie and David Byrne to Coldplay and Damon Albarn, his Windows chime is almost certainly the most widely listened-to piece of music in his entire career. And a quick re-listen now instantly reminds you what a powerful, otherworldly piece of audio it is. It was Microsoft designers Mark Malamud and Erik Gavriluk who originally got Eno involved. As the musician recalled in an interview in the San Francisco Chronicle, they wanted "a piece of music that is inspiring, universal, blah-blah, da-da-da, optimistic, futuristic, sentimental, emotional, this whole list of adjectives, and then at the bottom it said: 'and it must be 3 1⁄4 seconds long.' I thought this was so funny and an amazing thought to actually try to make a little piece of music. It's like making a tiny little jewel." The resulting composition – which he ironically wrote on a Mac – was certainly that. Although at six seconds, it was almost twice the requested length. Proof that a successful audio logo doesn't have to be super-short. Well, as long as you're a musical genius, that is. 06. Netflix Audio logos become most effective through repetition. And Netflix's distinctive intro, which plays before you start watching any show on its platform, is certainly getting a huge amount of that right now. The audio logo for the streaming service, which is now available in over 190 countries, is comprised of "two 16th note timpani strikes on D2 and D3, simultaneously which with are played three dotted half notes on D2, D4, and D5", according to its official trademark document. Or, in layman's terms: it kind of goes 'Ta-dum'. It's super-short, because anything longer would make time-pressed viewers tetchy. It's distinctive, making it easy to imitate yourself. It evokes a simple but powerful emotional connection: every time you hear it, your brain thinks: 'Yay! Binge-watching!' And finally the sound itself is deeply rooted in the DNA of Netflix. As @TelTalksGames kindly pointed out to us. it comes from the sound of Frank Underwood knocking in House of Cards - the platform's first original series - as shown in this video. 07. XBox The growing importance of audio logos can be seen in the rise of specialist 'sonic branding' agencies, and the New York-based Audiobrain is a great example. It's best known for developing the audio logo for Microsoft's Xbox 360, which is used on the console's startup, as well as in advertising. And it's a real aural beauty. In the company's words: "The sonic signature is a reflection of the Xbox 360 – you can hear the human energy, duality, cultural diversity and excitement." That might sound like marketing speak overreach. But listen carefully and you have to agree there's a beautiful diversity and complexity to the sound; one that nicely matches the epic and far-reaching visions behind the best Xbox games. 08. T-Mobile When you're choosing a mobile carrier, you're looking for someone you trust, and a good audio logo can be an important part of conveying that brand message. It certainly has in the case of T Mobile, whose audio logo was composed by Lance Massey. This super-catchy series of notes could almost serves as the dictionary definition of an 'earworm'. It's upbeat. It's bright. It's simple. It's catchy. in short, what more could a brand want from an audio logo? 09. MGM Lion Audio logos aren't, of course, a totally new phenomenon. The classic MGM film intro, featuring a lion's roar, has spent more than a century getting audiences in the mood for epic flicks like Gone with the Wind, Ben-Hur, and 2001: A Space Odyssey. The intro was originally created in 1916, as a piece of silent film, by ad executive Howard Dietz . The lion gave its first audible roar on July 31, 1928 for the debut of the movie White Shadows in the South Seas. There have been seven different lions in total, with the current lion, Leo, in place since 1957, while those of a certain age will fondly remember the Tom and Jerry variant. The MGM logo is also a reminder that an audio logo doesn't necessarily need to be a piece of music. More modern examples of non-musical audio logos include J J Abrams' Bad Robot and Mutant Enemy Production's Grr Arg. 10. Gary Vee Finally, we wouldn't want to leave you with the impression that audio logos are only used by huge companies. They're actually a great tool that everyone wishing to self-promote can use. And as streaming audio and podcasting becomes more important going into the 2020s, it's a great time to jump on board. Case in point, which Greg Bunbury pointed out: web entrepreneur, author and speaker Gary Vee, aka Gary Vaynerchuk, is usually ahead of the curve with the latest marketing trends. And so it's notable that he's got fully on board with sonic branding recently. He's now adding a short audio tag (a mouth-popping sound) to every one of his videos. Read more: NASA logo: the meatball vs the worm 10 of the best logos ever 11 steps to better logos View the full article

What does the BMW logo mean to you? Lots of people believe that it symbolises a propeller, but is this really the case? Wonder no longer, as BMW has come clean about what its blue and white logo design is all about. To many people, of course, the BMW is associated with over-aggressive drivers roaring up behind them on the motorway and flashing their lights as they demand to be let past (although to be fair Audi has stolen BMW's thunder in that regard over the past few years). But next time there's a BMW logo looming far too large in your rear-view mirror, you needn't wonder what it means. 10 of the best logos ever The original BMW logo looked much the same as it does today BMW got its name in 1917; it was previously an aircraft engine manufacturer called Rapp, and for the first few years of its existence it mainly produced aircraft engines for the German Air Force, the Luftwaffe. Rapp's company logo had been a silhouette of a knight chess piece surrounded by a black ring bearing the company name, and for its new logo company retained the black ring but added the now-familiar quartered blue and white design. The reason for the new design was to display the company's Bavarian heritage; the Bavarian flag also features a chequered blue and white pattern, and at the time of BMW's formation there was a popular movement for Bavarian independence from Germany. The company name – BMW stands for Bayerische Motoren Werke or Bavarian Motor Works – similarly reflects the pro-independence mood. The 1929 advert that started it all So where does the propeller idea come from? According to BMW, it all stems from an advert published in 1929, when BMW was still producing aircraft engines, depicting an aeroplane with the BMW logo superimposed over the propeller. The association was strengthened by a similar image in a 1942 publication by BMW, and legend has grown from there. BMW itself admits that it's never really made much effort to correct the myth about its logo - it's a lovely little pub fact that doesn't do any harm and helps propagate the BMW brand, even though it's a long time since the company has had anything to do with the aircraft industry. The 1942 image that sealed the deal It's good to get the full story behind the logo, though; to find out more, and to see how the BMW logo has evolved over the years, head for this article on the company's website. Related articles: 5 logo redesigns that got it right Logo design: everything you need to know 5 reliable ways to refresh a tired logo View the full article

Whatever area of design you work in, it's always useful to have some free design resources within easy reach. You might have a sizeable collection of all the design assets you need, but access to plenty of great stuff for free can be welcome if an exciting commission comes along that's a little out of your comfort zone, or if you're in the mood to try out some new visual styles or some experimental design. We've picked out 10 brilliant free design resources online, where you can find all manner of useful assets such as fonts, icons, backgrounds and more. You might not need them right now, but it would pay to bookmark them today so you can quickly find them again when the need arises. 14 free resources to improve your illustration skills 01. Paaatterns Get 22 ready-made abstract backgrounds For a quick and good-looking fix when you're in need of a background for a website, a design for a business card or abstract graphics for any other design projects, Paaatterns from LStore could be a lifesaver. It's a free collection of beautiful patterns, consisting of 22 carefully-crafted designs, ready to customise and edit in Sketch, Figma, Adobe XD or Illustrator. If you like what you see, be sure to check out LS's other design tools. 02. DesignBundles Plenty of these free design elements are good for commercial use DesignBundles offers great deals on all manner of design elements, including graphic packs, illustrations, icons, fonts and templates, and as well as its assorted design bargains it also has a huge collection of free design elements to download. You'll need to register for a free account to get your hands on them, but it's worth the effort as not only are these elements available for free, most of them are also licensed for commercial use. 03. Ionicons Ionicons is an extensive set of free SVG icons It's always good to have a decent set of icons to hand, and Ionicons, created by the Ionic Framework team, is a particularly useful one to have around. It consists of a sizeable collection of app icons plus a good helping of logos to go with them, in both Material and iOS styles, for web, Android, iOS and desktop apps. They're completely open source and MIT licensed, and come in SVG format so you can be sure they'll scale nicely. 04. Humaaans Nail the current illustration trend with these poseable people Flat and funky illustrated figures are a current design trend that's not going away, and the perfect way to liven up all manner of designs. And while you could draw your own, find stock art or commission a custom set of illustrations, here's a much easier solution. Pablo Stanley's Humaaans is a ready-made collection of illustrated figures that comes complete with a design library, so you can mix and match them, and rotate and position their elements any way you like. 05. BeFonts Who doesn't love free fonts? There are any number of places to find free fonts online, but here's one you might not have seen before. BeFonts features a stack of great-looking fonts for all applications, from basic serifs and sans-serifs through to more decorative display and script fonts, as well as far-out symbols, bitmap and retro fonts. They're all free for personal use, and some can be used on commercial projects too. 06. TheHungryJPEG More free design goodies for you to download Another general design resource with loads of fonts, graphics and templates to download, TheHungryJPEG also has an extensive collection of free resources available. You'll find plenty of background graphics, fonts, clipart and more, and much of it comes with a commercial licence too. 07. FreeDesignResources Another useful collection of free stuff This one does exactly what it says on the tin. FreeDesignResources is just that, an online collection of free design resources including icons, fonts, templates and even UI kits. Most appear to be for personal use only, but if you hunt around you'll find a few free goodies that can be put to commercial use. 08. HueSnap Find the perfect palette here A good palette can be hard to find, but here's a free resource that makes it easy to discover colour combinations that are easy on the eye. HueSnap lets you create your own palettes either using a colour picker or by uploading an image and selecting shades from that, and it also features a never-ending collection of user-created palettes that you can scroll through until you find the perfect one for your latest project. 09. FontPair An excellent place to find out which fonts play nicely together Just as with finding the perfect palette, hitting that ideal font pairing can be a gruelling process of trial and error. But at FontPair you can browse through a vast collection of ready-made font pairings, helpfully organised so that you can quickly find the exact kind of combination – such as serif with sans-serif, or display with serif – that you're after. You can see in-the-wild examples of many pairings, and when you find the perfect mix you can download your chosen duo with a single click. 10. Frrames Creating mockups is a lot easier with these free frames Finally, an essential free resource to keep bookmarked for whenever you need to design a good-looking mockup. Frrames boasts a collection of fully responsive vector mockup frames for most applications – you'll find mockups for iPhones, iPads and Android devices, as well as frames for various browsers and apps on Windows and iOS. They're ready to edit in Sketch, Photoshop, Adobe XD and Figma, and you can download them individually for free; if you're in a hurry, though, you can grab the entire set in one go for just $9. Related articles: 20 top UX tools and resources 15 top typography resources 20 free ebooks for designers and artists View the full article

Having an area that allows users to login and download or view documents has become expected by consumers, from phone contracts to utilities. When designers work with their clients, however, everything can quickly break down into a muddle of emails, links to mockups and attachments. This tutorial will show how to extend WordPress into a client portal capable of storing documents, videos and drawings, so a client can access them all in one place. The portal will serve each customer with a unique and password-protected link that doesn't appear in the regular navigation. Custom post types and fields will be used to store the data, and these will be added through plugins, to avoid data loss should the theme change. The theme will be modified slightly Having a client portal gives customers the convenience of accessing their files all in the same place, whenever they need them. It has an array of business advantages, including showing available up-sells, or can be used to give an overview of the work process from the beginning by visually outlining the deliverables. Download the files for this tutorial. How to turn WordPress into a visual builder 01. Install a fresh copy of WordPress A fresh copy of WordPress is installed on the development server, and the "understrap" theme has been chosen to give a boilerplate foundation in order to quickly start work. The Custom Post Type UI plugin will be used so our custom post types are independent of the theme. 02. Remove default plugins If any default plugins came with the copy of WordPress, delete those. The plugins needed for this tutorial are "Advanced Custom Fields" and "Custom Post Type UI". "Classic Editor" has also been installed. 03. Add a custom post type Using the Custom Post Type UI interface, add a new post type called "customer". When entering the "Post type slug", use underscores instead of spaces and write in the singular form, as this will make it easier to create templates later. The prefix tu_ has been added to reduce the chance of a conflict. 04. The add/edit custom post type interface Add both singular and plural labels Add a plural labelled "customers" and singular "customer", as this will appear in the WordPress admin menu. Capitalisation is accepted in these fields, which will make the WordPress menu tidier. 05. Create a custom rewrite slug Use the custom rewrite slug for a better user experience Using a prefix for the post type slug will mean customers added to the portal will be created with a link that looks like "/tu_customer/example-company". This doesn't look tidy, and the custom rewrite slug is used to improve this. Setting the rewrite slug to "customers" allows the custom post type to appear as /customers/example-company. 06. Add support for custom fields Tick the "Custom field" option and submit the changes The last option that is enabled for the custom post type is "Supports > Custom field" which is found near the bottom of the page. Tick this, and then "add post type" at the bottom of the page. This submits the changes and registers the post type. 07. Add custom fields Now you need to add custom fields to your new post type Custom fields now need to be added and assigned to the post type that was just created. Adding a field group named "customer portal" is the first step, followed by adding custom fields to it with the add field button. The first field "brief" will be set as the field type "file," which allows the admin to upload a file in this location. Set the return value to "file url". 08. Set up the fields The next field to be added is "brand questionnaire." This will consist of a link to a google form that the customer should fill out. The most suitable field type for this is "URL". This same method can be used for all fields that will link to an external service. When finished, scroll down to the "location" box and use the logic "Show if Post Type" = "Customer". Then publish the field group. Book your tickets to Generate CSS now to save £50 09. Create the WordPress template file WordPress needs to know how to display a customer dashboard. For this, the WordPress template hierarchy is followed to create a template file for this specific post type. Create a file called single-tu_customer.php in the root theme directory. 10. Create a full-width single post layout Make a full-width layout for your content Open the single-tu_customer.php file and add the get_header and get_footer WordPress functions. Between those functions, create a full-width layout to hold the content that works with your theme. 11. Start the loop and create the content Use placeholders to lay out your content Within the <main> element, call the_post and create the container elements to hold information. Use placeholder information in order to get an idea of the layout, and begin to style the elements. The card elements will be bootstrap cards with a header, description and a link. 12. Use PHP to call in dynamic values Using the function "the_field", a function that comes with the advanced custom fields plugin, the dynamic content from the custom fields is entered into the customer template. The 'field_name' is the value that was entered in step 3. 13. Make a test customer with some dummy data Go to the WordPress dashboard to make a dummy customer Accessing the WordPress dashboard, a new customer can be added from the left-hand bar. Customers > Add new Customer. The post view will be familiar, but scrolling down will reveal all of the new custom fields. Enter some test data to make sure everything is working correctly. 14. Handle errors for any missing data Make sure it's clear when documents aren't available If a document is forgotten, or it's simply too early in the process for that document to be available, it could be confusing for a customer when the button does not work. Adding a check that a value exists before showing it gives a chance to show a "missing field" variation of the card. Adding a class "disabled" to the card when the value is missing will allow us to style unavailable cards. 15. Tidy up the interface Now that the structure of the interface is finalised, it can be styled properly. Using CSS, the look of the cards and colours on the page can be improved. The colour for the navigation has been changed to a lighter blue, and user direction has been improved by adding introduction text. 16. Exclude it from the sitemap The custom post types shouldn't be found in search engines results. The post type needs to be excluded from the website's sitemap, either through an SEO plugin, or manually using a meta tag and robots.txt. This article was originally published in issue 288 of creative web design magazine Web Designer. Buy issue 288 here or subscribe to Web Designer here. Related articles: The best WordPress hosting services in 2019 13 great tools for pitching to clients WordPress websites: 14 awesome examples View the full article

When you're visiting a new place, chances are you're going to rely on Google Maps to help find your destination. The popular tool from the search engine giant is one of the best iPhone apps for travellers and tourists thanks to its directional compass, but Google recently announced that it's set to get even easier to use thanks to a new augmented reality beta update called Live View. With Live View, iOS and Android users will soon see Google Maps enhanced by their phone's camera overlay. This means that people will be able to hold up their phone and see navigational tips overlaid on top of their surroundings via the screen. So, say you're looking for a nearby train station, all you'll have to do is fire up Live View and see big directional arrows on your phone screen pointing you in the right direction. Live View isn't a new feature, but it is the first time that iOS and Android users will be able to enjoy it. Previously Live View has only run on Google's Pixel phones, which you can find great deals on here. Pixel users have been able to use the feature since March, but it's set to roll out to everyone else this week. Get an idea of what Live View will look like in the GIF below. "With a beta feature called Live View, you can use augmented reality (AR) to better see which way to walk. Arrows and directions are placed in the real world to guide your way," Google explains in a blog post. "We’ve tested Live View with the Local Guides and Pixel community over the past few months, and are now expanding the beta to Android and iOS devices that support ARCore and ARKit." Other updates to Google Maps include the Reservations tab and the timeline feature. All of which mean that soon we could be arranging every aspect of our trips through the app. Related articles: Mobile app design: A beginner's guide 25 stunning iOS app icon designs 18 of the best Android apps to download for creatives View the full article

Threatpost breaks down the highs and lows from Black Hat 2019, from new vulnerabilities and industry collaboration to a scandal around a sponsored session. View the full article

Valve said it wouldn't fix an elevation-of-privilege bug that allows attackers to run any program on a target machine with high privileges. View the full article

It's all too easy to save an image using the default file type option your computer suggests. But if you want your assets to look their best and function efficiently, you're going to want to make the extra effort and save them in the correct format. To help you do that, this handy flowchart by Allen Hsu is here to offer you some advice. Shared on the Medium profile of the UX Collective contributor, Hsu's flowchart quickly runs through how you should save a photograph, vector image or logo. If you've been confused as to whether or not you should save an image as a JPG, PNG, GIF or SVG, this is the cheatsheet for you. According to his rough and ready flowchart (below), large images should be saved as JPGs, while smaller photographs or transparent, non-moving images should be saved as a PNG. Vector images should be saved as an SVG to ensure you meet web design standards, and moving images or graphics without gradients should be saved as a GIF. Unlike our guide to logo design though, Hsu's flowchart also suggests that logos with gradients should be burnt instead of being saved. It's a tongue in cheek approach, but given that gradient logos are a polarising design choice we imagine that it's a popular tip. Couldn't be more straightforward Keep in mind that this isn't a definitive guide. In the post's comments section, Medium user Leo Herzog was keen to point out that the transparent track should end in PNG, while Charlie Hayes highlighted that GIFs are often better served by being saved as a PNG. In his defence, Hsu replied: "I am not avoiding listing out these "certain conditions", it's just easier to make them into a chart, and that is why I designed this chart. Also, GIFs are great for emails!" And if an image you've saved or received doesn't look quite right, don't forget to check out our guide to the best monitor calibrators for designers. These tools will allow you to configure your monitor so that it displays colours as accurately as possible. Even on gradient logos. Related articles: 5 damaging habits designers need to break All you need to know about SVG on the web 6 reasons why you should be using SVG View the full article

A big redesign is the perfect way to get internet blood boiling, but nothing could have prepared us for the howls of online anguish this morning over Snapchat's new app icon. Twitter is currently awash with angry young things voicing their displeasure over the new icon, which started turning up on people's iPhone and Android apps last night with the latest update. So it must be a pretty radical redesign, right? 7 of the most hated redesigns of all time The lovely old icon's on the left, and the horrible new version's on the right Actually, no. It's almost identical to the old logo; the only difference is that the stroke width on the spooky Snapchat ghost has been increased a bit. And considering that the icon features a white ghost on a yellow background, this is a pretty good move from an accessibility point of view. However it hasn't gone down at all well with Snapchat's users, who are waking up today, discovering that their beloved phantom is a bit chunkier around the edges, and by Jiminy they're furious, variously describing this bold new look as ugly, aggressive and, weirdly, like the cartoon version of something that got stuck in the real world. It seems to be making plenty of users uncomfortable and lots them of are resorting to taking the icon off their home screens and hiding it away where it can't upset them. If this seems like a bit of an overreaction, bear in mind that last year 1.2 million users signed an online petition demanding that Snap reverse a redesign that they felt uncomfortable with. And while we're not sure if this latest redesign is going to provoke quite that level of ire, considering that Snap's response to last year's petition was to basically say tough luck, we can be pretty sure that this new icon's here to stay. And while you probably feel that the new icon really isn't different enough to warrant so much online anger, we kind of understand. For Snapchat's young users, that icon is a familiar totem that they've known for a long time. For it to unexpectedly change overnight is a big deal to them; it's like, oh, Elvis dying, or Zayn leaving One Direction, or (trigger warning) BTS taking a break. We get it. We feel your pain. And all we can say to you right now is that, hey, you'll get used to it. Just take it one day at a time. Everything's going to be all right. Promise. Related articles: How to design app icons 25 stunning iOS app icon designs How to nail your social media strategy View the full article

Every designer will agree that when it comes to giving a great presentation, few things are more important than having great visuals. Whether you’re trying to land a promotion, give a presentation to colleagues, or you simply want to showcase your latest and greatest idea to your boss, a great deck can be a game-changer. But you should be spending most of your time perfecting the actual content and graphics of your presentation - not spending hours building slide layouts. That's where Slideshop can be an incredible asset. It offers unlimited access to 15,000 stunning, pro-level presentation slide templates, and a lifetime subscription is currently available for over 95% off at just $29.99. To run this impressive package, it's also worth checking out our guide to the best computers for graphic design. Infographics are hands-down the best tools when it comes to conveying complex ideas and data. And the treasure trove of slides that you’ll be able to access through this subscription contains assets for a wealth of designs and genres. You’ll be able to build presentations much faster by easily finding and selecting infographics and slide templates that perfectly match your content. The templates are also editable, so you can choose to use them as a starting point if you wish. Once your presentation is refined, the slides can be easily integrated into brand name platforms like PowerPoint and Keynote. Plus, new templates are added on a regular basis - meaning there will be a steady flow of fresh content throughout your lifetime subscription. If you want to cut down on the time you spend building presentations or just improve your presentation skills overall, Slideshop is a great option. And for just $29.99, over 95% off its usual price, it's certainly worth the purchase. If you want to go all in and work on your presentation skills while you're at it, the Complete Presentation and Public Speaking Course is an online course focused on providing helpful tips and tricks. It's just $10.99 to take the course and start blowing away your audience with impressive presentations. Related articles: The 55 best infographics How to be a better speaker: presenting and pitching tips The best free graphic design software View the full article

Designers reimagining classic logo designs is nothing new. A brilliant way to hone your design skills, taking on an instantly recognisable logomark with a new concept design is no easy feat. But occasionally, the practise throws up some incredible gems, just like this concept Crocs logo by designer Stephen Kelleher. His design replaces the original crocodile-in-a-circle design with a simple vector shape, representative of a crocodile's head, which features the signature holes found in Crocs' classic clogs. A brilliant but seemingly obvious design, it's hard to believe no-one, including Crocs themselves, has come up with it before. The overall shape of the logo creates an immediate connection with the product line, a task much harder than it might seem and testament to Kelleher's design skills. Speaking on Instagram, Kelleher had this to say about the redesign: "Historically perceived as an 'ugly' shoe, Crocs have in recent years become a favourite of working artists and the fashion vanguard by reinventing their famous silhouette to speak to a new audience. This rebrand concept was inspired by the iconic silhouette as a basis for their mascot ‘Croc’, streamlining and unifying both into one simple mark." And if the reaction online so far is anything to go by, we'd say it won't be long until the new design lands on the desks of Crocs HQ, with many people taking to Twitter and Instagram to call for Kelleher's design to be made official: So what do you think? Should Crocs be snappy about implementing Kelleher's logo design? (Sorry, couldn't resist). Read more: Logo swap is surprisingly disturbing 10 of the best logos ever Boots reveals biggest logo redesign in 170 years View the full article

Session shows how researchers found multiple vulnerability in Canon firmware that can be used in a malware attack. View the full article

Dozens of insecure drivers from 20 vendors illustrate widespread weaknesses when it comes to kernel protection. View the full article

The bug exists in a controller that oversees HVAC, lighting, sensor and alarm systems, to name a few. View the full article