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

In real-world photography, rays of light are at their most visible when they have a surface to bounce off, such as dust, pollen or a mist. When these sources are unavailable, isolating the light against a dark surface generally works well. In the virtual computer environment, these same beams or shafts of light can be simulated with an effect known as volumetric lighting, or god rays. This is useful for creating atmosphere and suspense in 3D movies, for example, or to add an extra layer of realism to any CG scene. God rays might appear when shining through clouds, trees or small cracks in an otherwise dark room. This effect can be achieved by using a Volume Light effect, which is available in the Environment dialog of 3ds Max. Here you can pick a light source for the effect and apply a Density value as well as a Noise and even a Wind Strength value. How to make God rays in V-Ray However, this Volume Light effect does not work well when using V-Ray and it only produces results when linked to a ‘standard’ direct light source. If, like me, V-Ray is your render engine of choice, then the best way to produce these God rays is to use the environmental effect VRayEnvironmentFog. This is able to very quickly and easily produce the desired effects. After attaching a light source from your scene to this effect, the density of your rays will be affected by the light intensity values, and the controls in the Effects dialog box can determine the length, colour and density of the beams and their overall ambient affectation. As an additional finish to the atmospheric drama you could also add dust particles to your scene using a particle cloud from the Particle Systems dropdown. Alternatively, there is a handy script named GoldenDust available online, which similarly is able to quickly create a particle cloud formed from your own bespoke geometry-based particles, for realistic-looking dust. Or, if you prefer and it is appropriate to your scene, the script also has a nice ready-made dandelion fluff that comes as part of the plugin. 01. Create your light source Add a VRaySun to your scene and put in values of between 1 and 3 for the intensity multiplier and 5 for size multiplier. Point your light source in the direction you would like the rays to travel. The size value will change the sharpness of the shadows cast. Big values will soften the edges while smaller values will give sharper edges to any projected light. The light intensity will add density to your rays. Change the filter colour to a bluish tint. 02. Add the camera Keep your scene dark to allow for maximum God ray impact Next you need to put a new V-Ray Physical Camera into your scene. Switch on Exposure and adjust the ISO and Shutter Speed values to suit the dark environment of your scene. Continue to tweak and experiment and try out small test renders until you are satisfied with the level of lighting. The assumption is that your scene is relatively dark in order for the God rays to be visible. 03. Use VrayEnvironmentFog Test renders will help you get the correct fog height Under the Rendering tab in the main menu, choose Environment and then in Atmosphere, click Add and choose VRayEnvironmentFog. The distance and height values in this effect are dependent on the scale of your scene and you will need to do a few small test renders to set it up correctly. The fog height value will determine how high above the ground plane the rays will stretch. 04. Set up fog Adjust your fog distance and height as required In my example I have set the fog distance to 30 metres and the height to 12 metres. Adjust the fog colour if you want a colour tint to the rays, and the fog emission colour affects the ambient illumination produced by the fog itself. Scroll down to the bottom of the dialog where you can add the light source producing the effect. You can also switch off such things as affect background and affect reflections if required. 05. Contain the rays If you want to contain your God rays within a smaller area, you can create a gizmo by making a standard primitive shape, such as a box, changing its properties so that it is not renderable, and add the box as a gizmo to the VRayEnvironmentFog nodes box. Give it a falloff value to remove any hard edges. This article was originally published in issue 241 of 3D World magazine. Buy issue 241 or subscribe here. Read more: Become a better 3D artist The 10 best 3D movies of 2019 The best new 3D tools for 2019 View the full article

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"We're all living on phones – that's the first thing you touch in the morning and the last thing you touch while you're sacking out," laments graphic designer Aaron Draplin. "We're these little cyborgs – phones are appendages, our babies are being born now with their hands clamped around these things." While Draplin might have some pretty original takes on biological evolution, his broadside underscores a point much more relevant to his trade: where tiny screens are our primary interaction with a company, product or person. That obviously has big implications for the people branding them. Logos have to work smaller today than ever – which means they have to work a lot harder, too. “In the ‘good old days’ a logo was always printed, and might make it onto TV, but that’s not the starting point today,” says James Sommerville, who recently left his role as VP of global design at Coca Cola. Pocket-sized logos The classic Coca-Cola logo still remains recognisable despite its 130-year evolution; still flexible enough to work across digital and physical collateral “The starting point is usually in our pocket, on a screen. The successful logos work across all of those surfaces. The challenge for many heritage brands is that they were never designed to move – Coca Cola was never designed to animate. For new brands, they have to give a sense of longevity – show consumers that they’re not just here today, gone tomorrow, but also grab attention.” The importance of scalability in logos is, of course, nothing new. Since the dawn of corporate branding, logo designers have had to consider that their creations must look as great on a business card as a billboard, as recognisable on a candy wrapper as on the side of a bus. “If it doesn’t scale well, then you’re in big trouble,” reinforces Draplin. “That’s what I was taught by Saul Bass and Paul Rand when I was a kid – that’s effective communication.” But what’s different now to in Rand and Bass’ day is the scope of what these logos can, and have to do: onscreen, they can move, perhaps make sound, shape shift. Yet they still have to sing on boring old 2D too. New systems and touchpoints A new identity for data start-up Typeform by DesignStudio, created in early 2018 An even bigger shift isn’t just the basic idea of how and where a logo’s applied, but what it stands for. Alex Johns, creative director at DesignStudio, points out that how we interact with a brand is “way more nuanced” today, even compared to five years ago. “With the rise of devices like iPhones, our relationships with a brand are way more personal and our interactions with them more frequent," he says. "A logo used to be a shorthand for a brand: today it’s a key part of a holistic system.” With all these newfound possibilities – not to mention the software to create them – it would make sense to assume that today’s graphic designers are gleefully ripping up the precedents set by their forebears and running wild. So are 21st century logos a reflection of the possibilities of experimentation and adventure that designers have at their fingertips? Many would argue very much the opposite. Designing for the digital age Cover for Letters as Symbols, a book by designers Christophe De Pelsemaker and Paul Ibou Christophe De Pelsemaker, a Belgium-based graphic designer who recently co-authored the (as yet unpublished) book Letters As Symbols with Paul Ibou, sees technology as a hindrance rather than a help when it comes to creating a smart logo design. "A computer enables you to make more mistakes," he says. "That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it isn’t a good thing either. Now, we just put something on the screen and if we don’t like it, we erase it. Back in the day, a designer really had to think about the concept before they drew a line on a paper." "Without a concept, you cannot create something good. Now, with the help of computer, a lot of designers skip the conceptualisation, or thinking phase. That's why, I think, good logo design isn’t as common today." Sommerville agrees. "I think some of the craft has gone," he says. "Now that things are so fast and it's so easy to iterate, it feels like there's less longevity in logos. Identities have a short fuse now that everything’s so disposable. A great design is one that has the time to live its own life." Belief systems and responses to logos The Designers Republic’s visual language document for the video game Wipeout 3 This emphasis on story and meaning in logo design is by no means unusual. Ian Anderson, founder of The Designers Republic, is famously non-design-school educated (he studied a philosophy degree instead), and his work’s conceptual underpinnings may well have a lot to do with that. “My interest has always been in people, and understanding what people do or don’t do, and why,” says Anderson. “My work is informed by belief systems – why do people believe in god, and not in fries that live at the end of the garden? Why do we act on what we believe? That all feeds into logo design." "We tend to hop past that now and straight into the funfair of branding. My interest in graphic design is only based on what it can communicate and how it can provoke responses." He suggests that having not been to design school might have meant he’s less "easily seduced by form", or by particular trends: "When you're just interested in impressing other designers, it will always be more about surface. I want a design to look good and work well for a reason." Indeed, some of the classic logos we hold up as embodying wit and greatness are those we’ve spent time with and with rigorous underpinnings – think the FedEx hidden arrow designed in 1994 by Lindon Leader for Landor Associates. Not only was this sort of design born of a time with more limited software possibilities than we have today, but as Sommerville suggests, the likes of Alan Fletcher – perhaps most famous for his Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) logo – likely worked with different agency structures. Logos doing it all The V&A logo, designed by Alan Fletcher in 1990 and still in use today "A lot of those iconic logos are a diffusion between great design work and great advertising, combined in one logo. There's a storytelling approach to something like [Fletcher’s] V&A logo: you see that alone on a poster and it's an ad itself." The other side of the coin is quite the opposite. Now that identity systems have to be and do so much, designers have to be many-trick ponies. You can’t just draw a logo and be done with it: you have to think about how that animates, how different people first encounter it – might they see a TV ad? An icon in the app store? (See examples of stunning IOS app icons here.) An animated website header? A moving billboard? The designers making the most interesting – and, crucially, the most effective – logos are surely the ones considering the impact it has not just as a drawn thing on the page, but also a moving one that sits beautifully within the various lives of consumers. 33 stunning IOS app icon designs Keeping it simple Mastercard’s 2016 redesign was completed by Pentagram’s New York office. In 2019, the wordmark was dropped altogether Of all the trends that have dominated branding in recent times, there’s one that trucks along more doggedly than any other: simplicity. Flatness. ‘Paring back’. Last year, we surmised that “simplicity has been king for a while" And it seems that crown isn’t set to slip any time soon. Take last year’s Moonpig redesign: the (albeit quite hideous) little piggy was given the boot (as was, finally, the ‘dot.com’) in favour of a flat, simple, yet still rather kids’ party-esque new look and feel. Before that, Pentagram’s redesign of the Mastercard logo stripped things right back to their most basic components – just two, flat, overlapping circles and a new all lower-case word mark in safe, tasteful sans serif FF Mark. And it makes total sense that a primary consideration was the logo’s optimisation across multiple digital platforms. In 2019, Pentagram has simplified things further still by removing the wordmark entirely. “It’s become a homogeneous gloop of graphics really,” says Anderson. “That’s not any one design or designer’s fault, but it’s the reality. If you’re simplifying everything there’s only so many shapes, forms and colour combinations before you begin to get repetition.” Simplicity is not inherently a bad thing: some of the logo designs held up as among the best of the past decades are incredibly restrained He acknowledges that where “smart designers” can flatten a logo design to “communicate the brand message, brand values, the product or whatever,” such a style is all too easy to approximate by “half-arsed designers. So there’s a lot of repetition of ideas, and a lot of it is quite lazy.” An example of how differently the V&A logo continues to be used Simplicity is not inherently a bad thing: some of the logo designs held up as among the best of the past decades are incredibly restrained. Vitally, such pieces are incredibly smart, too – a prime example being that V&A logo, which elegantly forms its A from the classic yet bulbous ampersand. It’s little surprise that the design has remained unchanged since it was created in 1990, and it still looks as fresh and confident as ever. “The brief stipulated the design should only comprise three characters (V&A), should be functional, dateless, memorable and appropriate,” said Fletcher of the piece. If its enduring use in the Museum’s present campaigns is anything to go by, he certainly nailed it. The perfection of the logo also means that for designers working with the logo today, it’s both a dream and something of a delicate balance. Chris Curran, cofounder of The Studio of Williamson Curran, recently worked on a campaign for the museum’s The Future Starts Here exhibition. “The consistent use of the V&A logo over the campaign in both scale, position and colour was always central to our thinking when designing across both print and screens,” says Curran. “The V&A logo and exhibition title all picked out in the same colour, and the choice of typeface was a shorthand for the tone of the exhibition and struck a good balance with the V&A logo.” Judging logos The V&A museum’s The Future Starts Here exhibition document, by The Studio of Williamson Curran Recently though, simplicity could be said to rarely pack such a well-aimed punch. Eye on Design managing editor Liz Stinson recently coined the term “millennial minimalism” to sum up the trend over the past few years in commercial graphics centred around sans serifs, monochrome palettes and “flat photography”. As she puts it, it's a trend born of digital-focused strategies and, "years of seeing some variation of the same minimalist logo again, and again, and again". The result, many in the industry surmised, is sameness. Such accessions of homogeneity may be slightly unfair though – are we judging a brand on the outdated (slightly short-sighted) criteria of a single logo, where we should be looking at its modern counterpart – a moving, interactive, altogether more nuanced “system”? Are we – Twitter-botherers, consumers, and the design industry at large – being a little too quick to judge? Balancing nostalgia and innovation Studio Dumbar’s work for the Amsterdam Sinfonietta aimed to refresh the musical group’s image If there’s a studio that knows a thing or two about what makes a good logo, it’s Amsterdam’s Studio Dumbar. Founded by Gert Dumbar in 1977, its portfolio takes in many projects held up as gold standards when it comes to corporate graphics, including work for Dutch Railways, Amsterdam’s NEMO science museum, the Dutch government and its National Police. Yet while its history isn’t to be sniffed at, as the studio’s creative director Liza Enebeis points out, it’s unwise to indulge in misty-eyed remembrances of a so-called ‘golden era’ of design that may or may not exist. "When you speak to your parents or grandparents, they’ll always say things were so much better in the past – usually when they were in their teens," she says. "A lot of designers can look back and say how brilliant or better corporate design was in the 1960s, or the Modernist era, but now we have so many more possibilities. We can adapt logo and identity design to so many different platforms and media and redefine how we approach branding." “That’s a huge challenge, obviously, but it means you really have to work hard to find a way to make the mark you create stand out,” she says. Liza Enebeis, Studio Dumbar’s creative director and partner Motion plays a bigger part in logo design than ever before. This has dual consequences: on the one hand, a logo has to work harder than ever, and on the other, that logo takes a backseat as it becomes part of a far wider graphical outcome. When you see a logo on a digital platform or within an app, behaviour and how it moves defines the identity. We never really had to consider that a few years ago Lisa Enebeis “The symbol is no longer everything,” says Enebeis. “When you see a logo on a digital platform or within an app, behaviour and how it moves defines the identity. We never really had to consider that a few years ago; now, it plays a huge role.” Dumbar’s work for Jeugdfonds Sport & Cultuur (Youth Sport Foundation and Youth Culture Foundation) saw the studio begin by sketching in motion before distilling the movement into stills whenever needed. “It was another way at looking at identity that’s all about movement,” says Enebeis. As a result, the designs are hugely energetic and radiate positivity: exactly what was needed for a brand that looks to promote the potential in the young people it works with, and is intended to speak directly and respectfully to a youth audience. Such projects celebrate the potential of logos not as standalone entities, but part of far broader, more dynamic communication systems. Another Dumbar project proves that this approach need not just be for brands aimed at youth or playfulness, but for more traditional institutions. Its work for string orchestra the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, whose musical repertoire includes everything from baroque to contemporary, answered a brief to refresh public perceptions. Studio Dumbar’s solution was to take full advantage of today’s technical possibilities, creating an identity driven by a bold logotype and typographic palette but which evolves by responding graphically to each performance’s musical themes through reacting to sound. Amsterdam Sinfonietta' rebrand took full advantage of technological possibilities Back in 2018, DesignStudio created a new identity for Barcelona-based data start-up Typeform, inspired by Spanish artists including Picasso and Miró. The identity eschews a traditional system that takes a logo at its heart, instead – again – looking to motion: the logo itself is “living” and mutable, taking on different forms according to factors including whether it’s representing complex data, or looking to express more abstract emotions. “People are complex and challenging, and so clients are coming to us with more interesting challenges,” says Johns. “The world of design has changed: even five or 10 years ago, design was a colour palette, logo and typeface – now, it’s more about behaviour and interaction.” He adds: “Where a logo was once a seal of approval or shorthand, now they can respond to interaction – to clicks, swipes and taps. That’s a very new thing. A logo has to wear many hats, and it can’t do that alone. Maybe the word logo has be to be reconsidered as we redefine this new vernacular.” As such, a design system will still include a logo, but for many brands that are built to be used digitally over and above print campaigns, packaging and so on, sound and motion are as integral as a mark to be popped on a business card or even a website header. Agility is key. Speaking to your audience Coca-Cola understands its target audience perfectly So what makes an irrefutably good logo design? As Draplin points out, truly timeless designs only become so for their refusal to kowtow to the hot new thing: “Try not to be led too hard by the latest trends or styles. Things rise and fall but clarity is an element that never really goes out of style.” A lot of it simply comes down to doing the right thing for the right project. “Some people are interested in typographic forms, but what I’m more interested in is understanding the situation,” reinforces Anderson. “Whether that’s music packaging or Coca Cola, you have to understand the target audience and the product, and how you intend to connect those two. Why have they made that album? Why has Coca Cola launched a new product, what are they trying to achieve? The problem solving aspect is trying to say that in a way the target audience best responds to.” In his logo for Warp Records, for instance – a label known for its boundary pushing electronic music roster – the idea was to communicate something that was futuristic, but wouldn’t date. “Things that look ‘futuristic’ date very quickly, as that version of the future will never happen,” says Anderson. “So I wanted to just have a logo and a colour that people would recognise.” The resulting mark is a stretched, gridded planet-like shape with a zig zag holding device that hits you like a comic book “ZAP!”, often used with a distinctive brand purple. Warp Records logo, by The Designers Republic “There’s an old sci-fi, pulpy feel to it,” says Anderson. “A lot of those '50s and '60s sci-fi things have already dated as much as they’re going to: they’re locked into the future so they’re never going to date. With Warp, I was saying that you need to simplify it in order to communicate a complex message.” Simplicity, as we’ve discussed, doesn’t mean boring: the sweet spot between dull minimalism and smart minimalism is in that ability to distil a brand’s essence in just one mark. The success of a logo is, of course, a highly individual thing: it has to truthfully, potently speak of a brand’s essence “In my opinion, good logo design is creating a simple, strong, recognisable symbol that communicates something about the company or brand or product,” says De Pelsemaker. “That might be through using an unusual or interesting space, or clever use of contrast and white space.” The success of a logo is, of course, a highly individual thing: it has to truthfully, potently speak of a brand’s essence, whether that’s in a direct or more abstract way. Finding logo design success Fashion house Burberry’s 2018 new monogram, designed by 03 Peter Saville Take Peter Savile’s recent redesign of the Burberry logo, for instance: “it’s basically simplified, and you could argue that it’s a very simple logo,” says Enebeis, “but what’s brilliant is that Burberry is more than a logo, and it transcends that. You have to think about the core of the company to find the right answer.” Chanel’s timeless interlocking ‘C’ mark achieves the same thing: it’s beautifully crafted, simple typography, but an utterly memorable distillation of the brand’s essence. Away from fashion, think of the Saul Bass Bell System logo: “even if the brand isn’t around today [the company ceased operations in 1984], the logo still works,” says Draplin. “It’s just a bell in a little circle, but the clarity is just so perfect. Here comes the ‘c’ word, but corporate entities taught me a lot about letting restraint and simplicity tell a larger story.” Today though, clarity need not solely refer to the simplicity with which we recognise or understand a static mark. That clarity can be born of recognising a brand through our interactions with it – through its wider values and place in the world, and how we engage with it on a far more personal level. Chanel’s iconic interlocking C logo, which is rumoured to have been created by Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel herself in 1925 A design brief’s outcome is wildly different to what it was once expected to be – and there’s a lot of excitement and freedom in that. For Johns, a crucial part of DesignStudio’s ethos is in its belief that best practice is there to be confronted and pushed. “When best practice means stagnation, you have to challenge it to move forward,” he says. “Consumers change, and designers have to change with them. A brief might come in to create a logo or a business card, but we take the time to live and breathe the brand and understand the proposition, then make recommendations on what the outcome should be. Just giving you a logo might not be the right answer.” That’s where the danger in sites like 99Designs et al come in: a logo is not everything, for a start, and if you’re paying peanuts for a design, you’re going to get, well, a poor design. “If you’re paying $4.99 you’re rolling the dice on someone who’s going to sell you bullshit clipart art,” says Draplin. “Don’t lament to me ‘oh we paid $6 and got a stupid logo.’ What did you think you would get?” Why does a logo have to mean something? Why can’t it just create a feeling, and be exciting and intriguing? Alex Johns Johns also puts forward an interesting counterpoint to the traditional argument that a logo must stand for something. “Why does a logo have to mean something?” he argues. “Why can’t it just create a feeling, and be exciting and intriguing? There can be space for poetry and fun in there too. A logo is no longer at the heart of a brand, it’s decentralised: the first touchpoint might not be a print campaign or product, it can be so many other things, and that’s really exciting.” DesignStudio’s 2016 Deliveroo rebrand is clear and simple enough to extend across a range of digital and physical mediums; from apps to company workwear While it’s easy (and for many, fun) to wage keyboard-warfare until the cows come home about the sameness of today’s marks – especially those for digital start-ups – perhaps the most radical thing we can do is to sit back and really think about what we’re judging and why. “If it’s ‘too flat’, who gets to be the judge?” says Draplin. “Don’t go looking for controversy and get all huffy. What’s the problem if you can nail the spirit in simple, flat shapes? But if it comes off looking like everything else, you have to go back to the drawing board.” The best designers are the ones who respect the past, but also build for the now and look to the future Alex Johns Perhaps all the logo-bitching and cries that craft is dead are misguided for one simple reason: logo design isn’t stale or boring, we’re just judging with outmoded criteria. “A brand is so much more than a logo,” says Johns. Sure, it’s wonderful to look at the greats – to pore over the hefty Standards Manual reissues, to worship at the altars of Rand, Fletcher, Chermayeff and others, but it’s vital for us in 2019 to consider that these weren’t created as neat black and white totems of ‘great design’, but as the boundary-pushers of their day. “You don’t have to reject the past, but you do have to remember that people like Wim Crouwel, and Hamish Muir’s 8vo were pushing the envelope. Don’t just hold onto nostalgia, think about what they actually stood for. Of course, craft and quality have to be retained, but they also have to be applied to new problems. The best designers are the ones who respect the past, but also build for the now and look to the future.” A shorter version of this article was originally published in issue 286 of Computer Arts, the world's leading graphic design magazine. Buy issue 286 or subscribe here. Related articles: Which logo do you wish you had designed? The best logos of all time 6 huge logo trends for 2019 View the full article

Designing a great WordPress website doesn't have to be an arduous process. Even with no prior programming experience or training under your belt, you can design a fantastic website with Storeshock WordPress Themes & Elements: Lifetime Subscription. This tool streamlines the process of creating your own website, thanks to a huge selection of WordPress themes, templates, plugins, and web elements. The drag-and-drop page builder makes the whole process so intuitive that you'll be surprised what amazing visuals you can create. For just $59, you can download more than $50,000 worth of products. Now that's what we'd call a steal. Get Storeshock WordPress Themes & Elements: Lifetime Subscription for just $59. Want your products featured in Creative Bloq? Learn more about how to sell your products online! Related articles: 5 cross-browser testing tools to try today 35 brilliant 404 error pages Get to grips with the theory of UX View the full article

Cloud storage is an ideal solution for anyone needing to store lots of large files. Anyone with any kind of photography skills is bound to have at least a very big folder on their drive filled with years of shots, or even an entire hard disk dedicated to photos. It's certainly a lot easier to manage your photos digitally than in the days of film, but for peace of mind – not to mention the ability to instantly share photos with friends or clients – you're probably going to want some cloud storage for your photography portfolio. There are plenty of cloud storage options available. However, most of them are geared towards general file storage, and if you're looking for the best cloud storage for photos specifically then choices narrow down a lot. To help you choose, we've picked out six of the best options available; some are built with photographers and creatives in mind, and the rest are ordinary cloud storage solutions that are worth checking out if you simply want to back up your shots online without the need to present your work in a swish manner. Read on to discover our pick of the best cloud storage for 2019. Photography cheat sheet helps you take better photos Flickr's come in for a bit of stick since it decided to reduce its free package from a whopping terabyte to 1,000 photos and videos, with adverts inserted into your stream. Despite this, it's still an excellent destination for anyone who wants to store their photography online, and for it to look good on the screen. Flickr's photostream is all about presenting your photography to best effect, and if you can somehow whittle your portfolio down to your best 1,000 shots then you'd be a fool to turn it down. If you need more, for a $6 monthly fee (or just $50 annually) you can have all the storage you want, as well as no ads and, if you opt for the annual fee, discounts on Adobe Creative Cloud, Blurb, Portfoliobox, and Priime. The only slight downside is that as it's geared towards displaying photos rather than storing them, it only accepts JPG, GIF and PNG images; if you're after somewhere to stash your RAW images then you'd be better off elsewhere. Try Flickr for free Subscribe to Flickr Pro from $4.17/£3.99 per month There are loads of different Adobe Creative Cloud plans to choose from, but if you're primarily interested in photography there are just three you need to know about. If storage is what matters, Adobe offers two different packages with 1TB of cloud storage thrown in; the full-fat Photography plan will cost you $239.88 per year, with Lightroom CC, Lightroom Classic CC and Photoshop CC included. If that's a little steep then you can instead opt for the Lightroom CC plan for $119.88 per year – this just gives you, astonishingly, Lightroom CC. If you're planning to be a little more discriminating with the volume of photos you upload, however, there's a cheaper Photography plan for $119.88 per year. It also comes with Lightroom CC, Lightroom Classic CC and Photoshop CC, but limits you to 20GB of cloud storage. Like Flickr, Creative Cloud gives you good-looking image galleries to show your work off to best effect, and unlike Flickr it supports RAW files. It also gives you Group Libraries that friends can add their own photos to, integration with Lightroom and Elements, and it makes it easy to upload whatever your platform, with dedicated apps for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android. Get Adobe Creative Cloud Another great photography-focused cloud storage option is Canon's Irista. As with Flickr and Creative Cloud it provides you with a gallery-based interface that's all about showcasing your photography rather than mere storage of your files, and it accepts both JPG and RAW file formats. If you're picky about how your photos are organised then you'll welcome its ability to arrange your images by camera, lens type, date, tags and even EXIF data, and if you need to know how popular your shots are then you'll be similarly pleased by its social media integration that enables you to share uploaded images to Facebook and Flickr then track likes and comments. The free Irista plan's a great deal, giving you 15GB of storage to play with, but if you need more then there are six subscription tiers to choose between, starting at 100GB for $2.25 per month and ramping up to a frankly insane 10TB that'll cost you $129.99 per month; that one's only for the serious pro photographers, we reckon. Get Canon Irista for free plan Upgrade from $2.25/£1.99 per month If you're more interested in simply storing your photos online rather than have them organised into attractive galleries then a more general cloud storage solution might be the way to go, and in terms of free storage then you can't really do better than Google Drive. Its free package delivers 15GB of cloud storage as well as use of its online productivity apps, but it also includes Google Photos, which gives you unlimited storage for photos up to 16 megapixels in size and uses machine learning technology to automatically label people in photos and make searching your images easier. For storing larger images you'll have to make do with Google Drive's general storage. If you burn through the free 15GB then there are plenty of plans to upgrade your capacity, starting at $1.99 per month for 100GB and increasing to $99.99 per month for 10TB. Get Google Drive for free Upgrade to Google One from $1.99 per month Chances are that you already have a Dropbox account, and if you're using the free version then it's quite likely that you're constantly having to delete old stuff to make room for new files because you're cruising close to your storage limit. Dropbox's 2GB free storage isn't much, and while you can increase it to 16GB by referring friends at an extra 500MB a pop, that's not as easy as it was back in the days when not everyone had an account. For $9.99 a month or $99 per year you can upgrade to Dropbox Plus, which gives you a terabyte of storage, as well as remote desktop wipe, 30-day version history and priority email upload. That's a pretty sweet deal, and if you're not fussed about gallery presentation for your picture then you'll find that Dropbox is versatile and easy to use, no matter what your platform. Use Dropbox for free Upgrade from $8.25/ £6.58 per month Microsoft's cloud storage isn't dissimilar to Google's, unsurprisingly, but with a look and feel that's the same as Windows 10 it's one that PC users will instantly feel at home with. Like the other two general storage options covered here it's not specifically aimed at photographers, so again, don't go expecting exciting presentation options. However it gives you 5GB of storage for free or 50GB for $1.99 per month, and if you upgrade to one of the higher tiers you'll get Office 365 included, which is always a bonus. For $6.99 per month or $69.99 yearly you get 1TB and Office 365, and for another $3 per month you'll get even more storage, six Office licences and other features including an hour of Skype credit. Use Microsoft OneDrive for free UK: Upgrade to 50GB for £1.99/mo US: Upgrade to 50GB for $1.99/mo Related articles: 15 ways to improve your photography skills The best USB flash storage for creatives The 15 best photography websites View the full article

Like drawing and painting, and want the best of both worlds? Well in a sense, that's what watercolour pencils offer. With normal coloured pencils, the pigment is contained in a waxy or oil-based binder, but watercolour pencils have a water-soluble binder. That means you can draw normally, but if you add water to the marks you've made, it becomes more like a watercolour paint wash, which you can spread around the paper with a brush, sponge or other tools. This is opens up a range of creative possibilities and painting techniques to try out. Also, because they can be sharpened, watercolour pencils allow you to add fine details that are hard to achieve with a brush. And finally, if you're travelling, there's also a big practical advantage to watercolour pencils, in that they're much easier to transport than paints. How to choose a watercolour pencil There are a number of things to consider when choosing a watercolour pencil. They include the thickness of the lead: thinner leads are better for fine detailed work, while thicker leads will help you cover more area quickly. Also think about the shape of the pencil: will a round, hexagonal or triangular pencil sit more comfortably in your hand? Another consideration in the number of pencils in the set. Do you need a wide a spectrum of colours as possible (making a bigger set useful)? Or do you plan to do a lot of blending (which means you can live with a smaller one)? Finally, how tough do you need your pencil to be? If you tend to break lot of leads, you might want to go with a brand that prides itself on its toughness and durability. In this article, we've rounded up our pick of the best watercolour pencils for artists and designers. Each offer slightly different things, but they're all excellent products, from leading brands with great track records. If you need tools for sketching and note-taking too, be sure to check out other best pencils post. Faber-Castell watercolour pencils Established in 1761 by the cabinetmaker Kaspar Faber, Faber-Castell is one of the world’s leading manufacturer of wood-cased pencils. And its Albrecht Durer model is one of our favourite watercolour pencils on the market today. These pencils are made using high-quality materials, and the company's SV (Secural Bonding) process results in super-strong 3.8mm leads that are less likely to break. They provide sharp, fine lines and excellent point retention, while the colours are rich, vivid and attractive, and blend beautifully when water is added. The colours also match the company's Polychromos oil pencils, so the two sets can be used together easily. Quite simply, whether you use them wet or dry, these little beauties perform superbly and are superbly flexible, whatever kind of art you're creating. They come in sets of 12, 24, 60, and the full range of 120 watercolour pencils. A 10mm paintbrush is included in the tin. A less well-known but similarly high-end watercolour pencil from Faber-Castell is the Albrecht Dürer Magnus. With a 5.3mm lead and a very soft and vibrant colour laydown, this is an ideal choice for large-scale drawing and covering large areas quickly. These are big, fat pencils, with big, fat leads, and this bigger size and shape makes them easier to hand and gentle on the wrist during long periods of use. These pencils are available in tins of 12 or 24, and as with the standard Albrecht Dürer pencils (above), a 10mm paintbrush is included. Again, you're paying a little more for these pencils, but getting a high-quality product for your cash. Staedtler watercolour pencils The German Staedtler company, founded in 1835, claims to have invented the colouring pencil. So it's not surprising that the have some of the best watercolour pencils on the market. These lovingly designed pencils are easy to hold and manoeuvre, and their hexagonal shape means they're less likely to roll off the table. They lay down colour beautifully, they're easy to sharpen with a quality metal pencil sharpener, and the 3mm, high-pigment lead is powerfully break-resistant. The colours are easy to blend and create marvellous washes. There's a good range of colours and the brighter hues really stand out, even when mixed with water. Available in sets of 12, 24, 36, 48 and 60, this is pretty much the perfect watercolour pencil for both hobbyists and pro artists, aside from being more expensive than other brands. If your kids want to have fun experimenting with watercolour pencils, we'd highly recommend these slim pencils from Staedtler, which are suitable for all age groups. With a triangular shape and with a non-slip, they're uniquely ergonomic and comfortable to hold and use over long periods. They're also more difficult to break: as with all Staedtler watercolour pencils from benefit from break resistant lead, and are easy to sharpen with any quality sharpener. The 3mm wax-based leads are lovely and soft, and produce vibrant colours. Overall, kids will love these pencils, which come in boxes of 12 and 24, whether they want to draw freehand or complete colouring books. Derwent watercolour pencils Made with natural wood barrels and quality water-soluble pigments, the soft wax of Derwent's watercolour pencils blends and dissolves easily in water, making them a great choice for mixing colour. With up to 72 pencils in the range, you won't be short of colour to mix, either, although very vibrant hues are conspicuous by their absence. Also note that these colours dry quite quickly, so depending on how fast you work, you may have to keep applying fresh colour and water as you go. These hexagon barrelled pencils are a little cheaper than their Faber-Castell rivals, but still perform well in terms of usability (they're nice to hold, and easy to sharpen) and finished looks. With a 3.4mm lead, they're available in sets of 12, 24, 36, 48 and 72. Overall, at this mid-budget price, these represent the best value watercolour pencils on the market right now. Derwent's Inktense and Watercolour collections are often confused, so let's be clear. Both ranges are water soluble, but that's where the similarity ends. With Derwent's Watercolour pencils, once your layers have dried, they can be re-worked by adding water on top. With Inktense pencils, however, once your layer has dried, it's permanent, so layers added on top don’t affect it: more colour can be added on top without affecting the layer beneath. Furthermore, while the Derwent Watercolour pencils' colours, as mentioned previously, are more subtle and muted, the Inktense pencils produce a vivid, ink-like colour when combined with water that really leap off the page. (Note that used dry, however, they're pretty dull and inspiring.) Note, too, that they work well on fabric as well as paper. These round-barrelled pencils come with a 4mm lead and are available in sets of 12, 24, 36, 48 and 72. Prismacolour watercolour pencils These pencils produce deep, thick and creamy colours that are easy to apply and blend beautifully. We'd therefore recommend them as the best watercolour pencil for beginners to the discipline. More experienced artists can also consider them as well, because these are very good quality pencils that lay colour down smoothly and are highly break-resistant. The only downside to bear in mind is being limited to just 36 colours (albeit well-chosen ones). If you're happy to blend your colours, of course, that may not be a concern, and as noted, these pencils do make blending easy. These round-barrelled pencils come with a 4mm lead and are available in sets of 12, 24 and 36. Swiss brand Caran d’Ache's Prismalo Aquarelle Watercolor pencils sit at the higher quality end of the market, with a higher price to match. The hexagonal barrel is a delight to hold and use. The vivid colours mix beautifully with water on the page, and are easy to control. And the small 3mm leads can be sharpened to a fine point, making these pencils perfect for drawing in fine detail. If you're an experienced artist who wants to see if a pricier pencil can improve your art (particularly if you're working on intricate designs), and you can afford to splash out, then we'd recommend you take these top-quality pencils out for a spin and see what they can do. They're available in sets of 12, 30, 40 and 80 . Read more: How to draw: the best drawing tutorials 10 great notepads for designers The best mechanical pencils for artists and designers View the full article

Freelancing can offer a great sense of freedom. The ability to be your own boss, decide who you work for and what you produce can be incredible…except when it's not. "Everything becomes more vivid, more extreme when your successes and failures are solely down to you and you alone," says freelance graphic designer Francesca Tortora. "The highs are utterly fantastic and the lows utterly horrible…" This well-documented 'rollercoaster' nature of self-employment presents a multitude of challenges, as freelance illustrator Barbara Dziadosz reveals: "There are times where you don't have enough jobs to cover your basic expenses, while there are other occasions when you don't have enough time to do all the commissions. It's a real balancing act between time and money, which is sometimes hard to handle." Barbara Dziadosz notes that the freelance life can be one of feast or famine While many try their best to prepare for such events, there's no escaping the unexpected: "There's a myth that there is only one big obstacle that you overcome when you work for yourself," says studio founder and creative, Benny Gold. "The truth is there are a ton of road bumps every day throughout your entire journey. What matters is how you react to them. You have to dust yourself off and get up every time you hit a bump in your path and move forwards." The art of going freelance Work out your schedule Bear in mind that not all your working hours are billable, says Jessica Hische If you're facing the issue of too little time, desperately trying to fit everything in and wondering where you're going wrong, you're not alone. "I think when I was starting out I couldn't have predicted how much time gets washed away to managing a career versus creating artwork," says lettering artist and author Jessica Hische. "It's led me to give advice to other freelancers to consider a 'full-time work week' as 20 hours of productive billable work – the rest is necessary, but not billable." Taking this approach and facing your limits early on means you can not only set realistic expectations of what's achievable, pricing your work and planning your time accordingly, but it also ensures your business is sustainable in the long run. We've all been there: booking yourself solid, working all hours (and for good reason: you have bills to pay), but you can't keep that pace up forever. Structure and socialising Factoring in some sort of structure for your day, which includes exercise, networking and socialisation, is vital. Knowing how to network stops the very real possibility of feeling isolated, especially if you work from home rather than a rented desk or studio space. I couldn't have predicted how much time gets washed away to managing a career versus creating artwork Jessica Hische Seeking out and attending creative events in your local area can offer real benefits. These opportunities enable you to support and connect with your creative community, opening up possibilities for collaborations or meeting like-minded friends, but it also eases the pressure of factoring in travel time and cost so you can do it a little more frequently than you would if it was further afield. For freelance designer Beci Orpin, removing the work/life barrier is what works for her. "There is no separation… it's all one big mess, which is just how I like it. I would completely steer away from anything I thought was 'networking', but I definitely go to lots of events (often not design-related) where I meet cool people doing good things." Build connections Try to drop in on other artists and designers if you get the chance, says Chris Parks Professional illustrator Chris Parks, aka Palehorse, meanwhile, also reaches out to fellow artists directly. "My wife has always pushed me to get over my introverted tendencies and hit up artists over the years that I admire when I'm travelling to their area. I ask if I can come by their studio or grab a coffee together. This practice has led to lasting friendships and some great opportunities that wouldn't have manifested if I never asked to come by and introduce myself. The key here is to be respectful of the artist's time and to be specific about the times you can drop by. Don't be late and don't keep them too long, but give it a try next time you travel – you might be surprised who says yes to a studio visit." Yet if it's the social side of an office you're missing, you may find a dedicated studio space or desk in a shared creative environment is worth investing in. For Hische, it was vital: "I go to design events and drink meet ups…and I share a studio with another lettering artist. [I've] found that sharing a workspace with other creatives is imperative for me as a freelancer – it allows me to be 'social' at work, to have people to bounce thoughts, ideas and work off of." If it's not viable for you to pay for a workspace outside the home, social media can be a lifeline during the good, bad and ugly moments you face on this freelancing rollercoaster. "…There are freelancers left, right and centre facing the exact same struggles that you are right now, so go and find them – for support, for camaraderie, even if it's just to vent," Tortora tells us. "It's one of the core reasons why I set up my side project, Doing It For The Kids." Also known as 'DIFTK', this online (and increasingly offline) community offers a place for its members to chat, collaborate, ask business-related questions and more. Manage the lulls An increasingly common situation is finding yourself with no bookings on the horizon and time on your hands. While it's easy to freak out, Orpin has this advice: "I read a cool thing recently: 'trust the timing of your life' – and that is why I try to do. My work has changed quite a bit over the years: the first 10 years or so were fashion-based work, as that was my main interest; then, once I had kids and was spending more time at home, my work was more illustration and homewares based." Beci Orpin's work has changed over the years, but she's happy as long as she's pushing forward She continues: "Once my books were published, my work kind of moved into more of an art director direction. These were natural progressions, but I paid attention to what was going on around me and made conscious decisions based on that. Through all these years there are also ebbs and flows – sometimes you are manically busy, sometimes you are really quiet. The quiet times can be hard and sometimes scary, but as long as you are still pushing yourself forward, and using that time to work on something personal or just do things, which will help your work in other ways – such as travel, visiting galleries, and so on – then they are just as important as the really busy times." Dziadosz agrees: "What I've learned in the past couple of years is to absolutely keep going. If I find myself in a situation with lots of time, I start a personal project, experiment or try to develop and evolve my style. This always draws attention and leads to new assignments that I wasn't sure would be there even just a few days prior. Overcoming those days, weeks or even months is very challenging and sometimes frustrating, but if you work hard enough it can pay off in the end." Exploit your side projects Benny Gold is a big believer in the power of side projects These personal projects are incredibly important to your creative practice. For Gold, his started to take shape while working full-time for a branding firm. What we now know as the well-established streetwear brand Benny Gold, began as a sticker with the slogan 'Stay Gold'. This evolved into a shirt and, eventually, a full collection. "I wouldn't be where I am without a side project," he tells us. "Side projects are amazing for many reasons," confirms Hische, "They can help scratch creative itches you're not scratching through client work, they can help show clients what kind of work you want to be doing if you're not currently being hired to do it, and they can translate into additional income, either directly or indirectly. I wouldn't be where I am without a side project Benny Gold Most of my side projects haven't directly generated additional income (Daily Drop Cap being the exception, since I've made prints of the arts and have licensed them a bit for projects), but they've been incredibly helpful to my career. They bring in new audiences, show that there is a brain behind the art, and help form a more complete picture of who I am as a person and artist – more people can see that." Make money with products If generating additional income is one of your goals, digital products are a great way of branching out without having to rely on start-up cash. Whether that's content for stock sites, editable templates or online classes and workshops, there's massive potential there. "Yes, there's potentially a lot of work in setting these things up," says Tortora, "but once they're up and running the benefits can be huge and just take the edge off that constant need to find client work." Need extra money? Try selling digital products, suggests Francesca Tortora Palehorse has run a couple of successful online courses sharing his illustration knowledge: "I love Skillshare…it's an excellent way to make some residual income. I've also created many digital download books, vector sets and fonts for IllustratedMonthly.com that sells reference and royalty-free files for tattoo artists and designers, along with printed art books." Dziadosz, meanwhile, prefers the analogue approach: "I've always been passionate about print making and book binding," she explains. "The other thing I really enjoy is screenprinting… the technique changed the way I think about illustration. [It's] also given me the opportunity to sell some prints and make a little extra money. When I don't have enough time to do original prints, I sell fine art prints of my illustrations through my online shop." Focus on revenue streams While it's important to create additional revenue streams where possible, it can be difficult to even begin thinking of ideas if you are going through a rough patch. "Know that this is just a phase and that you will come out the other side…" says Tortora. "Be proactive, ask for help and keep faith." "I think exploring ideas and seeing what did and didn't work for me is an important part of running my business," Orpin tells us. "I ran a clothing label called Princess Tina for almost 10 years. In retrospect, we were pretty poor at running a clothing line – it sold well, but we were always late with deliveries! But it taught me a lot about what I am good and bad at, and it also supported my freelance design work." Be proactive, ask for help and keep faith Francesca Tortora Reflecting on the high and low points is important at any stage of the business, as is adjusting the course where necessary. "[Freelancing is] constantly both rewarding and difficult," adds Hische. "I still struggle with fears that the bottom will drop out from under me (which I think affects anyone who works for themselves and whose only 'job security' rests in their own hands). "Generally I do feel like when I have those moments, it's because my schedule has gotten out of control, that I'm behind on work, or that I've been saying yes to projects I should have said no to. Feeling like you do have control to right the ship is very powerful, and it's important to realise as a freelancer. It can be really easy to go on autopilot and let the jobs coming in determine which path your life should take, but you do have the ability to show people what work you want to be doing through past work." Yet, if you're still struggling, take a bit of time out to really consider what you're looking for from your career. "Remember freelance life isn't for everyone," says Orpin. "It requires a personality type and a willingness to sometimes live on the edge of the poverty line! Maybe that is not for you. If you are happy – keep on pushing through. If not, go back to being employed – there is no shame in that." This article was originally published in issue 283 of Computer Arts, the world's best-selling design magazine. Buy issue 283 here or subscribe to Computer Arts here. Related articles: 5 ways to get more freelance work in 2019 Studio vs freelance: The pros and cons 20 tools that make freelancing easier View the full article

Anish Kapoor, if you're reading this, you might want to click away now. We're not usually ones to turn away readers, especially Turner Prize-winning sculptors, but the team of artists behind the blackest black acrylic paint Kickstarter have made it pretty clear they don't want Kapoor getting his hands on their creation. Feeling left in the dark? Let us shed some light on the situation. Back in 2014, a UK-based industrial equipment supplier called Surrey NanoSystems developed the blackest material, Vantablack. Capable of absorbing 99.96% of light, Vantablack has plenty of potential commercial uses, but Anish Kapoor took out an exclusive licence that meant only he could use the paint (although certain other parties such as museums and research facilities are allowed to request a sample). How to master colour theory This agreement caused outrage in the creative community. Artist Stuart Semple didn't want other painters to be denied access to the colour, so over the last two years he's been working with other artists at Culture Hustle to develop Black 3.0. Black 3.0 certainly looks blacker than other commercial paints According to Semple and his team, the "super special" Black 3.0 is the blackest black acrylic paint available. Capable of absorbing between 98 and 99% of light, Black 3.0 might not be quite as black as Vantablack, but as far as acrylic paints go, it looks like it's as dark as artists are going to get. So what makes Black 3.0 so black, and even blacker than the team's last paint, Black 2.0? To make sure as little light escapes from it as possible, Semple and his team went back to the basics of paint-making. In doing so, they removed reflective pigments and created a new matte alternative. They also formulated a new acrylic polymer that led to a denser pigment load and depth of colour. To flatten out the last bits of stray light, brand new nano-mattifiers were sourced. In short: Black 3.0 is very black. All of this impressive scientific development can't stop Kapoor from using Black 3.0 though. In fact, Culture Hustle has already had a run-in with the artist after he purchased its pinkest pink, despite a disclaimer explicitly forbidding him from doing so. Kapoor even took to Instagram to celebrate his achievement. This isn't the only time colour has landed Kapoor in hot water. Last year he made headlines after a man feel into his painted hole installation. And while the installation predated the development of Vantablack by decades, its pretty clear that colour and illusions are a source of fascination for the artist. It remains to be seen if Kapoor will buy Black 3.0, but if you want to order it for your own creative work, then there's still plenty of time to support the now fully-funded Kickstarter, which runs until 22 March. Pledge rewards are currently going from £25 and ship worldwide, so if you want to get your hands on the blackest black acrylic paint, now's your chance. Related articles: 7 must-know painting techniques for artists How to choose which paint brush to use 10 essential oil painting tips and techniques View the full article

It's easy to build a brand and boost your social media following with a helper like Appz Instagram Assistant. With a Lifetime Subscription for just $39.99, you can access this Google Chrome extension that allows you to automatically like, comment and follow users and posts that are similar to yours. Using your hashtags of interest, this tool will build you a newsfeed with content you'll enjoy seeing. You'll also be able to access a user-friendly dashboard that helps you track your own activity and engagement statistics. Conveniently, you can manage multiple Instagram accounts from one single dashboard. Appz Instagram Assistant: Lifetime Subscription is yours for just $39.99. Related articles: A designer's guide to Instagram Stories How to make money on Instagram as a creative 5 ways to go viral on Instagram View the full article

You're reading 19 Free Fonts You’ll Want to Use in 2019, Trends and Examples, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! Every new year comes with lists of new design trends and techniques you’ll be using in the months to come. But what about typography? While type trends are often parts of these lists, there aren’t as many devoted to fonts … View the full article