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Sometimes the campaigns with the most substance – which tackle important, thorny topics with drive and passion – attract love and hate in equal measure. After all, to provoke a strong reaction, you need to have a strong opinion. In recent years, people have come to expect brands to engage with social and political issues – to join the conversation. But taking a firm stand, especially on a divisive topic, is a clear risk. Not everyone will agree with you, and in some cases, it can actively turn people away from your brand. But if your message is delivered with authority, clarity and authenticity, the people who stay – or are attracted to your brand – as a result will feel a much closer affinity, and are likely to be more loyal as a result. Some brands have found the sweet spot here. Others have tried and catastrophically failed. Read on to discover eight controversial campaigns that split public opinion down the middle, or were met with universal derision – and what we can learn from them... 01. Nike kneels with Kaepernick Splashed all over the news in recent weeks, Nike's bold, defiant stance in support of outcast American football player Colin Kaepernick is the perfect example of a brand adopting a political stance that's totally on-message. It's not the first time Nike has been associated with a controversial sporting star – it also continued to run ads featuring Lance Armstrong after his doping scandal, Maria Sharapova following a failed drugs test, and Tiger Woods in the midst of his sex scandal and alleged drug-driving. Making Kaepernick the face of a global campaign has proved the brand's most divisive move yet, however. Since his refusal to stand for the national anthem in 2016 – a protest against racial injustice and police brutality in the US, which drew the very public vitriol of President Trump – the former San Francisco 49ers star has been effectively exiled from the league. Nike's inspired tagline 'Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything' is a clear call to arms for standing passionately behind an issue, and its impact was swift. Protesters furiously destroyed their Nike-branded goods (prompting a witty reposte from the brand instructing people 'how to burn our products safely'), and its share price dropped – but support and admiration for the stance was just as strong. Nike was brave enough to take a stand, and the short-term negative effect is offset by some truly savvy, long-term brand-building. One thing's for sure: no one will forget that campaign for a very long time. 02. Airbnb embraces refugees In another case of a brand seemingly baiting President Trump with a directly defiant stance, Airbnb launched its #WeAccept campaign at the 2017 Super Bowl, shortly after Trump announced his travel ban for citizens of particular countries. Proudly championing all types of diversity, the campaign makes a powerful statement: "No matter who you are, where you're from, who you love, or who you worship, we all belong. The world is more beautiful the more you accept." It's a simple, universal message – but the timing was everything. On the most public of stages – the Super Bowl – Airbnb effectively squared up to the President, without ever explicitly mentioning the policy. The brand put its money where its mouth is, too, pledging to provide short-term housing for 100,000 people in need – including refugees, disaster survivors, relief workers and other displaced individuals – over the next five years. It's a stance that passionate Trump supporters are unlikely to be backing anytime soon, but it made a significant impact around the world. 03. Barnado's breaks the cycle of abuse Sometimes a campaign's controversy comes more with the nature of the delivery, rather than the stance itself. BBH's 2008 multi-award-winning spot for Barnardo’s set out to raise awareness of child abuse, and break the destructive cycle – not a stance that many would challenge. But the stark, brutal and depiction of domestic violence, drug abuse and crime attracted around 500 complaints – most of which focused on the distress and offence the ad caused, while others questioned the timing of the transmission. The ASA refused to ban the ad, arguing that the importance of its message merited the shock factor it delivered. 04. Equinox shrugs off breastfeeding taboos Sometimes a touch of controversy is needed to challenge a taboo that shouldn't be there in the first place. And the issue doesn't necessarily need to be relevant to that particular brand for it to be addressed. In the case of Equinox Fitness, its 2016 campaign tagline – 'Commit to something' – had a broad range of potential applications, some more controversial or tongue-in-cheek than others. These includes joining a cult, making stacks of money, and collecting sexual partners. But the image that attracted the most attention was of model and heiress Lydia Hearst breastfeeding twins in an upmarket restaurant. From the perspective of the campaign, these images are intended to convey commitment – a relatively abstract idea that theoretically applies as much to sticking with a gym membership as it does to breastfeeding in public. But of course, it was the image, not the campaign strategy, that sparked the debate. It received comments in the thousands on Equinox's Facebook page – some applauding its unapologetic depiction of nursing, some critiquing its realism, others overtly disapproving of public breastfeeding in general. It may not have been the purpose of the campaign, but Equinox took a stance nonetheless. 05. McDonald's tackles childhood bereavement There's really not much to say about this one. Childhood bereavement is a devastating, harrowing topic to broach by any standards – so using it as the context to flog a Filet-o-Fish was never going to go down well. The ad featured a young boy struggling to find common ground with his recently deceased father. He finds it in the most unlikely place: a fondness for a certain fish sandwich. In the face of almost unanimous derision, McDonald's made a public apology and pulled the ad. 06. Benetton match-makes world leaders Benetton is well-known for its commendable, at times controversial attempts to champion the whole 'united colours' of humanity in its ads – becoming a tongue-in-cheek short-hand for ticking all the diversity boxes. Its 2012 UnHate campaign caused a stir by digitally manipulating images of prominent world leaders to show them locking lips with an ideologically-opposed counterpart. These included China's Hu Jintao with Barack Obama, and Pope Benedict XVI with Egypt's Imam Ahmed el Tayyeb. The message of setting hatred aside to find common ground is simple enough, but the delivery – particularly where leaders of countries with rather less liberal views on homosexuality were concerned – certainly ruffled some feathers around the world. Brands must be wary, as sometimes in tackling one contentious topic head-on, a campaign can cross into another – and the notion of using homosexuality as a clear shock tactic also attracted its fair share of criticism. 07. American Apparel champions fair labour Maks had worked as a merchandiser at American Apparel for four years when she appeared in one of its brand – topless, and sporting an (unbuttoned) pair of the brand's high waist jeans. According to the copy beneath, Maks "unreservedly embraced" the photoshoot and the empowerment it represented – she had moved as a young child from Bangladesh to California with her traditional Muslim family, but distanced herself from the faith as a teenager to forge her own identity. Positioned across Maks' chest, the tagline 'Made in Bangladesh' clearly refers to her origins, which the copy explains in more detail, but it also makes a bold counter-statement about 'sweat shop' culture in the fashion industry in general, balanced by AA's 'Made in USA–Sweatshop Free' claim. The ad attracted debate and controversy on multiple levels – Maks's being topless in an ad that discusses her devout Muslim background being one, another being the way in which American Apparel chooses to address the deeper, very real issue of sweatshops in Bangladesh by presenting an 'empowered', US-based woman, with her poor, underpaid, overworked counterparts staying invisible. 08. Pepsi jumps on an inappropriate bandwagon We're ending with another catastrophic failure to engage with a thorny topic, which. like McDonald's, was met with almost universal criticism. But while McDonald's error was of totally inappropriate context, Pepsi made a much more cynical, overt attempt to apply corporate gloss to deep-rooted political issues. Against the backdrop of hugely turbulent period of protests, from the Black Lives Matter movement to anti-Trump marches and more, Pepsi's ad, fronted by Kendall Jenner, was heavy-handed and trite – and the backlash was swift. Handing a Pepsi to a riot gear-clad cop to diffuse a pretty anodyne, commercialised ‘protest’ is far too literal a metaphor, and as industry commentators reported in unison at the time, is spectacularly tone-deaf in terms of how the brand tried to position itself as a catalyst for unity and harmony. The ad was duly pulled. All the above examples show that taking a firm standpoint on a contentious issue can attract lovers and haters in equal measure. Sometimes addressing the issue alone can ruffle feathers, particularly if shock tactics are employed. However, if the sentiment comes from the right place, and is expressed coherently, it can give a brand both substance and authority. Miss the mark, and the burn can be deep. Related articles: 7 logos we all love to hate (and lessons we can learn) 9 lessons from the world's top viral images 5 times brands shook up their logo for a powerful message View the full article

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You're reading Jumpstart Your Marketing Efforts with Placeit, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! Design mockups are an incredible tool to help you showcase projects, from startup websites to t-shirt designs. The problem is that they can be rather complicated files native to Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator, and not everyone has the tools (or … View the full article

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Earlier this year, students up and down the country were gripped in a frenzy of degree show prep, tirelessly curating design portfolios and displays of their work to show the public – often in a bid to attract the attention of design magazines, creative studios or digital agencies on the hunt for the next big thing. Instagram has been awash with colourful illustration and design emerging from degree shows and it’s encouraging to see how engaged students are with self-promotion. Of course, ‘likes’ does not a career make, and for many the stark reality of what comes next can be daunting. How to network successfully - 19 pro tips Back in 2005, my degree show was just the beginning of an unorthodox career journey that saw me side-step into a variety of professions. For reasons I can’t fathom, professional practice wasn’t taught back then, and other than a vague meeting with the careers department, I left university with no more than a heavy A3 portfolio, a hideous overdraft and little idea of what to do next. Thankfully, degree courses have changed considerably over the last 13 years, with a growing emphasis on entrepreneurship, studio visits and visiting lecturers on hand to deliver a taste of what is to come. Today’s grads are a lot more informed than they used to be, and for an industry that is constantly in flux this can only be a positive. But is it enough? Thankfully degree courses have changed considerably over the last 13 years, with a growing emphasis on entrepreneurship Lisa Hassell A report by creative branding agency Michon released in April 2018 sought to highlight some of these issues, detailing concerns among the design community that recent graduates are leaving higher education with insufficient real-world skills. So where does the responsibility for this lie? Should studios take a more active role in further education? Or do universities need to engage with studios in a more collaborative way to make their classes relevant? According to the Michon report, the creative industries contributed a record £92 billion to the economy in 2017 and this upward trend is only set to continue. The report also states that as part of the Creative Industries Clusters programme, the UK Government has pledged £80 million to help businesses and universities work more closely together, promoting collaborative research and creating highly skilled jobs. This is an encouraging move, but there is still a great deal to be done to address the disparity between education and industry in order to equip students with the attitude and mindset they need to succeed. Is it time for an industry wide rethink? Experience vs education Tensions often arise from employers wanting real-world experience and undervaluing the important fundamentals that a practice-led art education is often structured around, observes Manchester-based designer Craig Oldham. "I think education can make students more aware of certain practicalities of working life, but to nail it down would be misplaced time. They’d be better placed focusing on creative thinking and expressing that using their skills, [as] opposed to getting laboured down in bureaucratic practicality. "For me I think there’s often an over-reliance from the industry on people being able to do these things, and I think we can often lose sight of the fact that we sell creativity as an industry – so that’s of primary importance to me." For Craig Oldham, education and academia aren't separate, and both have a part to play in progressing the industry Producing design work for film, TV, retail, publishing, sports and entertainment, Oldham’s work has been recognised nationally and internationally by D&AD, the Creative Review Annual, Art Directors Club, New York Festivals, Design Week, Benchmark Awards, Big Chip Awards, Fresh, and The Drum Awards to name just a few. Oldham has also been named by his peers in the creative industry as one of the most influential designers working in the UK. "I hate the bun fight that happens between education and industry, with both sides blaming one another," states Oldham. "It's pointless and futile, and each has to bear responsibility and engage in a meaningful dialogue and relationship. We are crippled now by numerous problems in both education and industry – gender, pay, race, class – and both sides have to take an active role in addressing them." A page spread from Craig oldham’s book, Oh Shit What Now? honest advice for graphic designers, published by Laurence King Building stronger partnerships between creative agencies and institutions from the off could be one route to structured training opportunities that benefit businesses, students and universities, but whose responsibility is it to bring in these changes? Fuelling the debate, course leader at Ravensbourne University, Derek Yates, is frustrated with how some institutions are failing to tackle the issue. "Education has been a bit lazy in the way it works with industry," states Yates. "We need to develop our relationships more strategically. I've done a lot of industry projects over the years and the ones that work are where both parties get something out of it. Both parties have to benefit for the relationship to work." Collaborate to drive change At Ravensbourne University, Yates has developed approaches to working with the industry. In 2012, he initiated and chaired Alt/Shift, a platform to promote meaningful dialogue and constructive collaboration between the creative industries and design education. Over the next 12 months, Alt/Shift facilitated a conversation between creative practitioners and educators from across the UK online via a blog and website, on Twitter and as part of two discussion events hosted by leading digital agencies. Heading up the BA Hons Advertising & Brand Design course, a major part of his role involves facilitating partnerships between education and contemporary creative practice, and over the last 10 years he has instigated projects with internationally recognised organisations such as the O2, Eye Magazine, LBi, Moving Brands, Mother, National Air Traffic Control, De La Rue and ustwo. Earlier this year he broke new ground with Untitled – a one-day networking event delivered in collaboration with Lecture in Progress. Ravensbourne University hosts events like Untitled to provide advice for the next generation of creative talent "Our aim is to empower emerging talent with information and first-hand accounts that demystify the day-to-day workings of the creative world," says Will Hudson, who ran a series of workshops with Ravensbourne students. "By focusing on the people, projects and places that make the industry thrive, we want to deliver greater visibility to how work unfolds, where it happens and the breadth of roles that exist." Putting it to the students to define what they thought a conference could look like, Hudson and Yates worked closely with the group to brainstorm different ideas, and gradually a set of criteria emerged. "They didn't want a conference that was just lectures, they didn't want a conference that was delivered by white, middle-class men, and they didn't want a conference delivered by people over 30," reveals Yates. "And also, they were interested in unorthodox journeys." Co-curating a one-day creative conference, Ravensbourne students set up an inspiring day of talks delivered by diverse up-and-coming creatives, followed by group discussions. "We ended up with eight amazing speakers all with incredible stories," says Yates proudly. "It felt like we tapped into really fertile ground." Esrael Alem, director at AMVBBDO during panel discussions with Ravensbourne The branding and marketing of the Untitled conference was created by second-year students on the Advertising and Branding course at Ravensbourne, who pitched ideas to Hudson. The winning team (Tayo Onabule, Michael Bailey and Charlie Baker) implemented a strategy across multiple media channels and social media platforms. Lecture in Progress is now in the process of building relationships with a number of universities across the country, recognising the need to build visibility up and down the UK. In the last year it has been to Winchester School of Art, University of Brighton, UCA Epsom, Edinburgh College of Art, Nottingham Trent and Plymouth College of Art. "One of the things that's really important when on campus is to understand from both the tutors and the students about the university experience," Yates adds. Having observed that recent developments in higher education has led to environments where students are not trusted with the freedom to shape their own learning, Yates believes students need to be active participants in the way their education develops. Derek Yates joined on-stage by ustwo co-founder Matt ‘Mills’ Miller, on his right. "There's an equally important conversation to be had between students and educators. If you give students more responsibility and ask them what they think they can quickly show you what you can do better. They need to question and discover for themselves and we need to incorporate what they are learning into how their course design develops year on year. We need to trust our students more." "Working as part of an established institution has made me aware of the challenges that they face in terms of being agile," observes lecturer Alec Dudson. "It tends to mean that for the large part, further education is reactive rather than proactive, but at the end of the day, these are all now run as businesses. As such, the market will dictate how they evolve and if student intake drops, there'll be an industry-wide rethink." I think all practitioners have a responsibility to teach, to give back Craig Oldham Designer and educator Oldham feels the industry has a responsibility to safeguard its future. Believing that education needs to be more diverse in who it teaches and for what purposes, Oldham suggests that the industry needs to continue to educate once people are working. "I think all practitioners have a responsibility to teach, to give back, to expose those not in their position what it takes and undertakes," he says. "And I think students have a responsibility to engage themselves, set and answer questions and goals that they have thoroughly investigated." University degree alternatives Shillington ensures it is relevant to the creative industry by hiring only practising designers who are personable, eager to mentor and share their knowledge with the next generation. "Their expertise guides our curriculum, and their experience allows us to cultivate an authentic 'studio' classroom," explains UK Director Sarah McHugh. "Intensive courses are definitely shaking up education, and we're proud to be one of the original pioneers." Eleanor Robertson parted from a career in marketing and publicity to pursue her passion for design, enrolling on the full-time course at Shillington. Within a few months of graduating she secured a junior designer role at branding agency Paul Belford Ltd and hasn’t looked back. Shillington’s innovative approach to design education leads to students turning around industry standard briefs in a seriously short amount of time "One of the things that I enjoyed most about the course was the diversity of the students and the variety of their backgrounds, from fine art and furniture making to law and nutrition," Robertson reveals. "These different experiences meant that people's responses to the same brief were wildly different, which was very inspiring." In today's fast-paced world, it's entirely possible that university and intensive courses can actually work really well together, as McHugh attests: "many of our students have already completed degrees and/or worked in a wide variety of industries. Their previous experience and skills can actually benefit them at Shillington to up-skill or completely change their careers." Different experiences meant that people's responses to the same brief were wildly different Eleanor Robertson While not necessarily a comparable alternative to a university degree, Shillington has popularised short courses and industry training for those looking to enter the design industry, and it's an interesting avenue worthy of further exploration. "Shillington serves a different market, offers an interesting alternative and has a pretty damn impressive record when it comes to its graduates getting employed as full-time professional designers," says Dudson. “University has a lot to offer, but obviously it's a huge financial commitment. As long as universities aren't complacent and are mindful of the evolving needs of their students, I don't think they'll become redundant, though." Creating opportunities for students Launching Intern with the goal of making the creative industries more diverse, representative and inclusive, Dudson is passionate about providing opportunities to the next generation of creatives. "I started the project to provide a place where an open dialogue about creative careers could happen, as I was seeing far too many people either trapped in a cycle of unpaid internships, or locked out of potential careers because they simply couldn’t afford to keep working for free." Campaign for Stanley Kubrick’s retrospective at the BFI designed by Eleanor Robertson during her time at Shillington Joining the teaching staff at Leeds Arts University last year, Dudson was tasked with refreshing the professional practice module for the final year graphic design students. "Broadly speaking, my aim is to make students understand that there is no substitute for real client work and building genuine, exciting, multidisciplinary networks," he says. "I see a lot of positive, energetic and innovative approaches to ensuring that students are industry relevant, but this isn't something you can ever be content with as an institution." Responding to a brief to redesign an album cover using handmade methods, Robertson chose Aerial by Kate bush, taking inspiration from an anecdote about the singer Dudson has plans for a series of after-school or summer school programmes under the Intern brand, which focus on the professional practice element of the creative skillset. "There's a huge ecosystem of jobs in the creative industries around the assumed core of graphic design, photography and illustration. We absolutely should be encouraging students to explore these roles; universities and industry need to have a clear, transparent dialogue about the less glamorous roles," he says. Valuing creative ideas Nick Young heads up the Creative Advertising course at Leeds Arts University, focusing on the fundamentals of advertising. "We talk to them about the roles there are in an agency and let them find their own way. Most of them decide to be art directors or copywriters. Some become designers and some even go into strategy or client services. The ethos of our course is 'Ideas that work'." Third year students at Leeds, Ryan Morgan and Charlotte Bailey, secured a work placement at McCann Manchester. "We were thrown onto an ALDI brief immediately and quickly got a taste of what it was really like to work for a large, well respected agency," says Bailey. Technical skills are easy to pick up. But thinking of ideas is hard. Nick Young "At one point we ended up working our weekend on placement, which gave us insight into the reality of this industry," adds Morgan. "Everyone is so driven and committed and their priority is nailing the brief for the client, not because they're forced to but because they love it. It was really inspiring to be part of an environment full of talented and motivated people." Organised visits to agencies such as Mother, Ogilvy and Wieden+Kennedy are vital to the success of the course. "The best part about these visits is that you get to see inside a real agency and the hustle and bustle of it all," enthuses Bailey. "It inspires us to strive for opportunities; it's now our ultimate dream to work in New York." Riding high at the top of the Guardian League Table, Leeds Arts University has a reputation for delivering industry-savvy graduates, with an emphasis on studio visits, placements, industry speakers and live briefs. "We teach them how to think creatively," says Young. "Technical skills are easy to pick up. But thinking of ideas is hard. If you can come up with good ideas on demand, you will always be useful." Nurturing the next generation "Agencies need to understand with real sincerity the level of the person they are looking to engage with, what responsibilities they can delegate, and be realistic about how that fits into their working schedule," argues Oldham. "It's no use if they just want someone to come in and be a dogsbody, and then whinge because they require more investment in time than another experienced designer may – what do they expect?! Equally on the other side, the person coming in needs to understand they have to learn, they have to be patient, they have to be committed." Neil Bennett, strategy director at LOVE, recognises that there are many benefits to the gig economy if you are a creative; "Variety, lifestyle control, chance to work on personal projects and if you are very good it can be lucrative." Inside the studio of branding and ad agency LOVE Manchester, located in the heart of the city’s thriving creative quarter Bennett's role is about "connecting the dots between a client's business challenges, culture, and consumer insight; to help inspire and support the creation of the very best and effective creative work. But to make it work you need a combination of experience and something unique in your armoury – often this is a distinct style or craft." Education and industry are two separate things; nobody graduates from a degree in medicine and goes into surgery on day one. Will Hudson Hudson agrees, offering reassurance that nobody is expecting grads to be the finished article straight out of school. "I strongly believe the role of a studio is to help develop emerging talent. Education and industry are two separate things; nobody graduates from a degree in medicine and goes into surgery on day one." Employing a team of 31 full-time staff across It's Nice That, Anyways and Lecture in Progress, the HudsonBec Group offers a number of entry-level 10-week roles across editorial and creative, but admits it had to make changes. "We drew the line about five years ago where we changed the language around internship to junior freelance," says Hudson. Initially offered at National Minimum Wage, these roles are now paid at London Living Wage, which has led to a number of freelance roles joining the team full time, with around six of the current full-time staff coming through this process. "It has given us the opportunity to bring in a number of people over the years, often right at the start of their careers," reflects Hudson. "There is obviously a baseline skill level and competency relevant to any role, but we have always maintained we are looking for passionate young people, willing to learn, contribute to conversations, aware of the industry and world around them." For the lucky few that secure design jobs straight off the bat, there are hundreds who don't. Weeks can quickly turn into months as the job hunt labours on, and the pressure to earn money can weigh heavily on the shoulders of many. With the number of grads outnumbering demand from the industry year on year, taking a seemingly unrelated job could still work to your advantage in the short term. No matter your job, whether it's a career or stop-gap role, Craig Oldham argues that there's always something to learn from it "With every project, job, client, experience, there is always something of value to take from it," says Oldham. "I think it's important for every person to evaluate as much as they can on the outset of undertaking anything – what they want to get from it as an aim, and what they will definitely get from it as a reality." Having an idea of what you are doing something for, and why, beyond earning money can save a lot of pain down the line, or equally adds to the joy when things turn out better. "There can always be something you can take from any situation, be that a shit one or a great one", says Oldham. "My partner used to work in a shop while looking for work – but she saw this as an opportunity to write, get her new ideas out and her existing ideas developed. I'm not saying it's not hard – it is – but I feel there's always a hope and it's that which you've got to hang on to and work towards. But make it your own 'hope' not someone else's." Designing courses fit for the future Created by Jenny Theolin of Studio Theolin and illustrator Jessica Eriksson of Persikamy, Agency Dogs celebrates the office pooches of Stockholm’s creative agencies Designer and educator Jenny Theolin creates and delivers learning experiences for individuals, schools and businesses within areas such as technology, design thinking, creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship. Previously a teacher at Shillington and programme leader for Hyper Island’s MA in Digital Management in London and Stockholm, she now designs courses, programmes and workshops for Hyper Island Business, Berghs School of Communication as well as her own studio clients, helping individuals and organisations learn, grow and lead in a changing world. Designing a course called The Studio for the Digital Media Creative Programme at Hyper Island, Theolin teaches client relations, building teams and project management. “During six weeks the 50-plus students get to build their own studios and are assigned two real clients per studio to deliver on. Right in the middle, they have to drop everything and enter a 72-hour hack." The industry is very small, and it is much better to create long-lasting friendships than short-term dates. Jenny Theolin Like Yates, Theolin recognises the value of aligning courses with industry, to ensure students develop the flexibility and empathy needed to work with people. "Graphic design is a people's business," she continues, "you need to learn people skills and build relationships. The industry is very small, and it is much better to create long-lasting friendships than short-term dates." Using research to develop Building connections with studios such as ustwo, Sennep and Moving Brands, all of whom have set up research initiatives to ensure their commercial work is constantly evolving, Ravensbourne is able to feed insights from this into the development of its courses. “ustwo has a games division and a ventures floor, Sennep is also developing games and has an experimental lab creating Sennep Seeds, and Moving Brands has set up Gobi and Moving World," reveals Yates. "If you look at what they're doing, it's research. They are looking for ways to unearth new knowledge. Research is a necessary part of how our industry is developing." Yates suggests this could drive new opportunities for research related specifically to the creative disciplines. "I've always felt education needs to respond to its context," concludes Yates. "It needs to change and keep changing, because the world around it keeps on changing." This article was originally published in Computer Arts, the world's best-selling design magazine. Buy issue 281 or subscribe. Related articles: Nuggets of advice for fresh design graduates 5 top tips for graduate designers 6 trail-blazing design graduates you should know View the full article

Yesterday's report from Interbrand detailed the 100 Best Global Brands, with Apple and Google taking first and second place for the sixth year running. And while it's hardly surprising that these tech giants nabbed the top spots, what does the list tell us about what makes a good brand? We've pulled out some key takeaways from Interbrand's report, including the five key elements that make a good brand, and what smaller brands can do to emulate brand giants. 01. Be useful, and positive Spotify's personalised, shareable content, such as its users top songs, helps cement its place in users' lives The buzz-phrase here is 'positive utility' (yes, apparently 'buzz-phrase' is now a buzzword). This is a fancy way of saying that brands need to be both positive and useful for consumers to pay attention. The report says: "Leading brands are driven by their desire to be useful, to create products, tools and services that actually solve customer problems, and lead by serving and not just selling. They are driven by a clear sense of purpose, which is focused on making meaningful improvements in the world. And importantly, they do this on a day-to-day basis, constantly being at-hand and intertwined in their customers' lives." After all, if your product is useful, then people will interact with it on a day-to-day basis. Can you find a way to make your brand a part of your target audience's lives? Is what you're offering useful enough that this will feel natural, and not forced? If not, can you make it so? 02. Have a subscription mindset Adobe's switch to a subscription-only service in 2012 helped improve its brand value This year, 29 per cent of the total value of the top 100 brands is in subscriptions. Compare this to 18 per cent in 2009, and you'll see we have a growing trend. These days, it seems, access is more important than ownership. "Brands are winning by offering the most frictionless ways to leverage their products and services based on the personalised needs of their customers," says the report. And brands that weren't originally based on subscriptions are changing their business model to incorporate them. The obvious example is Netflix, which was this year's second fastest growing brand (after Amazon). Adobe has also ensured its place in the table (number 51, up 19 per cent on last year) by switching from one-off purchases to a subscription model in 2012. Its brand value has increased around 14 per cent annually ever since. A subs-first model might not work for all brands, but there is a lesson here. Think about how you can ensure your customers remain loyal. How can you engage your followers on social media? What's the best way to reward your loyal clients or customers? 03. Adapt to stay relevant Hermès' collaboration with Apple ensures it stays relevant The brands that experienced most stable growth over the last decade were those that scored highly on Interbrand's scales of relevance and responsiveness. These are the brands that put their customers' needs at the heart of their business, invest in "future-forward customer exploration" and "can flex and change to ensure that the brand constantly stays relevant". For example, to stay relevant, Hermès (32nd place on the list) has launched new products across multiple new categories, including perfume, food and even lighting, and collaborated with Apple to create an Apple Watch Hermès collection. What can creatives learn from this? Diversifying your revenue streams may be the way forward – if you can afford to experiment a little. Might it be worth trying something new? The best way to find out is, of course, to ask your followers or customers what they would like to see. Listen to what they say, and adapt. 04. Learn from luxury Samsung is providing Apple with competition with its luxury models Luxury was this year's best performing category, having grown 42 per cent. Luxury products involve a sense of "exclusiveness that comes from a unique or personalised service", and the category also includes premium experiences that deliver "emotional reward at every touchpoint and exceed customer expectations". According to the report, this sector has grown because of its responsiveness and willingness to adapt (do you see a trend here?). For example, Gucci (39 on the list) has tapped into a new market by implementing a "shadow committee of millennial employees". Luxury ideals have also seeped into the tech sector, with Samsung (number 6) shifting its model to include phones with designs and price points to match Apple. Its Samsung W2018 models costs more than $2,000, and buyers received perks such as concierge assistance and access to a VIP hotline. What can we learn from this? Every customer likes to feel special, so think about how you can create a sense of exclusivity and uniqueness in what you do, even if your products don't have a luxury price tag. This could be as simple as creating signed or personalised copies of your work – but not handing them out to everyone. 05. Make the brand key Nissan's focus on its core idea has paid off When what you're selling is similar to a lot of others, it's the brand that counts. "Brands that have worked to make their brands matter more than other customer decision criteria have seen substantial long term growth," says the report, giving the example of Starbucks (57 on the list), which has made it acceptable to pay more than $5 for a coffee, just because of its brand. How much the brand is a deciding factor does depend on the sector. For example, with cars, brand can matter around 30 per cent for mass market brands, and as much as 60 per cent at the luxury end. Nissan (number 40 on the list) has capitalised on this by focusing on communicating its core idea, and the overall Nissan customer experience. The best way for smaller brands to copy this idea is to make sure that all touchpoints convey the same, core idea. This makes the brand message loud and clear, and ensures that if customers are torn between your brand and another one, they'll choose you. Overall, if you want to create a successful brand, be clear, bold, and flexible to change. But don't change so much that your initial vision becomes lost. Read more: How to reawaken a brand's heritage How to choose the right typeface for a brand 20 iconic brands – and why they work View the full article

I started using Cinema 4D a few months after getting my VR headset a year ago. Up until then I'd been using Marmoset Toolbag for setting up my VR scenes, lighting them, adding atmosphere and so on. Pretty quickly I felt like I reached the limit of what Marmoset could do, as great a program as it is. I needed a program to handle animation, scene setup, advanced lighting, atmospherics and particles. The best VR headsets for 2018 My eyes quickly fell on Cinema 4D, a tool that I saw people praise for its ease of use and versatility. I'd been toying around with Octane standalone, and wanted to see how Octane and Cinema 4D would work with my VR sculpts. For those of you who don't know Octane already, it's a very fast renderer that gives you almost instant feedback on the changes you make to your scene. It's GPU-based and works with NVIDIA GPUs only. I have a NVIDIA 1080 Ti card that performs very well with Octane. In this Cinema 4D tutorial I'll take one of my VR sculpts and combine it with a VR 'drawing' from Quill, in Cinema 4D. I'll take you through how to set up a material that uses the colour information from your VR scene, and talk a bit about the various techniques I use to improve the VR output. None of the VR programs do rendering at the moment, so you'll have to look to external programs for that. The first part of the tutorial will very briefly describe the process of exporting and importing your models. The main focus of the tutorial will be on the work in Cinema 4D and OctaneRender. 01. Export and prepare the first model Keep your model as low-res as possible for easier UV'ing First I import the character I'll be using in my scene. I made a knight in Oculus Medium and exported the model at full resolution as a FBX file to retain layers. I import that FBX to ZBrush. In ZBrush, I make a low-res version of the model using a combination of Decimation Master and ZRemesher. I try to go as low-res as possible, for an easier time UV'ing. I then add UVs using UV Master. Remember to break your model up into polygroups in order to give UV Master an easier time. Once everything is UV'ed, I export a low-res version of the model, and a high-res for the texture-baking process. 02. Textures or Vertex paint? I could bypass the process in Step 1 by painting the model in Medium and then use the vertex colour information in Cinema 4D along with the high-res version of the mesh. I decided to do a proper texture pass though, for the higher fidelity it gives and for the added performance you get from using a low-poly mesh with normal maps. I use the Vertex Color workflow for the backdrop for the knight, and I'll go over that later in the tutorial. 03. Move to Substance Painter I import the low-res knight model to Substance Painter, bake maps using the high-res mesh and paint the model. The important thing here when exporting to Cinema 4D and OctaneRender is to select the PBR metallic export settings. That will export a Base Color map, Roughness Map, Metallic map and a Normal map. 04. Set up knight in C4D Import your model and activate the Live View I'll set up the knight in Cinema 4D first, save him and then set up the environment. I do the character and backdrop as separate pieces first, to get better overall performance while testing out material properties. In the File menu I choose Merge and import the low-poly FBX file. The layers of the FBX file appear in the Object Manager window in the upper-right corner of C4D. I rename layers if needed, select them all, right-click and group to keep things manageable. I open the Octane Live Viewer window through the Octane > Live Viewer Window menu item at the top of the C4D window. In the Live Viewer window, I click the small Octane logo in the top-left corner to activate the live view. 05. Let there be light! Add a light source to get a better view of your materials To better see the materials, I have to add a light source to the scene. There's several types to choose from in the Live Viewer window under Objects > Lights. I choose a daylight. This adds a Octane Daylight object in our Object Manager. I select this, and reposition the sun using the rotate tool in the main viewport. I also add a plane object from the command groups in the upper portion of C4D. I reposition the plane to match the feet of the knight. 06. Set up materials Once you've set up one material, the rest will be easy I'll go over setting up only one of the materials, since each will be the same process. I start with the shield and shoulder pads material. To set up a material from Substance Painter in OctaneRender, the easiest way is to open LiveDB under Materials in the Live Viewer. In here you'll find a large collection of preset materials and template materials like the ones for Substance Painter. The Substance template is under Materials > Misc > Substance PBR. There are a few materials that are named the same; pick the one that has some texture on it. Choosing this will give us a template with materials in the right slots, which means we can just replace those with our own. Easy! I right-click and select Download, and the material appears in the Materials tab under the main viewport. This actually consists of three materials: a Mix material, a Dielectric part and a Metallic part. 07. Use the node editor I double-click the Mix material, then click the Node Editor button. I open the folder I saved my textures in, and locate the ones for the shoulder pads and shield. Since I have five material sets, I use the search bar in the Explorer window to speed things up. Then it's just a matter of dragging the Base Color, Roughness, Metallic and Normal maps from the Explorer folder, directly into the Node Editor. 08. Replace materials This might look complicated, but you'll get the hang of it, probably I click the Base Color map I just imported, and copy its path from the Properties panel to the right in the Node Editor. Then I select the Albedo maps in the original Substance material, and paste the new path there. I do the same for the Roughness, Metallic and Normal maps. Once that's done, I can drag the Mix material from the Material Manager to the shoulder pads. I can drag it either to the object in the main viewport, or to the object in the Object Manager. The node layout is actually a lot less complicated than it looks. It's just a matter of replacing some file paths basically. I hope the process gets even simpler in future versions of Octane. 09. Inspect the result After setting up all of the materials and applying them to their objects, it's time to inspect the model. I use the Live Viewer for this and play around with the lights to see what the materials look like under different lighting conditions. Once I'm happy with the result, I save the scene. 10. Add rocks Get your rocks on I make some rocks in Oculus Medium, and take them through ZBrush for low-res/high-res and then through Substance Painter for textures. The workflow is exactly the same as that of the knight. 11. Save and import the backdrop With Quill you can make a backdrop like this in a couple of hours or so I make a new scene for the backdrop. I've exported the Quill file as an FBX file, which retains the layers and colours. Here's what the background looks like in Quill with flat, unlit colours. Quill is an amazing tool once you get comfortable with it. It's a very quick way to work, and this backdrop took roughly two hours to do and maybe an extra hour for the fairy character. Everything was made from scratch here. If you use the program a lot for nature scenes for example, you can make a library of plants and elements you could then reuse to make even quicker scenes. I recommend you check out Goro Fujita's Quill videos for more in-depth info on how Quill works. I choose Merge again from the File menu, and import my scene. 12. Organise Quill scene Nothing to see here, move along As you can see in the scene hierarchy, all layers from Quill are retained, and each layer has a symbol next to it with nine small dots. This is a Vertex Color Tag and indicates that the object contains vertex colour data. In the scene I've made I have a lot of layers, and I'd have to do a unique material for each to use the respective object's vertex information. Since most of the layers will have the same material properties, I merge them by selecting all leaves and grass in the hierarchy, right-clicking and selecting Connect Objects + Delete. This will also merge the vertex paint data, and I'll only have to make one material for each group. I then merge all three stems, all layers of the fairy (except the wings which will have a unique material) and so on. By doing this I end up with much fewer vertex colour materials than I'd have if I made one for each Quill layer. Now it's time to open the Live Viewer window and start it by pressing the Octane logo. Without lights or materials the scene doesn't look like much. 13. Position lighting Use the Live Viewer to work out the best lighting setup I add a daylight through the Objects > Lights menu in the Live Viewer. I reposition the light using the rotate tool. The Live Viewer gives me instant feedback on what my edits look like. I'm aiming for a sunrise mood in my scene, so I position the sun low on the horizon to the right, just beneath the branches of the tree with the skull. Once I'm satisfied with the position, it's time to add vertex colour to the elements of the scene. 14. Make a vertex colour material You can quickly add new materials in the Live Viewer In the Octane Live Viewer window, I select Materials > Diffuse Material. This will add a new material to the Material tab under the main viewport. I double-click this material and open the Node Editor. In here, there's a 'material box' that represents the new material. In the search bar above the node window, I type 'vertex' to filter out material types I don't need. I then drag out the Vertex Map box into the node window. I drag a node connection between the yellow dot in the corner of the vertex map and the empty circle next to diffuse. To get the vertex colours from the object to show up in the material, drag the Vertex Tag next to the object in the Object Manager, over to the Vertex Map slot in the material editor. I rename the material in the Material Manager to 'foliage', and drag the material onto the corresponding object in the scene hierarchy. In the Live Viewer window, I now see my scene come to life material by material. I repeat the vertex colour material process for each element. 15. Create an emissive material Don't be afraid of the spooky glowing skull For the magic glow coming from the skull in the tree, I want an emissive material to emit a red magic effect. So in the Live Viewer window, I choose Materials > Diffuse Material. I then open the new material from the Materials tab and click the Emissive category. Here I select Blackbody Emission which will make the material emit light. I then open the Texture tab, and set Power to around 2 and Temperature in the warm side of the spectrum, which is to the left on the Temp slider. While doing this I constantly check in the Live Viewer window in order to see if the result is as I expect. 16. Add distant mountains Add mountains as basic geometry rather than drawing them in Quill I felt like the scene needed some more depth, so I decided to add some mountains in the far distance. Instead of drawing those in Quill, I just add some quick geometry using the basic object function that you'll find in the top part of the C4D interface. I choose the Landscape function, which gives me a basic mountain that I can tweak and move into place using the position and scale tool. I duplicate this basic mountain multiple times, until I get the landscape I'm looking for. In the Object Properties for the landscape element, you can change the seed number for each mountain to make them unique. If you want the Live Viewer to use a fixed camera angle, to make sure your composition looks good while moving elements around, go to the Live Viewer, and under Options, uncheck Check Camera. 17. Include clouds The VDB Clouds Pack is a great way to add clouds To add some mood and depth to my scene, I decide to add some clouds. They will also help me separate the planes of the background elements. For this, I use the Objects > Octane VDB volume. VDB volumes are a way of storing volumetric data such as clouds or fire. I use a set of cloud VDBs called VDB Clouds Pack. The Octane VDB object appears in the Object Manager. In its properties, I choose a suiting VDB cloud in the file path. In this scene, the VDB volume is very small, so I have to scale it quite a lot for it to be seen. I make several copies and scale them between 300 and 1,000x in the object coord. settings. In the Medium settings in the object properties, I play around with the density of the VDB volume until I get a result I like – in this case, around 20. 18. Add the character Merge the knight with your scene; all the materials will be carried over Now that I'm happy with the overall look and mood of the scene, I import my knight model by choosing File > Merge and selecting the C4D scene I saved earlier. All the materials we set up for the knight will be imported along with him. The pivot point of the character is offset a bit, but that's easy to change in C4D. I press the Enable Axis button in the left toolbar and drag the pivot point to the middle of the knight. I use the transform tools to move him into place. I place him by the edge of the small forest, and I have him looking directly at the ominous burning skull. At the moment, the knight is totally unaware of the fairy who's looking at him from her hiding place behind a big rock. 19. Set up a camera To begin playing with camera settings and post-processing, I have to make a dedicated Octane camera for my scene. To do this, I click the Objects > Octane Camera menu item. This adds a camera to our Object Manager. Notice the little open white square with a cross in the middle next to the camera name? To activate the Octane camera, you need to press this symbol. Otherwise you won't see the changes you make in the camera settings. If you press the camera name, you'll see the standard C4D camera options. The only ones here that I use are the focal length, sensor width and focus object settings. The rest of the changes I'll be doing are under the Octane Camera Tag. Before going into detail about that process, I feel like the scene could use a bit more light. 20. Add more lights Don't forget the fairy lights I'd like to have a rim light around the knight to make him stand out more from the background. In the Live Viewer I click Objects > Lights > Octane Area Light and position the light behind the knight. I tweak the size of the light-emitting plane by pulling on the small orange dots at the top/bottom/sides. I make sure the light source is large enough for the light to 'wrap around' the character. I tweak the power of the light and the temperature until I get a result I like. I also add a light that shines on the road, one that adds more red light around the skull, and a blue light that illuminates the fairy's wings and surroundings. To hide the light emitter planes in the render, I go to Visibility under the Octane Light Tag and deselect Camera Visibility. 21. Post-process You can do all of your post-processing in Octane Camera Tag Post-processing can be performed in either the Octane Camera Tag, or in OctaneRender settings. I always do it in the Camera Tag since it's easier to access. If you had multiple cameras and were switching between those, it would perhaps make sense to do it through OctaneRender settings. I click the Octane Camera Tag next to my camera, and tweak the settings under Camera Imager and Post Processing. In Camera Imager I add a vignette effect, and in Post Processing I add bloom and glare to get a lens flare effect. 22. Render and final tweaks Go to Render > Edit Render Settings in the C4D top menu. In here I switch from Standard renderer to Octane Renderer. In the Output submenu, I choose the final render size. In the Octane Live Viewer window I switch from Chn: DL (direct lighting) to Chn: PT (path tracing), which takes longer to render but gives a better result. I hit Render > Render To Picture Viewer in the C4D top menu. Lastly, I take the final render through Photoshop and tweak curves, add a stronger blue glow to the fairy and tweak the overall appearance of the image. This article was originally published in issue 237 of 3D World, the world's best-selling magazine for CG artists. Subscribe to 3D World here. Related articles: How to bring a 2D character to life in VR 5 tips to improve your VR creations Convert a photo into a VR set View the full article

Like most recent years, this one's been a busy one when it comes to web design. Each month we've seen new tools and apps emerge and change the industry landscape. To help us all take stock, the team at Market Inspector have picked the brains of 40 experts and rounded up their findings in a handy infographic. Between them, the experts came up with 15 key trends that have shaped 2018 so far. Ranked in order of importance, this list covers chatbots, VR integration, video content and more. Which ones will continue into 2019? Only time will tell. Check out the infographic below. Click the infographic to read advice from the experts Do you agree with the experts? Or have they missed a crucial web design trend? If you're after extra information on each of these trends, the experts have shared more detailed insights over on the Market Inspector site. Breaking down each topic one by one, the minds behind the infographic give a reasoned look at why each trend was included. Bold colours and gradients appear to be the standout trend to take note of, while custom images and mobile designs continue to be important factors to consider. Virtual Reality is low on the list, but it's still worth taking note of. A lot can change in 12 months so who knows, perhaps it will be on the up in 2019. Related articles: The best online web design courses 15 great web design podcasts An essential guide to web design etiquette View the full article

Humans are visual creatures, and that's why strong visuals are important for helping the viewers of your website or readers of your blog stay engaged. If you don't have the time or know-how to create your own visual content, why not use ones that are ready made? The DesignShock Banner Template Bundle offers over 3,000 banners, giving you the ability to bring your website up a notch, without having to figure out how to use Photoshop. Each banner can be tailored to fit your needs, as the images, buttons, and text can all be edited. If you do know how to use Photoshop, you can tinker with the banner to further edit and customise the visuals. Try out the DesignShock Banner Template Bundle for just $14. Related articles: The best online web design courses 15 great web design podcasts An essential guide to web design etiquette View the full article

This article was originally published in 2017. Who doesn't want to go freelance? You get to set your own schedule, enjoy working from home in the comfort of your pyjamas, and possibly make more money than you would in conventional employment. What's more, you'll be able to complete those personal projects you've been putting off, right? Yeah, about that... Turns out the freelance life isn't the fast track to personal creative satisfaction that you might think it is. In this brilliant comic from Norwegian illustrator Cathrine Luzette, the circle of productivity despair many freelancers encounter is beautifully brought to life. 14 imaginative web comics to inspire you One minute freelancers are punching the air because they've finished their commission, the next they're in a panic as they try to score their next gig. It's a struggle we're sure lots of freelancers can relate to, but it's not often we see it illustrated so wonderfully as in Luzette's comic. Check it out below. Related articles: The freelance survival guide 20 tools that make freelancing easier 6 ways to collect payments as a freelancer View the full article

Five out of six name brand routers, such as Linksys, NETGEAR and D-Link, contain known open-source vulnerabilities. View the full article

Ever read a passage of text only to realise that you didn't take it in? It's a problem that affects a lot of readers, especially students cramming in exam season. To give text more traction and make it easier to remember, Melbourne-based researchers at RMIT University have created a fun font that makes reading harder. The appropriately named Sans Forgetica does this by taking advantage of "desirable difficulty". This line of thought argues that a small obstruction aids the learning process by forcing a person to create a memory trace. To make reading legible but also difficult, the Sans Forgetica typeface has been riddled with gaps and given a seven degree back slant. The result is a jarring font that requires an extra bit of effort on the reader's part. It only takes a fraction of a second longer to read, but Sans Forgetica already appears to be making a difference. Sans Forgetica co-creator Stephen Banham advises you read the typeface in small bursts As part of a study by the university, students noticed a small increase in memory retention when reading text in Sans Forgetica compared to Arial. The 400 participants were found to remember 57 per cent of Sans Fogetica text, and only 50 per cent when reading Arial. Despite the promising statistics, Sans Forgetica has limitations. Typography lecturer and Sans Forgetica co-creator Stephen Banham told The Guardian that the typeface is best suited to short passages. "You wouldn’t want novels printed in it, it would probably induce a headache." Sans Forgetica took six months to develop and went through three different iterations. With a promising study behind it, it's hoped that the typeface could also be used to aid proofreading. You can download this free font here. Related articles: Take a look at the world's most rubbish font Famous logos redesigned as fonts How to use web fonts View the full article

You're reading Meet Vivaldi 2.0: Faster, Safer and Personal, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! Vivaldi, created by Opera Software’s co-founder and former CEO Jon von Tetzchner, an Icelandic programmer and businessman, is the browser you are looking for: A fast, fun and strong contender to both long-established big names Firefox and Chrome. For sure, … View the full article

Around a year ago, news of Harvey Weinstein's history of misconduct broke. It sparked a new movement across social media, with women across the world expressing solidarity with the victims of sexual harassment and assault by tagging their stories #MeToo. Since then, the movement has snowballed. Award-winning data visualisation designer Valentina D'Efilippo decided to chart its development in an interactive infographic, entitled MeToomentum. "The genesis of this project was a rather simple question," she explains. "Can social media become a vehicle to foster social change, and help reshape traditional views?" The design includes information about the themes, geographical footprint and key moments. Users can click on different elements to read individual tweets and explore conversations surrounding them, or explore the timeline of events to see how the phenomenon developed. Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image It's a fascinating piece of data visualisation, not only in terms of content, but also in capturing how social media can define a phenomenon (D'Efilippo labels it 'the anatomy of a hashtag'). It focuses on the first six months of the movement, and analyses around 200,000 tweets from that time, gathered using the Twitter API. "When it came to outlining the visual structure, we were seeking a metaphor to reinforce some of the movements key characteristics – its complexity, its ability to spread and take hold, and its representation of both strength and fragility," she comments. They settled on a dandelion. "Often considered a weed – and certainly a pest to anyone pursuing the perfect green patch – the dandelion is renowned for its ability to spread and grow anywhere," she adds. "But from another angle, the dandelion is a beautiful and complex flower. One which has been used in popular culture to symbolise endurance, growth, and the possibility of change." Read more about how D'Efilippo created the MeToomentum infographic in this Medium post. Read more: Incredible tools for creating infographics Infographic: 14 design terms you might be getting wrong How to create amazing infographics View the full article

Full-frame cameras have a lot to offer the creative photographer, and they come in a wide range of shapes and sizes. To help you figure out which is the right model for you, we've rounded up our pick of the best full-frame cameras in a range of different categories. If you're not sure it's a full-frame camera you want, we also have a guide to the best camera for creatives. So what exactly is a full-frame camera, and why would you want one? Full-frame cameras can deliver a tighter depth of field than models with a crop sensor, which can be a major bonus in portraiture and still life photography. The fact that the image sensor has a physically larger surface area can be a key advantage in other ways as well. Manufacturers can cram extra megapixels onto the sensor, increasing the potential for capturing ultra-fine detail and texture. Alternatively, they can stick to a more modest megapixel count and increase the size of the actual photosites, which equate to pixels in the resulting image. Bigger photosites enable the camera to capture more light, which can result in less image noise when shooting at high ISO (sensitivity) settings. Many photographers still prefer conventional DLSRs, with their reflex mirrors and optical viewfinders. However, there's a growing range of mirrorless 'compact system cameras' on the market, with Sony offering a number of full-frame bodies and companion lenses in its lineup. Let's check out the best full-frame cameras on the market to suit your budget and specific requirements. With the notable exceptions of the 5DS and 5DS R, Canon's highly regarded EOS 5D series of cameras have never set the world alight in terms of megapixel count. True to form, the latest Mk IV weighs in with a 30.4MP image sensor, which turns out to be a very good compromise. It enables the camera to capture fine detail extremely well, while also maintaining very clean image quality at high ISO settings, along with a fairly fast 7fps maximum drive rate. The autofocus systems are excellent, with a 61-point phase-detection module for shooting stills through the viewfinder, and Dual Pixel AF for live view and movie capture, the latter of which is available at 4K UHD. Sony's latest flagship mirrorless camera packs a full-frame sensor and dual memory card slots into a typically small and lightweight package. The sensor itself might look unimpressive, with a 24.2 megapixel count, but it's a stacked CMOS device with onboard processing and memory. Advantages include low-noise image quality at very high ISO settings, and blistering continuous drive speeds of up to 20fps, complete with autofocus tracking. An electronic shutter is also on hand, to enable shutter speeds of up to 1/32000th of a second, so you can freeze even the fastest action. The electronic viewfinder is absolutely outstanding and the rear touchscreen is nice and clear, although it only has a tilt facility and lacks full articulation. For outright resolving power, the 45.4MP Nikon D850 clearly wins out against the 30.4MP Canon 5D Mk IV. And despite having 50 per cent more megapixels, it matches the Canon for maximum drive rate, at 7fps. The rear screen is also ultra-high-res, and very easy on the eye. As a pro-grade Nikon, it has a substantially different control layout to consumer-grade cameras like the D750. It's more like a scaled-down Nikon D5, without the built-in vertical grip. As such, it's reasonably small and lightweight for a pro-grade DSLR. The only real downside is that, for shooting under low lighting conditions at high ISO settings, image noise can be rather noticeable, especially compared with the likes of the Canon 5D Mk IV and the super-smooth Nikon D750. This is our pick for the best full-frame budget camera on the market. It took six years for the Mark II edition of Canon's 'enthusiast' level full-frame DSLR to topple the original 6D from its throne. It's been well worth the wait, as the main autofocus system gets a mighty upgrade from 11 AF points with only a single cross-type point, to 45 AF points, all of which are cross-type for greater accuracy. The sensor-based autofocus system for live view and movie capture gets an even bigger upgrade, with a dual pixel AF sensor that makes focusing massively faster. The maximum drive rate is 2fps faster at 6.5fps, and the new model features 5-axis stabilisation for movie capture. However, this isn't available for shooting stills, and movies themselves are limited to 1080p rather than 4K. Even so, the excellent fully articulated touchscreen will benefit those shooting movies as well as live view stills. What you see is what you get with this camera. The immensely detailed and super-sharp electronic viewfinder has crystal clarity, reflected in the ultra-high definition stills that are captured by the 42.4MP image sensor. 4K UHD movie capture is just as much of a treat, as the A9 delivers wonderfully sharp and detailed results, helped along by its 5-axis image stabiliser. Overall 4K movie quality beats that of any regular DSLR currently on the market, and you can boost resolution to 5K in 'Super 35mm' mode. Advanced functions to suit serious videographers include a clean HDMI output, zebra display, time code and slow/quick motion, to name but a few. Costing two-thirds of the price of the A7R III and little more than half the price of the A9, the A7 III is the most 'sensible' option for those hunting for the best full-frame camera for travel. There's no shortage of advanced features, including a back-illuminated image sensor that enables very clean high-ISO images (more so than in the A7R III), a fabulously fast and reliable hybrid autofocus system, speedy 10fps continuous stills shooting, and 4K video capture. With its small, lightweight build, it's eminently suitable for travel photography and, while the A9 and A7R III are also very travel-friendly, the A7 III edges ahead in terms of battery life, with up to 610 or 710 shots per charge, using the viewfinder or rear screen respectively. If you're going to be hitting the beach or engaging in adventurous activities on your travels, it's also nice not to be packing quite such an expensive camera. If you're after the best full-frame camera for sports or wildlife photography, look no further than the Canon EOS-1D X Mark II. Many pros love this DSLR simply for its handling characteristics. With a built-in vertical grip that fully duplicates all the important shooting controls, it feels equally natural to use in portrait or landscape orientation. The camera really comes into its own for action sports and wildlife photography where, for a DSLR at least, it delivers a super-fast continuous drive rate of 14fps, and as much as 16fps in live view mode. The 61-point autofocus system makes a spectacularly good job of keeping tabs on fast or erratically moving objects, with plentiful tracking options to choose from. The shooting speed is helped by the modest megapixel count of 20.2MP, but this also ensures relatively noise-free image quality when you need to shoot at very high ISO speeds, for example when freezing the wildlife action at twilight, or for indoor sports. Inspired by classic yesteryear Nikon 35mm stills cameras, the Df will appeal to photographers of a certain age or inclination. It has a plethora of hands-on, dedicated dials up on top, for adjusting shooting parameters like ISO, shutter speed and exposure compensation, as well as the usual shooting buttons and dials on the front and back. Based on the same image sensor and processor as the flagship D4 (which has now been superseded by the D5), the Df is also starting to look a bit retro in terms of its 16.2 megapixel count. An upside is that high-ISO images are fairly noise-free. A major downside for many modern photographers is that Nikon has taken the 'retro' theme to the extreme by stripping out any video capture facility from the camera. With a similar price tag to the Canon 6D Mark II, the older Nikon D750 almost matches it for megapixel count, with a 24.3MP sensor. The D750 is equally able to capture fine detail and texture but draws slightly ahead in minimising image noise at very high ISO settings. It's far better than the Nikon D850 in this respect, making the D750 a better proposition for shooting indoors or under very low lighting without resorting to flash. This can be a particular plus point for wedding photographers and others needing to shoot indoor events. Another upside for capturing important, unrepeatable events is that, unlike the Canon 6D Mark II, the D750 has dual memory card slots, so you can create instant backups of every shot you take, on separate cards. With a keen eye for detail, the K-1 Mark II has a 36MP image sensor with no anti-alias filter, and can deploy its 5-axis sensor-shift image stabiliser in a variety of ways. For starters, it can reduce camera-shake in handheld shooting with up to 5-stop efficiency. There are also tripod and handheld modes for shifting pixels between successive shots, to enhance the capture of ultra-fine detail. For shooting the night sky, there's a more intriguing 'Astrotracer' mode. This employs the camera's internal GPS module and electronic compass for astrophotography. The latitudinal position on the globe, plus its direction and horizontal/vertical tilt are all measured automatically. Calculations are performed and the image stabiliser shifts the sensor throughout the exposure. This effectively tracks the movement of the moon, stars and other celestial bodies, so that they don't blur or appear to streak through the night sky. View the full article

The common concerns of photographers have been addressed by Adobe today with the launch of Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements 2019. Packed with new editing functions, guided tutorials and a refreshed layout, the updates to the affordable photo editor are perfectly pitched at its user-base of beginner and hobbyist photographers. Powered by Adobe Sensei, which earlier this year gave Photoshop CC users the ability to detect objects in a click, the Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements updates focus on streamlining the apps' usability and making enhancements easier to discover and use. The first change users will notice is the Elements Home Screen, which has been specially designed to surface information on what's new since the last version. It also highlights content tailored towards each user's level of expertise, making it easier for people to expand their skill set. Photo collages and video slideshows can be created automatically from the Home Screen with the help of Adobe Sensei. These updates to Adobe Photoshop Elements 2019 – surely designed with the Instagram generation in mind – allow photographers to customise their collages in just a few clicks. HEIF support has also been added. Tools and advice are conveniently presented on the Adobe Photoshop Elements 2019 homescreen Other features enable users to turn photos into text art, sketches, and even memes. And with the use of 53 step-by-step photo editing guides, common edits, such as boosting a certain colour or changing the background, are now accessible to all. Meanwhile, over on Premiere Elements 2019, the redesigned Quick Edit mode provides a user-friendly and, as its name suggests, quick, way to find and trim a user's best footage. New overlay effects top off the release, including a glass effect and a bold Luma fade transition, and there's also VFR, HEIF and HEVC support. While some of the advice and edits in this launch might appear basic to advanced Photoshop users, it's always good to see a release that makes it easy for beginners to get started. And with a more intuitive display guiding you through the tools, this comparatively affordable release is sure to be a welcome upgrade for existing users, and a tempting offer to those new to the world of Photoshop. Related articles: Review: Photoshop Elements 15 The 5 best laptops for photo editing in 2018 The best computers for video editing in 2018 View the full article

When concepting creatures in ZBrush, presenting your idea as a greyscale, unposed piece of 3D art can make it hard for an audience to realise your vision. 5 tips for sculpting in double-quick time Equally when using Photoshop CC, it might take you some time to achieve a three-dimensional feel to your design. So in this workshop, I'll walk through how to combine both tools to turn a loose concept into a fully realised idea, playing to both programs' strengths. Watch the video and follow my process below. A basic understanding of ZBrush is necessary, but only the basics because we won't need to use any advanced techniques or workarounds. Essentially, I'll be using ZBrush to block out a design with ZSpheres, shape it and render some coloured and lit images, and then composite those together in Photoshop. I'll then use a range of surface samples to bring that design to life, adding skin surface, lighting effects, and a textured environment. It's a great quick way to present a concept for an idea, without having to take it through a complete 3D pipeline. 01. Start ZSpheres block-out Quickly sketch out your character using ZSpheres I like to use ZSpheres to rough out the entirety of my character as a first block. It gives me a better sense of the whole shape, and forces me to focus on areas of the sculpt other than the head, which is the clear temptation. In this case, my idea is to create a kind of magical forest hare. 02. Make rough concept Use the Clay buildup brush to rough out your concept in more detail Mostly I'm just using the Clay buildup brush to roughly shape the concept. The aim is not to be bogged down with making it look good – it doesn't. I just want to brainstorm an idea. I want to make the ears look like leaves, and I'm trying out an idea where his skin would imitate bark, and possibly have mushrooms growing on it. My inspiration for this are the faerie-like creatures from Guillermo del Toro's films, such as Pan's Labyrinth. 03. Paintover in Photoshop Take your rough model into Photoshop to define it further After about 30 minutes or so I take a screen grab of my loose idea and bring it into Photoshop. Here I can eliminate the weakest areas, and sketch up areas that I want to change or develop further. I'm going to eliminate the mushroom idea, and focus on the four leaf-like ears as the defining characteristic of this creature. 04. Use ZSpheres for new build Now start a new build and block it out with ZSPheres, using your paintover as a guide I'm starting from ZSpheres again to block out the main build. This time I'll load in the paintover as an image plane and use it to line my concept up. It's worth taking your time to get the base shape right with the ZSpheres, because it'll save you from having to retopologise or dynamesh the mesh multiple times later. 05. Create a basic sculpt of the creature Start working your build into a more detailed sculpt Using my paintover as a guide, I can quickly block in the larger forms of my creature. I'm primarily using Clay buildup, Move and Dam standard brushes for this. I also use the Mask function by holding down Ctrl to isolate specific areas such as the nails. To create the eyeball, I use the Insert Sphere tool and then separate it to a separate sub-tool. 06. Polypaint the forest creature Use ZBrush's Spotty and Veiny alpha maps to give your character's skin a mottled look To create a basic skin tone for my creature I set the material to SkinShade 4, and flood the colour with a bright orange. I then place an inverse mask on the cavity to darken up the recesses, and use a combination of ZBrush's default Spotty and Veiny alpha maps to create a distinctive mottled pattern to the skin using red, yellow and brown tones. 07. Light the scene and vary the background Try out a variety of backgrounds to see what works best I want to ensure I get the lighting direction correct when I comp this into my background, so I bring in a number of different background options as image planes, to see what works. My lighting setup is basic: I have my main light and a rim. I'll create everything else in Photoshop. 08. Pose the figure to convey an emotion Experiment with your creature's pose to try and convey its personality Once I'm happy with the lighting and general concept, I quickly alter the pose to be less symmetrical. I do this using Masks and the Transpose tool, to mask out the limbs, head and torso, then rotate it into a more interesting position. I'm trying to create the impression that this creature is coming out of hiding, and is a little timid or curious. The pose is a great way to convey this to the viewer. 09. Render the woodland beast Export the shadow, ambient occlusion, depth, sub surface and a mask as separate passes I'm rendering in Preview Quality mode, which is the default setting. First I render out my basic shaded/lit image, by pressing the BPR button and exporting the document. Then, using only the main light, I reposition it to render out light information as separate passes from the left, right, top and bottom. Finally, from the Render menu and BPR RenderPass options, I export out the shadow, ambient occlusion, depth, sub surface and a mask as separate passes – all in PDF format. 10. Assemble the renders in Photoshop Take your passes to Photoshop and stack them as separate layers To assemble all your passes, simply stack them as layers in one document in Photoshop. I then convert all my lighting passes to Screen mode and adjust the Opacity to decide how much directional light I want on my creature. This creates a 'cheated' global illumination look. I also add in my shadow pass on a Multiply layer and use the mask I've create on the group folder of all my passes. This means I can work on my creature and background separately. 11. Add texture to skin surface Try an assortment of images to create a good skin texture I've assembled a bunch of images to try on his skin surface to add a little noise. The first one I want to apply is an actual leaf texture, so he has the sense of being crafted from nature. I'm also applying some elephant skin along his arms, and some heavy leaf detail to the ears. 12. Alter the background to suit the character If your background isn't working, bring in a new one I don't like my current background image. I want the environment to appear wilder and more magical. The colours are great though, so I blend in other autumn woodland scenes to fill in the blank spaces between the trees, then add some foreground elements. 13. Add filters/vignettes Gradients and vignettes will help tone your image and add focus Gradients and vignettes can frame your work nicely, I use these as Overlay layers to focus the lighting on the character in the middle of the image. I'm going to use a vignette with oranges and circles to give a subtle magical tone to the background, and also a vertical gradient to darken the edges of my images. This helps to place the focus to the character in the middle. 14. Final environment touches A few final touches and you're good to go In order to sit my character comfortably in the environment, I duplicate the group, merge it and then blur the image. I then apply this as a layer mask and try to match the focus of the background image. I'm also painting in straw and moss at his feet to blend with the foreground image, and faking a little shadow underneath him. Now my creature concept is ready for his close-up! This article was originally published in issue 162 of ImagineFX, the world's best-selling magazine for digital artists. Buy issue 162 here or subscribe to ImagineFX here. Related articles: Sculpt realistic anatomy in ZBrush How to sculpt a 3D-printed goblin The 38 best Photoshop plugins View the full article

Behind every app you use is an elegant UX design. Though an app may seem simple, there are teams of experienced product designers that prototype, test, and execute in order to make it usable. The UI & UX Design Bootcamp covers a range of topics that most UX and UI designers will face in the real world. You’ll learn how to build a UX strategy, create a project from start to finish, and how to interview users to analyse results. Additionally, you’ll learn how to rapidly prototype a stock market app and gain useful programming skills along the way. For just $39, 96 per cent less than the list price, you’ll learn these useful skills and more, and be well on your well to becoming a professional UX designer. Related articles: Add UI animations to your site Create slick UI animations The pro's guide to UI design View the full article

“I don’t know if IDEO could have saved the American auto industry, but we would have started with foam core and a hot glue gun.” This is one Tim Brown’s more flippant quotes, but it does give you a quick snapshot of what design thinking – one of the pervasive buzzwords in the creative industries – is all about. You can just picture IDEO’s CEO and his team sketching, sticking things together, and crafting dozens of different cars, roads, robots and factories with the aim of getting Detroit back on track. It could even work, who knows? Tim Brown's book explores the concept of design thinking The line comes from Brown’s book, Change by Design, which explains the concept of design thinking in somewhat more sober detail as well: “Design thinking is a human-centred approach to innovation that draws from the designer's toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success.” Imagine using your design skills to improve the provision of healthcare, revolutionise agriculture or change how schools teach IDEO, with Tim Brown at the helm, has helped make design thinking one of the most relevant and compelling concepts, not just in the creative industries, but across the economy. It’s an exciting idea that is being embraced in just about every sector, and gives creatives every reason to be optimistic. Sure, the skills you’ve learned as a designer can be used to create a new logo, brochure, website or ad campaign. But just imagine using them to improve the provision of healthcare, revolutionise agriculture or change how schools teach. IDEO has worked in all of these areas, and one of Tim Brown’s projects is a guide to designing for the circular economy. It’s worth checking out. Iterate wildly Coming from a product design background, IDEO began laying the groundwork over 25 years ago. Today the company runs shoulder-to-shoulder with dozens of other big creative outfits that all embrace similar ideas. During his time as CEO at Wolff Olins, Ije Nwokorie (who is now senior director at Apple) helped make design thinking part of the branding agency’s core practice. For him, it consists of three elements: exploration, hypothesis and creation. Ije Nwokorie helped put design thinking at the core of Wolff Olins’ practice “It has to have exploration, so you’re going to have to go out and understand people who are not you. It has all the techniques of ethnography, of people-watching and so forth,” he explains. “The second thing is that it believes the past is only useful for stimulus and inspiration, but the answer is going to be something we’ve never seen before. Therefore it has to be hypothesis-led and iterative in nature. You don’t say one plus one equals two, you say: Here are 18 ways we can solve this problem, let’s put them out there, let’s test, let’s iterate and let’s make them better and let’s find one solution.” The past is only useful for stimulus and inspiration, but the answer is going to be something we’ve never seen before Ije Nwokorie He continues: “And then the final thing is that design thinking says those things have to be designed. The design bit of it means that we need to use the fundamental tools of design to solve those problems. What are the tools of design? They are form and shape and movement and time – and that we have to craft something that is different from anything that has ever existed before.” Branding a language An example he cites from Wolff OIin's repertoire is branding dotdot, Zigbee’s open source language that Internet of Things devices use to communicate with one another. The branding is actually derived from the code and is very simple. It’s made up of these three keystrokes :|| and can represent a fridge that orders your milk or a dryer that knows how wet the laundry is because the washing machine has told it. And while the whizzy bits in your kitchen talk to each other, the branding tells consumers that compatible appliances can have a conversation. Which in itself begins a conversation… Wolff Olins created the branding for dotdot, an open source language for the Internet of Things How is communicating this notion an example of design thinking? Nwokorie explains: “If you take the problem as, ‘How do I communicate the Internet of Things?’ you would come up with a different solution than ‘How do I solve the problem that people don’t quite understand that these things work together?’ The visual language comes from a piece of code. It’s two dots and two slashes, but that’s also the branding. It communicates and it’s iconic and it stands out, but its fundamental purpose is to solve the problem of ‘How can we help people think about and build things that work together?’” Perhaps one of the reasons design thinking is so prominent today is that communication, the sharing of information online and social media have become such powerful forces in today’s society. Designing something that can be understood intuitively, easily and naturally is one of the greatest goals of design thinking – the design itself communicates its purpose. More than a feeling Next to that comes the experience of using or consuming what has been designed. Lippincott is a design consultancy that does a lot of branding, believing that design thinking extends from how a business is run through to how its customers experience it. Legal, compliance, HR, marketing, manufacturing – anything a client does can be improved with design thinking. But whatever the touchpoint, emotion is a key ingredient. Lippincott’s Lee Coomber argues that design thinking will enable design to become more influential “Design thinking should be a 360-degree activity, incorporating all aspects of the business or brand but keeping the customer at the heart of the process. The task is to create something that has great utility, yet is beautiful at the same time. These two elements married together create an emotional bond with the customer,” explains Lee Coomber, creative director at Lippincott. Design is to business what evolution is to nature; it enables brands to change and survive Lee Coomber After all, it’s because of aesthetics and not just practicalities that designers will be involved. He continues: “Design is to business what evolution is to nature; it enables brands to change and survive. At a time when so much of our lives is going to change as a result of advances in technology, designers need to make the world not only work better, but be beautiful as well. "Design thinking can allow design to be more influential, less visual and more a means of opening up opportunities for businesses by building holistic experiences and emotional bonds.” Design for all It’s not just the big players like IDEO, Wolff Olins or Lippincott that are inspired by design thinking. Many design studios and boutique agencies are fully on board. APFEL (A Practice for Everyday Life) is based in London and has a core tenet of design thinking built into its name. “For us, ‘design thinking’ is really just a catchy term for the range of methods and approaches that we put into practice within our everyday lives – for navigating the world around us, learning and developing, and experimenting. We approach design projects and problem-solving in a way that feels instinctive, starting with research and investigation, conversation with the people involved, testing ideas, considering different contexts, and responding to feedback,” says co-founder Kirsty Carter. The studio worked with Mae Architects on MyHouse, an affordable housing project that enabled buyers to design their new home using a set of predefined components: slot this kitchen onto that dining room… oh, and let’s have a downstairs loo. APFEL needed a design that didn’t rely on photographs of finished houses “Mae’s work on the project is an example of design thinking in practice: it identified an important area of need, and considered the challenges faced both by potential buyers and by construction companies,” says Emma Thomas, APFEL's other co-founder. “Using this information and research, it collaborated directly with a fabricator to come up with a model that would offer the flexibility that makes self-build housing so attractive, whilst removing the need for buyers to manage the design and building process themselves. “Our role was to help Mae create a public face for the project, to make it accessible and appealing to their target audience. We needed to convey the possibilities that MyHouse offered, in the absence of any images of the finished houses, which were still in development at the time.” Counterculture and free tacos Over in Toronto, the advertising agency OneMethod employed design thinking so effectively at a self-promotional pop-up event that it ended up founding a restaurant. If you went to the event and bought a piece of art by one of OneMethod’s creatives, you received three free tacos. The experience was so authentic, visitors demanded the company set up a permanent taco restaurant and now OneMethod runs two La Carnita locations. Plus, it still does ad campaigns for clients. For another Toronto studio, Blok, design thinking is about expanding the parameters of a problem and finding the less obvious solutions to explore. “It is honing our intuition and our nonlinear thinking in order to explore openly, flowing between the simple and the complex in order to rethink the parameters themselves. It is not simply about what we do but how we think and what is necessary to make it happen. Every project we work on begins and ends with this process. It is our means to mining depth and finding the authenticity from within,” says founder Vanessa Eckstein. It’s an approach the studio used when asked to design an issue of Wayward Arts magazine devoted to the topic of ‘counterculture’. The creative wall – analogous to Tim Brown’s foam core – was a key part of the toolkit as the magazine was developed. Blok’s design for a magazine devoted to ‘counterculture’ “Counterculture is so much part of our DNA that we spent six months researching expansively and putting what we found up on our creative wall – where everything flows and lives – moving images and words, poems and historical timelines up and down, looking for those un-obvious but provocative connections to reveal themselves,” says Eckstein. Consulting the cultural anthropologist Dr Bob Deutsch, Blok brainstormed around the idea of what culture and what the opposition, duality, tension and contradiction of a counterculture really mean, then explored imagery and ideas in juxtaposition with one another. The outcome was a magazine surprisingly close to how the studio might express its own identity. Butcombe Brewery A final example to check out comes from Halo’s rebrand of Butcombe Brewery in Bristol. As well as giving the brewery and its six main products a new identity, Halo suggested the company create a special range for the craft beer market, came up with the ‘78’ branding and worked with the brewery on 12 concept ales celebrating 1978 – the year Butcombe was founded. While rebranding Butcombe Brewery, Halo suggested this special craft beer range Butcombe is now producing a new beer each month because Halo showed them how to reach a new market, proving that design thinking can be an irresistible force in marketing. No limits? Design thinking is such a powerful concept that it is replacing other methods of running companies. As design thinking becomes the buzzword of the 21st century, management consultants and management thinking are seen as a relic of the last century. Huge corporations like IBM, Procter & Gamble, Marriott Hotels and Fidelity are integrating design thinking with their internal processes. However, when anything becomes part of a process, initiative can be stifled. Alongside design thinking we also have to make sure we’re talking about wild imagination, radical ambition, and sometimes magic Ije Nwokorie No matter how hard you sit down and try to be a design thinker in the boardroom, having fun, playing, splashing paint, going crazy and just plain winging it are aspects of creativity that you can’t build into a formalised process. When design thinking becomes a process, we end up iterating on and optimising existing designs rather than coming up with radical new ones. “Think of design as an entirely rational discipline, and that it can’t afford to be otherwise, and we’ll end up merely optimising everything as opposed to having an optimistic and imaginative view of the future,” says Nwokorie. “Alongside design thinking we also have to make sure we’re talking about wild imagination, radical ambition, and sometimes magic. Those things don’t quite live comfortably in the way design thinking is defined in many organisations.” Related articles: Creative card game will improve your design thinking 10 ways to transform your creative thinking How to design a book: the creative's guide View the full article

You're reading Big Changes in Sketch 52: New UI, Data and Dark Mode, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! Refreshing news for designers – Sketch 52 is released and many bugs are fixed! Simultaneously, there over 50 enhancements, while 4 improvements are definitely in the focus of the audience since the app was updated and launched. Let´s see what … View the full article

This issue, along with our usual reviews, inspiration and regular Q and A sections, we review Blackmagic Design's eGPU, teach you how to create monstrous machinery with Cinema 4D, and look at Gravity Sketch and GSG Light Kit Pro. Buy 3D World 240 today We take a look inside the issue to find out what else is in store... Feature: Be a better pro! Get expert insight into being a better pro artist We talk to a group of seasoned pro artists to get their thoughts and tips on what has made them successful. Spoiler: It's not all about staying creative but about dealing with clients, time management, and so much more. Feature: VFX of The Meg Plumb the depths of this aquatic VFX masterpiece In this feature we talk to the team behind the visual effects of The Meg, looking at their approach to not just the implementation but the design decisions behind creating such an epic monster. Training: Create a stunning sci-fi scene Use 3ds Max to create realistic otherworldly scenes In this in-depth step by step tutorial, Oscar Juarez shows you how to use 3ds Max and Photoshop CC to create sweeping sci-fi vistas. Learn how to model, texture and light a scene, as well as use existing assets to populate your scene and tweak your renders in Photoshop. Training: Make monstrous machines with Cinema 4D Make large scale industrial models with CAD data Creating industrial machines that are so detailed and of such a large size can appear daunting, but in this tutorial you'll learn the secrets to success, from using CAD data inside Cinema 4D to rendering using Octane. Training: Use Marmoset in VR In this tutorial our expert VR artist, Martin Nebelong, shows you how to take Marmoset into a VR project, expanding your toolset Training: Create a destroyed pier Master hollywood-style destruction VFX This tutorial will guide you, step-by-step, in the making of realistic destruction simulation, using 3ds Max, V-Ray and Rayfire. Buy 3D World 240 or subscribe to 3D World. Read more: How to model concept art in C4D Top 40 free textures to download today 6 expert tips for better renders View the full article

For the 19th year, Interbrand has rated the world's top 100 brands in terms of their brand value, and it isn't all that hard to guess who's come out on top, nor that it's not all about a brand's logo design. Last year's Best Global Brand was Apple, valued at $184,154 million, with Google and Microsoft taking places two and three, valued at $141, 703 million and $79,999 million, respectively. And this year, it's pretty much business as usual. Although there are a few surprises within the list, and some interesting insight that can be gleaned from the results. The world's top three brands Continuing its reign as the world's number one brand, Apple is number one yet again, and is this year valued at $214,480 million, a tidy increase of 16 per cent on last year. And while Google takes the number two spot, growing 10 per cent on last year, it's Amazon that takes the prize for top growing brand. With a whopping 56 per cent increase on its brand value, Amazon has made it to number three in the charts (at $100,764 million), knocking Microsoft down to fourth place ($92,715 million) – even though it increased 16 per cent. This year's winners and losers Considering that Facebook owns WhatsApp and Instagram, its brand value drop may surprise some Notable entries to the list include Spotify, which joins this list at a modest 92nd place (and a not-so-modest $5,176 million value), and Japan's Subaru, which snuck in at number 100 (valued at $4,214 million). Some brands that dropped off the list last year have also made a reappearance –Chanel made a stark comeback at (number 23), Hennessy at 98, and Nintendo at 99. However, the year hasn't been so good for brands such as Tesla, Smirnoff and Thomson Reuters, who all dropped off the list. And while Facebook is still clinging to the top ten, at number 9 (last year it was number 8), its brand value is declining by 6 per cent. Six per cent may not seem like much, but we're talking about huge amounts of money here, and when you considering that last year it had grown by 48 per cent, things aren't looking rosy for the social media giant. We like luxury, and subscriptions Just five sectors made up over half of this year's best global brands: automotive (16), technology (13), financial services (12), luxury (9) and FMCG (9), but the sector that's growing the most is luxury, which has increased 42 per cent, knocking last year's retail category down to second place (36 per cent). This is good news if you're working in any of the above categories, but don't panic if your brands are more of the everyday use variety. The entry of brands such as Spotify and Netflix (another new entry in at 66, which has grown 45% on last year), as well as King Amazon, suggests that personalised services that play a big role in our lives are on the up. See below for the full list of brands. Click the top-right corner to enlarge the image What does it all mean? At a time when trust in brands is at an all-time low, and where their every move is analysed on social media, this report suggests that it's the brands that are unafraid to make bold iconic moves that come out on top. That's moves like messing with a much-loved product's features (see Apple's iPhone X), disrupting new markets (hi, Amazon), or being quick to create new versions of other companies' success stories (Google Play, anyone?). According to Interbrand's report, this year's theme is Activating Brave – meaning that brands are "harnessing the ability to take bold short-term action that responds to the needs of the marketplace while pursuing a clear and aligned long-term vision." “A decade after the global financial crisis, the brands that are growing fastest are those that intuitively understand their customers and make brave iconic moves that delight and deliver in new ways,” said Charles Trevail, global chief executive officer of Interbrand. And Activating Brave certainly pays off, as this year's brands have a combined value of more than two trillion dollars, which is 7.7 per cent higher than last year. For more information, and to see the full report, visit Interbrand's website. Read more: 10 iconic logos hilariously drawn from memory 20 iconic brands, and why they work The secrets to building a world-class brand View the full article

Systems Center Updates Publisher (SCUP) has been around with limited success since 2011, but is getting the spotlight thanks to integration in the latest releases of System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM). It allows you to push patches right from within SCCM, but with many limitations: It requires a SCUP catalog. Adobe has one and so do some hardware vendors, but Microsoft is not in the business of providing any third-party patch content and has no intentions of doing so. There is no criticality or other data on which to prioritize your patching efforts Patches cannot be customized (suppressing reboots, disabling automatic updates, etc.) It does not distinguish between feature and security updates More importantly, it does not provide insight into anything not listed in the catalog If you have a catalog of 50 applications that match your needs and manage to get them all patched, you are left with a very false sense of security because you do not know about anything else. On the contrary, Software Vulnerability Manager offers the ability to detect over 20,000 applications and and helps you measure your device’s vulnerability status against them all. Free SCUP catalogs will not get you more than a handful of patches that overlap with your organization’s software portfolio. If you pay for a third-party SCUP catalog, you can get more but it will never be more than a small fraction of the applications that affect your environment. Software Vulnerability Manager for example, provides dozens of out-of-the-box, tested and easily configurable patches but does not expose them via SCUP due to the many limitations listed above. It can be compelling to think you might just get out of having to create your own patches if only you had a big catalog. If you are willing to live with the inability to customize such patches, you can indeed get to a place where you may create less packages. But there simply isn’t such a thing as a patch catalog that will provide enough coverage to get you out of creating patches of your own. Flexera offers the industry leading AdminStudio solution to help you create custom patches quickly, easily and with the least amount of risk. The key issue with the catalog approach is that the catalog is all you know about– you only get awareness of your patch status against what is in the catalog. Without a comprehensive solution like Software Vulnerability Manager, getting insight into what applications need to be patched can be an insurmountable challenge. Having access to a database several times larger than the largest catalog with details about the vulnerabilities in question (like attack vector or criticality rating) so you can prioritize effectively (and even automate remediation) can help you to address what is most important quickly and dramatically reduce the risk of unpatched software in your organization. Source View the full article

Microsoft has revealed a new supercharged Surface Pro 6 and Surface Laptop 2 as the battle to create the best devices continues. The company also unveiled a much-needed upgrade to its Surface Studio 2 desktop and new Surface headphones at its recent big product launch in New York. The best Microsoft Surface deals in 2018 The best laptops for graphic design in 2018 News of the Surface Book Pro 6, especially, will be welcomed by creatives on the hunt for a powerful and flexible alternative to the MacBook Pro. As our Microsoft Surface Book 2 review revealed, these devices have been designed as a do-anything machines with both ultimate versatility and swashbuckling power. Beautiful inside and out The new Surface Pro 6 comes complete with Intel's 8th-generation Core processors Harnessing a new kind of power, the Surface Pro 6 and Surface Laptop 2 now come complete with Intel's 8th-generation Core processors to match competitors such as Apple’s MacBook Pros, meaning a 67 and 85 per cent increase in speed respectively. Battery life is also on the up, with the Surface Laptop 2 now boasting 14.5 hours and the Surface Pro 6 maintaining a solid 13.5 hours on a single charge. Microsoft has focussed its efforts very much under the hood with the Surface Pro 6. Maintaining its part-tablet, part-laptop functionality, the new model, available in black and platinum, looks largely the same to the naked eye. The Surface Pro starts at £749, which makes it a great option to those creatives who need to compromise slightly on budget but not power. The Surface Laptop 2, however, has undergone a noticeable makeover, sporting a new touchscreen and thinner than ever LCD display. This is also the quietest model, with the keyboard covered in Microsoft's signature Alcantara fabric, and there's new new colour options too for the Surface Laptop 2, now available in black, burgundy, platinum and blue. Pricing for the Surface Laptop 2 starts at £949, with both models available to preorder now. The new thinner than ever Surface Laptop 2 is a thing of beauty Surface Studio 2 Microsoft has updated its all-in-one PC with a large 28in articulating screen Also among Microsoft's announcements was the exciting news of its Surface Studio 2, the first major update to its desktop PC, which we first saw back in 2016. Features of the Surface Studio 2 include 50 percent more graphics performance, a 28-inch display which is reportedly 38 percent brighter and has 22 percent more contrast than the original model. Microsoft have seemingly gone all out with this device, including a brand new Surface Pen with tilt function and Surface Dial controller with haptic feedback. The Surface Studio 2 is available for pre-order now, expected to ship 15 November, and priced at $3,499. Easy listening The Surface Headphones are expected to be released in time for Christmas Computers weren't the only hardware on the menu at Microsoft's product launch, with the unveiling of its Surface Headphones. Complete with noise cancellation, automatic pause and play and Microsoft's digital assistant Cortana, these wireless headphones not only offer excellent sound quality, they can also read you emails, or kick off your conference call. The Surface Headphones are expected to be released later this year, firstly in the US at $350, before heading across the pond to the UK in time for Christmas. To add to this extensive list of updates Microsoft also announced that the Windows 10 October update will arriving for users later this month. View the full article