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No conversation about branding in the digital age is complete without Instagram. This social media platform makes for a powerful branding tool, and that's what Postable Instagram Automation Charlie Plan: Lifetime Subscription aims to capitalise on. Designed with bloggers, marketers, and entrepreneurs in mind, this Instagram automation tool allows you to schedule posts in advance, thus automating and streamlining the maintenance of your Instagram page. You can even automatically follow, like, comment, and message other users, and the included analytics reports help you track the growth of your social following. Try out Postable Instagram Automation Charlie Plan: Lifetime Subscription for just $39 – that's 88 per cent off the regular price. Related articles: A designer's guide to Instagram Stories How to make money on Instagram as a creative How to change the font in your Instagram bio View the full article

The creative industries are famously competitive, and getting your first design job can feel like a bit of a minefield. In this post, we offer some top tips you can follow in order to get your foot in the door. The aim of this article is to help you arm yourself with the essential tools you need to snag a job at a design agency. While specifics have changed over the years, the main principle remains: you need to show off your talent and amplify the message that hiring you would benefit the agency. Let's get started. 01. Smarten up your portfolio First and foremost, you need to get your design resumé up to scratch. While you may need to print work to bring to an interview, we're mainly talking digital here. Make sure you use this space to show off your best work. Bad or partially finished content will just make you look amateur, so clear out any useless works-in-progress that don’t show you in a great light. Creating a portfolio of work to show before you've actually started your career is a tricky business. For advice on this, take a look at our article on how to start building up your design portfolio. 02. Network creatively Networking, both online and in real life, is essential The idea of networking might not fill you with joy, but it's a vital way to get your name known and your skills out into the world. Social media has made it much easier to network online, but you need to be smart about how you use it. Start off by following these golden rules for social media. If you're going to include social links on your website, make sure you keep those channels professional. Be yourself, but spruce things up a bit and keep the focus on your work, or industry discussions. You want to come across as human, but there's no need to bare your soul. Of course, you're also going to need to make connections in person occasionally. We have a whole article dedicated to that: how to network successfully. 03. Harness your creativity Which candidate would you interview: one who sent a plain text resumé, or the above? You need to treat looking for work and applying for jobs as a design brief in itself. Show that you are what you’re trying to portray: creativity. For inspiration, have a look at our roundup of the most creative resumés around, or our article on inspired self-promo ideas. All the examples featured here showcase times designers have really thought outside of the box in order to stand out. Let your particular skillset drive what you produce. If you’re a graphic designer, make something as visual as you can. If you’re an illustrator, pick up your pencil and paper and turn that into something that represents your style. Skilled in motion graphics? Set about crafting the perfect showreel that outlines your skills as well as your visual experience. This is your chance to combine the two wonderfully indulgent worlds of creativity and narcissism. So get to it! 04. Use portfolio sites Get your work on sites like Behance, and link it up with your own blog or online portfolio Behance, DeviantArt, Dribbble and Cargo are all great tools for getting your work out there. But just uploading some pics to these sites is no guarantee anyone will look at them. So make sure you also match your uploads with supporting posts on your personal blog and/or online design portfolio. It's good to be active on the web and use a range of channels to get your message out – after all, you never know where your next opportunity might come from. However, there are some caveats to this. First, don't prioritise quantity over quality. And second, make sure you're not focusing on sharing your message at the expense of actually creating great work. 05. Get experience Many people find that paid design internships are a great way to get a foot into the industry. If you snag a good one, what you learn and the connections you make can be invaluable. Of course, the trick is turning this into a more long-term gig – and for that, take a look at our article on how to transform a design internship into a job. A slightly more controversial approach is offering to work for free, via volunteer work. While many designers will find themselves offering their services out of the goodness of their hearts (and in a bid to get something into their portfolio), we advise caution here. Working for free has detrimental knock-on effects for the whole industry, so think before you sign up. 06. Do your interview prep They've seen your portfolio already, so bring something else to show your interviewers. A sketchbook, maybe? So. You've tidied up your online presence, made a tasteful yet eye-catching design portfolio, and found a job you’d love. You've applied, got the call, and they want you to attend a job interview. It's showtime. If there’s one piece of advice we'd give at this point, it's to be yourself. That goes for what you should wear. The majority of agencies don't expect their employees to wear formal businesswear – suits, jackets, and so on – so neither should you. That said, it’s still an interview, so they don’t want to see you in your battered trainers and ripped jeans. Just look the best you can, and keep a hint of your personality in how you present yourself. Ensure you prepare some decent material for the day as well. The interviewer will have already seen your portfolio, but here's your chance to add some weight to what you've already shown them. Agencies often like to present you with a brief to work on before the interview. If that's not the case, then do something nice you can leave with them. If you can relate it to the agency's brand and it shows off your skills, then you’re on to a winner. For more tips on interview, see our post on tips for design interview success. 07. Go the extra mile Following this advice alone will certainly get a good way down that long and winding road of establishing yourself a career path, but it might not quite snag you a job. The extra 10 per cent that lands you the perfect job comes down to you. Think about the type of person you'd be looking for if you were in your interviewer's shoes: a passionate, versatile, excited, self-motivated person who can work as a part of a team and is willing to go that extra mile to achieve real world results. It's likely that your interviewer has considered lots of people for just one role, so you need to stand out. With this in mind, don’t be afraid to mix things up a little and step outside of your comfort zone. Read more: Top designers reveal their first paid commissions Build a better personal brand How to become a junior designer View the full article

A researcher who discovered a flaw letting him steal passwords in MacOS is not sharing his findings with Apple without a macOS bug bounty program. View the full article

Graphic designer and Type Tasting founder Sarah Hyndman has been finding ways to make typography fun and exciting for a mainstream audience for years. Previous explorations have looked at how fonts taste and feel, but for her new type psychology dating game, What's Your Type: The Type Dating Game, Hyndman has started a conversation using a language we can all understand: the language of love. Designed to test how type-savvy you are and to help players understand type in a totally new way, What's Your Type is a new card game from Laurence King Publishing that explains font 'personalities'. Players can choose from four different styles of play, including a typographic twist on the ever-popular 'snog, marry, avoid'. Buy What's Your Type: The Type Dating Game for $19.99/£15.99 here The set includes 50 cards, each featuring a different font. By making a selection, or turning down an unlucky typeface, players find out about what attracts them to a certain style, and even what their choice says about their character. It's a whole new way to think about font pairings. Each card includes a humorous character breakdown of a certain font "I started researching type and perception a few years ago," Hyndman tells us. "One of the earliest things I wanted to find out was whether I’m the only person who sees personalities in typefaces, like a weird form of typographic synaesthesia, or whether everybody does." To test her theory, Hyndman created a font census based on the results of online surveys. And while she discovered that most people do indeed see personalities in typefaces, she was surprised to learn that, for the most part, we all project similar identities into them. 76 free fonts for designers There are, of course, exceptions to the rules. "When I first started to look at the results I was perplexed to see Bauhaus described using words like 'silly, a clown, friendly, doughnuts'," Hyndman explains. "As a graphic designer I associate this typeface with architecture, the art school of the same name and an ideology that inspired Modernist design. I was both mortified for Bauhaus, and worried that somehow the survey results had mixed themselves up." "However, on looking closer, I found that there are some typefaces, like Bauhaus, that might receive different answers from designers and non-designers. As designers, we often hold a typeface in higher regard due to its history, but a non-designer will judge it purely on its appearance." What's Your Type creator Sarah Hyndman was surprised by how different people interpreted typefaces What's Your Type is more than just a fun way to essentially swipe left or right on typefaces though. Each card details the top three personality traits for a font, so they also help designers decide on an appropriate typeface for their project. Speaking about how she turned fonts into dating profiles, Hyndman reveals that she spent nearly a month behaving like a typographic method actor, "I 'got into the head' of different fonts and wrote their dating profiles in what I imagined would be their voices. When I got stuck I found my friends were happy to make suggestions, so this led to a few very funny evenings of smutty typographic innuendos." However, this doesn't mean that What's Your Type is targeted at typography nerds. "I’ve played it with lots of people and it’s the non-designers who really have the most fun," Hyndman adds. "It's great to watch people discover that they have really clear ideas about font personalities, they just might not have realised it. And how they’re delighted if what's written on the card matches their ideas." "What's even more fun is that they get to giggle at us designers while we agonise over the choices of which font to date, ditch or friend — especially if the dates dealt are Curlz, Papyrus and Comic Sans." Buy What's Your Type: The Type Dating Game for $19.99/£15.99 here Related articles: 5 fonts we love to hate (but maybe shouldn't) 20 typography terms you might not know Discover your 2019 Pantone with this quiz View the full article

The elevated privilege flaw exists in Microsoft Exchange and would allow a remote attacker to impersonate an administrator. View the full article

In this tutorial we will go over some basic principles that will help communicate the idea of large scale in your own pieces. I'm using pencils and oils for this tutorial, but you can also apply these principles to your digital artwork. Conveying a sense of scale isn’t just a matter of drawing huge objects within your scene. Those objects must appear correct relative to other elements, through the use of value, colour theory, repetition, viewpoint and so on. Photographic lenses and their relationship to apparent scale is a little-understood aspect of illustration and will also be covered. As always, basic lighting design, colour choices and composition will strengthen your work. How to draw: the best drawing tutorials A couple of the matte paintings I worked on for the film The Fifth Element are, to my eye now, failures of scale. Perhaps one day I’ll correct them, but for now my goal is to help you avoid some of the mistakes I made back then. This is by no means a comprehensive study of scale, but hopefully a good beginning. So let’s get started... Get free admission to VERTEX, the ultimate event for 2D and 3D artists 01. Determine a point of view Think of the environment you want to draw like a director shooting a scene This is one of the most difficult aspects of all illustration: where do I view my scene/subject from? What point of view (POV) best communicates the concept? Would we paint a portrait of a person from directly above or from the floor? Of course not. However, a lower angle looking up at a large object quickly conveys height. This can also be communicated from above, by inducing our own fear of falling! Which one is right for the scene will depend upon the original idea for the work. When creating any scene, I do my best to visualise myself within the environment and wonder where would I be if I were to ‘shoot’ the scene with my camera. Where would I be standing as the action unfolds? These two sketches show two takes on the same scenario. One is a lower view from the position of the figures travelling towards the rock formation, while the second is from atop the rock looking down. Both convey scale, so it’s now a matter of seeing which POV best fits the story. For tips on sketching, see our 20 sketching tips to help you make your first marks. 02. Choose the right lens Lenses allow details to be left to the imagination This tip requires a whole article for itself, but suffice to say that longer focal length lenses, for example a 150mm zoom, provide a visual compression of perspective, a flattening of elements within the scene and starts to show a truer indication of relative scale. One side effect is the cropping of objects beyond the picture frame that would otherwise be visible with a wide-angle shot. A longer lens enables you to visually edit out most of the information in front of you, yet still show an enormous portion of the landscape within the scene. Anything that breaks the frame can be left to the imagination and is usually perceived to be larger than it might actually be. I use this to effect in my painting, Desert Wreck. Different lenses edit out certain details In the sketch above you can see the original painting frame and the view if I had composed with an imaginary wide-angle lens. If you'd like to use real, rather than imaginary lenses to capture a scene and then work from a photo, then don't miss our guide to the best cameras available right now. 03. Repeat objects Different versions of the same object help to establish the size of a scene Here, you can see how the repetition of objects work in the scene. While we don’t see the foreground ship and landing platform as complete objects, there’s enough visual information to let the viewer know that the docked ship at the platform in the background is a repeat of the first. The tiny figures seen on the foreground platform convey the size of the docking environment. You can also see this principle applied in my painting Rendezvous (tip #9). 04. Use values to create a varied atmosphere Light overrides shadow when it hits distant objects Value is one of the easiest ways to help convey scale of objects in the distance. Atmosphere through dust, pollution and smoke lifts the value of shadows as they recede into the distance. The amount varies depending on how thick the atmosphere is and where it’s concentrated. Light rays reflecting off objects within a shadowed area don’t have the power to overcome the intensity of the light striking the atmosphere itself, which is between you and the distant shadowed areas. Light hitting countless atmospheric particles overrides any detail that might otherwise be seen within those shadows. To see this principle in action, refer to the lighter shadowed areas of the background wreck (the circled #4 area in the painting). 05. Play with the same object at different sizes A viewer can piece together the scale mentally once the same object is used twice at different sizes This relates to the repetition of objects within a scene. What looks like a small detail on a distant object can turn out to be a large feature when seen up close. The juxtaposition of a human figure against such ‘minor’ details will also strengthen the overall sense of scale. Take the beams in the image above: the figures on the foreground platform attached to the heavy beam gives the viewer an idea of the scale of the beams seen within the belly of the mid-ground ship. 06. Vary your line weight Even the smallest sketch can communicate an epic scale This is related to tip #4’s value and atmosphere advice, in that you want to convey distance and scale even at the smallest thumbnail stage. Varying your line thickness and weight of shading will help quickly communicate atmosphere and scale. Use a harder 4H pencil and a light touch for background objects, and go for a softer 4B for the foreground details. To give you an idea of how much visual information even a thumbnail sketch with varied line weights can convey, this image is only 12cm across. 07. Contrast foreground and background details Don't let detailed backgrounds overpower the viewer and confuse the sense of distance The level of detail apparent in the foreground tower provides all of the information needed to tell us what the details might be on the distant mid-ground tower. There’s no need to paint things in distant objects if you can describe them in close-up elements. If you need to paint distant details, keep them confined to the lit areas of the object, and suggest them loosely and sparingly. 08. Minimise details within shadows Details in shadows only need to be suggested at slightly The amount of detail should also be kept to a minimum within shadows. In my painting Dust Devil, the details are merely suggested in the shadows and are progressively reduced by the time I get to the background vehicle. Even though the distance from foreground figure to the background vehicle isn’t that great, I still want to keep the details to a minimum. This helps keep the focus on my main character. 09. Convey scale with a human figure Human figures are a convenient reference point we can all relate to Placing a human figure into a scene is an easy way to help convey scale relative to other objects in the environment, even if those objects are fantastical in nature. In my painting Rendezvous, the figure next to the wheels of the foreground rover enables the viewer to understand the true scale of the background rover – even though we don’t see the entirety of the foreground one. 10. Introduce a range of textures Keep textures detailed up close, and loose when further away Texture can provide an artificial sense of detail and thus a closeness that you may not want in distant objects. The sky appears to us to be texture free and smooth compared to the rocks at our feet. Here, I’ve kept the background atmosphere smooth so as not to draw attention to itself. It can be hard to eliminate this when painting with oils on canvas, but very easy to control digitally. As the rock cliffs recede into the background, the amount of detail and texture is reduced. 11. Make edges do the heavy lifting Soft edges can enhance overlapping objects Decreasing sharpness where it’s not required can help to separate foreground objects from background objects, particularly where those elements overlap. John Singer Sargent was the master of edges – study his paintings! 12. Use a neutral colour palette Distant objects are best painted with a more neutral palette With the understanding that colours will decrease in intensity the further away they are, communicating scale and depth can be helped by limiting the choice of colours of distant objects to a more neutral palette. Restrict the more intense colours for your focal point and allow the receding elements to progressively become less intense. In my painting, Sky Burial #3, I set out to showcase the bold colours of the foreground wreckage against predominately muted colours. A lot of landscape painting is primarily the art of painting with a variety of greys that have been shifted towards a particular colour. Think of a grey of the required value mixed with a hint of colour, rather than a raw bright colour dulled down. It’s faster to start with a neutral grey and tint it with pigment – traditionally at least – than drag a full-blown colour down to what’s needed. 13. Bear lighting design in mind Focal points don't always need to be illuminated Good lighting design isn’t restricted to scale, but is needed in all good picture-making, so I’m briefly covering the topic here. I start with a light/no light situation, rendering either digitally or traditionally, and establish what will be in light and what will be in shadow. This is done at the lowest resolution level of the picture. So in this sketch there are two values: white for light and a grey (pencil or marker) for shadow. The justification of that lighting scenario can come later. Don’t get hung up on the ‘how’ at this point – concern yourself only with the design of the relationships between light and shadow. The focal point is not always in light and can very often be in shadow against light. 14. Keep it simple Basic compositions and pictures can achieve really dynamic effects This tip is pretty self-explanatory but it’s always good to be reminded of it. Keep it simple. Simple composition, simple concept, simple execution, simple tools and materials and simple presentation. Those points combined will, more often than not, produce powerful results. They are also achievable, which means you’ll finish the piece and that’s the point. Finish the work, learn from it and move on to the next one. This article was originally published in issue 167 of ImagineFX, the world's best-selling magazine for digital artists. Buy issue 167 or subscribe. Related articles: The best pencils for colouring, drawing and sketching 10 essential oil painting tips and techniques 80 best Adobe Illustrator tutorials View the full article

Emoji fans will have a smile on their face when they see the final list of 230 new emojis approved by Unicode Consortium. Set to appear on major platforms later in the year, the new emojis include greater representation for people with disabilities, as well as more inclusive gender couples and a wider range of skin tones. The update, known as Unicode 12.0, is the sixth major emoji release, with the last taking place way back in 2014. Emojis have come a long way since their humble beginnings as pieces of pixel art, and anyone keeping a close eye on them will know that updates to skin tones, hair colour and more gender inclusive designs have been introduced gradually over the last five years. However Unicode's announcement yesterday suggests that the documentation for all of the new emojis is ready to roll out in one go. The batch is made up of 59 individual new emojis, but when all 171 gender variations and skin tones are taken into account, users will be able to choose from 230 options. Check out the full set of 2019 emojis in the image below. Click the image to see the new emojis in all their glory As you can see, on top of gender neutral people and increased disability representation, 2019 will also see emojis for waffles, Hindu temples and even a drop of blood. There's also some new animals – including a flamingo, a skunk and an otter – some rather grimy-looking pants, and an erm... an axe. The possibilities are endless... The good folks over at Emojipedia have also previewed the differences in emoji designs as they appear across Android and iOS. If you like the look of these emojis, you won't have to wait long to start using them. Unicode Consortium will release them on 5 March 2019, and they're expected to appear on major operating systems in the second half of the year. Related articles: How to design app icons Discover the origins of everyday emoji Custom emoji builder lets you design how you feel View the full article

Your DSLR can be a great tool, but it's a waste if you're not using it to its fullest potential. That's why every photographer needs to own The Essential Digital Photography Master Class Bundle. You'll get an introduction to digital photography, and you'll learn how to use the awesome editing tool Adobe Photoshop Elements 15 (get Adobe Creative Cloud here). Transform your pictures from average snaps to one-of-a-kind masterpieces with this crash course that every amateur and professional photographer can learn something from. The Essential Digital Photography Master Class Bundle is yours for only $19 – that's 90 per cent off the regular price. Related articles: The best camera for creatives in 2019 15 ways to improve your photography skills Photography cheat sheet helps you take better photos View the full article

You're reading Gmail Big Redesign for Android and iOS, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! After it was announced that Google is pushing a new redesign, we should definitely take a look to see the differences between Gmail 8 version and the new one (Gmail version 9.x). The important thing is that both Android and … View the full article

This issue, along with our usual reviews, inspiration and regular Q and A sections, we review the Wacom Cintiq engine and the latest version of Ziva, teach you how to create cityscapes in 3dsMax and master colour theory. Buy 3D World 244 today We take a look inside the issue to find out what else is in store... Feature: Discover Megascans Discover Quixel Megascans and what they can offer your projects. We talk to Quixel to find out what makes Megascans, along with its suite of bridging and creation tools, so special. These tools are rapidly gaining popularity amongst the CG community. Feature: Shadow Go behind the scenes on the historical action film Trevor Hogg delves behind the scenes of this historical visual effects spectacular, uncovering some of the tools and techniques used to solve problems in recreating some breathtaking action sequences. Training: Master colour theory Master colour theory and have an emotional impact on your viewers In this tutorial, we show you how to master your colour theory, allowing you to control your viewers emotion response, making your work more impactful. Feature: Replicas Delve into the making of Replicas In this feature, we uncover the tools and techniques used by the artists behind the visual effects of Keanu Reeve's latest action film. Training: Create cityscapes with 3dsMax and Railclone Create cityscapes with 3dsMax Subscribe to 3D World today Veteran trainer and 3D World regular Paul Roberts returns this issue to teach you how to create sprawling cityscapes using 3dsMax and Railclone, in order to easily distribute your assets across a large scene. Read more: Become a better 3D artist The 10 best 3D movies of 2019 The best new 3D tools for 2019 View the full article

Eleven critical bugs will be patched as part of the February Android Security Bulletin. View the full article

You're reading Ut aut reiciendis voluptatibus maiores – Checklist example, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! Inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Quia consequuntur magni dolores eos qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit. Laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Ut enim ad minim … View the full article

To download the accompanying files for 3D World issue 244, simply click the link below each article and a zip file will automatically download the content to your Mac or PC. Videos, which were previously part of the download, are now hosted on this page, for streaming. If you've missed this issue or other editions of 3D World, order a copy. If you have any problems downloading this content, please email: rob.redman@futurenet.com Tutorial: Cell shaded renders Create stunning comic art This guide, from Cover artist Glen Southern, will take you through the process of creating comic art using VR and Zbrush, from initial concept right through to post production and finishing in Adobe Photoshop. Download the files here (48MB) Tutorial: Substance Designer In this issue our Q and A panel discuss various topics. Of particular interest is solution to creating realistic stone materials in Substance. Download the files here (13MB) Training: Colour theory Master your CG colours. Informed and considered use of colour can have a dramatic effect on the outcome of your renders and you can direct your viewers emotional response by thoughtful application of colour in your work. In this tutorial we show you how to understand and use colour in your 3D scenes. Download the files here (10.5MB) Tutorial: Create stunning cityscapes 3dsMax has many useful tools for creating cityscapes and the community has developed many more. Paul Roberts of iTooSoft demonstrates his method for generating impressive cityscapes in this tutorial. Download the files here (12.5MB) Read more: Become a better 3D artist The 10 best 3D movies of 2019 The best 3D modelling software right now View the full article

They say that if you want to ruin someone's life, simply teach them how to spot bad kerning. But if you want to take things a step further, just point them at Can't Unsee. Can't Unsee is a little online game created by Alex Kotliarskyi that'll draw your attention to all the little details that make up good – and bad – UI design. Each round shows you two similar images of an interface, and all you have to do is decide which design is the most correct. Once you've made your decision, Can't Unsee overlays the images on top of each other so that you can compare the two by switching between them. Take the Can't Unsee quiz here This one might take you a few seconds, but it's pretty easy Kotliarskyi's quiz starts off nice and easy with dodgy web fonts and wonky icons, but quickly becomes more difficult as it asks you to identify more subtle UI design errors such as poor padding, incorrect alignment and bad image aspect ratios. By the end of the quiz, you'll find yourself staring at pairs of near-identical images, trying to spot the difference, then not being sure which one's worse and finally questioning your entire sense of aesthetic judgement, which is always fun. 20 best UI design tools Each correctly identified piece of good design earns you points, and at the end of the game you can opt to have your score – and the time it took you to complete the quiz – submitted to an online high score table for additional bragging rights. Wait, what? It's the subtle details like this that can make the difference between a good and bad design While it's all maybe just a little too focused on iOS interfaces, most of the fundamentals it covers are applicable to all areas of UI design. And while much of it is stuff that you, a designer, are likely to already know about, it's a perfect way to test your attention to detail. It's also a great way to educate friends and family who don't really understand what you actually do all day. So go on, share it with them, and who knows, maybe you can ruin their lives a bit at the same time. Related articles: Top UI trends for 2019 The 29 best iPhone apps for designers The 10 commandments of user interface design View the full article

Several flaws in both open-source RDP clients and in Microsoft's own proprietary client make it possible for a malicious RDP server to infect a client computer – which could then allow for an intrusion into the IT network as a whole. View the full article

Very occasionally, a branding genius nails an iconic, timeless mark first time – and it just needs the occasional polish. Other times, a once shiny, on-trend brand fades and dulls with time, and is left to wither before more progressive rivals. If your brand falls into the former category, you're lucky – make it count. If it's the latter, you're lazy – sort it out. More often than not, iconic brands and the world's best logos evolve over time. They aren't born fully formed, but must go through stages of refinement. In the case of many household-name brands, that process took decades. The changes in between rebrands can be subtle, or they can be so dramatic that the earliest iterations are almost unrecognisable to modern-day consumers. Read on to discover three stories of well-known logos that have been on a long journey to reach the form we know today... 01. IBM These monogram logos for IBM's predecessor companies are unrecognisable from the brand's modern-day wordmark Okay, so it may be a bit of a cheat to include a company that's changed its name, as the logo will inevitably be unrecognisable. But the journey from International Time Recording Company to International Business Machines, better known as IBM, is a fascinating one nonetheless. Back in 1888, ITRCo was encapsulated in a rather clumsy and confusing five-character monogram. By comparison, the 1891 monogram logo for the Computing Scale Company was beautifully decorative, albeit fairly illegible. In 1911, the even more catchily named Computing-Tabulating-Recording-Company – a fusion of the two – found a middle ground between its predecessors' logos, locking four letters together in another monogram, complete with ornate serifs. Wrapping the new company name around a globe, this 1924 iteration is a radical departure from earlier monograms It wasn't until 1924 that the name IBM finally came along. For the first and only time in the brand's history, the logo design spelled out the name – wrapped boldly and futuristically around a globe shape – rather than settling for an acronym. Those famous three letters made their appearance in 1947, set in a chunky, outlined slab serif typeface. Eight years later, in 1956, the legendary Paul Rand refined the letterforms – adding distinctive details such as exaggerated, even more chunky slab serifs, square counters within the 'B', and a razor-sharp spike on the 'M'. Paul Rand redesigned IBM's slab-serif wordmark in 1956 (top right), 1967, and finally 1972 (bottom) Rand improved on his own work in 1967, defining the shape of the logo using 13 equally sized, equally spaced blue horizontal bars. He refined this further in 1972, to just eight bars. In the early days of computers when a logo had to be crudely rendered on a low-resolution screen, it was a stroke of genius to turn such a restriction into a strength. 02. Pepsi Between 1898 (top left) and 1940 (bottom right), Pepsi sported a script-style logo not unlike its arch-rival's Until the 1960s, Pepsi had a script-style logo not unlike that of its arch-rival, Coca-Cola. Its original, spindly 1898 mark – which joined the 'P' of Pepsi with the 'C' of 'Cola' with a swoosh-like flourish – was further developed in 1905 to smooth out the letterforms, scale up the capitals for emphasis, and add a fluttering banner to the 'C'. Arguably it was all flourish and no substance, as the brand name was barely discernible – the smaller letters dwarfed by the flamboyant 'P' and 'C'. Evidently Pepsi thought so, as just one year later, in 1906, the logo was reworked again – fattening up the letterforms, refining the overall shape and making the whole mark tighter, as well as setting the word 'drink' inside the banner. This iteration had a respectable lifespan until 1940, when a neater, pared-back version was introduced. It kept a few flairs and flourishes – including the distinctive loop on the 'C' – but ultimately felt much bolder and more confident. In 1962, Pepsi dropped the script in favour of bold, modern sans-serif type, combined with a stylised bottle cap Perhaps to detach itself from its rival's distinctive Spencerian script, swooshes and fondness for red, Pepsi ditched its script logo (and the 'Cola' part of its name) in 1962 in favour of modern, all-caps sans serif type. It was set over a stylised red, white and blue bottle cap, a device first introduced in 1950 alongside its script logo. In 1973 (top), Pepsi modernised its logo further with a flat-colour design, which evolved again in 1991 (bottom) Wavy red, white and blue stripes within a circle have helped define Pepsi ever since, despite many other changes to its logo. The simplified, flat-colour mark introduced in 1973 stayed put for almost 20 years until 1991, when for the first time, the brand name was pulled out, leaving the circle as a standalone symbol. Redesigned again in 2008, Pepsi now sports a lowercase wordmark that's unrecognisable from its original logo After two more cosmetic overhauls, with an increasing number of graphic effects added, Pepsi pared things back once again with its widely criticised 2008 rebrand. Both the circle and the thin, lowercase type have a certain distorted wobble about them, but that's the only similarity to the logo's spindly 19th century origins. 03. AT&T These early iterations of the Bell System / AT&T logo from 1889, 1900 and 1921 feature the same distinctive bell Back in 1889, the company we now know as AT&T – Bell Telephone Company – was represented simply with a bell in a box, a nod to the company's founder Alexander Graham Bell as well as the device he created in 1876. A little over a decade after Bell's game-changing invention, the bold claim 'long distance telephone' inside the black bell would no-doubt have been enough to get the general public excited – no company name required. 'American Telephone and Telegraph Co and Associated Companies' was added in all its glory in 1900. There was an additional claim, too – now, the bell announced both local and long-distance telephones, with Bell System beneath for good measure. To say the 1900 iteration of AT&T's logo was wordy is an understatement. By 1921, the novelty value of offering both local and long-distance calls had probably worn off, and Bell System instead took pride of place on the distinctive bell, which had remained largely unchanged as a symbol for over 30 years. Saul Bass gave the Bell System bell a masterfully stylised twist in this 1969 iteration of the logo In 1969 – thanks to the magic touch of another legendary brand designer, Saul Bass, the bell was given a stylised, modern look, and the now-distinctive cyan blue was first introduced to the brand. But a bell it remained. In 1983, however, the bell – a symbol of AT&T in one form or another for almost a century at that point – was replaced by a striped globe. AT&T acquired its globe / Death Star icon (top left) in 1983. It has been reworked twice – most recently in 2016 (bottom) The USA, as the birthplace of AT&T, is subtly indicated in the fluctuating pattern of the lines on the globe, although the resulting mark was also nicknamed the Death Star by employees. Several more iterations later, we have the modern-day logo – reworked by Interbrand in 2016. Without bells on. Read more: Where to find logo design inspiration 6 huge logo trends for 2019 8 famous logos that look unbelievably similar View the full article

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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