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Design competitions can be a divisive subject. While some swear they are excellent for getting your graphic design portfolio up to scratch, or for forcing yourself to learn new skills and work to a deadline, others feel they're a waste of time, or are a way of getting free work from inexperienced designers. Computer Arts asked its readers whether they think design competitions are beneficial overall, and here's what they had to say... 01. You get to work on a live brief Freelance designer Grace Abell knows first-hand that design competitions can lead to paid work. "When I was a student, entering design competitions was a rare opportunity to work on a live brief. They offered an exciting focus beyond those that tutors set. In my case, a gig poster competition entry, pinned to the wall at college, proved to my tutors that I was serious about pursuing a creative career. The poster went on to become part of my portfolio for university applications," she says. "I acknowledge that some design competitions for professionals are ethically dubious; if someone doesn’t want to hire a pro, they shouldn’t expect the work of an experienced creative. But for me, winning led to paid work. "Passionate students, wanting to work in a competitive field, will take the chance. A competition entry in their portfolio could give them the edge when applying for the same jobs as their cohorts.” Andrea Kaye White agrees: "They can be an amazing opportunity for students, especially at the local level. It can lead to recognition and the opportunity to network with professionals." 02. You gain confidence “You don’t need to win a competition to benefit from it," says design student Emma Jayne. "As a design student, it’s also a great way to receive the kind of real-world feedback that’s necessary to our development and understanding. "I recently entered a competition for a print magazine; I submitted a piece that I had created during my studies, because I was proud of it. It was a great way for me to get noticed and to get my name out there. I was rejected, and obviously a little hurt by that, but I believe this helps us students to build resilience. We need the confidence to pitch work, so that when it comes to clients and businesses, we can adapt to what they’re seeking and be able to deal with likely rejection. "It’s this kind of experience that makes or breaks a designer, testing whether this is the right career path, and helps to build one’s personality.” Lindsay Kempter agrees that it's a good idea to submit work you've created for something else. "I enter projects that I do at work, not in my free time," she says. "Two birds with one stone, still designing for a client but then getting some bragging rights in the process." 03. They're just superficial Others are less positive about design competitions. Dennis de Groot says they're only beneficial or important "because we allow them to be. In essence they’re superficially creating a distinction between the 'best' and the rest," he explains. Andrea Roze also isn't sure about their worth. "All it appears to be is other designers showing off," she says. "Instead of trying to impress, we should be designing for the client or customer." 04. It depends on the competition Design competitions vary widely, so it's no surprise that some think you should choose the competitions you enter wisely. Dave Brown, co-founder and 2D design lead of Brown&co says that the best kind of competitions for agencies to enter are those that measure the impact and effectiveness of design in-market and reflect the ability to deliver tangible return on investment. "So, I’d put the DBA Design Effectiveness awards right up there," he says. "These awards aren’t a lottery, based on a closely knit judging panel with voting based on subjective creative excellence, or indeed any perception of cronyism. No, they are measured by results. Winning awards gives that feel-good factor internally, gets the agency noticed and builds reputation amongst peer groups, and of course more importantly, within the world of brand owners out there. Some awards programmes are a waste of time and effort, though. Naming no names but you know who they are!” Joshua Marsch agrees. "I think it actually depends on the competition itself. If the final award helps the designer get more clientele then yes, definitely," he says. Related articles: 10 life lessons for designers 10 ways to make your mark as an illustrator 5 damaging habits designers need to break View the full article

As humans, we naturally seek out and identify patterns; it’s how we’re programmed. So when it comes to logo design, as with all design work, it's natural to look for identifiable trends. But there’s also a lot of confusion, and often wishful thinking, when it comes to identifying whether a trend actually exists or not. What are logo design trends? “Finding trends in the vast sea of great work can be tricky,” says Chris Harmon, art director at Loyalkaspar. “Sometimes you gravitate to your own taste, and trends become self-fulfilling prophecies.” Take, for example, negative space. We’ve seen a number of great examples of negative space being used in logo design this year, from Buzzfeed News to Jetsave Tours. But does that make it a trend, or just a timeless technique? We’d argue the latter. At the same time, it’s inarguable that some clear logo trends do exist. And although you shouldn’t unthinkingly follow them, it’s still useful to know what they are, even if it’s for the express purpose of avoiding them. Here, we identify six logo trends from 2018 that look set to continue into 2019 and beyond. What you do with this knowledge is entirely up to you... 01. Simplification Pentagram simplified the American Express logo even further in 2018 We’ll start with a trend that’s been popular for years now, but still shows no signs of abating: simplification. We’re talking about, in the words of FINE’s design director Joe Flory: “an overarching trend to eschew extraneous ornamentation in favour of a simpler and uncompromising visual aesthetic”. As Alastair Holmes, associate creative director at This Place, explains: “When it comes to logo design and branding, there seems to be a trend towards simplifying things, so either taking the existing brand or logo and simplifying it, or completely redesigning the logo to be cleaner. "Good examples of this are Pentagram's American Express rebrand, which tweaked and cleaned up the original, and the Uber rebrand, which was a total redesign in order to freshen up and simplify.” The US Open emblem and wordmark got a reductionist makeover courtesy of Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv He notes that while the trend for simplification is all-pervading, the reasons for doing so can differ. “Some companies that have their logos and brands freshened up are happy with what they stand for,” he says. “In the case of Uber, however, the redesign was part of them trying to move away from recent controversies and present themselves in a new light. In both cases, though, it's an ongoing way of evolving an established brand to make it feel more current and contemporary.” Other examples abound: Best Buy, Mills & Boon, the US Open, Santander, City Gateway, Ogilvy, Fat Face, MailChimp… the list goes on and on. And logos will likely continue to become simplified throughout 2019 and beyond, believes Holmes. “This trend probably has a fair way to run,” he says, “because it's at least in part a reflection of what's been happening in the design of digital interfaces... and digital is only going to become more important for all big companies.” 02. Responsive logos The full versions of the Coke and Chanel logos Beth Anderton-Allen, a creative at Amplify, agrees that the needs of digital are having a big effect on how we design our logos, and points out that it goes beyond mere simplification. “Due to the increase in mobile platforms, responsive logo design is becoming increasingly important,” she says. If you want to see what a responsive logo looks like in practice, just head to responsivelogos.co.uk, resize your browser window and see what happens. The logos become less embellished at smaller sizes to retain clarity and readability A responsive logo is fully scalable for the modern web, but it’s not just about size, says Yego Moravia, executive creative director at Stink Studios. “We're also seeing a trend in dynamic identity, where logos are beginning to behave differently than before by using data, and changing based on whether a user is signed in or out,” he explains. “For example, when a user logs into their Google mail inbox, there’s an icon at the top-right corner that differs from their personal account to their business account. Between accessibility, tools, and photo, this is just one example of logos adapting their image depending on the data attached." 03. Authenticity The hand-drawn logo for Mexican chain Wahaca is in keeping with its shabby-chic heritage Not every brand in 2018 has been trying to simplify its logo, and nor should they, says Holmes. “This idea of simplifying things is particularly relevant for any brand with a strong digital presence,” he notes. “But where it might not be so relevant is for brands that perhaps want to communicate a more natural aesthetic. "For example, consider wine labels and earthy food brands, such as the organic food retailer Abel & Cole. It does have a digital presence, but it also has a more rustic feel to its branding in order to reflect what it's about.” So what exactly does ‘authenticity’ mean in the context of identity design? “It means being yourself, and being honest about who you are,” says Harmon. “Brands are asking themselves: 'How can I be myself if I’m using the same font as a hundred other brands, especially when that other brand is a real asshole?' In response, brands are making custom fonts that honestly feel like themselves, and no one can copy them." Superunion's logo for Shakespeare's Globe (far right) was based on the shape of the original theatre, and crafted using real wood and ink "Brands are asking how can I break through to millennials using the same pink everyone is using? Well, you can’t, so they’re finding new approaches to colour, taking steps to ensure that colour speaks to who they feel they are as a brand, and not viewing colour as data points to their target audience's liking.” In short, there’s no one blueprint for being authentic with your logo design, but that’s kind of the point. As Harmon explains, it’s all about asking questions. “For example, if our brand is brief and snappy, should we be using a bold and condensed font? If we’re all about relaxation, should we open up our kerning and let our message breathe? A level of self-reflection is influencing every design decision being made, and if brands aren’t asking those questions they’ll soon be scrambling to catch up.” 04. Sustainable logo design Taxi Studio aimed to give Carlsberg a logo that would be sustainable over the long term Does the need for a brand to appear authentic conflict with the urge to simplify? In the eyes of Chris Maclean, creative director of Wolff Olins, it doesn’t have to. “A big reason for the simplification and graphic reduction of logos we’re seeing is that whilst identity systems might evolve as design trends change, logos have a much longer timeline,” he explains. “A more classic logo design will stand the test of time better than one tied to the stylistic trends of the day, while the surrounding identity can flex according to changing expression requirements. For this reason, we think we can expect to see more brands simplifying their logo in favour of expressive brand systems that can flex more rapidly.” Healthcare app Zocdoc's instant-classic of a logo won't need to be redesigned for years In other words, rather than bringing out a totally different ‘on trend’ logo every couple of years, Maclean believes we’re seeing a return to classic design values, where brand innovation comes from various touchpoints, but specifically not the logo. He cites the 2018 logos for Uber, healthcare app Zocdoc, communication protocol Zigbee as examples of this trend. Another recent example can be seen in Taxi Studio’s rebrand of Carslberg; on its launch, creative partner Spencer Buck told us: "The new design system is very much anti-trend. It's designed to be permanent, or more permanent than any iteration of the design system has been before. There shouldn't be any need to change this for a good long time. That's part of the sustainable thinking that was built into the very core of the brief." “Trends are short-term,” points out Troy Wade, strategy head and co-founder, Brown&co. “And that’s great if you’re in advertising, but not if you’re trying to create something that’s going to last, and still look appropriate in the medium or long term. Think about Coca-Cola’s identity, which transcends any trend, versus Pepsi, which keeps trying to change and be trendy.” 05. Getting playful with fashion logos Look what Virgil Abloh did with the classic Nike logo If brands are becoming more focused on the long-term when it comes to their core logo designs, that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for fun and innovation in secondary or one-off logos. And the fashion world has been leading the way this year in getting playful with its once-sacred logos. “Over the course of the past year, major brands have begun to engage heavily and publicly in creative collaboration, such as between US fashion designer Virgil Abloh and Nike,” says Charley Lewis, executive creative director at Optimist Inc Los Angeles. The latter, interestingly, includes a fun new take on the classic Nike logo, shown above, which might once have been considered too important to mess with. Another example in 2018 was the collaboration between H&M and Moschino, with the resulting logo 'H&MOSCHINO' appearing on T-shirts, innerwear and accessories. There was also a similar mashup between Moschino and MTV, to create an 'M[tv]OSCHINO' logo. Moschino has been mashing up its logos with other brands including H&M and MTV For a Swedish fast-fashion brand and a high-end Italian couture house to dilute their respective identities in this way might have been unthinkable a decade ago, but the pull of mashup culture is a strong one, believes Lewis. “These collaborations are at the core of how brands are connecting with a generation who are constantly trying to differentiate themselves,” he explains. “For Gen Z, personal style choices are not necessarily dictated by a particular subculture, as they once were, but rather by the amalgamation of all contemporary culture. What really matters is standing out as an individual with a unique perspective on style.” 06. Gradients Mozilla asked for public feedback for these two logo designs in July If core logo designs are being streamlined and simplified in 2018, then one way that designers have attempted to add a bit of added interest has been through colour. “This year has seen a growing trend towards the use of gradients within logo design,” says brand identity designer Helen Baker. But while the use of gradients can be quite full-on, most notably in the branding of Apple and Sky, it can also be used more subtly. The Waitrose logo by Pentagram uses gradients in a subtle but effective fashion “The John Lewis and Waitrose Partnership rebrand by Pentagram earlier this year, shows the new Waitrose logo with different bands of green, a sort of deconstructed gradient,” Baker notes. “The spacing between the bands of the colours also achieves a feeling of transparency, a key feature brands want to portray." Other notable brands to use gradients in their logo redesigns this year include Disney Plus, Firefox and Trivago. Read more: Typography trends in 2019 to look out for 5 key trends in character design Discover the hidden flaws in 6 world-famous logos View the full article

Can digital painting ever feel as natural as working in traditional media? We’re not there yet, but there’s an army of software developers dedicated to achieving the look and feel of traditional painting techniques. Painter and ArtRage are the best-known programs to offer ‘natural media’, a digital recreation of physical paints and surfaces, but Rebelle is an enticing alternative – and, in this third major release, seems capable of producing a few tricks the big guns can’t yet match. Rebelle offers a choice of media to draw or paint with: acrylic, pastel, pencil, ink and more – although not oils. But its biggest draw is its watercolour technology, which has been significantly updated in version 3. Rebelle’s DropEngine technology is what enables its droplets to behave in such a natural manner Make a stroke with one colour, then switch colour and paint over or near the first stroke, then watch as the two strokes blend and flow together in a convincingly natural way. You can also load the brush with water to increase the extent of the interaction. If you’re using Rebelle 3 on Microsoft’s Surface Pro tablet computer, you can use the device’s built-in accelerometer to control the flow of paint: try physically tipping the tablet screen in one direction, and watch the watercolour droplets respond to the effect of gravity, as fed back to the software through the accelerometer. It’s something close to magic. And unlike physical watercolour, you can ‘freeze’ the paint movement with a single key press. Rebelle’s selection of digital paper surfaces can also affect the path and behaviour of the watercolour paint, depending on how rough the grain is. Rebelle 3: Create your own brushes If there’s a drawback, it’s that you have to find the best brush settings yourself, through trial and error: there are only a few brush presets to choose between until you’ve taken the time to make your own. At least that task is made easier in Rebelle 3 with the Brush Creator. You can import graphics to represent brush shapes or grain, making some truly fanciful creations a possibility, then play with Spacing, Opacity and Jitter before saving the result as a permanent preset. Rebelle 3 enables you to work in a variety of wet and dry media, including inks, as demonstrated by Philipp Neundorf That isn’t the only trick up Rebelle 3’s sleeve: you can now paint with masking fluid on its own layer, which gives you more control over how the mask affects the flow of paint. Elsewhere, new additions include a Magic Wand tool, and canvas size that’s only limited by your computer memory’s ability to accommodate it. More technically minded artists will appreciate the options to use a ruler or set up a perspective grid, and to have a reference image displayed in an on-screen overlay. The clearly laid-out controls on the left of the screen helped Kamila to precisely control the effect of her brushes There’s still plenty of untapped potential for Rebelle’s developers to explore in future releases – more presets and more paint media come to mind – but the effectiveness of the watercolours alone is enough to make this affordable software worth adding to your creative toolbox. This article was originally published in issue 164 of ImagineFX, the world's best-selling magazine for digital artists. Buy issue 164 here or subscribe to ImagineFX here. Related articles: The best software for digital artists How to adapt your digital art to feedback 22 best painting and drawing apps for iPad View the full article

If you're on the look out for some playful distractions from your creative work, what could be better than this build your own bundle discount from Nintendo? Famed for its innovative characters and gameplay, Nintendo titles are a great way to get your creative juices flowing in your downtime, and now you can grab massive reductions on its consoles and games. For those of you in the UK, right now you can pick up a Nintendo 2DS XL with three selected games for just £129.99. That's a reduction of up to £119.97 against it's RRP of £249.96. And considering that we've seen the 2DS XL go for more than the price of this bundle alone, you're essentially getting three top tier games for nothing. As part of the bundle you get to choose your colour of console and three games that include leading titles such as Zelda, Animal Crossing, Mario, and many more. This offer only runs while stocks last, so don't miss it! Mamma mia! After more Nintendo goodies? There are more bundles and exclusives to be picked up when you head over to its online store. If you're after even more amazing Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2018 deals, be sure to bookmark Creative Bloq as we're keeping tabs on all the creative and design discounts you don't want to miss. Read more: This Xbox One X deal is the cheapest we've seen Nintendo announces animated Mario movie Nintendo Labo makes coding child's play View the full article

Before you begin getting into the intricacies of setting type in the likes of InDesign CC, it's important to know the basics of typography. If you need a refresher on type terms then check out our key terms every graphic designer should know. For this typography tutorial, though, the most important thing you need to know is the difference between kerning and tracking. Kerning is the spacing between specific pairs of letters, whereas tracking works across a range of characters, or even entire paragraphs or documents. 75 best free fonts for designers Kerning is a fine art – and one you can quickly get good at using InDesign's tools and some tricks in InDesign, Illustrator CC and Photoshop CC. In InDesign or Illustrator, you can adjust kerning by selecting the Type tool and clicking on the gap between two characters, before holding down alt/opt and using the left and right arrows to adjust the space between them. By default the increment applied with each press of the arrow is 20 thousandths of an em, but you can adjust this preference for tighter control. Once you've got the hang of that, read on to discover how you can take your typography skills to the next level... 01. Kern upside down Kerning upside down is a well-used and tested technique Why would you want to kern character pairs upside down? Because this enables you to see your letterforms and the space between them without actually reading the words – bringing meaning to them. If you're doing something fancy with the kerning based on the meaning, this won't work, of course, but otherwise it's a well-used and tested technique and one you should try if you're struggling with kerning character pairs. 02. Blur it Another tested technique is to blur the type, perhaps by taking a screenshot and blurring it in Photoshop ... or more likely just squinting a little bit. Like Brian Hoff says: "I like to blur my eyesight a bit by squinting or crossing my eyes. This enables me to focus on the contrast and white space of the letterforms without becoming distracted by the characters themselves." It's a great technique, and you can find plenty expert kerning tricks in this brilliant article from Brian Hoff. 03. Kern with balloons Aim to space the letters so the balloons fit exactly between them Another, perhaps more abstract kerning tip is to imagine that between each letter there are balloons of equal size and volume, forcing the letters apart. As designer Tom Sewell says: "Aim to space the letters so that the balloons fit exactly between them without being squeezed out above and below". It's an interesting technique, and one that can prove very handy. 04. Use 'o' to space words Another tip is to always consider the spaces before and after the word you’re working on and ensure they are spaced correctly visually. A good rule of thumb is to imagine that the character 'o' sits between each word (thanks again to Sewell for that one). 05. Rough out headlines When working with sans-serif headlines, make sure you get a rough tracking before you kern Kerning and tracking is most obvious in headlines, so it's essential to get it right. And sans-serif fonts can accentuate your mistakes. When working with sans-serif headlines, make sure you get a rough tracking before you kern. If you have to put -10 kerning between almost every character combination, you should be using tracking at -10 before you do your individual character spacing. This goes for numbers too. The numeral 1 with anything before or after it (213, for example, or even a space) will always benefit from a tighter kern. More than one 1 (for example, combinations such as 11) needs really tight kerning. 06. Forget about small caps Never just shrink full-size caps down and call them small caps John D Berry knows his stuff – after all, he's written several books on type and typography. His top tip? Unless you know the difference between true small caps and fake ones, it's best to just forget that your design app's Small Caps command exists. Never just shrink full-size caps down and call them small caps: they aren't. If you're willing to go to the trouble of using real small caps, be sure to letter-space them properly – that is, a little looser than lowercase. 07. Keep the font count low Using fewer fonts helps create a cleaner and sharper result It's important to think of your type as a whole in your project. When you use more than three fonts in your project – say a slab, a serif and a display – it can sometimes become difficult to read and understand; the project can lack order. Usually, one font has different weights and you can create a stunning and simple design solution using these in the correct way. The result will be cleaner and sharper. So think about whether you need many fonts or a better job can be done using different weights of just one. Thanks to Hey Studio for that one. For more on the fonts that do go together nicely, see our post on perfect font pairings. 08. Rental revolution Skyfonts allows you to try fonts for five minutes before you buy them The problem with font shopping is that often you're not able to try fonts to their full capacity before you pull the trigger and purchase. Skyfonts from Monotype rectifies this by enabling you to try any font from its library for five minutes, for free. Sure, many foundries enable you to test out characters on their site, but it's not the same as trying them out in your preferred layout/design app. After all, the feeling of a particular font can be hard to establish until you start combining words. 09. Don't push it (unless you really have to) If you're going to edit a font, make sure it's with good reason Unless you're after a specific effect (or working on an illustrated piece) don't stretch, skew or otherwise alter fonts by messing with its dimensions after turning to outlines. You wouldn't stretch a photo or refined vector piece and you can often end up with an ugly, amateurish result. If you're going to edit a font, make sure it's with good reason. You don't want to ruin hours of the type designer's work. 10. Think of type as a voice Here's an interesting tip we picked up from Hoon Kim of Why Not Smile: "To deal with type is much the same as to control one's voice: [think of] selecting typefaces as voice quality; having a relationship with type in size, amount and degrees as vocal tone; and setting layouts of type as voices in space and time. Typographic design is visible as well as audible. If you have a great scenario, now it is time to cast good actors." Related articles: Create your own 3D typeface Typography trends to look out for in 2019 22 free ebooks for designers View the full article

Black Friday is coming in just a few days now, and the Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2018 deals are coming in thick and fast ahead of the big day. As well as deals specifically aimed at creatives, on laptops and Creative Cloud software, for example, there are plenty of other more general Black Friday deals that creatives could benefit from. For example, nothing quite gets the creative juices pumping like putting on some of your favourite tunes, and we're certain that you're not short on ways to listen to them. You probably have a stack of albums on your phone and even more on your desktop computer, with probably a streaming service or two thrown in for good measure. But if quality matters to you then really, you need a dedicated device that can deliver high-resolution audio, enabling you to hear all the extra detail that's usually lost when your tunes get squashed into MP3 format. Sony's NW-A45 Walkman range is just the thing to give new life to your music, and it's available right now in a great Amazon Black Friday deal for just £114.99 – that's £55 off Red model, the priciest one in the range, and a solid bargain whichever colour you opt for. Sony NW-A45 features The NW-A45 is designed to deliver better than CD-quality sound, with support for pretty much every audio format from nasty old MP3 through to heavyweight audiophile formats such as FLAC, DSD and Apple Lossless. It'll work with standard headphones or over Bluetooth, using LDAC for improved audio quality, and it'll give you to 45 hours of listening on a single charge, as well as 16GB of storage for your music that you can extend using the NW-A45's micro SD slot. Finding your tunes is nice and easy thanks to its 3.1-inch touch-sensitive screen, and it comes in a range of colours to suit your particular style. You can store as much music as you like on the NW-A45 thanks to its micro-SD slot Perhaps the biggest advantage of it, though, is that by shifting your music onto the NW-A45, you'll create lots of extra space on your phone for the best iPhone apps, which is always a bonus. Want a taste of sweet high-resolution audio? Now's the time to jump on it; Amazon dropped the price of the NW-A45 at midnight in advance of Black Friday, but it won't be around forever, so don't hang about. Related articles: This Xbox One X deal is the cheapest we've seen This Sony A7 Black Friday deal will save you over £600 Black Friday UK sale: don't miss this unbelievable Samsung Galaxy S9 deal View the full article

When it comes to unleashing kids creativity, there's nothing quite like getting them stuck into a good book. And right now, these cracking early Black Friday deals offer great savings on some of the most popular children's books around. So if you're looking for ways to stimulate young minds and encourage creative thinking, this brilliant kid's books will do just that. And they come just in time to make the perfect stocking filler or Christmas gift for kids. Top tip: Amazon Prime members can access these deals the second they become available, but non-members will have to wait an extra 30 minutes before they can cash in. Don't want to miss out? Sign up for a free 30-day Amazon Prime trialand get every deal as soon as it's available. (You can cancel your trial afterwards with no strings attached.) Let's take a look at what's on offer... Read more: This Sony A7 Black Friday deal will save you over £600 Save almost 40% on Adobe Creative Cloud now with this huge Black Friday deal This Xbox One X deal is the cheapest we've seen View the full article

Adobe issues patch for a Flash Player vulnerability that could lead to an arbitrary code execution on targeted systems. View the full article

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You're reading Black Friday Deal: 35% OFF Designmodo Products and Market!, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! The Black Friday sales on Designmodo are underway! Enjoy 35% off to grab websites and email builders at discounted prices. We have dropped the price of all online builders! And we’ve cut prices for all items on Designmodo Market and Jobs Posting! … View the full article

With Black Friday fast approaching, retailers are pulling out all the stops to deliver the biggest and best offers. There are already lots of amazing Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2018 deals for creatives, but this whopping great discount of £674.75 on the fantastic Sony A7 and 28-70mm lens is one of the best we've seen so far. Suited for early adopter creatives shooting on the move, the Sony A7 offers a full-frame sensor in a small and portable package. Topped off with a tilting device and Wi-Fi connectivity, this camera impressed photographers upon its launch earlier this year thanks to its affordability. Now it's even more budget-friendly with close to £700 slashed off its price tag. Bundled together with a 28-70mm lens, this is one Black Friday deal you won't want to pass you by. If you're looking for a step forward in Sony cameras, be sure to check out this offer and buy using the links below. Read more: The best Christmas gifts for graphic designers 14 fun fonts to put a smile on your face Save almost 40% on Adobe Creative Cloud View the full article

The design industry is more vibrant and exciting than ever, but it is a competitive and demanding environment that can be daunting for people at the beginning of their career. Some rookie mistakes are an inevitable (and valuable) rite of passage, but sometimes a few words of wisdom from a more experienced figure can help beginners avoid needless conflicts, better expend their resources or just have the confidence to stick to their guns when deadlines and clients seem unmanageable. There are no shortcuts to gaining experience – although reading the 30 books every graphic designer should read may help – but there are insights from experienced creatives that we can all benefit from, even if you've already got a stellar design portfolio under your belt. The path to creative success is unique for all of us, and the following life lessons are by no means a definitive list, with no absolutes (except for the rule that there are no absolutes). But these strategies have proved successful for many experienced designers, and will hopefully provide inspiration and insight to younger talent. 01. Know current trends (so you can avoid them) This beautiful typography for Modus magazine shows how Sawdust became famous by creating their own unique aesthetic Now that every other creative in the world is available to you via the phone in your pocket, originality is the most powerful currency. Sawdust has established a world-wide reputation with their unique typography, and when Computer Arts spoke to co-founder Jonathan Quainton, he was unequivocal about how new talent should make their mark: "Don’t follow trends... find your own source of inspiration. The more obscure the better." Design legend Milton Glaser – perhaps most famous for his ‘I heart NY’ design – has also encouraged creatives to aim higher than simply following contemporary styles. "I think the best designers have a kind of broader look and don’t change with the prevailing wind," he told us when we interviewed him back in 2010. "If you’re serious about design, you have to be more concerned about durability and ideas that go beyond the moment." Make no mistake: knowing what is and isn’t fashionable is still crucial. But whether it’s lurid gradients, brutalist typography or '90s retro-chic, design against trends to stand out against the crowd. 02. Take risks with your career Richard Turley’s jump from print designer to editorial director at MTV was a brave career move that paid off Radical shifts in career or projects that initially seem too challenging can be terrifying, but the stock cliche – we regret what we didn’t do in life, not what we did – holds pretty true for creatives looking back on their careers. Despite having single-handedly reinvigorated magazine design through his innovative work at Bloomberg Businessweek, designer Richard Turley abandoned print (and his native UK) at the very peak of his success to take a job in America making TV indents and campaigns for MTV. His self-proclaimed "clusterfuck of visual content" re-energised him, exposed his talent to an enormous new audience and showed his understanding of the importance to grow and develop as a creative. Designers who stand still stagnate. Forward progression is everything if you are to develop a long-lasting career. 03. Understand your influences Joy Division album covers (Movement, 1981 and Power, Corruption & Lies, 1983) by Peter Saville elevated pop album sleeves to the status of high art, by referencing high art Whatever your chosen area of interest, you need to know and understand it better than anyone else. Radical experiments in typography are unlikely to yield rewards if you don’t know which rules you’re breaking. Colour theory cannot be challenged without a basic comprehension of the common principles. More than ever, we exist and create in a richly connected world. The DNA and heritage of your ascendents need to be absorbed. Peter Saville did not just stumble on his radical design aesthetic for Factory Records. The deliberately provocative borrowing of high art aesthetics and subtle identity building were triggered by the realisation, when he was due to leave Manchester Polytechnic in 1977, that he didn’t know enough about the history that underpinned graphic design. His rigorous research allowed him to explore a much richer visual history, and bring these influences back to his own work with startling results. 04. Deliver a solution, not options If your work is in any way client-based, there will inevitably come a point where you are required to communicate what you aim to deliver. Whether this is a campaign, illustration or logo, young creatives will be tempted to show a range of options that the client can choose from, a nervous symptom of wanting to ‘show your workings’. Don’t. Remember that you are being hired to offer a solution, not to engage in debate. Choose a direction and execute it with maximum confidence. Don’t make the mistake of using client meetings to help search for direction. Your indecision will be noted. The unspoken law of all client-based design is that if offered a choice, your client will pick wrong. Don’t give them the chance. You should have been living a breathing this project know what the best solution is. Sell with confidence and listen with humility. (And keep those alternative ideas in reserve, just in case...) 05. Ignore disciplines Work by New York-based designer Mario Hugo: define his specialism at your own peril Specialist disciplines are fading fast. When Computer Arts interviewed design icon Mario Hugo, no single title could encompass his diverse range of work (designer, art director and illustrator had to do) and he was dismissive of any notion of specialism in contemporary design. “It feels very limiting to call yourself one thing or another,” he told CA. “Those in the emerging world of design would prefer to broaden their horizons.” Graphic designer and Pentagram partner Natasha Jen raised some eyebrows at this year’s Design Indaba with her provocatively entitled talk: Design Thinking is Bullshit. But throughout her career of innovative, multi-discipline client work, she has always spoken her mind, championing the polymathic nature of design and encouraging each new designer "to think and operate like a renaissance man". The narrower your area of expertise, the less flexible (and attractive) you are to new clients. 06. Mentoring talent can be rewarding Young creatives are often ruthlessly (and rightly) self-focused, but when opportunities arise to develop and nurture younger talent, altruism has its own rewards. To guide a younger talent past pitfalls, help nurture their skills or simply offer practical support is fulfilling in its own right, especially if we see new talent benefit from our mentoring. As creatives we tend to live in our own heads, following processes that are often intuitive. Dragging our ideas and theories to the surface to share with others often leads to a sharper self-awareness, and a better understanding of our own methods. Experience cannot be taught via a YouTube tutorial or faked with youthful exuberance, but it can be shared. 07. Stay playful For Computer Arts magazine, Studio Sutherl& cut out the individual components of a Union Jack to make a weird and wonderful collection of animals, spaceships and messages, all in the service of ‘playing’ their way to a final solution A desire to be taken seriously early in our career can often inhibit us, but experienced designers remember how important it is to play, as well. However much we rationalise our work, the reality is that many of our critical justifications are written in hindsight. The actual unlocking of the imaginative processes is usually mysterious and instinctive. This can be a source of anxiety for young designers, especially when the creative well runs dry, but however many design books promise formulae for success, the only shared characteristic of successful creatives is a passion for playfulness. Studio Sutherl& has topped the Computer Arts UK Studio Rankings list for two years running now, and its sublime output is driven by exuberant, child-like play harnessed by a formidable mastery of craft. “The more joy you put into a project, the more joy comes out,” founder Jim Sutherland told us, his work demonstrating how experience earns the right to be young again. 08. Keep your portfolio up to date Keeping your graphic design portfolio (or website or showreel) up to date is a discipline few creatives can manage. There is always the next brief on the horizon, and updating our informal portfolios – Instagram, Behance etc. – can often feel more fun. But the less frequently you update your portfolio, the more unwieldy a task it becomes. Tedious though it may seem, experience will teach you that your portfolio is your single most important piece of work. Whatever your current role, having your portfolio at hand to email at a moment’s notice is essential. Unexpected opportunities may arise that need to be acted on swiftly, and hastily refreshing your portfolio is never a good idea. It is a window onto your talent, professionalism and self-awareness – bloated portfolios dilute your best work; hasty portfolios with spelling errors will be ignored – and the standard for self-presentation has never been higher. As your career progresses, have the discipline to edit your own work down. Remember, much of this work will be flipped by in seconds, so variety and pace are essential. It is a visual narrative of your creative life. Show it to friends and peers and ask for constructive feedback. It doesn’t matter how important or interesting a project was for you, only what impact it will have on the viewer. Read more about how to craft a standout portfolio here. 09. Trust your instincts This is perhaps the most difficult life lesson to acquire. Most creatives spend their whole lives questioning themselves and weighing up their relative successes. It is an inevitable component of the designer’s DNA to suffer creative anxiety. What we now term Imposter Syndrome is usually just good old-fashioned self-doubt, and there are few creatives who would deny ever feeling anxious or stressed about a project. But the better we get at listening to our inner voice – however irrational, contradictory or seemingly arbitrary – the better we can harness the power of our instincts. Education, training and logic are vital essential skills but our instincts often provide the magic. And if you suspect something’s wrong with your design but don’t know what it is, take it apart and start again. It doesn't matter if you can’t rationalise the flaw, if your instincts tell you something’s not working, believe them. 10. Learn from your mistakes The notorious Wired cover, left, with errant neon orange bar, and right, the design theory it inspired... Analysing what went wrong with a project is often more instructive than trying to explain why something works, and experienced creatives learn from their mistakes and apply these lessons to subsequent work, rather than erase it from their memory (and Instagram). Recognising the value of our mistakes is difficult to accept early on in our careers, but it’s a fact that is better embraced than agonised over. “There’s a tremendous advantage to make a terrible blunder,” design legend Paula Scher reminded us when we interviewed her back in 2009, “because you learn that way… To get good, you have to get really bad.” When Scott Dadich was creative director at WIRED in 2006, he found himself challenged by a colleague to ‘improve’ what he felt to be an already perfect cover. In a fit of “designerly fuck you", he sabotaged his own design with a random, lurid stripe. With hindsight, he came to appreciate this ‘mistake’ as a vital ingredient of an otherwise adequate design, and his subsequent exploration of Wrong Theory heralded a new era of innovative editorial design both at WIRED and the design world beyond. Related articles: 6 mistakes designers make – and how to avoid them Get started with Risograph printing 7 ways illustration can help brands stand out View the full article

JavaScript is an essential component in any web developer's toolkit. It's top of our list of web skills that pay, but it's a discipline that requires you to keep on learning. You might be au fait with basic JavaScript, but to really boost your career you need to be up to date with the popular JavaScript frameworks. For example, do you know what the best jQuery plugins are? The State of JavaScript 2018 tells you about the tools and technologies you need to know No-one wants to be saddled with a bunch of outdated JavaScript skills, but how do you keep tabs on what's hot in the JavaScript world right now? Luckily, someone's done the legwork for you in the form of the State of JavaScript 2018. It's a massive survey of over 20,000 JavaScript developers undertaken by Sacha Greif, Raphael Benitte and Michael Rambeau, and every year since 2016 they've been using it to uncover exactly what libraries, frameworks and languages the JavaScript pros are using right now, so you can make an informed choice about which areas of the massive JS ecosystem you should be targeting. React is still the most popular frontend framework around The good news is that if you were on the case with the hottest frameworks this time last year then you're almost certainly still good to go; React is still far and away the most popular frontend framework around, with both a high satisfaction ration and large user base, and Vue isn't far behind. And while Angular has almost as many users as React, they're nowhere near as happy with it; if you're concentrating on Angular then you might well want to explore other options. Most developers still prefer to code in ES6, but TypeScript seems to be catching up If you're a backend developer then there shouldn't be any big surprises lined up for you: Express is still the framework to rule them all, used and loved by 64.7 per cent of developers, with Next.js trailing far behind with just 8.6 per cent of users. When it comes to what the survey calls 'flavours' – that is, the various syntaxes and languages that can compile to JavaScript – the leader is still ES6, the default JS language. However TypeScript continues to rise in popularity; when the survey started in 2016, 20.8 per cent of users said that they had used it and would use again, while in 2018 this number has risen to 46.7 per cent. Are you earning enough? Salary breakdowns can help you calculate your value on the jobs market There's an awful lot to explore in the State of JavaScript 2018 results, and some really helpful information. If you drill down into the results you can find useful recommendations for what tools to use alongside your preferred technologies, and you'll also find salary breakdowns for each framework, flavour and tool covered in the survey. Perfect for your next pay negotiation. Basically if you're working in JavaScript then you need to read this; head straight to the State of JavaScript 2018 site to arm yourself for the future. Related articles: 25 game-changing JavaScript tools Is it okay to build sites that rely on JavaScript? Perfect JavaScript in 1,000 projects View the full article

Whether you're an illustrator fresh out of university and raring to hawk your design portfolio around potential clients, or you're still striving towards a creative career while working in a different industry, getting noticed as an illustrator can seem impossible. There are ways into the world of illustration though. Plenty of people have made it happen, and we've rounded up top names in the field to share how aspirational artists can start making their mark. 01. Enter competitions From Blackrock sequence by Jim Butler, which won the AOI’s 2018 books professional category Andreea Dobrin Dinu, who won the AOI New Talent award for commissioned advertising, found that the accolade was a great confidence boost as someone relatively new to full-time illustration. She hadn’t entered the work – her designs for the Art Safari festival in Romania – into any other awards event as “I don’t have the time,” she says. “I had no expectations, so I’m still blown away by that recognition!” While a great Instagram feed, a jazzy website and a ton of enthusiastic emails to potential clients pay dividends, awards are a chance to guarantee that your work will be looked at by some of the biggest industry names. As Jim Butler, who won the AOI professional, un-commissioned book design category puts it, “it can be very hard to have your work noticed by people who might want to commission it. If you just send an email, you have no idea if people will actually see it. Awards are a good way of focusing you to get work together and an ideal opportunity to get your work seen,” he says. 02. Make social media work for you Esther Goh created this key visual as part of her art direction and illustration work for the Singapore Writers Festival 2016 Anyone who’s ever even glanced at social media understands how embarrassing the compulsive element is that comes when chasing likes – not to mention the vampiric attention and time-sucking it requires. The benefit of such platforms, however, partly lies in their forging of communities – creatives the world over can easily connect, and with visual inspiration. But there’s nothing worse than seeing artists aping others in pursuit of those little hearts and thumbs ups; the last thing we need is a Jon Burgerman copycat pitching at (and missing) those same notes. Brighton-based illustrator Paul Thurlby scooped the AOI site specific professional category win for his illustrations commissioned by John Lewis for use in its window and store displays themed around national treasures. He considers social media to be both a curse and a joy. “Things are different now to when I left university,” says Thurlby. “You can just get commissioned through Instagram now!” Dinu found the sheer volume of proliferating images on Instagram, Behance and the like intimidating when she was starting out. “There’s just so much output and so many creative people putting work online, it’s quite overwhelming,” she says. “You feel you don’t even have a chance of being visible.” For Esther Goh, winner of the AOI’s commissioned professional category, however, Behance proved invaluable as a tool for getting her work noticed by peers from around the world. “Design sites wrote about it; people shared it on Facebook and Twitter; others pinned my images on Pinterest,” she says. “A few projects were also selected by the Behance team and featured on their curated galleries. Over time it had a snowball effect – the more people followed, commented on and liked the work, the more it appeared on people’s feeds, and so on.” 03. Maintain a community From Blackrock sequence by Jim Butler For Butler, one of the most crucial things in embarking on a creative career is maintaining a sense of coterie – in the real world, as well as online – with other creators. At uni, you’re surrounded by other people making work by default, and it’s important in nurturing a sense of self-identity as a creative to foster that in the real world. That could be as simple as staying in touch with former classmates. But where physical proximity is lost when students move to disparate parts of the country, it’s worth seeking out collectives (Butler enthuses about his post-uni time at Hot Bed Press in Salford), or working on DIY exhibitions, zines and other projects. “It’s your peers that keep you going, and keep that sense of [making creative work] as being central to who you are,” says Butler. “That’s the most important thing, rather than how quickly you start getting commissions. If in a year after leaving uni you can say ‘I’m an illustrator or printmaker or artist,’ and you think that’s what you still do, there’s a good chance you’ll make it.” Even so, no one said making it as a full-time illustrator was going to be easy. “It was scary,” says Dinu, “but I had a gut feeling it was the right thing to do. I wasn’t 20 years-old, I was a bit older, and I understand that things don’t happen fast – I still very much consider this a career path in its beginning.” 04. Ease your way into the industry The 2D characters Thurlby used for the National Treasures campaign were intended to represent all kinds of people across the nation: pet-lovers to tea-drinkers and, of course, shoppers Making it as an illustrator is, of course, about much more than just great work. Goh advises having a backup plan, and enough savings to last you at least six months while you work on marketing yourself and building a solid portfolio. “Put up only your best work online,” she adds. “Learn how to write contracts, license your artwork, how much to charge and what factors you should consider when doing a quotation.” As with any other discipline, there’s no set pathway that neatly leads to an illustration career. Butler initially worked as an engineer before deciding later to do an illustration degree, and continued to work three days a week in engineering while making his first steps as a creative. Similarly, illustrator and picture book-maker Soo Kyung Cho majored in ceramic art for her BA at Hongik University in Seoul, before studying communication design for her MA at Kingston University. Dinu first studied business management before moving into graphic design, later moving from her native Romania to Hamburg in 2016 to set up her own studio, which now works predominantly in illustration with a some instances of graphic design. What unites the bunch is an enduring passion for drawing – whatever job they did to keep landlords at bay, they’d still be doodling. “Working a paying job and making interesting work aren’t mutually exclusive,” says Butler. Before she even had any clients, the first step for Dinu was to simply start making work for herself and putting it on Instagram and Facebook. From there, some small magazines got in touch and her first “proper” work began trickling in. She also emailed a lot of people, and participated in a few Instagram competitions. Her advice to others considering making the leap? “If you’re ok with a very minimal lifestyle, try it out, but I’d always suggest having a partial backup plan.” 05. Go freelance Detail from Paul Thurlby’s National Treasures project, a commission for John Lewis’ flagship London store A common route for some freelance illustrators is if they’ve previously worked full-time in an agency. London-based Guy Field, who studied graphic design at Falmouth, has been freelance since working at Studio Moross in-house for around six years. He landed that coveted job thanks to an upfront portfolio in the shape of his Give Me a Job zine. “When I was younger I thought being an illustrator as a career was like being a professional footballer – only the one per cent make it,” he says. “That’s why I went into graphic design, doing illustration on the side, as that seemed like the middle ground.” He was lucky to find work in an agency that combined both disciplines, and over the years took on freelance commissions during evenings and weekends, eventually deciding that the next logical step was going it alone. “It’s been good, and intense, so far,” he says. Most of his work now comes from word of mouth, “through knowing people in similar professions – animators, designers and people who work in agencies. People just email you because you’re someone’s friend, or someone recommended you, but you have to have the work to back up the recommendation.” 06. Find a way to stand out A mask by Soo Kyung Cho, who won the Children’s Books, uncommissioned, professional category at the AOI’s 2018 awards Clearly it’s not as simple as studying an illustration degree for three years, doggedly hauling a portfolio around town and showing your work to potential clients such as publishers and advertising or design agencies, as illustrators once did. Instead, you have to understand and make good use of social media, be savvy about the business side of things, and be canny in how you make work and show it to people. “When I started out, I made a point of going out to show my portfolio more, which I actually really liked,” says Thurlby. “I loved going to different buildings and showing my work, even if when I look back now I don’t think it’s that good. But I believed in it at the time, and that’s the main thing – to believe in your work and show that you’re passionate about it.” At the start of his career Thurlby frequently visited magazines and publishers he wanted to work with, garnering mixed results. “Once, I was showing my work to a publisher who was saying ‘it’s great, we’ll definitely be commissioning you.’ I looked up and he was looking out the window. I learned that some people say things for the sake of it.” 07. Be open to adaptation Imagery from Soo Kyung Cho’s children’s book Me and Me, which follows dual narratives of an adult and a child Then as now, persistence is key. Thurlby was keen to work for The Guardian – in particular, its sports section. He sent his portfolio over, only to be told the work wasn’t quite what they were after at the time. “So I adapted my work to fit what they were looking for,” he says. “I didn’t make it into a style that wasn’t me or that I didn’t like, but I made it more graphic.” It paid off; the paper called while he was at the barber’s to let him know they’d be commissioning him. So while, as Thurlby’s story proves, it’s worth having an eye on what commissioners are after, it’s equally important not to just ape other artists and lose sight of your own personality in a bid to win work. It’s sadly a rare occurrence to see not just influence, but plain ripping off in the illustration world; Malika Favre, Christoph Niemann, Thurlby himself and many more are frequently parodied to the point of warranting lawsuits (or at least threats of them). How then do you make work that’s indisputably yours, but irrefutably commissionable? Every creative dreams of having an ownable style that’s recognisably, distinctly their own. Yet in a world where we’re bombarded with visuals at every turn, it’s impossible to not unintentionally absorb certain external influences. That doesn’t mean it’s ok to merrily just copy. “At the very least try and create something from a different perspective, that has a unique flair to it, because really that’s one of the main reasons discerning clients will pick you over everyone else who are doing the same sort of work,” says Goh. “And these are the clients that you want to keep.” 08. Stay mindful of trends Me and Me is a good example of how we need to stay open to new perspectives Of course, illustration work that fits into a current trend is eminently sellable. But by their very nature, the style that dominates such trends is mutable, so don’t just fall into the trap of grooming yourself into that same one-trick pony. “In commercial illustration it’s best to be versatile in terms of the styles you offer,” says Goh. “You wouldn’t want to end up with something that looks obviously dated, though some trends tend to move in cycles or stay for quite a while.” Field points out that while all illustrators are osmotically informed by one another, it’s important to recognise when that influence plays out too much in your own work. “Stay true to your natural way of doing things. You just have to keep grinding away for ages,” he says. “It’s important to pay attention to trends so that you have an awareness, and as an illustrator you’re going to be interested in other people’s work. A lot of your own style comes down to your hand – the way you naturally do things other people don’t.” One of the keys to developing a unique approach as an illustrator is constant experimentation with processes, colours, scales, perspectives and materials. “For me, creating a style is also about flexibility – having a unique style that works across various themes is important,” says Cho. “It’s important to be able to read trends, but I don’t believe it’s important for your work to follow them.” 09. Stay curious Andreea Dobrin Dinu’s illustration for Romanian arts fair Art Safari, 2017, which won the commissioned advertising new talent 2018 AOI award Another invaluable piece of advice is to look outside of the illustration world. Interesting work, much like interesting people, comes from being tantalised and curious. “Take an interest in things you don’t usually notice,” Goh says. “It could be a certain texture, something out of ordinary – see if you can find ways to integrate it into your art. Figure out a system: for example, if you draw humans with tiny heads and large feet, then maybe your animals should look like this too? The key is to be consistent.” Just as music journalists, audio database Discogs and basically the whole internet love the easy categorisations that music genres offer, it might not always be helpful to make hard and fast distinctions between whether illustrators are respected artists or simply commercial creatives, slaves to the commissioning editor and the deadline. Many distinguish between illustrators and ‘proper artists’ in that the former work to an external brief, while the latter are simply creating without formalised boundaries. Cho, though, sees "no reason to separate fine art and illustration so strictly. Creativity and meeting a client’s need at the same time is required for them both." Butler, who works on a mixture of commissioned illustration projects and self-initiated prints and artists books (which he sells), views art and commercial illustration as a “broad continuum”, and he too thinks that it isn’t important to make a distinction between them. The only issue that he’s found is when exhibiting work in group shows dominated by practitioners firmly in the “fine art” camp. “Some people might become a bit sniff y when they find out you work in or studied illustration,” he says. “I’ve never had any problem with the idea of selling art, or that art is commercial. Unless you happen to be married to landed gentry, selling your work is the only way you can make the time to make work. Surely that’s the point, to be able to buy yourself out of other jobs to make more [art] work - it’s cyclical.” 10. Keep at it Artwork for a print workshop with Make Good Prints by Guy Field, who went freelance earlier this year after six years at Studio Moross As well as working on his own projects, Butler also gives lectures on illustration and book arts at Cambridge School of Art, Anglia Ruskin University. Something he always tells his students is that “we’re not looking to start or end with the finished article in three years.” You might have 50 or 60 years of work ahead of you when you leave, and the way that tech-based creative tools will change in that time is unpredictable. “It’s not just about being au fait with technology. It’s about being able to adapt to the visual world and play with visual ideas,” he adds. "You’ll adapt to the medium according to your own interests.” Much of Butler’s own work deals in very physical, analogue processes: screen printing, collages, making rubbings (as in his AOI award-winning Blackrock Sequence book, a project in which he collaborated with a poet), etching and more. “I enjoy using my hands, and the physical nature of how certain inks sit on certain paper weights, and how things can happen accidentally. When on a computer that’s connected to the internet, I get distracted and can’t make decisions,” he says. In his teaching, Butler encourages students to learn multiple types of media – physical and digital. The one essential thing for students wanting to be a pro illustrator is how to draw. “You need to have a real feeling for drawing, and an understanding of drawing as an illustrator. You need to be able to handle the figure and narrative. You also have to understand that you need to put in a lot of work to open up ideas and make things better; have an openness to reinventing yourself, not just going for the first and easiest solution.” He adds: “Some people ‘make it’ quickly, and some take much longer than others. To me, ‘making it’ isn’t just about having an illustration published in The Guardian or The New York Times. If people are still making work, and that work is moving on, then they’re ‘making it.’” This article originally appeared in issue 284 of Computer Arts, the world's leading graphic design magazine. Buy issue 284 or subscribe here. Related articles: The best Christmas gifts for illustrators 75 best Adobe Illustrator tutorials 12 top learning resources for illustrators View the full article

Running a single-person web-development agency is hard, especially in the world of ecommerce, where I work. As a lot of agencies know, there are projects that turn a decent profit and others that seem to drag on into eternity. As a one-man/woman company, it’s even more important to make this process as smooth as possible – both for yourself and your client. It’s vital to keep your eye on profitability when developing ecommerce websites. As the solo developer, it’s all too easy to get sucked into a problem and end up losing out financially. During my career as a senior web developer, I’ve seen the best and worst of what our industry has to offer. After parting ways with my company and travelling the world for a year, I decided to go it alone upon my return. Here I set out some of the best advice I’ve gleaned from my experiences, my contacts in the industry and the people who inspired me to take the plunge. 01. Get your pricing right Can a one-man band charge the same as a large agency? Yes and no. Obviously your own overheads should be nowhere near that of an agency and the client will know this. What you want to do is price your projects solely on the quality of your work. If you’re a top-class developer, you might even charge a premium for your services. In many cases, undercutting the market rate by a small margin and delivering high-quality projects will lead to more business for you in the long run. Read more: 7 pricing models, and which one you should choose 02. Be prepared Ecommerce requires multiple elements working together, and information gathering at the start will lead to a smoother and faster process. This is case for a lot of different types of projects. The last thing you want is a website being held up because the client didn’t know they had to sign up for a payment gateway, write a privacy policy and input their product information. A delayed website means a delayed payment and an urgent re-shifting of projects to hit your own monthly targets. 03. Set honest lead times You want to build a pipeline with honest estimates for starting and completing the project. If you fail because you double-booked yourself, you may just lose out on an entire project, which can be very costly. Always plan two to three months in advance; in my experience a typical WooCommerce or Magento website should take between four and eight weeks to complete. Have the next project lined up and ready to go, or supplement your lack of large projects with smaller items from within your network of contacts. 04. Outsource your hosting Hosting can be profitable but also time-consuming. If you’re a wizard with servers and don’t mind taking the blame when things go wrong, then you can definitely make money here. However, there are partnerships to be struck in the UK where servers are bought and paid for by your clients and a generous monthly referral fee is given back to you from the web hosting company. This is a stress-free, worry-free income stream that can build up to big numbers over time. 05. Strike up partnerships I work with over six separate agencies on all manner of projects. Not only does this improve my skill set but it also opens doors. A successful partnership is never a one-way street: although it may start out as a helping hand hiding behind the curtain of another agency, eventually it will lead to bigger and better things. I’ve picked up maintenance contracts, small one-off projects and even full website builds through these channels. 06. Charge for maintenance Ecommerce is a different challenge compared to your run-of-the-mill 'brochure' websites; it’s not often a client will take their finished online store and disappear without a backward glance. Clients who sell online are always seeking an edge over the competition, which invariably leads to website maintenance, updates and improvements. Build this in at the start of the process and it will lead to an ongoing and mutually beneficial relationship. Non-ecommerce websites will also likely need maintenance so make sure you charge for this too. 07. Charge for training It is incredible how often this is overlooked. Build in the charge for training your client because I guarantee you that if the client is untrained on the system, you will spend many unpaid hours teaching them when you could be doing what you do best – developing websites! This article was originally published in issue 311 of net, the world's leading magazine for web designers and developers. Buy issue 311 or subscribe here. How to make your creative business more profitable 7 hot web trends for 2019 29 web design tools to speed up your workflow View the full article

Nobody gets into the creative game for the joy of the admin, and yet most of us end up spending more time wrangling email than actually doing any creative work – or at least, that's how it feels. There are, though, some easy techniques for taming your inbox especially for those of us working in the creative industries, all designed to let you spend less time in Mail, Outlook or Gmail and more time in Illustrator CC, Photoshop CC and Maya. Get Adobe Creative Cloud now We're not here to wag fingers or peddle some ideological time-management bullshit from a book, and nor, since we assume you've been successfully sending and receiving email for some years, are our suggestions the 'always use a meaningful subject line' pap that fills so many email management how-to guides; these are pragmatic, practical tips informed by years of working both in-house and freelance. 01. It's okay to let email pile up You don't need to reply to them all... we promise The secret to managing email is that sometimes it's okay not to manage it. Seriously: one of the most liberating things you can do is banish the mounting sense of nagging guilt most of us feel as the unread count on your inbox soars. Sod it. Trust your instincts; if you thought it was safe to ignore when you saw it arrive, it probably was – and if it wasn't, chances are someone will follow-up again. Your job is design, not correspondence. (And while we're about it, many of us would do well to turn off the unread badge on computers and smartphones; unless you're super on top of email, the number is pretty meaningless.) You have our permission – our blessing – not to reply to every email you receive. 02. Don't check your emails first thing The habit of checking emails when you first sit down at your desk, groggily sloshing a bucket of caffeine over your metabolism as you get up to speed for the day, is as fatal to your productivity as it is completely understandable. By definition, instead of cracking on with some real work and finishing what on your to-do list you failed to check off yesterday, you'll just be given a whole load of other tasks to add to that to-do list, and you'll probably get sidetracked by them before the day even begins. Replace that email check with another ritual that provides that gentle on-ramp for the day – checking Behance, a half hour of directionless doodling, or might we modestly suggest seeing what's new on Creative Bloq – and then do a solid couple of hours' creative work before you even open your email client. 03. Don't use your email as a to-do list Reminders may be more useful than a starred email It's easy to use techniques such as flagging emails or marking them as unread to denote 'I must deal with that later' but if we're honest we know that the relentless torrent of new emails will push those marked messages off your screen soon enough and then you'll just forget about it. Get into the habit instead of transferring tasks that arrive in your inbox to an actual to-do list. If Post-its stuck to your Mac work for you, knock yourself out, but do investigate apps too – popular ones include Wunderlist, Todoist and OmniFocus, as well as built-in options such as Reminders on OS X/iOS – since these can help prioritise your jobs, show you when deadlines are approaching, and importantly prompt you to do jobs at particular times or places. 04. Colour-code your emails Inject some colour into your emails We're visual people, us creatives, so one tip that's likely to resonate is colour-coding. Outlook, Mail and pretty much every mail client under the sun can do this, and the process is basically the same whichever you use. Basically, you define some rules for incoming mail, so that, for example, emails from a particular client are highlighted in blue, while those containing a particular word in the subject line become orange. This is especially handy for agencies or freelancer juggling dozens of clients; it makes your inbox glanceable. 05. Use filtering and the like Another thing you can use rules for is to filter email into different folders. Now, some people go nuts with this, defining intricate and subtle rules to ensure basically nothing arrives into the main inbox, but you don't need to go that far. Consider just a handful to route some of the most egregious emailers into particular folders, to make it easier to manage. A good example is if you work with a system such as issue tracking software that automatically spits out an email whenever a task is assigned to you, routing these notifications to a particular folder not only means you get them out of your inbox (making it easier to browse), but means you specifically have to set aside time to go and parse what's there. Gmail uses Labels rather than folders – and you can apply more than one to each message – but the effect is the same. Note too that some clients such as Mail on OS X let you define so-called smart mailboxes; these are dynamically updating folders based on criteria you set, so instead of messages actually being moved to a folder, a smart folder just gives you a different temporary view or grouping of your email. You can link them too, so you might create a smart folder for each client, define a smart folder called Clients which shows all mail from any of your client smart folders, and another smart folder called Client Assets whose rule is 'Message is in Mailbox: Clients' and 'Contains attachments' – all this makes it easier to root stuff out. 06. Use signatures as standard emails You probably send similar emails frequently – a covering note with an invoice, a cold pitch to a new commissioning editor, or instructions for clients on how to submit to your FTP site, say – and you can save yourself hours or retyping with preset emails. The nicely hacky way of doing this, which will work in pretty much any email client, is to paste these boilerplate emails into different signatures (complete with your usual signature as well, of course). Now, whenever you compose an email, whether it's a fresh conversation or in reply to a query, you can just select the appropriate 'signature' to have the email repopulated, then tweak it to suit. Recently, Gmail also added a feature where it suggests possible responses, named Smart Reply. You could also experiment with this, though make sure you properly read its suggested responses and don't just blindly click them. 07. Use out of hours time to triage email If you're self-employed or at a managerial level in a company, the temptation to check your email out of office hours is immense. And you know what? We're not going to tell you not to do it – that's your call, and we understand. But you should consider, as a way of balancing work and life, using these impulsive checks only as a way of triaging email. What we mean by this is: while your partner might, we're not going to beat you up for glancing at your phone when you're watching telly at home, but do so with one goal in mind: to make your morning easier when you actually get to work tomorrow. If you must check your email out of office hours, use that time to swipe and delete irrelevant crap, reroute queries that aren't for you, and keep yourself abreast of what fires you're going to have to put out tomorrow. Crucially, however, unless it unequivocally cannot wait, don't actually put them out now; wait till you're at work. 08. New email notifications aren't evil Similarly, most email management articles will tell you to turn off new email notifications, and sure, we get the point they're making. But if, and only if, your email client's notifications are actionable – that is, the notifications themselves let you do something with the new email – and you're self-disciplined enough not to use them as an excuse to procrastinate, they can be a great triage tool. Being able to trash incoming junk as it arrives just from a notification in the corner of your screen (without having to switch away from Photoshop) means you don't have to wade through rubbish when you finally do switch to email, and firing off a quick reply to a question immediately means both that projects can progress faster and that your inbox doesn't get clogged with lots of bitty correspondence. 09. Know when to switch email off The corollary, however, is that if you're truly in the zone – the words are flowing, the design building beautifully, the melodies singing – then shut yourself away from anything that can break that flow. Honestly, we suspect that many creatives need the novelty and stimulation of distractions to put their minds in a place where they can come up with creative solutions to problems, but once you're there, once everything's clicked, quit everything, maybe even use an app such as Focus to prevent you sneakily checking Facebook, lock the door and let the muse take you. 10. Embrace the two-minute rule Okay, so we promised no life-hack book bullshit, but one of the central tenets of the seminal Getting Things Done philosophy applies here, hard: if a job takes less than two minutes to do, do it now. Basically, while this doesn't absolve you from dealing with the big, difficult emails, you'll feel much less swamped if you zip quick replies back to easy emails either as soon as they arrive or in little bursts of productivity. 11. Consider migrating away from email Think about what you use email for – and think if in fact you can dispense with it or at least dramatically reduce the amount of time you spend using it. It might still be a necessary evil for dealing with the outside world, but if 80 per cent of your email traffic is dealing with people inside your company or a few select colleagues, you'd do well to investigate other options such as Slack, which can be better-suited to modern communication than email – and then you'll spend even less time in front of your email client. We think adopting these techniques will have you back doing the stuff you love in double-quick time. Read more: 10 time-sucks for creatives and how to minimise them 7 times you should turn a design job down A guide to the best email provider of 2018 View the full article

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There are plenty of awesome Black Friday 2018 deals flying around at the moment, but we're calling it: this is the best of the bunch. Onestream is offering unlimited broadband for just £9.99 a month, which is absolutely the cheapest broadband deal we've seen. Ever. We're still days away from Black Friday, but if you're after a broadband bargain, this deal isn't going to be bettered. Because it's so stupidly good, Onestream is limiting this offer to just the first 500 customers, so hurry if you want to claim. Once those 500 are gone, the price will revert back to the usual £13.99 a month (still mega-cheap, but around £50 more than deal price over the course of the year). It will cost you £9.99 for the first year of the contract, and then £24.99 thereafter if you want to stay with the provider. But the contract ends in 12 months, so come Black Friday 2019, you'll be perfectly free to shop around for a new bargain. Read to the bottom for more details. In the interest of variety, BT is also offering some top deals this Black Friday season – although nothing anywhere near as cheap as the Onestream offer. While you'll be shelling out at least £20 a month more, BT has sweetened the deal by throwing in a £120+ reward card (essentially a prepaid Mastercard) for anyone who signs up before midnight on Cyber Monday (26 Nov). Take a look at the details below. Related articles: Black Friday UK sale: Don't miss this unbelievable Samsung Galaxy S9 deal The best 4K TVs at Walmart The best Microsoft Black Friday deals View the full article

For artists and designers, having a trusted way to record an idea when inspiration strikes is vital. Nowadays, for many creatives, that comes in the form of a smart device, with a camera and note-taking services. But these devices don't come cheap, which is why we were really excited to see this early Black Friday deal, which offers one of the best camera phones on the market at the lowest price we've ever seen in the UK. In an exclusive deal with our sister site Techradar, today Mobiles.co.uk is offering the Samsung Galaxy S9 for as little as £23 per month, with a one-off upfront fee of £69.99, which Techradar reports as 'THE best Galaxy S9 deal you'll see this Black Friday'. The Galaxy S9 screen delivers phenomenal image quality But why should you choose a Galaxy S9 over other leading smartphones, we hear you ask? Like anything, phone choice is a very personal thing, and being a (usually loyal) Android or Apple user will obviously have an influence. But if you are a die-hard Android fan, or thinking of making the switch, this is the deal for you. Not only is the Galaxy S9 is the most powerful Android phone available, it has a plethora of features just waiting to help you unleash your creativity. The camera being one, another being the Galaxy S9's flawless screen, which utilises Super AMOLED technology, enabling it to deliver phenomenal image quality. The unbelievable discount comes after the upfront price was dropped from £110, to just under £90, which was already a huge saving. But add the voucher code OMD15 at the checkout and it brings the fee down to a jaw-dropping £69.99. This is the cheapest deal on Samsung's flagship phone we've seen so far and we don't expect it to be beaten, so if you're in the market for a new smartphone, now's the time to buy. But hurry, we don't expect this deal to hang around for long! Read more: Black Friday flash sale: Save almost £400 on a new Surface Pro 6! This Xbox One X deal is the cheapest we've seen The best Black Friday and Cyber Monday laptop deals View the full article

If you're looking for a brilliant 4K TV, then Walmart is an excellent place to check, as it has a huge range of ultra high definition televisions at very competitive prices. The best 4K TVs at Walmart cover a wide range of sizes, from 32-inch TVs that are great for guest rooms, to 55-inch 4K TVs for the lounge, or even monster 65-inch and 75-inch displays for truly immersive entertainment to rival your local movie theater. The best Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals 2018 There are a lot of things you need to consider when buying a 4K TV from Walmart. Screen size is the obvious one, as you don't want to buy a TV that will swap the room it's intended for (unless that's what you're going for). You should also think about the number of ports the TV has, especially HDMI. The best 4K TVs offer a wide range of ports for you to plug all your devices into. Take a look for HDR (high dynamic range) support as well. This is technology that brings improved contrast and colors to 4K footage, and can make all the difference to image quality. Budget 4K TVs will often not have this feature, in order to keep the price down. Because of the wide range of 4K TVs on offer at Walmart, it can be tricky to pick the best one that suits your needs. And that's where this guide comes in. We've hand-picked the best 4K TVs currently on sale at Walmart, and we'll clearly explain why each TV should be worthy of your consideration. The TCL 55R617 is our pick of the best overall 4K TV at Walmart. It offers some excellent features and very good image quality, while also not being too expensive at all. The TCL 6-Series is the best TV you can possibly get in this price range. Its performance-per-dollar is unmatched, and the picture quality – despite a few minor flaws – will truly impress you. It features Dolby Vision and Roku TV for streaming media (two features you'd expect to find only on far more expensive TVs), and also boasts HDR, something many budget 4K TVs don't have. For the price, this is a very impressive 4K TV. If you've got a bigger budget, then the Samsung QN65Q9FN is our pick of the best 4K TV you can buy from Walmart. Sure, it's expensive, but you are getting a large 65-inch 4K TV with exceptional image quality, thanks to Samsung’s QLED technology. It makes images even brighter and more colorful than previous Samsung TVs, and features Full Array Local Dimming rather than edge-lit LED lighting for seriously impressive images. It also supports HDR10+ and Q HDR EliteMax – what Samsung bills as its maximum High Dynamic Range experience that’s exclusive to the Q9FN series – making it the best choice for 4K TV if you can afford it. The Samsung UN55NU8000 is a brilliant mid-range TV that strikes a good balance between price and performance. It's not too expensive, but it offers bright, beautiful colors and a HDR+ mode. It features the latest version of Samsung's TV OS, which is found on much more expensive TVs (like the Samsung QN65Q9FN above), and it handles gaming really well thanks to its low input lag. This is definitely a 4K TV that punches above its weight considering its mid-range price. If you're after a 4K TV for a rock bottom price, and you don't mind missing out on features such as Smart TV apps and HDR, then the RCA RTU4300 is is a real steal. For under that magic price of $200, you get a 43-inch 4K TV that might not give you the most impressive home cinema experience, but does a fine job as a second TV to place in a bedroom. As long as you keep your expectations in check with this ultra-cheap 4K TV, you won't be disappointed. If you're looking for a 55-inch 4K TV, then this is a very good choice from Walmart. The UN55NU6900 comes with the build quality we've come to expect from Samsung, while also keeping the price low. Picture quality is good considering the price, and it supports local dimming and a high contrast ratio that helps images look good. HDR support is also included, which is a nice plus at this price point, though it's not as impressive as more expensive TVs, and viewing angles are narrow. Gamers will also appreciate the low input lag. The best all-round 4K TV at 65-inches is this brilliant LG 65SK8000PUA. When you're buying a screen this big, you want to make sure that it has the image quality to do the size justice, and this TV manages that without being prohibitively expensive. It can't compete with 65-inch sets costing $2,000 and above, but it doesn't set out to. This is a very capable, large-screen ultra high definition TV with plenty of features. It doesn't go as bright as some other sets, but for most people that won't be an issue. Yet another Samsung on our list of the best 4K TVs from Walmart, but what can we say? We really like the Korean company's TVs. If you're looking for a large (and we mean very large) 4K TV, then this 75-inch beast is our pick. The Samsung QN75Q6FN offers brilliant image quality, a gorgeous, thin bezel design and plenty of HMDI inputs. It also has Bluetooth and Wi-Fi built in, and it offers a variable refresh rate as well thanks to FreeSync support. Vizio is a brand known for cheap TVs that offer features and image quality that can rival more expensive models. Walmart has a wide range from this brand, but in our opinion the best Vizio 4K TV on sale at Walmart is the Vizio D55x-G1. This is a 55-inch mid-range 4K TV that offers some excellent features for a very tempting price. It has three HDMI ports, so you can plug in plenty of devices. It also has Chromecast built in, allowing you to install various apps such as Netflix and Spotify. Sony produces some exceptional 4K TVs, though they are often quite expensive. The Sony Bravia XBR55A9F is our pick for the best Sony 4K TV at Walmart – but it comes at quite a high price. If you can afford it, then you'll be blown away by the image quality on display here. This is a TV that has been carefully engineered to provide best-in-class image quality and supports HDR, Dolby Vision, IMAX Enhanced and other impressive technology. It also works with Google Home and Amazon Alexa voice assistants. Read more: 10 boxsets every designer should watch The best 4K monitors for designers in 2018 View the full article

If you're interested in gaming, you'll know that there are plenty of Xbox Black Friday bundle deals around. However, if the game isn't what you're after, these can be a bit of a false economy. Much rarer is the standalone console offer, but Walmart has stepped up this year with a great Xbox One X deal. Right now you can pick up an Xbox One X console for just under $400 rather than the usual $499.99 in this awesome Microsoft Black Friday 2018 deal. Microsoft's Xbox One X offers 4K HDR gaming – which means games look stunning. It also promises 40% more power than any other console, making it the most premium gaming experience you can find. Take a look at our sister website TechRadar's Xbox One X review for more information. Want to make sure there isn't a better bundle deal for you? Walmart has knocked $70.99 off a range of game-plus-console packages. So for an extra $30 you could get multiplayer action role-playing game Fallout 76 or basketball simulation game NBA 2K19 bundled in. There's also an option to include battle royale shooter Playerunknown's Battlegrounds, but that's only $17 at Walmart at the moment, so you're better buying the game and console separately. Take a look at our roundup of amazing Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2018 deals for more top savings. Read more: The best Christmas gifts for graphic designers 14 fun fonts to put a smile on your face Save almost 40% on Adobe Creative Cloud View the full article

There are certain Black Friday deals you expect to see every year, and others you think you won't see in a million years - an almost £400 price drop on a new Microsoft Surface Pro 6 being one of them. Yes, you read that right. As of this minute, you can get hold of a brand new Surface Pro 6 12.3" two-in-one laptop with platinum keyboard cover 2018 for just £749 - that's £380 off the retail price! The best Microsoft Black Friday 2018 deals So what do you get for your money? All the performance of a powerful laptop with the versatility of a tablet, that's what. This spec Surface Pro 6 boasts an impressive 13.5 hours of battery life, houses a 128GB solid state drive, 8th generation Intel Core i5 processor and 8GB RAM and, if that wasn't enough, a stylish platinum keyboard cover is thrown in for the price too. Being one of the best tablets currently on the market, we don't expect this deal to hang around for long, so if you're in the market for one, now's the time to buy. Read more: Surface Pro 6 review View the full article

Digital artists on the look out for a discount pen display or drawing tablet are in luck: these XP-Pen Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals slash up to 30% off the popular XP-Pen graphic drawing tablets. Bargain. If you're not familiar with XP-Pen, the Japanese graphics tablet company has been developing pro drawing products since 2005. The company offers a decent budget alternative to more expensive Wacom options. With these discounts, there's no better time to pick up an XP-Pen device. Listed below are the offers that really caught our eye, but there are plenty more digital art discounts over on Amazon already. But remember: the devices we've listed below are reduced for today only, from 06:20 BST, so if you want to cash in on these lightning deals, make sure you do before 12:20 BST. And you might want to hurry, with up to 29% knocked off, we don't expect stocks to last long. Top tip: Prime members can access these deals the second they become available, but non-members will have to wait an extra 30 minutes before they can cash in. Don't want to miss out? Sign up for a free 30-day Amazon Prime trial and get every deal as soon as it's available. (You can cancel your trial afterwards with no strings attached.) Related articles: Review: XP-Pen Artist 15.6 graphics tablet The best drawing tablet: our pick of the best graphics tablets in 2018 The best Black Friday and Cyber Monday tablet deals View the full article

The "Kitten of Doom" denial-of-service attack is easy to carry out. View the full article