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As the web landscape changes so does user experience and to stay competitive you need to embrace the new. One thing that doesn't change is the user. If they have a poor user experience they will simply look elsewhere. So what are the emerging experiences that you need to consider today? The theory of UX These are the seven key themes that you should be designing for: inclusivity and accessibility, immersion, trust and transparency, coherence, conversation, collaboration and efficiency. Alongside these key themes we reveal the tools that you will need to ensure design success. Design for inclusivity Sometimes referred to as 'Universal Design', inclusive design considers as many people's needs and abilities as possible, instead of a 'one size fits all' approach to the experience. As designers it can be easy to unwittingly design for those that are just like us, or prioritise these considerations due to tight budgets or deadlines. As designers we should be aiming to include people with varying ranges of cognitive or physical disability, rather than exclude them. Designers should do this by removing the barriers that create extra effort and separation, enabling the end user of your product or service to have the confidence to participate equally, and without support. Tech For Good also has a podcast Over the next year, expect to see inclusive and ethical design become an expected part of the UX Design process. Fortunately, there are plenty of other people getting involved in the digital community, with social movements such as The A11Y Project, AXSChat and Tech For Good gathering rapid momentum over the past 12 months. These groups provide a supportive space for designers to learn more about the inclusive design process and the problems that different people face when using technology. Inclusive design shouldn't be confused with accessible design. Inclusive design shouldn't be confused with accessible design. Products and services are usually made accessible as an afterthought; for example, a watch might be retrospectively made accessible for blind people by including braille numbering on top of the watch face. This modification to a device designed for those with sight may solve one technical problem, but introduce many more issues for those that are blind. Inclusive design seeks to fundamentally redesign a product from scratch, removing barriers from the start. Inclusive design is proactive, not reactive. When starting any new project, one of the most important questions UX designers should ask themselves at all stages of the design process is, 'Who will this design exclude?' Top tools Funkify Disability Simulator Funkify is an extension for Chrome that helps you experience the web and interfaces through the eyes of users with different abilities and disabilities. Funkify is created by a team of usability and accessibility experts in Sweden. Stark The colour-blind simulator and contrast checker for Sketch. Simulate the various forms of colour-blindness by quickly previewing your Sketch designs and make adjustments as needed. Contrast A macOS app that provides access to WCAG colour contrast ratios. The entire app UI updates instantly when picking colours, making it easy to get the colour contrast information you need to make informed decisions about the colour of your text. Design for immersion Traditionally, UX designers had a clear separation of realities to design for: real life, and the experience delivered on screen by the person's device. Now the lines have been well and truly blurred with Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) entering into mainstream use. It's not enough to design for screens, pages and offline touchpoints anymore, now the concept of multiple dimensions opens up a plethora of ways to enhance the experience. A whole host of interactions can be incorporated into designs, such as picking up, pinching, pushing and pulling, facial expressions, and even air tapping for Microsoft's HoloLens. To get them to do this, you must also think about the cues you will give users that are used to interacting with flat screens, how will you encourage them to look around in the space? Microsoft HoloLens brings holograms into the real world With new immersive technologies you can now use audio to grab attention, or display elements just off screen to prompt them to move left and right. This new technology also gives you the opportunity to play around with objects in a 3D space, so it's important that designers become comfortable in how shadow and light can be used to create the illusion of depth and mass for objects in the interface. Designers also need to be conscious of the right context to use these interactions. As a user interacting with an Augmented Reality app whilst driving would be entirely inappropriate, and it might be that a voice interaction is more suitable in this type of scenario. Thorough research and testing is required of the UX practitioner to find and understand these contexts and user goals. Overall, expect the prevalence of AR and VR to increase rapidly over the next few years as businesses and organisations find ways for this technology to fit their business models. Top tools A-Frame A-Frame is a web framework for building VR experiences. Originally developed by Mozilla, it is an independent open source project. A-Frame is HTML, making it simple to get started. Microsoft HoloLens Microsoft's 'mixed-reality' product, HoloLens, is the first self-contained, holographic computer, enabling you to engage with your digital content and interact with holograms in the world around you. Design for collaboration As UX Designer and its many permutations become more ubiquitous as a role, teams are growing and they have a bigger seat at the table. As a result, more business stakeholders are interested in knowing – or even being involved – in what you're doing. The UX role has now matured, and there are plenty of online communities, tools, conferences, and books aimed specifically for the UX designer. To complete the perfect storm, the digital marketplace is also saturated with multiple offerings for a single type of product, and organisations are more willing to invest the time in creating unique user experiences to make them stand out in a fiercely competitive crowd. Suddenly, UX practitioners find they not only have a voice, but are influential in navigating a product or service to market. Use RealtimeBoard to design journey maps, personas and other planning canvases Superior soft skills are the secret weapon behind superior UX teams. This includes communication, listening, empathy, workshop facilitation, teamwork and storytelling. These provide the foundation that all other deliverables are based on. How do you know if the prototype you are testing will meet a user need if you have not listened properly in the research phase of the project? These skills are not an innate talent and need to be practised just like any other skill. Not only that, but developing your soft skills as a team enables you all to communicate properly with one another, forming a common strategy so you can all aim for the same goal. There are many good UX practitioners, but great ones have exceptional soft skills to help them do their job. Collaborating with the customer or client is also essential to a smooth-running project. There are many tools such as Marvel, InVision and Axure that will enable you to quickly prototype up your work to show them the 'Promised Land', instead of sending emails back and forth you can now make your solutions come alive. The benefit of this approach is increased buy-in from clients and customers, and frictionless collaboration. Some of the biggest obstacles to collaboration come from people not understanding what UX activities entail. Some of the biggest obstacles to collaboration on a project can come from other business stakeholders and departments not understanding what UX activities entail. The solution here is to be as transparent and as open as possible. As a team you can pique people's interest by creating exciting areas of wall space in high traffic areas where deliverables such as personas, journey maps and wireframes can be displayed to spark conversations between different people within the business. Even the rise of remote working and distributed teams is a waning threat to any UX team. There's a tool for every stage of the process, and you don't even need to be in the same room as each other. Project planning and management can be organised through tools such as Slack or Flock or Asana. Visual deliverables can be taken care of using collaborative whiteboards such as RealtimeBoard. Teams can work simultaneously to create fully fledged prototypes using one of the new generation of tools like Figma or InVision. Top tools Figma Figma is a browser-based design tool that makes it easier for teams to create software. Present and prototype in the same tool as you design. Version control your team designs. Float Float enables you to visualise your team's project assignments, overtime and time off in one place. Collaborate on project plans and resolve conflicts with real-time drag-and-drop scheduling. Loop11 Loop11 is integrated with JustInMind.com and is used to create prototypes that can then be used to run online usability tests, with the results shown in detailed reports and in-test videos. Design for trust Trust is a human emotion that can be designed for, and can make or break the user's experience, but why is it so hard? Well, there's a lot out there to put off even the most savvy digital user, with dark UX patterns, fake news and clickbait rife. Emerging technologies such as blockchain and self-driving vehicles will put the majority of UX designers' skills to the test. In recent years trust has shifted from being controlled from the top-down by the business or organisation, to being collectively controlled by users via social media about how trustworthy (or untrustworthy) their experiences with a brand have been. It's fair to say that companies are not in control of this aspect of how they are viewed anymore, and so it's imperative that a brand's actions speak louder than its words. To gain the trust of the user, the experience must become as transparent as possible, with businesses being open about their motives, beliefs and activities. Designers can enable that relationship by not hiding away this information from the user, removing any anxieties they may have. UserTesting.com is a great online tool for unmoderated testing When a customer takes a leap of faith and invests their time, and possibly their money in your product or service, you suddenly have a social responsibility to make good on that relationship. So despite all that, how can trust be designed for? Thankfully there are a few techniques UX designers can use to instil confidence in the end user throughout their journey. We all judge a book by its cover, and it's also well known that a user is more likely to trust a site that is more aesthetically pleasing. This is called the aesthetic-usability effect, and is described as us perceiving beautiful things as easier to use over ugly ones (even if that is not the case). Included in the look and feel of the site aesthetic should be the tone of voice and type of imagery that are used to convey a professional, reliable impression of the business or organisation. Of course, the ultimate indicator of trust should always be in the user testing results, along with observations of the user's reactions to sites. Subjective measures like trust can also be captured at the end of tests. Moderated user testing will always provide much greater insights, but there are tools online to run unmoderated tests such as UserTesting.com. Top tools Dark Patterns Dark Patterns are tricks used in websites and apps that make you buy or sign up for things that you didn't mean to. The purpose of the Dark Pattern Library site is to spread awareness and to document the companies that use such techniques. Government Research Consent Guidelines The UK government website contains an entire manual on service design and the consent forms you need signed to ensure you can be trusted with a person's data gathered during user research. Design for coherence With more and more touchpoints emerging, organisations are in danger of their user's journey becoming so heavily fragmented that it could become an incoherent mess. To add to the omnichannel experience there are now chatbots and other voice interfaces to consider in the user's journey, so the experiences and conversations people have with them need carefully designing. Planning is key, taking a 'helicopter view' of the entire user's journey with the business. This should include doing as much user research as possible to make sure the touchpoints you design align with their goals, and what they're doing in real life. Turning this research into user journey maps and personas will help guide designers on which touchpoints should be used for different audiences. Many tools exist for supporting these activities; Smaply caters for all of the above, and Xtensio can be used to create simple personas and diagrams, but there are also more traditional offline tools such as Axure that you can use to get the job done. With MockFlow you can plan and create better user interfaces It's also important to consider which touchpoints shouldn't be designed for, especially if it is discovered during the research that it would be inappropriate to use certain methods to contact certain audiences. For example, on a digital experience dealing with a homeless person registering for support services, would it be appropriate to ask for an address? Designing a coherent experience means not just designing for screens and apps anymore, but every means of contact the customer has with that organisation, so that a unified message can be delivered, regardless of the type of touchpoint. It's imperative that this key message is decided on from the start. The entire UX team should know from research what message to deliver. It's a common belief that the more material you present to the user, the greater chance that some of it will be remembered. It's the old adage of throwing a load of mud in the hope some will stick, but this isn't true. Your audience will end up confused about the message you are trying to deliver. Top tools Axure Create simple click-through diagrams or highly functional, rich prototypes with conditional logic, dynamic content, animations, math functions, and data-driven interactions. Use Axure Share to upload content to share with your team. Asana Asana is an online project management tool, designed to help teams track their work. Asana gives you everything you need to stay in sync, hit deadlines, and reach your goals. MockFlow MockFlow provides a full solution for design teams, which includes wireframing, sitemaps, UI spec systems, design workflow and more. Enables you to plan and create better user interfaces together within a single suite. Storyboard That Storyboards are a fun and engaging way to relay research findings and user journeys to stakeholders. Use the extensive image library and flexible templates to create storyboards of this information. Smaply This website has an online editor which enables you to integrate basic service design tools into your daily work, such as user journey maps, stakeholder maps and personas. Your designs can be downloaded as PDFs and image files. Design for efficiency With Kaktus you can implement version control without having to learn a new set of tools As UX teams grow, there are smarter ways of managing the multitude of design assets created by a team. No more naming your work 'homepage_wireframe_finalFinal14.pdf', or taking it in turns to work on the same document in your team. Thankfully now there are tools aimed specifically at design teams to version control design work. The majority are based on Git, the same technology used by developers to manage their application code. There are so many advantages to using this sort of software to manage your designs. Not only can multiple designers work on the same project at the same time, but you can roll back to a previous version if needed. Although you will only see the current version of a file, a full version history is kept and reviewing the changes made between versions of a file are even possible. These features of version control mean problems like losing work when a file is accidentally overwritten, or two people decide to make changes to the same thing are now a thing of the past. Once changes are made, many tools let you communicate those changes to the team. This is a step forward in terms of productivity and efficiency, enabling projects to be completed as quickly as possible. Lots of the larger web-based design tools like Figma and UXPin provide this as part of the subscription, but there are standalone tools like Kaktus, Abstract and Folio for Mac. Design for conversation The rise of chatbots and other conversational devices such as Amazon Alexa and Google Home has been all pervasive over the past few years, and many companies are still trying to work out where this new technology can be inserted into their strategy with customers. But where does traditional experience design fit in, especially when there will be no physical interface to design? This is a new frontier for service design, with endless possibilities for designing intuitive and human-centred experiences that people love. Conversations between human beings are intricate, complex and heavily nuanced. Not to mention the cultural and semantic differences that are commonly observed in humans across the world. How do you anticipate and plan for the vast array of possible questions and reactions a human being might have? Designers will need to spend time designing all the possible flows and outcomes these conversations might take. And the more human the experience can be the better, but how can you make a machine appear human? How do you build a relationship with a machine? These are questions the UX designer must consider to create an effective outcome for the end user. Conversational interfaces bring a whole new set of challenges with them Understanding the context that your designs will be used in is also important, so rigorous and in-depth research is essential. Would your target audience use a voice interface walking down the street? Would it be usable if it was a noisy street? All this can be answered by spending time understanding your users and capturing what their goals are. Another essential part of the UX practitioner's role will be in planning for and testing these conversational interfaces. This will be very different to traditional testing of apps and sites, and will require much more rigorous planning of scripts and testing sessions. There are a few tools for designing the proposed chatbot conversations and also the UI, such as BotPreview and Botsociety, which then enable you to go and test these conversations out on real people before you release your chatbot or conversational UI. As a result of this frenzied focus given to this emerging technology, expect to see new roles created as offshoots of the standard UX Designer and – relatively new – UX Writer titles, such as 'Conversational Designer' (catering for research, testing, behaviours and personality of the interface) and 'Conversational Strategist' (a niche role dedicated to designing the flows and logic of the conversations). Top tools BotPreview Sketch and design your own chatbot interactions using the BotPreview online editor and share them or export as static HTML or MP4/GIF video, without writing a single line of code. Botsociety Design voice and chat interfaces using the online web editor by quickly building a high-fidelity preview of your next chatbot or voice assistant. Botsociety takes care of the appearance, the platform limitations, the preview, the export and the user testing for you. Botmock Botmock uses a drag-and-drop editor with templates to build prototypes of conversational design. Map out the customer's journey, and create a live preview that can be exported to GIF and video. Bots UI Kit for Sketch A simple and fully customisable Sketch UI kit to help you design and showcase your Facebook Messenger Bots. All elements are turned into new branded Sketch symbols, so prototyping has never been easier. Walkie This tool is especially for Slack users to help design slack bot dialogues. It provides an easy way to write and test bot dialogues, which include buttons and also attachments. This article was originally published in issue 274 of creative web design magazine Web Designer. Buy issue 274 here or subscribe to Web Designer here. Related articles: New skills in UX design What are the main barriers to good UX today? Why graphic designers need to master UX View the full article

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She may live in a castle and have her face on stamps and money, but Queen Elizabeth II does have to do a lot of boring admin. And it's not just signing legislation and sending 100th birthday cards, she even has to approve each and every stamp design produced by the Royal Mail. It's not just Christmas designs either. These days Britain’s postal service is releasing more and more limited edition stamps in order to make some extra cash from a generation that don’t actually send many letters. In this post, we bring together 10 of our favourites stamp designs, all created in tribute to TV shows and movies and featuring some of our favourite character designs. 01. Doctor Who Released in 2013, this stamp design features William Hartnell as the first actor to play The Doctor First screened in 1963, the day after John F Kennedy’s assassination, sci-fi show Doctor Who quickly became a Saturday tea-time institution for children and adults alike. Unfortunately by the 1980s its low budget effects looked increasingly anachronistic, and it was canned in 1989. But fan love for the show failed to abate, and a successful reboot in 2005 under the helm of Russell T Davies rewarded their patience several times over. Assured a prime place in British television history, not to mention its future, Doctor Who got the Royal Mail seal of approval in 2013, the year of its 50-year anniversary. The 11 first-class stamps combined each of the different actors to have played the Time Lord on TV to date, set against a backdrop evoking the ‘time tunnel’ effect shown in the opening credits. Our favourite is featured above. Framing the First Doctor as played by William Hartnell, it’s a simple but arresting composition that feels both of its time and strikingly modern; very much a case of ‘less is more’. You can view the full collection here. 02. Game of Thrones Launched this January, these stamps pay tribute to this popular fantasy show The biggest fantasy TV hit of the 2010s, Game of Thrones, may be American-led, but the UK has provided the majority of actors and hosted most of the filming, mostly in Northern Ireland. So it’s fully appropriate for the Royal Mail to pay tribute to the show that even Penny, the non-nerd character in Big Bang Theory, likes – because, in her words, “It's got dragons and people doing it.” Released in January 2018, the 10 stamps feature the following characters: Sansa Stark, Jon Snow, Eddard Stark, Olenna Tyrell, Tywin Lannister, Tyrion Lannister, Cersei Lannister, Arya Stark, Jaime Lannister and Daenerys Targaryen. Our favourite (above) portrays Kit Harington as Jon Snow, one of the show’s most popular characters and one whose parentage continues to be a source of frenzied speculation. Set against a snow-laden background, it’s a dramatic composition that beautifully sums up the epic bombast and big themes at the heart of the saga’s appeal. You can see the full collection here. 03. Star Wars Luke faces off against Vader in this gloriously epic stamp design In 2018, with disappointing box-office returns for the Solo spin-off, the Star Wars franchise is starting to look on shaky ground, but this time last year the space opera series seemed unbeatable. And as British involvement in Star Wars has been pivotal (the first, in 1977, was filmed at Elstree and Shepperton, and the most recent two in Pinewood), it made perfect sense for the Royal Mail to commission a series of stamps celebrating The Last Jedi. The stamps, which were designed by Malcolm Tween of Digital Progression, feature characters from across the saga, including Darth Vader, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Obi Wan Kenobi, R2-D2, C3PO, Boba Fett and Yoda, plus new characters from The Force Awakens Rey, Finn, BB8 and Kylo Ren. Our favourite has to be the one above featuring Luke and Vader, the epic father-son struggle that lay at the heart of the first trilogy. Summoning the spirit of legendary Star Wars poster illustrator Drew Struzan, but translating a poster design into one that works in a tiny space, this is a great example of elegant minimalism. You can see the full range of stamps here. 04. Monty Python This tribute to Monty Python brilliantly harnesses their subversive spirit It’s difficult to imagine how different comedy was before Monty Python’s Flying Circus hit our screens in 1969. Taking its cues from Surrealism and Dada art movements, the anarchic troupe completely reinvented what comedy could look like, in both their late-night TV show and ensuing films, including the widely banned Biblical parody, Life of Brian. Today the show's influence is obvious in everything from South Park and Family Guy to the phrases that have entered everyday speech (such as the use of ‘spam’ to describe unwanted emails). This design was released by the Royal Mail, appropriately enough, on April Fool's day in 2015 as part of a special range of ‘Comedy Greats’ stamps. Featuring the classic Monty Python team of six (Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin), it’s a perfectly chosen shot that effortlessly captures the untrammelled energy of the young team. And it’s been beautifully integrated with an image of John Cleese from the Ministry of Silly Walks sketch, providing an instant blast of nostalgia for any Brit of a certain age. You can see the full range of British comedy stamps here. 05. Dracula This stamp design, based on 1958 movie Dracula, brilliantly conveys the melodramatic essence of Hammer Horror When the British film industry looks back on its glorious past, it tends to focus on the highbrow and critically acclaimed stuff, from Alfred Hitchcock to Ken Loach. But it’s important to remember that some of the most successful and popular British movies have been more towards the cheesier end of the scale. And so in 2008, the Royal Mail decided to pay tribute to two so-bad-its-good traditions in UK film-making: the Carry On series of bawdy comedies, and the melodramatic series of horror movies made by Hammer Films between the 1950s and 1970s. Starring Christopher Lee as Count Dracula and Peter Cushing as Van Helsing, Dracula was a critical and commercial hit on release in 1958, and it’s now considered a classic of the genre; ranked the 65th best British film ever in a 2017 poll for Time Out magazine. And this marvellously crafted stamp harnesses the best of horror poster and book jacket design in reminding us of just what an impact it made on audiences. The colours, typography and use of hyperbolic quotes are all note-perfect, and the way that the Queen’s silhouette has been effortlessly co-opted into the design is quite unnerving. You can see the full range of stamps here. 06. Harry Potter Dumbledore is taking no prisoners in this Harry Potter stamp tribute No list of popular culture-inspired stamps could fail to include Harry Potter, one of the most critically and commercially successful film franchises of all time. That's partly thanks to author JK Rowling's insistence that the movie be made in Britain, with British actors. This move both ensured the distinctive nature of the novels translated perfectly to the big screen, and kick-started London's nascent VFX industry into the bargain. Released in 2011, the Royal Mail's Magical Realms series included two gems paying tribute to the series, featuring arch-villain Voldemort and his adversary, Albus Dumbledore (shown above). It's a striking composition, featuring the magical professor in full combat mode against a background of swirling, menacing auras; a reminder that for all the schoolyard hi-jinks, there's also a dark and gritty backbone that lies at the heart of the series' appeal. 07. A Matter of Life and Death One of the greatest British movies of all time is honoured with this simple stamp design If you’ve never seen the 1946 film A Matter of Life and Death (released in the US as Stairway to Heaven), then do something about it. The fantasy-romance revolves around a mixup in heaven, leading to an airman surviving a crash when he was actually meant to die. In a similar way to It’s a Wonderful Life, it had an emotional and powerful effect at the time on audiences, who were all coping with losing loved ones in the war. More recently, it was picked by Total Film as the second greatest British film ever made (in case you're wondering, Get Carter was number one). This stamp was created as part of the Royal Mail’s Great British Film series, released in May 2014, and features Kim Hunter and David Niven, enclosed in a simple black rectangle. It's an elegantly minimal design that perfectly encapsulates the classic, iconic nature of its subject. You can check out the full series here. 08. Paddington Bear This stamp shows the story of Paddington in a nutshell It may have taken a while to come to the big screen, in the form of 2014 film Paddington and the 2017 sequel Paddington 2. But the bear from Darkest Peru with a taste for marmalade has been a hit with kids for decades via the Michael Bond books, first published in 1958, and the spin-off TV series created by London-based animation company FilmFair in 1975. The latter entranced youngsters with its unusual visual approach, combining a 3D stop-motion puppet of Paddington with minimal 2D drawings of backgrounds and other characters. (In one memorable scene, the bear’s adopted parent Mr Brown hands him a jar of marmalade that becomes 3D when Paddington touches it.) In January 2014, the Royal Mail paid tribute to Paddington with this stamp design, part of its range of Classic Children’s TV stamps, and all the essential elements are there. The 2D background of Paddington station, the ‘Please look after this bear’ label, and the bear himself, striking a characteristically jaunty pose, tell you everything you need to know. We particularly like the playful ‘cut out and keep’ element where Paddington’s head and elbow break out of the traditional rectangle of the postage stamp; very children’s TV. You can see the full range of children’s TV stamps here. 09. Thomas the Tank Engine Thomas seems to have his eye on the Queen in this tongue-in-cheek stamp Another of Britain’s biggest children’s TV exports, Thomas the Tank Engine is a fictional steam locomotive who first appeared in The Railway Series books, which were created by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry. Thomas is based on a toy train he made for his son, Christopher. On TV since 1979, the show has become an award-winning hit around the world, and narrators have included everyone from Beatles drummer Ringo Starr to controversial American stand-up George Carlin. In June 2011, the Royal Mail marked the 100th anniversary of the Reverend Albry with a special series of stamps. Six featured images from the TV series, Thomas and Friends, and four others featured illustrations from The Railway Series books. Our favourite, shown above, uses a 'widescreen' format to bring forth a cinematic feel; perfectly evoking the jaw-dropping wonder of a railway as it appears in the mind of a child. We also like the cheeky way Thomas seems to be giving the eye to the Queen. You can see the full collection here. 10. Thunderbirds A blast of nostalgia comes in the form of this Thunderbirds-themed stamp Created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson between 1964 and 1966, Thunderbirds was a children’s sci-fi series that combined marionette puppetry with scale model special effects. Broadcast in more than 60 countries around the world, it had such an influence on successive generations of youngsters that it has since returned in a number of formats, including a 2004 live-action movie and a 2015 computer animation. The Andersons created a lot of other hit shows too, including Stingray, Captain Scarlett and Joe 90. But nothing will be more nostalgia-inducing for a certain age-demographic than the classic countdown: “5-4-3-2-1 Thunderbirds are go!”. And so it’s to the credit of the Royal Mail that their stamp tribute focuses not on a particular character but that iconic sequence. You can see the full range of Anderson stamps here. Read more: Savage Brexit stamps are the best of British Create cool collage illustrations 66 brilliant print adverts View the full article

Soon, a new era of experimental design and design thinking will be upon us. We’ll have entirely augmented experiences everywhere we walk, and voice design is the next big horizon for creatives. They’re just two predictions into the future of design shared by Scott Belsky, co-founder of Behance, and Adobe's chief product officer and executive vice president of Creative Cloud. Belsky took to the stage in London at an exclusive Adobe event earlier this summer to talk through the challenges and opportunities presented by emerging technologies – and to forecast the future for designers. Scott Belsky at Adobe's Future of Design event in London As the future becomes increasingly commoditised, he said, creativity – and the role of user experience designers, particularly – will become increasingly important. "Companies are putting designers at the head of the table," he explained. "The user’s experience of technology these days is even more important than the tech itself. The UI is what distinguishes a product; a company. That’s one reason why designers are being employed across industries.” Get 15% off Adobe Creative Cloud with our exclusive offer In fact, when Adobe spoke to hiring managers at a range of top companies, 87 per cent of them said that UX designers are some of their most critical hires right now. So aside from a bright future for UX designers, what else is next for design? Here are five predictions Belsky made at the event – followed by an exclusive conversation with Creative Bloq, in which he explores the biggest new challenges and opportunities designers should prepare for. Jump straight to the Scott Belsky interview 01. Augmented reality We’ll soon have entirely augmented experiences everywhere we walk. AR will be as critical as the web,” Belsky predicted, adding that this is why Adobe has developed Project Aero, a powerful new augmented reality tool that makes it easier for designers and developers to create immersive content, and bridge the gap between the physical and digital worlds. More on that below. 02. Voice design “It’s the simplest interface of all, so we need to be able to design for it,” he said. Voice design tools are being brought into Adobe XD because we’re moving into a voice-driven world (think: Amazon Echo and Google Home) – and it’s raising many questions for designers, not least ethical ones. 03. Artificial intelligence Labour will become increasingly automated, with AI and machine learning helping creatives work smarter and faster by taking on repetitive tasks. “AI is a vertical of creativity,” said Belsky. “Think of it as a creative assistant.” 04. Connected creativity New tools like Adobe Capture – which turns photos on your phone or tablet into creative assets – will continue to deliver on the creative freedom promised by Creative Cloud in increasingly unique ways. “There’s an idea that in some ways we’re still chained to desktop – we expect to do our professional work there,” he said. “But that’s not where creativity happens.” 05. Ethics in design What are our responsibilities for the end customer experience? What is the responsibility of the designer in preserving a consumer choice? When using visual search, such as Google, you're presented with a lot of options. Using a voice interface, this might not be the case – so who chooses which option you get, and how can you ensure the consumer’s best interests are served? Ethical questions have always been important, but in this new age of design they're even more so. New challenges and opportunities for designers : immersive media is poised to become the next disruptive platform. Welcome to the first wave of mainstream AR So will AR really be bigger than the web? What sorts of questions is voice design raising? And what skills will designers need to meet the future of design head-on? We caught up with Belsky after the event to find out more… What are the biggest opportunities of AR for designers? Scott Belsky: I believe AR will do almost everything the web does for us, but in the context of our physical world, rather than on a screen. It will change the way we do everything from finding our way around cities, to reviewing the menu in restaurants, to dating, to fixing appliances in our homes. AR will do almost everything the web does for us, but in the context of our physical world, rather than on a screen. It will change the way we do everything. Scott Belsky Augmented Reality will enrich these experiences in ways we can barely imagine. However, none of this is possible without designers creating compelling three-dimensional interactive content and being able to collaborate with developers across platforms. AR and voice have the greatest potential to disrupt the way we experience the world. Every business group across Adobe is thinking about and building for AR because we strongly believe that it’s a transformative medium. AR is at the intersection of our physical and digital worlds, and requires a fundamentally different paradigm for interaction and design beyond the traditional screen experience. Designers will have the opportunity to literally design a new reality, and that’s going to be fun and challenging. How soon will AR be everywhere? SB: We’re at the beginning of a journey with augmented reality. We believe that Project Aero is breaking new ground, with the goal of simplifying the development of AR content, delivering an even more powerful medium for storytelling for artists and designers around the world. Through our collaboration with Apple, Pixar and other partners, Project Aero will give creative professionals the ability to create more authentic experiences. What’s compelling is the quality and depth of the imagery, which makes the experience real and even more vivid. The industry is evolving at a rapid pace and there will be commercial and consumer demand for these types of experiences. We see the potential of AR experiences to enable new forms of creative expression, spawn new customer experiences, and ignite new business models that we can’t even imagine today. We envision immersive media ultimately becoming ubiquitous in everyday life. We’ll have a new interface through which we interact with a range of retail, news, search and other common applications. What are the biggest challenges of AR for designers? How will Project Aero help? SB: Most designers I speak with are excited about AR, but have no idea where to get started designing immersive experiences and how to work with developers to make them a reality. Our challenge is to help designers work with the tools they know and love, like Photoshop or Adobe XD for screen design, and then import their work to new tools like Adobe Dimension to make their creations 3D. And then, with Project Aero, designers will be able to make their creations interactive and easily 'published' to locations in augmented reality. For the first time, designers will be able to lay out and manipulate designs in physical spaces with a ‘what you see is what you get’ tool, making AR creation more fluid and intuitive. What’s more, delivering these immersive experiences to audiences on mobile devices will become faster, easier and safer. How can designers get ahead in voice design? SB: Design is becoming more immersive and voice has become more important. Increasing numbers of people use a voice interface to order dinner, choose music, set reminders, and so many other tasks, thanks in large part to consumer products like Amazon’s Alexa and Google Assistant. Smart speakers will be installed in more than 70 million U.S. households by 2022, according to a Juniper Research report, and consumers have high expectations of voice technology because they’re used to naturally interacting and talking to people. For designers, creating voice user interface (VUI) experiences requires new skills that transcend the keyboard, mouse and screen. For designers to be successful in the future, they’ll need to know how to create a voice interface that is efficient and intuitive. Scott Belsky For designers to be successful in the future, they’ll need to know how to create a voice interface that is efficient and intuitive. Our goal is to help designers succeed in this medium and in the broader world of immersive and interaction design. That’s one of the reasons we’ve invested so heavily in Adobe XD as an experience design platform that can adapt to new modalities over time. Adobe XD brings prototyping and design together, which has unlocked new capabilities including allowing designers to easily switch from wireframes to prototypes and use tools such as After Effects to add deeper animations to their UX/UI designs. Unfortunately, I can’t share more now, but you’ll see a massive amount of innovation from us as it relates to XD in the coming months. What are the biggest hurdles posed by voice design? SB: As I mentioned, there has been a tremendous growth in voice-enabled devices. For designers, creating VUI experiences requires new skills since you cannot simply apply the same design guidelines to VUI, as you would a graphical app or web experience. Designers must have a deep understanding of human communication and natural conversation flow to design for VUIs. Additionally, it requires a mindset shift to design for this medium. VUIs need to contain the right amount of information to meet users’ expectations and provide users with information on what they can do with the technology. For example, proactive prompting along the lines of, 'What can I help you with today?' might help a user get started. Without visual guidance, it’s easy for the user to get lost. There are, of course, ethical considerations when it comes to VUI design too. For example, designers will need to carefully consider how often the technology is listening or recording, and clearly spell that out for the user. Companies and their designers will need to ensure privacy is baked into the product from the start. Another important issue in voice is the default settings. When you ask your voice assistant to order flowers, what service does it default to using? Making tasks easy is great for consumers, but the design will have to make it transparent how those tasks are happening and give users the option of changing the defaults so they can personalise the experience. Related articles: How to future-proof yourself as a designer 10 huge graphic design trends to know for 2018 The ultimate guide to design trends View the full article

Is your design portfolio the best it can be? Does it show off your full potential, communicate what makes you unique and ultimately win you as much work as it could? Now's your chance to find out. Creative Bloq has teamed up with the good folk at moo.com to give you a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You could get your online portfolio critiqued by some of the best in the business, and showcased to potential clients, collaborators and creative peers all around the world in the process. Our expert panel is ready and waiting to give your work – and your presentation of it – a creative review session. This will take the form of a filmed round-table discussion, so you'll need the guts to put your work in the spotlight. Who's on the panel? What are we looking for? The panel has expertise in a broad spectrum of creative sectors, so we want to see an equally broad range of portfolios. Whether you work in graphic design, illustration, digital, motion graphics or a combination of all of the above and more, we want to see how you present your work. This opportunity is open to anyone working in the creative industries, and looking for some focused, constructive advice to help take them to the next level. Students or recent graduates are welcome to apply, but bear in mind we need a significant volume of work for the panel to critique. Submit your portfolio now! So how do you get involved? Simple: use the form below to submit a link to your online portfolio for us to review, before the deadline of midnight (BST) on Sunday 19 August 2018. A selection of the most interesting will be chosen by panel chair Nick Carson and the Creative Bloq team to be put in front of the review panel on 4th September 2018. Remember, we're looking for portfolios that demonstrate a broad range of quality work, and are creative in terms of their presentation of that work. As well as your design prowess, we will also be looking at the structure and hierarchy of your website, how projects are showcased, and how you present yourself and your creative process. In other words, the whole package! Good luck... View the full article

If you work in a creative field such as graphic design or content marketing, you'll probably need to use stock images at some point. With StockPop Lite Bundle: Lifetime Subscription, you'll never run out of high-quality stock and clip art images. This database contains 12,000 stock assets, and your flexible licence will let you use them in pretty much any project that comes your way, royalty free. Whether you need images of animals, electronics, or sports, StockPop has them all, and you'll never have to worry about royalties or copyright. Get your subscription now for only $19.99. Related articles: 5 uses for stock images you might not have thought of Free tool lets you search for stock images in Sketch and Photoshop The 5 biggest myths about stock imagery in design View the full article

So you've decided you want to get started in web comics or another form of storytelling. What makes a good story great? The characters. But how do you create believable characters? Where do you start? The art of character design is complex. In this article, we'll take a look at how to get started, and offer some advice on where to go from there. 01. Figure out a backstory This is probably the single most important part of creating believable characters. It doesn't matter if you're developing a good guy, bad guy or even an imaginary monster. If you want your characters to jump off the page – or the screen – you need to know their backstory (even if the audience doesn't). Strong character development requires more than just deciding hair colour, age, height and weight. It's deeper than that. Ask yourself: Where were they born? How was their childhood? What happened to their parents? Do they have any fears? If so, what are they? The more you ask; the more you'll discover; the more depth your character will have. 02. Get inspiration from real-life experiences They say writers should write what they know. That's true... but not entirely. When developing your characters, drawing on your own personal experience is a great place to start. But don't stop there. Don't make a carbon transfer onto one of your characters based on your Aunt Ethel. Change it up a bit. Give her some new quirks, a new skill, an ex-husband, anything really. Just don't create another Aunt Ethel for your fictional character – not unless she's absolutely perfect in real life. Bottom line... you're a creative person: create! 03. Do your research If your character is not like you, then do your research. I cannot stress this point enough. For example, let's say you're working on a story that features a character that is a former police officer. Unless you, too, used to be a police officer, you're going to need to do a little research in order to develop a character that's believable and realistic. 04. Do a little world building All characters are influenced by the world around them Another way to create believable characters, is to create a believable world. In fact, sometimes the 'world' is its own character, but that's an entirely different topic altogether. The reason creating a world helps is because our fictional characters, like us, are very much influenced by the world around them. Use that to your advantage. Is your character living in a city? The country? How does this impact how they live? Sometimes, I'll work out location before I even attempt to place characters inside it. 05. Allow your character to evolve Let's face it, static characters are not only boring, but they're unrealistic too. Sure, there may be a few people in your 'real life' that don't seem to change, but for the most part, people are constantly growing and evolving. When characters change in a story, it allows the story to move forward. Generally speaking, your protagonist needs to face some kind of challenge. In order to overcome this challenge, they will need grow and evolve. Let them. 06. Give your character a voice Give your character a voice. Talk with them. Let them tell you what they want. I know this sounds a bit strange, and I certainly don't recommend you do this in public, but it can help to have a conversation with your characters – out loud. If having an actual conversation with your fictional character is a bit too much for you, then have one on paper. Write it out. Sometimes I'll even interview my characters. 07. Be the voice no one else can hear Nothing drives a character more than that little voice inside their head. Not only do you need to be the voices around your characters, but you also need to be the voice no one can hear. During the conversations you have with your character, pause every now and again and think about not only how your character will respond, but why they will respond that way. What are they hearing inside their own head? Did their parents always encourage their dreams, or tear them up? Do they hear their ex-partner tell them they're too stupid, too weak, too ugly? Be that voice. 08. Put a face to a name I'm not sure if other writers do this, but sometimes I'll do a Google image search to 'find my character' so to speak. A lot of times, I'll start with an image and build my character around that image. 09. Don't try to be perfect This seems like a no-brainer, but so many people (I won't lie, myself included) get stuck on this 'being perfect' thing. Perfect does not exist. Your characters don't need to be perfect, nor does your story. Especially if it's your first draft. Just get the words out of your head and onto the paper (or into the computer). And most importantly, have fun. You'd be amazed at how much better your writing is when you're having fun. Like this? Read these! 8 timeless children's book characters The art of reimagining iconic characters 11 best video game character designs View the full article

Substance Designer is an excellent tool for creating all sorts of materials for your 3D art. Here, I'm going to explain how to create a tiles material in Substance Designer, this material can be used in scenes such as the one above. If you're looking for more objects to add to your scene, check out our list of free 3D models. 01. Set-up For this type of material, I select the Physically Based (Metallic/Roughness) Graph Template and delete the metallic output since it isn’t necessary for this substance. At this point we can start to add these nodes from the Substance Designer library: the Brick Generator pattern (the main elements of the substance), the BnW Spots 2, BnW Spots 1 and two Cells 3 noises, the Height to Normal World Units filter, five Levels filters, two Blur filters, three Blend filters, a Warp, an Invert Grayscale filter and last but not the least the Gradient Map filter. 02. Link the elements Now it’s time to link these elements, starting with the Brick Generator that will be placed at the beginning of the graph. This one will be linked with the Warp filter, in which we will connect the BnW Spots 1 followed by the first Blur. Now we can connect the Warp to the first Levels filter and this one to the Background/Opacity of the Blend filter. In the Foreground we have to connect the BnW Spots 2 noise followed by the second Blur. Then we have to connect this Blend with the Background/Opacity of the new Blend, with the only difference being that in this case we will link the Cells 3 noise to the Foreground of the Blend. After that we can connect the Blend to the Gradient Map and this one directly to the Base Color output. 03. Make more connections Now we can continue with the nodes for the creation of the Normal Map. Connect the Blend filter to another Levels filter, which will be linked to the Background of the third Blend filter. Unlike with the previous links we have to make a middle connection between the Levels filter and the Opacity of the Blend filter. In this case we have to place an Invert Grayscale filter. In the Foreground of the Blend we have to connect the second Cells 3 noise generator followed by the fourth Levels. Now we can connect the last Blend filter to the Height to Normal World Units filter, and consequently we can link it to the Normal output. The last two connections we need to do are between the two Levels filters that will be linked respectively to the Roughness and Height outputs. 04. Set the parameters For this material we only have to fix the Intensity parameter with a value of 3.5 for the first Blur filter and 2.5 for the second. For the Warp the Intensity should be 0.15. For the first Cells 3 noise the Distance should be 14, while for the second one it should be 128. At the end we have to change some parameters of the Brick generator. For the Offset we have to set a value of 0, for the Smoothness and Round Corners a value of 1 and 0.35 for the Bevel X and Y. All the other parameters for the Levels and the Gradient Map filters are arbitrary but I advise you not to exaggerate. This article originally appeared in issue 235 of 3D World, the world's leading magazine for 3D artists. Buy issue 235 or subscribe here. Related articles: Upgrade your textures in Substance Designer Create ornate tiles in Substance Designer Master procedural modelling View the full article

In a resale scenario, a previous owner could continue to have access to the online account – with all the new owner’s information stored within. View the full article

After inmates hacked tablets with security vulnerabilities, a CenturyLink spokesperson told Threatpost the "vulnerability issue has been resolved." View the full article

Many brands choose to use illustration to do at least some of the talking for them, and if it’s true that an image speaks a thousand words, it’s easy to see why. Whether through content, style, implicit narrative or (likely) all three, an image can communicate what copy and typography often can’t, at once setting out a mood, tone of voice, target audience and attitude in a succinct visual. The illustrator hotlist 2018 The idea of using illustration not just in a campaign, but as a core part of a brand’s visual identity is perhaps less common than it once was, and seems more aligned to certain sectors than others. Luxury food packaging design, for instance, especially on seasonal ranges: think high-end Christmas chocolate boxes. Or craft beer, a sector that’s seemingly indefatigable when it comes to both new variants and breweries. An illustration route is straight to the point: it’s an instant emotional connection that can surpass language barriers Chloe Templeman, Design Bridge So what can illustration do that type, photography and copy alone can’t? For one, it shows a uniqueness, and in the right hands, it delivers on-shelf standout like few other approaches can. There’s far less chance, for instance, of a brand commissioning the same illustrator, style and image as there is of it using a similar typeface or colourway. Broadly speaking, a brand commissioning illustration also subtly communicates a level of thought and attention. In a similar way to brands working with bespoke, hand-drawn typography, even digitally created illustration hints at a person behind a brand. This helps build its story and tells us that there’s more to the product than just ‘buy me’. As Chloe Templeman, creative director at Design Bridge puts it, the notion of image as story is as, “old as cave paintings and hieroglyphics, and has come full circle to emojis. An illustration route is straight to the point: it’s an instant emotional connection that can surpass language barriers.” Boozy illustration Thirst Craft is a Glasgow-based branding and design agency specialising in the drinks sector, whose portfolio boasts no shortage of richly illustrated designs – including the design for Loch Lomond Brewery used as the headline image for this article. According to creative director Matt Burns, it’s little surprise that the craft beer sector in particular has latched onto illustration as the perfect conduit for communicating a brand’s attitude and uniqueness. Hired Guns Creative created this packaging for Driftwood Brewery “Illustration is created by the hand, and that hand-rendered touch lends itself nicely to craft beer, and the whole ‘brewed by hand’ story,” he says. “There’s something personable about illustration, so it’s a great way to communicate and tell a story of that brewery, but there’s also something kind of quite edgy and visually exciting about illustration, which is why it works well on pack.” Burns adds that illustration is engaging and has a lot of energy, meaning that people can really relate to it. “It captures that level of excitement and emotion... rather than being a sales tool, it’s a piece of art. People want to keep the cans, and you don’t get that with other packaging.” Hired Guns Creative is an agency based in British Columbia, Canada which, like Thirst Craft, has chosen to specialise in solely creating designs for alcohol, with most of its work across the craft beer sector and the majority of that work relying on illustration in one form or another. So why is craft beer such a rich font of illustrated packaging? Rather than being a sales tool, it’s a piece of art Matt Burns, Thirst Craft “A lot of it comes down to trying to compete on shelf,” says managing partner Leif Miltenberger. “The craft beer market in North America and in the UK is exploding, so every product on that shelf is trying to scream as loud as it can for attention. Really bold, eye-catching illustration is a good way to stand out, and is difficult for other companies to emulate. A lot of craft beer companies have packaging design that’s very minimalist, and although you can stand out through typography, bright colours, or certain printing techniques, it’s easier for another company to come along and replicate that.” For craft beer in particular, brands are selling an attitude as much as a liquid: “A lot of people in that space really try to align themselves with counterculture through their brand, and illustration is a great way to do that. You can design things for the craft beer guys that major beer or spirit brands would be too scared to do,” says Miltenberger. Somewhat unusually, Hired Guns chooses to create all its illustration in-house, mostly by creative director Richard Hatter. Investing in craft When a brand commissions illustration work, it’s not only a way of augmenting or creating a more cohesive brand world or message, it sends out a signal that it cares about its product, and the people that are buying it. A distinctive, characterful illustration is a symbol of uniqueness and distinction, immediately elevating it above nondescript system fonts or less ownable colour palettes. Silas Amos gave Red Red a surreal vibe with illustration “It shows they value the appearance of the product as well as what’s inside,” says Miltenberger. “Some people think that if the product is good enough, it’ll be successful, but that’s not the case. It’s a super-competitive market. Sometimes you get the feeling from the illustration that they’re trying to target a certain demographic – maybe something hand-drawn to feel authentic and appeal to millennials or hipsters or whatever name they have on their demographic. But bigger corporations more and more are co-opting that approach: a hand-drawn gin label doesn’t mean its created in small batches by someone who cares.” Being seen as a creative brand is priceless... The more avant-garde you are, the more you’re making a difference Silas Amos As Burns points out, such intricate packaging is also a crucial hook – especially within the craft beer sector: “The packaging is what makes people buy the first one, and the product makes them buy the second, third and fourth.” Careful and considered commissioning also gives the sense of a brand being not just about product, but artistry. “Being seen as a creative brand is priceless,” says creative strategist and designer Silas Amos. “For brands, it’s about creating an aura around themselves. The more avant-garde you are or the more you visually snag, the more you’re making a difference.” There’s also the question of how much a brand is seen to be investing in craft, continues Amos. “Craft is telling a story, and that tends to be whimsical – pictures are a good way to tell whimsical stories.” One of the reasons we’ve recently seen a wave of illustration that hints at care, craft and heritage is the fact that so many brands are celebrating landmarks. Their 100th or 150th anniversary is a perfect chance to put their flag back in the ground, and show a world full of shiny start-ups that they’ve been in it for the long haul; they’re reliable, an institution. Design Bridge played on the heritage of Hellmann's with this design At the forefront of Design Bridge’s recent work for Hellmann’s Mayonnaise, for instance, was stripping the aesthetic away from synthetic-leaning imagery to usher in a new, softer, watercolour-like, hand-drawn style of illustration. “It feels like more love has been put into it,” says Templeman. Brand storytelling It’s that ability for illustration to convey narrative that brings London-based studio Together Design to draw on it (excuse the pun) for so many projects. As creative director and founder Heidi Lightfoot puts it, illustration is perfect for branding projects as it can communicate, “really big themes and messages that you just couldn’t sum up in a photograph.” In a photograph, Lightfoot explains, you really have to feel some resonance to the people being featured. “But in illustration it’s often less personal, so we tend to find illustration really useful in communicating big themes that are part of a client’s message.” Together Design put together this packaging and illustration for Fortnum & Mason That sense of illustration as a succinct and easily manipulated conduit for a brand’s message extends into what it says about the brand itself – again, what’s “inherent in a drawing is artistry and craft in a way that’s harder to communicate in other ways,” says Lightfoot. “Type can feel quite cold, and photography can occasionally feel quite glossy, but with an illustration you usually see the hand of the artist. That artistry in craft communicates care, warmth and a bespoke quality, which is lovely for brands who want to communicate those attributes. Then if you’re using one style across different materials, it becomes part of the brand’s handwriting.” Choosing the right collaborators A few years back, the typical way for an agency to find the right illustrator for a project would have been through submitted physical portfolios or using agencies and organisations such as the AOI. Nowadays, it’s more a mix of good old-fashioned ‘who you know’ and trawling through online portfolios and social media, most notably Instagram, and for Together Design, sometimes Pinterest too. For Burns, finding the best illustrator for the project is “more gut instinct than anything else,” and he warns against the temptation to simply hire the person who’s available at the right time, at the right price – especially when up against tighter deadlines and smaller product budgets. For Amos, the process of hiring an illustrator to work on a brand is similarly instinctual. “There’s no hard and fast rule or set process [for commissioning], but as a designer, I think in pictures, so I’ve already got something in my head and I’m looking to translate that into a picture. Sometimes you see a person’s work and think ‘their style would be great’, and that informs the answer; but sometimes you have the answer and you’re looking for the style.” The artist will always bring their own take on something and that brings a whole new angle Heidi Lightfoot, Together Design Of course, as Burns hints, you can’t always get what you want when it comes to your dream commission. You have to take into account budget, availability, and the opinions of any other stakeholders who might have a say in the final look and feel. But what makes a person great to work with, should they fit all of those more pragmatic criteria? For Amos, the best sort of relationship is “a little bit of a ping-pong match,” and Lightfoot agrees that it’s vital to find someone willing to collaborate, and work through potentially numerous iterations with the designers. “No matter how perfect the brief is, when you see the first rough there will always be ways to improve, or perhaps the emphasis on different elements has changed,” she says. “It’s nice to be able to have a conversation about that rather than one stage and one stage only, though that’s very rare as illustrators are usually very open to ideas from both sides. The artist will always bring their own take on something and that brings a whole new angle. It’s all about collaboration, not just telling people what to do.” The key to that sort of working relationship is both clarity and flexibility: setting out a clear brief, but being willing and open to listen to new ideas and seeing an illustrator not as a gun for hire, but a crucial cog in the bigger creative machine. When to illustrate Of course, as with any other design communication tool – be it copy, typography, photography, pattern or colour – designers working with global brands have to do some careful research into any unexpected signifiers that might say something they don’t want to say in other countries. When Design Bridge worked with Timorous Beasties on a set of highly illustrative packaging for Fortnum & Mason, for instance, the team soon discovered that moths are seen as unlucky for certain cultures; and had to take care with the shape and colouration of the butterflies that appeared in the work. Design Bridge worked with Timorous Beasties on this packaging As we’ve seen, illustration and craft beer are superbly comfortable bedfellows, and many food brands, too, use illustrative imagery to convey their message and create on-pack details. So are there any sectors where illustration wouldn’t work? According to Lightfoot, not really. “There might be sectors or client types you wouldn’t think could use it, but illustration can disrupt in an exciting manner,” she says. “Even with a product where photography might be king – maybe with something like a tech brand – there’s always a way that illustration can play a part in the marketing, and I’m excited about brands that use it as part of their core messaging.” Templeman agrees: “An illustration route goes straight to the point in conveying a brand’s message. It has so much stretch and there’s such a huge spectrum of different styles – from more linear, stripped-back work to infographics to beautiful artworks – that I can’t think of a brand that illustration would never be right for.” This article was originally published in Computer Arts, the world's best-selling design magazine. Buy issue 279 or subscribe here. Read more: 19 best painting and drawing apps for iPad 8 up-and-coming designers to watch from D&AD New Blood 7 biggest illustration trends of 2018 View the full article

It's time to dig out your slingshot and striped jersey as The Beano celebrates 80 years of causing chaos and inspiring readers both young and old. To mark the occasion, David Walliams has joined the team to guest edit the comic which has been running since July 30 1938. 14 imaginative web comics to inspire you Having set itself apart from other comics upon its launch by doing away with dreary blocks of text that slowed down the story, The Beano went on to cement itself as the go-to publication for kids looking for a fix of mischief. UK readers will no doubt be familiar with the famous Beano characters that emerged over the years, including The Bash Street Kids, Minnie the Minx, and of course the Dundee-based comic's most famous creation, Dennis the Menace. It was a comic that you should read under the duvet with a torchlight David Walliams So what's the secret behind The Beano's enduring success? How come it's still going strong after the likes of The Dandy have fallen by the wayside and young readers have moved online? The answer can be found in the comic's continuing drive to innovate, along with a uniquely anarchic humour you just can't find elsewhere. Just as The Beano shook up how comics looked in the thirties, these days it's embracing online platforms to bring innocent menacing to the digital world. As part of the 80th birthday celebrations, a souped-up Dennis and Gnasher Fan Club has been launched, with offerings including printable club badges and membership certificates. Members can also access password-protected areas of the site with a secret code to unlock a treasure trove of pranks. This digital upgrade builds on the legacy of a comic which in its heyday in the '50s sold in the region of two million copies every week. A wealth of creative talents have contributed to The Beano's success, including the legendary Leo Baxendale, and more recently Jon Burgerman. To celebrate with the big day, Dundee's McManus museum is putting on an anniversary exhibition, as well as being renamed McMenace in the process. In his editor's letter, Walliams said: "What I always loved about the Beano was that it felt naughty. It was a comic that you should read under the duvet with a torchlight. I don't think I'd have got into writing my books without Beano." Related articles: How to create a comic page How to colour comics Artists document their lives for Hourly Comic Day View the full article

For generations, album art has been an essential part of listening to music. The media may have changed, from vinyl to cassettes to CDs, and then recently back to vinyl again, but the imagery created to represent our favourite bands' music has continued to be an vital and vibrant element of pop culture. That, and of course, the all important music video. In this post, we salute the most iconic album art in rock history, some of which has gone on to become more famous and recognisable than the music it symbolises, and most of which has also adorned poster designs across the globe. 01. Elvis Presley (1956) Elvis Presley's first album cover shows The King in full flow Until the arrival of Elvis, entertainers had typically been restrained and on best behaviour while on stage. But the Mississippi singer who became known as The King threw away that rulebook, thrusting his hips in an overtly sexual style and running wild with a raw, primal energy. Ths dramatic shot, taken at the Fort Homer Hesterly Armory in Tampa, Florida by William V. 'Red' Robertson, captures him in a full, convention-defying flow. With its brash and colourful lettering, the design of this iconic cover was later echoed by British punks The Clash for the cover of their 1979 album, London Calling. 02. Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles (1967) The cover of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band marked the end of The Beatles' moptop era and the start of something new While Liverpudlian pop sensations The Beatles started out as loveable mop-tops, they soon became influenced by the Sixties counterculture of pot smoking and protest, and their music started going in radical new directions. This culminated in Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which is widely credited as being rock’s first concept album. The cover features two versions of the Beatles. One is the real group, dressed as the fictional Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band; the others are wax sculptures. But the real stars here are the life-sized cardboard cut-outs of famous people, from Karl Marx to Marilyn Monroe. Designed by the pop artists Peter Blake and Jann Haworth and based on an ink drawing by Paul McCartney, this turned out to be one of the most expensive album covers in history, partly because they had to pay so many people to use their likenesses. It was also the first to feature printed lyrics. 03. The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967) Having Andy Warhol as your manager has its advantages The first and best album by Velvet Underground, the psychedelic New York band fronted by Lou Reed, is known by fans as ‘the banana album’ due to the eye-catching illustration on its cover. This fruity drawing was the work of Pop Art icon Andy Warhol, who happened to be the group’s manager, while the cover was designed by Acy R. Lehman. Early versions allowed you to peel back the banana skin to recover a flesh-coloured banana underneath (use your imagination). Most later reissues failed to include this expensive-to-produce feature, and so the original pressings are worth a small fortune on the collectors’ market. 04. Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd (1973) The Dark Side of the Moon cover is one of the most recognisable in rock history Even people who’ve never heard of British rock band Pink Floyd will probably recognise the iconic cover to their 1973 album Dark Side of the Moon, which shows white light passing through a prism to create a spectrum of colours. It was created by Aubrey Powell and Storm Thorgerson of Hipgnosis, the designers behind some of history’s best-known album covers, including Led Zeppelin’s Houses of the Holy, Black Sabbath’s Never Say Die and The Scorpion’s Lovedrive. They came up with the concept, which was inspired by an image of a prism found in a photography book, after an all-night brainstorming session. The design raised eyebrows at the time for including neither the band’s name nor the album’s title. 05. Never Mind The Bollocks by the Sex Pistols (1977) The cover that established in court, once and for all, that you could put a rude word on an album While the psychedelic era saw album covers commonly feature intricate, surreal and lavish illustrations, punk stripped everything to its bare essentials. And the debut album of Britain’s loudest and angriest punk rockers Sex Pistols, designed by Jamie Reid, was a true statement of intent. The use of obscenity, cast in the kind of cut-out lettering commonly associated with criminal ransom notes, was shocking to audiences of the time. The effect was heightened by the sleeve's lurid colour palette, which was based on a series of stickers distributed by the Situationalist political movement (the originals read: ‘This Store Welcomes Shoplifters’). The use of 'bollocks' (a term in British English that means both 'nonsense' and 'testicles') led to a police raid on a Virgin record store that stocked the record. In the resulting court case, Virgin was successfully defended from obscenity charges by John Mortimer, now best known as the author of Rumpole of the Bailey. As he left the courtroom, the group's singer, Johnny Rotten, joyfully exclaimed to a reporter: "Great! Bollocks is legal. Bollocks! Bollocks! Bollocks!" 06. Unknown Pleasures by Joy Division (1979) This iconic album cover image is based on astronomical data When Salford post-punk band Joy Division released its debut album, it didn’t exactly set the world on fire. But today it’s considered a classic, and its entrancing cover art, designed by Peter Saville, adorns millions of T-shirts and posters worldwide. It was the group’s singer, Bernard Sumner, who originally chose the image. It's a visualisation of the radio waves emitted by a pulsar; a neutron star that is created after a dying sun collapses in on itself. Originally named CP 1919, the pulsar in question had been discovered in November 1967 by student Jocelyn Bell Burnell and her supervisor Antony Hewish at Cambridge University. Sumnar found the image in the Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Science; Saville then reversed it from black-on-white to white-on-black and printed it on textured card. 07. Rio by Duran Duran (1982) The cover art for Duran Duran's Rio combined Art Deco with contemporary fashion design After all the bleak, moody aggression of seventies punk, many in the eighties were ready for the return of fun and glamour... but that didn’t mean they wanted old-fashioned and cheesy. Duran Duran, a band from Birmingham, England, were among the leading lights of the New Romantic movement, which cleverly combined an art-school sensibility with the kind of pop-funk stylings a mainstream audience could actually dance to. The cover design for their second studio album, Rio, pulls off the same trick. It was designed by Malcolm Garrett and illustrated by Patrick Nagel, who was known for celebrating the female form in a style that combined the Art Deco tradition with contemporary fashion designs. Nagel’s depiction of the lead song’s title character is beautifully minimalist, with an inventive colour palette that was instantly eye-catching and trend-defining. 08. War by U2 (1983) The cover of U2's War took an unusual but inspired approach to illustrating the concept of conflict U2’s singer Bono may nowadays be known for having dinner with Popes and Presidents. But while he’s now Mr Mainstream, early U2 was raw, edgy and raucous. And with its controversial songs about war and conflict, like Sunday, Bloody Sunday, their third studio album could be considered the apex of their rebellious youth. Rather than going the obvious route of picturing a battle scene, though, Irish graphic designer Steve Averill took the inspired decision to instead use a child, powerfully conveying the loss of innocence created by war. The boy staring intensely and unsettlingly at the camera is Peter Rowen, the brother of the artist Guggi, who is a friend of Bono's. Rowen appeared on three U2 albums in total, and is now himself a professional photographer. He's even brought things full circle, by shooting U2 in concert. 09. Licensed to Ill by Beastie Boys (1986) The Beastie Boy's first album cover is perfectly in line with their stupid-but-clever humour At a time when music was largely divided along genre and racial lines, three Jewish boys brought together rap and heavy rock in one album, without compromising on the raw, angry energy of either. Designed by Steve Byram and illustrated by World B. Omes, the cover concept for Licensed to Ill was basically a parody of Led Zeppelin's private jet; a symbol of bloated seventies rock excess that couldn’t have been further removed from the boy-next-door antics of the Beastie Boys. And just in case you needed the irony spelling out, the plane's tail number, 3MTA3, spells "Eat Me" backwards. 10. Fear of a Black Planet by Public Enemy (1990) The cover of this seminal rap album showed an apocalyptic vision of racial conflict Musically and lyrically, Public Enemy's third studio album remains one of the most inventive and ambitious rap albums of all time. From the biting social commentary of 911 is a Joke, about the variance in police response times between black and white neighbourhoods, to the revolutionary rage of Fight the Power, this record changed the game and has arguably yet to be bettered. The cover design, too, is a classic. Group leader Chuck D, who had himself studied graphic design at New York's Adelphi University, came up with the concept of two worlds (a 'black' planet and Earth) eclipsing. The group enlisted B.E. Johnson, a NASA illustrator, to create the design, and the apocalyptic result is a fantastical commentary on the racial paranoia of white nationalism. 11. Nevermind by Nirvana (1991) Nevermind by Nirvana has one of the most unusual and memorable covers of all time At the beginning of the 1990s, it seemed like rock music was starting to go stale and repeat itself. Then came grunge, which brought everything back to its basics and acted like a big 'reset' button, just as punk had done two decades earlier. Nirvana's second album brought grunge into the mainstream, following the success of their number one hit Smells Like Teen Spirit. And its unusual cover was attention-grabbing to say the least. Singer Kurt Cobain had come up with the idea while watching a TV documentary on water births with drummer Dave Grohl. Geffen's art director Robert Fisher dug out some stock images of underwater births, but they were too graphic to put on an album and would have cost $7,500 to licence. So instead they commissioned photographer Kirk Weddle to shoot some bespoke images in a Pasadena swimming pool for just $1,000. (The dollar and fish hook were added later.) The child he shot was four-month-old Spencer Elden, the son of one of Weddle's friends. He's now 27 and working as an artist in LA, while Weddle has continued to be an advertising photographer specialising in underwater work. 12. Screamadelica by Primal Scream (1991) Uniting dance with indie, Screamadelica came with upbeat, dayglo album art Throughout the 1980s, the divide between indie music and dance music couldn't have been more marked. Then came acid house, ecstasy, rave... and all of a sudden fans of moody rock music became much more open to the idea of repetitive beats. A major landmark in the resulting crossover was Primal Scream's third album, which brought together rock, psychedelia, dub, house and gospel in one glorious concoction. Its cover was the work of Paul Cannell, a London artist known for combining a punk aesthetic with exuberant colours, using unusual media such as house­hold undercoat paint and car body filler. The band's singer Bobby Gillespie took a detail from one of Cannell’s paintings, altered the background colour to a hot red, and the classic 'sun' image was the result. Tragically Cannell took his own life in 2005. But this classic cover, along with his work for bands like Manic Street Preachers, The Telescopes, Flowered Up and Shonen Knife, will surely live for an eternity. It was even recreated as an official postage stamp in 2010, as part of the Royal Mail's Classic Album covers collection. 13. Parklife by Blur (1994) Parklife's album cover appropriated working-class culture perfectly As the 1990s progressed, British youngsters started to tire of ecstasy-fuelled raves, and a vacuum opened up in youth culture. This was quickly filled by a return to the old-fashioned pursuits of boozing and listening to rock bands... but with subtle dashes of post-modern irony to keep things interesting. Best at managing this contradiction were Blur; middle-class student types who nonetheless appealed to the masses with their mockney accents, Kinks-influenced tunes and clever appropriation of working class culture. Parklife, their third studio album, saw them at the height of their powers, from Girls and Boys, which poked fun at Club 18-30 holidays, to the title track, which guest-starred Quadrophenia actor Phil Daniels to brilliant comic effect. All this post-modern authenticity was topped off by a brilliant cover based on the unlikely topic of greyhound racing. (Other images Blur considered were a fruit and veg market stall, a betting shop window... you get the idea.) The image used, shot by photographer Bob Thomas, was taken from a stock image library and was not, contrary to popular belief, shot in Walthamstow. The confusion comes because a separate shoot for the inside cover was carried out at the famous East London track, which has since been converted into flats. 14. Original Pirate Material by The Streets (2002) Original Pirate Material's cover used an image shot for an art photography project When Mike Skinner, aka The Streets, made a rough and ready UK garage album in his bedroom, he was aiming it at typical fans of UK garage. Instead, his funny and poetic lyrics led him to be instantly adopted by middle-class intellectuals, a fact that baffles him to this day. Skinner's embrace by the intelligensia may also have been subconsciously been inspired by the highbrow nature of his cover art. His debut album features an image titled Towering Inferno, shot in 1995 by German artist and photographer Rut Blees Luxemburg. Part of a series called London: A Modern Project that focuses on the capital at night, the shot fits nicely into the "sex, drugs and on the dole" narrative spun by Skinner throughout his debut. 15. Fallen by Evanescence (2003) Fallen's cover, like its music, speaks to feelings of isolation and alienation One of the best-selling albums of the 2000s and the winner of two Grammys, Fallen was the debut of Evanescence, a genre-defying Christian band that combined elements of nu metal, alternative metal and goth. But its influence went way beyond 'just' music. Countless youngsters since its release have testified to the way its lyrics, which deal with subjects of alienation, depression, suicide and death, have helped them deal with the angst of 'feeling different' from their peers. Seen in that light, the album's cover art, featuring frontwoman Amy Lee in defiant alt-girl pose, was perfectly chosen. The singer is staring right at the viewer, provoking a feeling of empathy and shared experience, but at the same time the blurry nature of the image and the cold, harsh colour palette speak to feelings of helplessness and isolation. It's not necessarily the happiest of scenes, but for many fans, it's been an essential and life-enhancing one. 16. American Idiot by Green Day (2004) American Idiot's cover design draws on a range of influences A punk rock opera might sound like a contradiction in terms, but Green Day went ahead and did it anyway. This concept album follows the story of Jesus of Suburbia, a teenage anti-hero, and it spawned five hit singles, including the incendiary title track; a stinging critique of right-wing American media that has arguably never been bettered. A game-changing album demands attention-grabbing artwork, and this cover design, featuring a heart-shaped hand grenade held in a blood-soaked fist, delivers it in spades. It was created by Chris Bilheimer, an art director who studied at the University of Georgia with R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe. The design takes in a number of influences, and is said to be inspired by Chinese communist propaganda art, a lyric from the song She's a Rebel ('he's holding on my heart like a hand grenade"), and Saul Bass's poster for the 1955 film The Man with the Golden Arm. 17. Demon Days by Gorillaz (2005) The Demon Days cover sticks to the Gorillaz conceit of a 'virtual band' As the world strode confidently from the 20th to the 21st century, suddenly everything was going from analogue to digital. And Blur singer Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, the comic artist behind Tank Girl, decided to get ahead of the curve by forming Gorillaz, the world's first virtual band. Combining hip-hop and electronica, the musical output of the band was groundbreaking enough, but they further excited audiences and the media by presenting themselves in the form of cartoon characters, from magazine covers to music videos to websites. At a time when most people were just learning what an avatar was, it was a clever idea, and one that effortlessly translated to the cover of this, their second and seminal album. 18. Born to Die by Lana del Rey (2012) Born to Die's cover design is big, bold and mournful One of only three albums released by a female artist to have spent more than 300 weeks on the Billboard 200, Born to Die combines elements of indie pop and trip-hop with New York singer Lana del Rey's haunting vocals in a way that's far greater than the sum of its parts. And the cover, art-directed by David Bowden, was suitably and beautifully epic. The impactful design combines an arrestingly mournful image of the singer, photographed by Nicole Nodland, with big and bold typography based on a bespoke font, adding a truly cinematic feel to the design. 19. 1989 by Taylor Swift (2014) The cover of 1989 makes it instantly clear what the singer is all about One of the biggest stars of the decade, country-turned-pop singer Taylor Swift has won fans by being open and personal about herself, and the cover of her first 'pure' pop album, 1989, fits perfectly into that narrative. Light years away from the pouting, airbrushed glamour shots of her rivals, it features just a simple Polaroid of the singer, cut off at the eyes, with T.S. 1989 (the year of her birth) scrawled underneath. Nothing complicated, nothing overblown... and all the better to make fans feel connected to 'pop's everywoman'. 20. Lemonade by Beyonce (2016) Lemonade's cover has been the subject of frenzied speculation Let's be frank; in the modern era, with streaming taking over from downloads and social sharing replacing record-store browsing, album artwork has declined in importance. But if an artist is big enough, it still makes an impact, and few artists have been bigger in the 2010s than Beyonce. In a sign of changing times, the singer's sixth album, Lemonade, was first made available through Beyoncé's co-owned streaming service Tidal, a day before being released for digital and physical purchase. The cover shows the singer standing next to a car, wearing a fur coat and cornrow braids, hiding her face behind her arm. It's a still from the shooting of the Don't Hurt Yourself video, directed by Beyonce and Kahlil Joseph. But there's no official explanation about why this particular shot was chosen, leaving fans to speculate on the meaning of the cornrows (symbolising black culture?), fur coat (symbolising fame and riches?) and hidden face (symbolising inner turmoil?). In a social media age in which being talked about seems to be the main aim of all celebrities, from pop stars to Presidents, this may be the perfect album cover for our times. Related articles: The 20 best album covers from the '70s 7 must-read books for design students 27 inspiring examples of vintage poster design View the full article

When you're just starting out in you design career, everything can seem like a struggle. You can ease the pain by having the right drawing tools and learning from inspiring design portfolios, but even so there's bound to come a time when you find yourself asking whether it's all worth it. Everyone's been there, though; even the mightiest creative director has found themselves considering jacking it all in and running away to become an accountant at some point. And so we asked nine leading designers to come up with their top tips for anyone starting out in design. They might just make you see your career in a whole new way. 01. Know your niche Creative director Mads Jakob Poulsen says: "Think about what you can contribute to the world of design. What's your niche? What's your special secret weapon? Don't be like everyone else – do what you think is fun." 02. Have a singular vision "If you make things the way you think they ought to be, they're more likely to be what you'll be asked to make going forward," says Spin's Tony Brook. "It took me a long time to fully understand this." 03. Be versatile Anagrama's Sebastian Padilla comments: "A designer needs to be versatile, like a Swiss Army knife. You need to be comfortable with working in broad fields such as typography, composition and copywriting." 04. Refine your skills "Hone your skill set," says Matt Howarth of ilovedust. "Whether digitally or by hand, work hard on your craft every day and in time you will find a style that you are comfortable with and, most importantly, enjoy doing." 05. Follow your heart Dawn Hancock of Firebelly says: "None of us really know what the hell we're doing, but if you think with your heart and go with your gut, it will all work out in the end." 06. Lose the attitude "My tip for a new, young designer starting their career is to lose any sense of entitlement you may have," says Steve Simmonds of weareseventeen. "Just because you've studied for three or five years doesn't mean you can come into the industry and expect it to be easy. This sounds harsh, but I get young designers all the time telling me what they are and aren't willing to do from day to day. "You must remember that it's not just graduates fighting for their place in this industry; seasoned pros and entire companies are fighting too and good attitudes make all the difference. Be keen and enthusiastic: it goes a long way. Bread and butter work is a staple in any studio, so expect to be heavily involved in a lot of this at first. Don't expect to be working on all the bigger studio projects. This will happen in time; just approach the bread and butter stuff with bags of enthusiasm and make those projects shine unexpectedly. Do this and your rise through the ranks will be swift." 07. Stay the course Becky Bolton of Good Wives and Warriors says: "Our general tip for people is to just try and stick with it! A creative career is going to be peppered with rejection and potentially confusing times. Without sounding too trite, it's important to try and believe in the value of your work and keep pushing through the times when you feel like quitting!" 08. Take risks Ady Bibby of True North says: "Stand for something. Take risks. Don't be happy to merge into the mediocrity of creativity out there." 09. Only work with people you like Designer and teacher Fred Deakin comments: "Biggest lesson: only work with people you like on projects you care about. If you take your time to make great work then eventually the money will come." The full version of this article first appeared in Computer Arts, the world's leading design magazine. Subscribe here. Related articles: Top tips for design students 5 design student stereotypes to avoid How to transform a design internship into a job View the full article

Master the methodology of Scrum, and you could lead your team to new heights. Scrum team members use proven, effective strategies to produce high-quality outcomes, thus increasing their future opportunities and their pay grades at the same time. With this bundle, you'll learn how Scrum is used across different industries. You'll also certify your knowledge in Agile Scrum, which will teach you how to incorporate even faster workflows to save both time and money. You'll learn how to climb the ladder and eventually lead bigger and better teams as a Scrum Master. All this knowledge and more are packed into The Complete Learn To Scrum Bundle. Get your hands on it for only $39 – that's 96 per cent off the regular price. Related articles: Top tips for nailing project management Best project management software The tools of the trade for project management View the full article

It takes more than just a strong logo to stand out these days – all of your visuals need to work toward building connections with your audience. That’s why it’s important to choose the right brand imagery that communicates exactly what your brand stands for. In fact, there are brands with such strong assets that they don’t even need a logo for instant recognition. Brand imagery is a vital part of how people around the world perceive a brand, so it’s crucial to get it right. That said, you’re going to want to avoid clichés when choosing imagery – and thankfully, you’ve got a lot of options that won’t break the bank. Here, we've identified five types of brand imagery that could help you achieve a stylish look using premium stock in place of a commissioned photoshoot. 01. A gritty urban sports brand Ideal for an urban sports brand campaign, this image exudes passion and determination Not everyone has the global marketing clout to match Nike, Adidas, or Puma – after all, if it was that easy to pull in exclusive celebrity endorsements, or create exhilarating, viral videos with famous athletes, everyone would do it. That doesn't mean stylish, aspirational imagery isn't an option – you just need to be more creative about how you find it. To avoid clichés and stay true to the core brand values you're representing, you need stay authentic and consistent. Take the example above, found on iStock by Getty Images. It gets across the passion, determination, and relentless drive it takes to succeed as an athlete. But if your brand is more about making running accessible to everyday people, it could be inappropriate for that purpose – so make sure that you’re using search best practices to find the imagery that suits your needs. 02. An artisan cafe or bakery This image of a woman kneading dough could make an evocative background image for an artisan bakery Unlike a big sports brand, an artisan eatery probably won’t have a hefty marketing budget to throw around. However, thanks to the Instagram generation, there’s a definite aesthetic you can reference – think soft-focus flat whites at jaunty angles – and use to your advantage. Of course, small-scale local outlets target customers differently than bigger chains –to stand out in local markets, they could embrace a familiar look and feel to attract the right clientele. Again, pick your search parameters carefully. The image above was found on iStock by Getty Images using the phrase "rustic food", and could make an evocative background image. And here’s a tip for food-related imagery: use stock images to set a general mood, rather than to illustrate specific products – you don't want to disappoint hungry customers looking for a specific treat that's not available. 03. An innovative tech brand Topics such as 'innovation' and are hard to convey literally, but abstract, stylised illustrations like this can be effective It’s difficult to convey technological innovation using brand imagery. While a hardware brand like Apple can lead with seductive, artful product shots, this won't cut it for something more abstract, like cloud services or network solutions. Clichés abound in this sector if your search is too literal: don't get lazy and end up with a shot of a big server rack covered in wires, or a laboured illustrated metaphor that doesn't do your brand justice. For a task like this, it pays to do the creative brainstorming first and then search for something more conceptual from the outset. The above image, for instance, was found using the term "innovation concept". Even if AI is not the actual nature of the business in question, the topic pulls up some visually exciting, abstract imagery that could help give a tech brand a feeling of innovation and purpose, without depicting an actual product. 04. A rugged outdoors brand Striking, adrenaline-packed images such as this are hugely challenging to capture – so premium stock is ideal Much like the urban sports brand dilemma, if you don't have the budgets commanded by the likes of The North Face or Patagonia to send a photographer and art director out to a wild, rugged mountain range, don't despair – beautiful photography of inaccessible places is one of the things stock imagery is great for. Again, conduct your image search according to the authentic needs of your brand. For instance, the image above was sourced through iStock by Getty Images using the search term “sheer cliff climb.” It’s a stunning image that would appeal to experienced athletes – it may not, however, be quite so suitable for attracting beginners to the sport. 05. A playful candy brand Playful, quirky and colourful patterns – such as these rows of pink lollipops – make ideal background images As the above examples demonstrate, when it comes to sourcing brand imagery, premium stock assets can be great for setting the tone of a campaign – whether that's gritty, wholesome, innovative, or pioneering. They can also be great for dynamic, playful brands that rely on bright, saturated colours and patterns, such as those aimed at kids – the example above would be ideal for a candy brand. Just bear in mind the brand values you want to reflect, and don’t be afraid to be more edgy or surreal if it feels right – so go out, be bold, and find the perfect image that works for your project. If you're working on a client brief that requires some tone-setting brand imagery such as these examples, you're in luck: iStock by Getty Images is offering new customers 12% off all credits by using code 12CBLOQNEW at checkout. Good luck with the search! View the full article

Animation can be a very powerful web design tool. But before animating every element of our designs, we must learn when and how to use this new tool. With great power comes great responsibility, and so forth. And as animation must vie with many other concerns for development and design time, it makes sense to spend our resources where they’ll go the furthest. This article sets you up with some core animation patterns and shows you how animation applies to a greater system. Then you’ll learn how to spot cognitive bottlenecks and low-hanging fruit, maximising the impact of the animations you do invest in to improve the user experience. This is an excerpt from Rachel Nabors' Animation at Work – buy it here If you’ve looked at as many examples of animation on the web and in-app interfaces as I have, certain patterns start to emerge. These patterns are helpful for identifying and succinctly verbalising the purpose of an animation to others. Here are the categories I’ve found myself using the most: transitions, supplements, feedback, demonstrations and decorations. Let’s have a look at each of them and see how they impact the user’s experience. 01. Transitions Transitions take users from place to place in the information space, or transition them out of one task into another. These tend to have massive impacts on the content on the page, replacing large portions of information. The web was originally designed as a series of linked documents. Clicking on a link caused the browser to wipe the screen, often causing a telltale flash of white, before painting the next page from scratch. While this made sense in the context of linked text-based documents, it makes less sense in an era where pages share many rich design elements and belong to the same domain. Not only is it wasteful of the browser’s resources to be recreating the same page layout over and over, but it also increases users’ cognitive load when they have to reorient and reevaluate the page’s content. Animation, specifically motion, can facilitate the user’s orientation in an information space by offloading that effort to the brain’s visual cortex. Using a transition between changes in task flow or locations in information architecture ideally reinforces where the user has been, where they are going, and where they are now in one fell swoop. For example, on Nike’s SB Dunk page (shown above), when a user clicks a navigation arrow, the current sneaker moves out of the way while the next sneaker moves in from the opposite direction. These transitions clearly show the user how they are navigating along a linear continuum of sneakers, helping them keep track of their place and reinforcing the spatial model of perusing a real-world row of sneakers. On another shoe site, John Fluevog, transitions move the user from task to task (see above). After a user starts typing in the search field, the results are animated on top of a darker backdrop. This transitions the user from the browsing context to refining their search results, streamlining their focus while also reassuring them that they can get back to browsing without much effort. 02. Supplements Supplements bring information on or off the page, but don’t change the user’s 'location' or task. They generally add or update bits of additional content on the page. While transitions move the user from state to state, supplemental animations bring ancillary information to the user. Think of times when information complementary to the main content of the page appears or disappears in view: alerts, drop-downs, and tooltips are all good candidates for a supplemental animation on entry and exit. Remember that these animations need to respect the user’s Cone of Vision: will they be looking directly at a tooltip appearing next to their cursor, or will their attention need to be directed to an alert on the side of their tablet? When a user adds a product to their shopping cart on glossier.com, rather than taking them to a whole new shopping cart page, the site merely updates the user as to their cart’s contents by popping it out as a sidebar (above). While a transition would snap the user out of browsing mode, this supplemental animation lets the user dismiss the shopping cart and continue shopping. The shopping cart sidebar uses an additional supplemental animation to quickly and subtly attract the user’s eye: a progress meter gradually fills to show how much the user needs to spend to get free shipping. This shopping cart process has a third animation pattern going on: the Add to Bag button gains a spinning icon when clicked, which gives the user feedback as to its loading state. Speaking of feedback... 03. Feedback Feedback indicates causation between two or more events, often used to connect a user’s interaction with the interface’s reaction. Animation can give users direct feedback about their interactions. A depressed button, a swiping gesture – both link a human action to an interface’s reaction. Or the flip side: a loading spinner on a page indicates that we’re waiting on the computer. Without visual feedback, people are left wondering if they actually clicked that 'pay now' button, or if the page is really loading after all. On the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s site, hovering over a button causes its colour to fade from red to blue, indicating that the element is interactive and ready to react to user input. Button hovers are classic examples for this kind of animation, partly because the gain of giving users visual feedback on buttons is so measurable and important to business. Design studio Animal’s site uses a bar of colour across the top of the page as well as an animated version of its logo to indicate the page’s loading and loaded states while providing interest and reinforcing its 'wild' branding. 04. Demonstrations Demonstrations explain how something works or expose its details by showing instead of telling. These are my personal favorite use of animation. They can be both entertaining and insightful. These animations put information into perspective, show what’s happening, or how something works. This makes demonstrative animations perfect partners for infographics. One thing all demonstrative animations do is tell a story, as you’ll see. 'Processing...' pages are an opportunity to explain what’s happening to users while they wait. TurboTax makes good use of these processing pages. After users submit their US tax forms, it banishes any remaining anxiety by showing them where their information is headed and what they can expect – all while reinforcing their brand’s friendliness and accessibility. (It also helps that the animation distracts users from a rather lengthy page load with something visually engaging!). Coin famously uses demonstrative animations to explain their consolidation card’s value proposition to curious visitors as they scroll through the site – no need to press play and sit through a video ad or wade through paragraphs of expository content. This page is the very essence of 'show, don’t tell'. 05. Decorations It’s not hard to mistake decorative animations for demonstrative animations. But there is a key difference: where demonstrations bring new information into the system, decorative animations do not. They are the fats and sugars of the animation food pyramid: they make great flavour enhancers, but moderation is key. The best way to spot a purely decorative animation is to ask, “What can a user learn from this animation? Does this guide them or show them something they wouldn’t know otherwise?” If the answer is no, you might have a decorative animation on your hands. Even though they get a bad rap, decorative animations can help turn the ordinary into the extraordinary. Revisionist History’s site uses decorative animations judiciously to bring flat illustrations to life. The animations add just enough interest to allow for the visual content on the page to be more austere, letting users focus on the podcast. Polygon.com epically used animated illustrations to create centrepieces for a series of console reviews. These decorative animations may not have added new information, but they crucially reinforced the Polygon brand. They also helped each console review stand out from the competition, which at the time sported indistinguishable photographs of the same devices. This article is an excerpt from Rachel Nabors' Animation at Work – an A Book Apart Briefs ebook that guides you through the anatomy of web animations, patterns, and communication decisions across teams. Buy it here. Read more: Create slick UI animations Understand Disney's 12 principles of animation Create storyboards for web animations View the full article

You're reading Free Mobile Device Mockups to Use in 2018, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! The wrapping sells. Behind any success stands a well-thought-out presentation. Minimalistic or overwhelming packaging, if it is done right it hits the targeted audience. The web design sphere is no exception. A decade ago no one was bothering with marketing … View the full article

Design portfolios can be tricky to get right. No matter how many portfolio examples you've looked at, sometimes it's hard to apply the amazing inspiration in front of you to your own work. So what is it exactly that top design executives are looking for in a portfolio? And what – in turn – might your next interviewer want to see from you? We spoke to designers at Pentagram, Superunion and BMB to glean the seven tips below. We also spoke to Michael Johnson at Johnson Banks. For his insight, see our separate list of his portfolio dos and don'ts. 01. Tailor it to the reader “It’s vital to tailor your design portfolio (or book, as we call it) to the company you’re sending it to,” explains Louise Sloper, head of art at BMB. “So you’d approach an advertising agency like mine, for example, in a different way to a design studio. You’re unlikely to be doing 60-page brochures here, so it’s a waste of my time seeing that in a portfolio. It may be lovely, but it shows you haven’t understood the job that you’re coming for.” 02. Credit your collaborators “It’s kind of a weird thing,” says Pentagram’s Eddie Opara. “Often, one project in a portfolio stands out, because it’s something one person clearly didn’t do on their own; but there’s no acknowledgment of the other collaborators. I don’t normally mention it, but that doesn’t mean I don’t notice it.” 03. Show the detail Just bringing an iPad to an interview isn't always enough Sloper also wants to see your work in as much detail as possible. “My biggest bugbear is when portfolios are created as if they’re presentation boards, and the pieces of work are like thumbnails,” she sighs. “That’s crazy, because I want to see detail. I want to know, especially if you’re a younger designer, that you understand kerning. I want to know that you’ve used the right logo and that’s it’s not been pixelated or gone a bit funky. I don’t want to view a video that’s tiny; I want to see all the craft that’s gone into the directorship and creative direction of it.” Sign up for the Computer Arts newsletter This principle applies to both physical and online portfolios. “I do see a lot of physical portfolios from students and brand new graduates, but most people are just turning up with iPads now,” she says. “That’s not always ideal, because sometimes it’s just too small to see the work in enough detail. So if you do bring an iPad, you should have your work printed out nicely as well, or otherwise available in a way you can view it on another screen, at large sizes.” 04. Choose your words carefully Design isn’t copywriting. But working to improve the words in your portfolio can still pay off hugely, says Opara. “Because that’s your life, right there. If you can generate narrative out of that, people will listen to what your process is, and you’ll become an individual persona that people start to connect with.” 05. Showcase other creative skills Including a skill such as calligraphy can enhance your portfolio If you’re going for a design job but have a different, related skill, there’s nothing wrong with showcasing it in your portfolio alongside your design projects, advises Lou Hunter, creative director at Superunion. “Whether that’s illustration, photography, film-making, printmaking, calligraphy or whatever, it’s good to show examples – as long as they’re relevant to the role and don’t dominate the portfolio.” 06. Practise talking about your work It’s vital to talk through your portfolio well at interview, stresses Sloper. “I’ve noticed that more and more students, particularly, seem to have a lack of confidence – as opposed to a lack of talent – and that worries me. So I’d urge you to practise talking through your work; the more you do so, the better you get.” 07. Bring 'wow' pieces to the front Like with any project, curation is key to portfolio success Curation is key to a successful portfolio, says Sloper, and that involves a certain amount of restraint. “I personally don’t really care about how the portfolio is designed, provided that it’s curated well,” she says. “There’s that sweet spot, where you want between five and 10 pieces of work, perhaps a few more online.” And the order in which you feature them is also crucial. “Because people are quite busy these days, it’s good to have your best work, the thing that just really makes you go ‘wow’, up the top,” she believes. “That’s the case whether we’re talking about a physical portfolio or online. There used to be a suggestion that you should start with your best piece of work, then have a nice variation through the middle, then end on a wow. But with reviewers being so time-poor nowadays, they often don’t get to that stage. So I’d personally advise designers just to wow me in the first few seconds.” And that might be enough in itself to get you an interview. “I might even not look at the rest of the work,” she says. “Because I’m so fascinated by you, I might want to have a chat with you instead. In fact, with most of the best people I’ve interviewed, that’s exactly what’s happened. Over the years, you get a feeling for people who know what they’re doing, and so you can make a decision like that quite quickly.” This article was originally published in issue 278 of Computer Arts, the world's leading design magazine. Buy issue 278 or subscribe here. Read more: Transform your portfolio from good to great 10 ways to transform your creative thinking 8 portfolio mistakes that drive clients mad View the full article

Just like the Joker, Tony S Daniel is wrestling with Batman. As we’re interviewing him, issue 45 of the latest series is in its death throes, and it simply won’t die. Normally, Batman wouldn’t be such a problem for the artist, who’s returning to a character he’s pencilled numerous times during his career. The trouble is that his inker has dropped out mid-issue, so he’s on double duty, drawing and inking his boards on the fly, Fed Ex-ing them off to DC Comics while responding to our questions. Art techniques: top tutorials for painting and drawing Long hours aside, Batman is where Tony’s fans want him, and it’s where he wants to be. “It’s like that feeling you get when you go back to your favourite place,” he says. “It’s still what you remember, but you’re older and wiser and maybe you can even appreciate a few details you didn’t first time around. It’s a good feeling.” Working with writer Tom King, this latest run is kicking off with a new time-travelling storyline featuring Booster Gold, Catwoman and, of course, the Caped Crusader. Tony has always been a fan of a bigger, darker and grittier Batman, a character whose moods are shaped by the murder of his parents in Gotham City. He’s an artist who feels he’s at his most effective when he’s loose and spontaneous. This cover variant accompanied the 2017 issue of Justice League that DC published to coincide with the Warner Bros. fi lm based on the series There’s a sense that Tony wants to get back on track with Batman. His last significant encounter with the character was during the New 52 reboot DC carried out in 2011. Tony relaunched Detective Comics at that time, which features Batman as its lead. The run ended prematurely with Tony feeling a little burned out. “I was overworked at that time, writing Hawkman, and writing and drawing Detective Comics. It caught up with me real fast and the quality wasn’t what I demanded of myself,” he says. I’ve learned you have to say ‘no’ to things sometimes. It could be in your own best interest Tony S Daniel He continues: “I could’ve stayed on for a couple more years, but I knew it would best to take a break and regroup. I’ve learned you have to say ‘no’ to things sometimes. It could be in your own best interest.” Batman at his best For Tony, the best Batman he’s ever drawn was during the R.I.P. story arc with writer Grant Morrison. The partnership between Tony on pencils and Grant weaving a mad storyline began on Batman issue 670, in 2007, with The Resurrection of Ra’s al Ghul. That first cover remains one of Tony’s favourites, and fans remember this period as one of the greatest in the character’s history. With the spontaneity of Grant’s plotting matched in Tony’s pencils, many put the artist up there right alongside the likes of Frank Miller and Neal Adams in the Batman pantheon. Tony’s unsettling cover for Detective Comics, volume 1 – part of DC’s ambitious New 52 relaunch of its titles back in 2011 “That was a magical time for me. I was so into it,” says Tony. “I couldn’t wait to read each script from Grant, because like every other fan, I wanted to know what the hell was going on! It really was a classic story and I’m so proud to have been a part of it.” If it was this version of Batman that brought Tony into the mainstream, it was an earlier book called The Tenth that put him on the map within the comics world. First published in 1997 by Image Comics, Tony owned the IP and The Tenth was a platform for him to both write and draw at the same time. Dynamic and different, it featured young people with supernatural powers, up against Rhazes Darkk and his evil supermonsters. Originally, the plan was for Tony to block out the story and for Beau Smith to write and letter it. A new era of Batman begins with the current series issue 45, as Tony returns on pencils. “After the first arc, I realised that I was doing more and more of the writing and dialogue, and thought I’d give it a try. It felt very natural for me,” he says. “I love being the writer and artist. I do have a greater sense of being the storyteller, as opposed to being the artist only. I will get back to creator-owned at some point. Maybe next year, I hope. Though there’s risks with going down the creator-owned route, I’ve never shied away from risks.” Writing on the side After writing and drawing other comics at Image and Dark Horse, Tony was so inspired by the writing side that he took time out of comics to become a screenwriter. Back in the world of comics, although he’s written and drawn hits like the Batman story Battle for the Cowl, and relaunched Deathstroke as artist-writer, today he prefers to draw alongside a good writer, and keep his screenwriting going on the side. He’s finishing a script with James Bonny, so watch this space. The cover to Tony’s fourth issue of Deathstroke, featuring Harley Quinn helping to bring Gotham to its knees At the moment, Tony has his hands full with his current comics. On top of Batman, he’s drawing Damage. Although DC already had a character called Damage, to all intents and purposes the current series is a new launch. It’s got that tell-tale strength and directness you expect from a Tony S Daniel comic, with a fresh feel and – literally – a smashing main character. “My style has constantly mutated over the years,” says Tony. “I don’t think I’ve ever forced a style change – it’s always happened slowly, organically. I think I have a mix of realism and cartoonishness that I try to balance. I find that if I go too realistic, the work ends up looking flat.” This article originally appeared in ImagineFX issue 160; subscribe here. Related articles: How to create a comic page 5 ways to improve your digital art skills How to colour comics View the full article

Design students – next time you drag yourself out of bed for an early-morning lecture, dive into yet another Photoshop tutorial or dedicate an afternoon to learning how to draw, remember this: you're in good company. Before they were famous, some of the world's biggest celebrities began their careers as graphic designers. And we're not talking about design celebs like Stefan Sagmeister or Neville Brody either. We mean proper famous people (no offence). Household names who have starred in major Hollywood movies or sold millions of records. People who have thrown television sets out of hotel room windows. That kind of thing. We've uncovered eight famous people who studied design in their formative years. In many cases their early passion for the subject influenced their careers in unexpected ways. 01. Alan Rickman The Harry Potter actor set up his own design agency Though several in our list studied graphic design, few made a living from it. One of those few is the late, great Alan Rickman. The Harry Potter generation will know him as the much-misunderstood Severus Snape. For others he will forever be Hans Gruber, Bruce Willis's nemesis in the original and best Die Hard. A graduate of Chelsea College of Art and Design, Rickman went on to complete a postgraduate degree at the Royal College of Art. There, he worked on the renowned student journal Ark in 1969 and 1970. During his RCA years, he set up up his own design agency, Graphiti. Though successful at design, the young Rickman's heart was set on acting and he folded Graphiti after being accepted into the Royal Academy for Dramatic Arts in 1972. 02. David Bowie Bowie specialised in layout and typesetting It shouldn't come as a surprise to hear that David Bowie enjoyed a stint as a graphic designer – there were few things Bowie didn't try his hand at in the 60s and early 70s. The chameleonic rock god studied at Bromley College of Art in the early 60s, specialising in layout and typesetting. Though he didn't go on to a career as a designer, the influence continues to be visible through his entire canon. Bowie's image was changed more tangibly during his studies. It was at art college that Bowie was punched by fellow student George Underwood in a fight over a girl. The blow damaged his left eye, giving him the permanently dilated pupil that made Bowie seem so alien. 03. Andy Serkis Hobbit and Planet of the Apes star Serkis studied visual arts at Lancaster. Photo courtesy of Imaginarium Studios Andy Serkis shot to worldwide fame for his turn as Gollum in the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies, but he had the potential to be the go-to-guy for designing movie posters instead. Acting was an afterthought for the star – he studied visual arts at Lancaster University. Struggling to choose a minor, he plumped for theatre studies, figuring that he could design posters for university productions. "I wanted to be a painter or a graphic designer," Serkis told IndieLondon in 2011, "But then I started acting in productions until I played this one role which was a huge epiphany moment in my life, where it was 'this is what I've got to do'." We may have lost a graphic designer, but we gained cinema's king of mo-cap. 04. Chuck D The godfather of protest rap studied graphic design at Adelphi University Public Enemy, one of the most influential groups in the history of rap, always had a strong visual identity. Its founding member's design credentials could be something to do with that. Before recording classic albums like 'Fear of a Black Planet', Chuck D (known then as Carlton Douglas Ridenhour) studied graphic design at New York's Adelphi University. "My first year at college I was part of the school newspaper... I was good, I was gifted I was talented..." he told a press conference in 2008, "But I got kicked out of college – and kinda left. I partied too much as a freshman." The youngster was motivated by the release of the first rap records in 1979 to return to university and repeat his lost year. He was a Dean's list graduate in 1984, specialising in record cover design. 05. Jemima Kirke Jemima Kirke began her creative career as an artist before starring in hit TV show Girls Better known as Jessa Johansson on the television series Girls, actress Jemima Kirke began her creative career as an artist, graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2008 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. The British-born New Yorker primarily produces portraits and in 2011 held an exhibition titled A Brief History through Skylight Projects. 06. Ricky Wilson The Kaiser Chiefs singer lectured on graphic design at Leeds College of Art Before Kaiser Chiefs frontman Ricky Wilson predicted riots, he studied at Leeds Metropolitan University for his BA in Graphic Design. After he graduated in 2000, Wilson went on to work as part-time lecturer in the subject at Leeds College of Art. 07. Pete Townshend The Who guitarist was influenced by the intellectual atmosphere of art school [photo: Flipkeat] The Who was the third biggest band of the 1960s and early 70s, churning out hits like My Generation and I Can't Explain. Guitarist and songwriter Pete Townshend was known for lyrically exploring his youth and childhood, an approach that begat the most popular rock opera of the period – Tommy – which was released in 1969. Townshend studied graphic design at Ealing College of Art and has openly admitted that this background helped him to carefully control the branding of The Who. The environment even helped Townshend develop his trademark playing style, particularly his early use of noise and feedback. "I was at art school, surrounded by real intellectuals, people that were experimenting all the time," Townshend told Guitarist magazine in 2012, "I was greatly impressed by all this and wanted to please these people." 08. Freddie Mercury The Queen frontman had a diploma in graphic design [photo: Carl Lender] Throughout Queen's phenomenal career, Freddie Mercury proved he had as much visual flair as theatricality. Without Mercury's prodigious vocal, composition and design talent, Queen would probably have been just another pompous and forgettable heavy rock band. The star was another alumni of Ealing College of Art, alongside Pete Townshend and Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood, graduating with a diploma in graphic design. He also studied at Isleworth Polytechnic (now West Thames College). One of the first uses of his training was the design of Queen's iconic crest, used on the covers of several albums (including A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races) and on Queen merchandise to this day. Related articles: The 27 greatest animated music videos 25 names every graphic designer should know 26 top movie title sequences View the full article

With over 800 million users, Instagram's popularity shows no signs of waning. It even launched its own TV platform, IGTV, recently. And while there are plenty of ways to make money on Instagram, whether that be via Stories or the main feed – or a mixture of the two – its interface can still irritate. If you find yourself frustrated at the inability to clearly paragraph in Instagram, or are wondering how to find the hashtags most relevant to your feed and audience, you're in luck. Read on to discover our top Instagram hacks to make your life easier, your feed look better, and to hopefully attract more followers to your profile. 01. Insert line breaks in Instagram One way to create line breaks is by using special characters Not being able to separate text is probably one of Instagram's most annoying features. Luckily there are a few workarounds to add some lovely white space into your captions. The easiest way to add a line space is to press return, add a special character – such as _ or >> or an emoticon, press return again and then keep on typing. Instagram will give your special character or emoticon a line of its own. If you find it fiddly to do this within Instagram's interface, you can also create your whole caption complete with line breaks in a separate app such as Notes, and then copy and paste it over. Instagram will copy the formatting of your original post, and you will have lovely line breaks separated with your chosen characters or emoticons. Using the method below will mean clean white spaces between paragraphs The second way to create line breaks involves creating actual white space instead of using special characters to trick Instagram. Here's how you do it: Write your caption in Instagram, press return (do not add a space after the end of your content or else this won't work) and then copy and paste the following into the interface: [⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀] You can either copy the spaces between the brackets, or copy the whole thing and then delete the brackets – be sure not to delete the spaces between them. The result should be beautiful clean white space in your caption. Repeat as many times as necessary. If you become tired of copying and pasting these special brackets/spaces to get your line breaks, you can always add them automatically using Text Replacement (more on that in tip #5). 02. Maximise your bio in Instagram We're not sure the centre alignment suits us, but experimenting with your bio is worthwhile Your bio should be short, to the point and provide as much information about you as possible in the 150 characters available. To create a bio that has spaces, write it first in Notes or another app, and then copy it over. You can also create interesting alignments by adding in spaces before you copy it. You may have to fiddle around a little bit to get the perfect centre alignment, for example, but it'll be worth it. Don't forget that your bio is the only place on your profile that you can add a live link, so make it a good one. You can also add relevant emoticons, hashtags and links to other accounts here to make your profile more likely to appear in searches. 03. Make rainbow text in Stories Did you know you can make the text in Instagram Stories rainbow coloured? Here's how... First, write something on your Story (press the Aa button and then type your message), and then select all the text. Hold until a little white pointer appears. Then, with a different finger, tap and hold a colour, until the spectrum of colours appears. Do not let go. The final step is to drag both fingers to the left, one across your text, another across your colour spectrum. Go slowly and you should get a rainbow effect. Don't worry if you don't get this first time as it takes a bit of practice. If it's not working, it's likely that you didn't select your text properly. Check back that a little white pointer has appeared and try again. 04. Find relevant hashtags You can scroll right in the grey bar to see more related hashtags Sometimes it can be hard to think up hashtags, which is why it's useful to be able to see a whole bunch of related hashtags based on the one you can think of. To do this, go to the magnifying glass 'Explore' function and type in a keyword. Tap across to the Tags column and then choose a hashtag from the list you see. When you click on that page, you'll get a whole page of posts with that hashtag. Click on a hashtag and look at the grey bar that says Related. This shows you all the related hashtags, and should give you plenty of ideas for which hashtags to use. 05. Use text replacement to add hashtags You can add multiple hashtags to your shortcut Once you've got a list of hashtags you regularly use, you'll probably get bored of typing out the same ones every time you post. The good news is you can use text replacement to speed up this process. To do this on iOS, go to Settings > General > Keyboard, and then find Text Replacement. Click on the + sign to add a new shortcut. Under Phrase, type the hashtags that you want to appear, for example, #creativity #design #designadvice #designinspiration. Then, in the Shortcut section, add the word or words that you will type to get those hashtags, for example, #hash. Your saved text replacements will appear in a list as above On Android, the process is pretty similar. To get there, go to Settings, Language and input, Google Keyboard, Text correction, and then Personal Dictionary. Once you're in the dictionary, select your language and click +. This allows you to add shortcuts as above to access hashtags faster. Once these are saved, the next time you type #hash in Instagram (or anywhere on your phone, so watch out), these hashtags will appear. You can save as many different combinations of hashtags as you like, and can also use text replacement to insert line breaks, or write automatic replies to common enquiries you might get on Instagram, for example. 06. Access your favourite filters faster Uncheck the blue ticks to hide or unhide filters If you usually use the same filters – and for visual cohesion on your feed, we recommend you do – then you might be pleased to know you can rearrange them so the ones you use the most are easiest to access. To do so, go to Filter when you post a photo or video, and then scroll right to the end of the filters, where you'll see it says Manage. Click on this and you'll see a list of all the filters. If you hold down the three lines of each filter you can move them around, or even uncheck the blue tick to hide any filters you never use. Don't worry, this isn't permanent, you can easily rearrange the order later on, or unhide any hidden filters again later by checking the circle if you change your mind. Read more: The designer's guide to Instagram Stories 5 clever Instagram layouts you must see 20 illustrators to follow on Instagram View the full article

Most of us have a general idea of colour theory - the idea that particular colours in branding can trigger certain responses - but how much of it is fact and how much is fiction? To help you get to the bottom of just how much colour and typography influence the buying choices of consumers, MDG Advertising have put together this animated infographic. On the face of it, colour theory seems to make sense. Red is a bold colour, so it's fair to assume that it helps to communicate a sense of urgency. Meanwhile blue has come to signify competence thanks to its calming effect. Without any data to back it up though, colour theory can quickly wither under the gaze of a managing director who already has their own design ideas in mind. It's some consolation then to hear that 62-90% of a person's initial product assessment is based purely on colour, so picking the right palette is clearly essential. Further findings from a Shutterstock analysis also reveal that colours including green, yellow and purple among others all carry associations that vary from person to person, and culture to culture. To learn all about these associations, and how you can tailor the colour and typography in your branding to suit a global market, check out the full infographic below. Backed up with references and studies to win over even the most sceptical of critics, this eye-catching animated infographic is sure to help nail down the look of your next branding project. Click the image to see the full size infographic Related articles: Create a simple colour chart 21 outstanding uses of colour in branding Adobe shares Pantone's summer trending colours View the full article

Planning to see the blood moon tonight? This evening, the longest total lunar eclipse of the 21st century will dominate the sky, casting a deep red glow over Earth for one hour and 43 minutes – and promising stunning views. 3 stunning blood moon images to download for your designs Weather permitting, this spectacular sight will be visible from almost all parts of the planet, bar North America and Greenland. So what time can you expect to see the blood moon – and how can you get the best view? And if you’re planning to photograph this mysterious, rare event, is there anything you need to know? Read on for top tips on how to view and capture tonight's blood moon like a pro. What is a blood moon? Getty images: Blood moon in close-up by John Sanford A ‘blood moon’ is the name given to the moon during a lunar eclipse. As the Earth passes between the sun and the moon, the moon is cast into shadow. But instead of turning black, a deep red colour is created by sunlight being refracted though the Earth’s atmosphere: red wavelengths are bent into the space behind Earth, while blue and violent wavelengths are scattered. Atmospheric conditions dictate the exact colour of the moon – the clearer the atmosphere, the brighter the red colour will appear. The good news is that unlike a total solar eclipse, a blood moon isn’t dangerous to look at. You don’t need to wear protective glasses – so pull up a pew tonight and watch the haunting celestial sight unfold in front of your eyes. When is the blood moon 2018? Getty Images: Super blue blood moon over Sierra Nevada Mountain range, California, America, USA The total lunar eclipse will occur on Friday 27 and Saturday 28 July 2018. In the UK, the second, partial phase will already be visible as the moon rises at 8:49pm – but as it comes above the horizon it’ll be blood red, making for some incredible sights. The UK's total eclipse will occur at 9:21pm, and the moon will remain blood red until 10:13pm. UK viewers will then see a partially eclipsed moon until 11:19, with the full moon gradually returning to normal brightness as it leaves the Earth’s shadow. In India, the total eclipse will begin at 1am IST, finishing at 2:43am. In Australia, the moon will start to turn red at 4:30am AEST on Saturday morning. The total eclipse will occur between 5:30 and 6:30am, before the moon sets at 6:55am. Blood moon observers will need to look west-south-west. And in east Africa, the partial eclipse will begin at 9:30pm EAT. The moon will become red between 10:30pm and 12:13am. The USA, Canada and Greenland will miss out entirely. Where’s the best place to see the blood moon? Getty Images: The Lunar Eclipse, Blood Moon over Riverside, CA The best views will be from east Africa, the Middle East, India and the western tip of China. But if you’re in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia or the eastern tip of South America, you can still expect decent views. The best place to see it will be in the countryside, away from any light pollution. This handy eclipse tracker can help you find the optimum place to see the blood moon based on your location. 3 pro tips for photographing the blood moon 2018 Getty Images: Eclipse moon by japatino According to our friends over at Digital Camera World, composition opportunities in the UK should be rife with tonight's lunar eclipse. Usually a blood moon is photographed high in the sky, so it’s rare to be able to capture it within a landscape. And with the moon’s brightness suppressed, it should be easy to take a good shot. The best camera for photography in 2018 Here are three pro tips for photographing tonight's lunar eclipse… 01. Find a clear eastern horizon To maximise your chances of seeing a blood moon, you’ll need a clear eastern horizon, says Digital Camera World. Try apps like PhotoPills and The Photographer's Ephemeris to plan your shot. Look for buildings or trees that the moon could rise between, or seek out a pond or lake for reflections. 02. Get the right kit You can use any camera with a wide-angle lens, but a zoom lens – ideally over 400mm or more – will be better for capturing the red of the moon. You’ll also need a tripod. 03. Nail your shutter speed Your biggest challenge will be avoiding a blurry image – so use a high shutter speed to achieve adequate sharpness. Don’t use use a shutter speed slower than 1/100sec, and keep sensitivity within ISO 200 to 800. Download three stunning blood moon images Need some stunning blood moon images in your library? If your own photos don't quite cut it tonight, we've found three beautiful blood moon images you can download now for your designs. Related articles: 15 ways to improve your photography skills The best camera for photography in 2018 60 top-class Photoshop tutorials to try View the full article