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You're reading Tabbed Widgets in Web Design: UI Examples & Free Plugins, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! Certain layouts work really well with tabs. You can show/hide content on the page like Q&A sections or to load dynamic content via Ajax. The trouble is adding tabs into a page that work well and are easy to setup. … View the full article

Artist Tony Zhou Shuo explains how he creates a moonlit scene in historical London When creating game art, atmosphere is key – and even the best photo editing software and Illustrator tutorials can't do that for you. This piece was created to establish the mood and important gameplay elements in Assassin's Creed Syndicate's Tower of London mission. The theme of the image is player versus the environment and, in this case, it's the new playable character and master assassin Evie, versus the Tower of London. The colour palette used here is complementary: specifically, mauve and pale yellow. The mission is a stealth mission, hence I knew it was important to create a clear difference between light and shadow in the environment. 4 steps to creating realistic shadows As a high-level conceptual design, the main focus of this artwork was to establish atmosphere and reinforce the art direction. It's a great tool for level artists, lighters and level designers to visualise the available space. We wanted to focus on the big picture instead of fine details. At first, I came up with a few quick composition sketches, trying to find something epic and showing the scale. Once we had chosen one that we thought would work, I produced a few lighting sketches, trying to capture the atmosphere we wanted. Fortunately, it didn't take us too long before we realised our vision. From there on it was simply tweaking, blocking in and painting. For efficiency purposes, I mostly used photos, a 3D mesh from the game and my previous boat illustrations to block in contents. 01. Tell a story Evie's capivating pose tells the character's narrative The theme of the image is Evie vs the Tower of London. Here Evie is placed on a higher position than the tower to establish her dominance. The backlight makes her stand out more and adds some mystery to the character. These are very simple, but effective ways to tell a story in one image. 02. Produce a rough sketch Block out the composition before adding further detail This sketch was chosen because it had the most potential to deliver the atmosphere and lighting we wanted to see. The challenge here was the lack of height variation in the surrounding buildings, which made it hard to show depth. Flipping is always a good way to check if a composition is balanced. 03. Block in the scene Use layers and photographs to create an editable version of your scene I use photos to create a base for painting later, paying attention to hue and value (check your values in greyscale using a black layer set to Saturation mode). I keep different planes on separate layers, so I can easily tweak them when necessary. Adjustment layers and clipping mask can be very useful here. 04. Paint the details Add your details, and tweak the composition – use values to create depth I tweak almost everything. I change Evie's pose, the height of the Tower of London and the surrounding buildings to refine the composition. To create depth, I play with the smoke and fog to create more layers and add a crowd in the distance to show scale. I always try to maintain the values that I've established in my sketches. 05. Add emphasis with light Place emphasis on your character and add a thematic feel I place the moon behind Evie to push the silhouette and give it a romantic feel. The light direction creates planes of light and shadows that help emphasise the focal points. Local lights in areas of shadow generate interesting value variations and tertiary points of interest. 06. Use filters Make use of filters – Overlay, Smudge and Displacement are invaluable tools I flip and transform part of the image, and change the Blending mode (usually Overlay), then use the Smudge and Displacement filters to create the reflection. I use boat illustrations, which I created earlier, to save time. I also review the perspective, luminosity and contrast so they blend in well. The reflections are lower in terms of luminance, compared to the light source. This article originally appeared in ImagineFX. Subscribe here. Related articles: Download these Adobe Illustrator brushes today These vintage posters showcase the best in design Great examples of doodle art View the full article

Thanks to auto-play, it’s possible to crash Windows systems by simply inserting the drive into the USB port, no further user interaction necessary. View the full article

A slew of products from medical dispensing company BD are susceptible to the KRACK vulnerability disclosed last fall. View the full article

These days, there are a number of tools and services available to speed up web design processes. Many designers have found that taking a couple of hours to hunt out the best tools for the job can save time in the long run. Rather than building from scratch a website, you can easily pick a website builder, or you can opt for a WordPress theme with a drag-and-drop editor that will help you fully customise a website design in less than 30 minutes. As a web designer, web developer or online entrepreneur it is very important to have at your disposal a stack of tools for the everyday use. In this roundup we’ll take you through a selection of popular web design and development resources. Within the 27 tools on offer, you’ll find a WordPress event ticketing system, a premium multi-purpose animation platform, an ultra-fast and securely managed WP hosting solution, a web design agency with fixed prices, and much more. If you are looking to get things done quickly without compromising on quality, any of these web resources are great options. Some of them offer free trials or even free forever plans, so there’s no reason not to give them a try. Let’s take a closer look at each one, and find out how they can help you in your projects. 01. Tickera – WordPress event ticketing system Tickera is among the most recommended WordPress ticketing plugins. More than 95,000 users have downloaded it so far, which is perhaps the best testimonial of its caliber. Tickera is a ticketing event system that aims to help you sell tickets online in a professional and organised way. Tickera will work with any well-coded WordPress theme on the market, following the themes styling to blend seamlessly with the rest of the content. Its workflow is as streamlined as it comes, and there are over 25 professional add-ons to help you expand its functionality to suit your needs. This tool comes with check-in apps for iOS and Android platforms as well as a brilliant, cross-platform, Chrome desktop app that’s perfect for checking in attendees at larger events or those without internet coverage. Tickera also supports hundreds of payment gateways: there are over 20 built-in payment gateways. What’s more, it also supports all WooCommerce payment gateways, thanks to its Bridge for WooCommerce add-on, which allows you to create and sell tickets like any other WooCommerce product. Another notable feature is the ability to create a floorplan of your venue and let your customers select the exact seat they want for your show. This functionality comes from Ticket’s latest add-on, Seating Charts. Everything is well documented and easy to read. However, should you encounter any bumps during setting up or using Tickera, you can contact its friendly and efficient support team. 02. LayerSlider – Responsive WordPress Slider Plugin LayerSlider is a premium, multi-purpose animation platform for creating sliders, image galleries, slideshows with mind-blowing effects, landing pages, animated page blocks, popups, or even a full website. It powers more than 1.5 million active sites daily. LayerSlider is packed with tons of features and options to help you convert a regular website into a brilliant one. Its versatile layout options mean you can easily implement a full-width, full-size or OS-native fullscreen slider, which can be used on billboards and more. Keep in mind that it’s fully responsive, so your sliders will look great on smartphones and tablets as well as desktop computers. Using the drag-and-drop visual editor you can easily build fully customised sliders in a couple of minutes – and there’s no need for any coding skills or previous experience. The LayerSlider responsive WordPress slider plugin costs $24 (or $15 for the jQuery version) with lifetime updates included. There is an excellent documentation with clear language and helpful online assets such as FAQs, as well as a dedicated team of professionals ready to help you with the installation and configuration. 03. Pagely – Managed WordPress Hosting Established as the first ever managed WordPress hosting solution in 2009, Pagely provides impressive innovation, speed, scalability and security. The Pagely Managed WordPress Hosting stack is built on Amazon Web Services. Simply put, this allows it to leverage a near-infinite amount of resources and advanced tooling to scale and support your WordPress application as required. There are three managed WordPress hosting solutions to choose from. Virtual Private Seller Hosted plans (single node from $299/mo and high-availability pairs from $1,249/mo), Enterprise plans (from $2,500/mo) and Elite Publisher, aimed at the most demanding applications and clientele. They represent an impressively comprehensive, flexible and powerful managed WordPress solutions. All the plans include the latest technologies and features, beyond what you would expect from a professional WordPress hosting solution. 04. Goodie – Web Development Service Goodie is a professional web development service that launched 10 years ago, and will help you have a great website from $999. Goodie is super simple to use. You start by selecting your ‘Goodie’ – a web developer. Every Goodie is well-vetted and certified in building websites the Goodie way. Next, upload your project details, and your Goodie will work with you to fully understand your vision and make recommendations for how to make it even more awesome. Goodies will not only work hard to build your site to perfection, but they’ll also keep you in the loop, sending daily updates on their progress. 05. Ultra – Powerful WordPress Theme Ultra is a powerful and flexible WordPress theme created by Themify, which makes it easy to create a beautiful, responsive site quickly. Take full control of your theme design, from header to footer. This must-have theme includes a powerful drag-and-drop Themify builder, which you can use to fully customise your website. 06. WPKube WPKube is a great WordPress theme developer dedicated to building wonderful themes for bloggers, writers, authors, designers and entrepreneurs. There are six themes available at the moment, but with several new ones scheduled to launch soon. All WPKube’s products are pixel-perfect and work great on any device. 07. Colorlib – Appy If you are a developer with a new product on the horizon, don’t miss out on the free mobile app website template Appy. This one-page website template includes all the elements you’d need – within its modern and neat design, there are dedicated sections for features, testimonials and screenshots to help spark your user’s interest. It’s optimised for first-class performance, with lightning-fast loading speeds. 08. Postcards Use Postcards to quickly create beautiful and responsive emails. The powerful drag-and-drop builder includes over 70 beautiful pre-designed blocks to make your campaign stand out. Try the free version to explore all the different functionality on offer. 09. Slides With slides, you can create a website in minutes. Choose the slides you need from a huge collection of over 180 elements. Combine them to create a website that meets your needs and will give your business a boost. The code is exquisite, customisation is fantastic, and the Slides code generator can save hours of toil. 10. Codester Codester is an excellent marketplace for web designers and developers. Here, you can buy and sell PHP scripts, app templates, themes, plugins and much more – and save money and time. Browse Codester and see what’s on offer. 11. MeridianThemes MeridianThemes is a powerful WordPress developer that is quickly growing from one month to the next. Its products are multi-purpose, pixel-perfect, easy to customise and look great on any device your users may have. 12. uiCookies – Frame Some studies indicate that single-page websites yield higher conversion rates compared to multi-page websites. Frame is a free one-page HTML5 website template using Bootstrap. This multipurpose template is suitable for business startups, or for use as a landing page for any business. It has features section, parallax scrolling, pricing, reviews and contact sections, as well as an awesome design. 13. LogoAI LogoAI is an simple and intelligent logo platform that will make you a new beautiful design in minutes – at a budget-friendly price. Try it for free and check what the tool is capable of. 14. MailMunch MailMunch captures leads from your website and converts visitors into life-long readers, email subscribers, and customers. You can create beautiful opt-in forms without writing a single line of code, so forget about complicated solutions that require special knowledge, and try MailMunch instead. 15. WhatFontIs Using WhatFontIs you can quickly find a font or similar free fonts for your needs. Its font detection feature can identify a font from an image almost instantly, using a database of over 400,000 fonts. There are also handy links to where you can buy the fonts from. 16. Pixpa Pixpa's easy, drag-and-drop website builder enables you to create your own beautiful portfolio website without any coding experience. Choose from a range of fully customisable, stunning website themes to showcase your work. Your mobile-ready, online portfolio website comes with all the features and tools you need to grow your creative business. 17. SuperbWebsiteBuilders SuperbWebsiteBuilders is a trusted niche resource on a mission to provide users with unbiased, trustworthy and up-to-date information about website builders. The service contains dozens of reviews and comparisons of the most renowned web building services used to launch different types of websites. The website also offers articles with useful tips and recommendations on how to get the most out of the web building process. 18. uKit uKit is a modern and fast-evolving site builder that makes it super easy to create online presence if you are a DIY small business owner. uKit brings a powerful stack of built-in tools for analysing your clients and marketing your services to them in an effective way. There’s everything from CRM to mailing lists to callback options to contact forms and much, much more. 19. uCalc uCalc is a modern solution that makes it surprisingly easy to create calculators and forms to meet your needs. The building process is a breeze due to the intuitive drag-drop technology – you just pick an element and place it in the desired position. There’s no coding knowledge required at all; everything happens in the visual mode. Select your field settings and input values to get a customised professional form. Voilà! 20. IM XPRS IM XPRS is a free cloud website builder that provides a wide array of options for anyone looking for a good quality, professionally-designed website. The system comes with a WYSIWYG visual editor, responsive design, powerful ecommerce and blogging options, as well as a decent White Label solution for professional web designers, large businesses and hosting companies. This is a worthy investment that will help you complete a variety of web building tasks. 21. InvoiceBerry InvoiceBerry is a complete, easy to use invoicing platform that’s a perfect fit for small and medium-sized companies. With it, you can create fully customised invoices in less than 60 seconds. It’s available on a ‘free forever’ plan, and enables you to monitor its functionality day by day. 22. SalesMate SalesMate is a smart CRM system which will help you become better organised and build stronger customer relationships. Save information about your customers, so you can congratulate them on their birthday and other special events. Prices starts at $15/mo. 23. uCraft Ucraft is a website builder created with the needs of businesses in mind. The service is predominantly used to launch business websites and landing pages. It is simple and easy to understand, whether you’re a newbie or a web design pro. The website builder comes with a set of free designer tools dedicated to elements such as typography, UI and layout. There are also advanced ecommerce options enabling you to build a professional web store with no hassle at all. 24. Controlio.net Controlio is a web-based employee monitoring software with the functionality of a complex surveillance system. It’s like having the most advanced control centre in your pocket. Controlio records every second of a PC's screen activity (like a movie), provides app and web usage stats, gives alerts on non-work-related activity, blocks websites and much more. 25. EverGreenFeed EvergreenFeed is an add-on tool for the social media management platform Buffer. Once set up, EvergreenFeed will automatically send social media updates to Buffer that will then be published on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn. This tool promises to save you time and enable you to post social media updates, even when you are not able to do so yourself. 26. Uncode Uncode is a complete, creative WordPress theme that you can use for any project you may have. It has been built with terrific attention to detail and performance, and is one of the fastest and best looking WordPress themes on the market. 27. RumbleTalk – WordPress Social Chat RumbleTalk is an excellent social chat service for websites, allowing you to add a group chat to any website in just one minute. You can chat using mobile or your PC or laptop, or make private live video calls with any participant. View the full article

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but when it comes to professional work, artists need to be careful that they aren't just stealing someone else's material. Plagiarism is tricky to define and expensive to challenge, and for Chinese art professor Fan Yu, it cost him both his job and an award. How can designers deal with plagiarism? The former art professor at Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts was found to have plagiarised the work of British illustrator Russell Cobb. Yu's artwork, which won the Red Dot: Best of the Best award for communication design back in October, has since been since been stripped of its prize-winning status. Yu's four part poster series, titled Open Air Cinema National Museum, was originally designed for the Xi'an Concert Hall. Its drawings are said to “explore how the brain, the ‘strange cavity’, works and processes information with its countless cells and lobes”. However the only information it appears to have processed are elements from Cobb's 2011 work, the ironically titled, New Ideas II. Chinese social media users noticed the similarity The similarities were highlighted on Chinese social media platform WeChat. Account Chaoxiart, or "the art of plagiarism", posted side by side comparisons of the artworks to underline its point. Apart from some colour changes, most other assets have clearly been lifted. Cobb, a teacher at the University of the Arts London and former chairman of the Association of Illustrators, told Chaoxiart that he had not met or heard of Yu until 21 April. This date was when Yu contacted Cobb in an effort to collaborate on a piece of art, a demand which intensified after Cobb discovered his work had been copied. Fan Yu faces a lifetime ban on taking part in Red Dot competitions Xi'an Concert Hall said that it only knew about the poster series on 24 April, which was when Chaoxiart exposed the story. It added that it had not contacted Yu or commissioned his poster series. Meanwhile, Red Dot has removed Yu from its website and said that anyone else who infringed on copyright via plagiarism would face a lifetime ban from taking part in the award. [Via South China Morning Post] Related articles: Tokyo 2020 Olympics logo binned after plagiarism row Plagiarism website shames logo thieves Are the new Solo posters flattery or forgery? View the full article

It's that time of the month again: the new issue of Computer Arts is on sale now. Issue 279 is dedicated to the art of the rebrand, with a special report that takes an in-depth look at how to approach them. With the help Brand Impact Award judge Nick Carson, plus previous BIA winners, this feature explores the various reasons a company needs to rebrand, as well as highlighting the routes to rebranding success. Buy Computer Arts issue 279 now In the Project Diary section, the team catch up with Jo Graham Consulting and Studio Sutherl& to discover how they breathed life into a 226 - year - old footwear brand. There's also a look at how MSQ Partners created its Got 5 campaign, which promotes voter registration in a quirky yet relatable way thanks to a clever use of photography, everyday scenes, and vibrant colours. Save up to 63% on a Computer Arts subscription Meanwhile, Emily Gosling continues her series of articles that explore the role traditional crafts can play in branding. In this issue she turns her attention towards illustration, and reveals how different art styles fit a variety of brands. Elsewhere, top designers and directors take a look at the new US Open rebrand and discuss whether or not it serves up a winning design. On top of this there's a look at the hottest up and coming talent in our design showcase, which features incredible examples of illustration and motion work from the global design scene. Finally, the team goes back to basics and looks at how designers can harness the power of responsive web layouts to make their work really shine. Take a sneak peek at what to expect from the latest issue by scrolling through the images below with the arrow icons. Computer Arts is the world's best-selling design magazine, bursting at the seams with insights, inspiration, interviews and all the best new design projects. For all this delivered direct to your door each month, subscribe to Computer Arts. Right now you can save up to 63%! Related articles: 5 small-client rebrands that attracted big attention 7 things to consider when planning a rebrand 9 embarrassing branding blunders View the full article

For this Photoshop tutorial, I’ll be creating a playable human, female video game character for a fighting, action genre. I love video game heroes, because there’s such variety in what the player can be. There’s often a huge range in styles and personalities that the player may adopt, once they’ve got the game up and running. Get Adobe Creative Cloud When they choose a character, they’re surrendering themselves to the quest of the hero. When I say hero, I don’t mean the player’s a protagonist or antagonist. I’m referring to the avatar the player experiences the rest of the game through. This is one of the most fascinating parts of video games: placing the player in an unfamiliar situation and seeing how they react. Designing player avatars is a unique process that’s different from designing other non-playing characters, simply because the avatar’s personality, actions and appearance affect their ability to make the player interested in taking on their role. In a sense you’re creating the boundaries that the player must adopt, ultimately embracing these limits by the end of the game. 01. Setting boundaries This is often the hardest step for me. Without the rest of the game to show anyone, a single character provides a lot of information about the world I’m trying to create, so first impressions are key. Some boundaries from the assignment are that she be a young, female character with a fantasy-steampunk edge, and she has a pet. 02. Creating a theme I end up with a dark character wearing a wide-brim hat, and a pet that looks like a bird. Now that I have a loose idea of the pet, I want to design the costume to reflect the animal. A lot of this idea comes from theming around her weapon, which I need to start drawing! 03. Setting the tone of the figure I want the character to be dark and mysterious, with a sense of flair. Having the wing in the foreground will be important for my composition to show it off. At first I approach it with her back turned towards the viewer, looking nonchalant and confident, and maybe a little guarded with that wing in front of her. I also block in some colours that could fit her character. Pro tip: A lot of my drawings start with a strong gesture or clear line of action. If I create any more lines of action, I want to make sure they work in concert with one another, and don’t overpower each other. I want a sense of movement in my work: keeping my gestures simple and strong is how I try to achieve this. 04. Designing her companion The character is like a superhero who bases their costume on an animal, so what does that animal look like? I imagine something fantastical and pretty, but also predatory. Since I want the character to be something like an airship pirate, I try to design a pet that could fly but also looks like it would be comfortable in water. 05. Playing around with the composition I give exploring the composition a shot. Since the image is mostly about showcasing the design, I don’t want her to be in an intense action pose. It’ll also be cropped so I can only show parts of the character. Because the weapon is the most important, I try to make sure it’s prominent in every composition. You can also see that I’m starting to explore the cultural aspects of the costume. 06. Ensure the player connects with the character I end up staying with the original composition! I start to hash out details, especially in rendering the face. Her attitude is conveyed in her posture and costume choice, but the face is where the viewer really connects with the character before they play her. I want her to feel like she borrows some attitude from her fancy pet, too. 07. Dress to slay Now that I have my pose I can really start to highlight the costume details. Despite the European ‘musketeer’ influence present in the previous images, I begin to lean towards some Asian costume design. I can’t help but think of Mongolian Eagle Hunters, and that starts to inform her look. I even start to incorporate what might be her pet’s feathers into the costume. 08. Winged and dangerous I’m feeling more confident about the costuming so I move on to the mechanical wing. I want it to look like she could use it for fighting, but maybe it has other functionality, too. She could use it to glide from ship to ship perhaps? Cutting ropes and sails to sabotage them? Especially for a video game, props can become a huge part of the character’s identity and could make them fun to play! 09. Together again at last Seeing them in the same composition, it looks like I need to make some edits to make sure they’re both framed clearly. I want to highlight both of their designs, but it’s a tight space! I’ll need to redraw the bird in a better position that flows with the same shapes and rhythms of the main character. A lot of this will be repositioning the wings and claws, which have very long, clear vectors. 10. Bird is the word I study how the characters frame each other and determine their relationship. From the design of the creature, I could see it being a swift, agile helper that assists its companion in fights and tasks. Maybe the hero could hang on to her pet’s feet and use them to glide-travel across gaps, or steal things from her opponents like a terrible seagull! 11. Framed up I feel like I’ve succeeded in allowing their individual silhouettes to be visible, with less overlap. I can start working on the overall lighting and atmosphere of the composition. Maybe an overcast day near the sea can work. All the bounce light will start to take on the neutral grey sky colour, which I’ve intentionally left at a low saturation so as not to compete with the vivid colours of the characters. Dramatic lighting or a detailed background scene aren’t necessary in this case. 12. Reinforcing the bond Now that I’ve resolved their compositional relationship, I want to start adding some storytelling elements to their appearance. The hero should look like they clearly got inspiration from this agile predator, and the pet should look like they have a relationship with its owner. An easy way to do this is with costume elements, such as a collar that resembles the same shape language as the hero. 13. Light the way I start to separate my forms with light and make the image even clearer using Overlay, Hard Light and Multiply layer modes. With all the high-contrast costume elements, it can be difficult for shapes to read together and I want to control that as best as I can. I make sure that the hero and pet start to have some visual language shared between them, but I also don’t want her to look like she’s wearing a bird costume. Pro tip: Keep it simple. One pet peeve of mine while using Photoshop is starting to paint on a layer and then realising it’s the wrong one! The way I fight this is by merging down and committing to my changes as soon as I can. I’ll also group my layers and label them by layer mode, so I know what they do without selecting them. 14. Final fight In the end, I really want the silhouette of her hat to stand out, so I make the bird creature’s wings a lighter value to pop it. I use some last-minute lighting changes to try and bring all the attention to the hero’s face despite there being so much costume and weird animal themes going on. Player One is ready to enter the game! View the full article

Earlier in the year we predicted the main typographic trends for 2018. Now, within web design specifically, we're seeing a few more themes starting to emerge. Many web designers are becoming a little more experimental with their work, and exploring new treatments to better tell their stories. In general, we're seeing headline typography becoming more integrated into the design of the page and looking less like it has just been plonked onto the canvas. Here are some examples of typographical treatments to look out for. 01. Typographic chaos Phoenix splits words across the page to create interest This trend kicked off a while ago and is still going strong. It sees web designers taking a more chaotic approach to the composition of typography on the page, splitting words and even letters to offer a more interesting look. An unconventional arrangement can pique the reader's curiosity. 02. Crop-and-cut type Designers are leaving just enough to make their work readable With the aim of creating interest and a more unique typographic design, designers are cropping or cutting letters up within a word, whilst leaving just enough to ensure the letters remain readable. There’s a really interesting neural behaviour that means humans can still read words, even if a number of characters are missing (take the game of Hangman, for example). 03. Negative space The characters of your type can be a space to show images or videos Integrating artwork into your typography is a wonderful way to make your text stand out. One great technique is to enable graphical elements to pop out of the negative space within the type itself, creating a dimensional space. In a similar vein to the image above, YouTube displayed an animation within the title characters of each story in its Greatest Stories Retold project. The homepage showed a number of different animations within the headline, as a taste of what to expect. 04. Graphical type This Austrian restaurant shouts about its love of schnitzel Enhancing flat typography graphically gives any textual elements more impact on the page. It might be that your typography is made furry or even paint-like. The objective here is to make your typography more like an object, as opposed to a character. 05. Dynamic typography Uncanny Valley plays around with moving type on its homepage Here's another trend that's been around a while but is still going strong: several campaigns and sites have combined typography with motion to create a more dynamic effect. For a taster, take a look at our roundup of the best kinetic typography. This keeps viewers engaged by forcing them to read quickly to follow the message, and keeping their focus entirely on the words that are displayed. A variation of this seen on websites is typography that moves and shifts on scroll, or in response to the user's mouse movements. This article was published in issue 271 of Web Designer magazine. Subscribe here. Read more: 4 top typography tools for web designers The rules of responsive web typography 23 great places to download fonts for free View the full article

Do you ever find that some days you're bubbling with creativity and others you're lost for ideas? Keeping those creative juices flowing can be tricky, but often all you need is a change of scenery or a flick through some inspiring design portfolios to spark your imagination. Here we asked leading creatives to reveal some tips, tricks and expert advice to help keep your creative mojo. 01. Find solutions in problems To mark the 50th anniversary of the British road sign, Lundgren+Lindqvist was invited to transform the familiar signs "Creative blocks are often caused by what at a first glimpse seems to be an unsolvable problem," says Andreas Lundgren, art director and co-founder of Swedish design studio Lundgren+Lindqvist. "Treat these problems or limitations as assets and allow them to guide and influence your solution." 02. Look at the bigger picture "Life as a designer isn't always easy, and when things aren't going so well it can be hard to step back and see the bigger picture," admits Greig Anderson, co-founder and creative director at Freytag Anderson. "It only takes a lost pitch or a difficult client at times to knock your confidence, and that can make it hard to pick up the pencil and go again. In these situations I always find it helps to remind yourself that there is more to life than design." "Get back to basics – to the core idea of what you are trying to convey," continues Anderson. "I try to shut the blogs, books and inspiration sites and open the sketchbook." "I think that the ability to see so much so quickly online these days becomes prohibitive to the design process. I find it makes it harder, and the area for original thinking (if there is still such a thing now?) become even smaller. 03. Keep thinking Blow studio created 30 original mascots to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Hong Kong's largest Japanese style department store "Doing personal work besides commercial projects can give you room to think and know more about yourself," says Ken Lo, founder of award-winning Hong Kong-based design studio Blow. "There are so many interesting people, stories and objects every day. I like to observe people's behaviour; you can always find useful information about them. Explore the city and don't stuck in the office." 04. Take time out Australian artist and designer Gemma O'Brien advises allowing time where you don't try to think of an idea. "Running, riding a bike, having a shower, going for a walk and sitting on a plane are perfect free thinking spaces to generate new ideas." "Also, look outside of the field of art and design," she continues, "and allow yourself to be influenced by literally anything in the world around you." 05. Appreciate what you have "How do I stay motivated? The circumstances into which I was born are a huge motivator," says Northern Ireland-based graphic designer and writer David Airey. "I know how different things could have been – perhaps born into poverty, or passed from care home to care home. The luck of life's cruel draw." 06. Take a walk "I go for a walk," says StudioSmall owner David Hitner, "work on another project or talk it through with Guy Marshall, my fellow partner at StudioSmall. "Also," he adds, "have experiences and reference points beyond your own industry. Work on a variety of projects. Keep learning." This article originally appeared in Computer Arts magazine, subscribe here. Related articles: 12 tips to turbocharge your design career How to get to the top spot of a global creative agency 10 best portfolio templates for designers View the full article

WordPress is the perfect platform for hosting your website because of how flexible and adjustable it can be. All you need to make your site look and work exactly as you want it is a professionally designed theme from Visualmodo. Get lifetime access to these amazing themes right now for just $39 (approx. £28)! Visualmodo's WordPress themes make it easy for you to streamline every web design project. These themes provide you with a perfect template to fit your every need. This library of professionally designed themes are a breeze to set up and will immediately give you the wide variety of features you need. These themes are customisable and can work for just about any project, but if you're having trouble making it work for you, the award-winning customer service from Visualmodo can help you out. You can get a lifetime of access to WordPress themes from Visualmodo on sale for 84 per cent off the retail price. That makes your total just $39 (approx. £28). It's a great offer for themes that will make your site even better, so grab this deal today! Related articles: The 30 best Drupal themes How to set up site theming with CSS variables 32 best free WordPress themes View the full article

Your choice of font says a lot about your product or brand. Choose the wrong one and you send out the wrong message. But get it spot on and you'll stick in people's minds for all the right reasons. But what separates your everyday, run-of-the-mill font from something a little bit more classy? 30 free font resources To help you choose a font with a touch of sophistication, we've trawled the web and rounded up 10 of the classiest sets to make your designs stand out from the crowd. 01. fancyPens A fancy font with a fancy name Format: OTF, TT Price: $9.99 | £5.99 Kicking off our list is the appropriately named fancyPens font set. With calligraphy font stylings and a scratchy, erratic feel, this single-weight font was created with several pens. The font family includes all letters and numbers, plus an array of symbols, and is an absolute bargain. 02. Eckhardt Fancy JNL We love the detailing in these letter forms Format: OTF, TT Price: $29 | £20.99 A fancy font doesn't have to include elegantly curling tails and slender stems, as this beautiful family by Jeff Levine Fonts goes to show. With its split shapes and intricate detailing, this fancy font is named in honour of talented sign painter Al Eckhardt, and was inspired by a vintage decorative display alphabet found in the type collection of the late typographer, Dan X Solo. 03. Centennial Script Easy This font includes ornate uppercase letters Format: TT Price: $15.90 | £9.99 for 1 font Centennial Script Easy is a wonderfully elaborate font from Intellecta Design, which saw it digitise a classic font by Hermann Ihlenburg that was originally created in 1876. Available in three styles, including Easy, Fancy and Fancy Shadow, these fancy fonts are sold on their own (costing $15.90/£9.99 or $29.90/£19.99 each) or as a set. 04. Bobbi Bee This single-weight font is "chock full of summer sunshine and life" Format: OTF Price: $39/£25.99 for 1 font Just because a font is fancy doesn't mean it has to appear uptight. For a case in point, just look at Bobbi Bee. This single-weight font family has a bouncy look about it, while still communicating a sense of elegance. With 361 numbers, letters and alternates in a single weight, it can cope with all your highbrow design needs. 05. RNS Oladys This set has a wonderfully down-to-earth feel Format: OTF Price: $9/£5.99 for 1 font While Bobbi Bee brings a sense of fun to the party, RNS Oladys shows you that you can be both fancy and down to earth at the same time. This hand-lettered brush font with ornaments and alternates is loaded with a cutesy charm that wouldn't look out of place next to some of the more refined families on this list. 06. Hamptons BF This display face has a sleek, confident shape Format: TT Price: $40/£25.99 for 1 font Sometimes looking fancy is all about confidence and mastering the art of understatement. This is definitely the case with Hamptons BF, a sleek font set named after the well-known New York resorts that have become synonymous with style and grace over the years. Comprised of three weights, this fancy font oozes with grace. 07. Shandy BF Shandy BF balances a lively look with a professional finish Format: OTF Price: $40/£25.99 for 1 font With its cheerful look and undulating baseline, Shandy BF reminds you that looking fancy can be a lot of fun. Bringing the liveliness of a brush script together with robust Copperplate-style elements, this set also promotes variety by making sure there is no repetition in double-letter pairings. 08. Garden Brush Go back to your roots with this stylishly pointed brush typeface Format: OTF, TT Price: $28/£17.99 for 1 font For a slightly more rustic look (while still maintaining a classy air), Garden Brush is the font set to go for. With a light and clean freshness, this pointed brush typeface comes with beautiful swash caps and end strokes. 09. Limon This huge font project took 18 months to complete Format: OTF Price: $19/£11.99 for 1 font Limon is a font family made up of 16 styles that you can download as a complete package or separately. Thanks to a host of alternates and combinations, Limon is a smart script that keeps a strong calligraphic rhythm going. 10. Heroe Heroe describes itself as an interesting combination of elegance and sensuality Format: OTF Price: $20/£12.99 for 1 font Rounding off our list is the undeniably fancy font, Heroe. By turning thins into hairlines and packing unique ball terminals, this Herb Lubalin-inspired set lends itself perfectly to high-end products and services. The set is comprised of nine fonts. Related articles: 63 best free fonts for designers Top typography trends The best computer for graphic design View the full article

Stock imagery sometimes gets a bad rap. Sure, if you don't make the effort – or find the budget – to source something fresh, relevant and high-quality, you may end up descending into cringeworthy cliché. But stock has so much more to offer. It's like a logo idea. If a client specialises in ideas and innovation, would you sketch a lightbulb on a napkin and leave it at that? Hopefully not. Or if a company works internationally, will a hastily scribbled globe tick the box? Again, we hope not. So why be lazy with your choice of stock imagery? Used skilfully, a stock photo can contribute to a brand's image rather than dilute it. It can give a brand a particular vibe that connects with its target market, rather than feeling generic and tired. There are a few classic pitfalls when it comes to stock, but with the right approach you can side-step them with ease. So read on for eight well-worn clichés to avoid, and eight authentic alternatives to be found over on iStock by Getty Images... 01. Awkward corporate handshake Businessmen shaking hands is a big stock offender. We're starting with one of the biggest offenders on the list. You want to represent 'doing business', or 'negotiating', or 'reaching an agreement' – what better way than with a hearty handshake? Sure, the handshake is a fairly universal gesture. It could even be a relevant one. But there are so many pitfalls here. Two disembodied arms, in close-up, perhaps with some kind of motivational 'lens flare' effect behind to signify a new dawn of business... Just, no. Even worse: a Clip Art-style handshake, more at home on a school newsletter. These are the crimes against design for which the word 'cliché' was invented. Reaching a deal in a coffee shop, from iStock So what's the alternative? Well depending on the nature of the business, for a start it could be worth ditching the suits. In the modern world, the grey-haired, briefcase-carrying, shiny-shoed stereotype suddenly looks very old school. A handshake can be a powerful gesture, but consider a more natural, lifestyle-affirming image. Look for something set in a real-world, relatable environment, with people who look like they're mid-conversation and have actually reached some kind of agreement, rather than just gripping and grinning for the camera – like the one shown above. Believe us, it makes a huge difference. 02. Woman laughing at salad Authenticity is everything to modern-day consumers – and this falls short Everyone wants to be part of the healthy eating trend. Whether it's as specific as showcasing the virtues of home-grown produce, cooking with fresh ingredients or just promoting a healthier lifestyle in general, brands want a piece of it. But you're targeting real people, and authenticity is everything to consumers. Just as pin-striped business people flashing teeth and squeezing flesh feels fake, so does a glassy-eyed model who somehow finds a forkful of lettuce to be the most hilarious thing she's ever seen. A man harvesting his allotment, from iStock Somewhere along the line, someone decided that a woman laughing at a salad would be a logical way to represent healthy eating. In reality, it's nothing short of terrifying and certainly doesn't connect with most normal people. Again, look for images that sell a lifestyle and feel aspirational, but natural. Someone in a kitchen surrounded by piles of fresh vegetables and tackling a recipe, or out on the allotment harvesting produce in the morning sunshine like the example shown here – preferably not laughing at their lettuces in the process. 03. Plucky little seedling This metaphor is so tired that no matter how good the image, you're selling yourself short Stock image clichés are often at their worst when they're straining a well-worn visual metaphor to breaking point. Incubating new ideas, developing and nurturing talent: these are the kind of abstract themes where seedlings, saplings and all manner of verdant symbols of growth can be found. Perhaps the worst offender is cupped hands filled with soil, a feisty young plant thriving inside. Let's not get into the practicalities of having employees walking around your business caked in earth, without any hands free to do actual work – it's a metaphor. But it's such a tired one that no matter how good the image, you're selling yourself short. Little girl with green fingers, from iStock That's not to say that the natural world can't be a source of inspiration here. An image that draws you in, builds an emotional connection and tells a story is always preferable to that cold, detached metaphor. For instance, this candid shot of a young child getting to grips with gardening – a trowel defiantly thrust into the earth beside her as she enjoys a strawberry – is a much more powerful image to choose, particularly when paired with the right copy. It says nurturing new growth in many different ways, without laboriously ramming the point home. 04. Meeting of cheesy waxworks A cheesy business meeting This is the next step up from the corporate handshake. We're into a meeting room now, with a team of robotic-looking employees staring vacantly at each other with fixed, toothy grins signifying that something critically important has been agreed. There might be an artfully placed notebook and pen in shot, a glass of water or two, but otherwise it's more clinical and soulless than a dentist's surgery, and says nothing about modern business. Consider the alternative shown here. Shot from above, it shows more of the interaction between the team. There's stuff happening: papers, laptops open, half-drunk coffee and pens poised at the ready. In short, it actually feels like they're having a meeting. And they're mid-conversation – not fixed in time for the camera's benefit. Rather than corporate suits and sensible blouses, they're also more smart-casual in appearance, which sells a more relaxed, accessible lifestyle. And the group is also much more diverse in terms of age and ethnic background, giving the whole scene a more modern, contemporary vibe. 05. Motivational chalkboards Making abstract ideas too literal is a stock crime. Another classic stock imagery pitfall – at the opposite end of the scale to plucky little seedlings of growth – is to make abstract ideas too literal. In some cases, painfully so. You want to express the theme of dynamic leadership? How about an image of a chalkboard, with 'leadership' written nice and big in the middle? Maybe even a few arrows shooting off it to explain what leadership is. It's like we're in the middle of a super-productive meeting, charged with dynamic energy – better Photoshop a hand on there, holding some chalk, to be sure. Team hiking up a snowy mountain, from iStock Choosing an image like that really isn't the best way to inspire confidence in your leadership skills. Instead, consider real-world situations that demonstrate leadership, and feel inspirational without being cheesy. Something overtly goal-orientated like climbing a mountain could miss the mark if the choice of image is wrong, but if you can find a stylishly shot photograph like this one, which establishes a strong, confident leader at the head of a purposeful, engaged group, there's a powerful message that transcends that particular situation. 06. Signs to point the way A sign with the theme in question written on it is desperately clichéd Rather like a chalkboard, a sign with the theme in question written on it is desperately clichéd, and again far too literal. It feels like the result of someone struggling for ideas, shrugging and ultimately just settling. We get it. You're pointing people in a certain direction – towards an opportunity, say. Signs point people towards things. At a brutally simplistic level, it works. But it's lazy, and you can do better. Finding a high-quality image that conveys an emotion isn't always easy If you're conveying an abstract theme like this, think about the bigger picture – that feeling of optimism; that the world's your proverbial oyster; that you have it in you to reach out and grasp something better. This merits an image that makes a powerful, emotional connection. It's definitely worth more than a sign that says 'opportunity'. Finding a high-quality image that conveys an emotion isn't always easy. As with many of the examples above, the last thing you want is a posed, inauthentic 'scene' that's trying too hard. Consider this image: a silhouette of a father, holding hands with his child as they gaze out over a stunning sunset. It's a view filled with opportunity. 07. Inspirational lightbulbs A lightbulb is the go-to visual metaphor for ideas and innovation Whoever first made the association between a flash of inspiration and a glowing lightbulb has a lot to answer for. The cliché is now an integral part of popular culture. A lightbulb is the go-to visual metaphor for almost anything to do with ideas and innovation. There are plenty of beautifully shot stock images of lightbulbs to choose from, so if you're determined to embrace that cliché – perhaps with a slightly ironic twist on it – don't let us stop you, as long as the image is high quality. But given that it's neither an original idea, nor particularly creative conceptually, why not try something different? A young girl painting a canvas, from iStock There are plenty of different ways to express the idea of creativity, from abstract splashes of colour, to something more representative of the creative process itself. If you're featuring a person in the image, make it natural and effortless. Take the image above: a young girl, sleeves rolled up, fully immersed and truly enjoying the process of painting on a canvas. An image like this encapsulates the joy of creating, and feels human – rather than a detached, well-worn cliché. 08. Piles of cold, hard cash A clichéd pile of banknotes Money is an integral part of any business and, in its literal form, it's also easy to visualise. Heaps of bank notes, stacks of shiny coins, vaults full of treasure and the perennial favourite of anything to do with savings and investments: the piggy bank. Search any stock image library and you're spoiled for choice of money-related images, of varying quality. Sometimes you'll find exactly what you need for a particular purpose by searching simply for 'money', and good luck to you. Tourist in outdoor street shop, from iStock But it can be much more engaging to consider money as a form of empowerment; a catalyst for bigger things. It gives us access to experiences and opportunities. In short, it only becomes interesting, and useful, when you use it for something. The above image features a handful of bank notes, but it puts the money in context: it's in the hand of a young tourist, bargaining for something she's found in an outdoor street shop. It makes it personal, relatable, human. And that's the common theme with all of the examples here. Ditch the clichés and get real. It won’t even break the bank to do so: iStock by Getty Images is offering new customers 12 per cent off all credits by using code 12CBLOQNEW at checkout. So no excuses – ditch the clichés! View the full article

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From the archive: This article was originally published in 2016. We dedicate most of our lives to client briefs – from developing the perfect logo design to creating show-stopping vector art – so why not apply some of that well-honed skill, focus and clear design thinking to making sure we get the most from our own lives? "It's the most important brief you'll ever have," says Vince Frost, who's benefitted so much from this concept that he's written a typographic self-help guide, Design Your Life. Here Frost shares six tips on how best to apply the principles of design to our personal lives – and become better designers in the process. 01. Create new habits of working and living Spread from Frost's book, Design Your Life "Why design your life? To be the best you can possibly be," says Frost. "So many designers haven't designed their lives – they're just going to let it happen, or focus on their career to the detriment of their own wellbeing. Over time, it has an effect on your creativity and ability to be sustainable." "It's about creating new habits of working and living: not just for now, but for the long-term. A lot of it's pretty straightforward. It's about controlling your destiny as much as you possibly can, instead of just letting it happen." 02. Make incremental changes Spread from Frost's book, Design Your Life "It doesn't have to be perfect now: you don't have to get it right 100 per cent straight away. That's intimidating. It's like trying to be fit – you don't do it in one day." "I looked at my health and stopped drinking alcohol. For me, it also worked to stop drinking coffee, eat in moderation and exercise regularly. Also, a positive attitude towards life: I've always been pretty positive, but I've become more aware that my output – my attitude, my aura – affects people around me, so I'm working on improving on that." "But I'm the kind of person who wants to fix it now. I get incredibly frustrated with the realisation that I can't. Instead, I'm focusing on doing it gradually over time." 03. Make time for it Spread from Frost's book, Design Your Life "It isn't like a client brief where you have a set deadline, someone's paying for you to do something and you have to deliver. Unless a big crisis is happening, you tend not to treat your own life with that same kind of urgency or the same respect you give a client." You tend not to treat your own life with that same kind of urgency or respect you give a client "For me, there would always be something coming up – some crisis, or an HR issue or the kids would be sick and I'd have to park it. But eventually I just started putting some stuff down…" 04. Start by sketching out your life Spread from Frost's book, Design Your Life "Think of it like a client job: here's the opportunity, here's the brief, here's the timeline; then spend your time thinking about different ideas, asking questions and mapping out what the possible solutions could be." "Try to distance yourself. Look at your life objectively, and give yourself the time you need to sit down and write down all the things you like; that are and aren't working for you; that could be better." "Write down your dreams. What would you like your life to look like? Where do you want to be? Amplify those areas that give you pleasure or work for you. It's like a brainstorm and you can do it by yourself or with a friend, colleague or mentor. Just give it the time and the focus that it deserves." "You might not get it right away. You have to keep coming back to it, which is fine. Just don't go: "Oh fuck it, this is too hard." Keep chipping away." 05. Change your life, and work follows Spread from Frost's book, Design Your Life "The things that I find difficult, although not impossible, involve shifting from working inside my business as a designer, to working on my business as the owner and CEO." "Issues around HR – understanding how to look after my people, or get the right people – are really important." "The number one thing was being very clear about my vision for the business and what our purpose is. I've had a lot of training, but it still hurts my head. It's left-brain thinking versus the right." 06. Don't beat yourself up Spread from Frost's book, Design Your Life "If you lose momentum, just acknowledge that it's bound to happen, and then go back to the life plan you mapped out and remind yourself that there are certain things you need to be applying. Don't beat yourself up about going off track." "The most important is to trust yourself. Your life could turn out great; it could be terrible. It could be a whole bunch of things. But why not design your life? I think proactively driving your destiny or your happiness can make a big difference." This article first appeared inside Computer Arts. Subscribe to Computer Arts. Liked this? Try these... How to get to the top spot of a global creative agency How to be a great creative director The expert guide to working from home View the full article

I've always thought that originality is found somewhere between what you like and what you observe. I love mixing sci-fi and organic elements, so I try to find things around me that let me explore both. In this Photoshop tutorial, I chose a pot plant on my desk to inspire a focal object. The plant's overlapping shapes and fractal structure enable me to combine a hard surface with organic elements for a more unique design. How to press start on your game art career I usually come up with a background story to add context to the design. The scene is a desolate alien planet, where the surface is covered with strange eggs. As a lone astronaut explores this mysterious planet, a huge structure appears in the sky. He's attracted to this magnificent totem, and floats towards it in awe. With this image, I want to bring the mystery, elegant and sci-fi feeling to the viewer, and introduce an epic alien vista with a mixed sci-fi and organic design language. Download the custom brushes for this tutorial. 01. Produce a rough sketch to visualise the idea A light, minimal sketch will help you define the overall shape and develop the narrative I start by sketching out my scene. I use a light line to draw the overall shape of the image, mainly focusing on developing a clear idea about the narrative, and making sure the focal point doesn't lie in the centre of the image. I don't want to spend time figuring out the details at this point, and only use the most minimal marks to plan out where to place the different elements in this scene so that it tells a coherent story. 02. Rough colour pass Block out your colours to work out how they'll interact I do a simple colour block out, separating the fore-, mid- and background along with the character on to different layers. I choose a highly saturated colour for the background structure as my main focal point. The secondary focal point is the astronaut, so I decide on a desaturated but light colour for him, to blend him into the environment slightly more. This is similar to the previous step in that I'm still not thinking about details or designs or textures, and only plotting out where my colours go and how they interact within this image. 03. Searching for a design Once you've established your main elements, play around with the layout I spend a little time working on my focal area. I feel that the background is a little empty, so I duplicate the structure multiple times. The idea here is that there are many floating mystery structures around the planet, and my character is attempting to touch the closest one in front of him. This is the optimal time to play around with design because I have loosely established all the basic elements in the scene, and can now properly gauge how each change will affect the image as a whole. 04. Polishing the main focal point Start working on your focal point and adding details The shape of the structure was too simple; I want to make it more sci-fi. So I break up the shape from the large ellipse, adding more detail to the central area. I explore some circular shapes to match the same free-flowing and organic feel of the rest of the piece, while giving it some hard surfaces. I'm still trying things out during this stage. 05. Simplifying and balancing If your composition starts getting complicated, strip it back After developing the design and shape of the structure in the previous step, I feel the whole image is getting busy. So I light up and simplify the background by deleting the repeated structures to the right. To balance this simplification, I add bolder shapes to the big structure. At this point, while I'm slowly finalising the final look of the image, I want to nail down the lighting. 06. Foreground elements Make sure that the colours of your foreground elements work with the rest of the composition The base colour and lighting are in place, so now I began rendering the eggs in the foreground. I use the teal colour from my main structure on the eggs, which connects these two elements narratively. When setting up the colours in my paintings, every single colour should be affected by the colours around it. As I see it, the colours should have a relationship with each other. 07. Mid-ground elements Use texture and simple structures to give your scene perspective and scale I want to make this planet surface look like a canyon using some organic textures on the ground. In addition, I'm trying to paint in some simple architecture in the background. This will support the perspective and scale of the space, as well as break up the monotonous horizon line and add some visual interest. 08. Background elements Light effects can help with contrast and also with your image's narrative I spend some time on my colours, and lighten up the background. The sky now has a strong light source under the horizon line, and this brings a bright glowing colour to the sky. Furthermore, it helps contrast the structure from the sky, and the sky from the ground. These light effects can also generate a stronger sense of narrative and anticipation to the piece. 09. Defining the scale of the character Adding the spaceship gives the astronaut more of a sense of scale I realise my astronaut's scale makes the whole image look slightly confusing. Without being able to pin down the position where he's located in relation to the eggs on the ground, it's hard to tell how big he is. To solve this, I attach a spacecraft to the other end of the cord, which establishes that the astronaut's situated in the midground. 10. Scaling up the ship Adding detail to the ship brings some visual interest to the quieter part of the composition I work on the spaceship design, adding some glowing exhaust rings to the engines, which serves to bring a little more interest to the right side of the image. I also scale up the ship slightly, so that its size is in keeping with that of the astronaut's. Finally, I add a blue atmosphere to the bottom of the structure to push it further back in space. 11. Adding texture Try using real-world objects to add texture to your work In my experience, texture can give a painting a greater sense of intensity. I like to add a lot of creative materials to my artworks. I find that taking photos of real-life objects and manipulating them in Photoshop is the best way to create a fresh visual experience. For this piece, I use a photo of a crumpled-up piece of tissue, and apply it to the fore- and midground. 12. Value adjustment and polish Pump up the brightness by using an adjustment layer The image is looking a little dark, so I use an adjustment layer to crank up the brightness. At the same time, I'm also continuing to clean up all parts of the image. At this point, because I've established the design, scale and colour of every element in this image, it's safe to dive right into the polishing phase. 13. Colour adjustment Use the Curve tool to adjust the colours, but don't go overboard After the value is set, I use the Curve tool to adjust the colour of the whole image: saturating the background and adding a light blue tone on the top area. I also add a hint of blur to the eggs in the foreground. This mimics the field of view that camera lenses and eyes have when perceiving an image, and makes the painting more dynamic. At this point, the image can be considered finished. Of course, there are always ways to enhance an image even after hitting the point when it can be called complete. The key here is to not over-polish the painting. 14. Adding a greater sense of narrative The second astronaut brings an extra element of drama to the picture There are still ways to push an image further. At this point, I feel that I can still enhance the narrative, so I paint another astronaut in the distance. This adds a more dramatic moment to the scene, as one astronaut loses control and tumbles towards the alien totem, while his partner flies out in an attempt to catch him. I also increase the density of stars in the background to imply a vast galactic setting. This article was originally published in issue 157 of ImagineFX, the world's best-selling magazine for digital artists. Buy issue 157 or subscribe to ImagineFX here. Related articles: How to create stylised game artwork 4 perks of working at an indie games studio How to create a video game character in ZBrush View the full article

When you’ve spent all day at in the office or working from home being productive, you just want to put your feet up and veg out in front of Netflix, right? The last thing you fancy doing is pushing your creative muscles even further. But actually, taking up a creative hobby can be a wonderfully energising way to recharge your batteries and reignite your imagination. In this post, we speak to eight creatives about how their hobbies enrich and enthuse them, and gather their tips and advice for anyone wishing to do the same. 01. Yarn crafts Web designer Alicia Ramirez is hooked on knitting and crochet Think knitting is something only old people do? Then you’re very wrong. People of all ages, across the world, love this creative pastime, and Alicia Ramirez, a Mexican web designer living in Canada, is one of them. For her, though, it wasn’t love at first sight. “Although my mom tried to teach me to knit as a child, I found it boring at the time,” she admits. “It wasn't until 2006 or 2007 that I gave it another try. This time around, I was hooked.” What’s great is that you can – pretty much – do it wherever you are. “I knit or crochet whenever I feel like it: mostly while watching TV or listening to podcasts,” says Ramiraz. “I also attend a regular ‘knit night’ once a week, where I meet up with a group of yarn crafters.” I'm a web designer: mostly I just push pixels around. So having a tangible product that I can wear or use in the real world is very satisfying So where does the appeal lie? “Although yarn crafts use many of the same skills I use in design – colour theory, basics of form, and so – I find that I really need to step away from the computer and use my hands to craft something,” she says. “I'm a web designer: mostly I just push pixels around. So having a tangible product that I can wear or use in the real world is very satisfying. I also enjoy the social aspect of it. I usually work by myself, so the knit night is an opportunity to socialise.” Her hobby can even bleed into her day-to-day work, she adds. “Sometimes I see some yarns that inspire some of my colour palettes. The texture, symmetry and asymmetry of some garments help you see shapes and patterns you can then use in your designs.” Her advice to anyone who wants to follow in her footsteps? “Start with something easy and small, like a dishcloth,” she recommends. “Most people try to make scarfs, which are a recipe for frustration. Also, visit your local yarn store. They often have classes, plus you get to meet new people.” 02. Play a musical instrument Concept artist Jason Pickthall feels that playing guitar makes him a more “rounded individual” If you work in a creative field that’s focused on visuals, what better way to throw off the cobwebs than to indulge in a creative hobby that’s aural? And that’s exactly what Jason Pickthall has done. Pickthall, a freelance concept artist based in Milton Keynes, has been playing guitar since he was at uni. “Drawing and art was once a hobby,” he explains. “But once I started doing them full-time, I felt the need for something else to occupy me. It so happened my flatmate was great at the guitar, so he was a good ‘in'.” Right now, he’s focusing on improving his ability with the instrument. “I have a proper lesson every fortnight with a tutor; this gives me a view of objective progress and keeps me motivated,” he explains. “And when I’m freelancing, I play for 20 minutes here and there when I want a screen break.” 5 top tips for creating a productive workspace Playing guitar doesn’t take away his focus on art, but complements it. “I think I need another outlet as I don’t think I’m very good at sitting still,” he admits. “Plus I think it makes me a more rounded individual. If all I did was concept art, I’d be pretty dull. I think outside interests help you find common ground within a team outside your discipline.” And let’s face it, guitars are inherently cool. “It’s easy to pick up a few chords and jangle something out, and there is a plethora of YouTube tutorials,” says Pickthard. “If you’re starting out, though, I’d recommend you get some proper tutoring, even just 45 minutes a fortnight. It will set you on the right track and you'll not develop bad habits. It’s liberating being a novice at something again: enjoy the struggle and the pain of building up callouses on your fingertips!” 03. Ceramics Kirsten Murray studied ceramics at Kasen studio in Japan Ceramics is something many of us would love to get into, but are not entirely sure how. So it’s useful to chat to a designer who’s taken her hobby to impressive levels. Originally from Scotland, Kirsten Murray is currently living and working remotely in Japan as an art director, graphic designer, mentor, and one half of The Tits. But she first started making ceramics about 10 years ago, learning from Edinburgh-based artist, Jenny Pope. “I then went on to do weekend workshops with Cyan Ceramics, and a week long workshop in Croatia with Julie Montgomery-Smith and Tim Betts,” she says. Because the whole creative process is done by hand, she feels ceramics is the ideal creative outlet for anyone who spends a large part of your day looking at a screen. “I also think it’s amazing that ceramic objects can last for thousands of years,” she enthuses. “The oldest known ceramic work in the world is The Venus of Dolni – a nude female figure dating back to 29,000–25,000 BCE. We’ve gleaned so much insight about how people used to live throughout history, thanks to ceramic artifacts.” And her move to Japan has only heightened her interest. “What could be better than learning the craft in a traditional pottery town that’s been making ceramics for a thousand years?” she says. So she decided to spend a month studying at Kasen ceramic studio, in the Seto prefecture – but it wasn’t exactly easy. “On my first day in the studio, my teacher – Hiroshige Kato, a 12th generation ceramic master – showed me how to spiral wedge: the Japanese method of getting any air out of the clay. I felt frustrated and inept. Why was I not able to pick up this technique? It looked so effortless. He then told me it takes three years to master spiral wedging. Three years!” Not for the faint-hearted In short, ceramics is not for the faint-hearted. “At every part of the ceramic making process, something can go wrong – resulting in a cracked vase or a wonky bowl that was supposed to be a mug,” she says. “So you recycle the clay and start again, learning something with every piece.” But in the process, she’s developed a whole new outlook on life. “I used to feel that if I worked hard at something there needed to be a tangible reward, and that what I create has to be perfect,” she says. “But then I discovered a Japanese philosophy called ‘wabi sabi’, which embraces and finds beauty in all that is imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete.” And this change of thinking has affected her day to day work, too. “I try to take the same approach to graphic design; focussing on progress over perfection. There’s a lot of trial and error when learning how to make ceramics, so it’s a reminder to take a more experimental approach to my design process. “ 04. Learning to cook Christian Harries has found Hello Fresh a useful way to get ingredients for new recipes Most of us think we can cook, but how many of us take the time out to improve our skills and learn new recipes and techniques? Lately, Christian Harries, creative director at Arch Design in London, has been doing just that. “I've subscribed to Hello Fresh to get their recipe cards and explore a few recipes that I wouldn’t usually consider,” he explains. “I've also got a few cookbooks, and try to do at least two new recipes from them every week. I usually pick a random page number and just go with whatever's on the page, unless I've done it before. The main way I'm learning, though, is by getting things wrong. Nothing teaches you the right amount of time to cook rice, for example, than having to scrape it off the bottom of the pan one too many times!” For him, it's all about the process, rather than the result. “Honestly, sometimes I don't even eat what I cook; I save it for lunch and just have a something easy for dinner,” he says. “As long as it's edible and I learn a new thing, it really doesn't matter too much.” Sometimes after a long day of design, it's just nice to do something that’s so far removed from my day-to-day work And has it made an impact on his day to day work? “I guess it has subconsciously taught me to be more patient with things,” he replies. “And also that there's a number of ways to do things and none of them are 100 per cent right or wrong. It can be refreshing to feel that the results don't have to 100 per cent perfect, as long as it fulfills the job the client asked for. “I think there's something very therapeutic about it,” he adds. “Sometimes after a long day of design, I just want to escape and while cooking is sort of the ‘design of food’, it's just nice to do something that’s so far removed from my day-to-day work.” And here’s his advice to others wanting to improve their culinary prowess. “I'd say don't worry about the results, they will get better over time. Also, don't let recipes put you off. It can be very daunting to see thousands of different recipes for what is essentially the same dish, but all that matters is that you find one that you're comfortable with making. Yes, it can be nice to make it more extravagant, but just learn the basics first and you can worry about details later.” Next page: four more great creative hobbies to try this year... 05. Photography Shona Cutt captured this stunning shot of Gary Numan at Bristol’s Colston Hall last year. © Shona Cutt Not every hobby remains just a hobby; for some it can become a useful second source of income. Any they include Shona Cutt, a freelance graphic designer based in Bath, for whom music photography has moved from hobby to a parallel career. “I first started getting into music photography in 2006 after I was taking a small point and shoot camera to the gigs I was going to,” she recalls. “I was also obsessively reading music magazines, and seeing other photographers’ work published gave me the hunger to do the same.” She finally took the plunge, buying her first DSLR in 2011, and ended up going on a mini-tour with a friend's band across the central belt of Scotland. “I loved it,” she recalls. “I hadn’t had any photography training, but it's something I've just always had a passion for.” Practise makes perfect With live gigs, she says, practice makes perfect. “You start to develop an anticipation for what the performers are going to do next, and learning how to deal with almost non-existent lighting is essential. And it’s great fun. I love the challenge of capturing the energy of a live performance and working with constantly changing light, to create memories for the audience and the musicians themselves.” Her experiences with music photography has shaped her day-to-day design work too. “The editing skills I've developed help to get the most from an image, and being a photographer myself has given me more confidence in being able to art direct other photographers – especially on the occasions when it was over the phone,” she explains. “And overall it's helped shape my eye for spotting a striking image.” For anyone wishing to get into music photography, she offers the following advice. “Start with photographing bands in pubs, open mics and so on. Some smaller venues will let you take a camera in; I would always ask first. Just get out and shoot as much as possible, not just gigs: everything. Also, save your money on the higher-end cameras to start with and get as fast a lens as you can afford: I found out the hard way!“ “There are more blogs and websites around now than when I first started,” she adds. “Matthias Hombauer runs a great workshop programme and community with How To Become A Rockstar Photographer and Todd Owyoung's website helped me enormously when looking to buy my first DSLR.” The best cameras for creatives in 2018 06. Painting miniature figures Painting miniature figures might sound like a creative hobby that’s strictly limited to children. But grown-ups can get a lot out of it too, says Stewart Ainslee, one half of Don’t Walk Design in Stirling. He’s been painting miniatures since he was a child, but it was renowned illustrator Steve Simpson who encouraged him to continue his passion as an adult and share his love for his “geeky hobby” with others. For Ainslee, this hobby offers one clear benefit to the modern-day creative: total escapism. “Sculpting and painting such small figures can take hours, so it requires your full concentration, and that’s really important to me,” he says. “It takes me away from screens, notifications and the pub. I will often switch my phone off, or leave it in another room entirely; crazy, right? Also, you can’t really paint well if you’ve had one coffee too many, and obviously alcohol doesn’t help much either.” Sculpting and painting such small figures requires your full concentration. It takes me away from screens, notifications and the pub “There’s a current trend for meditation and mindfulness right now,” he continues. “And that’s all very well and good, but often it still involves a phone or some kind of app. Miniature making, and painting, is removed from all the noise that clouds so much of our professional and personal lives. Did I mention the lack of constraints or clients? If I think Orks look better with yellow skin, then so be it!“ “If you really want to do something unique: pick up some modelling clay and sculpting tools,” he concludes. “It’s pretty cheap and surprisingly clean to use. Nothing beats painting a miniature that you’ve sculpted from nothing!” 07. Gardening Craig Minchington’s garden offers him a way to switch off from the modern world If you ever want to feel creative and alive, then what better pastime to pursue than gardening, where you’re actually creating and nuturing living things? Craig Minchington, an award-winning graphic designer living and working in Bristol, has always been a fan. But since moving in with his girlfriend last December and having their own garden he’s recently become, in his own words, “slightly obsessed”. “For me it's still a creative channel but away from computers, TV and phones,” he explains. "Somewhere I can switch off, zone out and give my eyes and brain a rest. Sometimes I go out thinking I'll just repot a few plants, then next thing I know, I'm out there for five hours.” Make it up as you go along And while some might see gardening as mere drudgery, Minchington sees it as “totally creative. I had a blank canvas of empty pots and flower beds, so I've planned out colour combos of flowers, placement of tall growing shrubs with small bushes, and so on.” It’s also a way to ensure a good work-life balance. “I have had to take time off from work in the past through complete burnout,” he explains, “so gardening was a conscious effort to amend past mistakes.” For anyone thinking of taking up gardening, his main tip is: “Just go for it and don't be afraid to mess up. I literally have no clue what I'm doing. I went to a garden centre, bought some plants and pots, and started from there. I'm making it up as I go along, and that's half the fun. Just buy easy growing plants: they all have labels on them explaining the conditions they need so you can't go wrong. And even if nothing grows, then at least you got outside, away from screens and had a bit of a workout.” 08. CGI art For many readers of Creative Bloq, CGI art will be their full-time profession. But for others, like Mark Dearman, creative director at Bristol agency True, it’s a hobby that takes them outside of their normal day job. “I started to experiment with CGI around seven years ago,” he explains. “In part this was to allow me to create assets and motion for commercial projects. But I also wanted an outlet for ideas that weren’t necessarily linked to business objectives.“ What it offers him is the freedom to explore ideas and techniques without any commercial constraints, he continues. “When you’re working to a deadline, you don’t always have the luxury of time to experiment. Experimentation and reflection are key to personal growth. I try and do a bit every day, even if it’s only an hour. Usually over lunch or early evening. I render through the night.” I believe creation is an act of discovery; if you want to come up with good and new ideas, you have to put in the time And over the years, it’s become an invaluable part of his creative process. “I believe creation is an act of discovery; if you want to come up with good and new ideas, you have to put in the time,” he reasons. “Often, the idea I start with has become something completely different and unexpected by the end of the process. I use my Instagram feed as a digital sketchbook and reference it in my day-to-day work.” For this reason, he’d always encourage his fellow designers to take up a creative hobby. “It doesn’t have to be CGI, it could be photography, illustration, video and so on – they can all be personally rewarding and the positive impact on your work can’t be overstated. It shifts your perspective and broadens your creative abilities.” Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s all plain sailing: you have to think carefully about how to sustain your efforts. “When you start to learn something new you pick up a lot, fast. Once you’ve got all the beginner stuff out the way, you become painfully aware of how much more there is to learn and how long it will take to master. Progress becomes slower and it can become disheartening. That’s where you have to build it into your routine, otherwise it can fall by the wayside. Make it part of your day." Related articles: 20 illustrators to follow on Instagram 4 design trends we're all tired of hearing about 10 inspirational design cities View the full article

Adobe's applications are the standard for creative tools. To be the best artist you can, you need to know how to make the most out of these powerful applications. You can learn how with the Ultimate Adobe Photo Editing Bundle, on sale now for just $29 (around £21). Get Adobe Creative Cloud Whether you’re a designer looking to pick up some time-saving tricks for the apps you use most or a creative person hoping to learn how to turn your hobby into a career, you’ll find valuable lessons that you can put to use in your next project in the Ultimate Adobe Photo Editing Bundle. This collection of eight professionally taught courses will help you gain a better understanding of fundamentals and can work your way up through the 41 hours of instruction on the most useful features of Photoshop, Lightroom, and much more. A lifetime membership to the Ultimate Adobe Photo Editing Bundle usually retails for $566. Right now, you can get it on sale for just $29 (approx. £21). That's a saving of 94 per cent off for a collection of in-depth courses that you can't be without, so grab it while you can. Related articles: The 40 best Photoshop plugins Master the Mixer brush in Photoshop 5 best laptops for Photoshop View the full article

Making it in the fast-paced, competitive world of design isn't easy. That's why we've got all sorts of resources to help, from Photoshop brushes and tutorials, to free 3d models and handwriting fonts. Of course, the best lessons come from experience. So we asked 12 of the world's leading creative minds to share the biggest lessons they've learned over their careers so far. The advice below will help you take your own design careers to the next level... 01. Making the client happy isn't enough One of a series of holiday assets CGH created for Barnes & Noble; illustrations by Allen Garns "The biggest lesson I've learned so far is that making the client happy isn't enough," says Sagi Haviv, partner at iconic design firm Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv. "At the end of the day, you, the designer, must be proud of the result, and the way to achieve that is to show the client only those options that you believe in wholeheartedly." 02. Never stop learning "We're learning all the time," admit APFEL co-founders Kirsty Carter and Emma Thomas. "It's not that there's one big lesson in particular; being inquisitive, listening and talking means that you are constantly learning something new." 03. Keep work and life separate "For the sake of sanity, it's important to keep work and life separate," urges animator James Wignall, aka Mutanthands. "It's easier said than done when you're a creative because you can't always tune out totally, but try to leave work at work." "Working long hours is rarely a necessity; you always seem to get the work finished one way or another. Working smarter, not harder allows you to recharge your creative batteries, which makes for a much better end result." 04. Working for free never pays off Problem Bob was hired to create a sales-tool that visualises the benefits of Kvinnopanelen "Clients who think design should be dirt cheap have no true understanding of what it can bring, and are subsequently impossible to work with," says illustrator Jonas Bergstrand of Problem Bob. "The fee reflects the trust that is placed in the designer." 05. Learning new skills stops stagnation "Learning new disciplines is a great way to keep growing and open new doors," advises designer and artist Matt W. Moore of MWM Graphics. 06. Don't listen too much "Listening to people, and dissecting and distilling what they say, is how we learn and build meaningful brands," says DesignStudio's Paul Stafford. "However, there's a limit. When DesignStudio started, we listened to everyone we met, but I've learned along the way that you need to make your own decisions, or you'll just end up building something that's already been built before." 07. Stand up for your work Bottle-opening typography by ANTI for Talas "If we come up with a concept and style we believe in, we fight for it, even if clients are sceptical at first," says Gaute Tenold Aase, ANTI. "And we're usually right. Otherwise, they wouldn't have hired us." 08. The business comes first "Creativity is the thing that's most important to me," admits illustrator Rod Hunt, "but to create a successful and sustainable career you have to always put the business first." "That comes down to educating yourself on all aspects of your business, including pricing, copyright, contracts and marketing. The business side is equally as important as creating the work." 09. It all starts with a good idea "My biggest lesson is that a good idea spawns a thousand more," states Purpose's Stuart Youngs. 10. Reinvent to stay relevant "The only constant is constant change," says Richard Wilde, School of Visual Arts. "I've always reinvented myself to stay relevant. There's risk-taking involved with this charge, but it's always made my life more meaningful." 11. Nothing beats talking in person "Technology has enabled me to work with clients around the globe," reflects designer Glenn Garriock, "but emails and calls can't beat sitting around a table to discuss an idea." 12. Every new project should be your best "One of the most important lessons I've learned? To treat every new project as if it will be the best of my career," says graphic designer David Airey. "It doesn't matter who the client is, or what industry I'm designing for. I'm the one responsible for just how good, how interesting and how successful the result will be." This article first appeared inside best-selling graphic design magazine Computer Arts. Subscribe to Computer Arts here. Related articles: How to get to the top spot of a global creative agency 60 amazing Adobe Illustrator tutorials How to become an art director View the full article

There are thousands of small, independent design studios around the world. But once businesses get above a certain size, with offices around the world, this list grows much more exclusive. Independence is even rarer in advertising. There are some passionate outliers, such as Wieden+Kennedy, but most agencies are in one of the 'big four' holding groups: WPP, Omnicom, Publicis Groupe or Interpublic. These vast networks also include household names in design and branding. Superunion, Landor, ManvsMachine, AKQA and Design Bridge are part of WPP; Omnicom owns Wolff Olins and Interbrand; Futurebrand is in the Interpublic stable; Turner Duckworth is part of Publicis. Staying independent WPP has been all over the news recently after the departure of its founder and long-running CEO Martin Sorrell, while Publicis stole the headlines last year after announcing it would be pulling out of Cannes Lions to focus on other things. Most designers view these board-level machinations from afar, but when an agency reaches a certain scale, it may receive an offer to be bought... or it may choose to stay independent. There are various pros and cons of both, and the networked agencies we've mentioned above create indisputably world-class work. But global growth is that much harder for an independent, so when it happens it's worth celebrating. So read on to discover eight inspiring agencies that have expanded globally, entirely off their own back... 01. Pentagram Pentagram's partners have a huge global portfolio between them, including this recent AmEx rebrand by Abbott Miller No list of successful indie agencies would be complete without the grandfather of them all: Pentagram, "the world’s largest independently-owned design studio". Founded in London in 1972, the multi-disciplinary consultancy is famously constructed around a team of partners (19 at last count) each with their own team, who all contribute equally to the business and share the proceeds. With nine partners in London, eight in New York, and one each in Berlin and Austin, Pentagram has spread its unique, never successfully replicated model globally. 02. DesignStudio Airbnb was a breakthrough project for DesignStudio, which now has offices in London, San Francisco and Sydney Founded in 2009, DesignStudio is less than a decade old but has shot to global prominence thanks to high-profile work for Airbnb, Premier League and Deliveroo. While its HQ remains in London, the agency has since expanded to San Francisco in 2014 – "to be on the doorstep of more brands who are as ambitious as we are" – and most recently Sydney, headed up by former design director James Gilmore. The far-flung locations of these three outposts effectively means the sun never sets on the DesignStudio empire. 03. Elmwood Since 1977, Elmwood has worked with a huge range of brands, including P&G's Fairy – and has five offices worldwide Founded in Leeds in 1977, Elmwood describes itself as the "world's most effective brand design consultancy" and has a string of DBA awards to back that bold claim. Elmwood has also established a truly global network of studios in London, Leeds, New York, Melbourne and Singapore. The agency's portfolio stretches from FMCG work for the likes of Fairy, Galaxy and Hovis to more playful challenger brands like Heck sausages and The Saucy Fish Co. 04. Jones Knowles Ritchie (jkr) jkr's extensive portfolio features many global household names, including Domino's Pizza Born in the UK in 1990, jkr is the third-oldest indie on this list after Pentagram and Elmwood. And with over 200 staff spread across London, New York, Singapore and Shanghai, it's got a healthy global spread to shout about too. Household-name FMCG brands such as Heinz, Domino's and Budweiser rub shoulders with challengers such as Hippeas, and boutique clients such as London perfumers Miller Harris and Penhaligon's. 05. Bulletproof A much-loved candy brand in the US since the 1950s, Swedish Fish received a brand overhaul from Bulletproof "We are not an agency, we are a tribe," declare Bulletproof's founders. Creating strategic brand and packaging design out of London, New York and Singapore, Bulletproof has retained a "fiercely independent spirit", as they put it. Work for Green & Black's chocolate, Fort Hamilton whiskey, Strongbow, Ritz crackers, Apple & Eve juice and Swedish Fish candy represents both the premium and FMCG ends of the food and drink spectrum. 06. Moving Brands With two offices in the US, Moving Brands has worked with leading American brands such as Netflix and Facebook Another proudly independent, truly global design consultancy, Moving Brands has developed four outposts in London, San Francisco, Zürich and New York since 1998. Besides branding and communications, the multi-disciplinary agency also operates across experience design, product, and creative business consultancy. Big-names on the roster include EA, Facebook, the BBC, Virgin, Google and Netflix - with plenty of other smaller clients spanning a broad range of sectors in between. 07. Pearlfisher Pearlfisher works with icon and challenger brands worldwide, and overhauled US ice cream brand Ben & Jerry's An "independent creative business made of the definitive partnership of Futures, Strategy and Design", Pearlfisher develops both icon and challenger brands from its outposts in London, New York, Copenhagen and San Francisco. Since the agency was founded in 1992, Pearlfisher's delicious range of clients have included Cadbury chocolate, Havana Club rum, Lurpak butter, Jim Beam whiskey, Ben & Jerry's ice cream and Innocent smoothies. 08. SomeOne SomeOne's rebrand of UK Parliament was tailored to digital, and also featured this detailed marque for large-scale use "Big ideas, beautifully made" is the tagline of SomeOne, which since 2005 has set out to "strategically launch, relaunch and protect brands worldwide". The agency's 2018 rebrand of UK Parliament stoked plenty of logo-focused debate in the press, before its official rollout revealed a savvy digital-first strategy. Until recently catering to a client list that includes Disney, Intel, Eurostar, Unilever, Chivas and Pernod Ricard from its London base, SomeOne now also operates out of Sydney and Berlin. Related articles: 10 best portfolio website themes for designers 4 design trends we're all tired of hearing about 7 innovative ways to photograph your portfolio View the full article

Microsoft has released new Spectre mitigations for Windows 10, which include Intel microcode fixes for CPUs running on Windows. View the full article

Storyboarding began when Disney made its first feature-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Walt Disney Studios needed a way to coordinate many teams in order to tackle the massive undertaking. Storyboarding was a simple idea: dissect the story into its component scenes, illustrate them roughly on paper or cards, pin those cards on large cork boards, then distribute those boards to the teams every morning. The story department could steer the project, and the production artists would never be able to wander too far down any dead ends. It brought what we now call agile development to studio animation. Since Snow White, they've become a production staple of film, interaction design and game design. Now, with animation entering the toolsets of web designers and developers everywhere, it seems that storyboards might become the web industry's new best friend, too. by Rachel Nabors. Storyboards help map out sequences of animation Storyboards for the web When it comes to animating user interfaces on a project, communication between designers and developers tends to break down if they aren't working side by side. In companies where animation deliverables are 'thrown over the fence' to developers, sometimes designs are handed down as animated GIFs or videos with little else to guide the developers when recreating them. Storyboards can help designers and developers communicate this very visual topic using its lowest common denominators: words and pictures. They require very little training to make and read, and you can create and edit them without the need for specialised software. Storyboards are great for sketching out quick UI animation ideas during a team meeting and gathering immediate feedback. For rapid prototyping teams, wireframes can be a great way to document the patterns used, so successful patterns can be applied consistently as the project continues. And as design artefacts, they fit perfectly with style guides and design systems for documenting reusable animation patterns. Storyboarding keeps projects on track Collaborative storyboards On their own, wireframes can help break down communication barriers between developers and designers by giving them a common, collaborative medium. But they are even more powerful when coupled with video and prototypes. Often motion designers create and polish animations in a program that's not designed for web development, like After Effects or Keynote. Indeed, it makes sense to experiment with animations using visual tools. But alone, video is a poor deliverable for developers. A developer might spend hours trying to recreate a subtle bounce effect that could have taken seconds if they had only known the easing value used by the designer in their animation program. Delivering storyboards alongside videos lets developers know exactly what steps to follow to recreate an animation. This is less intimidating than having to make many inferences (which might also frustrate their coworkers). The difference between a cubic and quintic curve is nigh-on impossible for a harried developer to spot in a 500 millisecond GIF. But for a sharp-eyed designer, the difference in production is glaring. The storyboarding process Modern storyboards at the office are quite a bit smaller than the large cork boards of the 1930s – they look more like a comic book page than a billboard. Just like a comic page, each panel illustrates and details a different snapshot in time. Underneath each panel is text detailing what's happening, how and why. In web design, each of those panels could contain a screenshot, a wireframe, even a sketched micro-interaction, supported by notes expanding on what interactions trigger the animations, and over what period of time they occur. Storyboards can be as macro or as micro, as polished or as rough, as you please. Do what makes sense for you and your team. I have created storyboards with index cards, Photoshop, and even Keynote. It's important to pick tools that everyone on your team can use and read, even if often that ends up being pencils and paper! For UI animation, storyboarding should start alongside wireframing; right after user research and information architecture. If your workflow is more vigorous, you might start storyboarding alongside design. As long as you're thinking about animation early, you will be in good shape. Colour-coded storyboards Two panels illustrate cause and effect. Words and illustrations are colour-coded to draw strong relationships In addition to the black and grey of wireframing, storyboarding benefits from reserving two special colours to indicate action and animation. I use blue and orange respectively, partly because they are discernible for people with various kinds of colour blindness. Blue subconsciously registers as an actionable 'link' colour, and orange is very active and stands out. Use these colours to indicate what user interactions cause which things to animate. Get those digits A picture is worth a thousand words, but in animation the right numbers can be worth even more. Be sure to include the duration of each part of the animation. Even adverbs like 'quickly' or 'slowly' will help paint a mental picture for those who need to implement the animations. Spell out what properties are being changed: from colour and opacity to width or height. Use descriptive words like 'fade', 'shrink', 'slide', 'expand'. Phrases like 'pop, bounce and swoosh' have more subjective values, often affecting more than one property. Does a 'pop' involve expansion and contraction as well as a rise and fall? Save these words for naming your animation patterns once they emerge. Stipulate the animation's exact easing. This value is supremely helpful to the people implementing the storyboard later on. Number each panel Numbering a storyboard's panels is a best practice sometimes discarded by cinema, but invaluable in web design. Starting from 1, they tell readers which way the action flows. Storyboards could come in vertical or horizontal layouts, and numbers quickly reinforce which mental model everyone should be using. Numbered panels allow quick feedback (for example, 'What about instead of panel 16, we use a nice fade?'), and let you index what animations and interactions happen and reference them accordingly. Additionally, numerical panels let you add branching logic to your interactions or show several alternatives. For example, you could group several options for the fourth panel under 4a, 4b, 4c. Use your words When adding notes to your storyboard, always detail why the animation is happening. Be sure you can justify the animation with sound reason. You may have to defend the animation to others, and if you can't explain why it's important to yourself, perhaps it's unnecessary for your users. In my A List Apart post, Animation at Work, I list six different ways you can use animation to underscore relationships and hierarchy. Can you use two of these words to explain your animation? Storyboard checklist Each panel (or pair of panels for complex interactions) of your storyboard should demonstrate the following: What event or user interaction causes which things to animate How said things animate Why the animation improves the interaction Often this breaks down into two panels: A clear indication of the trigger for the animations ('When the user clicks the button…') A description of the changes that follow ('...the button fades away to reveal…') Colour-code your words, too, with interaction words (like 'click', 'hover' and 'focus') being underlined or written in your designated interaction colour, and descriptive works ('shrink', 'bounce', 'fade') using your animation colour. Bringing storyboards to work The most common challenge we face when bringing animation to our projects is building a strong rapport with the people who design or code them. The second most common challenge is not standardising those animations we do implement. Both of these lead to inconsistent animation that gives our creations a sloppy, half-finished feel. Storyboards address both of these challenges: communication and documentation. As such, they are powerful not just for their technical depth, but also for their ability to bring people closer together on a project. This is the spirit in which we must embrace storyboards: not as a tool to dictate but as a conversation to join. This article was originally published in issue 276 of net magazine. Related articles: The 5 best visual regression testing tools Interview: Lara Hogan 18 top CSS animation examples View the full article

The guys at Creative Bloq asked me to expand upon this snarky Tweet of mine from a couple of weeks back: I immediately felt bad. Like I’d kicked a dog. But not everybody can like everything, that’s fine, let’s get past that fact. What I had trouble reconciling however, was precisely why I didn’t like 36 Days of Type. If nothing else it provides an interesting snapshot of design styles/tastes as they stand (however questionable). So instead of just taking more time out of my life to talk about things I don’t like, I thought I’d use it as an opportunity for introspection and self-evaluation. Crowded scene I had a bit of a bad break up with the whole type-made-of-stuff thing a couple of years ago. It’s ok. We had a good run. I was on TV a few times, in some magazines, gave some talks. But I kind of ran out of ideas worth exploring, and all the while, the whole field had become so saturated that I didn’t really need to explore it myself. Just Google it and someone has probably already done it by now – especially with places like Hand Made Font popping up. You know there’s actually a handful of designers who only make type out of food now? For a living. Can you imagine? Either way, without that feeling of breaking new ground the gloss wore off for me, so I’m pretty much just a regular designer these days and reserve the exploratory stuff for personal projects. Designer woes So what else. Well, firstly, designers are annoying. We just are. Especially en masse. A lot of people take comfort from feeling like part of a community – by attending mixers, seminars, networking events and using co-working spaces and so on – whereas for the most part I’m exhausted by it. Secondly, I’m really busy. Why isn’t everyone else? I have a wife, two beautiful children, friends and an independent studio to run, and I tend to forget that, in my twenties at least, I was happy to give over my evenings and weekends to scanning in hair or blossoms or anything else I wanted to make an alphabet out of. So maybe this annual thing just reminds me that, in the words of Ferris Bueller, life moves pretty fast. As an addition to that, here’s a metaphor. I’ve come to realise that I really like the beach, but I don’t want to be on the beach every day. And I’m actually suspicious of people who are in a ‘what else have you got going on in your life?’ kind of way. And worse than that, being on the beach all the time day is bad for your skin (portfolio) and ages (limits) you. What on Earth does one have to do to stand out in this field anymore…? Craig Ward Thirdly, I don’t believe you can make something worth sharing with the world every day. I just don’t. I share less than 1/10th of my own output (and yes I know, 3.6 days of type is less interesting/catchy), but I think editing one’s work is an important skill to master. So to that end, unless you’re beyond proud of this thing that you made, I’m not sure it’s worth putting out there and as a result, I find the 36DOT bar to be pretty low. Fourth, it reminds me that there’s not enough work to go around. When I started out with my own typographic adventures more than fifteen years ago, the scene was much quieter. I would regularly find myself among the same few names at the top of a brief, and the typographic renaissance of the last 10 years – and, lets be honest, fetishisation thereof – has seen a generation of designers all setting out to do the same thing. But, like, all the time. Go your own way This, I think, is exemplified by 36DOT whereupon you can find dozens upon dozens of executions all treading on each other’s toes visually. Glossy, extruded, Cinema 4D letters; CGI paint textures in mid air; bad calligraphy; type made from lentils or some other cupboard ingredients… and all generally at a comparable level of finish. Begging the question - what on Earth does one have to do to stand out in this field anymore…? I know, that’s a lot to unpack. So thank you for being my shrink today. Confronting my demons I can surmise that 36DOT probably isn’t a bad thing for those who enjoy taking part, but equally, it doesn’t hurt to not take part in things either. If everyone else is doing something, usually it’s time to not do it. [Header image from 36 Days of Type] Related articles: The rules of responsive web typography 5 typography trends for 2018 50 top typography tutorials View the full article

Sometimes, a product evolves in a way that its name no longer reflects its use and its capabilities. This is what happened to Corporate Software Inspector (or CSI, as our loyal customers over the years have referred to it). When the first version of Corporate Software Inspector was launched by Secunia in 2008, this is what it was: a scanning engine to determine the patch status of applications. A purpose-built solution to inspect software used in corporate systems for unpatched vulnerabilities. Over time, the solution evolved to support remediation of vulnerabilities through patching via integration with WSUS and SCCM (industry leading technologies for deploying patches to Windows systems). CSI gradually became synonymous with “Complete Patch Management”. In the recent years, market needs drove us to focus on expanding its capabilities to support more steps in the process to manage software vulnerabilities. We firmly believe that remains the best path forward: to continue to develop an integrated solution that gives our customers what they need to continuously reduce the risk of incidents caused by exploitation of vulnerable applications. Our commitment is to make sure that our customers don’t go from one vulnerability crisis to another, but rather gain control of their software vulnerability management activities by connecting vulnerability and patch management processes. Ultimately it is our vision to optimize operational processes to help customers save time while effectively reducing their risk. Continuing to call our solution Corporate Software Inspector, is not reflective of how our solution has evolved over the years and does not translate our vision for its continued evolution. For this reason, Corporate Software Inspector will be renamed to Software Vulnerability Manager. This change will be effective in the next release of Corporate Software Inspector scheduled for the first half of May 2018. The functionality and the interface remain the same today and will continue to evolve as you would expect. Software Vulnerability Manager is the future! Source View the full article

A common response when telling someone you work in the creative industry is how exciting the work must be. While it of course can be, it's also really easy to get stuck in a creative rut – taking on the same kind of commissions, spending hours developing your design portfolio and having your creative freedom restricted by clients. 11 of the best creative resumes But work doesn't have to be like that. Yes, change can be scary, but sometimes making a brave or bold move can make all the difference to the success of your career. Question is, are you willing to try? And if not, what's stopping you? Here are five successful creative folk with some brilliant tips on how to really push your creative career to new heights. 01. Quit your boring job Illustrator and designer Lisa Maltby had higher hopes for her creative career For some, having a baby might be a good reason not to leave the financial security of a full-time job. But for Sheffield-based illustrator and designer Lisa Maltby, it was actually the catalyst to do so. She’d been working at a design agency and things had been going well, she recalls. “But I’m a real ideas and creative person, and there wasn’t a lot of opportunity to push ideas as much as I wanted to. I didn’t feel as challenged as i did when i first began.” So just a few months after having her second child, she thought to herself: ‘Life’s too short.’ “I think kids make you feel like that,” she says. “They bring this fresh sense of life, where they’re limitless in their imaginations, and you kind of want some of that too.” I found the initial few months gruelling, but I’m now working more flexibly and creatively than I was before After striking out on her own, she hasn’t looked back since. "I found the initial few months gruelling to say the least, working on four hours’ sleep and going to meetings with baby puke down my back,” she says. “But I’ve since gone on to have some amazing commissions and opportunities, and I’m now working more flexibly and creatively.” And that’s important to her psychologically as well as financially. “My creativity has always been part of my self-expression, as well as wanting it to be a career,” she stresses. “So it was almost my way of survival: that I wasn’t just knee-deep in nappies, that I had something else.” Why there's never been a better time to quit your job 02. Build you reputation Amy Kilner's Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat illustration was bought by DJ Fatboy Slim After five years working at design agencies across Yorkshire, people thought Amy Kilner was crazy to chuck in her job and go back to college. But the 24-year-old from Rotherham was adamant. “I'd never completed my design degree because I got a design job in my second year and left uni,” she explains. "But as I got older, I realised I needed to go back and finish it.” She eventually did so, funding herself through a mix of student loans and freelancing. And as an unexpected by product, she ended up selling a piece of her student work to superstar DJ Fatboy Slim. “It was a typography project for my course,” Kilner explains.“The brief was to create a poster based on song lyrics, anything we wanted. I chose the words to Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat. When I’d completed it, I posted it on Instagram, tagged it, and didn’t think any more about it.” A few days later, the star’s manager emailed to ask if he could buy the illustration. Kilner agreed, and then the DJ himself emailed, requesting a signed copy to display in his home alongside artwork by Banksy, Chemical X and Jimmy Cauty. “I was like, ‘oh my goodness, this is not real!’” It’s one of many successes she’s had since returning to education, convincing her she’s made the right decision. “I haven’t taken the normal career route,” she admits, “But it’s got me to where I am, and I’m happy.” 03. Win a dream client Waterson secured work with Nike after the company saw her illustrations on Instagram Rose Waterson may have been a talented illustrator, but she wasn’t really aware of it. The fine art graduate and freelancer lacked confidence in her work, and didn’t expect to attract clients outside of her hometown of Brighton. So it was something of a surprise when she got a call from Nike. It all stemmed from a logo and poster she had designed for a group in Brighton called Girls Can’t DJ. “They’d posted it on their Instagram account. And then later on, they’d done an interview with Nike about women in the music business,” she says. When Nike saw Waterson’s work on the group’s Instagram, it was a case of good timing; the brand had just decided to collaborate with seven female artists to promote their new workout pants line, Nike pant Studio. So the company got in touch and commissioned her for the campaign. I’ve realised the power Instagram has now, and the difference it can make if you invest in it “It was about three days before the deadline,”she recalls.“They contacted me on a Monday and wanted my illustration on a Thursday. It was very last minute but I managed to do it somehow. The campaign came out about a month and a half later; the whole thing was quite swift.” Working for Nike has raised Waterson’s profile and been a big boost to her self-confidence, she says; plus it’s taught her two main lessons. “Firstly, the importance of Instagram. I’ve always used it, but I’ve realised the power it has now, and the difference it can make if you invest in it. And secondly, you never know who your contacts are going to be. I had no idea that this DJ group had any connection to Nike, which is a bit mental if you think about it.” 04. Start a new side project Some of the women who have joined the passionate project In September 2016, Ariana deLuca, an art director based in New York, was looking for a photographer. “I wanted to reach out to someone new, so I put the word out,” she recalls. “But I was getting a lot of responses from men that didn’t sit right. I didn’t feel comfortable with anyone who responded. And I thought to myself: I’d really love to work with another female creative, who has similar goals and ambitions to me. But nothing like that existed.” DeLuca couldn’t think of an easy way to find new female creatives she didn’t already know, who were also eager to create and connect. “Then I thought: this should exist, why don’t I just make it?” So that’s exactly what deLuca did. She got in contact with photographer and conceptual artist Heather Leigh Cullum – who she knew through a mutual friend – and in February 2017, they launched a new group for women called The passionate project. Its mission is to help ‘female creatives who want to collaborate on projects, strengthen their portfolios, and network.’ DeLuca has done all of this outside her full-time agency job, but despite the hard work and long hours, she’s loved every minute. “I think it’s great to take a risk and to open up new doors and meet people, and just help each other out,” she smiles. People marvel at her energy and constantly ask her ‘How do you find the time?’, she says. But rather than basking in the glory, she urges others to follow her lead and pursue their own passion project. “I just tell people: ‘you can do the same thing,’” she says. "It’s all about working hard, finding the thing you love and going forward. I try to be really encouraging and tell people to go for it. Push through those doubts and those fears, grind it out, and you’ll get there.” 05. Find the ideal work-life balance Sparrow worked on this collaborative branding cover concept for Alice in Wonderland Shanti Sparrow was working as a designer in a little boutique studio in Sydney. She enjoyed her job and found much of the work fulfilling. But something was missing, she just didn’t know what. So she decide to take a year off travelling, in order to work out what it was. She used her savings to rent a flat in New York and stayed for six months. “When I arrived, I didn’t want to get straight into work,” she recalls. “I was so exhausted I just wanted to absorb New York, have some fun and just sleep.” Eventually she started doing bits of freelancing for her old employer. “It worked out really well for their timeline,” she notes, “because I could do it overnight, they could go to sleep and then when they woke up, it would be done.” After half a year in the US, she then spent another six months going around Europe and Japan, visiting 17 countries in total. "It was amazing,” she smiles. "After going to Barcelona and Tokyo, I’ll never see colour in the same way again.” I took time to focus on me. And after that, eventually, everything started to make sense On return to Australia, though, she still struggled for a time to work out why her career wasn’t sitting right. Then, finally, it all fell into place, when she saw an ad for graphic design mentors at Shillington back in New York. "I'd always been the mother hen of every studio I’d been at, I was always training juniors,” she explains. “And I loved the idea of still being in graphic design, but without the deadlines and clients.” She’s now found the perfect work balance, combining a job as a lecturer for Shillington with design freelancing. And she thinks she’d never have got there without the perspective gained from travelling. “I took that time in New York to focus on me,” she explains. “And after that, eventually, everything started to make sense.” This article originally appeared in Computer Arts issue 275; subscribe here. Related articles: 16 great places to sell your design work online How to become an art director 10 best portfolio templates for designers View the full article