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Google is warning a critical vulnerability found in its Media Framework warrants extra attention by security minded Android users. View the full article

It's that time of the month: the new issue of Computer Arts magazine is on sale now. This issue puts the spotlight on careers, with a special report that aims to help you upgrade yourself. It offers advice for identifying where your skills gaps are and shows you how to pinpoint what employers are looking for, to help you get a step closer to your dream job, no matter what that might be. Buy Computer Arts issue 277 now In the Projects section, the team goes behind the scenes on groundbreaking new design work. This issue, there's a closer look at Baxter and Bailey's colourful rebrand for the OUP's Education division, and Wieden + Kennedy NY's irreverent interpretation of online dating for OkCupid. Plus, the team visited Here Design to find out how it brings together thinkers, writers and makers to create design magic. Find out how Wieden+Kennedy NY put a sweet spin on online dating for OkCupid Each month, the Computer Arts team gets top designers' views on the topics on everyone's minds. In issue #277, CBA Paris' Anne Henry offers her thoughts on how larger brands can connect with the new wave of more socially conscious consumers, and The Other Box founder Roshni Goyate explains why the diversity problem in the design industry doesn't have a quick fix. Finally, the community critiques Pentagram's new identity for Mills & Boon – is it hot stuff or a little limp? For a sneak peek inside the issue, use the arrow icons to flick through the image below. Save up to 63% on a Computer Arts subscription Computer Arts is the world's best-selling design magazine, packed full of 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%! Read more: How to manage a huge client Why there's never been a better time to quit your job 5 fascinating stories behind unusual logo designs View the full article

For filmmaker Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth), fairy tales are a way to address social issues as universal themes, and the cross-species romance. The Shape of Water explores the idea that love can be found in various forms against a backdrop of paranoia and bigotry. The pivotal concern for the $19 million dollar production was to have audience members believe that an amphibian creature – captured from the Amazon and taken to a secret American government facility – could have an affair with a mute cleaning lady. 01. Creating a believable creature To create a captivating and unconventional leading man, del Toro relied on the practical expertise of Legacy Effects co-owners Shane Mahan and Lindsay Macgowan, the design talents of sculptor Mike Hill, the digital knowledge of production VFX supervisor and Mr. X CEO Dennis Berardi, and the performance of acclaimed actor Doug Jones. Design work had already begun on the amphibian man. “We met Guillermo, David Grasso and David Meng at Bleak House,” explains Legacy Effects co-owner Lindsay Macgowan. “Our job was to take the best elements of the maquette that the two Davids had done and create a new one. Normally the consideration of having a human inside isn’t necessarily the top priority at that point in concepting character. However, we already knew that Doug Jones was going to be the creature so we had a scan of him.” Left: A Legacy Effects maquette. Middle/ right: A clay maquette that makes use of a really square jaw, cleft chin and high cheek bones Utilising ZBrush, Legacy Effects sculptor Glen Hanz digitally pieced together a new version of the amphibian man. “It was a fully painted maquette on an electric turntable. We had a little UV light that you could show character; however, we already knew that Doug Jones was going to be the creature so we had a scan of him.” Utilising ZBrush, Legacy Effects sculptor Glen Hanz digitally pieced together a new version of the amphibian man. “It was a fully painted maquette on an electric turntable. We had a little UV light that you could show the bioluminescence coming on and off as the character turned around. Also, with the regular light you would see the translucency through the fins.” Making the creature attractive Assisting Hanz on sculpting the body was Mario Torres, while Guillermo del Toro brought in friend and sculptor Mike Hill to redesign the facial features. “My main concern was that the lady has a relationship with this creature so he had to be somewhat attractive,” remarks Hill. “Guillermo wanted a lot of things in there like Jean Marais’ handsomeness in Jean Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast and Jack Kirby-esque lines. There were a lot of references to combine in one face.“ “I went over to Guillermo’s house for a couple of days and from 8am to midnight I would sculpt the head. Guillermo would come in and out and make suggestions. By the end of that 40-hour period we had nailed the look.” The face plate was made out of foam rubber at the request of Guillermo del Toro Initially the plan was to have a mechanical head for the amphibian man. “Guillermo would say, ‘It’s got to emote, kiss a girl and be able to smile,’” remarks Mahan. “That’s when the alarm bells went off in our heads: ‘We can’t do this mechanically because it’s not like the face is only going to do two or three moves throughout the entire movie. Let’s go with a make-up approach and bring the face right down to Doug Jones’.“ “We did a clay press over the head of Glen Hanz’s maquette and that gave us the proportions, as a lot of the shapes were already balanced to Doug’s. Early on in our development phase I tried to envision Doug in the make-up chair at 3am,” reveals Mahan when describing the amphibian man transformation process that would take three hours to complete each day. Huge transformation “The suit has a backpack that’s hidden so to enable Doug to forcibly crawl inside. The feet are attached which is uncommon. We wanted the line of his calf and Achilles heel to be that of a swimmer’s body. Anytime you break something you will produce a line inadvertently. Doug had to sit in the suit while we did the make-up. A fibreglass skullcap went on that had a silicone magnetic goggle system to attach the eyes to. It also attached his mechanical gills to his neck.“ "From there the facial make-up that Mike had sculpted got put on. There was a silicone back of the head. Guillermo wanted the face to be foam rubber. There’s a thin tight hood that just went up and over the skullcap. We would glue the hood to the skullcap. Then you could put the headpiece on, so Doug was really encased in this thing. If Doug had to go to the bathroom we would have to unglue his glove so that his hand could be free.” A last-minute overhaul was made to the colour pallet of the creature suit. “We did a film test which resulted in Dan Laustsen [cinematographer], and Guillermo determining that it was too pale,” remarks Mahan. “The suit went to Mike Hill’s shop for a painting overdo.” The patterning remained the same but the seven coats of underpainting were altered. The layers of underpainting look different under various lighting conditions “The original colour was a stone grey but we changed it to a yellow ochre on the chest and had iridescent black and blue velvet on the back,” states Hill. “We also broke up the high points on the biceps and buttocks. Guillermo gave me a reference of a salamander that he liked.” The colour alteration led to only one of the four suits being ready for the first week of filming. “It was nerve-wracking to get Doug out at night and ring that suit out,” admits Mahan. “It had about 60 pounds of water in it and had to be dry for the morning. I would peel off the damaged areas and Mike would touch up the paint because foam rubber paint and water are not friendly to each other. And you can imagine Guillermo’s highly tuned sense of attention to detail on a suit that has been cooked for a day. It was a challenge.” Expressing emotion In order for the amphibian man to express a vast variety of emotions, digital augmentation was required and provided by production VFX supervisor Dennis Berardi and Mr. X, the visual effects company based in Toronto where he serves as the CEO. “Guillermo was all about micro gestures,” notes Berardi. “He wanted to see the controls the animators were using [in Maya] for the facial rig to create the performances. Guillermo wanted to make sure that we had enough latitude before we even started. That’s really getting under the hood. We had to do a whole presentation for Guillermo where we showed him the range of our motion on the eyebrows, upper and lower lips and cheek, as well as the blinking of the eyes and creases in the forehead area. Once we had the toolset we became in sync with what Guillermo was asking for, because he knew our tools and what we could do.” Left to right: Mike Hill, Sean Sansom, Shane Mahan and Jay Detheridge doing an on-set fix Doug Jones was scanned multiple times with and without make-up to produce a digital double of the amphibian man. “Guillermo would direct the animators as if he was directing an actor on set and we would do take after take,” states Berardi. “Then we would render our CG face or head over the photographic one. We would carefully use aspects of the real head and our render and seam it all in painstakingly. This was not a pipeline show. Every shot was crafted. There was no automatic process.” Glowing blue stripes accent the creature suit. “That was the subdermal bioluminescence and it was all digital. We match moved our digital asset of the amphibian man over the live-action footage to make an exact match and did this bioluminescence flickering and glowing effect, which we took inspiration from cuttlefish and deep-sea creatures that have internal illumination. It couldn’t look electric or synthetic. It had to look like organic phenomena.” Iron lung Elisa Esposito (Sally Hawkins) meets the object of her affection for the first time when he is wheeled into the laboratory encased in an iron lung. “We scanned everything on the show so I had a digital double of that empty iron lung,” states Berardi. “We carefully match moved the camera and iron lung in Maya. Then I had the scene recreated in 3D. Once Guillermo approved the animation, which was a swimming motion and the hand slamming into the glass, we put our digital asset into fully high-resolution volumetric water that we created in Houdini.” The colour of the water was green not blue. “Guillermo wanted to imply that the amphibian man can’t live in regular water. Therefore, we had that green organic water with the organic mass and debris that he needs to survive; that complicated the water simulation a lot because all of that stuff needed to move and swirl around and be displaced by the swimming motion of the amphibian man.” A hand is added digitally reaching out to hit the glass. green water allows for the use of organic particles that swirl around, creating the impression of movement A lot of shots involve Elisa Esposito having digital wet hair. “The grooming was a long process,” reveals Berardi. “We did tons of photo surveys of Sally Hawkins. We shot extreme close-ups of her and worked with the hair and make-up people to understand the texture of the hair. We groomed the hair to match and ran a Houdini hair simulation algorithm that we developed here. Guillermo doesn’t like things to be random. We choreographed the hair movements carefully. Guillermo wanted the audience to be reminded of beautiful reeds under the water.” The Shape of Water led to a system upgrade for Mr. X. “The animation controls and rigging that we had to develop was a new level of detail and complexity. Working with Guillermo just as a performance-based director in the facial performance was something that was also new for us. We had to be ready for that. "For the effects simulations, especially on the water, we had to add a lot of rendering horsepower. In fact, we tripled our rendering farm to help complete this show. In the end I think we had over 15,000 cores to render this show working 24/7. Then the actual rendering of the amphibian man with the subsurface scattering, something that Guillermo cared about a lot, was a new area for us in terms of look development. “The biggest challenge for us was realising Guillermo’s vision of a fairy tale where love conquers evil, but where the visuals are so integrated and don’t break the suspension of disbelief,” observes Berardi. “lt was a high bar with Guillermo directing and Dan Laustsen as the cinematographer. The footage was beautiful so we had to be pixel perfect and completely integrated.” A major attraction for being part of the production for Legacy Effects was the presence of Guillermo del Toro. “What helped make this such a great project to work on was his passion, but also the type of work that we were doing was infectious,” notes Macgowan. “You can’t help but want to do the best work you can with him.” 02. Creating the opening scene The opening scene in The Shape of Water was the hardest shot of the movie for Dennis Berardi and his team at Mr. X, which takes place in a riverbed and moves into a submerged apartment with the floating sleeping figure of Elisa Esposito (Sally Hawkins). “It’s a two-and-a-half minute shot,” explains Berardi. “We shot some reference in Georgian Bay and Guillermo del Toro liked the feel of it, but wanted to choreograph the timing of the swimming fish and the movement of the underwater lake grasses so it was like a dance. It is all digitally created. Then we transition into a real apartment set which we shot using a dry-for-wet technique. "We filled the set with smoke and had projectors above the set to project caustic light beams. We pinned Sally Hawkins’ hair down because it was going to be CG. Anything that is floating was digitally animated. “Our big challenge there was doing the photoreal riverbed environment and transitioning seamlessly into a real set, while maintaining the illusion of still being underwater,” notes Berardi. “We matched the lighting closely and equalised the two by adding a volume of floating particulate [like a current] that continued through from the beginning right to the end. That unified it. The fish unified it. All of the floating elements unified it. We carefully tried to match the look of that apartment in terms of tonal feel. It certainly wasn’t easy. We added some escaping bubbles from underwater crevasses as well.” It is a proud moment. “You see a perfect hybrid in play where we go from a digital environment into a real one, and I hope that the audience just sees a beautiful shot.” 03. Building a cinematic environment The escape plan devised by Elisa Esposito revolves around a canal which is seen as the means of returning the amphibian man to his aquatic home. Some digital wizardry was needed to transform the Toronto setting into the desired cinematic environment. “We did have to get rid of the CN Tower but that was the easiest part of that shot,” reveals Dennis Berardi. “The most difficult part of that shot was creating the illusion that the water level of the canal is rising as the rains come. Elisa’s plan is to release the creature as the water level gets up to a certain level, so that he can get out of the canal and into the open water. We did shoot that harbour side at a location. That water is digital and all Houdini based.” Reflecting into the digital water is the sky, which adds to the believability. “We would do full HDRI photo surveys on set and a 360-degree dome of the sky at ten stops of latitude; that gave us the lighting design,” explains Berardi. “We would re-reflect the sky that was captured on the days of our photo surveys into our digital water. In terms of the other objects in the scene, they were recreated so that we could reflect them in our synthetic water.” 04. Shooting stylish water The shot of Elisa that commences the water droplet dance brought to life by CGI As Elisa travels on a bus and looks through the windows, water droplets gracefully perform to her finger motions on the glass. “That was hard and fun to do,” states Dennis Berardi. “Guillermo del Toro wanted to foreshadow the dance routine between the creature and Elisa that happens later in the movie. It’s supposed to be a ballet in the water droplets.” A plate was shot of Sally Hawkins moving her fingers against the bus window. “We had talked about pushing in on Elisa and then into a more macro world. We played with zooming into a macro world and got it wrong a lot of times. It felt synthetic. We had to be subtle with the transition from 1:1 scale. We’re looking through a bus window that is three feet across down to a scale that is only half an inch across. "We designed a bunch of style frames to show Guillermo where we were going and he signed off on it in principle. In the end, we took 15 seconds to get into that fully macro world so it’s a slow transition hidden in many frames." 05. Flooding a bathroom An intimate moment occurs when Elisa Esposito floods her bathroom to create a makeshift water tank so that she can make love to the amphibian man. “That was great,” states Berardi. “We sunk the bathroom set in a water tank for their embracing underwater love scene. I also shot a green screen element where we built a green screen stand-in door, had a thousand gallons of water in a water tank, did a quick release, and the water would open and flood through the doors.” The shots of the water filling up are digital. “The aftermath when Giles [Richard Jenkins] pulls the door open and the water escapes and splashes out, that’s a digital shot as well,” remarks Berardi. “It was challenging because we had to create this believable illusion that this volume of water is escaping out of a bathroom door. Guillermo wanted it to dissipate quite quickly. He also wanted it to be elegant, not violent. Guillermo wanted it to be fun. "In our early simulations we were running these physically correct volumes of water through that door and the water rushed violently. We had to tone it down and come up with a graceful take before Guillermo started to like and believe in it. I did dozens and dozens of experimental internal takes before I would show Guillermo anything. Once I did he would start to revise us." While all of this is taking place water leaks into the movie theatre situated beneath the apartment in which Elisa lives. “That was easier. I’m always surprised that people pick it out. It may be a testament to the sound design as well because we only put five or six streams of water droplets in there. The rest was sound. We didn’t have to do that much to create that illusion.” This article was originally published in issue 231 of 3D World, the world's best-selling magazine for CG artists. Buy issue 231 here or subscribe to 3D World here. Related articles: How to break into movie concept art Solo movie posters are a typographic treat 16 most imaginative movie wallpapers View the full article

You're reading WP Maintenance Mode Updated with Chatbot Functionality, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! WP Maintenance Mode is a free and open source “maintenance mode” plugin that packs a lot of features in an easy to use interface. Unlike the basic maintenance functionality available in WordPress, WP Maintenance Mode adds custom text, design options, a countdown option and more. The plugin can also be used as a coming soon […] View the full article

Getting into ecommerce is simpler than ever. There are plenty of great places to sell your work online, but if you have some basic tech skills, you can create a unique, personalised experience by adding retail functionality to your own website. There are a number of different services to help you do this. Here, we take a look at the most popular ecommerce solutions, and explore the benefits and drawbacks of each. 01. Shopify Shopify is every easy to use, and offers plenty of helpful features Price: From $29/mo Shopify is one of the biggest and the most well known ecommerce solutions available to the general public. At time of writing, there were three different packages available: the basic one starting at $29 per month, ranging to $299 a month for more advanced ecommerce features. Shopify charges a 2.2 per cent fee, plus an extra 20p for each online sales. Pros If you're looking for simple setup, quick sales and a way to easily expand your business online, Shopify is a great choice. Its packages take care of much of the boring, tedious stuff associated with selling things online, offering services such as 24/7 support, free SSL certificates and fraud analysis. Cons As a blogging or online store platform, Shopify struggles to compete with the likes of WordPress, with its content management ease and SEO features. As a developer, the limited support for custom code or scripts can be frustrating. What's more, most of Shopify's features are locked in, which means switching to another platform can be tricky. 02. WooCommerce WooCommerce is a free WordPress plugin Price: Free WooCommerce is one of the most popular free WordPress plugins available. It essentially enables you to turn your WordPress website or blog into an online store by adding ecommerce functionality, enabling you to process digital and physical orders through the power of WooCommerce. Pros In ecommerce, it's key to separate yourself from your competitors. WooCommerce provides plenty of customisation features, including themes and more plugins to change the styling of your shop, expand accessibility, and more. It also improves security when processing transactions, taking all the worry away from you as an owner, and your customers. Another great feature of WooCommerce is its vast range of analytics tools. These are great 
for engaging with customer purchases and activity and crunching stats, making the whole process of analysing your retail activity simple. Cons While WooCommerce itself is free, once you've purchased various supplementary themes and plugins it can become very expensive very quickly. You can customise your shop on your own if you have the skills, but otherwise you’ll need to buy a pre-made theme. 03. BigCommerce BigCommerce offers full CMS features Price: From $29.95/mo BigCommerce is a paid hosting service for online shops processing physical or virtual transactions, and it boasts clients such as Toyota, Kodak and Martha Stewart. This service is aimed at users with web design skills, and offers customers the ability to personally customise their sites (there's also a theme store, where users can buy and sell themes for BigCommerce shops). The platform offers users the opportunity to list their products on Amazon, eBay, Facebook and more. There's a range of subscription options, providing solutions for independent businesses with small, frequent transactions right up to mass sales for high-volume businesses. Pros BigCommerce offers full CMS features, enabling you to change content easily, provide discounts and coupon codes to customers, and optimise your site for search engines. For savvy users, there’s even the ability to tweak the CSS and HTML. Cons BigCommerce places limits on your annual sales – at the standard package you’re limited to a $50,000 processing fee per annum. If you choose Braintree for payments you may encounter a 2.9 per cent fee on each credit card transactions from PayPal, too. 04. Volusion Volusion's bandwidth caps are a major drawback Price: Free Like all other good ecommerce platforms, Volusion aims to help you focus more on the selling and less on the tedious tasks surrounding it. The most basic package costs $15 per month and offers support for 100 products, a secure checkout, online support and 1GB of bandwidth (more on this later). Pros Volusion provides you with the tools to quickly design and deploy a website, including a simple editor and theme picker. It offers 11 free themes and 38 premium themes starting at $180. Unlike to other ecommerce platforms here, Volusion doesn't charge any transaction fees, so you get to keep all your profits. Your monthly package also includes 24/7 customer support, which is handy if you're just starting out with ecommerce. Cons Subscriptions include a strict bandwidth limit on your site. If you have large images or content, they’re going to eat up your 1GB of monthly bandwidth pretty quickly – and the more visitors your attract, the more bandwidth you’re going to need. You’ll soon have to buy more bandwidth to keep your store up and running, especially during peak times. What's more Volusion doesn’t offer free SSL certificates or any blogging functions, something deemed quite critical for marketing and providing a secure transaction environment. This article was originally published in creative web design magazine Web Designer. Buy issue 270 or subscribe. Read more: How to succeed as a designer-maker 8 ways to make more money in 2018 How to start a blog: 10 pro tips View the full article

Oh boy. If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, then BrewDog has probably just built an eight-lane superhighway with its latest piece of marketing. With International Women's Day just around the corner, the cult Glasgow brewery has waded in with a well-meaning campaign aimed at ending gender pay inequality, which manages to hit all the wrong notes. The problem with period product branding It's hard to fault much of its thinking. "At BrewDog," says its press release, "we have always believed that beer is for everyone, and equality is a fundamental right. So today we are launching a clarion call to end the discrimination of gender pay inequality. In the UK men earn on average 20% more than women. And that's not ok." Yep, with you there. But here's how BrewDog's approaching the issue: with a specially redesigned version of its Punk IPA, renamed Pink IPA. "Satirically dubbed Beer for Girls," the company says, "Pink IPA is BrewDog’s clarion call to close the gender pay gap in the UK and around the world and to expose sexist marketing to women, particularly within the beer industry." And yeah, you can see what BrewDog's doing, and honestly there are some great points in there. You can almost sense it tiptoeing through the equality minefield, with a promise to pay 20 per cent of the proceeds from Punk IPA and Pink IPA sold over the next four weeks to charities that fight inequality and support women. Plus a 20 per cent discount on Pink IPA in BrewDog bars for people who identify as female – a qualification guaranteed to infuriate all the right people. Meanwhile over at the Pink IPA site, it provides a handy clickable guide to the gender pay gap around the world, with South Korea coming off worst with a gap of 39 per cent. Yet for everything it gets right, it then makes a colossal, cringeworthy misstep, starting with the whole misguided Pink IPA and Beer for Girls thing, and then followed up by its red-faced insistence that it's satirising sexism with this approach. Which we're sure is its intent, but the widespread reaction on social media shows us just how infuriatingly wrong BrewDog's got this one. We kind of feel a bit sorry for BrewDog; it's raising some important points and trying to do the right thing. But this whole episode reads like your dad hearing about this 'feminism' thing and giving it a try. For example, from the Pink IPA site: "Pink IPA might look different on the outside, but it’s exactly the same on the inside. "Just like the female workforce." 10/10 for good intentions, guys, but 0/10 for basic biology. 5 fantastic design fails – and what we can learn from them 7 designs that challenge gender stereotypes 4 ads that tried to be cool, but failed View the full article

A good night's sleep can do a body good. Unfortunately, that's easier said than done. If you're having a hard time getting to sleep at night, it's time to give Pzizz Pro a try. This best-selling app is designed to help you get to sleep, and you can get it on sale now for 80 per cent off the retail price. Pzizz Pro is the world's most advanced sleep system. Designed to help you fall asleep fast and stay asleep throughout the night, this app is essential for night owls who are looking to get some more rest in their life. Pzizz utilises effective psychoacoustic principles that can ease your mind and help to regulate your sleep. It's a service that is counted on by all sorts of successful people, including JK Rowling and Roy Hibbert. Now you can join them. You can get a lifetime subscription to Pzizz Pro for just $119.99 (approx. £87). That's a saving of 80 per cent off the retail price for a service that will finally help you get a good night's sleep every single night. Grab this deal today. About Creative Bloq deals This great deal comes courtesy of the Creative Bloq Deals store – a creative marketplace that's dedicated to ensuring you save money on the items that improve your design life. We all like a special offer or two, particularly with creative tools and design assets often being eye-wateringly expensive. That's why the Creative Bloq Deals store is committed to bringing you useful deals, freebies and giveaways on design assets (logos, templates, icons, fonts, vectors and more), tutorials, e-learning, inspirational items, hardware and more. Every day of the working week we feature a new offer, freebie or contest – if you miss one, you can easily find past deals posts on the Deals Staff author page or Offer tag page. Plus, you can get in touch with any feedback at: deals@creativebloq.com. Related articles: Following this creativity cycle could save you from burnout What happens to your body during eight hours of sleep? How to avoid creative burnout View the full article

So you’ve learnt about all the different art techniques you can think of – composition, colour theory, anatomy, light, perspective and so on. But how do you put these together and manipulate them to create a memorable, moving image? Want to know how to draw a scene with real emotion? Here are 10 helpful tips to get you started. 01. Utilize lighting High-contrast lighting helps build the tension in this image by Kamil Murzyn Platige Image artist Kamil Murzyn says: "Lighting is a very important factor in creating any mood and directing a story. I usually select a natural lighting condition which has some general rules, such as daylight, overcast light, or sunset; I then shift them to better fit the story and feeling I want to create. "For a suspense-themed illustration, it’s a natural choice to pick lighting conditions that allow for high contrasts, so I choose a simple night sky with strong moonlight. Night and gloom always create a feeling of danger and horror." 02. Use real life Mammoliti thought back to times of despair to help him create the mood for this piece "Use your own experience when depicting emotions," says artist Damien Mammoliti. "When was the last time you experienced despair? How did it make you feel? If you could personify and create a character based on that emotion, how would it look? Asking yourself these questions can help you to create a narrative for your illustration." 03. Introduce symbolism The yellow snake ties the image and theme together in this painting by Maria Poliakova "Thinking on the theme of 'envy', I came up with the idea of a 'hot' yellow-orange snake in the girl’s hands," says freelance 2D artist Maria Poliakova. "Envy is a strong, sizzling, toxic feeling, and the warm coloured snake creates a strong contrast against the character’s cold, green skin. The yellow snake also complements the girl’s yellow eyes and scaly body." 04. Prepare with words as well as images Mapping out ideas like this can help ensure the concept is clear to the viewer "A mind map is a graphical diagram of related thoughts and words about a subject," explains concept artist Emi Chen. "It includes a branching-out of ideas from a central starting point. In this case, I wanted the illustration to revolve around the concept of 'mystery', so I created a mind map focused on this word and what comes to mind. "From there, I kept exploring various themes and subjects that relate to the word. I tried to exhaust all possibilities, exploring everything that I could until I was sure there were absolutely no more related ideas left." 05. Keep the story in mind Abandoned warehouse? Empty ice-cream truck? Blood smears? There is plenty to suggest a story unfolding in this image "Story is the overall idea or concept of the piece," says digital artist Andy Walsh. "Sometimes you make art that’s just pretty and you’ll notice it doesn’t get much attention. But throw in a little backstory or some elements that make us go deeper into the scene or character, and your audience will not just appreciate the piece but delight in it. "Really think about elements that make your audience curious as to what’s going on and invite them in to explore. What’s in the box? Who’s around the corner? What story happened to get us to this scene?" 06. Convey sensory disruption Use small details to help convey big emotion "Fear is a very interesting emotion to depict. using some basic ideas, we can easily evoke those emotions in the viewer," says Mammoliti. "Uncomfortable feelings like hair laying on an open eye, or water filling into the mouth, demonstrate what types of sensations can be played with in an image like this. "Here, I can evoke empathy by disrupting useful sensations (such as tasting or breathing) or placing things where they are most unwanted. This helps the viewer gain empathy towards the subject matter, heightening their experience of the emotion." 07. Use narrative that others can associate with This narrative helps suggests longing, using themes many people can relate to Illustrator Kevin Hong says: "Nostalgia is a very sentimental and wistful feeling linked with personal experiences, and although it’s a universally shared emotion, what triggers it can be very different for each person. That said, there are certain narratives that I think everyone can relate to. Moments of idling, waiting, or of childhood especially. With this in mind, I create several digital sketches to illustrate these moments." 08. Consider your composition carefully Placing the goddess high up in the composition helps convey the feeling of awe "I like to think about composition and the different viewpoints I can show my scene from, almost like having a movie camera in my mind and traveling around a scene trying to find the most interesting still shot to recreate," reveals illustrator Scott Murphy. "For this illustration, I consider which angle and composition will help to showcase the goddess and the surrounding crowd and set the mood accurately. Finding the right vantage point can help with the emotion or story you are trying to portray." 09. Play with colors to find the right mood Search for color combinations that best reflect the feeling you are trying to convey "When plotting out ideas for colours, I often like to test different ideas using some typical colour combinations; complementary, analogous, and achromatic combinations being some of my favourites," Mammoliti says. "Complementary means what it sounds like: opposites on the colour wheel match well together and will often create a great contrast for paintings. Analogous colours are colours that sit next to one another on the colour wheel; these types of combinations will offer balance. Achromatic is the lack of saturation on those colours you’ve chosen, which can be used to make a more emotional scene. This image will have a slightly desaturated complementary palette to help reflect the feeling of despair." 10. Make sure you enjoy it A unique image that conveys something that is meaningful will always capture an audience "The key to making interesting work is to make art that you find interesting," says Hong. "Indulge in what you enjoy creating, and try not to sabotage that by making work that conforms to an industry or a field. If you make work that you really enjoy and work hard at perfecting your craft, then you will find clients who will commission you for being you." Read more: 12 pro tips to improve your artistic composition The best learning resources for digital artists 15 observational drawing tips View the full article

At Vertex, our debut event for the CG community, you'll be able to hear from incredible experts in their field. With an Access All Areas pass, you can get the best that Vertex has to offer and listen to our keynote speeches, rub shoulders with our experts at our networking event and more. But did you know that you can also learn from our experts for free in our Expo Area in the East Hall? Entrance won't cost you any money, but you have to book your free tickets beforehand as you will need them on arrival. Digby Dragon is an animation by Blue Zoo. Here's the full schedule for the Expo hall: 9:45am - Blue Zoo Animation - Izzy Burton, Ben Steer & Tom Box - The Making of Blue Zoo's Animated Shorts 10:40am - Maxon - Jonas Pilz - Cinema 4D MoGraph - Motion Graphics made easy 11:35am - Insydium - ‘X-Particles - Bob Walmsley - Create like never before: add Fluid, Fire and Smoke to your Cinema 4D toolkit.’ 12:30pm - iTooSoft - Paul Roberts - Creating large scale environments with Forest Pack and RailClone 1:25pm - BREAK 2:20pm - Notch VR 3:15pm - CG Trader - Dalia Lasaite 4:10pm - DoveTail Games - Jess Magnus, Environment Art for Games: Working in the Industry and Career Progression Blue Zoo – The Making of Blue Zoo's Animated Shorts From left to right: Tom Box, Ben Steer and Izzy Burton. You'll be able to hear from Blue Zoo, who will present The Making of Blue Zoo's Animated Shorts with Tom Box, co-founder; Ben Steer, animation director; and Izzy Burton, concept artist. Tom co-founded Blue Zoo Animation and over the studio's 17-year growth the company has become one of the leading CG animation studios in the UK, picking up a few awards along the way. Tom runs the short film programme at Blue Zoo. Ben is the writer and director behind Mamoon, the BAFTA-nominated animated short, and Izzy is the director of Via, the latest short to come out of the programme. Cinema 4D MoGraph – Motion Graphics Made Easy Jonas Pilz will be presenting at Vertex. You'll also be able to learn from Maxon's Jonas Pilz, who will show you the powerful MoGraph tools and how quickly and easily you can create eye-catching motion graphics using Cinema 4D. After graduating from university in 2011, Jonas Pilz worked as a freelance 3D generalist for a period of four years and created lots of visualisations and animations for designated industrial clients and television with Cinema 4D. In 2015 Jonas Pilz joined the MAXON family, giving Cinema 4D workshops and presenting MAXON products at trade shows and other public events. Whether it's abstract animations, moving fonts or breaking objects – you’ll learn how easy it is to set up any kind of graphics 3D animation in Cinema 4D. Jonas will show you that MoGraph setups are also perfect for VFX and visualisation purposes. In short, you will fall in love with Cinema 4D after this presentation. Discover X-Particles and Cycles 4D Bob Walmsley will discuss how to use the latest features of X-Particles. Bob Walmsley from Insydium will also be presenting in the East Hall. Bob is a motion graphics designer, 3D generalist and educator and his credits include the Victoria Derbyshire programme on BBC2 and several news features on the BBC News Channel and BBC World. Bob will be demonstrating the latest versions of their Cinema 4D plugins X-Particles and Cycles 4D. Using the major new features xpClothFX, xpExplosiaFX and xpFluidFX, he’ll be showing how designers can switch effortlessly between motion graphics and VFX, within a unified system built on the most intuitive particle software on the market. Discover how X-Particles and Cycles 4D's seamless integration into the Cinema 4D workflow allows artists to fully immerse themselves in design, rather than get slowed down in the technical process. Create large-scale environments with Forest Pack and RailClone Paul Roberts will demonstrate how to use Forest Pack and RailClone to boost visualisations. iTooSoft's training manager Paul Roberts will also be presenting on Forest Pack and RailClone, two of the most popular procedural modelling and scattering plugins for 3ds Max in the CG industry, capable of creating and rendering scenes with nearly limitless poly-counts. Paul is an experienced 3D environment artist and educator who has been working with 3ds Max for over 15 years as a 3D designer and lecturer for the games, product design and visualisation industries. Both Forest Pack and RailClone have endless applications besides their namesakes. In this presentation, the iToosoft team uses real case studies from LUXX Studios, Makuta, Blur, Screenscene VFX and more to go beyond their tools’ obvious uses, demonstrating tips and techniques to illustrate boundless versatility for VFX, VR, real-time and architectural visualisation. So don't miss out on Vertex, our CG event for the community! Get your tickets, whether for the East Hall Expo Area or for an Access All Areas pass now! Read more: Inside the Substance texturing tools Press Start on your game art skills at Vertex Learn to animate for kids View the full article

To help you learn how to create a 3D alien pirate character, I will show you how I sculpted the face of my creature, Worgrock (above), and put him into a dramatic pose. ZBrush is my main weapon of choice due to its many sculpting tools, and generally being fun to sculpt with. I'll also use Maya, Substance Painter and V-Ray. I will share with you some techniques I use in everyday modelling and concept visual development work. For the past 13 years I’ve worked for various movie, game and commercial studios as a 3D modeller, texture painter and concept artist. I’m something of a creature specialist now, but before I went digital I worked as a traditional sculptor, painter and make-up artist. Gathering references is a great place to start to find ideas To help with your character design, gather references that spark ideas. Inspiration for the alien's weapon was from my 2D concept art, inspiration for the head shape from the rhino beetle and the costume from my dog’s harness. Feel free to use pre-made 3D models such as teeth, tongues or heads to quickly kitbash a creature concept together using MergeVisible and DynaMesh. Download the files you'll need for this tutorial – including a video walkthrough – here (865MB) 01. Do some major form sculpting Click the top-right arrows icon to enlarge this screenshot Start to sculpt your face to the point where it has all the major forms, including large forehead wrinkles, large eyebags and features that break the silhouette and catch the light. 02. Carve in large wrinkles For bigger wrinkles such as the forehead wrinkles, carve in the lines with the Dam Standard brush on your mesh’s highest subdivision level, then drop down a level or two and use the Inflate brush to bulk up the folds. Switch back to the highest level and use the Pinch brush and a little Smooth to finish them off. 03. Gather an alpha library Click the top-right arrows icon to enlarge this screenshot Now you are ready to add some finer detail such as pores, fine wrinkles, warts and stretch marks. For this we will use a combination of ZBrush alphas and hand sculpting. Gnomonology, Surface Mimic and XYZ all have great alphas for sale on their websites. There are also a lot of free alphas available online, such as from the Pixologic Download Center. I suggest starting your own alpha library that you can have and take with you to each job to reuse for future projects. 04. Use recommended alphas Click the top-right arrows icon to enlarge this screenshot I’ll start with the alphas that come with ZBrush. For skin warts and breakup I like to use alpha 08, with the Standard brush and DragRect turned on. Tweak the Z Intensity and Zadd or Zsub as needed. You can also tweak Modify>Contrast in the Alpha palette. For quick pores, you can choose alpha 07 with the Spray stroke set to Spray and Zsub. For the dry skin on the alien’s shoulders and back I will use the Spray stroke with alpha 58 Zsub. Blur the alpha in the Alpha palette for different effects. You can quickly browse to alphas using the comma key to get thumbnails, or just import them into the Alpha palette directly. 05. Make custom alphas Click the top-right arrows icon to enlarge this screenshot Feel free to edit your own alphas and save them as a PSD. I found some great wrinkle details on the Hand_Male_RingFinger from Surface Mimic, so I went in and lassoed out the wrinkle sections and saved it. I made sure to keep a 50% grey border and I kept the layers in the PSD in case I wanted to go back in and edit it later. I also used wrinkles from Hand_Male_ IndexFinger – I just cropped out everything except the knuckle. These are good crosshatch patterns for wrinkle layout. After you lay down the alphas, go back into some of the grooves with the Dam Standard brush. 06. Add pores to give skin detail Click the top-right arrows icon to enlarge this screenshot I have a photo of an orange-skin.jpg I downloaded online from undoz on ZBrushCentral that works great for pores. I also used skin_BaldHeadTopSkin01 and skin_BaldHeadShaved from Surface Mimic for the pores with Surface mode on in the Alpha palette as well as Rf set to 10. 07. Refine skin textures I had fun finding the right type of evil smile for this character. This smile was inspired by Jack Nicholson. After I drag out my wrinkle and pore alphas I go over areas by hand using the Inflate brush on the wrinkles and Dam Standard on the lines/crevices as a final touch. For some parts of the face I smooth the details out a slight bit, with a low smooth intensity and BrushMod set to 50 or 70 so only the small details get smoothed out, leaving the larger forms undamaged. 08. Test render with skin material Click the top-right arrows icon to enlarge this screenshot For skin I like to do test renders with the ZBrush skin shader material or the default Blinn with WaxPreview set to 30. This will give you a better idea of how the sculpt works on skin rather than just using metal or stone type material. We will render with BPR in ZBrush and set up the render globals: SmoothNormals on, AO on set to 0.5, WaxPreview on, BPR Shadow Angle 95, Blur 6, Rays 64 and BPR AO Strength 0.5, Blur 4. 09. Decimate your model If the image is for a still and you do not want to deal with baking out displacement, decimate your model with Keep UVs on if your model has UVs. 10. Do final renders in V-Ray Click the top-right arrows icon to enlarge this screenshot For testing, I prefer to render in the final renderer that will be used as soon as possible. This project is a V-Ray project so I will do test renders in V-Ray – just to make sure the details pop as much as I’d like. This is when it’s nice to have details sculpted on a layer in ZBrush so you can dial the intensity of fine details up and down as needed. 11. Perfect your posing Having your character in a nice pose is a must for creating an engaging image. An interesting pose will really help bring your character to life and give an insight into what they are like and how they move. 12. Load into ZBrush Load your neutral-posed model into ZBrush. To make life easier I combine the costume as one mesh, combine the gun as one mesh, then I have the creature body, teeth, eyes and tongue. 13. Get set up Dock the ZPlugin menu and press Transpose Master. If you want you can turn on the Grps to preserve polygrounds and Layer to make a layer per subtool. This can be useful later if you want to use the Morph brush to x poses. Hit TPoseMesh. I tend to use this instead of a ZSphere rig as I find this way is faster and you have exact control over how the mesh bends. Now you’ll notice your mesh shows up as one mesh in the Subtool menu, this is good. 14. Hide and unhind Now we will use a series of hiding/unhiding geo and mashing plus the Transpose tool to pose our creature. A helpful hotkey is to hold Ctrl plus Shift and then left-click on a mesh to hide all but the parts you clicked. 15. Use the Transpose Line tool Press W to bring up the Transpose Line tool in ZBrush 4R7. In ZBrush 4R8, to switch from Gizmo 3D to Transpose Line, press Y or click the circle icon. 16. Transpose masks To drag out a mask, hold Ctrl and left-click from the edge of your mesh inward to create a mask that follows the form of your object. I dragged the tool-masking buttons out into my main interface because I use them so much. For example you can grow the mask using the grow mask button, or sharpen, then grow, then blur. Ctrl+I inverts the mask. 17. Test a quick pose I tend to do the large pose shapes first, such as a hip turn or a left step/lean, then the small ones last, such as a finger bend. I suggest doing some quick tests (parts can collide etc) and then finding a pose you like, screengrabbing it and then going back and redoing it cleanly with no penetration parts or stretching. Sometimes if you really know the pose you want you can nail it on the first try without this process, but I tend to test several poses first. 18. Add a ground plane Click the top-right arrows icon to enlarge this screenshot I recommend having a ground plane in your scene so that you can get the bottom of the foot to be flush with the floor. I find it easier to model a flat plane in Maya and extrude the outer edges out and down slightly so you see the ground plane from an orthographic view in Maya. If it’s just a flat plane it disappears in the side view. 19. Create a sense of weight For the hips pose, I look through the front view and press P to turn off perspective mode. Hold Ctrl and left-click-drag a mask out over the legs, so that you can lock the legs down while you pose the upper torso and arms. 20. Check the silhouette Painted 4K polypaint Diffuse Color and spec maps in ZBrush Hold Ctrl and click the stroke lasso tool. Pick lasso mode so you can drag a lasso out instead of a box. Once you have lassoed the legs, Ctrl-shift-click the ground plane so only the ground is visible and also mask off the ground. Then Ctrl-shift-click in the viewport to reveal all the meshes. You can switch to a flat colour material so that it’s easier to see what parts are masked and not. 21. Blur feather masks Once the mask is good on the legs, I tend to blur this a fair bit as we need a nice falloff. Drag a transpose line down your creature from head to belly, click Rotate R and click the centre dot. You may need to have less masking on the hip area so they bend properly from the right spot. Once I have the upper body in the right spot, I’ll move onto posing the legs using the same process. 22. Save the pose The not-so-friendly alien space pirate from the outer rim, with a mean appetite Once you have your final pose, press TPose>SubT. I recommend pressing TPose>SubT every 10 to 15 minutes and saving. Sometimes this process crashes and this way you won’t lose your work. Happy posing! This article was originally published in issue 230 of 3D World, the world's best-selling magazine for CG artists. Buy issue 230 here or subscribe to 3D World here. Related articles: 30 inspiring examples of 3D art Behind the scenes of Blade Runner 2049 The best 3D modelling software 2018 View the full article

The upcoming Star Wars spin-off, Solo: A Star Wars story, has hit a new bump in the road before its release on 28 May. Solo, which already been dogged by behind the scenes upheaval and hastily drafted acting coaches, now finds itself in a poster design plagiarism row thanks to its recently released typographic teaser posters. Unveiled back in February, the posters for Solo received a warm welcome thanks to their clever blend of typography and character graphics, not to mention the way they appeared to mix traditional and digital design elements. However, it emerged over the weekend that the Solo posters bear more than a passing resemblance to a series of Sony Music France album covers by Hachim Bahous released in 2015. With comparable colours, typography and graphics, the similarities are certainly uncanny, to say the least. Amazon graphic designer Adam Levermore shared the designs on Twitter to gauge the creative community's response. Judge for yourself whether the two designs are more than just a coincidence by exploring them below. Speaking on Facebook, Bahous said: "I am flattered that the quality of my work is recognised, but it is still pure and simple forgery, I have not been asked for my permission, I wish to be credited and paid for this work I have done for Sony!" Indeed, a monumental coincidence would be noteworthy enough. But the story becomes even more problematic if you consider that Disney could have gone through Sony to secure repurposing rights without either studio being obligated to get permission from Bahous – a theory that many online creatives have leaped upon. The whole incident has left artists and designers debating where paying homage ends and outright theft begins. And with no word forthcoming from Disney or BLT Communications, LLC, the creative team behind the posters, it remains to be seen if the dispute will be resolved. Related articles: Brutally honest posters for Oscar-nominated movies Are movie posters in a design crisis? 4 classic movie poster designs making a comeback View the full article

It took a while, but VR is here – and with it a wide range of VR headsets for designers and artists to get creative with. As well as the obvious utility for gaming, VR looks set to become big business in a huge range of other industries, including film-making, architecture and medicine. This presents a growing opportunity for designers and developers to get in on the ground level. If you want to start exploring this new form of 3D art, you'll need to choose the right hardware. Here are some of the best VR headsets around to help you decide which one is best for you. HoloLens is perfect for experiences in which the real world is mixed with the virtual The first untethered holographic computer, HoloLens overlays different CG elements onto the transparent screen in front of each eye to create real-looking 3D holograms. HoloLens is perfect for experiences that benefit from mixing the real world with the virtual – from seeing how a chair would look in your living room to highly empathetic social experiences, such as meeting a hero or figure from the news. HoloLens can really read a room. Not only can it identify what an object is, it can tell what material it’s made from. It features 12 sensors including four environment-understanding cameras and four microphones, and includes spatial sound, gaze tracking, gesture input and voice support. Sounds perfect then – if you can afford it. Sadly the HoloLens doesn't come cheap. Budget for a few thousand pounds if you really want this kit. Read our sister site TechRadar's hands on Microsoft HoloLens review The Vive comes with two handheld controllers, offering greater capability for navigation and gesture recognition The HTC Vive needs to be tethered to a powerful desktop GPU – but the result is the ability to create immersive, active VR. One huge benefit is the ability to move around space (a minimum of 2x1.5m is recommended by HTC). It works by using two sensors positioned in the corner of the room that track the whereabouts of the headset by sweeping with lasers. The Vive comes with two handheld controllers, meaning greater capability for menus, navigation and gesture recognition. The headset also sports a front-facing camera, giving designers the ability to build the real world into games or experiences. And if you feel like you'll need something even more powerful, then the duel OLED running HTC Vive Pro will soon be on the market, too. Read TechRadar's 5 star HTC Vive review The Rift’s integrated VR audio system is excellent Much like the HTC Vive, the Oculus Rift requires a wired connection to a high-spec (and often very expensive) gaming PC, running Windows 7 or higher, but the payoff is the ability to create processing-heavy interactive experiences and games. When it first launched, the Rift couldn’t do room-scale VR (so users had to sit, or stand still). But recent updates bringing in an additional low-latency constellation tracking system means users can now walk around – just be aware, not all users will have this capability. The same applies to the newly launched Touch controllers, which need to be purchased separtely to add greater interactivity. The Rift’s integrated VR audio system is excellent, and is widely considered to be better than its competitor, the HTC Vive. Learn more in TechRadar's full Oculus Rift review PlayStation VR is tethered to a PS4 rather than an expensive PC gaming rig A more affordable option than the HTC Vive or Oculus Rift, PlayStation VR is tethered to a PS4 rather than an expensive PC gaming rig. That makes it the obvious launchpad into VR if you already own a PS4. The downside of this is less power – and so potentially less immersion. The PlayStation Camera tracks nine light points on the headset so room-scale VR is technically possible, but as Sony has opted for one sensor instead of two, the tracking is not as good as on the HTC Vive. Although, at present, PlayStation VR content is more gaming-focused, the headset’s huge sales figures makes it a serious proposition for the mass market. So if you have a PlayStation already and aren't completely sold on VR, then going for this model makes a nice affordable option by way of a convincer. Check out TechRadar's full Playstation VR review The Gear VR is the go-to VR platform for many Powered by Samsung Galaxy smartphones, Samsung Gear VR effectively splits the phone screen in two to create 3D visuals, to offer affordable, wire-free virtual reality. Lacking the power of a high-spec PC, Gear VR is a natural home for 360-video (passive content) or semi-active experiences that require moving the head to hotspots, rather than hugely interactive projects. Originally launched in 2013, the Gear VR is the go-to VR platform for many. It’s widely understood by the public and a large number of experiences already exist for it. This has been boosted by a partnership with Facebook, bringing the Oculus VR store to the platform. And an upgraded headset has improved the size of the lenses to widen the field of view, making the Gear VR’s experiences feel more immersive than the original launch model. Not bad at all for the price. You can see all the specs in TechRadar's full Samsung Gear VR review Google Daydream View uses a phone to power VR experiences With the revamped Daydream View, Google has made possibly the most attractive VR headset on the market. But this isn't a case merely of style over substance - there's a lot to like about the search giant's effort and at an excellent price. The Google Daydream uses a phone to power your VR experience, but unlike Samsung’s ‘walled-garden’ Gear VR, is not exclusive to Google’s own Pixel phones – it also works with Samsung Galaxy handsets, LGs and oddly the Moto Z, and is expected to support other Android devices in future. The Daydream is best suited to passive (think 360-video and animation) and semi-active content. The headset comes with a handheld controller, for easier navigation than with the Samsung Gear VR’s on-headset buttons. The cheapest headset is fabric-covered and designed for comfort. There’s not much content for Daydream yet, but given the cost – not to mention partnerships with Netflix VR and HBO NOW VR – there’s a good opportunity to make your mark using this tech. Here's TechRadar's full Daydream View review Related articles: 20 tutorials to make the most of VR in your designs Wacom turns hand-drawn art into VR Our top tips for improving your VR creation View the full article

Is your current role holding you back? What do you want from your job this year: progression? New skills? More experience under your belt? Maybe you're motivated by the prospect of a pay rise, or recognition from your peers. No design job is perfect. But if you're no longer being creatively challenged at work, or feel that your skills aren't being fully utilised or appreciated – or you're just not giving it your all anymore – we have good news: there's never been a better time to quit. 6 terrifying job interview questions tamed First, a caveat: we don't mean wildly sticking one to your boss in the morning. These are politically and economically unpredictable times, after all. We're talking about using your initiative to find something more rewarding – and there are plenty of opportunities out there. According to Gov.uk, the number of jobs in the UK's creative industries rose by five per cent in 2016, compared to a 1.2 per cent increase in the wider UK workforce. So what are your options? And how can you make them happen? 01. Change studios Kath Tudball spent almost 15 years at leading London agency Johnson Banks before joining The Partners as design director in early 2016. "I chose to move on when I did because the small physical size of the agency meant there was a natural limit to how far I could progress," she explains. "Joining a larger company gave me the opportunity to lead my own team, work across more projects, experience a wider client mix and take on greater overall responsibility." She says that one of the biggest dangers of staying at a studio too long is becoming too comfortable, and not being creatively challenged. "Too much of the same routine can lead to complacency and, at worst, stagnation," she says. "It's better to always feel just a little bit scared. Doing unfamiliar things may be daunting, but it's also incredibly motivating. If you don't have enough new challenges or opportunities coming your way, try to create them. But if that doesn't work, it might be time to move on." Kath Tudball worked at Johnson Banks for nearly 15 years before jumping ship Her best advice for finding the perfect new job is to do your research. Find out as much as you can about the agencies that interest you and aim for the ones whose work, philosophy and overall approach you genuinely admire. "Real enthusiasm and shared passions will come across and increase the chances of a great fit," she points out. "So who do you really want to work for, and why?" She continues. "Also, don't be shy – try getting in touch directly with the people you admire for an informal chat. A personal connection or recommendation of some sort always helps. Just remember: don't act like a stalker." Koto senior brand strategist Tom Moloney agrees that asking people you admire for career advice is a good move. "Ask your mates and colleagues who they rate; where they've worked; who they know. Just don't say, 'I'm thinking about moving on…' first," he laughs. "Also, get your shit together – your CV, website, portfolio; whatever it is. There's no shortcut. Just start doing it." Moloney took the opportunity to refocus his career by moving to Koto in September, after six years at NB Studio. "It was a combination of things: a very personal desire for a new challenge, and a professional ambition to focus on brand strategy," he explains. "By moving to Koto, I was able to achieve both of these." He agrees that when it comes to knowing it's time to move on from your current role, there are warning signs to watch out for. "If you're not looking forward to going to work the majority of the time, or your motivation is dropping and you know that you're not giving the role or your work your best effort, then it's time to move on," he says. "But that doesn't mean that it's easy to leave somewhere, or to find a new job." Watch out for the warning signs that it's time to move on, says Tom Moloney This is especially true if you've been out of the job-seeking game for a while, or you've been too comfortable in one role for too long. Many long-serving employees report a creeping uneasiness about the transferable value of their specific skills. If you feel like this, it's a clear sign that you're in danger of becoming institutionalised – and the only way to tackle it is to initiate change. 02. Start your own studio If you're not feeling fully satisfied in your current position, another option is to start your own studio – which is exactly what Studio Texture founder Stuart Youngs did in March 2017. Previously a partner at brand consultancy Purpose, he launched Texture for one reason: autonomy. "I believe it's crucial for studios to explore, experiment and take risks in pursuit of progress," he explains. "It's our creativity and ability to innovate that makes us attractive to clients. But to pioneer takes time, investment and an awful lot of practice. In my experience, that's more difficult to do in a studio with bigger overheads and demands, where failure is often not an option." In his new role, Youngs is no longer accountable to a board. He has sole accountability to his family, team and clients. And although he admits this is far more pressure, he can now move faster and is free to make mistakes. "It's sharpened the mind and, interestingly, made me more purposeful," he reflects. So what about Brexit? Given our current political and economical backdrop, is there an argument for staying secure in a role – even if it isn't creatively satisfying anymore? Not according to Youngs. "The age of security has long since gone," he says. "The world is moving too fast for that. Today, it's essential to be looking to tomorrow." Rather than fit in somewhere else, you could just start your own studio like Stuart Youngs For Youngs, the single biggest industry threat faced by designers who want to get a new job is fear, and the paralysis it perpetuates. "We can't afford to sit still and hope," he says. "I believe we're on the cusp of the biggest transformation our industry has ever seen. We're about to enter the age, not just of artificial intelligence, but the more profound augmented intelligence. The consequence is even more pressure on creativity and ideas; on originality and distinction – where the machines can't compete." That said, don't feel you have to move jobs for the sake of it. "Nobody should feel uncomfortable just from being in a studio for a long period of time," he points out. "If you're challenged, progressing and fulfilled, you should stay put. The grass isn't greener. Promise." And don't move purely for money. "If you're moving for money, you're missing the point. Move for opportunity. Money will follow if you pick the right opportunities and you'll be much happier." 03. Get a promotion Of course, you don't have to change studios to find new opportunities. Your studio might not be advertising new job roles, but if you can make yourself invaluable to the team, you're in a strong position to negotiate a promotion. Reiss Hinds started at multi-disciplinary design agency BLUP on a three-month placement as a junior designer. During that time, he paid attention to the daily process and workflows used by his directors. "Email was the biggest one," he recalls. "We were going back and forth so many times for alterations, so instead I suggested that we use Basecamp as our project management tool. It's cut down our email time and kept all client services projects in one place." Reiss Hinds bagged a promotion thanks to bright ideas and hard work He continues: "I tried to provide my directors with as much value as possible – no job was too large for me to tackle. When my three months came to an end, I suggested that there was a need in the business for someone to help streamline and execute on brand strategy, for both our clients and for Studio BLUP's brand." His advice? "Find a gap in either the market or in someone else's business that you know you can enhance, and in return you could end up becoming the next big creative in your space." 04. Move client-side Sometimes finding a better job involves playing the long game, as creative entrepreneur Simon Waterfall explains. The former D&AD president first started talking to Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia in 2014. Three years later, it took Waterfall – who's co-founded a number of leading digital studios and consultancies, including Poke, Fray, Social Suicide and Deepend – a total of 29 interviews over six months to land his new job as creative director of Samara, Airbnb's recently launched design and innovation studio. That many interviews might have put off other candidates, but not Waterfall. So why was he so committed to moving client-side at Airbnb? "I was looking for a very simple thing: I wanted to change the world," he explains. "How many places, people or brands can do that? Where are they? What do they do? Have they done it before? When you address these points, there are only a handful of companies – and most are in Silicon Valley," he continues. "Working inside means you're already in charge of the biggest asset: the community and audience you want to change." Simon Waterfall is playing the long game When you're aiming for the stars, like Waterfall, reaching your goals isn't going to happen overnight. He says you have to be prepared to really grind – and advises being patient. "Big dreams need time to solidify," he reasons. And he agrees that the biggest industry threat to designers isn't the likes of Brexit and a flailing economy, but simply sitting still. "It's the tiny, almost unnoticeable threats that are the real killer," he says. "Murder by Powerpoint; death by meetings about meetings. Don't go quiet, my friends: scream into the page and tear it up. Good luck." This article was originally published in issue 275 of Computer Arts, the world's best-selling design magazine. Buy issue 275 here or subscribe to Computer Arts here. Related articles: 5 tips to give you the edge when job hunting How to tailor your portfolio to different jobs 8 tips for coping when you hate your job View the full article

A normal photo is worth 1,000 words, but the advanced editing tools of Photolemur Spectre will leave people speechless. Get this photo editing app, which is enhanced with artificial intelligence to make your pictures pop. You can get a family license on sale for just $19 (approx. £14)! Photolemur Spectre makes it easy to pull out the best elements of all your pictures thanks to its advanced tools that make editing a breeze. This app is the world's first automated photo enhancement tool for Mac. It's powered by artificial intelligence that can analyse a photo and touch it up in a matter of minutes, saving you tonnes of manual labour. This app will work its magic on any photo to make it ready for your to share proudly on social media or frame on your wall. You can get a family license for Photolemur Spectre on sale for just $19 (approx £14). That's a savings of 61% off the retail price for tool that will improve your photos with nothing more than a click, so grab this deal today! About Creative Bloq deals This great deal comes courtesy of the Creative Bloq Deals store – a creative marketplace that's dedicated to ensuring you save money on the items that improve your design life. We all like a special offer or two, particularly with creative tools and design assets often being eye-wateringly expensive. That's why the Creative Bloq Deals store is committed to bringing you useful deals, freebies and giveaways on design assets (logos, templates, icons, fonts, vectors and more), tutorials, e-learning, inspirational items, hardware and more. Every day of the working week we feature a new offer, freebie or contest – if you miss one, you can easily find past deals posts on the Deals Staff author page or Offer tag page. Plus, you can get in touch with any feedback at: deals@creativebloq.com. Related articles: The 13 best photography websites 5 reasons to use photography in your designs 15 ways to improve your photography skills View the full article

In an increasingly connected world, illustration trends can spread globally very quickly. But there are still pockets of location-specific inspiration to be found. One such example is sunny Barcelona. The city that gave birth to OFFF – one of the world's most vibrant design events – boasts as an incredibly bright and dynamic illustration scene. We spoke to several of Barcelona's leading creatives about what makes their city special. Read on to discover five inspiring visual trends... 01. Dynamic eclecticism Illustration for Brigitte Magazine by Finnish-born, Barcelona-based Pietari Posti First on our list is a theme that might initially seem counter-intuitive when discussing trends that draw a scene together. Barcelona has a huge amount of converging influences, with many renowned international illustrators – such as French-born Malika Favre and Finnish-born Pietari Posti – relocating to the city recently. "Lots of upcoming internationally working illustrators want to live and work in Barcelona, both locals and foreigners," confirms Posti, who has worked with Starbucks, Random House, Wired and the Guardian. He calls his adopted home a "big small city". As he explains: "The vibe is relaxed, and the illustration community is friendly and supportive." Marina Capdevila's unmistakable character design work is particularly striking in mural form "Barcelona is a city with a lot of movement, and the illustration reflects that," agrees Barcelona-based illustrator Marina Capdevila, whose clients include Reebok and Estrella Damm. (If you came to this article from our Facebook or Twitter channels, you'll have seen her image, Good Vibes Only, used as the opener.) Barcelona born and bred, Alex Trochut – something of an icon when it come to the city's illustration reputation – is now based in New York, where he misses the Spanish food and sunny weather. From across the Atlantic he draws attention to the vivid colours and organic, rounded shapes that permeate much of the city's illustration output. But he backs up the notion that Barcelona's influx of cultural influences makes it more dynamic. "It's as eclectic as the world," he smiles. 02. Vivid Mediterranean colours One of the most distinctive features of Barcelona's inspiring illustration scene is the rich, vibrant colour palettes. "The Mediterranean feel is something that, in my case, has lured me into making my illustrations full of vivid colours," reflects Lorena G, a graphic designer and illustrator whose clients include Google and Adobe. "You just have to walk around the Barcelona port and see all those colourful nautical signal flags – they caught my eye the very first time I saw them," she enthuses. Ice Cream Melts, by Swedish-born Petra Eriksson, who feels her colour palettes have become brighter since moving to Barcelona Petra Eriksson originally hails from Sweden. She moved to Barcelona after several years in Malta, and a few months in Berlin. "Since moving here, I definitely feel like I've started working with brighter colours," she says. Eriksson's experiences prove your surroundings can have a direct influence on your style. And Veronica Fuerte, co-founder of Hey Studio, agrees. She was born and raised in Barcelona, and describes it as a hub of creativity. "I think the city inspires me to use more colourful colours: bright and fresh," she adds. 03. Playful optimism Brosmind's Juani Mingarro draws attention to Barcelona's optimistic vibe, reflected in the duo's bright character-led work It isn't only colour palettes that are affected by Barcelona's unique creative vibe. For Juani Mingarro, one half of creative duo Brosmind along with his brother Alejandro, the city's "nice weather and great people" influence the creative process too. "We feel a lot of optimism in people’s work here," says Mingarro. "Barcelona is constantly changing – it’s a city of transit that doesn’t keep anything for too long. It’s hard to define, because it's more of a feeling, but there's definitely something in the environment that pushes people to create and share here." This Space Trivia poster, advertising the Google Home Mini, demonstrates Brosmind's cheeky, playful style As siblings, Brosmind grew up together, sharing experiences and influences. "Barcelona was an important part in our development, but we could have ended in the same place if we'd lived in Paris or Tokyo," he reasons. "Creative processes are moulded by individuals based on personal experiences: you need to find a place that makes you feel good and inspired." 04. Illustration meets design Hey Studio's graphic pattern work for Uniqlo shows how the studio straddles illustration and design World-class Barcelona-based design studios such as Hey and Vasava are also notable for their in-house illustration skills. And both demonstrate a fusion of styles and disciplines that's notable across the city. "Barcelona is an open-minded city that has always had a focus on visual arts," reflects Maria Picassó, a "graphic illustrator" with a distinctive vector style of character design. "Since as long as I can remember, top-notch illustrations and graphic design have filled the streets, especially in poster and billboard form." Describing herself as a 'graphic illustrator', Maria Picasso has a distinctive vector caricature style Picassó recalls the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, for which mascot designer Javier Mariscal was a leading proponent of stylised illustration, design and communication working together. "For me, the Barcelona 'vibe' is where illustration joins graphic design to communicate in this very stimulating and inspiring way," she adds. "Sometimes it looks simple, even naive and carefree, but it transmits a lot." 05. Simple but beautiful This 'Six of Diamonds' playing card design by Vasava may be simple, but it's beautifully crafted Petra Eriksson draws attention to an abundance of stylised, graphic pattern work in Barcelona. "If I compare it to Sweden, where I come from, there's a lot more hand-drawn and realistic-looking illustrations," she says. "Here, it's more graphic. I also think there's a level of playfulness in many artworks here that I really enjoy." For Bruno Sellés, founder and creative director of Vasava, the balance between simple ideas and playful, stylish execution encapsulates what Barcelona's illustration scene is all about. Vasava's poster for hip hop producer Just Blaze demonstrates the studio's passion for craft and intricate detail "There's simplicity in composition, but complexity in execution," he argues, making the point that beautiful craft has value in and of itself. "Intricate techniques serve the universal language of images." "Overall, Barcelona's illustration is colourful, vibrant and irreverent," concludes Sellés. "Sometimes it's conceptual, sometimes it's more decorative – but it never leaves you indifferent." Related articles: 7 biggest illustration trends of 2018 5 fascinating stories behind unusual logo designs 3 major visual trends that capture life in 2018 View the full article

Report outlines lucrative rise of nefarious cyrptoming groups and their complex new business models. View the full article

You're reading WebFonts Working Group Announces WOFF 2.0 File Format, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! The WebFonts Working Group has published WOFF 2.0 as a W3C recommendation. According to the WOFF 2.0 Evaluation Report, the new specification provides improved compression and decompression compared to WOFF 1.0. This is achieved by combining a content-aware preprocessing step and improved entropy coding. The preprocessing step removes redundant or duplicate information or any other […] View the full article

Equifax said that an additional 2.4 million Americans have been impacted by a 2017 data breach, bringing the total of those implicated to around 148 million people. View the full article

This week's DDoS attack against GitHub is a harbinger of attacks to come that will use the highly effective memcached amplification technique, say experts. View the full article

If you spend a lot of time working in front of a computer, you'll know how important it is to have the best desk possible for your budget. Anyone who’s sat at an uncomfortable desk all day will know the associated woes. A desk that’s too low or too high can cause you back problems; too much or too little space can hinder the organisation of your creative life. So when it comes to buying a new desk, where do you start? There are a few key factors to bear in mind, and you’ll need to decide which are most important to you. Are you all about ergonomics? Do you want an adjustable desk so you can sit or stand as you work? Is cable management important to you? Overall design? Are you solely basing your decision on price? Or do you just want something with a decent warranty in case something goes wrong? Whatever your requirements and budget, we’ve rounded up five of the best desks of 2018 to help you choose the right desk for you. Proving that simple is usually best, our choice for the best overall desk goes to Opendesk’s Studio Desk. Suitable for both a home office or studio environment, the Studio Desk has neat cable management via a hidden panel inside the leg, which feeds into a discreet removable cable cover in the desk. The unique thing about Opendesk is that you can choose to download the design and make it yourself, if you’re feeling adventurous. Or you can get a quote from a local maker, who will put it together and deliver it direct. Not only are you helping other designers, you also get to feel smug about the fact that your new desk is made from sustainably grown FSC-certified baltic plywood. Other desks in the Opendesk range include collaboration tables, a hot desk and the Lift Standing desk, which, as the name suggests, can be adjusted to become a standing desk. Your posture will likely improve with a standing desk, and if you have a bad back then periods of standing up can be incredibly good for you – but a lot of adjustable desks will set you back a small fortune. As a more affordable option, the Tribesigns Computer Desk gets our vote for best standing desk. It doesn't just look cool – it can also be adjusted to one of seven different height options via locking pins in its legs. It also includes cleverly incorporated shelves that are hidden in the desk’s legs, meaning you can stash all your design books and stationery out of the way. At almost one-and-a-half metres wide, this Tribesigns desk is also large enough to house two monitors, or one monitor and a big sketchbook, although bear in mind that adjusting the desk can be more difficult if you have a lot of heavy stuff on it (another reason why the shelves are useful). This desk is available in black or white, is easy to assemble, and comes with an 18 month guarantee. If you need a brilliant space-saving desk, look no further than John Lewis’ Loft Desk. It's an affordable and handsome solution for anyone looking to save space in their office or studio. The slideable top – which extends from 52cm to 78cm – takes up minimal space when you’re not using it, and the holes in the back mean that cables can be kept neatly tucked away. There’s also a drawer and five cubby holes on top for storing notebooks and stationery. The Loft Desk is available in ash, white or white/ash – we think the combination of the two is the most stylish. Matching cabinets are also available, and John Lewis has a generous two-year warranty period. Note that this desk can be a bit tricky to put together due to its various cubby holes. And at 29kg, it’s also pretty heavy, so your best bet is to enlist some help when assembling it. Another good option for small studios, the Ameriwood Home Haven Retro Desk with Riser is a stylish addition to any room. And it doesn’t scream ‘work desk’, either – which is great if you want it to blend into your bedroom, say. It has two levels – allowing you to have your laptop on the lower level and plants, design books or whatever else keeps you inspired on the top. It doesn’t have any drawers, forcing you to keep things clutter-free, and the thin spindly legs mean you won't be in danger of constantly knocking your knees against them. Make sure you have a flat floor surface though, otherwise it has a tendency to wobble. Overall this desk is quick to put together – it should take around 20 minutes, maximum – and is a solid option that should please anyone looking for an affordable and compact desk that doesn’t scrimp on style. It’s available in four colours – walnut, espresso, sugar pine or weathered oak. We like espresso the best. Most corner desks are hefty, unattractive affairs in heavy dark wood or ugly metal, but this Germania Slide desk provides light relief. Our choice for best corner desk, the workstation houses four cupboards, this desk is ideal for brightening up a forgotten corner of your office or home, as well as hiding clutter. The flexible German design allows you to slide the doors from left to right, and the doors are reversible, so if you get bored of one colour or want to switch to either ‘home’ or ‘work’ mode, you can turn it round to see the other side. The assembly is also ‘reversible’ so you can have this desk in either left or right-hand configuration. The Germania Slide is available in black with reversible oak finish doors, and white, with either oak finish or lime green. We’re not convinced by the green, but both black and white with oak are good options. Liked this? Read these: The best keyboards for designers The best laptops for graphic design Turn your design studio dream into reality View the full article

Part of honing your skills as an artist involves learning how to draw the world around you: animals, people, landscapes and so on. The other part involves getting to grips with art techniques – mastering composition, light, shadow and so on. Creative Bloq regularly invites the industry's most exciting artists to share their best pro drawing techniques here on the site. Elsewhere, you'll find our favourite Photoshop tutorials, Illustrator tutorials and vector art tutorials, as well as painting tips and more. In this article, we bring together a host of fantastic tutorials to help you add more pro art techniques to your creative arsenal – whether you're looking to improve your sketching skills, learn how to add perspective or capture movement. You'll be able to explore some different styles, as well. You'll find a mixture of traditional and digital tutorials below. Regardless of media, each one provides insight into a wide range of different art techniques that can be applied to any art project – so dive in. 01. Sketching techniques 02. Composition techniques 03. Light and shadow 04. Practical effects 05. Workflow and inspiration Related articles: 95 pro tutorials for drawing anything How to draw movement: 16 top tips How to draw hands View the full article

Practically every site now is built with at least a nod to responsive web design. The way we structure these responsive styles has a direct relation to how complex the project will be to maintain and edit in the future as updates are made and the project grows in size. How to get started with Sass Despite this, it seems as though a widely accepted approach for how and where to structure these responsive styles is yet to be adopted consistently by developers. Although nowhere near as bad as 'the old days' of CSS, before preprocessors and naming methodologies, this is causing an inconsistent and often messy approach to structuring the responsive styles for elements. 'The Old Days' To understand the problem we're facing, let's go back to the beginning. One of the reasons that CSS preprocessors such as Sass or LESS were created in the first place is because CSS can get extremely messy and is famously hard to maintain. We used to find that after a while, even small websites had lines upon lines of CSS styles that were left in place just because the developer was unsure if it was required or the remnants of a removed feature or outdated element that could be deleted. Take the following scenario as an example: Although you may think that it is safe to assume the .title element is the title for the .heading element in this context, in fact you can't actually be completely sure that it is not used to style any other title element in the site. Also, where is .title_alt class used and is it still required or in use? You can see how even with such a simple example it can become a time-consuming exercise to check all of this before making changes. Because of this, lots of developers would save time by adding a new class to the element or using a more complex CSS selector to make the changes they desired, which then in turn increased the complexity of the CSS another level for the next time a change was needed. Preprocessors, naming conventions and Modular CSS to the rescue Thanks to the ability to nest styles, use variables, extend other classes and more, preprocessors revolutionised the way that we create and maintain CSS. Unfortunately they don't fully solve the problem of messy, outdated styles that spread and grow throughout a project as it ages like an infection. Along came naming conventions and CSS methodologies such as BEM, which when applied give a much greater level of context to styles. When combined with making variations, modifications and the styles of nested elements self-contained by using CSS Modules, a really strong way to structure your styles was born. Below you can see how these improvements can solve the problems we encountered with our earlier code example: It is instantly clear that the title styles here are specifically contained within the heading element. You can safely remove/edit these without worry of affecting other elements. You can also see that the small title was a variation of the header title but that the alt title style was for another element. In my opinion, when following this combination of structure and naming methodology, it is fairly easy to create clean, easily maintainable CSS styles. Context can quickly be gained and self-contained modules of CSS can be copied and pasted in other projects, or amended and removed with ease. It may seem as though the problem of messy and unmaintainable code was resolved. But as responsive design became more and more relevant, it became apparent that we were repeating many of our mistakes over again and generating badly structured, overly complex approaches to creating responsive websites. Solving this problem is where media query bubbling comes into play. Media query bubbling Thanks to the mentioned improvements in our approach to creating CSS, whenever I inherit or collaborate on a project these days, I rarely experience the dread or concern that I was opening myself up to fall into a fire of specificity hell or structural disorganisation that I used to have in those situations. I now know that I can quickly find and understand relevant classes and styles thanks to naming methodologies and make my changes without unimaginable consequences to other elements, thanks to Modular CSS. Unfortunately one major cause of frustration I encounter is that responsive styles are still inconsistently located throughout the project. They may well be contained within a modular structure and named appropriately in a naming methodology, but project by project I see many different ways that developers choose to include their responsive styles. Some create a separate Sass partial named _mobile.scss or _tablet.scss for example. Some place media queries at the bottom of the relevant file in ascending or descending order and others just place them randomly between styles for other elements. With this approach I find myself tabbing between files and scrolling to the top and bottom of files just to gain a full understanding of one element's styles across different breakpoints. As you can see, there are many problems with this that all combine to cause the developer to spend more time working on changes/amendments than is actually needed. It duplicates styles and makes the process of maintaining and finding all relevant styles for a component harder. You have to look in multiple locations or files to get a complete picture of an element's styles. The element is no longer self-contained. You cannot easily reuse it in another project or confidently delete/amend it without adverse affects or lingering code remaining. For each new project, time is wasted figuring out how that project approaches responsive styles. Switching between projects becomes harder because you have to switch between approaches in your head. This can lead to projects accidentally having a mix of approaches, which again leads to messy CSS. The solution that I like to implement to fix this is called Media Query Bubbling. The simplest way to explain it is to consider media queries to be like any other variation of your modular element. The same as a BEM variation class of .heading__title is .heading__title—variation, for example. This means that the media query should be nested within, just like your modifying classes. See the following code as an example of this: In this example you can clearly see in one location that the background for the header changes to white at 640px or higher. By self-containing the media query along with the element's styles, you have once again created a totally self-contained module that can be reused or edited with confidence. There is no need to cross-check a _mobile.scss file or search the project for other mentions of the class to be sure you have covered all breakpoints. Nested media query bubbling Again, I have seen many variations of how developers choose to structure the responsive styles of their elements. This should be considered no different than styling the parent element and all media queries and styles should be self-contained. See the following example: You can see that the font size for the heading__title gets bigger when the viewport is 640px or bigger and how the smaller variation of the heading title also enlarges but is defined to be smaller than standard. Using this technique, it is very important to apply the BEM methodology strongly to ensure you don't end up nesting several levels deep. For example, ensure that the .heading__title element is a self-contained CSS module that is not needlessly nested within the .heading element. Cleaner responsive styles By taking what we learned from the benefits provided by BEM and Modular CSS and applying it to media queries within the same structure, we stop ourselves from repeating the mistakes of our past. By working with media queries in this way, you don't have to learn a totally new methodology or structure for your styles. We're basically taking the Modular CSS approach and applying it to our media queries, which should feel fairly natural. We're also creating cleaner CSS with less duplication of CSS classes across files and saving development time by removing the need to check multiple locations when making amends. This article was originally published in issue 300 of net, the magazine for professional web designers and developers – offering the latest new web trends, technologies and techniques. Buy issue 300 here or subscribe to net here. Related articles: What is Sass? 8 essential Sass resources to sharpen your skills How to write cleaner CSS and smarter Sass View the full article

Computer games get a bad press – they're blotting paper for time, destructive, bad for the mind and terrible for the creative soul. That's probably true, but only if you're playing the wrong games. 20 best designs in video games Here's our collection of five casual games that will help hone your design skills, and also let you have some fun along the way. 01. Pixactly Put your pixel skills to the test with Pixactly So, you think you're a master pixels pusher? If somebody says: "draw me a box 54 by 35px", could you? Pixactly puts your intuitive feel for pixels and on-screen dimensions to the test by firing out dimensions. You're then challenged to produce rectangles with the requirement measurements. It sounds easy but it's not and if you're your hopeless, the game won't pull its punches! 02. Kern Type Put your kerning skills to the test with this quick-fire game Kern Type is a fiendish game that explores the science – or black art - of kerning. Game play is simple. You're presented with a word whose kerning leaves a little to be desired. Just pick up the letters and sort out their spacing. You'll need a steady hand, a sharp eye and plenty of finesse. Each new round ushers in a different typeface. It's great fun and good practice. 03. Hex Invaders Hex codes meet space invaders in this addictive game The aliens are coming and it's your job to save the world! Hex invaders is a variation of the classic Space Invaders riff. As you play, the game flashes up a colour's hex code and you're tasked with taking aim at the invader whose colour corresponds with the code. The game is fiendishly addictive. 04. The Bézier Game Learn how to use Photoshop's Pen Tool with this gentle game The Bézier Game is slightly more gentle. It's designed to help designers master Photoshop's Pen Tool. As you play, the game displays shapes and you need to redraw them using only the prescribed number of clicks or nodes. As each turn progresses, the shapes become more complex. You'll even be introduced to keyboard shortcuts. 05. I Shot the Serif Take aim on serif fonts with this shooter To be a winner at I Shot The Serif you need to take aim at the serifs and leave the sans typefaces alone. It sounds easy but, given the time constraints, it's surprisingly difficult. If you're a winner, you'd be promoted from junior, through middle-weight and hopefully right up to senior. Related articles: Build your own WebGL physics game Jump-start your inspiration with The Game of Creativity 13 tips for making a VR gaming world View the full article

As a creative professional, the last thing you want is a monitor that can't keep up with your needs. BenQ's PD series monitors are specifically crafted for creatives, with unique features and outstanding colour accuracy designed to enhance your workflow and help you bring your ideas to life. For a taste of some of the technology and features that could revolutionise your workflow, read on. 4K definition and unparalleled colour accuracy For clarity of image, BenQ's monitors are unbeaten. The 4K UHD (3840x2160) resolution reveals the finest of details and depth of textures to help you really make the most of your imagery. This is a real game-changer if you work in animation, visual effects or photography – but even for less visually intensive work, it'll add a new dimension to your work. BenQ’s PD range offers reference-grade colour performance Any designer will know the importance of colour accuracy in a monitor – there's nothing worse than your vision being skewed by a mismatch of pixels. BenQ's PD series monitors offer reference-grade colour performance, and cover 100 per cent of sRGB and Rec.709 colour spaces. The advanced IPS wide viewing angle technology also helps minimises colour shift, so you can have complete confidence in your designs, and know that what you're seeing is also what your client (or final audience) will see. Dedicated modes for different specialisms Different design specialisms require different monitor features. To ensure your monitor is working efficiently for you, PD series monitors come with a range of different modes, tailored to specific design tasks. Fine-tune animation work with incredible precision Animators can switch to a dedicated Animation Mode to enable them to fine-tune their work with exceptional precision. Don't get left in the dark – a wider variety of screen display brightness controls offer maximum control when drawing in ambient lighting. For 3D artists, Darkroom Mode is perfect for post-processing work. The image brightness and contrast are optimised to ensure superb clarity and sharpness of detail when working in darkened post-processing environments. Finally, CAD/CAM mode offers enhanced image contrast ideal for detailed technical illustrations. It ensures the fine lines stand out so you can be confident you have all the information you need. Try BenQ Professional Design monitors BenQ's PD range of monitors has everything you need to enhance your creative workflow and help you bring your ideas to life, just as you imagine them. To find out more, take a look here. View the full article

There's a difference between a design that looks good and a design that looks and feels good to use. Your users want apps and websites that are intuitive and easy to use when they interact with it. Learn how to oversee projects that are total successes with the Become a Senior UX Design Strategist Course. You can get it on sale for just $39 (approx £28). The Senior UX Design Strategist Course is a five-hour crash course that will teach you how to build and execute a successful UX strategy. For anyone interested not just in the art of design but also in the art of project management, this course is a must-have resource. It's the best way to learn the principles of creating engaging and interactive design, from understanding what users want to managing a team that builds those incredible designs. You can get the Senior UX Design Strategist Course on sale right now for just $39 (approx £28). That's a 59% saving off the retail price of $995 for a bundle that will improve your design projects, so grab this deal today. About Creative Bloq deals This great deal comes courtesy of the Creative Bloq Deals store – a creative marketplace that's dedicated to ensuring you save money on the items that improve your design life. We all like a special offer or two, particularly with creative tools and design assets often being eye-wateringly expensive. That's why the Creative Bloq Deals store is committed to bringing you useful deals, freebies and giveaways on design assets (logos, templates, icons, fonts, vectors and more), tutorials, e-learning, inspirational items, hardware and more. Every day of the working week we feature a new offer, freebie or contest – if you miss one, you can easily find past deals posts on the Deals Staff author page or Offer tag page. Plus, you can get in touch with any feedback at: deals@creativebloq.com. Related articles: The theory of UX New skills in UX design 5 steps to diversify your UX design View the full article