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Serif has announced an exciting update to Affinity Photo for iPad, and is marking the occasion by offering new users three bonus content packs when they purchase the app (US$19.99/£19.99). Apple's current App of the Year, Affinity Photo for iPad was designed as the first complete, professional-level photo editing app for iPad, and this revision promises even more powerful features for professional artists and designers. The best iPad deals for designers Version 1.6.7 features a new ‘Solo Layer View’ mode, that enables designers to isolate individual layers instantly, as well as enhancements to the Drag & Drop functions, and a ‘Show Touches’ option that lets you create more detailed screen captures (ideal for tutorials). Designers will also now be able to add their own fonts. There are exciting changes for photographers too. Users will now be able to shoot direct in RAW or HDR directly from within the app, and enjoy greater control over RAW processing. Finally, there are tweaks that promise to streamline your workflow – for example, users will be able to open and edit files in place directly from the iOS Files app, and save overwrites back to the same location (without needing to create a copy). This is Affinity Photo for iPad's third major update since it launched in June 2017. “Affinity Photo was created to take full advantage of the amazing technology the latest iPads offer, and our developers continue to work tirelessly to cement its reputation as the benchmark for creative apps on iOS,” comments Serif's MD Ashley Hewson. Free brush packs To celebrate the update, Serif is offering free goodies when users purchase Affinity Photo for iPad (offer ends 8 March). Along with the app, customers will get a Luminance brush pack (13 light effect brushes), a Retouch brush pack (20 retouching brushes) and a Live Filters macro pack (28 non-destructive live filter layers). Together, these packs are worth almost as much as the app itself. Existing users can claim the free update by following the prompts in the app. To find out more, see this blog post. Read more: How to draw with Affinity Photo for iPad 9 iPad Pro apps that make the most of Apple Pencil How to draw: 95 pro tutorials and tips View the full article

"The future, always so clear to me, had become like a black highway at night. We were in uncharted territory now, making up history as we went along." Thus spoke Sarah Connor at the end of Terminator 2. But these prophetic words could just as easily apply to the state of the web industry today. The future of web apps With new techniques, technologies and movements constantly arriving on the scene, our sense of where things are going is more uncertain than ever. And so we wanted to investigate what the landscape of web design might look like in another 20 years or so. But don't expect to hear from self-styled 'futurists' and 'thought-leaders' who spend more of their working days giving TED talks and writing Medium posts than actually sitting down and designing. Instead, we've reached out to some professionals who are doing real-world work, to get a more grounded view of how they think things might progress. Here's what they had to say… Developer tools will change the game Pusher's developer tools make it easy to build realtime features into your applications As we move towards the mid-21st century, it's indisputable that web design is going to become increasingly important. As people live more and more of their lives online, digital user experiences will be the rock on which almost every big organisation is built. But there's one slight problem. "There's a demand for good software but broadly speaking, there aren't enough good developers to build those things," says Craig Frost, designer at Pusher. "And even if there were, infrastructure is something that takes lots and lots of time and attention – time that could be better spent on building features for customers." But here's the good news: to plug that gap, we're currently seeing an explosion in developer tools. Pusher's tools, for example, make it easy to build real-time features into applications, so they update automatically without users having to refresh the browser. "We want to act as a force multiplier, to help end the reinventing of the wheel across the industry," explains Frost. "There's lots of infrastructure and all those types of things that goes into building software, and we want to take that burden away from the product building teams." Sebastian Witalec, developer advocate for mobility developer relations at Progress, tells a similar story. Its open source framework, NativeScript, enables you to build both desktop and mobile applications on a single codebase. "Once you would have needed five different teams to do that, each with skills that are totally untransferable," he points out. "Now you can leverage the web skills you already have to do it all." Progress' open source framework, NativeScript, enables you to build desktop and mobile apps on a single codebase And the trend for redefining how web systems are created is most obviously (and somewhat) controversially seen in the rise of React and CSS in JavaScript. "CSS in JavaScript is a big shift in how we design apps," says Haukur Páll Hallvarðsson, an engineer from Pusher. "It's stepping away from the idea that HTML is content, CSS is how it looks and JavaScript is what it does." But he's still fully in favour of it. "Focusing on building reusable components solves a lot of problems," he argues. "I think it's good to change how we do things every now and then, to see if we can improve them." And the pay-off to all this is that web experiences will become quicker and cheaper to create, adds Frost. "Building websites used to be slow, expensive, and hard to maintain. And it also meant you had to have a lot of skills, a lot of people. Now we're putting the power back into the product builders' hands. Which means you can spend less time maintaining these applications, more on customer needs. Having conversations with them, building things they need." And how should we discover what users need? Funnily enough, that's something that's changing too… Data meets design Fjord believes the future of web design lies at the intersection between data and design The future is going to be all about bringing design and data together, believes Nathan Shetterley from global design and innovation company, Fjord. "I think this will be the underpinning of not just all web design, but all business," he says. So what exactly does he mean by that? "I'm talking about designing an experience that's helpful to the user and leverages data and analytics to make that personalised and contextualised," he says. "So don't give me an experience that's meant for someone else; don't treat me like a 'between 25 and 40-year-old white male'. Treat me like Nathan Shetterley." This already happens with ads, he points out. "Google is crawling my Gmail to understand what I'm interested in and providing me with an ad specific to something that I probably have some interest in. But we don't do it very well outside of ads." Yet the technology infrastructure is there, so in his view, it's just a matter of time. And this shift isn't just going to apply to consumer experiences, but employee ones, too. "How frustrated are you, say, with your internal tools for putting in expenses?" he asks. "Why doesn't the system automatically say: 'Look, I think these are all your expenses, is that true?' And why is that not making your life as an employee that much better? I think that's going to become very pervasive over the next 10 years." There's a simple way to get on board with this shift in approach, he adds. "Right now, when people start a project they say: 'Okay: design lead, you go over there and do your service design thing. Data lead, you go over there and look at these numbers. And we'll meet back in a couple of weeks and talk. But I think that's a big mistake." Instead, designers and data scientists should be peers in the same team, bashing ideas out together. "At Fjord, we've found some of the most valuable opportunities for design come when our designers interview a bunch of people and they have these really interesting insights into how they think and feel," he explains. "And then we compare that to a data set." For instance, they once researched shoppers in a grocery store. "They all said: 'The line is terrible, I can't believe we're waiting so long in line.'" When Fjord analysed the security videos, though, it realised the queuing time was quite short: around 45 seconds. "Yet shoppers were spending an hour and a half in the store, trying to find whatever they were looking for. So we realised it was actually more of a wayfinding issue than a line issue." In other words, while the human thinks one thing, the data often says something different. "The truth may lie somewhere in the middle and that's where you get some interesting design features," explains Shetterley. "Apply that to the web, and you find that people tend to remember the last worst experience, yet don't necessarily bring up the small annoyances that go on forever. But you can track those using data, so mixing those two together becomes really valuable." Conversational interfaces Sigma has been investigating the possibilities of conversational interfaces, and it has some reservations over the practicalities Understanding how your users think and what they need is going to be key to knowing how to implement new technologies. And that certainly applies to another major cultural shift on the web; towards conversational interfaces. Because the biggest problems here won't be technical ones, they'll be human ones. UX and design agency Sigma has been investigating the possibilities for some of its larger clients. "And a lot of the challenges we've seen around conversational interfaces align very closely with the challenges around inclusive design: mental models, language, confidence trust, and so on," reveals head of experience, Chris Bush. His MD, Hilary Stephenson, points out that conversation interfaces fundamentally change the game in a way we haven't really seen before in web design. "It's a big step moving away from a traditional screen-based interface, where people can take their time to navigate around and look at supporting information, policies, terms and conditions," she explains. "When you've got a screen, you've got something that's giving you cues constantly and keeping you on track, but for conversational interfaces, it's all in your head. That makes exploratory investigation much more difficult for people," she concludes. That's not to say there isn't a genuine place in the market for them. "For example, consider places where people are using their hands a lot, such as production lines, manufacturing and laboratories," says Bush. "Interfaces that allow people to keep their hands occupied when they're interacting with systems offer clear advantages." But many dangers are lurking, too: "AI and machine learning have more ground to cover in ethics, privacy and transparency than they have in implementation," comments Stephenson. "The onset of the General Data Protection Regulation (an EU directive that becomes enforceable in May 2018) will encourage privacy for design in the digital community, where we really start to think about what we're asking people. "And where we do ask people to give data, there should be a very clear policy of usage, on retention, on people's right to withdraw that data. It's quite hard to do that in a conversational interface." Web animation Creative marketing agency, CAB Studios, is fully on board with the new trend for bringing in UI animations If chatbots take off, copywriting skills may become as important to the industry as visual design skills are right now. And here's another creative skill that's going to be increasingly in demand: animation. Yes, we once dismissed UI animations as tacky, annoying and obtrusive. But recently they've made a comeback, as a useful way to provide instant feedback when a user takes an action and to guide them through a process. Why the turnaround? Tommy Mason, web designer at creative marketing agency CAB Studios, credits Google's Material Design and other animation frameworks for raising standards. "Without that, people weren't looking at the small intricacies like the timing, how fast it was coming in, going out, so all these movements that were happening on the screen looked very unnatural," he says. His colleague, senior developer Mike Burgess, agrees. "UI animation has always been there," he says. "But it's been about finding the balance between making it look sophisticated and making the user know their input has been registered, that they're progressing throughout the site." Because of the new popularity of UI animation, it is creating a new demand for skilled practitioners, he adds. "You can now specialise in animation on the web, and it's becoming more recognised as an art in itself. We live in a digital world where people scroll through 300ft of content a day, so the more and more we progress in technology, the more this is going to keep escalating." VR and AR A-Frame is an open source framework from Mozilla that makes it easy to create web VR experiences Another skillset that's increasingly in demand by web design studios is 3D. That's most obviously the case when it comes to virtual reality - something Matthew Claypotch, developer advocate at Mozilla, believes is going to be a very big deal. "Some developers view VR as a niche or a fad," he says. "But I've given virtual reality demos to children, and they take to it like water. All these kids are going to be brought up in a world where this stuff exists, and we'd be fooling ourselves to think that they won't expect that going forward." And don't discount augmented reality (AR) either. It may have taken a while, but with the arrival of Apple's ARKit and Google's ARCore, things are progressing fast. Sebastian Witalec of Progress envisages a world in which the web will become part of our day-to-day vision. VR: is it the future of design? "You won't have a screen any more, the web will just be part of what you see through your smart glasses or smart contact lenses," he explains. "So for example, you go to Waterloo train station and, rather than look at all the different screens to find your train, your device already knows where you are going and shows just the relevant times to you." Jim Bowes, CEO and founder of digital agency Manifesto, wasn't convinced by the possibilities of AR until recently, when he saw a concept for Airbnb homes suggested by interface designer, Isil Uzum. "If you need to explain, for example, how your thermostat works, your renter can pass their phone in front of it and see the relevant information overlaid on the screen. That to me sounds like a genuinely useful application of AR," explains Bowes. Open or proprietary? Will Google Home beat Amazon Echo in the battle for voice assistants? All these new technologies hold heaps of promise. But it's important, too, to take a step back and look at the broader picture. Will the open web actually survive over the coming decades? "We're currently seeing the emergence of a walled garden movement from some of the main players, like Facebook and Google," points out Bowes. And this is proving somewhat of a dilemma for clients. "On the one hand, most of their customer journeys still happen on their own websites. But they want to integrate with things like accelerated mobile pages (AMP), which gives Google the ability to cache everybody's content on their own systems. "Plus clients are asking: what does it mean if we create a bot entirely in Facebook Messenger? What if we want to break someone out of that environment and make them download this thing, or donate to us, or buy from our shop? These are real big issues we have to face." But Bowes is among the optimists when it comes to the survival of the open web. "What I love about the internet is that whenever someone makes a move towards a walled garden approach, there's always a bit of an uprising, a punk backlash against it," he believes. "That's when we'll create the cool new things we don't know about yet." As one of the key players leading that charge, Mozilla has, for example, developed A-Frame, an easy way to create virtual experiences on the web, and right now, it's taking on Amazon Echo and Google Home in the voice assistance space. Mozilla's Common Voice project aims to provide an open source alternative to proprietary voice interfaces "We want to allow for an open web-based system whereby you can build voice assistants," explains Matthew Claypotch. "So we're building an open commons of voice data called the Common Voice Project, which we're using to train an open and publicly available speech recognition model." It's this kind of community-led enthusiasm for new, open source developer tools that gives us hope for the future of web design. So count us among the optimists; roll on 2040! 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: 5 expert ReactJS tips that you need to know today The VR web is here 7 game-changing web design tools for 2018 View the full article

Your clothes and shoes could soon be made from seaweed. That’s if AlgiKnit, a biomaterials research group based in New York, has anything to do with it. AlgiKnit is devoted to developing wearable textiles from readily abundant biopolymers. Fashion is the world’s second most polluting industry, says fashion design graduate Aleksandra Gosiewski, who’s a co-founder of AlgiKnit and speaker at Design Indaba 2018. AlgiKnit’s goal is to keep fashion products out of landfill and reduce microplastic pollution by creating a sustainable alternative to manmade textiles like polyester. The team has produced a rapidly renewing biodegradable yarn that might just do the job... and it's made from kelp. The AlgiKnit bioyarn is different to synthetic material, and has a lot of natural stretch In fact, they’ve done more than make a bioyarn: they’ve also made a shoe. Introducing AlgiKicks – a revolutionary sustainable sneaker that rapidly degrades after the product has finished its useful lifetime. When you no longer want the shoe, it can effectively be composted and fed back into the earth “When it’s worn out, or you don’t want it, it can be broken down by microorganism and the nutrients reclaimed to feed the next generation of product,” says Gosiewski. “I envision a future where the materials we use can be transformed to feed the next generation of products." Knitting a new future So why kelp? “Kelp is one of the fastest growing organisms on earth,” she explains. It’s available globally and sourced sustainably and there’s a lot around.” AlgiKnit’s bioyarn project was initially part of an entry for the Biodesign Challenge, a competition that invites art and design students to envision future applications of biotechnology. Gosiewski’s team won the competition, and the group decided to continue their research under the name AlgiKnit. “If clothing is going to continue to be disposable, why not make it disposable in a way that makes sense – that actually benefits the earth? In way that has a positive impact instead of a negative impact? It takes longer to create a mind shift, so why not first create an alternative that already fits into the same mindset?” she says. “This is a first step to something else.” The main problem, says Gosiewski, is that people try to compare the product to synthetic materials. “Really it’s its own category: it’s something different. It has natural stretch and flexibility, and when you’re knitting you can really control the amount of material you use.” “We see our material beyond just fashion,” she adds. “There are more possibilities. We developed the yarn – we’re excited to see what people make with it.” Related articles: 10 pro tips for creating better T-shirt designs How to create an industry-leading brand in six months Design Indaba 2018: Building outspoken landscapes View the full article

Rebranding a global giant like Fanta, across all languages and territories, would be a major task for most large agencies. For Koto, it was one of the first jobs on the slate – and the studio rose to the challenge, putting it firmly on the radar of its peers. Koto was founded in 2015 by James Greenfield, Jowey Roden (both formerly at DesignStudio) and Caroline Matthews (former MD at Rupert Ray and Airside, where she worked with Greenfield). "We realised there weren't many people working at the intersection of brand and product," explains Greenfield, who headed up the major Airbnb rebrand while at DesignStudio. Diet Coke rebrands with slimline cans "We particularly serve the start-up scene, Silicon Valley, places where a lot of interesting things are happening from a business point of view. That's been the basis of our growth." Beside this practical reason for founding Koto, the trio also had an emotional one: "We wanted to create a family environment where people feel comfortable," adds Greenfield. "Branding can have an aggressive, male tendency at times. We wanted to create a buzz around ourselves, but in a way that everyone had a good time doing it." Here, Greenfield and recently hired creative director Tim Williams – another DesignStudio alumnus – discuss the studio's rise to fame... You burst onto the scene and built a reputation quite quickly. What's the secret? Tim Williams: There's a real sense of energy, reflected in who we work with: young businesses with a lot of energy too. The effort everyone puts in is enormous, and we reflect that in our culture. Our success has happened quite organically; I don't think there's any particular secret. We do the best work possible, and work really closely with our clients to make sure everything is delivered to the highest possible standard. James Greenfield: Anthony Burrill said it better than I could: 'Work Hard and Be Nice to People'. But we also manage our social reputation, using Instagram to give people a sense of what it's like to work here. When I've gone for jobs at other agencies, there's been no sense of that. I saw the work, their About page, that was it. You had no sense of the cast of characters, or what it feels like. We wanted to be more open. Koto's breakthrough project, the global Fanta rebrand, was based on a series of overlaid paper-cut shapes How do you handle Koto's social media? JG: We don't like marketing meetings. Some agencies are guilty of 'over meeting', if that's a word. If something feels like it might be good to share with the outside world at that moment in time, one of us gets our phones out. We don't do a glut of content, or try to be overly strategic. The best social media people get engagement because they are showing something of their authentic selves. We don't have new business teams, or social media marketing managers. You just don't need them. If we can't explain who we are as individuals on social media and as a team, then we're probably not doing a very good job. James Greenfield worked on the major rebrand of Airbnb while executive creative director at DesignStudio, and continues to work with the brand on a variety of projects at Koto. You say Koto's values drive your daily behaviours, what do you mean by that? JG: We came up with our values on the roof of the Tate Modern, when Koto was five or six people. We said: 'What do you want to be?' and 45 minutes later ended up with three composite values [presented online as: 'Uncompromising Positivity'; 'Just Cadence', or the need for rhythm in the creative process; and 'Relentless Hustle']. If we have that moment where the chips are down, or we're up against it and someone's come back with some really negative feedback, our values help us get us back up. Whether that's about being optimistic, or realising that relentless hussle is required to get through it. With the old model of design, you got the brief and all the content, and then you were a conduit to communicate that to the world. Those days are gone. We rarely get a brief. We rarely have all the information at the beginning. Those values have to help us get younger staff, or those who are stuck on something, to refind their love for what they're doing, or get a breakthrough. TW: It's not something you need to explain to everyone. They're implicit. You don't need to keep repeating them; they're a reflection of who we are. JG: Yeah, they're not written on the walls. But we're an optimistic brand, and we think it's better to map those on our website than have a long, dry bit of text giving a potted history of the founders. Agency websites are like Tinder. Clients are short of time, and want to work with someone. No one comes with unlimited time and money: the website should get them excited about working with us, but is never a replacement for meeting face-to-face. Let's have a coffee, talk about what you're facing, and how we can help. Koto's rebrand of Bridge Theatre, London's first new commercial theatre for 50 years You talk about the 'beginner's mind' as an important starting point – what is this? JG: It's about being open to stuff. As you go further through your career, you create more elastic responses to stuff. We're used to that in our everyday lives: 'I've seen this situation before, I've had this experience...' and you shortcut to the answer. If we did that, we'd end up in a situation where a finance client always gets blue, and a corporate typeface, and a vision that's about trust or safety. But if you use the beginner's mind, it's an open book. TW: It's about not jumping to conclusions. JG: Cynicism and scepticism are two traits that a lot of creatives hold. We hold our heroes and our tenets in creativity really high, and if people don't understand those, they're not in the club. They don't 'get' it. For us, it's about getting on the same level. Everything we know about creating, the reference points we've pulled together throughout our life, don't set us apart. Our job is to get them excited in the power of design, to make a change in their business. TW: Also, a lot of the businesses we work with are quite complex. We are beginners, and our clients are the experts – we need to learn from them; immerse ourselves in their culture. The Fanta logo was translated into multiple languages, and the studio also created a diverse range of fruit illustrations to represent Fanta's many flavours What advice would you give to fellow studios starting up to make a name for themselves? JG: Hire people better than you. Creatives often struggle with that, because they don't want to be outshone. They've got their own vulnerabilities. Half the people at Koto, maybe more, are way better at design than I am – and that's good. Also, when starting a studio, know when to let go. Creatives are really bad for that: making sure the kitchen's right, or the stationery is as you want it. You end up with creative inertia. If you want to get out of the blocks, you have to let go of some of it – otherwise you'll end up in a bottleneck, where you're the stopper. This article was originally published in issue 274 of Computer Arts, the global design magazine – helping you solve daily design challenges with insights, advice and inspiration. Buy issue 274 here or subscribe to Computer Arts here. Related articles: 5 ways to create better brand imagery When to use humour in branding 7 things to consider when planning a rebrand View the full article

Video editing is a great skill to have, especially in this new media environment where visuals are needed to catch people's attention. Adobe Premiere Pro CC is the tool trusted by professionals, and you can become one with the Adobe Premiere Pro CC Masterclass, on sale right now for just $21 (approx. £15)! Adobe Premiere Pro CC is the tool video editing pros trust the most. The best way to learn this tool is to go hands on, and this comprehensive course will help you get to work with this powerful video editing application. You'll find 59 lectures and over 5.5 hours of actionable lessons, that will help you pick up skills that will look great on your resume, or just help you put together some great videos for family and friends. The Adobe Premier Pro CC Masterclass usually retails for $200. You can get it on sale right now for just $21 (approx. £15). That's a savings of 89% off the retail price for a course that will have you editing video like an expert! 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 best computers for video editing 2018 The best video editing software 2018 5 best laptops for video editing 2018 View the full article

A fractal is a complex mathematical equation or sequence that produces geometric patterns which can be zoomed into infinitely and will still produce the same picture. Basically. There are naturally-occurring fractal shapes in everything from fern leaves to galaxy formations, and their link to chaos theory has meant fractals are a fascination of those seeking some kind of meaning to the universe. Back on Earth, fractals' beauty and infinite repetition means that some artists have been inspired to create experimental design work. Here, we've picked eight amazing examples of fractal art to inspire you. 01. Emergence Inspired by a trip to Chiang Mai in Thailand, this short by Julius Horsthuis cleverly combines pairs of different fractal techniques to create weird and eerie landscapes that mix dense vegetation with huge, intricate structures. If you're interested in creating your own fractal imagery, he's also created handful of videos explaining his processes. 02. Fragments of Creation James Alan Smith's fractal art is created using his own tools Artist and musician James Alan Smith has been building and programming computers since the age of 7, and as well as creating award-winning software packages, he also uses his own custom code - along with standard graphic art packages - to create fractal and geometric artwork. 03. Hal Tenny This amazing 3D illustration redefines what you can do with fractals Fractal art doesn't necessarily have to mean abstract and psychedelic. This piece by Hal Tenny, entitled New Time Machine, was created using Mandelbulb 3D, a free application for creating detailed 3D fractal renders with an incredible assortment of imaging effects, and it was the winner of the Fractal Forums 2016 Fractal Art Competition. 04. Dr-Pen Polished Rainbow Bands is a gleaming example of 3D fractals An art hobbyist and curator for Society6, Dr-Pen has been creating 3D fractal images for over four years. We love the vivid colours and clean lines of Polished Rainbow Bands, which he created using Mandelbulb 3D and then edited in Photoshop. Check out his DeviantArt gallery for a dazzling collection of his fractal work. 05. Fleur D'apo It's easy to get lost in this mesmerizing fractal artwork This entrancing and colourful piece of fractal art is the creation of a Canadian DeviantArt illustrator by the name of mynameishalo (or, to use his account name, Jeff). Made with an apophymator script, this explosive and stunning image is available to buy as a hi-res print. What's more, if you're looking for artistic tips from this fractal fiend, head over to his DeviantArt page to find an in depth apophymator tutorial. 06. Water Lilies We love the colour used in Roger Johnston's fractal art pieces These fractal flames were created by Roger Johnston and are an "extension of the iterated function system class of fractals". Johnston has been creating fractal art for years and stands as one of the most impressive and unique creators in the field. We love his gorgeous use of colour and intricate details. 07. Jorge Abalo The surreal offerings of Jorge Abalo's fractal art is a marvel Jorge Abalo is a self-taught artist who has been making art for as long as he can remember. He began working in digital art in the 1990s, and did comic illustration, design, 3D modelling, and flame fractals (Apophysis) before being introduced to Mandelbulb 3D in 2011. His work is a surreal and beautiful take on fractal art. 08. The Manhattan Project Jacob Ankey's fractal art is hugely inspired by nature Californian DeviantArt illustrator Jacob Ankney creates some pretty incredible fractal art designs. We adore his take on nature and his ability to incorporate the fractal art style into flowers, trees and more. The colours and texture create a feeling of awe and what's more, you can buy the prints! Contributions: Jim McCauley Related articles: Discover these mind bending examples of trompe l'oeil Get to grips with the golden ratio in this easy guide The beginner's guide to flat design View the full article

Using Dome lights has been one of the greatest advancements in CGI creation over the past few decades. Bathing a scene from every direction used to be computationally intensive, but with advances in both hardware and software, the Dome light has emerged as an efficient way to start lighting a scene. This is because a Dome light can embed an Image-Based Light Image (IBL, also known as HDRIs) which are a single image of a real environment or one created by an artist, which when mapped into a dome light instantly re-creates the lighting environment. These images are usually saved in a 32-bit format, which captures nearly the full range of available light and allows lighting to be created with a rolling falloff and no ugly clipping or banding. While there are applications that can create IBLs, there are countless images available which re-create everything from a rocky vista to a photography studio. Dome lights are highly computationally efficient, which means it can be a good idea to use a spherical camera in an existing scene to create an HDRI map of the background. You can place that in a version scene which creates no loss of light fidelity, but allows the artist to concentrate on the primary geometry with little or no slowdown. The biggest caveat with using Dome lights is that they solve so many problems that it can be easy to neglect other light types. This can be a mistake, as adding extra light to highlight key objects will always make a scene feel more alive than just using a Dome light. 01. What is a Dome light? A Dome light in its simplest form is a light object that surrounds the scene in a constant white light from all directions. As soon as a Dome light (Skydome or Environment are other commonly used terms) is placed it creates an instantly pleasing soft ‘studio’ look, which would be hard to re-create with any other type of single light object. Be warned that not all applications show the Dome light as a visible object, especially when it is for a third-party render solution. 02. Colour a dome light While Dome lights are most commonly associated as a base for image-based light sources, this doesn’t mean that there aren’t other ways to light a scene with them. One of the easiest and most powerful ways for a creative effect is to use a ramp or gradient texture to feed in a range of colours into the Dome light to produce a more interesting look. As the Dome light is a physical object in the scene it can be rotated to easily adjust the look you are after. 03. Use image-based lighting Using an image with a Dome light is a really effective way to add a much more realistic look to a scene. High Dynamic Range images which contain a full 32 bits of colour data are the best format to use with a Dome light, as they allow exposure to be adjusted without any clipping. Otherwise, the coloured areas in an image can either go to white or black as there is not enough colour data, which can in turn create some ugly, unwanted image artefacts. 04. Eliminate the background While many HDR images come with additional background images, it is still a good idea to ensure that the HDR is invisible to the alpha channel and potentially to the camera itself. This means that the Dome light is only lighting the geometry and creating interesting reflections rather than getting in the way where it is not needed, such as skies. Also, not having the background enabled can save on render speed, as the computer only needs to render the areas that are visible. More from Mike Griggs at Vertex Vertex is the event connecting all areas of the UK visual effects community, for a day of presentations, workshops, recruitment and discussion. Not only will Mike be there, guiding you through the fundamentals of 3D, but there will be a large group of speakers discussing all manner of topics related to VFX and CG. Come to watch talks by some of the world's biggest names in VFX, including Scott Ross, Chris Nichols, Sébastien Deguy and more. Book tickets for workshops run by top artists, from Mike Griggs to Glen Southern, among others. If you want to get your hands on the very latest tech, then the expo access tickets are for you and are even free, but you do need to register, so book now over at the Vertex site. Related articles: Learn to animate for kids The ethics of digital humans Scott Ross at Vertex View the full article

Google Project Zero researchers are warning of two critical remote code vulnerabilities in popular versions of uTorrent's web-based BitTorrent client and its uTorrent Classic desktop client. View the full article

Intel has issued a firmware fix to help its Kaby Lake, Coffee Lake and Skylake processors address the Spectre security flaw. View the full article

If you want to run a... View the full article

Typesetting – the business of putting text on a page – is one of those design disciplines that might look straightforward enough to the casual observer, but which is actually full of potential pitfalls. There's more to it than choosing a decent font pairing and hoping for the best. The secrets of typesetting Bad typesetting can be just as hard on the eye as an ill-considered palette or a poorly-executed logo design, and there's no way around it: you have to take your time learning the basics. If you follow these expert tips, though, you should find that the path to typesetting expertise becomes much easier to follow. 01. Take your time "Getting typesetting right is something that will largely come with time," says Michelle Stocks of Nelson Bostock Unlimited. "So just keep practising, and don't get put off when it doesn't look good immediately. I recommend looking at a lot of inspiration too, because it helps you get an idea of what works well together." 02. Keep studying "First you need to learn the tools: font size, leading, tracking, horizontal and vertical scaling, paragraph styling, language settings and grid systems," says Maya Walters of Hogarth Worldwide. "Then you need to extend your knowledge: there's always something new to learn. Read a book on typography and set challenges for yourself to put your new skills into practice, such as working on a personal project." 03. Read books For reading matter, Luke Tonge of LIFE suggests Type Matters! by Jim Williams and Thinking with Type by Ellen Lupton. And if you really want to treat yourself, he adds, The Visual History of Type by Paul McNeil is "the best book on type this year". 04. Use online resources "There are countless online resources to help you improve your skills too," says Tonge. "They include ilovetypography.com, typographher.com, letterformarchive.org, typewolf.com and fontsinuse.com. Plus, on Twitter there are heaps of amazing foundries, magazines, designers, publications and organisations to follow, to further immerse yourself in the world of type." 05. Clients come first "Above all, find out about the client's needs when it comes to typesetting," says Walters. "Do they have guidelines and styles? If so, they should be made a prime consideration for the typography you create." This article was originally published in issue 274 of Computer Arts, the global design magazine. Buy issue 274 here or subscribe to Computer Arts here. Related articles: 10 pretty fonts to glam up your projects The rules of responsive web typography 14 best-practice rules for striking editorial design View the full article

This is the second generation of Microsoft’s Surface Book family, which slots in above the 2-in-1 Surface Pro and ultraportable Surface Laptop in Microsoft’s Surface line-up. The first-generation Surface Book was well received as a genuinely powerful alternative to the MacBook Pro. For creatives it brings a party trick; the entire screen is detachable, so it can be used with the Surface Pen for artwork, note-taking, annotating and much more. In a sense, it takes the concept of a convertible laptop as far as it can go. Naturally, as it’s from Microsoft, everything about Surface Book 2 has been designed to showcase the very best of Windows. If you don’t think you will have a use for the tablet portion of Surface Book 2, then take a look at Surface Laptop (or, indeed, the equivalent 13 or 15-inch MacBook Pro). If you’re not going to use it, you’ll be paying dear for something you simply won’t need. In a sense, the cheaper Surface Laptop has freed Surface Book 2 from having to be Microsoft’s premium laptop offering. Because Surface Book 2 is so much more than a mere laptop; it is designed as a do-anything machine with both ultimate versatility and swashbuckling power. We’ll discuss price in more detail shortly, but one thing the Surface Book 2 isn’t is cheap. It has premium pricing to reflect its high-end specs. That aforementioned tablet runs on Intel graphics, but when you dock it back into the keyboard slice things get a power up with extra battery life and immense dedicated Nvidia graphics power (depending on which model you buy). The 13-inch version of the Surface Book 2 has been out for a few months now, but it has recently been joined by a 15-inch version. Yes, it really does give you a detachable 15-inch tablet. If you’re thinking of getting that version, we’d recommend checking it out in a store first as the tablet seems huge in the hand and you ought to make sure it’s really what you want. It is, however, simply fantastic sketching on it with the Surface Pen. Now, neither of these laptops are super thin or light (the 13.5-inch version starts at around 1.5kg, for example), so if supreme portability is your thing then look elsewhere. The weight has decreased since the original Surface Book – which weighed in at around 2kg - one of the key differences between the old and new models. The 13.5-inch version measures 312mm x 232mm x 13mm (at its thinnest part) and is slightly thinner than its predecessor. But it still feels bulky compared to many thin and light laptops and the super-thin MacBook Pro. At 15mm it may be slightly thicker than the Surface Book 2 is at its thinnest point, but while the MacBook Pro is uniform throughout, the Surface Book 2’s whopping 'fulcrum hinge' means it's much thicker at that point. This unusual thickness does mean it can be a pain to fit it into some laptop bags, even if the bag is designed to take laptops with that particular screen size. The fulcrum hinge gives great flexibility, but does add bulk However, the hinge does enable tremendous flexibility since you can poise the display at any angle. You can even attach the screen backwards using the keyboard part as a stand, for example for a presentation or to watch video content. Microsoft says it has made some improvements to the ‘muscle wire’ mechanism this time around. The screen detaches with a satisfying click and is activated via a key on the keyboard or taskbar button. It is possible to attach the screen backwards for presentations Another major difference is that the basic version of the laptop – the Core i5 version - now features fanless cooling for quiet operation. However, the lack of dedicated graphics means this isn't perhaps the best version for designers. The Core i7 versions, including each of the 15-inch variants, still need fans due to the greater power consumption. Creative at its heart Microsoft has made no secret of the fact it is targeting creatives who have been traditional Apple customers. There’s no doubt that as far as touchscreens and styluses go, Apple has put all its eggs in the iPad Pro basket - and a mighty fine job it’s doing there, too. As you’ll know, they’re hands down our favourite tablets. But the fact remains that however much Apple pitches the iPad Pro as a computer, it just isn’t a Mac running full-fat desktop apps. And, of course, full-fat desktop apps also happens to be what Windows 10 does rather well. Windows 10 is a very good operating system. 'The best Windows yet' is a cliché, but it also happens to be true - it’s robust and flexible. The Microsoft Store remains a problem, however. There still aren’t enough decent native apps and everything feels half a decade out of date. It’s just as well that Windows is so well supported by traditional desktop apps. Tablet Mode offers a simpler interface designed for touch and pen The Surface Book 2 also happens to be the best Windows 10 tablet around. Because it is the screen part of the laptop, Microsoft has had to make it extremely thin and light. Windows 10 in Tablet Mode isn’t as intuitive as iOS, but it is a great compromise between a traditional desktop experience and using a tablet and pen. You can choose whether Windows 10’s Tablet Mode invokes automatically when you detach the tablet; it’s a simpler interface designed for touch and pen. Surface Book 2 pricing As we mentioned, Surface Book 2 is a high-end offering and has a price tag to match. The base-level Surface Book 2 13.5-inch model gives you a 7th Generation Intel Core i5 CPU, 8GB RAM, 256GB and integrated GPU for £1,499 (or $1,499 USD, around AU$2,600). If you’re thinking that price point isn’t so bad, you’d be right. Unfortunately that version doesn’t include the dedicated Nvidia graphics that we’d bet you’ll need. For the next level up you’ll need to hand over a not-inconsiderable $500 more. You’ll get an Nvidia GTX 1050 GPU with 2GB GDDR5 memory for $1,999 or £1,999 (around AU$3,400). Surface Book 2 is a high-end offering, so you'll need to shell out a fair about for one Further up, the Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD and Nvidia GTX 1050 GPU configuration costs £2,499 or $2,499 (around AU$4,300). Finally, the top specification features Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD and GTX 1050 for £2,999 or $2,999 (around AU$5,200). The available Surface Book 2 15-inch models are: Intel Core i7, 16GB memory, 512GB storage, dedicated Nvidia graphics for £2,749 or $2,899, or with 1TB of storage for £3,149 or $3,299. Wowee. Coincidentally, there’s also a 256GB version of the 15-inch for $2,499 in the US. If you’re considering the Surface Precision Mouse, it’s a great option but it is expensive at £99/$99 and other mice – like Logitech’s Master 2S – are similarly priced and offer just as much (see our guide to the best mouse of 2018 for more information). Microsoft’s mouse does offer Bluetooth and wired connections for ultimate flexibility. Surface Book 2 display and Surface Pen The 3,000 x 2,000 267ppi screen looks super thanks to a 1600:1 contrast ratio that makes colours really pop. The 3:2 aspect ratio won’t be to everyone’s liking, but it does mean you can comfortably work on side-by-side documents, which you don’t get with the 16:9 screens on many ultraportables. As with the Google Pixelbook and Pixelbook Pen, Microsoft also charges an extra £99/$99 for the Surface Pen stylus. That’s right, it isn’t included! As it’s a core part of the appeal of Surface Book for designers, it feels like a sting in the tail and it should really be thrown in for that price. Thankfully, using Surface Pen is a joy (it’s great using the features of Windows Ink to mark up documents) and we prefer the design of it to the Apple Pencil, which is too glossy and slippy for our liking. Those used to drawing with a Wacom tablet will find no issue in adapting. We’ve used the Surface Dial accessory a few times and, while it’s certainly more suited to Surface Studio, it can be useful on Surface Book 2, of course. We do feel it’s more geared to those using a computer for long periods at a desk; if you do that using a Surface Book 2, we reckon you’d probably plug it into an eternal display. Surface Book 2 performance and power As we mentioned, the keyboard base gives the device a significant power-up when the tablet is docked; the Nvidia dedicated graphics are in the base while you get Intel integrated graphics inside the tablet part for when it is undocked. If you detach while using a graphics-intensive app, you will be warned that performance could be affected. Talking of performance, it isn’t an issue for any model of the Surface Book 2 with the dedicated Nvidia graphics; they simply have too much on offer in terms of processor power and graphical prowess. You’ll get several hours of standard use out of the tablet part of the Surface Book 2 (so, maybe enough for a morning). You're also able to charge it separately to the main keyboard dock, and there's an extra battery housed in the keyboard base. In terms of overall battery life, Microsoft cites 17 hours. That’s a bit too high in our experience, but we’ve certainly achieved 12-hour intensive days. If you’re only using documents, for example, you’ll be looking at more than that. Microsoft has given us USB-C on the side of the laptop, plus two older ports Microsoft’s Surface keyboards have always been some of the best around and that’s reflected here. It’s certainly a lot less clicky than the latest generation of MacBook Pro keyboards, and there’s plenty of key travel. The trackpad is also smooth and responsive. Unlike the original Surface Book, Microsoft has finally given us USB-C on the side of the laptop, even if it hasn’t gone cold turkey on USB-A like Apple; there are still two older ports as well. There’s also an increasingly-rare full-size SD card reader, which is great for photographers. If you want a productivity powerhouse AND an excellent tablet/pen experience then you can do no better than Surface Book 2 in a single device. It’s a fantastically well-designed, premium notebook that’s great for creatives, especially considering the new features of the Fall Creators Update, such as Windows Mixed Reality. But it’s not the right option if you want just a traditional clamshell laptop. View the full article

You're reading Design Tips for Mobile Checkout Screens, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! Designing your site for a better conversion rate is a guaranteed way to increase sales. But you also need to consider general UX principles for your online shop, and this goes double for mobile users. The majority of Internet traffic is now dominated by mobile. In 2017 the estimated total for mobile users across the whole Internet […] View the full article

Yesterday saw the launch of a new logo for the long-running science fiction series, Doctor Who. Replacing a chunky metallic logo which was unveiled in 2009, the new logo design was announced in a tantalising teaser video (below) which hinted at other changes on the way for the show. The new Doctor Who logo is the latest radical change for the series. Last year it was announced that Jodie Whittaker would become the first female actor to play the lead role, and behind the scenes there has been an overhaul, too. And while fans have to wait until October until Doctor Who returns to our screens, the new logo has whetted our appetites in the meantime. Returning to a glowing orange colour scheme that was last seen in the show's 2005 logo, the new design has a line motif running through the lettering. In the promotional clip, we see that this line is a trail left by the Doctor's time machine. It's a clever way of suggesting how the character can pop up and disappear wherever she wants, plus it's a unique stylistic twist that helps the branding to stand out from other sci-fi and fantasy titles. This isn't the first Doctor Who logo in 2018 to grab the imagination of fans. Back in January graphic designer Jake Johnstone fooled Twitter with a fake Doctor Who logo, before coming clean and admitting that it was just a piece of concept work that he had made. Johnstone's design featured a pairing of the Gotham font with a slightly modified Josefin Sans. Meanwhile the official BBC logo appears to have gone for a tweaked version of Futura Light, according to the research of dedicated fans. As well as revealing the new logo, the short promotional clip also includes a glimpse at the new visual effects we can expect from the upcoming series. These VFX are being handled by Double Negative, whose previous credits include Interstellar, Blade Runner 2049 and Ex Machina. Related articles: Dedicated fan identifies every Doctor Who typeface Fans welcome new Doctor Who with amazing art 18 ways Doctor Who can make you a better designer View the full article

Over the past year we’ve seen a lot of growth and new trends in the world of web design. In this article, I'll be focusing on website navigation, and the patterns web designers have been adopting to help people find their way around their sites. These nav trends all work well for a variety of types of sites, and responsive web design across different screen shapes and sizes, so there’s a lot of variety here to pull ideas for your next design project. 01. Sticky navbars The sticky navbar here resizes itself on scroll, so as not to intrude on the content Navigation is designed to help users get from point A to all other points on a site. And keeping the nav menu in a fixed place enables users to navigate the site from anywhere on the page. Many websites 'stick' their main navigation to the top of the screen as the user scrolls down to explore content. This has become easier thanks to CSS and jQuery plugins and many website themes now come with a sticky navbar as the default, and this trend is showing no signs on going anywhere. Consistent navigation and usability are both important, but the fixed navbar is also handy for mobile users, where the site is naturally longer and thinner. How should you use it? If you have a site with lots of navigation items then it’s a good idea to keep it fixed. It’s a surefire way to keep visitors on the site for longer and increase total pageviews. However, make sure the navbar doesn’t take up too much space. It shouldn’t be so large that it blocks major portions of the page content. The site for US Magazine gets around this issue by resizing having its navigation bar shrink in size as the user scrolls down, making it less intrusive. As long as the user can still consume the page content they’ll probably benefit from a universally accessible fixed navigation. 02. Mega menus Hidden behind It's Nice That's hamburger menu is a wealth of options The mega menu has been popularised with the increase of magazine-style blogs. They differ from normal drop-downs because instead of just flowing down vertically these mega menus expand wider, usually containing multiple columns of content. This technique works well if used judiciously but it’s not great for every site. In fact it’s really only useful if you have enough content to justify a mega menu. Why use them? Visitors can get a sense of your blog or website by skimming through related content. If you can provide more content in a mega menu then why not? This trend does not work on mobile, since there’s no room on the screen. But plenty of people still browse the web on desktops and laptops so there’s a wide audience out there in support of the mega menu. 03. Universal navigation A universal navigation appears throughout Disney’s website offering links to related products and theme parks Some companies work with or own multiple brands, and include a universal navigation across an entire website. Disney for example owns theme parks, creates games, and produces movies along with TV shows. It makes sense to keep this universal navigation on every page, regardless of brand, to draw attention to other Disney products. And this trend isn’t exclusive to conglomerates or holding companies. It is sometimes used on networks of websites, such as those owned by New York Media. Another good example is in the header of Mashable, which links out to all the brand's international sites. Why use this? If you’re working with a larger network of products or brands then it can be helpful to link them all together in order to create a coherent brand identity. A universal navigation can drive visitors across the whole network to help cross-pollinate different audiences. 04. Vertical sliding navigation AWARD uses vertical navigation merged with the hamburger sliding door trend Increasing numbers of websites are adopting the vertical navigation trend, and when it works it really works well. It's particularly popular on portfolios or creative agencies that push the boundaries of traditional web design. The example above from AWARD is a fantastic case of using the vertical navigation while keeping it visible at all times. Icons link from the side so you can click an icon instead of the hamburger icon. It’s an experimental approach to navigation design but it can work on creative-oriented websites. Why use this? Only try this technique if you’re going for a fullscreen layout that moves away from a traditional grid design. A working vertical navigation isn’t easy to create from scratch, and it's tricky to get it working in responsive designs. However if you’re curious to experiment and willing to try new ideas then vertical navs can be a refreshing twist. 05. Globally hidden menus Computerworld keeps its navigation tucked away behind a hamburger icon Every web designer should know about hamburger icons and their use in responsive design. But as people become more familiar with the hamburger icon and what it means, more and more sites are keeping the navigation hidden from view at all times. This may seem strange because it doesn’t help the visitor find links quickly. However it does clear up space on the screen by removing the navigation from sight. There have been various studies that indicate most users struggle with hidden menus. But this trend may be changing with more people using smartphones and growing familiar with the hamburger icon’s significance. Why use them? The best case scenario for a globally hidden menu is with a tech-savvy audience. These visitors recognise the hamburger icon and they know it means 'click here for menu'. So if you’re designing a tech blog or creating a B2B digital agency then this can work. But if not, think long and hard before you take this approach, and make sure you're not sacrificing usability in favour of style. 06. Responsive subnav menus Politico’s slideout responsive sub-menus, visible to mobile users When designing a website, there’s no way to avoid dealing with mobile navigation. It’s popular and it’s here to stay. Designers will often hide some navigation links on mobile to help the menu fit better on small screens. But many sites are following a new trend of keeping all navigation items by using drop-down menus. This usually requires a hamburger nav with toggle icons for link drop-downs. You’ll only see this technique on mobile screens or in small browser windows. For example, Politico's mobile site uses small plus signs (+) to indicate a sub-menu beside each link. Why use them? Visitors should have access to browse your entire website regardless of what device they’re using. By keeping the sub-menus in place you can offer better opportunities for visitors to browse around. Just make sure that each sub-menu is clearly denoted with an icon, colour change, or something visual. Visitors should know if clicking/tapping a link opens a menu or brings them to a new page. 07. Top story carousels The New York Times uses a thumbnail gallery at the top of every post This trend is becoming more popular on blogs and high-volume news sites. Many of these larger sites can publish dozens – if not hundreds – of new articles every day. Adding a simple carousel to the top of the page offers visitors a chance to check out the latest articles. These stories can be curated or updated dynamically, and they can be styled with thumbnails or whatever you like. You can see another example on basically any Vogue article. Why use them? If you’re designing a blog with high volume content then this trend can do wonders for the user experience. Visitors can find out about recent stories and it’ll increase the average total time on site by encouraging visitors to explore more than one story per visit. Most blogs that publish lots of content want to increase visitor retention and the article carousel is a great way to do this. 08. Table of contents The Ahrefs blog sometimes offers users fixed 'quick links' within posts Google seems to love longform content and it’s driving writers to publish lengthier guides on practically everything. This works great for web content but it can muddy the reading experience. To simplify things, I’ve noticed more table of contents boxes being added into longer articles with defined sections. The most notable example is Wikipedia, which has been using a ToC since its inception. Why use them? The biggest reason to use a table of contents is to improve the user experience. Longer articles are becoming the norm and it can be intimidating to land on a 5,000+ word article. A ToC reduces that intimidation factor. They’re also useful in SERP rankings, since Google can offer jump links based on a table of contents. This is a win-win approach. 09. All-caps corner links Notarize uses small all-caps lettering for links that blend naturally into the header This is a subtle navigation trend but it’s been spreading rapidly over the past few years. It seems like every startup and professional business uses the all-caps text style to create a navigation that feels intuitive and symmetrical. These navs usually follow very similar styles: All caps Small lettering Sans-serif fonts Extra horizontal spacing White or very light hue Whenever I see a navigation like this it’s almost a welcoming occurrence. This design trend has become the signature style for a clean, crisp, and professional-looking navigation. Why use them? An all-caps navigation menu just looks professional; it’s subtle yet noticeable and it gives off a sense of trust to the user. If you’re designing a startup or corporate website then this trend is probably the best design style to follow for your navigation. Be wary though: you don't want to end up with a site that's soulless or looks identical to everyone else's. 10. Single page dot navigation Gumtree uses the single page dots but doesn’t rely on fixed scrolling The rise of single-page websites has driven many new trends into the limelight. One of these is dot navigation: a series of circular icons located on the left or right side of the screen. Each of these dots represents a different section of the site. And since the layout is one long page, these links are highlighted to indicate the user’s current position. I really like the ingenuity of this trend, but there is a question mark over if people understand what these dots stand for or how to use them. Why use this? If you’re designing a single page layout then I’d recommend using a sticky navbar at the top of the page. This makes it easier to see what each slide represents and what sort of information is on the page. But if you can’t (or don’t want to) use a top navigation then these dot features are the next best thing. Or even better: combine both! It’s possible to have a top nav with text links and include dot navigation icons too. Or even include text beside the dots. There are lots of options to choose from, and they can all work well. Related articles: The best colour tools for web designers How responsive web design changed the world New skills in UX design View the full article

In some professions, the shape and structure of your whole career is mapped out in fine detail from the start. You start by taking an accredited course, gaining specific qualifications and then moving up the ladder of clearly defined job titles and standard salary increments. Web design, though, offers none of that rigid structure, regularity or certainty. In an industry where the entire nature of what you do can change in a matter of months, there’s nothing predictable about where you’ll be in five years’ time. It’s no surprise, then, that when I asked on Twitter, “Have you always seen a clear path to career advancement, or has it been random and chaotic?” web designers responded overwhelmingly: ‘The latter’. “When I started, UX didn’t exist, Flash was still a thing and web design was one person writing code in a dark room ,” pointed out Clara Ilena, digital art director at MRM McCann. “As one conference speaker said, ‘If you don’t like changes, you need to get out of the industry  ’,” noted Sergei Golubev, founder of The UX Conference. “Things change every day.” But while web design may lack the clear, predictable career structure of other professions, that doesn’t mean it isn’t important to put some thought into how you want your career to go. In this article, we speak to designers at different levels of the industry, to find out what worked for them, and how we can learn from their example. In-house or freelance? One of the biggest decisions you have to make throughout your career is whether to stick to a salaried role or go freelance. There’s no right or wrong answer here, but the kind of people who tend to write blog posts, give talks at conferences and pen articles for net magazine tend to be freelance, entrepreneurial types. So it’s easy to get the impression that this is the only route to career success. Don’t discount the benefits a ‘proper job’ at an established company can offer That’s certainly not the case, though. And if you dig a little deeper you’ll find countless examples of web designers who’ve carved out fulfilling and well-rewarded careers within a company structure. Take Paul Stanton, who’s been working as senior UI and UX developer for the software platform Jadu since 2012. Early in his career, he appreciated the freedom to experiment that freelance life offers, he says. “But right now, my full-time job scratches all itches that I have. So I feel less of a need to work in my own time, and all the creative energy, all the things I want to experiment with, I can focus that on the products I work on in my day job.” As long as he’s learning new things and finding work challenging and enjoyable, he reasons, then why change the status quo? That’s exactly why he stayed in his previous job, at University of Leeds, for four and a half years. “Then a point came where I felt like I’d reached the limits of what I was learning, ” he recalls. “I’d worked on a lot of high-profile projects but they were becoming the same project over and over again. I’d do one faculty website and move on to the next. I wasn’t solving new problems. And so you look for that new challenge.” I’ve always wanted to work on something I feel passionate about, to feel that the thing I’m working on has value Paul Stanton In short, to Stanton, career progression is about focusing on the kind of work you want to do. Get that right, and the salary, job titles and everything else will follow. “Personally, I’ve always wanted to work on something that I enjoy and that I feel passionate about, to feel that the thing that I’m working on has value, ” he explains. “I guess that’s why I’ve not jumped about from job to job, I’ve worked long stints for a couple of different places, mainly because I wanted to do something that I really enjoy.” And the good news is, it’s the kind of attitude that recruiters admire. As Jim Bowes, CEO and founder of London digital agency Manifesto, says: “Whether we’re hiring someone straight out of college or someone at leadership level, one thread is continuous: what we’re looking for is a real passion." Generalist or specialist? A passion for what, though? Which brings us to the issue of whether to be a generalist or a specialist. The number of different specialisms in web design is increasing rapidly: whereas once it was just a choice between visual design and coding, there’s now frontend and backend development, interaction design, UX design, content strategy, not to mention a constant stream of new technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality and conversational interfaces. Bowes reckons, though, that you can still be a generalist if that’s what you want. But you do need to tailor your expectations of who’s going to employ you accordingly. “For example, when we were a much smaller business, having multi-skilled people was super-useful, ” Bowes recalls. “It meant we could be much more flexible in the day-to-day business of getting stuff done for clients. However, as a business you get to the levels of, say, 30 people, you start to compete with real specialists. So you do end up needing people with a greater depth of skill once you get to a certain size. For example, we have a principal UX consultant here with 12 years’ research experience. That enables us to take the level of our work to a new level.” Whether you’re a generalist or specialist, one thing’s for sure: you can never rest on your laurels. As Andy Thomas, UI/web designer and developer at BookNet Canada, says: “Everything you’re learning now will be obsolete in a few years. So you need to keep learning new things if you want to succeed throughout your career.” It’s important to do things outside of work ... It’s about branching out and getting new ideas. What you have a passion for will determine what routes your career goes down Tom Jones, Sum.Agency Of course, if you’re in a full-time job, you’ll be learning new things all the time. But Tom Jones at London’s Sum.Agency reckons that’s not enough. “I feel it’s important to do things outside of work as well, ” he says. “For example, I want to move into mobile apps, so when I’m outside of the office, I’ll research that myself. It’s about branching out and getting new ideas. What you have a passion for will determine what routes your career goes down.” That’s not always easy. “It really does get hard, because you go to work and you’re working on a computer all day, ” Jones admits. “And the last thing you want to do when you get home is do the same. But you’ve just got to find that passion for it. You need your downtime, of course, but if you enjoy something, you’ll still find the time to do it on the side.” His colleague, Adam Brook, concurs. “I never really saw web design and development as a job; it’s always been a hobby for me ,” he says. “It’s always been nice to sit down and do something not only that I’m good at but what I enjoy doing, so to expand on these skills and really develop it in your own time isn’t really a problem.” Impressing prospective employers Whether you want promotion within your existing role or a new job with a different company, employers are looking for a mixture of passion and ability. So what’s the best way to show them you have both of those things? Sometimes you might be lucky enough to get by on a good CV and covering letter, says Bowes. “It often depends on how much we need people at a given time ,” he says. “So if someone sends a CV with a couple of good links and a nice covering letter, and we happen to be searching for someone, they might have luck on their side and just hit that moment.” But that approach of applying for a job formally is more of an exception than a norm. Getting a job in web design is as much about what’s known as ‘cultural fit’ as skills and ability – that is, they work effectively with the team that's already in place. This means knowing how to network, and getting out there and interacting with people is vital if you want to land your dream job. Being able to network – online or in person – is essential Ellis Rogers, a graphic and web designer at Milton Keynes agency Receptional, got both his current and previous jobs this way. “I’ve always been quite network focused ,” he says. “So my current job I got through networking on LinkedIn. And my previous employers I met when I had an exhibition at Glasgow University. They came to speak to me, were shocked that someone with a background in graphic design wanted to do web design, and ate me up.” Similarly, Keren Lerner, founder and MD of London web design agency Top Left Design, met a recent hire at a Christmas party. “We were chatting and she said: ‘I’m just looking for a company that will really teach me and be patient. I might take a while, but I don’t need to be paid a lot while I’m learning.’ So that kind of attitude really impressed me.” If you’re not uber-confident socially, though, there are other ways to get noticed and impress employers with your passion and commitment. Bowes’ team, for example, is highly active on the open source communities around the specific programming languages, tools and frameworks they’re interested in. “Ideally I’d like to plan six months ahead who I’d like to join Manifesto ,” Bowes says. “And so if we can identify who those people are ahead of time, or even know where they’re going to come from – a meetup group or something like that – then that’s definitely something that we look to. “We also host our own open-source sprints, where people who work in WordPress, Joomla and Drupal are all coming together to do fixes and eat pizza and that kind of stuff. Plus we run a visual content meetup, which is all about cool new visual creative and motion content ideas that we see. And through that we build up a network of people that you know. In an industry that’s never short of meetups, conferences or open-source projects to get into, there’s no excuse not to get involved in things that can help you meet the right people “If we’re looking for someone junior or middle-ranking, we’ll be looking at people who attend and take part; if we’re looking for someone senior, we’ll be looking for someone that runs one of them, or speaks at them.” In short, in an industry that’s never short of meetups, conferences, online groups or open-source projects to get into, there’s no excuse not to get involved in things that can help you meet the right people and boost your career. But be warned: employers will be checking your social media channels to check that you’re as passionate and committed as you claim. “If we’re interested in someone, we’ll check out their channels to see if they talk about design or code, show their interest in it ,” says Lerner. “Businesses like to see that in young talent: someone who seems to like it so much, they’re willing to share thoughts about it on social media. And we appreciate they’re able to understand they’re marketing themselves as well.” Building your portfolio Although in-person or online networking will help you get your foot in the door, it won’t always get you all the way. There will usually be some kind of formal application process to go through, too, especially in larger companies. And it’s at this stage that the quality of your portfolio becomes all important. Speak to any employer in the industry and two things quickly become clear. The first is that spelling and grammar mistakes will damage your prospect enormously. That might seem obvious, but so many web designers fall down in this area, even at senior levels, that it’s constantly commented on by recruiters. So always get everything checked, double-checked and triple-checked by a reliable friend or colleague. In your portfolio, home in on what you're good at rather than trying too hard to impress Secondly, curating your projects carefully, and only selecting the most impressive work, is all important. In the real world, no-one has much time to spend looking at your portfolio, so it needs to be snappy and to-the-point. As Tim Smith, principal of design at digital project studio Ustwo, explains: “I often find it difficult to get what I need from the portfolio. I want to know what sort of work you’re into and what kind of person you are. But some portfolios make it difficult to do that, often because of designer ego – where they’re trying too hard to be visual and impress. I’d prefer it, though, if they made it easy and quick for me just to understand what I’m interested in; what work you do and who you are.” Nailing the interview Also be aware that when it comes to the interview, you’ll be expected to discuss that work in detail. So ensure you’re not making claims you can’t back up, and if a project took place a long time ago, refresh yourself on the details beforehand. “Whether it’s a GitHub profile or a portfolio, we’ll always want to see examples of the work ,” says Stanton. “Even if it’s not anything that’s deployed in production, or still active, we like to see the thought process behind it. Being able to reference material like that will give us a load of talking points in the interview, and we may end up focusing on a specific project. “It’s important to get a good sense of the level of involvement a specific person had – whether it was a solo project or if they worked as part of a team. If it was a team, we’ll need to understand their remit and how they integrated with other parts of an organisation.” If you’re at the very start of your career, of course, then building a portfolio for showing work is hard because you won’t have much in the way to put in it. If you're in such a position, take a look at our article on how to start building up your design portfolio. There are plenty of places you can learn new skills online Alternatively, Stanton has some advice. “There are plenty of online coding courses like CodeAcademy or Udemy, where you can go through the process and get certificates for the skills that you learn ,” he explains. “Certainly if you’re looking for a junior level position, I want to see someone who’s taken the initiative to go through the process of getting these online qualifications and learning the skills. If they don’t have a portfolio or an active GitHub profile we can see, it still shows that they have a certain level of skill and are willing to learn.” This article was originally published in issue 299 of net, the world's best-selling magazine for web designers and developers. Buy it here or subscribe. Read more: The art of going freelance 8 tips to ace tech job interviews How to land your first digital job View the full article

Adobe's applications are the gold standard for photo editing and more. To be the best artist you can, you need to know how to make the most out of these powerful tools. You can learn how with the Ultimate Adobe Photo Editing Bundle, on sale now for just $19 (approx. £14) thanks to a special price drop! Whether you’re a designer looking to pick up some time-saving tricks for the apps you use most or a creative person hoping to learn how to turn your hobby into a career, you’ll find the information you need in the Ultimate Adobe Photo Editing Bundle. This collection of 8 courses will help you gain a better understanding of fundamentals and can work your way up through the 41 hours of instruction on the most useful features of Photoshop and Lightroom--including layers, filters, and much more. A lifetime membership to the Ultimate Adobe Photo Editing Bundle usually retails for $566. Right now, you can get it on sale for just $19 (approx. £14) thanks to a special price drop. It’s an unbeatable price for in-depth courses, so grab it while you can! 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 best Adobe deals for February 2018 Adobe’s new Photoshop CC tool detects objects in a click 60 amazing Adobe Illustrator tutorials View the full article

Having a well-designed letterhead can really help sell your talents as a creative. Whether for your mail-outs, covering letters to accompany your design portfolio, invoices or other uses, branding your stationery will grab the receiver's attention as soon as they open the envelope. A beautiful, memorable bespoke letterhead design is a great way to enhance your brand and showcase your design skills at the same time. So if you want to create your own but need a little inspiration, we've selected 14 beautiful examples of letterhead designs to help you stand out from the crowd. 01. Musto B&B Elegant gold and pink adds class to this accommodation's stationery Lorenzo Rocco is the designer behind this beautiful foil blocked letterhead for Musto, a bed and breakfast in the centre of Naples, Italy. The gold runs throughout the whole logo design and brand identity, conveying elegance and understated Italian style. 02. École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs An art and design university should have well designed print materials, and we love this letterhead for the École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, France. Created by Atelier trois, the fresh yellow and blue colour scheme runs throughout the school's branding design. 03. Ted Perez & Associates This letterhead design mixes typography to create a beautiful design There's nothing quite like a bit of beautiful type to get some attention, which is the focus of this letterhead design for Ted Perez & Associates. Created by Alex Rinker, the design mixes a bold, shadowed sans serif with a vintage-style script font to create an eye-catching piece. The best free fonts for designers 04. Pixelflix The Pixelflix branding evolves from chaos into order Australian agency A Friend of Mine created an identity package for Pixelflix, a digital production and editing company, including an eye-catching embossed letterhead. The idea of the branding is to reflect the nature of Pixelflix's work: taking an assortment of confusing and out-of-context scenes, and rearranging them into a coherent whole. 05. Modhouse Modhouse's grid-based system is dynamic and flexible Another letterhead from A Friend of Mine – this time for Modhouse, which builds modular homes for people who want a quality, contemporary, sustainable home in a short timeframe. The grid-based identity system allows modules to be flexibly arranged in dynamic layouts to best suit the given content and context, and the bold typography and varied palette reflects the Scandinavian style of Modhouse homes. 06. Bronx Zoo Caroline Madigan's letterhead features sounds of zoo animals printed in beautiful typefaces Created by designer Caroline Madigan, the concept behind this design was to capture the interactive nature of a trip to the Bronx Zoo for both children and adults. The letterhead 'speaks' to the recipient with sounds of the zoo animals printed beautifully with a selection of different fonts. 07. Bittersuite South African communications agency Bittersuite knows the power of a well-designed letterhead The Bittersuite logo itself is a beautifully designed ambigram – a graphic that spells out a word not only in its original form but also in another direction or orientation. Featured prominently on the letterhead, the design also incorporates a playful concept where a simple fold in the top corner creates another illustration 08. SHE SHE stands tall and prominent on these beautiful letterheads SHE (Sustainable Health Enterprises) is a New York-based organisation whose mission is to improve the quality of life for women and girls in developing countries. The team at Blok Design in Toronto, Canada, came up with these gorgeous letterhead designs, where SHE stands tall at the top of the page, emphasised by a bold underscore and varied colour palette. 09. Wine Concepts The Wine Concepts letterhead features overprinted wine splatters When multidisciplinary creative agency Hunt&Co was asked to develop a new identity and branding for Melbourne-based wine consultant Wine Concepts, it came up with this simple but effective design. The logo represents a stylised wine label and (our favourite bit) features overprinted wine drops to reinforce the brand and emphasise the product. 10. One Flew South This gorgeous letterhead design represents the stylish restaurant One Flew South perfectly Graphic designer Alvin Diec is the man behind this cool letterhead and branding concept for restaurant and sushi bar One Flew South. Located in Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson airport, Diec worked with the brand's original patriotic colours, resulting in this sophisticated design. 11. Musica Beautiful, detailed black and white illustrations feature on music retail group Musica's letters OK, so technically this is a letter-footer rather than a letterhead, we know but with such a gorgeous design we decided to ignore that technicality. Musica is the largest music retail group in South Africa. And the job of developing a rebrand fell at the feet of graphic design agency Studio Botes, which used detailed black and white illustrations to depict the world of Musica. 12. Dylan's Barbershop You'd be in no doubt who this letter came from with this design by Lizzy Green We love this obvious but brilliant comb letterhead design for a startup barbershop in Portland, Oregon. Graphic designer for Nike Sportwear, Lizzy Green, came up with the concept for this eye-catching identity. 13. Best Men's Ties Promoting fine neckwear, this elegant design captures the Best Men's Ties brand perfectly This elegant, stylish design for high quality tie retailer Best Men's Ties was created by Croatian design studio Cipmann. The brief was to create a 'visual identity that will communicate elegance and style to men who enjoy fine neckwear'. And this classy design does just that. 14. Absurd Machine This brilliant letterhead was designed by New York-based Jessica Benz This vibrant letterhead for music and video production company Absurd Machine leaves you in no doubt as to who you're receiving a letter from. The clever concept by graphic designer Jessica Benz features vinyl records and film rolls in an eye-catching design, which surrounds the company name. Related articles: Build a better personal brand 25 logo design tips from the experts The best laptops for graphic design View the full article

The latest issue of 3D World is out now, and it's packed with pages of 3D and VFX tips and tutorials, tool tests and pro insights. Not only does the new issue of 3D World reveal the secrets behind the art of title sequences, but we also bring you a tutorial on creating your own Hairy monster as seen on the cover, answer your CG questions in our Q&A section, review the latest gear and delve into the latest releases, to inform your buying decisions! Buy issue 232 of 3D World now Tanya Combrinck explores the latest trends and techniques behind the mysterious art of the title sequence, looking at 'Jessica Jones' and 'Anne with an E', among others. Learn how to intepret a brief to produce your own, with insights into the thought processes of the best out there. Maya Hair Two of the artists from world famous the Mill NYC, delve into a recent project to show you how to make the most of Maya's hair tools, to create a giant furry monster. Follow along with the in-depth step by step tutorial. 3dsMax modeling tips Max expert, Simon Edwards, brings you a collection of top tips for working on modeling projects. His industry experience has given him many insights into best working practices, which he now hands on to you. Carboard VR If you've ever wanted to dabble with virtual reality but have been put off by the price then this is the training for you. Oscar Juarez, takes you through his process for developing a 3d archviz scene, for experiencing with carboard VR, google's cheaper alternative to the more expensive HMDs. Q and A section Our regular Q and A section is back, as always, answering your questions and helping you to overcome any issues you might be having with your projects. View the full article

When you need to decide between photography and illustration in your design work, sometimes the choice isn't clear cut. Both have their pros and cons creatively; vary in the costs, time and resources required; and can also communicate your message in very different ways, whether abstract and conceptual, or realistic and literal. To help you make the right decision, read on for our five reasons to choose photography over illustration for your next design project... 01. You're looking for realism An illustration of a juicy steak will never make your mouth water in the same way Consider the ultimate goal of your design, and how you need to depict the central subject. If it's realism and accuracy you're after, then photography is usually the best course of action. In editorial work, investigative photojournalism and news reporting is an obvious example where authenticity is essential. But it's also important for brand imagery relating to food, for instance, where the goal is show mouth-watering produce to whet customers' appetites; or for a sports brand that's presenting a gritty, urban image. If you're trying to stimulate people's wildest imaginations, visualise something abstract and intangible, or show them a stylised, interpretative version of reality, you probably want illustration. That said, an edgy and experimental photoshoot could also work wonders for these purposes – it all depends on your personal style. 02. You're showing something specific When it comes to celebrity endorsements, a close-cropped photograph can be highly arresting Photography is best if you need to depict someone or something faithfully as part of your design – such as an interview subject, a product or a location. Whether you shoot this yourself or rely on stock imagery, depends on access as well as budget. Exclusive photography of a well-known celebrity as part of an all-access editorial interview will add a significant amount of value, but if said celebrity is featured in a news piece, a decent stock photo would be a much more appropriate use of money. If that same celebrity is endorsing a product or service as part of an ad campaign, a bespoke shoot becomes invaluable to the client as it emphasises that association much more effectively than a supplied headshot on the back of the pack. For the product itself, whether it's shown in an online shop, brochure or catalogue, people are likely to want an accurate representation of what they're buying rather than a stylised illustration of it. However, these could be used to supplement the product shot – to demonstrate how it works, for instance. Location imagery depends largely on the context. A travel brochure will sell a particular destination more effectively with a photograph, but budgets may dictate that a stock image takes precedence over a bespoke shoot. Or to capture a more general look and feel of a country or culture, illustration may work better. 03. You're looking for wow factor National Geographic is famous for its breathtaking use of photography If the context is appropriate, a killer 'hero' photograph can have huge visual impact, whether it's splashed across a billboard, filling a website landing page or full-bleed across a double-page spread in print. Photography can draw you into a scene and evoke a powerful emotional response as it's much closer to a real sensory experience than an illustration. As a designer, this may mean the content has to play second fiddle to a hero image to avoid fighting for attention. A subtler background image may be a better choice if the copy needs to take centre stage. Whether you're art directing an amazing shoot yourself, or searching for that killer shot in a stock image library, make sure there's a meaningful connection to the content in question. This could be literal, or more abstract, if a campaign is designed to evoke a particular emotion for instance – like happiness, or ambition. When working with stunning hero photography, be flexible and let the images dictate the design direction where appropriate rather than squandering their potential by forcing them into unsuitably rigid templates. 04. You need a visual metaphor Visual metaphors don't have to be cheesy: this stunning photo from Getty Images is a case in point Whether it's for a website, a brochure or an ad campaign, sometimes a visual metaphor is the best way to get your point across – and this is where quality stock photography can really come into its own. One classic example is using a photograph of a road to symbolise a journey. A straight and clear route has the opposite visual impact, and significance, to one that's steep, winding or full of obstacles. Another is a shot of the horizon to symbolise the future: compare the effect of a breathtaking vista at sunrise, to that of a troubled, stormy sky. An annual report design might feature sprinters on a running track to symbolise a company striving to finish first, or a summiting mountain-climber to express progress and achievement. Be careful here, as visual metaphors – while powerful in the right hands – can quickly descend into cliche if you're not careful. The quality of the image, as well as the accompanying design and copywriting, can make the difference between inspiring and insipid. Make an effort to think creatively rather than falling back on tired tropes. 05. You can afford to do it properly A studio photoshoot may be worth the investment Commissioning photography can be an expensive business, and there may be costs involved that a freelance illustrator working alone at their Mac is very unlikely to incur. As well as the photographer's time, depending on the nature of your shoot these could include studio hire, set design, travel costs, location fees, models, and potentially additional people such as assistants, stylists, make-up and so on. But if it's the right tool for the job, and you art direct it carefully to suit your needs, a bespoke photoshoot can be a great use of your budget. Just make sure you do it for the right reasons, such as those listed above – stock imagery could do the job just as well in some cases, or there may be more effective ways to spend your client's cash. Read more: How to use images more effectively in editorial design Art and design movements you should know 7 biggest illustration trends of 2018 View the full article

You're reading So, you’re a designer. Are You Ready For The Fourth Industrial Revolution?, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! It appears that the “Fourth Industrial Revolution” has arrived. A recent study by Edelman Intelligence states freelancers are already feeling the impact. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the technologies that affect jobs market. But the growth of AI and other innovative technologies is already having a major impact. You could sit by and watch […] View the full article

When creating architectural visualisation you need to represent a lot of details, and one of the most time-consuming is vegetation like grass, trees and bushes. 25 tips for Unreal Engine 4 In this simple tutorial I will show how to quickly create grass in Unreal Engine using a low-poly mesh. Let's get to it. Download the accompanying video and images. 01. Import base low-poly FBX and texture You only need two planes for your base mesh Our first step will be importing our low-poly base mesh. I used just two planes here. It's so important that you map them first and then export, as this will make things so much easier later, and as usual remember to set units to mm so we can export the correct size. Once imported we will have our FBX and a material sphere; when importing materials in this way, we just have to add the texture (PNG) and it will then be applied to our FBX base mesh. 02. Set material and texture Remember to check the Two Sided option Once we have our texture imported we will have to apply it to the material and do some tweaking. First of all let's erase the empty texture element and set the material as Masked so we can use the texture PNG's alpha channel, then add the texture and connect in Base Color. Change the preview from sphere to a plane, as this way we will be able to see the grass. The issue here is that we can only see one side and if we try to rotate it disappears; to avoid this we have to check the Two Sided option, which will enable us to rotate it. 03. Scatter our grass Paint over the area where you want your grass scattered Now with our FBX base model ready we have to select Foliage in the Modes panel. Drag and drop our FBX base mesh, as this way we will have our mesh ready to scatter. Go to its settings and in Density let's set it to 120,000 and leave all the other settings as they are. We will see a sphere that is like our brush. Now we can scatter it, so click and paint over the area where we want the grass to be placed. We have now placed some grass, but there is a problem: it does not cover the entire area we need. How can we cover the full area? First, erase the grass we just placed. Now, in Foliage there are four tabs: on the left, the Paint tool is the one we will use. Uncheck BSP and then click in the area where we need, and it will be all covered with our grass. Now we have our foliage working, we can change several options like scaling, scale x, radius and others. We will leave it all as it is for now. 04. Wind and final settings SimpleGrassWind enables you to bring a little movement to your grass We now have some working grass, but let's give it some wind. Head inside the grass material, type Grass in the grid and select SimpleGrassWind. Connect it to World Position Offset, then press 1 and click on the grid. This will create a Material Expression Constant, so now let's connect it to WindIntensity, WindHeight and finally to AdditionalWPO and set its value to .055. This will help us add movement to our grass, and you can test it with different values according to your needs. Always keep in mind that we can use one Material Expression Constant for each variable. Once we have the result we like we can keep testing new variables. This article was originally published in 3D World, the world's best-selling magazine for CG artists. Buy issue 230 here or subscribe to 3D World here. Related articles: Learn to grow foliage with X-Particles Create a game environment in Unreal Engine 4 Is this the best 3D foliage plug-in? View the full article

You're reading 14 Bad Ad Policies That Will Get You Blacklisted in Chrome, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! Google’s web browser, Chrome, now blocks ads by default. Why would Google block ads? Well, taking into account that more people are becoming increasingly aware of ad-blocking options, it was only a matter of time until Google had to do something about it. 69% of people surveyed said that they were motivated to install ad […] View the full article

We've looked at the best web tools elsewhere on the site, but prototyping tools deserve a dedicated page. Prototyping tools can help us solve design problems before writing even a single line of code. Prototypes bring our ideas to life, and in doing so can change the way we design. Today's clients want to see interactive prototypes; these show the concepts in action and help them see how their ideas will take shape. The possibility of quickly sharing different iterations of ideas with clients can accelerate the design process. This flexibility becomes even more significant when we consider the many device formats we must now factor in. With so many prototyping tools now available, perhaps many designers are left wondering how to choose the best one, and simply fall back on familiar methods. Ultimately, the goal is to pick up a tool that will support swift iterations, so you want to be sure to select one that does this with ease and lets you focus on what you do best: design. To help with this selection, I've compiled the best of the best: here are the top 10 prototyping tools you should be using! 01. Adobe XD CC 2018 Price: $9.99/mo | £9.98/mo Try a free trial: US | UK Adobe’s powerful user experience design software Adobe XD makes it insanely easy to quickly prototype and wireframe new mobile and web applications. Created to meet the needs of today’s UX/UI designers, the software takes you from concept to prototype faster than ever before. Timesaving features like Repeat Grid and flexible artboards mean you can create everything from low-fidelity wireframes to fully interactive prototypes for any screen in minutes. You can switch from static layouts to interactive prototypes in one click. You can also make changes to your design and see your prototype update automatically – with no syncing required. Preview your prototypes, complete with transitions on iOS and Android devices, then share them with your team for fast feedback. It’s natively designed for both Mac and Windows – and it’s part of Creative Cloud. That means you get smooth integration with apps like Photoshop and Illustrator, which makes it a valuable additional to any CC workflow. 02. Origami Studio Origami was originally developed by Facebook to help the team build and design products Price: Free Origami was originally developed by Facebook to help the team build and design products. Now it's available for free: you can register as an Apple developer, then download and install Xcode with Quartz Composer to get Origami to run on a Mac. This tool does require more work to install than other prototyping options. However, once it is installed, you can begin creating design concepts that simulate scrolling, taps, swipes and page links. Origami's documentation, tutorials and how-to videos make it easy to get started. Sketch and Photoshop designs can be imported into Origami, and your project layers will be preserved, ready to be linked, animated and transformed as needed. Origami is not mobile design-centric either: you can design responsive websites and simulate features like text input, FaceTime camera and OS X drag and drop. You can export your prototype components (including animations) with just one click, so engineers can copy-and-paste into the project. Origami includes a presentation tool that enables you to add a custom background to your design, view in fullscreen, and simulate different devices. As a free prototyping solution, Origami has a lot to offer. However, one drawback is that it doesn't yet let your clients or design team comment directly on the project or versioning history. 03. Webflow Designing prototypes is fast and seamless with Webflow Price: Free starter plan (Personal $16pm/Pro $35pm) Designing prototypes is fast and seamless with Webflow, but where this tool really shines is when your prototype is all finished. You can turn your finished prototype into a production-ready site with the click of a button. Recently, Webflow has introduced a game-changing new feature: a CMS for your prototypes. Webflow's CMS is completely visual, allowing you to create powerful, dynamic sites without writing a single line of code. Another particularly useful feature is its ability to create a blog using your blog page prototype concept. If you're a freelance designer and have had difficulties finding a developer to turn your designs to production sites, Webflow may be for you. You can even set up user accounts or designate an admin to manage content, and your clients will be able to visually make changes. Alternatively, it's easy to export the prototype into code. Webflow's clean, semantic code can save your engineers hours of code clean-up. Webflow comes with site templates and web components that can be dragged and dropped into your prototype. These speed up the prototyping process, as they mean you don't need to recreate commonly used design assets. If at any time you're stuck and need help, you can check out Webflow's detailed documentation or watch its helpful how-to video courses. And of course, if you're using Webflow for the first time, this support will help minimise the learning curve. Webflow is responsive by nature, so your website layouts will be optimised for all devices: desktop, mobile and tablet. If that wasn't enough, you can design animations that will work on mobile devices and all modern browsers. And it still doesn't end there: Webflow has extensibility built in, which makes it easy to connect your live prototypes to Slack, MailChimp, Google Drive, and more than 400 other services. 04. Proto.io Ready-made templates enable you to get started quickly Price: Free trial (Freelancer $24pm/Agency $80pm) With Proto.io, ready-made templates for websites and apps enable you to get a quick start on a project. The entire app runs on the web, so you can run Proto.io on any platform. In my tests, the app ran a little slowly, and manipulating images was difficult at times. Also, every feature seemed to create a new window (one each for projects, building and live preview). If you like to keep the number of tabs you have open to a minimum, this can be annoying. However, these are small concerns, and do not take away from the benefit you get from having access to your projects on any browser. You can always pick up where you left off, wherever you are. Proto.io has recently released plugins that enable you to incorporate Sketch and Photoshop designs through a simple drag-and-drop. When you import a file, Proto.io keeps your assets in place, so you don't have to waste time realigning them. If your design has already been imported into Proto.io, you can continue to make changes to your assets in Sketch or Photoshop, and they will automatically update on your Proto.io prototypes; there's no need to export and import again. The ready-made templates already have a variety of interactions built-in, it's just a matter of adding your app-specific content. When your prototype is ready, you can share the project with a URL and get direct feedback on the prototype page. 05. Framer Framer is one of the most popular prototyping tools Price: Free trial ($15/mo) Framer is one of the most popular prototyping tools. It's based on the premise that with code it is possible to prototype anything, resulting in novel and groundbreaking designs. While this may be true, the tool's proprietary coding language for designing and animating prototypes could be a barrier. There are those who may not see the reward at the end of the steep learning curve, especially for a language that can't be used outside Framer. However, for those who do want to take on the challenge, the documentation of Framer's coding language is very well structured, with plenty of examples to demonstrate how the language works. There are how-to videos, as well as courses on Udemy and O'Reilly. This approach is particularly useful for designers that are new to coding. It offers a first-hand view of how flexible and powerful code can be. In addition, Framer's Mac App is well designed, and provides live previews as you write code, which is encouraging for those who are writing code for the first time. That's not to say it's no good for designers with coding experience who prefer writing HTML/CSS to prototype their designs. Framer may be just the tool you've been looking for: you won't be limited by the drag and drop tools of other apps. Furthermore, because Framer uses code to build prototypes, you can incorporate real-time data into your prototype, from sources like Twitter and Parse. Like other tools, Framer supports Sketch and Photoshop projects, and will also preserve your design's layers. Another benefit is that – unlike most other tools – you can also import After Effects files. When you're ready to share your prototype, Framer can generate a URL that can be shared with your clients. These shareable URLs can be opened on mobile devices for live previews. Framer also lets you prototype VR. 06. Vectr You can design your prototypes on Vectr's web or desktop apps Price: Free You can design your prototypes on Vectr's web or desktop apps for Mac and Windows, which is impressive considering the app is free. The prototypes stay synced whether you're working on the desktop or web browser, freeing you to work whenever you're ready and ensuring you always have access to the latest changes. Vectr prototypes can be shared with a URL and integrated into apps like Slack for powerful collaboration. As an added bonus, those you share your mockups with can annotate and edit them. At the moment, Vectr isn't as feature-rich as many other options, but this shouldn't deter you from getting familiar with it. A roadmap for the app has been published, detailing an impressive list of slated features. These include: fully-offline desktop apps, more platforms, built-in version control, a built-in design assets marketplace, full collaborative editing, image effects, plugins, clickable mockups, built-in feedback and annotation tools, and offline desktop apps. Read on for 5 more great prototyping tools... 07. Atomic Atomic is a web application that requires Google Chrome Price: Free trial (Individual $19pm/Team $99pm) With its beautiful UI and intuitive, easy-to-use animation timeline, Atomic makes a great first impression. Atomic is a web application that requires Google Chrome, which may be a drawback to designers using Safari, Firefox or Windows browsers. Also, there are no desktop apps available. If you have used After Effects to prototype animations, you will feel right at home with Atomic's animation timeline. This gives you the flexibility and control you need to fine-tune your interaction: just click the play button to see your changes and animations in action. When you're happy with your design, you can share it with a URL preview on any device. It's also possible to gather design feedback from your clients and team via inline comments. My favourite feature of this particular tool is the history option, which allows you to rewind to see previous iterations and create new versions from any point. For those designing for iOS, Atomic has launched an iOS kit with a library of iOS design elements, to enable rapid prototyping. Finally, you can add custom CSS directly into Atomic. It's also possible to export CSS, so you can simply copy and paste it into your project. 08. InVision InVision is arguably the most popular prototyping tool in the world Price: Free InVision is arguably the most popular prototyping tool in the world. The team are constantly adding new features to help designers prototype more efficiently. InVision's best feature is perhaps its management of project feedback. Clients and design teams can conveniently provide comments directly on the prototype. These are collated in one convenient location, so you never lose track of feedback. Communicating the status of the project to your client and team is critical; with InVision's project management page, you can organise design components into a status workflow. You can set columns for To-do, In progress, Needs review, and Approved, and drag and drop your design components into the appropriate column. For example, if you're about to work on the homepage, you can drag the design component into the 'In progress' column. Now, when your client or team views the status board, they immediately know what is being worked on. If you have ever used Trello in an agile development environment, this will be very familiar to you. InVision is always announcing new features, and it has recently released one it calls Boards, which is a home where your projects can live. It can also be used as a presentation tool, an asset manager for projects, and a place to create moodboards or galleries. You can even share these moodboards or galleries with clients and design teams, so they can provide direct feedback. InVision's feature list seems never-ending: you can import design files from Sketch or Photoshop, animate design assets, link pages to simulate real-life websites, and preview prototypes on mobile devices. There is also version control with unlimited history, unlimited free user testing, and integrations with apps like Slack, Dropbox, Box and many more. InVision is still a game-changer in this space, and it doesn't seem to be slowing down. 09. Adobe Comp With Adobe Comp, you can create print, web and mobile layouts that seamlessly integrate with Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign Price: Free The recent release of the iPad Pro tells us that many creatives are using tablet devices to develop projects. Adobe Comp provides the tools you need to transform natural drawing gestures into production-ready graphics. With Adobe Comp, you can create print, web and mobile layouts that seamlessly integrate with Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. Also, if you use linked assets, making a change in one program will cause the asset to update everywhere else it's featured. Comp works with Adobe Stock and Typekit, thereby providing you with images, graphics, and hundreds of fonts that can easily be incorporated as you work on your design prototype. This is my favourite feature, because it means virtually any graphic or font is available at your fingertips. Adobe Comp offers a new way to develop and design prototypes, but due to its user-friendly design, there is virtually no learning barrier. Regardless, Adobe still provides several tutorials to help you get started, if you need them. If you want to share your design prototypes with your team or clients, you can use Adobe's Behance network to get feedback: a smart move by Adobe to leverage its already massive reach. 10. Principle Principle comes with an iOS app to mirror live prototypes Price: Free trial ($129) Principle is built by a former Apple engineer for OS X, and comes with an iOS app to mirror live prototypes. Principle has a record feature that can export prototypes to a video or an animated GIF, which can be shared on Dribbble, Twitter or anywhere else you'd like! Principle is only available for Mac, and if you've used Sketch, Principle's interface will look very familiar. Principle uses artboards to animate elements between states, so as you work on your prototype, you can live-preview your designs on the top right-hand side window. Alternatively, you can mirror your designs on an iOS device. While Principle does not include a collaboration tool, this drawback will likely be overshadowed by its offline capabilities. The flexibility of working offline is further highlighted by increased speeds, since you're not relying on a potentially unreliable or slow connection. Conclusion We've looked at the top 10 prototyping tools, and as you can see, the choices are abundant, so it will be hard to pick just one. I recommend you try out any that pique your interest, and see what works best for you, your clients, and your team. The ultimate goal is to let your concept materialise and your design take centre stage, so test different tools and check for updates that might give you just what you're looking for. With so many great options already available, you'll soon find the right prototyping tool to bring your ideas to life. This article was published in issue 276 of net magazine; subscribe today. Related articles: Rapid prototyping using Photoshop CC How to avoid prototyping pitfalls Prototype a mobile app with Adobe XD View the full article

As an artist at a game studio I’ve forgotten most traditional mediums, but ink always calls back to me. After a day of staring into monitors, I want nothing more than to sit down with my sketchbook. In this tutorial, I'll walk through how to ink a character with confidence – in this case, a moody warrior. I believe any artist looking to learn how to draw people or mythical creatures and environments grounded in reality should put in the hours to study from life. Figure-drawing workshops, using friends and family as models or the park down the street are all perfect to study from. I usually carry around a Moleskine sketchbook for drawing on the go. The constant sponging of information, no matter how seemingly insignificant, adds to your ever-growing visual library. I work pretty organically in pen and ink. There will be no grids, no measurements – I like to let the drawings breathe a bit. For a medium as permanent as ink, I find it helps to not get too married to the pencil drawing. Instead, I set important landmarks, lock down a strong gesture, and dial in on things I’m not as confident in, such as fingers and legs. Once I’m hopeful that the final piece could be cool, I switch out the pencil for the pen. 01. Start with thumbnails Try to nail down the stance or feeling you want your character to have When sketching thumbnails, I’m never too concerned with anatomy or costumes. I aim for a gesture, a stance, a feeling. I keep these vague as things will inevitably shift a bit as I go along. I like to use a thick brush pen to see how shadows might fall into place in the final design. When I've started to pin down what I want, I create a more specific thumbnail. This gives a better idea of what the final piece should be, but still keeps it small. Here, I can start to think about what the face and armour could look like, all without being forced to lock anything down. 02. Explore costume ideas Use a separate sheet to explore ideas for details I make notes to myself separately so things don’t get too muddled. I jot down details I want to include to make the figure feel like an individual – here, the claw necklace, tassels on his cape, and scars. These mostly solidify my final thoughts so I don’t spend too much time erasing on my final paper. 03. Produce a pencil sketch Spend extra time on the sections where you want the focus to be From the thumbnail I start sketching out the final image with a 2H pencil so that the image remains light for best inking conditions. For this piece I’m using Strathmore 9x12 Bristol pad. At this stage, I’m just making sure all the major elements are in the correct position before I start narrowing in on details. I want to focus on the face, hands and sword, so I’ll spend a little more time clearing those up for myself. I like to keep the rest of the sketch as loose as possible to preserve a little spontaneous energy as I start to ink. 04. Make adjustments Take time to get the right facial expression I step back and give the final image a look over to check my proportions. I take into account the figure's muscle structure underneath the armour to make sure everything is believable. I have to make small adjustments to give him the bulk I want. Since the face is the most important focal point, I spend most of my time getting it right before I start lining. He’s a warrior prince; he should look a little worn and weary, yet still regal. If I have to, I’ll pull up a portrait reference to make sure it looks just right. 05. Mark out the shadows Use cross hatching for any black areas The last step before I move into ink is to plan out where I want to add shadows using Xs where any areas of solid black will sit. I take into consideration where I want to lead the viewer's eye – it's a good idea to create a lot of contrast around any focal points, such as the face, hands and sword. 06. Get started with ink Use the minimum number of strokes Take a shot of whiskey, because there’s no second guessing yourself here: it's time to start inking. For this piece, I'm starting with a variety of Pilot Hi-Tec-C ink pens. If something can be done with one stroke, never use two – too often I see an artist who’s new to ink use 10 strokes with what can be accomplished with one. Practise the route in the air above your art, and then execute perfectly. 07. Develop different textures Nicks and dents here indicate metal I have a few different materials I want to convey here, such as fur, metal and cloth. All of these can be distilled down with specific details. Fur can be shown through large clumps and individual strands, metal with nicks and dents, and cloth with weave patterns. 08. Work on the shadows Try a brush pen for large areas of shadow With a brush pen (I'm using one by Pentel), I start filling in large spots and hitting small dabs of ink in areas that I identify won’t receive light in a manner similar to ambient occlusion on a 3D model. These shadows start to give weight and dimension to the character, and help pop him out. Cast shadows can remain harsh, but form shadows need to be softened, so I go back to the Hi-Tec-C and start hatching. I use my whole gamut of pens ranging from 0.25 to 0.4, and grey to achieve my desired level of smoothness between the brush pen and the thinner ink lines. 09. Clean up the image with white highlights A white paint pen is great for picking out detail With a Molotow white paint pen, I can pick out details such as stray hairs from spots previously covered in black. I use this technique sparingly to keep the surface of the piece as clean as possible, while also providing a nice, finished look. I can also use the pen to fix minor accidents. 10. Bring in a grey tone Use a grey wash on reflective areas The theory behind the use of my grey wash is to reinforce my focal points and materials, namely anything reflective such as polished metal. The absence of the wash in this case leaves behind the blank white page, picking out a highlight and effectively communicating what the armour is made of. 11. Finish the painting in Photoshop Mask out the character using the Magic Wand tool After scanning, I make a few minor tweaks in Photoshop and mask out the character from the negative space using the Magic Wand tool. I contract the selection by a few pixels and fill it with white, then on a separate layer fill the background with a bold red to finish it off. Click the icon in the top right to enlarge This article was originally published in ImagineFX, the world's best-selling magazine for digital artists. Buy issue 155 here or subscribe to ImagineFX. Read more: How to create a believable character 15 observational drawing tips How to hold a pencil correctly View the full article