Rss Bot

Cryptominer WinstarNssmMiner is an aggressive malware strain that has launched 500,000 attacks in the past three days earning criminals $28,000. View the full article

'Wearables' has become the catch-all term for any wearable tech that we have on our connected selves. Whether it's watches that do more than just tell the time, virtual reality headsets, or bands that enable us to track our fitness as we run to our desks, wearable tech has infiltrated just about every area of our lives. The 6 best smartphones for designers in 2018 And of course, wearables can also help you be more productive, reminding you about client meetings and helping you be more aware about taking breaks from your computer (the Apple Watch reminds you periodically to get up and walk around). Here we’ve listed our favourite bits of wearable tech in each category, plus two alternatives at varying price points. Naturally, as designers we want the tech we own to look good, so we’ve made sure that all our options look the part, too. The best smartwatch for designers Has there ever been a better smartwatch? When it comes to wearable tech, the answer is no. The cellular connectivity is nice to have, but remains an expensive luxury at £5 per month. Added to which, it’s still only available through EE, which isn’t much good if your iPhone isn’t on the network, too (it has to be, you see). If you have an Apple Music subscription, or iTunes playlists synchronised to your phone, then getting music onto the Apple Watch is a cinch anyway. On the fitness side, it’s no Garmin (see below) but if you’re a casual runner, swimmer or gym-goer then its fitness tracking is more than enough. The battery life is a lot better than other similar devices, and you can get nearly two days out of it. The integration with iOS is predictably excellent and the waterproofing welcome. Plus, there are numerous finishes to choose from and plenty of choice in terms of straps as well. And if you have trouble remembering to go to meetings and keeping track of notifications then the Apple Watch will certainly help there, too. The best fitness tracker for designers Although Fitbit keeps trying to get into the smartwatch space (currently with its Versa and Ionic), fitness trackers are still what it is best at. The Charge 2 is the company’s best fitness tracker at the moment, and can track step counts and sporadic exercise. The key benefit is that this band doesn’t need you to say you’re starting exercise to track it – it just keeps a log of whatever you’re doing. That should be standard for many pieces of wearable tech, but the fact is that a lot of smartwatches and trackers need to be told when you’re starting a period of increased activity. And nobody remembers to do this every time. It isn’t a running watch, however, and it also isn’t that smart, with notifications limited to call, text and calendar. That’s a shame, since the large screen is perfect for additional information. It is comfortable, however, and tracks general fitness consistently well. The sleep information provided within the app (iOS and Android) is also very welcome. The best headphones for designers Like other products from Bang & Olufsen’s more accessible sub-brand, the H8i’s are superbly finished. And, like other B&O Play headphones, they’re designed by Copenhagen-based Jakob Wagner Studio, one of Denmark’s most respected design studios. The H8is are brand new this year, are wireless via Bluetooth, and feature active noise cancellation that you can toggle on and off with a switch. Available in black or ‘natural’ (the tan colour you see here) they feature up to 30 hours playback, though you can get a lot more than that by attaching a cable. They will even pause your music when you remove them thanks to a proximity sensor, while a transparency mode means you’ll always be able to tune into an office conversation should you need. There are two voice microphones for making clear phone calls. It helps they sound fantastic, too. The best VR headset for designers If you’re interested in VR and the potential of it as a platform of the future, there have so far been two ways you can go; a cheap headset (like the Daydream View below) that you pair with a compatible smartphone, or a high-end super-expensive headset that requires a fairly powerful PC. The Oculus Go fits into neither camp; it’s a comfortable, smartphone-free headset that doesn’t cost the earth. It’s similar to the more expensive Oculus Rift (which does rely on a PC). The Go doesn’t need a smartphone because it basically is one, running on a similar Qualcomm Snapdragon platform to many high-end phones. It has its own 5.5-inch display and 32GB of storage (there’s also a 64GB option). It’s not as immersive as more expensive headsets on the market as you are limited to three degrees of freedom, and the app selection isn’t the best, but there’s a lot more to come here. The best VR headsets for designers The best wireless earbuds for designers The AirPods have one big disadvantage: they look silly. It would be way better even if they were black or grey. Anyway, once you’ve got over that, they will gradually weave themselves into your life as one of the most versatile pieces of tech you’ve ever owned. While they can work with other types of Bluetooth devices, they’re designed for Apple gear, obviously. If you have an iPhone 7 or later they will automatically sync, and they work particularly well with Apple Watch. The main advantage of the AirPods is that you hardly even know you’re wearing them. You can use one or both as a headset, which is brilliant if you make a lot of calls. They automatically switch depending on which one is in your ear, and auto-pause if you take one out to talk to someone. Sound quality isn’t top notch but is so much better than the wired EarPods that Apple bundles with its phones. The battery life is a disadvantage – you will wear it out in a long morning – but the charging case carries enough juice for 24 hours of total listening. Related articles: 6 things to know about getting freelance clients The ultimate guide to design trends The best cheap Apple pencil deals of 2018 View the full article

Images are an integral part of the design process, and when it comes to selecting them and using them in a project, it's important to make the right choices: one of them speaks 1,000 words, after all. So whether you're art directing an on-location photoshoot for a glamorous ad campaign, or searching a stock image library for the perfect visual asset for an email newsletter, you should still apply a discerning eye and not settle. While there's no one-size-fits-all approach, there are a few key dos and don'ts for using images in your design projects – and some hard and fast rules for using them for different purposes, from catching attention to making the hard sell. Read on for our essential guide to using images more effectively in your design work. We will continue to add to this collection with more tips and advice each month... 01. How to use images in graphic design 02. How to use images in digital design 03. How to source the best images View the full article

If you've taken the time to master the best 3D modelling software around, the last thing you want to do is ruin your artwork with a bad render. Here, Polish 3D artist Łukasz Hoffmann shares his top tips for creating realistic 3D renders, specifically cars. His expertise in this field is evident from the fantastic image above, which won the silver award in one of Hum3D's Car Render Challenges. Check out Hum3D's latest competition on creating the best car in a post-apocalyptic style, judged by a team that includes 3D Artist's editor Carrie Mok. 01. Start simple In the modelling stage, try to maintain a simple shape and focus on leading proper curve lines. Cut out details after the main shape is established. 02. Make use of fresnel shaders Use more complex shaders to create great effects While creating a car material, keep in mind that real car paint is a combination of a few layers of dielectric and metallic materials. Use complex shaders, comprised of multiple basic shaders, and make use of fresnel (an incidence angle) to blend between them at a specific angle. You can also add a procedural voronoi (which is a specific type of noise algorithm) or similar texture into the normal channel of the shader to create a metallic flakes effect. 03. Choose HDRI wisely Use high-dynamic-range imaging, which will accentuate the shape of the car. The best choice would be a high contrast HDRI, which will help to enhance the reflections along the curvature of the car. Use a high-resolution 32-bit HDRI to get appropriate light information for your scene. You will find that the simple studio HDRIs are the best for most car scenes. 04. Use additional lighting Add in additional light sources for a more believable scene If your environment or HDRI is not enough, make use of additional light sources in your scene. Make sure the highlights are emphasising the shape of the car and try setting up a rim lights to pop out the silhouette of the car. 5. Consider composition You can easily tilt your camera to add a sense of movement in dynamic shots, place a car in an interesting environment with a pleasant colour palette or sell your render with a good focal point and additional close-up shots. When creating an entire scene try to separate first, second and third plane, and lead the viewer’s eye with guide lines and focal points. 6. Bevel every edge Bevel your edges for a realistic look Don’t forget about beveling edges in the modelling stage. Even the sharpest edge in the real world is not perfectly sharp. Adding a subtle bevel, especially on refractive elements such as light diffuser, will catch a nice, realistic light reflection. Related articles: 4 easy steps to improve your render Sculpt realistic anatomy in ZBrush 5 pieces of killer hardware every 3D artist will crave View the full article

The main purpose of Grobios malware is to help attacker establish a strong, persistent foothold in a victim's system, in order to drop additional payloads later. View the full article

Adding an animation to your website is a great way to grab user's attention. However, as any digital artist will confirm, good animation takes knowledge, skill and a lot of patience. Good news is, there are many tools designed to help with such a task, including the HTML5-based Animatron Studio Pro. And right now you can get a lifetime membership to the service for just $49.99 (approx. £37). Animatron Studio Pro offers an easy-to-use drag and drop system to get the look and style that you’re after, with no need for any coding. The tool utilises a WYSIWYG editor, so you are able to see exactly how your final product will look as you create it. It's simple, straightforward and produces high-quality results. The lifetime membership to Animatron Studio Pro usually retails for $1,000, but you can get it right now for just $49.99 (approx. £37). That's a savings of 95% off the retail price for this must-have tool for any aspiring animator. Grab this deal today! View the full article

Packaging is often a consumer's first point of contact with a product, so to say it's important is a little bit of an understatement. Not only does it need to be memorable and look good, it also needs to protect the valuable contents and be easy to open. From wine bottles and tins, to jars and boxes, the chosen colour palette, typography, choice of materials and label design all play an incredibly important role in informing and persuading consumers to choose the product over its competition. Aware of this at Shillington, the students are regularly set the challenge of creating their own packaging design concepts. Below are some examples that we really wish weren't just a figment of their imagination... Razers by Christian Schubert It was a close shave for Shillington student Christian Schubert with this fun packaging concept Shillington student Christian Schubert created this brilliant concept packaging design for a fictional male grooming brand - aptly naming the product 'Chin'. The quirky packaging includes the strapline “smooth chin, practical chin” along with illustrations of a male character with an unusually long chin. We love the individual boxes and hint of retro in this design. Science of Sweet by Robert Mead Science of Sweet 'pushing the boundaries of what chocolate can be for the good of mankind' Based around a fictitious institution dedicated to “pushing the boundaries of what chocolate can be for the good of mankind”, Shillington student Robert Mead's concept product design takes inspiration from the Periodic Table and uses a simple monochrome identity with line drawings to represent the different ingredients. “If Willy Wonka were real, he wouldn’t be a whimsical character, he’d be an incredible chemist,” Mead comments. Infinite Brew by Marusa Rimc Beer, anyone? There's nothing quite like a beer in the sunshine, especially when the packaging looks like this. Created by designer Marusa Rimc, a graduate of Shillington's New York campus, each Infinite Brew design is meant to evoke emotions associated with the different seasons; the Pale Ale, for instance, pays homage to summer while the Double IPA represents winter. Want more? To see the full list of packaging concepts, head over to the Shillington blog. View the full article

Will Gluck’s Peter Rabbit, based on the characters created by Beatrix Potter, is the latest in a line of 3D movies to go the way of the CG/live-action hybrid. But just what is involved in making a film where most of your characters need to be added later? How do you plan, how do you shoot with live-action actors, and where do you start with animation? 30 top examples of 3D art Animation and visual effects studio Animal Logic was responsible for many of Peter Rabbit's VFX shots, from planning the shoot, to filming with stand-ins, building a whole raft of adorable CG characters and then animating them. It’s a lot more work than you might think, and Animal Logic’s animated feature pipeline – recently boosted from its growing work on recent Lego-related films – came in incredibly handy. Planning for Peter Peter Rabbit tells the story of a group of rabbits and other animals who think they have overcome the dreaded Mr. McGregor (Sam Neill), only to find a new member of the McGregor family (Domhnall Gleeson) has taken up residence instead, and has become interested in their animal-loving friend Bea (Rose Byrne). Incorporating this ensemble of human actors was one of the first big challenges faced by the filmmakers, since the actors would regularly be interacting with Peter (voiced by James Corden) and his furry friends. Interestingly, Gluck mostly eschewed any kind of previs for planning out scenes. Instead, the film was heavily storyboarded and, once shot, the director had artists do storyboarded draw-overs of the planned CG characters into his edit. Rose Byrne as Bea with her rabbit friends. A whole host of techniques were used for rabbit stand-ins That didn’t mean scenes were not planned out during shooting, especially where significant rabbit and human interaction was necessary. Here, Animal Logic visual effects supervisor Will Reichelt worked closely with the stunts team and the actors to choreograph the action, sometimes with bluescreened performers pushing around sticks or stand-ins on set in Sydney, Australia and for some filming in the UK. One scene even includes a whole lot of fisticuffs between Peter and Gleeson’s Thomas McGregor. “Domhnall was very much up for anything physical and threw himself right into it,” says Reichelt. “It really makes the sequence because you can see the effort and exertion. It really makes you feel like Peter’s kicks and punches are actually landing, and that’s even without having a guy in a blue suit shoving a stick in his face.” Shooting for real That brings us to the next big challenge: making sure the CG characters could be lit and integrated realistically into the live action scenes. That involved a significant level of skill from the visual effects team, but they were aided by the use of a proprietary on-set HDRI system for obtaining high-quality and largely automated image-based lighting data. The system used Indiecam’s nakedEYE VR camera. In Sydney’s Centennial Park, a vegetable garden set is readied for filming “The camera is designed to shoot 4K video, but we got them to reprogram it, to shoot HDRs,” explains Reichelt. “The idea was to try to come up with a system that was going to be less of a footprint, both physically and time-wise on set, but still give us what we needed. You would plonk it down, step away, and hit a button on an iPad and it would just capture all of the exposures that you need in basically 15 seconds as opposed to someone running in with a DSLR. “We were also able to set the height super low to the ground – about six inches off the ground – which meant we were able to capture something that was more accurate to where it needed to be in order to light the rabbits correctly,” adds Reichelt. “We could get it into little, tiny crevasses, like in the garden and wherever it needed to be, and not have to worry that we had some whopping great tripod with a DSLR on it.” Making rabbits After the shoot, Animal Logic embarked on the weighty task of animating the rabbits, as well as several other animals including a fox, pig, hedgehog and even a rooster (which just happens to be voiced by Reichelt). A major effort became ‘finding’ the characters, especially since they were animals with human traits. Artists had to work out whether the animals would remain quadrupeds or bipedal and how much range of emotion to give them. “Very early on we played with the idea of doing runs and walks as bipeds,” notes Animal Logic animation supervisor Simon Pickard. “And on the live action plates it just looked wrong, so in the film they very rarely walk or run on two legs. Whenever they need to get from A to B, we drop them into quads, and they become more realistic and more like real animals. Then they come back up, and start acting again. It was a challenge to ensure the CG characters were lit correctly and could be integrated realistically into the real world “We also started doing tests with very restrained facial animation,” continues Pickard. “Then, as the film opened up, we realised that we were probably going to have to push away from that a little bit more, and try and find this blend. James Corden, especially, has got so much energy and zest in his voice that the restrained kind of facial acting didn’t quite marry with his voice, so we started pushing a little bit more on the facial side. And it was finding that balance.” Animators studied hundreds of hours of rabbit reference, picking through footage to find little nuances, ear flicks and ticks that were layered into the animation. “Some things were actually too much, though,” says Pickard, “Like nose twitches, for example. If you look at a rabbit, it never stops twitching its nose. What we found was, when we started animating a performance like that, it just got distracting, and quite annoying. You were constantly looking at this nose twitching away, rather than getting into the subtleties of the facial animation.” The Peter Rabbit model inside of Maya. Animal Logic shifted over from Softimage XSI to Maya on Peter Rabbit, the first time that they had solely used the software on one show Peter Rabbit was Animal Logic’s first project moving over from a Softimage XSI pipeline to Autodesk Maya. The animation team also took advantage of improvements made to the studio’s ‘Renderboy’ tool, which automates renders designed for reviews. Since many of the CG characters would be furred creatures, animators in the past have found it difficult to animate them and see the final results – “expressions can get lost by the time you render,” comments Pickard. But Renderboy provided the animators with quick visual feedback by showing the characters with fur, cloth, motion blur and image-based lighting, during the animation process without having to wait for a final render. “It was a game-changer for this project,” says Pickard. “The only issue was that they were so good it confused people at times, as they thought they were looking at a final-quality render.” A scene inside the vegetable garden has Benjamin and Peter (James Corden) almost caught. One of the interesting references that Animal Logic looked to for Peter was Ferris Bueller The final look of fur for the CG characters, along with dynamic clothing made with a tool called Weave, remained a significant challenge for Animal Logic. In recent times, starting with The Lego Movie, the studio has built and maintained its own inhouse path trace renderer called Glimpse. That work continued on Peter Rabbit, with Glimpse upgraded to enable physically plausible rendering of hair and fur via Animal Logic’s proprietary grooming tool known as Alfro. “Not only did we use it to create fur for the characters, but we also used it to create big swatches of CG grass as well,” details Reichelt. “There is a lot of digital grass in the film because we needed it to integrate the characters into the ground, for a start. There were also large swatches of the set that had been trampled too much and that had gone to a muddy sort of bog, which didn’t quite look like the beautiful, lush Lake District it was supposed to.” Bringing it all together Both Reichelt and Pickard nominate that fight scene between Peter and Thomas McGregor as the toughest of the film, but also the most pointed in showcasing the collaboration between all departments – from on-set shooting to animation and right through to the final rendering and compositing. Each shot in the scene was often filmed two to three times, once with ‘stuffies’ as stand-ins for Peter, then sometimes with a person off-camera prodding Gleeson with a stick to deform his skin or clothing as if Peter was pushing against him, and again with no stand-ins for a ‘clean plate’. I was in the director’s tent so I could actually see what the shot would look like,” says Pickard. “It would be like, ‘Is that good? Did we get it?’ Sometimes you’d have to say no, and it was 50 people having to reset the shot for an invisible rabbit they couldn’t see at that point.” Animal Logic occasionally had to deal with wet fur and clothing for their CG rabbits “It’s a massive amount of work even just to rotomate the humans, because you need to know what they’re doing in 3D space before you can even animate to it, and you have to get detailed right down to the finger joints,” adds Reichelt. “Those shots are absolutely brutal. If Domhnall’s throwing Peter up against a wall, you really want to feel like his hand is fully pressing into him and the fur is coming up around the fingers. It was a complicated back and forth from everybody, but I’m really happy with the way it turned out.” Related articles: 26 top movie title sequences 30 greatest CGI movie moments of all time 5 pieces of killer hardware every 3D artist will crave View the full article

Most of us have drawn and painted posed models in the confines of a studio. Or we’ve sketched animals in a taxidermy collection. It may be easier to draw such a subject that holds still in controlled light conditions, but the results can often look lifeless and unnatural, more mannequin than man. The remedy is to head outside and hunt for lifelike poses and authentic lighting – real humans and real animals alive in their natural habitat. However, sketching moving subjects from observation is a formidable challenge that can frustrate even the most capable artist. In this feature, I will share my top 10 strategies of how to draw moving subjects. 01. Start with simple tools Even basic tools can create a strong impression The simplest set-up for sketching people and animals is a graphite pencil or a ballpoint pen and paper. If you want to add some colour you can use a small set of water-soluble coloured pencils, perhaps yellow ochre, red-brown, dark brown, and black (for some options, look at our guide to the best pencils for artists). These can be dissolved with a water brush (a hollow-handled refillable tool with a nylon tip). I like to have a second water brush filled with a convenient background colour, such as dark blue or black. There is a variety of brush pens available that will let you sketch quickly with all the advantages of a brush, but without the need to dip into a reservoir of ink or paint. 02. Sketch key poses Moving subjects rely on stock positions If an animal or person is awake and moving, they’re not going to stay in the same position for very long. So observe them for a while before you start drawing. Look for characteristic poses that your subject keeps returning to. Try to get a feel for how long they’ll stay in each position. Even if it is standing, a horse will shift its weight from one leg to another, but it will eventually return to its first position. Start in the upper-left corner of your paper and draw quick little thumbnails sketches of each of the most characteristic poses. Don’t bother erasing, just start light and leave the first statement of action. Each sketch is like a snapshot from the continuous action going on in front of you. The set of small studies will be a summary of key poses and the range of motion. 03. Learn the structure Once you master human anatomy, drawing movement gets easier If you want to draw from memory, practise copying simplified skeletons and structural breakdowns of humans and animals it becomes are second nature. It’s essential to know the basic forms of the skeleton. You can study diagrams in books, but I prefer to go to a museum with good skeletons and work from those, because that’s the only way you’ll get a sense of the three dimensions. As you’re sketching someone, switch your eyes to ‘x-ray vision’ and imagine what the skeleton is doing underneath. 04. Let sleeping dogs lie Tire out a dog and you've got a perfect sleeping subject If you’re lucky, you might catch an animal or a person sleeping. A dog will typically hold a sleeping pose for 10 or 15 minutes, but you never know when they’ll shift position. Since I don’t own a dog, I often draw and paint canines that belong to friends and acquaintances. It often helps to take the dog for a walk before sketching it. The walk tires out the dog so that it will settle down. Also, if the dog is just getting to know you, a walk makes the dog more comfortable with you. 05. Remain inconspicuous Keep a steady view to get an accurate image When I’m sitting on a bench, in a restaurant or in a concert audience, I can’t hold the sketchbook anywhere near the line of sight, because setting up an easel isn’t an option. Also, I like to remain relatively inconspicuous. With the sketchbook down in my lap, there are two issues to overcome – head bobbing and accuracy. To avoid head bobbing, I tip my head forward to a middle angle, and I adjust my reading glasses to the best angle, so I can see the sketch and flick my eyes up to see the subject without moving my head. To improve accuracy, because I can’t reach out my arm to do sight-size measurements, I make mental notes of slopes and alignments during the lay-in stage. 06. Sketch musicians Musicians create unusual poses as they play Musicians make great subjects because, although they move a lot, they come back to certain poses. The amount that they shift varies a lot, depending on the performer and the kind of instrument. A few are reliably rock-steady – Irish flautists, for example, especially if they are playing into a microphone. Be aware of the etiquette: If the venues are free, or outdoors, or in a pub, the vibe is more relaxed. If in doubt about whether it’s OK to sketch during a performance, it doesn’t hurt to ask. If you can, ask permission to come to rehearsals. 07. Try the flash-glance technique Close your eyes occasionally to take a mental snap shot If you’re dealing with fast action, here’s a tip for making your eyes work like a high-speed camera. As you watch your subject, snap your eyes closed from time to time. The last pose that you glimpsed will hover in your short-term memory for a few fractions of a second. I call this after-image the ‘flash-glance’, and it’s usually enough to recall the basic silhouette or limb positions for a quick notation. This can work especially well at dance performances and sporting events, where you’re likely to see actions repeated, and you already have an idea of what the extreme poses might look like. At first, when you try this technique, just try to sketch what you really remember observing. Over time, you’ll be able to recall more details of the pose. 08. Train your memory Memory and imagination go hand in hand Knowledge, memory, and imagination are closely related. You can make the most progress when you alternate between observation, book study, and memory. You can draw an animal from life, and then draw that pose later in your sketchbook just from memory. Even if that memory sketch doesn’t look very good, it helps you come face to face with what you know and what you don’t know. Then, back in the studio, you can supplement gaps in your knowledge by sketching from action photos. The more you can internalise the animal’s structure, the better you can refine a sketch when the person or animal has changed position. 09. Practice on friends Pubs are the perfect place to practice Art friends usually don’t mind being sketched, because they understand what you’re trying to do. You can sketch them at a pub, a studio, or a restaurant. At a restaurant, you’ve got about 15-20 minutes after you order your meal while you wait for your food. Of course, everyone will be not holding still, plus you want to add something to the conversation. It helps to sit in a seat with good lighting on your work and on your subject. Look at and ‘around’ the person you’re sketching. As they talk and gesture, think about what pose and posture is most typical of that person. 10. Visit zoos and farms to sketch animals Zoos offer unique sketching opportunities Zoos offer a great opportunity to sketch animals that would be difficult to observe in the wild. The animals often return to the same poses or movements so you can spend more time on your sketch. If you talk to one of the keepers, they can tell you about the animal’s schedule and feeding routine, and which parts of the zoo are likely to be least crowded. If the zoo has large habitat-style enclosures, you can set up a spotting scope on a tripod to bring you closer to the details. Farms and agricultural shows also offer the chance to observe fine specimens of domesticated animals up close, as long as you don’t mind the crowds. Related articles: Best practice advice for capturing human anatomy Art techniques: top tutorials for painting and drawing Drawing techniques: 7 fundamentals of pencil drawing View the full article

Sources said the funds were diverted to fraudulent accounts in a coordinated heist that involved hundreds of wire transfers and on-the-ground accomplices. View the full article

Universal Plug and Play networking protocols can be exploited to bypass DDoS mitigations. View the full article

If you've been tempted to give Adobe XD a spin but been put off by the price tag, that could all be set to change. Today Adobe announced it would be offering users a version of its all-in-one UX/UI design platform for free, via the Adobe XD Starter plan. Get 15% off Adobe Creative Cloud with our exclusive deal Built to cater for both Mac and Windows users, the XD Starter plan also covers mobile apps for iOS and Android. On top of this Adobe has launched a $10 million fund to help designers and developers create innovative plugins for the software – perhaps with the aim of helping it win its battle against Sketch. It has also released new XD features and enhancements, including better integration with Sketch and Adobe Photoshop. The Adobe XD Starter plan offers all the prototyping tools found in the full version. The only catch, it seems, is that users will only be able to share a single set of design specs. While this is useful for students and designers looking to pick up the software, it could prove a tad limiting for a single UX designer in a larger organisation. Get a taste of what to expect in the video below. "UX design is one of the fastest growing segments in design," says Scott Belsky, chief product officer and executive vice president, Creative Cloud at Adobe. "The new Starter plan supports Adobe’s vision to give everyone – from emerging artists to enterprise brands – everything they need to design and deliver exceptional digital experiences and explore the rapidly expanding field of UX design with no financial commitment." Related articles: Adobe XD integrates with Photoshop CC and Sketch Adobe XD CC updates make workflows seamless How to prototype a mobile app with Adobe XD View the full article

Adobe has issued a round of higher priority patches less than a week after its Patch Tuesday updates last week. View the full article

Airbnb has a multi award-winning brand identity, but it never settled on a typeface that felt quite right. Until now. The company has released Airbnb Cereal, a sans-serif typeface that can be used across all branding touchpoints, from billboards to its app. Airbnb Cereal is available in six weights: light, book, medium, bold, extra bold and black. It also sports a deeper x-height than the company’s previous main typeface, and apertures that shrink based on the weight of the type in use. Airbnb partnered with international type foundry Dalton Maag on the type design project. “As a company that’s designing online and offline experiences, we saw a clear opportunity to create a distinct typeface that can carry the weight of both – to leap off the screen to a magazine,” says Airbnb. “We needed to design a typeface that combines character, function, and scale.” In an interview on the brand’s blog, design lead Karri Saarinen explains how they initially experimented with screen-optimised system fonts, but were unable to find one that fitted with Airbnb’s design language, and that would work across print and digital platforms. When it came to naming the font, design lead Derek Chan says they were looking for something “playful, open, and simple… with a touch of quirk”. A heartwarming tale from the annals of the company’s history provided the perfect solution. Founders Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia, in huge amounts of debt with a site that no one was visiting, launched a last-ditch promo that saw them shipping self-assembled boxes of cereal (‘Obama Os’ and ‘Cap’n McCain’) to Airbnb hosts and members of the press. The press ate it up, literally and figuratively, and it was a turning point for Airbnb. The typeface follows a trend for brands to put increased emphasis on unique type design. Airbnb Cereal joins the likes of YouTube Sans, IBM Plex and Coca-Cola’s TCCC Unity in the collection of bespoke brand typefaces. Read more: Why design is key to Airbnb's incredible success Logo design tips from the pros 70 best free fonts for designers View the full article

If you're passionate about augmented reality (AR) and want to be the first to try the upcoming True AR SDK by WayRay, you're in the right place. Global holographic AR technology company WayRay is currently running the True AR Challenge, an online competition where designers and developers are invited to share their ideas for AR applications for cars. WayRay has brought amazing partners to the challenge, so you’ll get to pitch your idea and present your solution to top specialists from academia (ETH Zürich, EPFL), business (Roland Berger GmbH), and industry (Porsche AG). How to enter the challenge To enter the contest, register online, download the materials and visualise your idea of an AR app interface for cars. The most creative, original, and user-friendly concepts will be granted $2,000–$5,000 and shortlisted for the US-based hackathon later this year, the winner of which will walk away with $40,000. The online phase lasts until May 30, culminating at the onsite Hackathon, where designers will team up with developers to create AR app prototypes and compete for their share of the $160,000 prize pool. Here's a step-by-step guide to enter: Register at https://wayray.com/sdk/challenge Confirm your participation in the automatic reply Download the materials (rules, PowerPoint template, images, videos) Fill in the application form in the PowerPoint template Use the images to visualize your AR app interface and add the pictures to the template Optional: use the videos with different road scenarios to visualize an animated version of your AR app, upload your videos to any file hosting service and put the link into the template Convert the filled PowerPoint template into a PDF file and send it to sdkchallenge@wayray.com, open until 30 May 2018. Shortlisted finalists will be notified by email by 30 June 2018. For full terms and conditions, visit the dedicated challenge page on the WayRay website. Judging criteria When deciding who makes the shortlist, the judges will be looking at the following criteria: Creativity (How original is the AR app?) Relevance (Does the AR app serve a user need?) Design (Did the participant/team put thought into the user experience? Is the AR UI pleasant to look at?) About WayRay WayRay is a global holographic AR technology company headquartered in Switzerland Founded in 2012, WayRay is a global holographic AR technology company headquartered in Switzerland. In keeping the full R&D process under control - from product concept to prototype testing - WayRay has morphed from a startup into a full-cycle manufacturer of holographic optical systems, hardware, and software. WayRay’s solutions for the automotive industry include Navion, the first-ever aftermarket holographic AR navigation system; the embedded Holographic AR Display, a built-in solution for car makers; the True AR SDK for developers to create AR apps for cars; and Element, a gamified car tracker for smarter driving. In the last few years, WayRay has carried out successful projects with car manufacturers like Honda, Porsche, and Rinspeed. View the full article

It's been 20 years since Apple launched the first in its series of game-changing personal computers. Instantly recognisable thanks to its unique shape and brightly coloured, translucent monitors, the iMac G3 provided Apple with a much-needed shot in the arm. To celebrate the anniversary, phone accessory manufacturer Spigen is bringing the design of the iMac G3 to the iPhone X with a series of fun cases. The best cheap Apple Pencil deals of 2018 Unveiled through a suitably charismatic presentation by Steve Jobs on May 8 1998, the iMac G3 would go on to set itself apart from the pack with a range of colour options including Bondi Blue, Blue Dalmatian and Flower Power. Sir Jonathan Ive, the man behind the look of the iPod, is credited with creating the groundbreaking industrial design. Jobs summed it up best when he said "it looks like it's from another planet. A good planet. A planet with better designers." Spigen has proved that there's still a strong market for brightly coloured tech packed with turn-of-the-millennium appeal as its iPhone X Indiegogo campaign has already smashed its target. The manufacturer's Classic C1 phone cases are described as 'familiar but extraordinary'. Tapping into the nostalgia of people who grew up with the original iMac G3, these clever cases shrink down the desktop's design elements into something that you can carry around in your pocket. "We took the chance to deepen what we already knew of the iconic computer," says Spigen on its fundraiser page. "We personally bought, cleaned up and re-examined every part of the classic computer to bring it back for devices of today." The phone cases match the original colours of the first iMacs With a month to go until Spigen's Indiegogo pledge comes to an end, there's still plenty of time to snap up one of these cases for as little as $25. And with this phenomenally popular project having already sailed past its goal by 1139%, you don't even have to worry that your pledge will go unrewarded. Related articles: The 28 best iPhone apps for designers 10 trends shaped by the iPhone How Hey Studio seduced Apple with geometric shapes View the full article

This month's roundup is a mixed bag of new books, news skills, and new tools. One of the best titles out this May takes a modern, engaging approach to mastering to art of how to draw people – plus we look at the best pencils and papers to go with it. Another new book aims to demystify art, by explaining in simple language exactly what 300 iconic texts really 'mean'. Elsewhere, we look at a guide on how to give your landscapes new depth using mixed-media techniques – including found objects. Struggling with artists' block? We've got something for that – a book that explains what creativity is and how to unlock yours. And if that doesn't work there's a tried-and-tested resource from which everyone from Botticelli to Damien Hirst has found inspiration. Ever heard of 'snitte'? We sharpen our knife and take a look at the craft that is described as "a rite of passage for most Scandinavians". 01. Danish whittling Create everything from toys to butter knives from wood In The Danish Art of Whittling, Frank Egholm teaches you the ancient Danish craft of 'snitte'. This new book gives you a visual, step-by-step guide to a range of simple whittling projects for the home – wooden toys for children, a necklace, butter knives, and pretty much everything in between. It's a relatively cheap craft, since you don't need many tools to get started. And it's a relaxing, satisfying, and productive way to get away from the computer. Could it be your new favourite creative hobby? 02. Whittling knife Over time, the birchwood handle will mould to the user's grip This whittling knife is specially designed for woodcarving. It has a thin, tapered edge of laminated steel, which is tough, so it'll withstand lots of snitte before it's needs regrinding. And it also comes with a storage case, to keep it in good shape. Best of all, as you use it, over time the oiled birchwood handle will slowly change shape until it perfectly fits to your hand – which is when you'll know you're a true master of snitte. 03. Good wood Basswood is ideal for whittling People have been using basswood for woodcarving for thousand of years. It makes for a particularly good material for whittling because it doesn’t have much of a grain and it's soft and therefore easier to work with. This 10-piece pack is free of acid and lignin, plus each block is quite small, making it ideal for the beginner whittler, and for practising detail and finesse work. It's good snitte. 04. Art made easy The meaning behind over 300 famous artworks Patrick De Rynck and Jon Thompson hit the nail on the head in their new book, Understanding Painting: with all its talk of themes and symbols, art can be intimidating. Here they look at over 300 famous pieces – from the middle ages to the 20th century – and explain clearly and concisely what they 'mean'. Vermeer, Picasso, Hopper and more feature here. The language is simple and engaging, and it looks smart too. 05. Creativity unblocked Tips for unlocking your creativity In Being Creative: Be Inspired, Unlock your Originality, artist Michael Atavar talks about creativity and how to find yours, how to develop ideas, and how to bridge the big gap between the development stage and completing a projects – something even the most experienced creative can struggle with. With this book, Atavar aims to prove that creativity isn't some magical, possibly mythical thing floating about in the ether, but something real, inside everyone, waiting to get out. A good read for creatives in any field. 06. If all else fails … Artists throughout history have stolen ideas from mythology You've heard how talent borrows but genius steals? Well, the best of the best regularly steal ideas from classical Greek and Roman myths. In Flying Too Close to the Sun, James Cahill looks at how mythology has inspired the work of Botticelli, Caravaggio, Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst – plus the Coen Brothers, Margaret Atwood, and Arcade Fire – and how they've taken these ancients stories and weaved them into their own work. It tackles big themes like fate, jealously, and redemption, and is full of ideas on how you can use them in your work. 07. Mastering portrait technique A modern take on an age-old skill This Pocket Art guide to portrait drawing offers a lively, modern approach to this fundamental skill. London artist Miss Led is your teacher. She tells you what tools you need, how to understand the face, its features and expressions, and how to master the tricker stuff, like hair and skin. Best of all, she does it in just 112 pages. This is another title that is helping to bring art theory into the 21st century. 08. Portrait pencils These shades are perfect for portraiture This 24-piece set of pencils is perfect for portraiture, particularly certain skin and hair tones. It gives rich, creamy, vibrant colours, which are easy to blend, and look smooth on the page. They give a much more professional finish than your average coloured pencil. Not the cheapest, but excellent quality as always from the ever-reliable Prismacolor brand. They don't break easily. And come in a proper tin for safe storage. 09. Toned paper Toned paper is great for practising light and shadow Strathmore is one of the leading brands in art supplies – trusted by students, hobbyists, and professionals alike. This toned paper is an immediate way to refresh your portrait work. On white paper, you tone down. With this range of toned paper, you have to shade both down and up, which is great for practising light and shadow. Plus, non-white paper helps with eyestrain. 10. Textile painting Learn how to create impressive mixed-media landscapes Textile Landscape Painting encourage you to use paper and paint, fabric and thread, and found objects to create stunning landscapes with added depth. Author Cas Holmes guides you through it step by step – from coming up with ideas in your sketchbook, to stitching and painting them on cloth, and even completing these projects digitally. The book doesn't just focus on pastoral scenes either. It also looks at urban environments. Read more: Create a self-portrait with just 4 colours 10 tips for sketching moving subjects 20 phenomenally realistic pencil drawings View the full article

If you've been hard at work in your spare time creating stunning paper art or impressive poster designs, selling your merchandise online can be a quick way to make extra pennies for your efforts. However it's not as simple as sticking it on the internet and hoping people hand over their money. In fact there's a fine art to tempting people into buying your wares – especially now the lower barriers to entry mean anyone and everyone can sell their creations online. Luckily this crash course list of advice will get you ready for the fast-paced world of online design retail. Here we're focusing on Etsy, but there are other places geared up towards selling designer-maker goods – take a look at our list of great places to sell your design work online for more info. And if you're looking to start from scratch, it's worth reading our in-depth guide to how to succeed as a designer-maker for success stories and advice. 01. Get product photography right It can be helpful to include something to indicate scale Images are really important when selling on Etsy – or anywhere else online. It's the only way your customers are able to see what you're selling, so make sure your photos are clear, well-lit and appealing. In particular, make sure your backgrounds are plain and neutral – keep the focus on your products. However, it can help to include something for scale in one of your photos. For example, RockCakes shows her jewellery on a person (above), so prospective customers can see how big it is. 02. Use search terms in product titles Use the Title field to add extra info for your customers On Etsy, you need to provide each listing with a title. This is a great place to add keywords and search terms that your buyers will use to find your item. Some sellers mistake this as a place to title a work with a collection 
or item name – for example, calling a handbag 'the Julia' and leaving out important words that help search engines recognise the item, such as style, colour, material and manufacturing method. When writing your title, be sure to include descriptive words that your customers will use. 03. Experiment to see what sells These pins from Finest Imaginary are a summertime purchase Something successful sellers do is focus on their businesses. They are constantly experimenting and figuring out what works for them. This includes trying out new products, as well as new photos and new ways to describe their items. They also keep an eye on the results. What worked this year may not work next year, and seasonality and larger trends can play a big part in how well a shop does, so never stop experimenting. 04. Set targets for improvement Abi Overland offers a small but popular range of products on her Etsy site It's good to set small goals over the course of a week. For example, you could start by opening your shop with one item and then add another item each week. It's also worth signing up for the Etsy Success newsletter, which provides tips from top sellers on the site. Good luck! This article was originally published in Computer Arts magazine. Read more: Business tips for selling design goods How to make money on Instagram as a creative 8 golden rules of handmade View the full article

Learning how to draw and paint takes time, knowledge and patience. But, there are a number of drawing and art techniques you can adopt to help you along the way. Acrylics are a very flexible medium: they can be used direct from the tube to create thick dense colour, or, as we'll do here, watered down and layered to give depth and an almost ethereal quality. I try to embrace a spontaneity in my work, and the drips and splashes of watered-down acrylic lend themselves well to that process – even accidents that seem disastrous at the time. Let me take you through my process of painting when working with acrylic paints. 01. Start with sketchbooks and ideas Sketching allows room to explore your idea as it progresses My work always starts in the sketchbook. It's a risk-free environment to explore ideas and hopefully surprise yourself. I'm a constant doodler and I try and keep things as loose as possible throughout this stage, allowing for room to explore the idea as it progresses. 02. Move the sketch onto paper Really get a feel for the piece as you transfer the drawing I prefer to redraw my sketch, rather than transferring it using a light box or projector. It takes longer but retains the spontaneity of the original, as well as letting the idea develop further. I probably spend too long on this stage, but it does help me get a feel for the piece. This drawing also acts as an underpainting. 03. Prepare for the initial wash Using a mop brush, cover the entire surface with clean water Using a mop brush, I cover the entire surface with clean water, preparing it for the initial wash. Then I mix up the initial colour. I mix a lot of paint – in this case Prussian blue, Hookers green and a touch of Phthalo turquoise – which gives the colour a little more depth, using a lot of water to thin it down. 04. Apply the first wash Things can look a little messy at this stage – but I enjoy the spontaneity! I then load my mop brush with a lot of paint and wash it onto the wet paper, working across the paper and allowing the water to carry the paint down the surface. Things can look a little messy at this stage, but I enjoy the spontaneity, seeing how the paint goes down, and it will be worked on and refined later. 05. Work with the wash While it's still wet, get a feel for highlights by lifting paint off with a clean/dry mop brush While it's still wet, I start to work into the image, getting a feel for highlights by lifting paint off with a clean, dry mop brush. I also use a water spray from a garden centre to wash areas if I want to blend paint or remove it altogether. I repeat this process, gradually building layers of colour. 06. Build colour and tone Each layer is a very slight development on the last, creating denser colour and tone Each layer is a very slight development on the last, creating denser colour and tone. As the process continues I can refine areas more. When I want to create a harder edge I will paint an area with water first and then apply the wash, letting the paint run into the water and along the edge. 07. Blend different shades Working wet on wet produces subtle blends Working wet on wet produces subtle blends. I enjoy the softness this gives, but if I want to stop the paint running into an area I'll use a hair dryer to dry areas as I'm working. I don't worry about the drips – they're part of the fun – but if they do interfere with something I will lift them with the brush or wash them off with the water spray. 08. Add detail Use a selection of long-handled brushes to start to establish darker areas, enhance contrast and bring out key forms and shapes I now want to give the painting some form. I've aimed for an overall mid-tone at this stage and now I'll work with a denser mix of paint, using a selection of long-handled brushes to start to establish darker areas, enhance contrast and bring out key forms and shapes. 09. Introduce colour Don't worry about final hues at this stage, just lay down a ground colour Up until this point I've been working on tone and form. Now I want to add colour. Still working with thin washes, first I add a mix of Yellow ochre, muted with Buff titanium, to the figures. At this stage I'm not worried about the final hues – I'm just laying down a ground colour. 10. Keep it loose It's worth noting that colour looks strong when first applied, it'll be much paler when it dries I then add a wash of Alizarin crimson mixed with Quinacridone burnt orange to the flowers area. I'm not painting the flowers as such, rather adding colour areas that I can play with later. It's also worth noting that however strong the colour looks when you first apply it, it'll be a lot paler once it dries. 11. Layer washes It's at this stage that the painting starts to gain its depth From now on it's really a matter of repeating the process, alternating between gradually building colour and tone with additional washes and working on areas of detail. It's at this stage that the painting starts to gain its depth. Colours become deeper, shadows grow darker, and detail and form are more defined. 12. Evaluate the painting A long-handled flat brush helps shape the painting I continue to step back and evaluate. I aim to create a flow through the piece, but the composition seems to be missing something to lead the eye out, so I'm adding detail to the bottom corner. I shape it with a long-handled flat brush but purposefully keep it looser than the more defined flowers – this will create depth, helping to foreground detail. 13. Refine details Now you are able to focus on detail Now I'm able to focus on the detail. I tend to move from my easel to a flat surface. I like to be 'over' my painting at this stage. It's now that the painting starts to come to life, as I'm able to focus on the fine details that create character. 14. Revisit undefined areas It's time to revisit the areas to which rough colour was previously applied It's time to revisit areas to which I've previously applied rough colour. I'm now able to go in and work on them, adding refinement, detail and depth. 15. Appraise and finalise The final stage is to step back again and look for any areas that need tightening up The final stage is to step back again and look for any areas that need tightening up and any opportunities for additional detail to add narrative to the painting. Here I feel that some thin bones would add context to the bird skull. This article was originally published in ImagineFX, the world's best-selling magazine for digital artists. Subscribe now. Read more: How to use gold leaf in your multimedia art Choose which paint brush to use Create more interesting skin tones with acrylics View the full article

You're reading How to Plan Your Website Redesign for Success, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! Redesigning a website is always a challenge because it requires a lot of resources and can be quite risky. The idea of implementing the newest technology and design trends is tempting. But as a rule of thumb, it is better … View the full article

We've all been there. You've got a project that you really need to get started on, but you're just not feeling it. Instead you find yourself researching tablet accessories you've had your eye on, hunting out new designers to follow on Twitter or deciding that now's the time to try out some desk exercises. It's amazing how much time you can kill when you ought to be getting on with something important. Learn how to break the procrastination habit with these top tips. 01. Figure out the trigger Ask yourself some searching questions. What goes through your head when you decide not to start quite yet? Do you not know where to begin? Are you worried what you create won't be good enough? Is it something more physical like tiredness or hunger? Like death, procrastination has a plethora of possible causes. If that sounds unpleasant, you could always procrastinate by doing some work instead. 02. Start anywhere Perfectionism is often the real culprit for procrastination – but it can't be perfect if you haven't actually done it. Make a start and you'll have something to play with and refine. It's daunting, we know, but you probably never think: 'I definitely don't wish I'd started this earlier. Stress is so much more pleasant than sleep.' Just do something. Anything. It'll be better once you start. 03. Turn off message alerts Some people recommend checking email just once or twice a day, which feels absurd when you're a one-person business. However, studies show it can take more than 20 minutes to get back on-task after reading just one email, so try to find a happy medium, like checking it once an hour. The same goes for Slack, Twitter, WhatsApp, or however you like to communicate. Constant alters are a sure-fire way to veer off-course. 04. Break it into chunks Don't put whole tasks on your to-do list, because that doesn't tell you what you need to do or enable you to keep track of any progress made. Break things down into individual steps. Tick them off and reward yourself for getting each one done. A word to the wise: it's best to leave the reward until after you've done the task. Rewarding yourself for thinking about the task is also pushing it. 05. Try a tomato timer Unnerved by the blankness of time stretching out before you? Try using the Pomodoro technique to contain your work (and your fears). There's a whole host of free apps out there, but they all use the same principle: work for 25 minutes, relax for five, repeat. It works so well that you might even procrastinate from taking the five-minute break. This article was originally published in Computer Arts, the world's best-selling design magazine. Subscribe now. Related articles: 12 tips to turbocharge your design career 5 simple ways to avoid creative burnout The dos and don'ts of perfect portfolios View the full article

The flaws threaten to expose corporate communications in Outlook as well as the messages of at-risk users like political dissidents. View the full article

A phishing scam fooled victims by claiming to be Apple and scooping up personal details – including financial information and Apple account information. View the full article

Samsung updates S9, Note 8 and S8 phones with 27 patches from a RCE bug to a patch that prevents an ancient peek-and-poke attack first identified in 1980s. View the full article

Mobile is becoming a primary platform for most people thanks to the availability of smartphones. If you aren’t ready for the shift, you’ll be left behind. Pick up the skills you need to develop and build for Android, the biggest mobile platform around, with the Complete Android Developer Course for just $17 (approx. £13)! If you’ve been itching to learn how to create apps for Android, the Complete Android Developer Course can help you scratch that itch. With over 31 hours of content taught by expert Rob Percival, you'll learn how to make the most out of the latest version of the Android operating system. This massive course will walk you through building 14 apps, showing you the process step by step so you can apply it to your own creations. The Complete Android Developer Course usually retails for $199. Right now, you can save 91% off that price and pay just $17 (approx. £13). It's a great price to pick up the skills you need to develop apps for Android, so grab this course today! Related articles: 18 of the best Android apps to download for creatives 8 Android apps to unlock your creativity The 13 best free Android apps View the full article