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Anton & Irene will be at Generate London on 20-22 September, where they will share their experience on how to successfully have a good work/life balance while producing creative work for both. Anton Repponen and Irene Pereyra first met while working as agency directors at Fantasy. Soon, it became clear they weren’t doing as much design work as they’d like, so in 2014 they took the plunge and founded Anton & Irene. The studio immediately started making waves in the industry, snagging Karim Rashid as its first client and picking up net’s New Agency of the Year award (watch their awesome acceptance video). We chatted to the duo about their extraordinary pitching success rate, and why there’s really no need for user research. Anton & Irene say working together is almost like a marriageYou went from being agency directors to designers. Why the move? AR: We became directors quite quickly at the very beginning of our careers, and it was definitely not something we had planned on. After a couple of years ‘on the job’ we realised the things we enjoyed doing most were the things that had nothing to do with being directors. There are a lot of things that start to eat up your time, like the performance reviews of your designers, and discussions about finances and business strategies, and you end up doing less and less actual design work. IP: We definitely learned a lot from all of these extra-curricular director activities, but we wanted to make sure we kept designing and didn’t become the kind of directors that just point at other people to do stuff. That works really well for some people, of course, but for us it was like dying a slow death. We like making things. We like working on stuff ourselves, and the only way to keep doing that was to start our own studio. At larger agencies you get promoted away from the things you are best at, but as an independent design studio, we could ensure we would always be the primary designers. Anton & Irene will present a talk and also run a full-day workshop at Generate London in September What was your experience like when you launched Anton & Irene? AR: We were very lucky that it was quite easy. By the time we started our studio we were already known as designers and were associated with some pretty successful projects. We’ve worked with a ton of people over the past seven years at companies like Google and Microsoft, and a lot of designers who worked for us in the past are now at places like Apple, Spotify and Facebook. Our network is quite large – it wasn’t like we just came out of nowhere. If we had started our own agency earlier, we would have had a very different experience I think. It was good timing. What advice would you give to others setting up an agency? IP: You have to be very sure about who you go into business with, because at the end of the day, a business is basically the same as a marriage. It’s very important to be aligned on very many different levels because there is a high chance for irritations to build up if you aren’t. Anton and I both have a similar outlook about to what extent we will let money make decisions for us (as little as possible), how many hours we want to work (from 9am to 6pm every day, and never on the weekends), and what kinds of work we want to take on (interesting work that will challenge our skillsets). You might think that these things go without saying, but you’d be surprised by how often that can go wrong. Anton & Irene's first ever client project was to redesign the website for iconic product designer Karim RashidCan you tell us about your process working with Karim Rashid? IP: Believe it or not, the Karim Rashid project was quite possibly the easiest one in our careers. Initially we were actually quite apprehensive about taking on the project, since we thought it would be impossible to design for a designer. Especially for one as prolific and influential as Karim Rashid. We were worried that he would end up ‘directing’ the project, which would have been a total nightmare. The only reason we decided to move forward with the project was because we had worked with Alexander Wang on the redesign of Balenciaga.com the year before, and he respected our expertise as digital designers and never crossed into our domain. As soon as we met with Karim and his team we knew it was going to be a good working relationship. We liked them right away. Anton and Irene's incredibly beautiful, sunny loft studio space in BrooklynYou’ve said that you ‘don’t do user research’. Is this still the case? IP: Yes, that’s true. It’s just not part of our process. Although we sometimes get vilified by other UX designers for not doing it, we refuse to do research just because other people feel that it’s something you have to do. Everyone has their own way of coming to a solution, and user research is just one way. Does this ever cause difficulties with your clients? IP: It’s actually never affected any of our pitches or work with clients, and very rarely have clients insisted on user research. In those cases we asked them to hire an outside company to conduct the user research, and then together with the client we’d decide on what we wanted to action from it. Though in reality nothing surprising ever came out of it. It’s funny how dogmatic the UX field has become, with so many rules on process and things. I really dislike that. How important is UX to you? What makes a good user experience? IP: Wow, this is a massive topic we could discuss for hours. A good user experience is everything, of course. Everything. You want things to make sense and to be designed around the person who will be using it. However, I do find it interesting how so many things have become boring and visually uninteresting under the flag of ‘good user experience’. Maybe it’s OK for some products to be hard to use, or difficult to figure out. Maybe your mom shouldn’t always be able to use it. Think of Snapchat. Good UX still means many different things to many different people, and even people within the UX community are still arguing about UX versus UI and what it all means. I find these discussions kind of uninteresting to be very honest. Stuff is either good or it’s not. You can call it whatever you want and get there with whichever means you need to. Anton & Irene did this portrait for the book celebrating the 15th anniversary of the OFF festival. It's also on their site's 404 page Can you tell us about some work which initially didn’t go down well with the client, and how you bounced back? IP: When we were working on the redesign of USAToday.com back in 2012, we almost got fired when the client didn’t like the creative work that came out of the three-month discovery phase. They basically threatened to fire us if we didn’t come up with something better by Monday. It was Thursday. We had three days to come up with a totally new and different framework, and through some sort of miracle we managed to get something that was really, really good. By the time they saw it on Monday we had won back all the respect needed to keep the job, and to maintain a good relationship with the client. We realised our mistake was that we did not include them enough in our working process, and that they would have been able to pull the handbrake much earlier on if we had shown them stuff sooner. Ever since then, we’ve stopped doing ‘grand reveal’ presentations and show our work-in-progress almost on a daily basis. Better safe than sorry! You state you’ve won 84 per cent of your pitches – what’s your secret? AR: We learned by making mistakes. Every time we lost a pitch, we would request a call with the client to ask where we went wrong and why they didn’t choose us. It’s amazing what you can learn from that. It’s important to be 100 per cent dedicated to the pitch for the entirety of the time that you are working on it. It’s also important to show the client at least two different concepts, and you should always present in person. Most importantly, you have to sell yourself and your process. They basically have to look at your presentation and if your concept doesn’t match their needs, they should think to themselves ‘but we can work with these guys if we let them know what we’re thinking’. It’s all about building that trust and understanding right from the beginning. Every item in Anton & Irene's studio was hand-picked and has some kind of story behind itHow do you stay excited about design, and beat creative block? IP: To be very honest, I am really unaware of trends and what is happening in our field currently, and I kind of like it that way. I think I am afraid that if I get too wrapped up in what is happening out there I will inadvertently start copying stuff. The things that inspire me are kind of random. I like good stories. I like weird facts. I like stats. I like history. I like finding things that other people walk past. I like unusual people and unusual situations. I like making things make sense. I like taking a massive amount of stuff or information and sifting through it to see categories and similarities. I like fixing things that are broken. I like putting things in order. I like things to be neat and organised... AR: I somehow stopped looking at other things that happen in digital a long time ago. Most of the books I read aren’t industry books, I read both fiction and non-fiction – that inspires me much more. If I read blogs or any other online publications they tend to be about photography, video, industrial design, art, fashion or architecture. I am trying to get inspired by other industries and borrow something from there to bring into my work. Creative block is a myth. Anton & Irene will also run their popular Concept, Create, and Sell! workshop at Generate London, in which you'll learn how to quickly come up with a concept and solution to a client brief and create a convincing presentation that sells your idea either to your internal team or the client within just a couple of hours. Reserve your spot today and save £95 with a combined conference and workshop pass. Generate London will feature 15 other presentation from the likes of Steve Fisher, Zell Liew, Leonie Watson, Jaime Levy and many others. Topics covered include UX strategy, performance, web animations, conversational UIs, responsive CSS components and much, much more. Don't miss it! The article originally appeared in issue 274 of net magazine. Related articles: 10 great examples of web design portfolios for 2017 13 great tools for pitching to clients 20 ways to overcome creative block View the full article

"For a character design position, I look at their drawing, painting, and design skills, and for a variety of styles," says Aaron BlaiseIt doesn't matter how talented an animator you are. If you don't have a killer portfolio to showcase your skills, that job you've dreamed of is unlikely to materialise. So what's the secret to success? We asked leading animators to share their pro tips on portfolio strategy. Whether you want your digital portfolio to work harder or to make your showreel sing, there are some best practice tips that can be applied, whatever field you're targeting. 01. Target your audience Golden rule one: know your audience. Who is your portfolio or showreel aimed at, and what do prospective employers, viewers or visitors want to see? "Whether you're applying to a games studio, effects studio or a character animation studio, you have to tailor your portfolio to the studio you're applying to and the type of work you aspire to do," says Andrew Gordon, a directing animator at Pixar, who's worked on everything from A Bug's Life, Monsters, Inc. and Toy Story 3 to Pixar's Academy Award-nominated short film Presto. Oscar-nominated animator Aaron Blaise agrees: "Know who you're interviewing with," he advises. "If I were looking to get hired at Disney, I wouldn't show them a reel of Simpsons animation, and vice versa. And if you don't have the type of work you think a studio is looking for, then it would be in your best interest to do a shot or two in that studio's particular style." 02. Hook your viewer Park City (Wasatch) is one of a number of images in Ty Carter's portfolio that shows his understanding of design and colour"Keep in mind that we have seconds to evaluate your work," explains Disney in its exceptionally helpful portfolio and showreel application guidelines. That means putting your best work first and closing strong, as Pixar's Gordon explains: "Realise that people will fast-forward through your work. If they don't see something really quickly, they'll turn off." It also means being original. How? By injecting personality into your portfolio. "Good character animation is the art of bringing characters to life – not moving them around," points out Blaise. He's currently working on an original 2D animated short film, Snow Bear, with business partner Nick Burch, and urges animators not to sacrifice personality by focusing solely on movement and mechanics. "Often a shot requires little to no movement to get an emotion across," he says. "It can be just a look, an eye movement, a blink. I also advise animators to include performances where there's a change of emotion or idea: angry to happy or fearful to brave. That's when it becomes real and the viewer is pulled in." 03. Show your skillset "Game animation is competitive," says Jonathan Cooper, who worked on Uncharted 4. "Even veterans need to keep pushing the quality bar to get that ideal job."When it comes to specific skill sets, different disciplines require different portfolios. For Gordon, who specialises in character animation, this means showing an understanding of the 12 principles of animation – squash, stretch and so on. For Naughty Dog video games animator Jonathan Cooper, however, this means showing actions and a relevant style. Cooper is the brains behind video animation website Game Anim. He's currently working on Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, and says that for the games he makes, he wants to see navigation around a complex environment, including jumping, climbing and vaulting, one-on-one-combat, walk and run cycles, and so on. "Dialogue and acting scenes are a huge bonus as we're always blurring the lines between gameplay and cinematic storytelling, and game animators are typically expected to at least have a hand in both aspects on the job," he says, adding that camera work also helps you stand out. 04. Present a fresh demo reel As Cooper explains, it's essential to have an up-to-date demo reel to keep up with the fast-paced games industry. "A personal website is the easiest to share with the studio involved in hiring, but a link to your latest reel in your resume is enough," he says. "I prefer Vimeo to YouTube, because of the final render quality and overall cleanliness of the site," he continues. "And ArtStation is fast becoming the standard for pre-made portfolios. But I recommend adding your reel everywhere – even LinkedIn. As for a physical portfolio, I don't think I've seen one in years." Lisa Allen, an animator at Blue Sky Studios and recent portfolio reviewer at November's CTN animation expo, echoes the sentiment: "Your showreel is really the only part of your portfolio that matters for getting a job as an animator. "Ideally, the pieces in your showreel demonstrate your eye for acting, posing, design and composition. If you've done work in any other categories like life drawing, or illustration, that's great – but keep them in a separate part of your portfolio website instead. Also, less is more. For me, the perfect reel is between three and five clips and around a minute long." 05. Create one major focus "At Blue Sky we look for animation with entertainment through character and personality," says Lisa Allen, who worked on The Peanuts MovieAnother golden rule for a successful portfolio is to create a clear focus. If you're showcasing a number of core abilities, make sure the direction in which you want to take your career is clearly presented. "Successful portfolios are specific, organised and contain original ideas," says Blue Sky Studios visual development artist Ty Carter. His film credits include Ice Age 4: Continental Drift, Epic, and The Peanuts Movie, and he shares all kinds of useful tutorials and teachings on his Patreon page. "It's good to see one major focus like character design, set design or colour. If you do each of these at a high level it doesn't hurt to show them all, but be careful not to include too much. What's most important is showing you're a creative problem solver. Ask yourself, what do you bring to the table that nobody else can do? Is your own life experience reflected in your art? If not, how can you do that?" 06. Entertain your audience Most importantly, it's about storytelling. "Don't fall into the trap of being a shot animator," warns Gordon. "People don't just want to see great animation: they want to see if you can tell a story. You have to put together the pieces so that you're showing you understand cutting, continuity and staging. You don't need complex rigs to get noticed. Just great ideas." "At Disney we would talk about portfolios that stuck out," agrees Blaise, "and they stuck out because the work was consistently entertaining throughout. We are in the business of entertainment," he smiles. "I want your portfolio to entertain me." This article originally appeared in ImagineFX issue 145; buy it here! Related articles: 8 big portfolio trends for 2017 Create a killer online portfolio in 10 steps 6 free resources to improve your portfolio View the full article

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Patches are available for a newly discovered Linux, BSD and Solaris vulnerability called Stack Clash that bypasses stack guard-page mitigations and enables root access. View the full article

Edvard Munch was a Norwegian expressionist painter, best known for his masterpiece The Scream. Now digital creatives can get a taste of his genius with seven specially created Photoshop brushes based on Munch’s own paintbrushes. The free Photoshop brushes are based on those used centuries ago by Munch himselfThe project, part of the Hidden Treasures of Creativity initiative, saw Adobe collaborating with The Munch Museum in Oslo and award-winning Photoshop brush maker Kyle T Webster to bring Munch’s original, century-old brushes to a completely new generation of creatives. Creative Cloud users can download them for free here. To give you a taste of what you can create, Adobe has also put together a series of video masterclasses to help you hone your expert brush skills. Take a look at the first one below. Watch the rest on the Adobe Creative Cloud YouTube channel or join in with Adobe’s livestreaming event – part of its Adobelive series – to paint along with Photoshop professionals. There will be sessions taking place daily on 20, 21 and 22 June at 3pm (BST), and you can sign up here. View the full article

Sometimes you just need to know how to sell people on an idea. Marketing skills are applicable to just about any industry, and you can learn how to apply them to the online world with the Digital Marketing Guru Bundle, on sale now for 98% off the retail price. Being successful requires some luck, but even more know-how. In order to optimise everything about your website and grow your online presence bigger than you could have ever imagined, you need the Digital Marketing Guru Bundle. This four-course collection will show you how the technical side of web design – from programming to analytics – can help you monetise your site, land more customers, and make more money. You can improve your website and brand with the Digital Marketing Guru Bundle right now for 98% off the retail price. That's a huge saving for a bundle that will help make you money, so grab this deal today! View the full article

Has it really been 10 years since the iPhone was launched? Today it seems difficult to think of life without the smartphone, but when the device was first unveiled back in 2007, few could have predicted how it would shape our lives. Thanks to a revolutionary touchscreen interface, the iPhone immediately took off. In fact six out of 10 Americans knew the iPhone was on its way before it was officially available to purchase. We have the iPhone to thank (or curse) for blessing us with selfies, image-based communications (that's emojis to you and me) and many more technological innovations. To guide you through the ways in which the iPhone has changed visual communication, Shutterstock has put together this infographic that rounds up the phone's most significant achievements. Click the icon in the top right to see the full size infographic Related articles: iOS 11 brings augmented reality to iPhone and iPad The 33 best photo apps The 21 best photo collage maker tools View the full article

The many advantages of SVG – including infinitely scalable vector images, small file sizes and direct integration with the DOM – make it a natural fit for responsive web design. Despite the SVG specification being a decade old, it's relatively recent support in many browsers and tools means there are still a number of tricks, loopholes and gotchas that catch out even experienced web designers and developers. Here, I've summarised the most important of these as 10 golden rules. 01. Set up your tools correctly Just as a craftsman sharpens his tools before beginning work, anyone working with SVG must set their applications up to deliver vector format in the most efficient and optimised method possible. There are a number of settings to implement. First, unless there are compelling reasons to do otherwise, set measurements to 'pixels' in your vector tool. While it doesn't matter to SVG (which will measure the viewBox and elements happily in almost any measurement system) it makes sense to develop the SVG drawing using common CSS units, rather than the print default of inches; and it also makes it much easier to add @media queries and other interventions later. Don't make the canvas area any larger than it needs to be. Like bitmap images, any 'blank space' in the SVG won't be used, and is best substituted with CSS margins. Note that many vector tools, such as Sketch, will automatically 'crop' the canvas area to selected elements. At the same time, don't crop the canvas area to the exact edges of elements. Antialiasing will still be applied to the SVG, and cutting it too close may also crop out the antialiasing. Instead, leave at least 2px clear wherever the edge of the canvas comes close to an element. Responsiveness and performance are closely related, so set the decimal precision to be no more than two points. SVG doesn't think in integers, so a vector point can have a value of 1.45882721px. This extreme precision is entirely unnecessary, and only adds to code bloat and file size, so it's better to truncate it at this point. Similarly, draw vector shapes using as few points as possible. Many new designers assume more points is better, when the reverse is actually true: a few points, placed well, provide greater control over an element, while also reducing file size. If you're given vector files that do not follow this rule, don't worry – most vector art applications have a 'simplify' option you can use to reduce the number of points in an element without changing its shape. Alternatively, for detailed work I'd suggest a plugin like Astute Graphics' VectorScribe. 02. Remove height and width attributes Most apps add a lot of proprietary, unnecessary code in their SVG export. The only required code at the start of most SVG files is the following: For our purposes, the most important aspect is the removal of the width and height attributes that most applications include automatically. This makes the SVG fully responsive in modern browsers. If you're processing a lot of SVGs, or are in a rush, you don't need to complete this step by hand. Instead, you can follow the suggestions laid out in the third golden rule... 03. Optimise and minify SVG output A combination of intelligent hand-editing and post-production optimisation can reduce SVG file sizes markedlyWhatever tool you use to create your SVG content, it's still worthwhile processing its output through a tool like SVGOMG, which will trim the code markedly. Typically, you can save around 20 to 80 per cent in file size. The same code can be integrated locally as a gulp or Grunt task. 04. Modify code for IE Rule 2 mentioned that correctly optimised SVGs are fully responsive in modern browsers. That's true if we count Microsoft Edge as a modern browser. For IE 9-11, we have a few issues to address. If we are using the SVG as an image: We can force IE9-11 to display the image correctly using the CSS attribute selector: SVG images work well in general production, but have limited interactivity: most browsers will ignore interactivity and animation inside an SVG placed on a page as an . In addition, SVG images are an extra HTTP request for the browser. For these and other reasons, SVG is increasingly used inline. In that case, the SVG code needs a little more treatment for IE: In addition to the preserveAspectRatio attribute, IE needs a little more guidance to preserve the correct scaling of the image: take the width of the SVG (365 in this case), divide it by the height (525) and multiply the result by 100 per cent. This will become the padding-bottom value for the SVG, 'propping' it open enough in IE to display the SVG in its correct aspect ratio: Note that, in order to keep things concise and clear, the code samples in the rest of this article don't include these changes. Amelia Bellamy-Royds has written an excellent article on scaling SVG. 05. Consider SVG for hero text Using SVG for hero text means it will automatically scale in line with its containerThere's currently no CSS standard for sizing text to its container. It's possible to scale text using vw units, but that will almost always require at least two media query interventions to 'clamp' the text at certain viewport limits. However, SVG text will resize to a container automatically: The CSS: Keeping the SVG inline preserves accessibility and SEO value, and allows the text to be styled using any font already embedded in the page. See here for more information. 06. Leave width and height in place for progressive icons A non-scaling-stroke line has been applied to this speech bubble so it will not change in width when the viewport is resizedOne exception to Rule 2 is icons and small logos, which should retain their width and height attributes if you want them to be progressively enhanced: You can see an example of this technique in action here. If we only size the SVG icons with CSS, and the site's style sheet doesn't load, the icons will appear at the default size of a replaced element: 300px x 150px. By keeping the height and width as attributes, we can size them to the nearest reasonable touch size by default, and use our CSS to enhance the way they are presented. 07. Use vector-effects to keep hairlines thin By default, SVG scales everything with the viewport, including stroke thickness. Usually this works out fine, but in some cases – diagrams and strokes applied as effects on the outside of text in particular – you may want to keep strokes the same thickness, no matter what the size of the drawing. This is the domain of the little-known vector-effect property, which can be applied as a presentation attribute or in CSS: Take a look at a full example of this technique. 08. Remember bitmaps Many developers assume SVG can only use vectors, but JPEGs and PNGs can also be applied to an SVG drawing. And so long as you've followed my rules so far, those images will be responsive when you add a bitmap via the tag: 09. Consider adaptive solutions The classic Coca-Cola logo rendered at different adaptive sizesMaking things go 'squish' is only one part of responsive design. What RWD is about, in the larger sense of adaptive design, is presenting appropriate content at all viewport sizes. This can be achieved in a variety of ways. responsivelogos.co.uk provides a series of examples that use SVG sprites, but I prefer to integrate media queries into the SVG to create what I call 'branding modules'. This approach enables me to add, remove and modify the visibility of components. Read more about adaptive branding modules in my article. This same technique can be used for diagrams, illustrations, maps and more. In the simplest modules, the CSS itself can be written inside the SVG, making it usable everywhere, as outlined in the previous rule. 10. Integrate media queries into SVG Many people don't know that CSS media queries can be written inside SVG itself: It's important to note that the media query can only 'see' the element it is inside of: that is, any measurement relates to the element itself, not the page. One potential downside of this approach is that the canvas area of the SVG will always remain the same, relative to the elements inside it. This can result in very small elements at small viewport sizes, framed inside a relatively large canvas area. There are several solutions to this, including resizing the viewBox and scaling up the elements to compensate. Conclusion The infinite scalability of SVG is its greatest asset, but a feature that is still somewhat underserved by browsers and vector graphics editors. By integrating these guidelines into your production workflow and communicating them to others in your team, you can create smoothly responsive SVG for the web, making it part of the assets you use in development every day. This article originally appeared in net magazine issue 283; buy it here! Related articles: 12 must-have code testing tools Sharpen your sketching skills Supercharge SVG animations with GSAP View the full article

It's great working in a creative industry, but can be tricky to stay enthusiastic and inspired all the time. We asked leading designers how they beat creative block. Follow these 20 quick-fire to get your creative juices flowing again. 01. Tap into your subconscious Shotopop took an imaginative approach in this Clarks Originals campaign"Strange things happen in a semi-sleep state, when your unconscious takes over," says Shotopop's Casper Franken. "Wake up and write down whatever was happening before you forget it." 02. Get it down on paper Write your main ideas down in columns, and list absolutely everything that comes to mind. You can mix and match the lists for unusual and original combinations. 03. Always carry a sketchbook Jot down any ideas as an when they come to youDon't go looking for inspiration: "A visually loaded word or phrase can jump out from a passage of text, or a song," proposes London based designer and illustrator Craig Ward. "Be sure to sketch those ideas down when they come." 04. Don't be afraid to step away Completely open briefs can be the worst for causing creative block. Try to distance yourself from the project; take a break and come back to it with a clear head. 05. Finish what you've started "There's no such thing as a bad idea: the creative part is in seeing it though to completion, and turning dreams into reality," argues Mr Mills, creative director at ustwo. 06. Put some fun in your studio "Sterility leads to an empty void of nothingness," adds Mills. Always try to inject some colour and life into your studio, and don't run it like a clinic or a prison. 07. Don't retread your steps Illustrator Alex Trochut believes in starting each new project with a fresh slate "Inspiration is intangible: you can't do it on purpose," believes illustrator Alex Trochut. "If you just try to reproduce how a good project happened in the past, you'll never get the same result." 08. Look in unlikely places Go and do something else entirely. You'd be amazed at where new ideas are hiding out. They're often where you would least expect them to be. 09. Expect the unexpected Kjell Ekhorn (Norwegian) and Jon Forss (British) have worked together as Non-Format since 2000"The best ideas don't need to be sought out at all; you just have to train yourself not to swerve out of the way when they jump out in front of you," remarks Jon Forss, co-founder of Non-Format. 10. Explore other creative disciplines Inspiration can come from anywhere. Look beyond other illustrators and designers: photography, typography, fashion, film, packaging and signage, for instance. 11. Expand your mind Kladnik & Neon is a duo at the crossroads of art, illustration and design"It's like mushroom picking: you wander through the magical woods of inspiration and see a big, beautiful mushroom," are the surreal musings of Slovenian duo Kladnik & Neon. "Pick it, make a delicious meal, and if your friends like it, go into the woods for more." 12. Go against the flow Try to approach every brief with the opposite of what everyone else would do. It might not be the direction you choose in the end, but it can help to avoid cliched scenarios. 13. Take notes on life Joanna Basford's amazing illustrations are often inspired by uncreative pursuits"The best ideas often come when doing completely random, uncreative tasks," confesses ink evangelist Johanna Basford. Jot them down as they come to you, or snap a photo of things that catch your eye. 14. Grab some 'you time' Working on too many projects at once can stifle your creativity. If you're feeling burned out, take some time to yourself and turn everything off for a couple of days. 15. Don't be bound by the brief For its Freefolk rebrand, Planning Unit focused on conveying the creative collective's independent spiritOn smaller jobs, less information can sometimes be better to avoid forced influences. "Your solution might open the client's eyes to new things," points out Jeff Knowles, founder of Planning Unit. 16. Broaden your horizons Immersing yourself in particular arts or cultures that you wouldn't normally be interested in could lead to interesting mixed-context inspirations, so get involved. 17. Push the boundaries Experiment in your personal projects or, if you haven't got the time or energy after a hard day's work, go off on a tangent for an hour while working on an actual project. 18. Get a fresh perspective View things from different angles. Some upside-down lettering in a stack of papers or a scrunched-up sketch can create unusual shapes and spark off new ideas. 19. Sleep on it when you can Illustrator and letterer Jessica Hische created this typographical rug for her studio"Try not to think and do on the same day," suggests Jessica Hische. "You tend to sort the good from the bad naturally, and occasionally come up with some really off-the-wall things overnight." 20. Shake up your surroundings Try different working environments to keep things fresh. Sketch at home or on the train, refine final work in your studio, and brainstorm in coffee shops, for instance. Related articles: 10 inspirational design cities 5 Kickstarter projects worth watching How to shine at your degree show View the full article

Leave a design to age long enough and you may find it does not dissolve into obscurity, but rises from the ashes of its own datedness, crowned with a brand new descriptive: retro. Retro design is aesthetically dated – so uncool it’s cool again, so to speak. The concept is growing in popularity. Vinyl sales hit a 25-year high this year, cassette tape sales grew by 74 per cent, and remakes of classic 80s and 90s films now roll into our cinemas on a regular basis. Vinyl sales have seen a 25-year high, thanks to the retro crazeGraphic design is not exempt from the trend, either. If you look to today’s creations across print and the web, it won’t take you long before you come across a pixelated image reminiscent of old Game Boy graphics, or gaudy 90s-style lettering that straddles a tenuous line between being cringy and ironic. Why is graphic design looking backwards? The main reason graphic designers draw inspiration from the past is simple: people are nostalgic about the past. With the benefit of hindsight, there is certainty in the past, a sureness to its course and reasoning, and yet enough distance that ugly realities can blur and fade. It’s comfortable in a way that new designs are not – a dependable escape from the confusing present. The difficulty for designers is how to get this style pitch-perfect – to be just ugly enough to pass for ironic Even seemingly ‘edgy’ designs that borrow from 80s and 90s styles are comforting reminders of corny sitcoms and times when today’s youth were too young to understand what was happening on the news. As well as that, old styles can be a welcome divergence from contemporary trends – provided you use them right. In the same way a child is wowed by a Polaroid camera or a vinyl record, the tried-and-tested typefaces, shape sets and colour palettes that passed out of the limelight long ago can be exciting to a generation that has not yet experienced them. The difficulty for designers is how to get this style pitch-perfect – to be just ugly enough to pass for ironic, or aged enough to seem wise rather than boring. We have five questions you should ask yourself to make sure you hit the mark. 01. Does your product fit a retro look? The first thing to consider is what it is you're trying to promote. Does the product or service your designing for lend itself to being tied to a vintage style? For example, a wedding boutique fits well with older designs because it is typically linked to tradition, family and long-established notions of happily-ever-after. A clothing store that carries styles from the 60s and 70s or a coffee shop with a family heritage can also benefit from a retro design because it is part of the product. It feels authentic. Vintage styles work for companies like bridal boutiques, and other brands rooted in traditionSome products simply will not work with retro designs, and you should never try to force them together (unless your client is very, very insistent). Digital startups, for one, rarely work with floral script or funky 70s typefaces. These are businesses based on progress and innovation – drawing inspiration from a time without internet or even computers is too jarring. Similarly, if you have a brand new product or a service based on innovation, it is typically better to search for contemporary trends or to attempt to break the mould altogether. 02. What is your brand’s tone? Not all retro designs are equal. There is a big difference between a vintage clothing retailer that primarily stocks floral tea dresses, and another selling restored biker jackets from the 1970s. One may make use of flowing script or elegant patterns, and the other might decide to for a scratchy, neon typeface reminiscent of 80s rock album covers. There is also a big difference between an accountancy firm that would like to be considered strong and stoic with classic typefaces similar to Times New Roman, and another that would prefer to be more personable and approachable, with injections of colour or design flourishes. These stores may sell similar products, but their branding couldn't be more differentTypically, the further back you go in time, the more reputable you can appear, so words like elegance, luxury, trusted, upmarket and quality may be tossed around. On the other hand, a younger retro design will typically attract descriptors such as fun, quirky or creative. You can also subvert this and go for a more ironic tone by employing something like a 1950s-style illustration to promote a modern-minded brand, but it takes skill to really make this work. 03. Who is your audience? The 80s nostalgia of Stranger Things helped make it a Netflix smash hitTypically, we do not find a time period ‘cool’ if we have lived through it as an adult, or it is still too recent to be blurred into an aesthetic. For example, baby boomers may find very little to admire stylistically about the 80s or 90s, but millennials are often attracted to the styles they were too young to wear, enjoy or replicate while growing up. Therefore, if you’re going retro, make sure it’s the right era to be retro for your target audience. 04. Is anyone else doing it? Remember to research your competitors to gain insight on whether your design will workIf you’re still not sure, look to your competitors. You want to stand out, but if you’re the only one going down the retro route, consider why that might be. Is there something you’ve missed? Are you just trying something different? Make sure you haven’t strayed too far from what your audience will respond positively to. Alternatively, if every other brand in your industry is using a similar logo or design, you know that the design at least works. But in this environment, will you stand out or fade into a mass of other crests and badge-style logos? Do your competitor research to make an informed decision. 05. How long does your design have to last? Album covers and other timely designs can be more daring with their retro influencesSome trends die quickly. The edgy styles of the 90s may be just a few years away from becoming the next 80s neon-tutu-and-sweatbands costume at your local Halloween store. If you're creating a logo or any aspect of design that depends on longevity, therefore, either make plans for a design shift in five years’ time or dial back the retro influence. Typically, your sensible typefaces and layouts are classic for a reason and you have little to fear. If your design is what you would call ‘out there’ then proceed with caution – trends change fast and nobody wants to fall behind. If your design is only meant to last a few months to a year, though, you can obviously afford to be a more experimental with your vintage design. 06. Do you need to rethink? Mixing and matching vintage and contemporary styles can be a great compromiseLet’s face it: Sometimes, retro doesn’t work. A retro design risks ageing an already old product, instead of giving it new life, or straying into the realm of kitschy or stereotypical. If reverting to contemporary designs isn't an option for your brand, you could try implementing only certain aspects of retro designs. For example, an old-fashioned, black and white photograph with a bold, bright typeface can marry the two concepts stylistically. Similarly, a vintage floral design turned neon, or classic typeface paired up with a bold use of shapes, can be a great way to compromise on a truly retro design. Read more: Have we entered the era of bad graphic design? 10 best movie posters from the 1990s 10 things designers say that normal people don’t View the full article

It only seems like yesterday that we were having to make our creative and design work fit an HD world. But now, another technology has come along to change the game entirely. 4K is a high resolution format for images and video, and it’s something that every creative needs to know about. In this post, we’ll explain the basics, and how you can get on board the 4K train. 01. What 4K is The latest 4K TVs, such as LG’s OLEDE7, offer mindblowing levels of detail4K, also sometimes called Ultra HD (UHD), offers four times the density of pixels you get with 1080p HD – using 3840 x 2160 pixels. As a result, 4K offers an incredible amount of detail and a greater feeling of depth for the viewer. And while even some smartphone screens offer 4K resolution, the difference between HD and 4K is most obvious on large screen TV or video projections. While with HD screens, the closer you get, the more the picture blurs, with 4K the opposite occurs. In other words, the closer you get, the more you get immersed in the incredible level of detail. 4K TVs are already on sale, and increasingly affordable. There’s not a lot of 4K content to watch on them yet, but Sony, Netflix and Amazon all offer some streaming shows in 4K, as long as you have decent enough broadband to pipe it through. Cinemas have their own specific system too, called Cinema 4K, which offers the slightly higher resolution of 4096 x 2160. 02. 4K monitors A 4K monitor like the Asus PA329Q lets you view your work at pin-sharp levels of detailWhile the main market for 4K is the television audience, that doesn’t mean that film-makers, videographers and animators are the only creatives utilising 4K. With prices starting as low as £250, more and more graphic designers, web designers, illustrators and photographers are buying 4K monitors in order to see their work at pin-sharp levels of detail. 4K monitors we’d recommend for design work include the Samsung UD970, the Acer S277HK and, at the budget end, the Viewsonic VP2772. We also put six models for digital and 3D artists through their paces in our 6 professional 4K monitors for digital artists group test. Plus, new models are coming out all the time, so we’d suggest you keep an eye on the latest reviews at our sister site Tech Radar. 03. 4K phones The Sony Xperia XZ Premium can shoot in 4K, and it has its own 4K HDR display tooPerhaps the biggest news about 4K video is that shooting it doesn’t require an expensive, pro-level setup, because it’s already a standard feature of the latest smartphones. Our recommendations for 4K-capable phones include the Huawei P10 Plus, Google Pixel XL and Sony Xperia XZ Premium. You can also record 4K video on the latest SLRs and mirrorless cameras and wearable cameras, such as the GoPro. 04. 4K stock video iStock by Getty Images has hundreds of thousands of 4K clips to download for your projectsWhether you’re looking for a standalone clip, footage to use as a website background or in a header, 4K is increasingly de rigueur for all kinds of creative projects. But if you don’t have the time, energy or budget to shoot pro-level 4K video of your own, there’s plenty of high-end stock video available for your needs to download at low prices. iStock by Getty Images, for example, has been providing 4K video to its customers since 2015. So it already has a large and impressive array of professionally shot 4K video footage on the site: 394,182 clips at the time of writing. And you can download them for the exact same price as SD clips. Overall, iStock provides video footage in 21 categories. In our What the new wave of 4K video means for designers post, we detail 10 examples and how you might use them in your projects. View the full article

Queen Victoria commissioned Winsor & Newton to produce for her the finest watercolour brushes possible. The company, which already held a Royal Warrant, rose to the challenge. The formula has changed slightly for the modern age, but Winsor & Newton has preserved the quality and heritage of this range, named Series 7 after her favourite brush size, no 7. Today the Series 7 range is available in 13 sizes, from 000 to a healthy size 10. The head shape is round and the range is also available with short handles – ideal for the painting of miniatures. Series 7 brushes are handmade in England by brushmakers with over 40 years of experience. Every strand of the finest Kolinsky sable hair is measured, combed and carefully rolled into a precise dome shape to ensure the creation of the perfect point. Once tied and inserted into a nickel-plated ferrule, each brush head is then checked for blunt hairs under a magnifying glass before being securely fastened to the black polished handle. But it doesn't end there. It's vital that the balance, shape and point of every Series 7 brush is perfect, so each one is then tested by hand. Each brush is handmade and carefully testedThe larger brush sizes are packed into individual presentation boxes that include a tag with the brushmaker's name. This personal touch shows a real respect of the brushmaking craft, reaffirming the high-quality product that you've just invested in. The smaller-sized paint brushes won't break the bank (they're priced from £10.99/$14 for size 000), and it's a good way to experience the quality of Series 7. Upwards from the size 6, however, the price might make you hesitate. Size 7 costs £89.99/$115 and the range stretches up to £329/$420 for a size 14. But while you hesitate, let's explore why the Series 7 Kolinsky Sable brushes are often referred to as the world's finest. Aside from the obvious quality in materials and production, it has to be in the experience of painting. Winsor & Newton Series 7 brush performance Queen Victoria's favourite brush, size 7, seems a good place to start. With its smooth, black handle it looks smart and feels comfortable in the hand. It's a medium-sized brush and is reasonably thirsty, soaking up a decent amount of paint that produces an even flow and coverage in one movement. The incredible softness of the brush is immediately apparent as it easily glides across the paper, holding a good edge when used straight, but also allowing the brush tip to cleanly follow a swirling action without any resistance or bristles breaking out. This amount of control really does confirm its superiority and makes it a pleasure to use. Whether lightly or heavily laden with paint, the shape of the brush holds incredibly well. Sizes 1, 0 and 00 were also used with the same clean and controlled results. These smaller sizes would be perfect for fine, detailed work. The Winsor & Newton Series 7 Kolinsky Sable brushes will undoubtedly boost your enthusiasm for watercolour. They enhance the overall experience and have the potential to improve your results. If looked after well, these brushes should last years, maybe even a lifetime, in which case the extra cost of this quality product can be justified. This article originally appeared in Paint & Draw issue 7; buy it here! Related articles: Choose the right brushes for watercolour painting 14 wet-in-wet watercolour painting techniques How to choose which paint brush to use View the full article

To download the accompanying files for 3D World issue 223, simply click the link below each article and a zip file will automatically download the content to your Mac or PC. If you've missed this issue or other editions of 3D World, order a copy. If you have any problems downloading this content, please email: amy.hennessey@futurenet.com Pluralsight video course: Designing Motion Controller Experiences in Unreal Get this free video course from Pluralsight In this course, animator Nathan Glemboski shows you how to design motion controller experiences in Unreal so you can actually stand in worlds you have created. The videos cover setting up a VR character with motion controllers, interacting with objects and creating a teleport system. By the end of the course, which is under two hours, you’ll know how to move freely in a scene, and will also be able to pick up objects really easily. Software required: Unreal Engine 4 Download the video course here (826.3 MB) Create an explosion with FumeFX Learn how to create sparks and smoke Syawish A Rehman shares how to make a bang using Maya's nParticles and FumeFX. Download your files here (67.7MB) Create worn, ornate floors in Substance Designer Learn how to make high-quality materialsChris Hodgson shows how to create realistic materials in Substance Designer using masks generated in Photoshop and Hexels. Download your files here (74.9MB) Tutorial: Groom a furry creature Learn some top tips for grooming Jesus Fernandez shows us how to work with fur. Download your files here (177.5MB) Watch the videos here Tutorial: Create realistic, high resolution CG cloth Achieve great results with your fabric texturesJesus Fernandez shows you how to make convincing CG fabric that holds up to close examination. Download your files here (57.6MB) Download your video here (1.28GB) Artist Q&A: CG art problems solved Our CG artists fix your issuesThis month our team of artists explains how to make an Elsa-like plait, create a meteor shower, make plants in Cinema 4D, and sculpt caricatures in ZBrush. Download the video tips and files to follow these tutorials. Download your files here (54.4MB) Download your videos here (415.4 MB) View the full article

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You're reading Google Introduces Spectral, a New Web Font, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! Spectral is the newest addition to Google’s font library. Designed by Production Type, the team behind great fonts such as Gemeli, or Cogito, Spectral is a beautiful screen-first font. Based in Paris, Production Type is a digital type design agency that’s involved with online distribution of retail fonts, but it also does custom typeface work […] View the full article

You're reading After an App Redesign, Skype Gets a New Logo, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! Do you wonder how Fluent, Microsoft new design language, will look in real life? Look no further than Skype, Microsoft’s chat app. It’s got a new logo and the bubbles are gone. Well sort of, because you’ll still find the bubble around the S, but not on the full Skype logo with the cloudy outline. […] View the full article

The latest dump from Wikileaks alleges the CIA installed custom router firmware on unsuspecting targets in order to spy on internet activity. View the full article

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There's an undeserved mystique around oil painting that has put up some intimidating barriers for some artists wanting to use this wonderful medium. Oil paints offer a richness of colour and their surface allows the creation of beautiful textures. You can paint thick or thin, directly or use glazes. Oils can be used on paper, wood, metal, plastic, canvas and many other surfaces. If you're just getting started, don't get overwhelmed. Be patient with yourself and recognise that it'll take a little time to get the hang of this beautiful medium. Don't overcomplicate it, either. Here we'll go over the five key materials you'll need to paint with oils. 01. A spectrum of colours A basic palette like this will cover most eventualitiesThere are hundreds of colours to choose from, but start with a basic palette that covers the spectrum to give you a good mix of warm and cool hues. Most art materials are sold in at least two grades: student and professional. Whenever possible, purchase pro-grade materials as they almost always last longer and the paint goes further. Pro-grade oils will also contain more pigment, which will result in more accurate colour mixing, and will be resistant to fading in sunlight. 02. A variety of brushes Here's a handy selection of brushesI prefer Rosemary & Co. brushes, but I also recommend Silver Grand Prix and Trekell. Hog bristle brushes are versatile, not terribly expensive and allow for a variety of applications. Finer-haired brushes, both natural and synthetic, can give you an even smoother finish and make very fine detail possible. 03. A palette Make sure your palette is large enough to mix your paints onYou'll need a palette for your paint. This can be a disposable one, a clean tabletop or a handheld wood palette, or a piece of glass that can be quickly scraped clean. Whatever you use, choose something that's large enough to allow for easy mixing and that can be used ergonomically. 04. A surface to paint Whatever surface you use, prime it with gesso firstThe most common surfaces to paint on are canvas, linen and wood. You'll need to prime the surface with a gesso or ground to prevent the acids in the paint from contacting it directly. Acrylic gesso is easy to use and can be applied with a brush or roller. 05. A comfortable easel Pick an easel that best suits your preferred painting styleA solid easel is important so that your work is stable, safe and remains at a good working height while you're painting. You can purchase (pictured, left to right): portable metal tripod-style easels that can be used sitting or standing; larger H-frame style studio models that are meant to remain in situ; or folding French-style field easels. This article originally appeared in ImagineFX issue 145; buy it here! Related articles: How to get started with oil painting Paint a furry pet portrait Paint a portrait like the Old Masters View the full article

It’s that time of year when the student show season is upon us. The work is done. Your portfolio content is created. And now comes the hard part (yes, you heard me) – now you need to make the most of it all. I’ve spent many years (15 since I had my own graduate show) scouting graphic design degree shows to find the best talent to join us at my agency, Design Bridge. Year on year I’ve seen the same mistakes repeated, but have also seen just what it takes to stand out and make those all-important first steps into a successful design career. D&AD New Blood rolls into London on 4 JulySo if you’re genuinely keen to get a job in the industry, but struggle to even imagine how to go about it when show time hits, here are my top tips for standing out for all the right reasons in the coming weeks and months. 01. Signpost yourself Know this: The big degree shows will be uncomfortably crowded. It’s essentially a cattle market, and that can be intimidating and overwhelming for both student and potential employer. From my perspective it’s tough to physically spot the standout work and even trickier to identify who was responsible for it. The most valuable advice I can give is to clearly label your work with your name and have your contact details available RIGHT NEXT TO IT (ideally in the form of a simple business card). Label your work, but also point me in the direction of the corresponding portfolio, which should also be clearly labelled and easy to find. As basic as it sounds, so many graduates neglect this simple step. You’re hoping to work in the communications industry, and this is your first test – get it right. 02. Get talking Bite the bullet and get chatting to peopleOK, deep breath. Now comes the part that, for many, is the most terrifying. During the show itself, no matter now scared you feel, force yourself to talk to people. Ask them questions, show them your work and show them your enthusiasm. I know how nerve-wracking it can be – I was too scared to speak to Mary Lewis when I saw her perusing my own degree show, and that lost opportunity to talk to an industry icon still haunts me. So trust me, relax. We are all just looking for a pleasant chat with pleasant people, nobody’s going to get hurt. All you need to say is ‘Hi, nice to meet you. Can I take you through the rest of my portfolio?’ Don’t miss the chance to talk to industry professionals. Even if it leads to nothing, every chat is an opportunity to learn, build your confidence and get noticed. So smile, clear your throat and bite that bullet. 03. Keep it simple Time to get brutal. If a piece of work requires an accompanying written essay in order for someone to understand it, the design is not immediate enough. And in the hustle and bustle of this environment, people won't have time to read much. Keep your portfolio simple and effortless. If you don’t like a project, take it out. It is far, far better to show fewer projects than to show work you’re not happy with. Think of the benefits; this means never having to apologise for a project, losing that knot in your stomach as you present it, never having to feign passion for something you never really liked that much anyway. If you are showing it, believe in it. This confidence will shine through and act as a huge selling point for both your work and you. 04. Put everything in its rightful place Put your best work front-and-centreThis is essential – you must think of your portfolio as the best story you’ll ever tell, so order is key. Put your favourite work at the beginning and the end. It’s an age-old trick, but these are the pages that the human brain is programmed to remember. Plus, starting with a project you love will boost your confidence and give you the buzz you need to keep going. Then finally, end on a high note with another killer piece of work that will leave them hungry for more. Spend some valuable time on what goes where in your portfolio. Run through it a few times to see what works, and if after one run through something doesn’t sit quite right, change it. You’ll see it improve with every run-through. Take a look at our tips for curating a creative portfolio for more guidance. 05. Keep a bit of rough When we’re looking for people to join us, we love to see how you think, so it’s good to keep some rough workings in there as clues to the type of designer you are. These can be bound together and tucked into the back of your folder, should anyone want to see them (they will). Seeing the multitude of other avenues that you could have gone down with a project, or the effort you put into the crafting and thinking, is often a joy to behold. For us it’s like ‘the making of’ and is so interesting. In the real world, this is what day-to-day designing is all about, so embrace it, because we do. 06. Do your homework on agencies If you get invited in to meet an agency (and well done if you do), get researching. Take the time to study its work, its ethos, its approach. Know who you’re hoping to work for and why – don’t just turn up with your fingers crossed that they’ll like you. Better yet, get ahead and arm yourself with this knowledge on the off-chance that you’ll bump into someone from one of your dream agencies at your show. Life has a funny way of ambushing you, so be prepared. 07. Remember that you are your best asset Agencies are after people whose personalities fit their cultureAt the risk of sounding like a careers adviser, be yourself and let your personality come across when you meet agencies. Great work is, well, great, but everybody is fundamentally searching for people they would like to work with. They're looking for people they’ll be sitting alongside, the people they’ll be directing, not just people with a thorough approach to layout. Even if your work isn’t perfect for a particular agency, if you are the right personality fit for the team you might just find you’re the kind of person they want to spend time with and mould into their next big thing. 08. Embrace your nerves (they’re just adrenalin in disguise) Of course, you may feel very nervous about a degree show situation. You’re human. The best way to deal with your nerves is to remember that they’ll be perceived as a positive thing. You see, your nerves show that you care, that you’re passionate about the opportunity and that you’re taking the whole thing seriously. It can be off-putting if someone is over-confident to the point of cockiness. It’s far preferable to meet people who realise that they don’t yet know it all. I certainly don’t – I’m still learning every day. I still get nervous, and when I do, it’s always a healthy reminder that I love what I do. 09. This is your chance, take it! Your degree show can be a great stepping stone on to bigger and better thingsGetting a job is often about being in the right place at the right time. But that time might come after a period of uncertainty, hard graft and lower pay. Yes, ideally you’re looking for a full-time job, but if you’re offered a work placement at an agency that you admire, you should take it if you possibly can. It’s your chance to prove yourself, and at your next interview people will be impressed that you’ve been recognised, that you’ve gained some experience, and that you were willing to do the work. Who knows, you could even tease out some recruitment rivalry. On any placement you’ll learn the ropes, meet people who might champion you even years later in your career, and you’ll get your hands on real-life projects. Just say yes and see what happens. 10. Smile and enjoy Get stuck in and take pride in your workThis is a big time for you. You’re leaving years of student life behind and entering the big, wide world. The hard graft of completing your project work is over, but the really exciting stuff is just about to begin. So have fun seeing your creations displayed for all to see. You deserve a drink and a moment to celebrate, knowing that right now, this moment, is one you'll probably never encounter again. So get stuck in, take pride in your work, and be energised by all you have ahead of you. You may not come out of the student shows with a job – not everyone does – but you’ll come out with plenty of tales to tell, and hopefully a few business cards, too. Believe me, it’s all going to be just fine. Related articles: How to market yourself with any budget 7 organisations design students need to know How to create the perfect design resumé View the full article

Let's be honest, PDFs are a total pain to work with. They don't have to be, though. You can finally use PDFs the way they were always meant to be used by grabbing PDF Expert 2.2. It's on sale right now for just $29.99 (approx £24). PDF Expert 2.2 removes the clunky, restrictive parts of PDFs and turns them into an easy-to-use file type that you can do much more with. This all-purpose PDF editor makes it easy to add text and markups to a document, and allows you to turn any PDF into a collaboration so you can share the file with colleagues for input and refinement. PDF Expert 2.2 usually retails for $59.99, but you can get this award-winning Mac app on sale for just $29.99 (approx £24). That’s a saving of 50% off the retail price for a tool that will make your work easier, so grab this offer today! View the full article

ImagineFX is celebrating its 150th issue anniversary! To celebrate, readers are being treated to a special issue, complete with two free gifts: an A2 poster featuring the art of Jana Schirmer and Lois van Baarle, and a 20-page supplement in association with ArtStation, exploring how to craft a killer portfolio. Buy the ImagineFX 150th anniversary special now! The team has also pulled out all the stops to bring you the best artists in the world. Loish – who has worked with the likes of LEGO and Marvel to bring their characters to life – has created the show-stopping cover art, and inside shares her expertise to show you how to paint your own bright, dynamic figure. Review: The Art of Loish Exclusive interview with Kim Jung GiReaders can also take a peek inside the sketchbooks of Hollywood film veteran Feng Zhu and Hugo award-winning illustrator Stephan Martinière; find out how Kim Jung Gi went from college dropout to sketching giant in an exclusive interview; and glean book illustration tips from Lord of the Rings artist John Howe. Subscribe to ImagineFX and never miss an issue Look inside Feng Zhu's sketchbookTop tutorials This issue's tutorial section comes packed with advice from industry-leading experts to help you sharpen your skills (use the arrows to scroll through the gallery below). First up, shortcuts aren’t cheating – they just free up precious minutes so you can focus on making your designs even more awesome. Studio Soi’s Domareen Fox runs through 14 top tips to help streamline your workflow and save you time. Even the most basic of sketches can turn into magical paintings. This month, Daniel Landerman reveals his advice for improving your sketches – whether that's by remembering to warm up or exploring calligraphy tools. In the Traditional Artist Workshop section you’ll learn how to capture emotion in your sci-fi illustrations. Donato Giancola gives an insight into how he created an emotionally arresting image for his Empathetic Robots series. Elsewhere in the issue Concept art insights from the talented Sean Sevestre Photobashing techniques with Dave Seeley Interview with concept artist Wayne Haag 8 hours of ImagineFX video and over 150 brushes! Buy ImagineFX 150th anniversary special now! View the full article

30 years ago, online service provider CompuServe was in a conundrum. It needed a colour image format for its file downloading areas, to replace the black-and-white RLE format. Software developer Steve Wilhite came to the rescue with the GIF. So far, so boring. We’re guessing that back then, no one would have predicted the GIF would undergo a phoenix-like transformation into a communication method beloved by internet-users the world over. Or that it would enable an entire generation to express itself in a way that it just couldn't manage with mere words. However you pronounce it (although let’s face it, only the pedants are trudging on with that ‘soft g’ rubbish), the GIF has changed the way we communicate online. To celebrate, Facebook has made GIFs available to use in the comments section and pulled together some pretty interesting stats on GIF usage in Messenger. Twitter is also in on the action, with users getting their GIF on to help mark the occasion. If you have a spare hour or so, the hashtag #HappyBirthdayGIF is worth a browse. You won't regret it. Happy birthday GIF! Related articles: Make an animated GIF in Photoshop The ultimate guide to GIF design View the full article

Twitter has given its desktop and mobile sites an update to keep the brand fresh as it faces an ever-increasing assault on its microblogging dominance. The most obvious alteration is a new set of icons for the familiar reply, retweet, like, and DM buttons, as well as for the home, Moments, notifications and messages on the menu of the browser version. But there are other visual and UI tweaks that add up to a lighter, more minimal Twitter experience. Profile, additional accounts, settings, and privacy are now contained in a new side navigation menu with fewer tabs at the bottom of the app. This change was rolled out on Android last year but now makes its way to iOS. Also on iOS, links to articles and websites now open in Safari’s viewer in the Twitter app. Twitter's typography has been tweaked, most obviously with bolder headlines, and profile photos are now round, similar to Instagram and Pinterest. New side menu makes Twitter's iOS app easier to navigateBut the big talking point among designers is the icon update. Twitter believes that the icons are more intuitive, which should improve the experience particularly for first-time users. In a blog post, Twitter says that people thought the reply icon, an arrow, meant delete or go back to a previous page. "We switched to a speech bubble, a symbol most know and love. We also made the icons lighter for more seamless interaction." The new icons are more minimal, softer and rounderFinally, Twitter's mobile apps now live-update instantly with reply, retweet, and like counts so you can see conversations as they’re happening. Some designers have already commented on the softer, more rounded look being friendlier – and artist Ash Huang makes an interesting point about Twitter conversations with strangers… Related articles: Meet the Twitter designer who shuns all social media 15 Twitter accounts every web designer should follow 50 design agencies to follow on Twitter View the full article