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Colour is such a pervasive part of everything we visually encounter in the world, that for many designers it becomes an intuitive choice. If you think back to school though, you'll recall being told at a young age that there are three 'primary' colours – Red, Yellow, and Blue. We were all taught that any colour can be created by mixing these three colours in varying quantities. It turns out that this isn't quite right (although it's still workable enough in practice to be taught the world over to five-year-olds). Get Creative CloudHow colour is formed Colour theory stretches back to at least the 15th centuryUnderstanding how colour is formed and, more importantly, the relationships between different colours, can help you to use colour more effectively in your designs. The Bauhaus school understood this in the 1920s and 1930s, with staff and students going on to develop colour theories for evoking particular moods and emotions through choice of palette in design and architecture. The theory of colour is a discipline that stretches back much further than that - at least to the 15th century - and encompasses physics, chemistry and mathematics to fully define and explain the concepts. However, much of this is unnecessary to being able to use colour effectively. This quick primer will give you a handy overview of all the important aspects to help you start making informed decisions. Colour systems There are two primary colour systems – methods by which colour is reproduced: additive and subtractive (also known as reflective). We use both on a daily basis – the screen you're reading this article on uses additive colour to generate all the colours you see, while the book you're reading uses subtractive colour for its front cover. In simple terms – anything that emits light (such as the sun, a screen, a projector, etc) uses additive, while everything else (which instead reflects light) uses subtractive colour. 01. Additive Additive colour is based on red, green, and blue - RGB for shortAdditive colour works with anything that emits or radiates light. The mixture of different wavelengths of light creates different colours, and the more light you add, the brighter and lighter the colour becomes. When using additive colour, we tend to consider the building block (primary) colours to be Red, Green, and Blue (RGB), and this is the basis for all colour you use on screen. In additive colour, white is the combination of colour, while black is the absence of colour. 02. Subtractive Subtractive colour is based on cyan, magenta, and yellowSubtractive colour works on the basis of reflected light. Rather than pushing more light out, the way a particular pigment reflects different wavelengths of light determines its apparent colour to the human eye. Subtractive colour, like additive, has three primary colours - Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow (CMY). In subtractive colour white is the absence of colour, while black is the combination of colour, but it’s an imperfect system. The pigments we have available to use don't fully absorb light (preventing reflected colour wavelengths), so we have to add a fourth compensating pigment to account for this limitation. We call this "Key", hence CMYK, but essentially it's black. Without this additional pigment, the closest to black we'd be able to render in print would be a muddy brown. The colour wheel The modern colour wheel has been in use since the 18th centuryIn order to make it easier to see the relationship between different colours, the concept of the modern colour wheel was developed around the 18th century. These early wheels plotted the different primary colours around a circle, mixing different primary colours together in strict ratios to achieve secondary and tertiary colours. The colour wheel allows us to see at a glance which colours are complementary (opposite each other on the wheel), analogous (adjacent to each other on the wheel), triadic (three colours positioned at 120 degrees on the wheel from each other) and so on. Each of these relationships can produce pleasing colour combinations. There are many more pleasing relationships between colours based on their position on the wheel. There are free apps for picking a colour scheme, or you could use your designer's eye to pick your own. Click through to the next page for a little help on this. Next page: the three components of colour, colour gamut, and more... The three components of a colour The three component parts that help us define a colour are hue, saturation and brightnessYellow is yellow is yellow, right? Well, actually, no; there are many different colours we could refer to as yellow. Different shades or tints, saturations and hues are all possible while still being within the yellow part of the colour wheel. As a result, there are three primary component parts that help us define a colour: 01. Hue This is the position on the colour wheel, and represents the base colour itself. This is typically referred to in degrees (around the colour wheel), so a yellow colour will appear between 50 and 60 degrees, with the perfect yellow appearing at 56 degrees. Green, meanwhile, appears at 120 degrees on the wheel at so on. 02. Saturation This is a representation of how saturated (or rich) a colour is. Low saturation results in less overall colour, eventually becoming a shade of grey when fully desaturated. Saturation is normally referred to as a percentage between 0 and 100%. 03. Brightness This is how bright a colour is, typically expressed as a percentage between 0 and 100%. A yellow at 0% brightness will be black, while the same yellow hue and saturation at 100% brightness will be the full yellow colour. Colour gamut Colour gamut describes the range of potential colours a system can reproduceColour gamut is a way of describing the full range of potential colours a system can reproduce. It may surprise you to learn that the range of colours achievable in CMYK is different to that you can achieve with RGB. This is partially because of the nature of the two different systems, but also (in the real world at least) as a consequence of limitations in our technology - screens aren’t always capable of producing the same range of colours as each other, and pigments reflect light at a non-uniform rate as you reduce their saturation. Colour perception Finally, it’s worth looking at how different colours can affect the way we perceive other colours. A typical illustration of this features a mid-grey tone placed over a light grey background, and the same mid-grey tone shown over a dark grey background. The apparent brightness of the mid-grey is altered according to the context in which you see it - a trick of the eye, working to make sense of its surroundings. Hues works in the same way as tones when placed adjacent to other colours, allowing you to create different effects using the same palette of colours. Further reading There's more to explore in the world of colour, which is why we've got a tag for all of our articles on the subject of colour. Visit creativebloq.com/tag/colour to explore our latest colour articles, or read some of these highlights below. 01. The designer’s guide to using colour in branding Colour sells. Whether you’re working with a product, service or space, the ‘right’ combinations of colours can influence how someone feels, thinks and behaves – with powerful results. What are the ‘right’ combinations, and how can designers sidestep subjective debates to harness the power of colour more effectively in branding projects? Computer Arts magazine takes a look in this guide, speaking to experts in colour branding and looking at tools to help you make the right choices. 02. How to pick the perfect colour palette every time In the 1980s, colour psychologist Angela Wright identified links between patterns of colour and patterns of human behaviour. She went on to develop the Colour Affects System, which identifies links between four colour groups and four basic personality types, based on original research involving Aristotle, Newton and German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. If harnessed correctly, designers can use the Colour Affects System to control the message of their colour palettes and, crucially, kill subjective debate around colour in client meetings with evidence to back up their decisions. This guide from Computer Arts magazine's colour issue explains how it works… 03. How to manage colours in Photoshop This article provides a great overview for users who are new to colour management, with practical advice for managing colours in Photoshop. It explores how to convert your images from RGB to CMYK mode, and the effect this will have on the colours within your image; how to customise your colour settings to suit your particular needs; and how to sync your colour profile across all of your Adobe CC apps, add a particular colour profile provided by your printer, and preview a CMYK version of your design without losing any RGB information. Get Adobe Creative Cloud04. 10 colour management terms designers need to know Getting your colours right means getting your head around some tricky terms. There are a number of jargon terms that might baffle you - so we've put together this handy guide. Have a read, and you'll soon be able to sort your spectrophotometer from your tristimulus colorimeter... 05. 4 ways to master colour in logo design Colour is a universal language in design. It can help convey a brand’s personality, create market standout, and evoke an emotional response. This article reveals four ways to work with colour more effectively in your logo design work… 06. Outstanding uses of colour in branding Successfully 'owning' a colour is a big deal. With this in mind, we've explored how different brands around the world have staked their respective claims to 10 colours – in some cases with considerable success. 07. The best colour tools for web designers For web designers, one of the most important choices to make is over colour selections. Choose the wrong ones, and you might just lose out on an opportunity. But how do you know which colours work well together? To help with the important task of colour selection, this article points you in the direction of some of the best free colour tools on the web (plus one special bonus at the end for Mac users). View the full article

If ever you needed proof that 4K has moved from an experimental technology to the mainstream, it arrived this September in the form of two announcements from Apple. Firstly, Apple began rolling out 4K HDR content on iTunes mid-month, in the United States and other countries. Then a week later, it announced a major update to Apple TV, introducing 4K and high dynamic range (HDR) support for the first time. Along with 4K-capable apps from Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, consumers now have a number of affordable options for streaming 4K content to their smart TVs. But 4K isn’t just about films and broadcast shows. With the latest laptops, tablets and even smartphones now featuring 4K screens and higher, consumers will increasingly be expecting all their multimedia content to be available at super-high resolution. In this post, we look at what this means for designers and creative agencies going into 2018 and beyond... 01. 4K will become the norm for video Even though GLOW is a retro show, its credits needed to be in 4KEven though it seems we’ve only just got used to HD, 4K is going to become the norm for video in 2018, whether we’re talking about movies, TV shows, commercials or social media campaigns. With the younger generation increasingly able to film their own 4K footage on the latest smartphones and sports cameras, they’re certainly not going to accept anything less from the professionals. And there are no exceptions, it seems. For example, when Shynola was asked to produce a credit sequence for Netflix’s Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (GLOW) – a drama inspired by a 1980s TV show – it was asked to make a title sequence “that looks like it’s in 4K but other than that could have come straight from the original show”, it told Creative Review. When even something that sets out to look purposely old-fashioned has to be in 4K, it’s a clear sign that it’s become the industry standard. 02. Larger screens will provide more opportunities for innovation There was once a time when, if you showed video on a very large screen, it looked blurry and unprofessional. But the rise of 4K means it’s possible to show pin-sharp images on larger and larger screens, and the industry is quickly taking advantage. One example is Samsung’s gallery at the recent IFA Berlin trade show, featuring some of the world’s best works of art displayed on 4K HDR screens. Another is how McCann and Framestore took a group of school children on a ‘field trip to Mars’ by essentially turning an entire bus into a VR headset. As you can see in the video above, they did this by creating scenes from the Red Planet in Unreal Engine 4, across a ‘driveable area’ of 250 square miles. They then rendered that in real-time on the bus using a combination of a GPS, accelerometer, magnetometer and laser surface velocimeter. Finally, they used specially 84-inch, 4K resolution screens backed by a layer of switchable film, allowing them to broadcast VR footage on to the glass. 03. Billboards will become more like Blade Runner A mockup of how the new-look Piccadilly Lights will look when upgraded to 4KIf you think 84-inch screens sound big, wait until the forthcoming revamp of Piccadilly Lights – the iconic advertising space in central London – is revealed this autumn. The new 790sq m screen will be the largest in Europe, and will be linked to a high-speed fibre Wi-Fi network, giving brands an easy way to display 4K content, including live video streaming and real time social media feeds. We’ll have to wait and see what that looks like, but it all sounds very Blade Runner. And it’s not just Londoners who will benefit from 4K big-screen advertising. Outdoor advertising company JCDecaux, for example, has announced it is updating its digital billboards across the UK to 4K. 04. Social media will push 4K forward Facebook is making a big push for video, and 4K will be an important part of the mixThe last couple of years have seen Twitter and Facebook make a big play for the future of video viewing. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has tried to reinvent the social network as a video platform, including high-profile deals to stream Thursday night NFL games. Meanwhile, Facebook has doubled down on its Facebook Live strategy, funding its own shows and exclusives from media partners. 4K is becoming an increasingly important weapon in this battle, most notably shown in Facebook’s announcement in July that you can now live-stream 360-degree video on Facebook in up to 4K resolution. That's along with The Live 360 Ready Program, a list of third-party 360-degree cameras and software solutions verified by Facebook. With these two companies continuing to wrest market dominance from the likes of Amazon and Netflix, expect much more technical and creative innovation to come in 2018. 05. Websites will need to be 4K ready too Using vector graphics rather than raster images where possible will help your websites look pixel-perfect on 4K screensAs more and more people start viewing websites on 4K screens, from smartphones to laptops to smart TVs, web designers will need to make sure their designs will responsively adapt to such devices. That’s partly about adherence to general responsible web design principles, such as using vector images wherever possible, but there are also other concerns relating to things like larger screen widths. Learn more by following our 4 tips for designing a 4K-ready website. 06. 4K will take over gaming Killer Instinct is the first 4K console fighting game for the XBox One X4K gaming has been a reality on the PC for some time now, albeit for those with a 4K monitor and a powerful enough desktop computer, equipped with the latest Nvidia GeForce GTX 10-series and AMD Radeon RX Vega graphics cards. But in 2018, 4K will extend its takeover of the gaming world by colonising the console. Sony has been in the forefront of this revolution with the PS4 Pro, launched last November. This, although not offering ‘native 4K’, uses a clever form of upscaling to create 4K images. But all that will soon be eclipsed by the release of the Xbox One X, unveiled this July and slated for a November release, which will enable games to be rendered at true 4K resolution. 07. Marketing 4K will require creative solutions 4K video may now be the norm, but how do you market it to a public who have only just got used to 1080p? While the jump from VHS to DVD, for example, was pretty revolutionary, the move from HD to 4K is a little more evolutionary, so to visually sell the benefits of expensive 4K tech demands a huge amount of creativity and imagination. One interesting approach can be seen in the explosive ad for the Xbox One X, which had gamers drooling at E3 this year. Created by Ayzenberg Group, it begins by focusing on the actual tech inside the console, then we see these components morph into luminous pixel threads that gradually combine to immerse the player in a virtual world. Pretty stirring stuff, in short, whatever type of screen it’s viewed on. 08. We’ll need to start thinking about 8K Sony’s just unveiled its 8K camera, the UHC-8300While 4K has now entered the mainstream, things won’t stop there. The next stage of the resolution revolution lies in 8K, the current highest definition standard. 8K UHD has two times the horizontal and vertical resolution of the 4K UHD, with four times as many pixels overall, or 16 times as many pixels as Full HD. Right now, 8K resolution is mainly used as a way of creating 4K footage through cropping techniques and/or downsampling techniques. And while 8K cameras have been pretty rare until now, they’re likely to become increasingly available, with Sony unveiling its first 8K camera, the UHC-8300, at IBC 2017. Watch this space... View the full article

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Getting a tattoo is a big deal. Whether it’s a classic or unique design you simply love or a picture or symbol that marks a meaningful event in your life, bagging the best tattoo design is a long and sometimes difficult process. Here, we’ve pulled together some inspiration that’ll help you choose the tattoo design that’s right for you. To make things simple, we've split the article into themes: flower tattoos (this page), tribal tattoos, mandala tattoos, dragon tattoos, cross tattoos, skull tattoos, geometric tattoos, anchor tattoos, animal tattoos, and couples' tattoos. (If you're interested in watercolour-style tattoos, check out these 13 incredible examples). Each of the categories contains more traditional tattoo designs, as well as quirky original ideas. You can navigate to the section you want using the drop-down menu above. Click on the images to see more of each tattoo artists' work. Doodle art: 52 great examples01. Rainbow roses tattoo Morag at Purple Rose Tattoo This rose tattoo steers away from the standard red colouring, marking it as a classic design but with a modern twist. The intricate shading and delicate leaves add to its realistic execution. 02. Monochrome tattoo Hannah Louise Kyle This black and white rose tattoo again steers away from the classic red, offering up an elegant black-and-white design. The heavy line work keeps it to a traditional tattoo style. 03. Pink rose tattoo Esme Loasby The bright colours is what makes this flower tattoo design stand out, especially when you look closely at the clever colour gradient. Adding more than one flower always makes for a special piece. 04. Wildflowers tattoo Esme Loasby Speaking of choosing more than one type for your flower tattoo, this beautiful botanical creation proves that you can put a lot of elements into one piece and it’ll still work, provided you use a tattoo artist who knows what they're doing. 05. Rose and dagger tattoo Tom Butts If you’re looking for a more traditional design, this rose tattoo could be just the inspiration you’re looking for. The inclusion of the dagger adds an edge and makes it a bold, stand-out piece. 06. Red rose tattoo Sascha Roth A bolder choice is this rose tattoo design, with clever colour work placed just away from the careful lining. Including so much black might not work for some tattoo designs, or tattooees, but it works here. 07. Geometric peonies tattoo Mark Jelliman The linework on this trio of peonies is crafted with such elegance, it makes a real statement. It just goes to show that keeping things simple can often be the best approach when it comes to tattoo design. Next page: Tribal tattoo designs These great tattoo designs are all inspired by tribal artworks from around the world. Some of these stick to common themes from native American tribal art, for example, while others give them a contemporary twist. As before, click on the image to go to the tattoo artist's website or Instagram page. 08. Tribal mask-inspired tattoo Manu Dermagrafics This stunning leg piece was crafted freehand, and with its bold shapes, colour-blocking and seamless line work, it’s a tribal tattoo worth showing off. The shape itself compliments the shape of the leg, too. 09. Subtle shading tribal tattoo Paxii What makes this tribal tattoo design stand out is that through the thick line work and colour-filled shapes, there’s a subtle shading that brings it to life, adding new dimensions. 10.Thick framed tribal tattoo Mike Schwalger This custom Polynesian tribal tattoo sleeve is able to include a variety of different shapes and lines without making it look too busy. The thick line framing adds a more artistic flair. 11. Pared-back tribal tattoo Leo Braz Sometimes tribal tattoos can be simple. This piece signifies the serpent in the Marajoara tribe, with the back placement proving to be the perfect place to show it off. 12. Repeat pattern tattoo Sunset Tattoo Keeping with the simple theme, this half-sleeve tribal tattoo offers an intricate yet uncomplicated design. And with such a clean design, the pattern is as mesmerising as it is timeless. 13. Tribal collar tattoo Margaret River Tribal tattoo designs often demand a bold placement and this visayan tribal collar is a breathtaking example of how simple line work and intricate patterns can make a statement. 14. Modern twist Daniel Matsumoto This work, by Daniel Matsumoto, manages to put a modern twist on the classic tribal tattoo design. Mixing thin lines with block colour is a simple but unique way to make it pop. Next page: Mandala Tattoos Mandalas are peaceful, spiritual symbols in both the Hindu and Buddhist faiths. With their intricate, nature-inspired patterns, it's no wonder they're a popular choice for tattoos. As before, click on the image to go to the tattoo artist's website or Instagram page. 15. Pointillist mandala tattoo Ricky Williams With its circular shape, placing a Mandala tattoo around the ear is a great way to make the most impact. The pointillism aspect in this design is stunning. 16. Hidden mandala tattoo Ricky Williams Mandala tattoos come in all sizes and this delicate design could be just the kind of thing you’re after. Sleek, delicate work that gradually moves into darker colour is a special touch. 17. Bold mandala tattoo Jayne Rogers The thick lines on this half-Mandala tattoo design make it the perfect way to go if you want to make a statement. Choosing to do a half design is also an option if placed around the ear. 18. Layered mandala tattoo Niky Brown Opting for a layering effect on this Mandala tattoo design enables it to take on a more 3D-design effect. Adding it some point work really makes this one inspiring. 19. Colourful mandala tattoo Mors Tattoo Taking on a more classic style, the colour work enables the Mandala tattoo to make more of a statement. Adding colour to the leaf exterior makes for a seamless execution. 20. Shaded mandala tattoo Renette Hammer Mandala tattoos circular shape enable them to be placed almost anywhere but the chest provides a nice canvas to really show them off. Pointillism is also a great way to add depth and subtlety. 21. Stained glass mandala tattoo Skylar Rose Wasserman If you’re after a Mandala tattoo design with a more colourful, unexpected twist, you could go for something like this. The stained glass window colour effect allows shades to blend into each other. Next page: Dragon tattoos Dragon tattoos might show the world how brave and fiery you are, they might celebrate your cultural heritage, or they might just exist because you think dragons are really cool (you're not wrong). Whatever your reason for wanting a dragon tattoo, check out these designs for inspiration and click on the image to go to the artist's website or Instagram page. 22. Whimsical dragon tattoo Alice Badger Sometimes, it’s best to look to the world of TV and movies for your tattoo design inspiration. This one featuring Haku from anime classic Spirited Away is a great place to start. 23. Fierce dragon tattoo Lydia Bruno Dragons are also the perfect way to start off a sleeve, thanks to the variety in which they can be presented. This colourful example leaves room all around for more designs. 24. Oriental dragon tattoo HH Orlando Tattoo Speaking of sleeves, this Japanese style dragon tattoo offers colourful inspiration. The detail on the scales is a particularly nice touch, as is the juxtaposing, delicate flowers underneath. 25. Symmetrical dragon tattoo Joe Fletcher If you love the idea of a dragon tattoo but you’re wary of getting the whole form tattooed onto, opting for the head could be a great way to show your beast appreciation. 26. Linework dragon tattoo Heritage Tattoos A dragon's serpentine body can make it a great option for a head tattoo. This simple, black-and-white linework tattoo design offers elegant inspiration if you’re willing to take the leap. 27. Abstract dragon tattoo Dámaris Argüelles Pérez A more experimental tattoo design could be just the dragon you’re looking for. This puzzle-like piece keeps it modern while also harking back to more traditional tattoo styles. 28. Etchwork dragon tattoo Byron Barker This etchwork dragon tattoo design harks back to a neo-traditional style of tattooing and works best when placed on the side of the body, allowing lots of detail. Next page: Cross tattoo designs Meaningful and beautiful, cross tattoos also come in a variety of styles. Choose a style that's right for you with these great designs. As before, click on an image you like to go to the artist's website or InDesign page. 29. Botanical cross tattoo Reny Tattoos Cross tattoo designs don’t always need to be in a standard, straight line. This example shows that cross tattoos can be moulded with another style to create something really beautiful. 30. Pretty cross tattoo Bruno Diego Another way to amp up a cross tattoo design is with layering. This delicate design incorporates illustrations of love hearts in an elegant and original way, making for a special piece. 31. Symbolic cross tattoo Hegotme This clever cross tattoo design references the crucifixion in a minimal but impactful manner. Adding the nails into the design is a great way to do this. 32. Curvy cross tattoo Kelly Kossuth Maybe you’re looking for a bolder cross tattoo design and this one from Kelly Kossuth shows how you can be both bold and minimal, thanks to thick line work. 33. Minimal cross tattoo Tattooist Uzi If minimal is more your style, this delicate cross tattoo design could be just the inspiration you need. Delicate line work and zero colour can still make an impact. 34. Shaded cross tattoo Slicecrust This classic cross tattoo design works well thanks to neat shading work and clean, thick lines. It’s a perfect design if you want one placed on your arm. 35. Artistic cross tattoo Steven Gilliard If you want to combine your love of being a designer or artist with your cross tattoo, then this clever piece could be right up your street. The dot work makes it pop. Next page: Skull tattoo designs If dragons weren't tough enough for you, how about a skull tattoo? Some of these skull designs are pretty scary, but others are actually really beautiful, and even cute. We're sure they'll all serve to inspire your scull tattoo design. 36. Skull and rose tattoo Phatt German Sometimes you want to add a bit more depth to a skull tattoo design. This skull, which has a rose design incorporated into its cap, does this very effectively. 37. Multi-layered skull tattoo Charlotte's Web Tattoos Another way to incorporate depth into a skull tattoo is this half-dead design, which sees a skull merged with a crying face. The addition of a clock makes it extra creepy. 38. Mexican skull tattoo Barbie Lowenberg If you’re wanting something a little less creepy, this cute skull tattoo – complete with floral decoration, in the style of Mexican Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) skull masks and decorations – is the perfect way to show off your love of the dead. 39. Delicate skull tattoo Uvethekid Sticking with the floral theme, this skull design offers a more freehand approach, with wavy lines. The difference in line thickness and the dotted shading is what makes it great. 40. Gruesome skull tattoo Kelly Violet If you’re looking for something truly bold, a half-sleeve skull tattoo design is one of the options you could go for. This one, illustrated with medieval weaponry, is jaw-dropping. 41. Baroque skull tattoo Siren1 Sometimes two skulls is better than one and this detail tattoo design effortlessly places them together without making it look crowded. Perfect for placing it on the arm. 42. 3D-effect skull tattoo Bali Namaste Tattoo Studio This small skull tattoo takes a different approach when blending two skulls together, giving off a 3D effect with a minimal and cute design – perfect for small spaces. Next page: Geometric tattoo designs For something a bit different, why not get an interesting tattoo featuring geometric shapes and patterns? They can be as colourful or as big as you like, as these great designs show. 43. Artistic geometric tattoo Expanded Eye Expanded Eye is a duo known for its incredible geometric tattoo designs. With splashes of colour, clever shading and breathtaking structure, this is the perfect geometric tattoo design inspiration. 44. Prisms tattoo Malvina Maria Wisniewska The great thing about geometric tattoos is they can be formed of simple structures but with a detailed execution. The interweaving line thickness on this design is a great example of that. 45. Honeycomb tattoo Miriam Frank Mixing shapes and colours into your geometric tattoo design can make for a pretty amazing final piece. By adding just the red to this piece, it ensures the design doesn’t go overboard. 46. Golden Ratio tattoo Michele Volpi The Golden Ratio describes the perfectly symmetrical relationship between two proportions and this geometric tattoo design is a gorgeous and clever way to pay tribute to its perfections. 47. Pared-back geometric tattoo Sarah Lu The simplicity of geometric tattoos also means that the hand poking technique can work really well. This simple but effective design puts a different spin on the arrow. 48. Kaleidoscopic tattoo Diego Favaretto If you’re wanting a larger geometric piece, this tattoo is a great example of one that works well when placed on the back. The never-ending detail on this one is particularly impressive. 49. Colourful geometric tattoo Sasha Unisex Of course we couldn’t feature geometric tattoo designs without mentioning Sasha Unisex – the tattoo artist who has become renowned across the world for her stunning, colourful geometric work. Next page: Anchor tattoo designs About as traditional as tattoo designs get, anchor tattoos are enjoying a retro resurgence. But, as these designs prove, a traditional theme doesn't have to result in a stale old-fashioned design. Click on any image to discover the tattoo artist behind the innovative design. 50. Anchor and heart tattoo Patryk Hilton If you’re after a classic tattoo staple, an anchor design is one of the best options. This traditional style piece is a great way to make a statement. 51. Exotic anchor tattoo Sam Ricketts Anchors can also act as a frame for a tattoo design, with this example proving particularly impressive. By using a simple anchor as your base, you can embellish it to your heart’s content. 52. Anchor and bird tattoo Sami Tutch You can always embellish your anchor tattoo design but in a more subtle, sweet way. This little anchor features cartoonish characters that make it perfect for a cute arm piece. 53. Watercolour anchor tattoo Tracy Burton If you want a splash of colour on your anchor tattoo design, adding in wave-like watercolour is a great way to include your love of anchors in the sea. 54. Sketchy anchor tattoo Elena Aiello Continuing the watery theme is this cute anchor tattoo design, that adds splashes of colour in a simple, hand-drawn style. The loveheart is also perfectly incorporated in the design. 55. Monochrome anchor tattoo Ecke Wunderland The detail on this tiny anchor tattoo design is so perfectly executed, it almost deserves more space. The inclusion of the paper boat is a delightful touch, finishing off the piece beautifully. 56. Geometric anchor tattoo Aracely Ramírez Ponce If you want the colour to be the main focus of your anchor tattoo design, this watercolour, geometric anchor is a great way to show it off. Next page: Animal tattoo designs Another popular choice, animal tattoos might honour a beloved pet, serve as a reminder of a great experience, or show part of your personality through your choice of a favourite animal. These animal tattoos again vary wildly in style, so if you find an art style that you like, click on the image to go through to the artist's website or Instagram page to see more. 57. Fox tattoo Lotte Vanns This simple, hand-poked design is the perfect way to pay tribute to your favourite animal. Thanks to this fox's long body, placing it around the knee is a great way to show it off. 58. Greyhounds tattoo Daemon Rowanchilde These racing greyhounds are stunning in their own right – thanks mostly to their meticulously drawn anatomy – but by placing them within another design, it makes the whole piece pretty breathtaking. 59. Dinosaur tattoo Kimsany The cartoonish colour-blocking on this brachiosaurus makes it truly unique. Complete with intricate line work and the perfect long arm placement, this is one way to get noticed. 60. Elephant tattoo Adrián Desgracia This sketchy design is great if you want to go for a sleeve design with a difference. The surrealist aspect of the elephant is also reminiscent of Salvador Dali’s work. 61. Whale tattoo Raphael Not sure what style to go for in your animal tattoo design? This is one solution: this unique killer whale design combines two different styles in one, with the animal's middle section drawn as shaded scales. 62. Bird tattoo Jason Corbett Pointillism is a beautiful option when it comes to bird tattoo designs. This one, perched just on the shoulder, keeps it simple with minimal detail and colour. 63. Dog tattoo Ricardo Romero Rios Lots of people get their best pal tattooed on them. This one, depicting man’s best friend, is a cute way to illustrate your love for your furry friend – and there's a sweet Up reference to boot. Next page: Couples' tattoo designs Not just the preserve of drunken nights out, matching tattoos are a popular way to mark your commitment to your other half. While some of these designs go sickeningly all-out of the slush factor, others are more subtle, fun, and perhaps even be tasteful enough to avoid the laser, should you break up (not that you will, obviously). 64. Pizza tattoos justinsams There’s no better way of combining your love of your partner with your love of pizza. This cute design may be a little cheesy for some but perfect for others. 65. Sun and moon tattoos Jessica Leigh Ozimek If you’re getting married, you might want to make things even more permanent with ring finger tattoos. This sun and moon tattoo design is a sweet way to show off your love. 66. Chatty tattoos Dream Tattoo Your best pal is always there to listen when you need it most. When you’re far away from each other, this simple tattoo design will remind you that they’re always there. 67. King and queen tattoos B9 Tattoo Studio Be the king and queen of all couples with these minimalist playing-card inspired tattoo designs. It’s best to keep it simple, especially when placed on the hands or wrists. 68. Foxes tattoos Farbenfroh Tattoo Art These playful partner tattoos are great if you’re thinking of getting a couples' tattoo on your leg. The hand-drawn, sketchy style and clever shading make these particularly beautiful. 69. Colour mode tattoos NYC Adorned If you’re looking for something with a designer twist, you couldn’t opt for anything better than these cute colour mode pieces (you might recognise these as belonging to Jessica Hische and Russ Maschmeyer). If you're screen-based, go for RBG, while print designers are more likely to favour CMYK. 70. Heart tattoos First Class Tattoo Studio How about combining your couples tattoo design with your favourite show? This Game of Thrones-inspired piece is a great way to show off two of the things you love. Read more: 23 designers and their awesome tattoos What happens when tattoo design meets illustration 13 incredible examples of watercolour tattoo art View the full article

Is service design more than just expensive brainstorming techniques? After all, not everyone has a leadership role in their design or product teams, and service design might sound like something for the stakeholders to philosophise about. “Better to get on with useful code and design techniques ,” some might understandably suggest. However, brand and product experiences are influenced by outside factors, some of which are beyond the design team’s control. Therefore, to consider all potential customer touch points and avoid fragmenting into disjointed experiences, design teams can start thinking of themselves as holistic service delivery units with all members contributing valuable domain knowledge such as business, marketing, design, code, server technologies and data systems. Service design creates opportunities for team collaboration as well as increasing the potential to successfully meet audience metrics or conversion and retention goals. What does AI have to do with it? The current rise in artificial intelligence and robotics is leading to the rethinking of, and sometimes the entire overhaul of, established product roadmaps and ecosystems, as well as their related user experiences, business logic, server infrastructures and data sources. These new paradigms lead to consumer-focused cognitive realms. Using service design as a discipline to account for the intersections of people, infrastructure, communication and physical components in planning and organising your product, results in a map or sequence of events and functions that effectively represent your product’s or organisation’s digital and physical interactions with its audiences. when designing our services, we must consider what customers do or do not understandAt the same time, it also offers an opportunity to generate ideas for innovation. Apart from honing a user-friendly and relevant product, service design can uncover ways for a company to stay competitive by aligning its capabilities to the service sustainably. Already, machine learning is making different media, data and transactions accessible in visual and auditory formats, pushing the boundaries of familiar human-computer interactions. This is encouraging designers to reframe current user experiences beyond traditional inputs and outputs to service. Introduction to service design Service design methods go hand in hand with tried and tested product design methods, while adding new facets to the design process. The different schools of thought generally converge around these general methods: Definition of actors (users) and actions (steps taken by users and behind the scenes) involved in the services that are being designed. Scenarios, use cases and sequences of actions and actors’ roles usually captured in a service blueprint. Components of the service, including people’s contextual information, interactions, technical systems, business logic and data sources. The variation in the methods above helps define the requirements for the product or service and its underlying system that supports it. They all, however, make wide use of anthropology and ethnography disciplines, including video-ethnography and other contextual inquiry techniques to really gain a deep understanding of users’ behaviour. Other familiar user experience research methods are widely used including contextual interviews, personas, task analysis and journey mapping to capture vital information about users’ lives and what they go through on a day-to-day basis to make the product or service relevant. The end result is a blueprint of the service that details the components and interactions of the product by using well-known techniques from software development to capture functional requirements of an app. This includes service scenarios and use cases, but also goes beyond that by capturing key user behaviour and expectations. Jump-starting a service design culture Service design methods allow us to develop and iterate a future for our customers with enough flexibility baked in to change direction and move forward in to comfortable team development cadences. With such a set-up, we can manage progress, research implementation of up-and-coming trends and technologies, and have the ability to deliver better and faster services with true business value such as lower operating costs and efficiencies. However, service design methods and strategy alone won’t get your organisation to the future your customers will exist in. A true service design culture must exist to get your digital teams working on what matters most while iterating on solutions and improving existing products. Service Design Tools is an online archive of methods in diagrams and deliverables formats that can be used for generating service blueprints, user journey maps and other service design artefactsAdditionally, considering artificial-intelligence opportunities in our products through service design methods puts us in tune with our customer expectations and gives us the ability to provide actionable users’ data to our stakeholders. As stated earlier, service design practices are generally related to the disciplines of product design, interaction design and systems design, and are represented in the following phases: 01. Discovery Here the aim is to first gain a full understanding of the problem(s) that need solving and the overall context. The discovery phase is very hi-octane in the sense that there is a lot of idea generation and sharing while uniting the teams, at the same time that expectations are constantly being reset, especially on the part of stakeholders. We understand their business dilemmas and work with them to remain flexible while maintaining integrity to the user experience and long-term vision for the product(s). Activities include: design workshops and customer journey mapping. 02. Design Findings from the previous phase are synthesised through arduous working sessions that sometimes turn into passionate arguments but eventually result in high-level concepts and other design artefacts. This is a good time for developers and system architects to weigh in with their valuable input as such decisions impact the technical architecture and business requirements, and result in support of an enhanced digital experience. The design team does well in establishing a systematic way to design aspects of the enhanced user interface that is immediately followed by A/B testing using remote services. The findings of such tests can be presented to the team along with the new designs. Such practice leads to addressing potential and sometimes blatant “design problems” that can easily cost more to fix once a product or app has been launched. If ever the team cannot come to a unanimous agreement on the design, prototyping and testing can resolve this. Activities include: user interface sketching, wireframes and prototyping. 03. Development At this stage, a unanimous agreement has been set by the team and developers sometimes pair with other disciplines to produce and deliver all components. After a solution is launched, teams observe the success against predefined goals and metrics, always keeping an eye out for future improvements. If there's one service design method that can lead to many gains, it's the ubiquitous customer journey mapWhere to begin If there is one service design method that can be easily exploited and leads to many gains, it is the ubiquitous customer journey map. I have personally been involved in journey map-design sessions where lead system architects and developers not only offered straight information about what can or can’t be achieved, but also were the most eager to share improvements and insights about the user’s journey with an unmatched empathy for the product user when describing this. Customer journey mapping A user journey map can define the ecosystem of users, processes, tools, systems and data that endorse the user experience. Consuming a service means consuming an experience, a process that extends over time. The customer journey truly illustrates how our audiences perceive and experience the product over time. It also considers people’s lives before and after they interact with the app, leading to valuable insights. A critical first step in creating a customer journey is to decide the starting and stopping points, as these serve as a safety net over which the service is explored, organised and visualised with the methods discussed in this article. When designing journey maps, identify and arrange the sequence of user manual and automated tasks to achieve a goal while engaging with a product. Journey maps promote a shared understanding of all the elements that make up user experiences including what a user is thinking, feeling and needing. However, instead of being a “catch all” or a design where every possible outcome is covered, journey maps are most useful when the end state of the journey achieves a desired goal, as this allows the design team to target specific user behaviours, attitudes and motivations – and what can turn them away. The effect of letting users drive their experiences Most of the time, users understand their needs better than anyone, although at times they might not be able to vocalise it like a designer would in creating a mental model. For example, when designing our services, we must consider what customers do or do not understand. This can lead to improvements in terms of support and organisational changes, even if we’re not the ones responsible for them. The thinking outlined in this article proposes some valuable techniques and insights that can lead to a service design transformation that feeds up the organisation. Start small by sharing with like-minded people, looking at issues that arise from another point of view and arguing using well organised information or proposing a user journey map. In time, others will get involved, moving the entire organisation closer to a holistic service delivery mindset. Related articles: 10 essential TED talks for UX designers 7 UX tools to try this year How to design a chatbot experience View the full article

Finally, it's the all-important day that you unveil your new product or service to the world. Congratulations! This is the moment you've been building towards. You might think you've reached the end of the road – and, shortly, you can enjoy a well-earned beverage of your choice – but really this point is just the beginning of the journey. How to launch a creative businessEmail a primer All being well, you should have an email list in place with an audience that has expressed an interest in what you're doing. A day or two before your launch, you can build anticipation by emailing your list (using one of the 10 best email newsletter tools) and letting them know that the countdown has begun. This primes your audience and ensures they're on the lookout for your launch email. Connect on social media Email is, of course, just one way to connect with your potential customers. Equally important are your other social media channels, which you should have prepared content for (check out our 5 golden rules for social media strategy article for guidance). If all goes well on the day of your launch, you'll be incredibly busy, so ensure you've prepared everything in advance. On launch day it's critical to share your story far and wide. Focus on getting the message out and engaging with your audience, and you'll maximise success. Contact influencers The Product Hunt community is perfectly positioned to promote your productTo help spread the word, it's a good idea to contact your influencers, priming them for your launch. An email or a direct message a day or two beforehand will ensure they're ready for the reveal and lined up to help spread the world. They will give your campaign a helpful boost. In our connected world we're incredibly fortunate to have a wealth of tools at our disposal that we can use to help promote the products we make. Tools like Product Hunt, Hacker News and other product galleries are perfect for driving traffic to your site. Product Hunt is a passionate community that's focused on sharing new products – it's an excellent tool to share your story, enabling you to reach others who might not be on your mailing list or following your social channels. Engage with followers Your goal is to get a conversation going and engage with potential new customers. Conversations work best when they're natural, not scripted. When replying, be courteous, and remember: you're not a robot so don't just copy and paste generic replies. Instead, respond to individuals individually and seek to nurture relationships. Your followers will appreciate your humanity and they'll support your cause by spreading the word. Clear the calendar for launch day Clear the decks for the day of your launch, ensure your calendar is empty and focus your mind on the day ahead. All being well, when you unveil your product it will – to use a well-worn phrase – fly off the digital shelves! This article originally appeared in net magazine issue 295. Buy it here. Related articles: How to turn your design studio dream into reality The designer’s guide to Brexit 21 free business card templates View the full article

The internet is overflowing with awe-inspiring design portfolios and creative resumes. To stand out in this tough market, it's important to make your online portfolio as impressive as you can. Get Adobe Portfolio free with Creative CloudIt's not just the examples of work that need to blow away your potential clients (although they do help) it's the way they're presented. You don't have to be a superstar creative director or web designer; a touch of creativity and innovative thinking will get you a long way. And there are plenty of free online tools, such as Behance, to help you build a portfolio without any coding knowledge. So, check out these inspiring examples of online design portfolios, both for individual designers and design agencies – to help you angle your own in just the right way… The best laptops for graphic design01. Daniel Spatzek We love how Daniel's bio zooms into viewDaniel Spatzek is freelance graphic designer and art director from Austria, and his site does a brilliant job of showing off both his design and web skills. Using plenty of WebGL and CSS tricks to bring everything to life, it's a selection box of hot web techniques that's packed with animation, but all put together in a restrained way so as not to overload the viewer. 02. Arturo Wibawa There's some exemplary use of SVG animation on Wibawa's siteArturo Wibawa's site is worth checking out just for the detailed breakdowns of projects he's worked on, complete with wireframes, flowcharts, palettes, fonts and plenty of information about his process. But it's also a slick, brilliantly executed site with loads of smart effects and visual tricks, including some masterful use of SVG animation. 03. Femme Fatale Nice Velvet Underground reference, tooBased in Paris, Femme Fatale is a creative studio focused on culture, luxury, editorial and art. It pitches itself as being somewhere between sophistication and simplicity, and its portfolio site reflects this tone excellently, combining swish parallax effects with bold imagery. 04. Alexandre Rochet It looks dark here but the colour soon kicks inAlso based in Paris, Alexandre Rochet is a French designer who's passionate about image and specialises in web design, identity and interface design. His site's packed with parallax effects and smart colour fades. What it sacrifices in straightforward navigation it more than makes up for in wow factor. 05. Bert Big and bold, Bert's site is in your face, with all the facts you needNetherlands-based Bert's creative specialists work on an international level in branding, design and development. The studio's single-page case studies are a joy to look at, packed with punchy imagery interspersed with informative chunks of text. 06. Yul Moreau Welcome to the neon jungleBorn in Seoul, based in Paris and raised by the 80s, Yul Moreau's site grabs your attention from the off with its splendidly garish background montage of retro video. The single-pager site does a brilliant job of showcasing the art director's work, combining video, images and clever scroll effects to show everything off nicely. 07. Steven Mengin Just watch this undulate for a few hours and everything will be fineTo be honest we could happily sit and gaze at Steven Mengin's WebGL splash page, with its gently undulating cloudscape, for hours. However, it's worth dragging yourself down the page to enjoy his work, ever so slightly spiced up with a light ripple effect on each image as you mouse over. Great work by Samsy. 08. Studio Schurk Studio Schurk brings humour to its animated site designAnimation studio Studio Schurk (meaning 'Studio Rogue') shows off its sense of humour in its bold and punchy site design. The animations highlight off the duo's talent while being interesting and fun. Scroll down to see their equally bold designs. 09. Melanie Daveid Melanie Daveid's site shows that simplicity come sometimes say it allUX designer and art director Melanie Daveid's portfolio is simple yet beautiful. Her intricate illustrated logo opens and closes the (almost) infinite scroll design that brings her resumé to life on your screen. "Artworks and illustrations were my gateway to the creative industry," she says, "which led to the foundation of my own studio and to first steps in the digital world." Something that is crystal clear from her portfolio. 10. A Dandy Punk The Dandy Punk expresses his multifaceted talents through a multimedia portfolioA Dandy Punk hasn't just created a beautifully intricate illustrated portfolio but an online presence and alter-ego. The site mirrors this, with the character "existing to inspire and motivate creativity, non-conformity, whimsy, intense curiosity, do-it-yourself mentality and everyday eccentricity in everybody." The best laptops for photo editingNext page: 11-20 on our list of brilliant design portfolios 11. Sean Halpin Sean's simple yet cute portfolio site contains everything it needs to in one neat designScroll through Sean Halpin's kitsch little green world to discover how he can help you build your perfect site. His design is simple and easy to read, yet effortlessly displays his skills and talent for bold, stand-out web design. 12. Christopher Lee Christopher Lee displays his passion for toys and 90s cartoons in his designsChristopher Lee doesn't just share his name a legendary actor, but apparently a creative talent too. His design site, The Beast is Back, showcases his punchy designs and illustrations influenced by 90s cartoons and urban street culture. 13. Resn Resn has a portfolio site unlike any otherNew Zealand-based creative digital agency Resn is known for its boundary-pushing websites, and its own portfolio is no exception – in fact, this bonkers creation is pretty difficult to sum up in words. The homepage features a glimmering, 3D gem, and when you hold down your mouse button, weird and wonderful scenes appear before you. Let go, and the site springs back to the gem. It lacks any kind of structure, so you're probably not going to want to go for this approach on your own site, but it's worth a visit just to marvel at the team's creativity (not to mention enviable technical skills). 14. Gisele Jaquenod Jaquebod's cute cartoons capture her personality perfectlyArt has dominated much of Gisele's life, and that is evident from her quirkly cartoon-styled portfolio. The designer's site expresses her personality, from her obvious love of animals to doodling. However, she doesn't overcomplicate things. The menus are simple and easy to navigate, and strategically, her Etsy selling page takes centre stage on the homepage. 15. Adhemas Batista Adhemas Batista's colourful work contrasts with a monochrome homepageA Brazilian-born graphic designer and artist based in Los Angeles, Adhemas Batista has worked with some of the world's biggest brands, including Adidas, Coca-Cola and Sony. His homepage design is monochrome, which makes for a powerful contrast with the riot of colour and pattern within the portfolio that follows. 16. Ryan Scherf Web developer Ryan Scherf's one-page portfolio site is simple but very effectiveIn-between web designing, developing, writing, teach and building, Ryan Scherf found the time to create this eye-catching portfolio site. A gorgeous example of a one-page site, simply scroll down past the beautifully illustrated landing page to a number of example websites that he's worked on, followed by contacts at the bottom. Simple but very effective. 17. Charlotte Tang Tang's portfolio lets her work do all the talkingToronto-based interactive designer Charlotte Tang 'strives to marry the love of web and graphic design by finding a harmonious balance between functionality and aesthetics'. And is something that she's clearly applied to her portfolio site. Users are greeted by little port holes, featuring a black and white taster of her work. Hover over each and they come to life in full colour. Click and you're led to a beautifully big image of said work, plus a short description. 18. Robby Leonardi Robby Leonardi stars in his own interactive design portfolioRobby Leonardi is a multidisciplinary designer based in New York City. Specialising in illustration, graphic design, animation, and frontend development, he has worked with the likes of Fox, Speed TV, FX Networks, myNetworkTV, and G4. He's laid out his portfolio site as a video game that the visitor can actually play. This incredibly fun interactive design portfolio will have you scrolling for hours. 19. Björn Meier A beautifully simple and easy to navigate portfolioThis beautifully minimal, easy to navigate portfolio from Björn Meier is a feast for the eyes. Designed by German based agency BASICS09, the portfolio went on to become recognised on the AWWWARDS. 20. Sadok Sadok's animated beard galaxy adds a comical touch to the siteProduct designer and coder Sadok has a beard full of secrets. But he also has a great portfolio site. Each project is summed up succinctly in a singe page, with the background echoing the work on show. It's a relatively simple site, but these touches help it shine. Next page: 21-30 in our list of inspiring portfolio designs 21. Marc Thomas Fun colours and a responsive layout make this a portfolio to die forThis portfolio from designer Marc Thomas teams a playful icons with bright shades. He manages to fit you need to know onto a single screen: details of his skills and current role, previous clients, and links to his social accounts and contact details. It's neat, memorable and packs a punch. 22. Rosie Lee Images of the agency's work take centre stage on this siteRosie Lee is a hybrid creative agency, with on- and offline expertise in branding, advertising and retail design. The agency's work takes centre stage on its website, with plenty of colourful, full-width images, videos and carousels showing off what it can do. 23. Studio Airport An unusual vertical carousel helps this site stand outStudio Airport is a design agency based in the Netherlands, with a strong online presence embracing airport graphics, large photographs and strong typography. There are quirky touches throughout its website, including an unusual vertical-scrolling carousel of its projects, and an About Us section in which the photographs interact with one another when the user mouses over them (scroll down the homepage for a look). 24. Paul Currah The design portfolio of Paul Currah is clean and simplePaul Currah is an award-winning multidisciplinary graphic designer, delivering creative, innovative and engaging solutions to communication problems across brand identity, print, packaging, environmental and digital. His scrapbook-style portfolio is a clean and simple offering, with each project photo fading in and out, showcasing different aspects of the creation. 25. Smart! The online portfolio of Smart! has a simple structureSmart! is a multidisciplinary team of professionals in graphic design, communication and information technology that have two offices in Buenos Aires and Peru. Their online portfolio has a simple structure, with the grey images turning to full colour once you hover over each project. We love that the selected images from each project are presented in a horizontal line. 26. Olly Gibbs The online portfolio of Olly Gibbs shows real attention to detailOlly is a London-based, multidisciplinary designer and illustrator who has already worked with the likes of Warner Bros, Muse, and The Salvation Army. It's the attention to detail within his portfolio that really makes it stand out. The sense of fun immediately showcases Gibbs' personality, whilst the typography and layout makes it work aesthetically. We especially love the 'About' section. 27. Pollen Pollen has won a slew of awards for its workDigital and branding agency Pollen has won a slew of awards for its work, and its online portfolio is beautifully structured and art directed. For each project, the team has put together a series of images, videos and short chunks of text, each of which is displayed alone on a full page – as the user scrolls, a new item jumps into view. 28. Viget The online portfolio of design agency Viget shows the power of photographyWorking as a team of 58 creative individuals, Viget has got some impressive projects under its belt. Set up by brothers Brian Williams and Andy Rankin and their Dad, Wynne 'Pop' Williams, Viget Labs was established back in 1999 when the internet was changing. The portfolio showcases just how important photography and user experience is within this industry. Pops of primary colour and subtle animation help create a playful, highly usable experience. 29. Super Awesome The online portfolio of web design agency Super Awesome is, well, super awesomeWith a name like Super Awesome, you'd expect this web design agency's portfolio to be pretty, well, awesome. And it's safe to say that it is! Making sites not suck since 2007, the team have gone for a cutting-edge layout reminiscent of print design, complete with vertically running text and staggered imagery. We love that the site isn't afraid to produce statements such as 'portfolios are boring' and 'we don't do meetings'. Bold, super awesome stuff. 30. Tawn The design portfolio of Ashleigh Downer immediately grabs the user's attentionIn a world of quick clickers and impatient scrollers, it's important to instantly grab the attention of your potential clients. Too much text on the homepage could scare away the curious, so it's a good idea to entice them with an image. Here, Ashleigh Downer does just that with a quirky landing page before showcasing her incredible collections. Remember, you want to make your visitors click, and you can't help but do just that with this portfolio. Next page: 31-40 in our list of great portfolio websites 31. Small Studio Small Studio portfolio is whimsical and interactiveSmall Studio is an award-winning creative agency, founded in Melbourne in 2007 by directors Paul Kotz and Todd Proctor, and it's portfolio is well worth a visit. The moment the visitor lands on the homepage, they are invited to cut the balloon's cord to send it flying into the sky, and there are plenty of whimsical and delightful moments to follow. 32. Bleed Bleed aims to challenge conventions with its workBleed states that it represents "a mix of cultures and disciplines to challenge today’s conventions around art, visual language, interaction, media and identity". This mode of thinking is implemented within its online projects. Full-screen imagery and large type engage the user whilst scrolling through the site, and its studio manifesto at the end is a nice touch. 33. Kendra Schaefer The online portfolio of Kendra Schaefer is packed with personalityKendra Schaefer likes to mix up her portfolio, but every version is packed with personality. The designer recently moved to China, and has embraced this as her theme. And with comments like "THIS SITE USED TO BE FUNNY, now it just feels sexually inadequate (guess who's over 30!)" it's clear she's maintained her sense of humour. 34. Cast Iron Studio The online portfolio of Cast Iron Studio is full of creative flairCast Iron Studio's portfolio is a modern delight. The studio has taken on a nifty little cast iron pan as their logo and evokes its environmentally responsible ethos with a simple, naturalistic design and infinite(ish) scrolling. Each project section goes in-depth into each aspect of the work, so there's plenty to explore, too. 35. DJNR The online portfolio of DJNR truly stands outThis is an online portfolio that really stands out from the crowd. DJNR crafted this highly interactive site, which includes a GIF of a working day that coincides with the bar running at the bottom of the page. There's also music and a highly eye-catching colour scheme. You can browse through all the projects on one page, which includes development, games, animation and design. It was even an FWA site of the day! 36. Strangelove The colours on this site complement each other perfectlyThe phenomenon of Pinterest has meant a huge rise in Pinterest-style layouts. This is far from another copycat site though – graphic designer Gareth Strange has managed to make this one his own. The homepage directly focuses on his illustrations, with the colours nicely complementing each other. The visitor is able to immediately gauge Gareth's design approach, which certainly makes for a successful portfolio. 37. Maria De La Guardia Maria De La Guardia's portfolio site is easy to navigateUX and visual designer Maria De La Guardia's portfolio site was built using the Craft CMS. It's an impressive lesson in clear navigation. It's split into sections – work, contact details, recommendations – all signposted with bright bands of colour. Meanwhile, the icon-studded homepage background lends personality. 38. Steven Bonner Steven Bonner's portfolio site barely includes any words at allIllustrator Steven Bonner's work deserves to be splashed across any screen. Thankfully his online portfolio does just that. In the most recent version of his portfolio, he's taken a confident approach and shunned words altogether, instead opting to let his work speak for itself. The homepage features a selection of tantalisingly cropped images of previous projects, and he invites the user to get in touch to find out more. 39. Jesse Willmon The design portfolio of Jesse Willmon is playful and funThis playful portfolio comes from designer Jesse Willmon. As soon as you arrive on the homepage, you know you're in for a treat. A cute aesthetic helps you feel welcome, along with a chatty tone, felt-tip font and colourful imagery. It only gets better once you click on the links, as Willmon's signature illustration style continues throughout. Next page: 41-50 in our list of 50 awesome portfolio sites 40. Seymour Powell The design portfolio of Seymour Powell offers a interactive visual insight into their workSeymour Powell is a multidisciplinary group of design researchers, brand experts, product, UX and UI designers, and makers. As you can see from the grab above, they're not afraid of a splash of colour. The site also features a modern take on the parallax trend of yesteryear. 41. Lounge Lizard Lounge Lizard's portfolio takes the bar theme and runs with itWebsite design and marketing agency Lounge Lizard has been making waves on the design circuit for almost 15 years. The team describe themselves as 'brandtenders', and this bar-themed portfolio is the perfect execution of their work and style. The site is packed full of case studies and information while still maintaining a fun, drinkable vibe. 42. Tim Lahan The design portfolio of Tim Lahan is perfectly laid outNew York based graphic designer and artist Tim Lahan presents his portfolio in a simple yet stunning way. Thanks to the sticky header, the important logo and information stays firmly at the top of your screen as you scroll through colourful examples of work. The drawings and designs are also perfectly laid out to really show them off; with no framing or barriers to distract the visitor or alter the work's effect. 43. Justin M. Maller Justin Maller's portfolio lets the vibrant imagery do the talkingThe Australian designer's portfolio site keeps things reasonably simple, and so lets his vibrant work – he's going through a delightfully crystalline phase at the moment – do the talking. It lets you get straight to the artwork; the only fancy stuff going on is a lovely little gradient at the bottom of the main index window, subtly fading everything in as it scrolls up. 44. Tim Smith HTML5 tricks bring this portfolio site to lifeBoasting 'Brain-powered graphics fun', Tim Smith's portfolio site uses CSS3 to mix a spotlessly clean look with some clever HTML5 tricks such as the cut-out titles for each piece, which disappear as you mouse over. We love the sidebar as well, featuring social links on the front page and then used for navigation between portfolio pages. 45. Delete Delete's action-packed site has plenty going onBig, bold and in your face, Delete's site opens with an animated introduction to the agency and a recent project. The rest of the portfolio meets the expectations created on the front page, with plenty of animation and graphic touches throughout. 46. Studio Contents We love the smoothly responsive images on Studio Contents' site The front page of Studio Contents' site seems basic – minimal text sitting on top of a big carousel image, with a grid of smaller images beneath that – but it's fantastically responsive and smooth with it, images resizing with the browser like a dream. It's all about presenting the work in the best possible way, and this does a great job. 47. Bob Galmarini Bob Galmarini took a template site and made it his own'Bright' and 'crisp' are good words to describe the personal portfolio site of Bob Galmarini, an award winning art director at {e} house studio. "Like a lot of other designers, my work has been hidden within the portfolios of the companies I have worked for," says Galmarini on the goal of his new site. "I needed a simple, easy to update place to host my body of work." Galmarini started with a template theme but heavily used CSS to make it unique. It’s a good example of how altering fonts, colours and other CSS styles can make a difference. 48. Hayk Check out the brilliant use of colour on Hayk's siteHayk is a full-time freelance designer who also happens to be a music producer by night. After high school he continued to study on his own, reading and gaining experience working as a graphic designer. This cleverly crafted portfolio has a lovely colour scheme and an ace scrolling experience. 49. Stereo A creative portfolio site for StereoLondon-based agency Stereo Creative has created this simple yet striking portfolio site. Each case study is well thought out and beautifully presented, with a carefully chosen slogan introducing each one. 50. Fieldwork A clean-cut portfolio for the team at FieldworkFieldwork is a focused team of makers and doers that specialises in crafting engaging experiences across digital, web and branding. Founded in 2012 by Loz Ives and Andy Gott, the company has worked with a number of brands including craft beer brewers and illustrators. Its lively portfolio is clean-cut, colourful and easy to navigate. Related articles: Get noticed: 6 tips for getting your portfolio seen 10 tips for building a killer portfolio website 5 quick ways to improve your portfolio dramatically View the full article

This may seem like an odd way to start an article on black and white drawings, but when I was a kid, my favourite drawing tool was a blue crayon. I drew everything in that one colour – the sky, the sea – and things that weren’t even blue, like my neighbour’s cat, our house, and my family. These monochrome drawings helped me develop the skills to know how to draw in black and white. Ballpoint pens make readily accessible and easy to use drawing tools for black and white pictures. They also present their own challenges and limitless possibilities, which we'll explore in these drawing tips. You might prefer to draw your black and white artworks in pencil or with marker pens, which we'll explore too (or if you'd rather try charcoal, check out these 10 expert tips for charcoal drawing). Have a look at the video below, then read on for nine tips for creating beautiful black and white drawings – or blue and white, if that's your thing… 01. Mind excess ink The right isn’t a drawing; it’s excess ink from my penBallpoint pens are great to draw with because we can make beautifully thin lines with them and create a lot of contrast. However, pens can also be very unforgiving: every mark is permanent – and so is every errant ink blotch! A big ink blotch could suddenly form and ruin your drawing forever. To prevent this, periodically roll the sides of your pen tip on a scrap sheet of paper to remove ink buildup. 02. Use various tones of black A variety of markers = a variety of tonesWhen drawing with markers, try to get a variety of black tones to work with in order to create a maximum range of values. Markers draw really quick and clean but can be a little difficult to work with if you're not used to the starkness and graphic nature of marker work. Hopefully these next tips will help you get over the learning curve quickly and with ease. 03. Support markers with pencils Sketch with non-permanent pencil before using permanent markerWhen working with markers, do a rough sketch of your idea in pencil first before making permanent marker pen marks. The great thing about sketching a marker drawing in pencil first is that after the marker ink has dried, you can take an eraser to the entire illustration and remove the initial pencil sketch, leaving the marker intact. 04. Keep your fading markers The unintended benefit of almost-expired markersBecause markers use so much ink, they tend to run out quickly. However, just because a marker is fading doesn't mean it's not useful anymore! Markers that are running out of ink are great for creating texture or blending together tones. I find them just as necessary in the drawing process as fresh new markers. 05. Harness the versatility of pencils Pencils are versatile for all the different marks they can makeBehold the humble pencil: so simple and basic yet so full of possibilities. Like handwriting, everybody draws differently from everybody else. Our various styles will inform how we use our pencils so experiment with different types of pencil marks to get the full range of use out of your pencil. This will be valuable especially when using different types of marks to describe textures and elements as completely different things. Drawing techniques: 7 fundamentals of pencil drawing06. Keep it light Light sketching helps you explore and refine your drawingWhen drawing with pencils, we tend to make lines too dark too early. We should sketch with light lines because these only suggest edges and borders; dark lines are for the later stages because they are definitive and not open to interpretation. Lines can darken prematurely if it takes a few tries to get the exact line you want. If that happens, slow down and be more careful; speed up again once you get the hang of it. 07. Use multiple pencils These are my preferred pencils: 4B, 2B, and HBWe can do a lot with one pencil but we can broaden our range of values if we use a variety of pencils. I prefer to use two or three different pencils, starting with a 2H. Pencils with the letter “H” have harder lead, which won’t mark my paper as much so their lines will have a lighter tone. “B” pencils make blacker marks than H, so I use these more towards finish. 08. Protect your work in progress The low tech way of protecting your work in progressJust like when drawing with ballpoint pen, a blank sheet of scrap paper can come in handy when drawing with pencils too. Pencil drawings—particularly those done with B pencils—can smudge very easily so I like to put a blank sheet of paper under the heel of my hand as I draw so as to protect my work in progress. 09. Draw thumbnails first The thumbnail (left) helps compose my drawing (right)Before I begin drawing in earnest, I like to first plan out my drawings using small thumbnails. Regardless of what drawing tool I’m using, thumbnails help me figure out composition and readability, which helps me avoid errors before I commit them to paper. Employing thumbnails also allows me to explore ideas quickly and by sketching small, I force myself to simplify and focus only on the important elements of my drawings. Related articles: Doodle art: 52 great examples How to draw and paint - 100 pro tips and tutorials 10 top traditional art tools for September View the full article

There are billions of people on social media, which means your audience is out there. Now is your chance to reach them. Social Media Marketing Masterclass 2017 is an online course that will teach you how to make the most of social media, and you can get it on sale this week only for over 92% off the retail price. Social media is an essential piece of any marketing professional’s job. You can learn how to make the most of platforms such as Facebook, as well as how these relate to Google and SEO. Discover how to bring your products and services to those who will be most interested in them with the Social Media Marketing Masterclass 2017. You'll find over 5.5 hours worth of lessons and 87 lectures will teach you how to use social media to drive traffic to your site and turn visitors into customers. You can get the Social Media Marketing Masterclass 2017 on sale for over 92% off the retail price. That makes your total just $15 (approx £11) rather than the usual price of $195. It’s a deal that will pay for itself in no time as you attract more customers, so grab it today. Creative Bloq deals This great deal comes courtesy of the Creative Bloq Deals store – a creative marketplace that's dedicated to ensuring you save money on the items that improve your design life. We all like a special offer or two, particularly with creative tools and design assets often being eye-wateringly expensive. That's why the Creative Bloq Deals store is committed to bringing you useful deals, freebies and giveaways on design assets (logos, templates, icons, fonts, vectors and more), tutorials, e-learning, inspirational items, hardware and more. Every day of the working week we feature a new offer, freebie or contest – if you miss one, you can easily find past deals posts on the Deals Staff author page or Offer tag page. Plus, you can get in touch with any feedback at: deals@creativebloq.com. View the full article

The written word has come a long way since its beginnings, when words were all crammed together wily-nilly. ITWASNTALLTHATLONGAGOHISTORICALLYSPEAKINGTHATANY WRITTENTEXTLOOKEDBASICALLYLIKETHIS. (That was “It wasn’t all that long ago, historically speaking, that any written text looked basically like this,” incidentally.) Best free fonts for designersEarly punctuation arose as a system of cues to a reader, since early written text was never read silently, but read aloud. This proto-punctuation began by hinting to the reader when he should take a breath, for example. FOR·A·WHILE·WE·EXPERIMENTED·WITH·THIS·WHICH·WHILE· A·LITTLE·EASIER·TO·PARSE·IS·REGARDLESS·MUCH·TRICKIER· TO·READ·THAN·A·MODERN·SENTENCE·WOULDNT·YOU·SAY It wasn’t long, though, before we had developed a rich, expressive and widely adopted system of glyphs that were used to make meanings clear and to make printed text look beautiful and elegant (although not all of us use them properly – read 10 typographic mistakes everyone makes for more). Discarding conventions These are not always mistakes, however. In recent years, as a society we’ve started both deliberately and inadvertently rationalising the list of glyphs we use, abandoning hard-won, useful and beautiful characters. We haven’t quite regressed back TOTHISSORTOFTHING but for lots of reasons we’re discarding many of the conventions of typography that previous generations would have insisted were the only right and proper way of doing things. What are these changes, and what do they mean for designers and to the rest of society? Let’s explore. A typesetter would correct typographic errors created on a typewriterUp-front, we should say that we’re not being prescriptive or didactic here; fashions, needs and limitations change in typography just as in grammar, and anyone who tries to hold back that tide of change is not just doomed but misguided. Communication is a live, writhing thing, and you will note, for example, that we’re using these new-fangled paragraph thingies here rather than setting the whole thing as a solid wall of text which is broken up only with ¶ (pilcrow) characters. But still, some people would rail against what they’d see as typographical mistakes and dumbing down. Let’s take the first example from our 10 typographic mistakes everyone makes piece – typographic or ‘smart’ quote marks. "These" are dumb (or neutral) quotes, while “these” are smart quotes. In the first example, both double-quotes are identical, while in the second you have 66 and 99-style pairs (although you might need to bump up the point size before you can see the difference). Typographically speaking, those dumb quotes have no role at all, and should never be used. They come from the days when typewriters were introduced, when adding separate keys for “, ”, ‘ and ’ would have added complexity and additional points of failure. The desktop publishing revolution And for a long time, it didn’t matter, because much of what would be produced on a typewriter would then be sent to a typesetter and set properly with curly quotes. But then computers came along, and to ease the transition their keyboards copied the layout that typewriters had been using. Even then, having only dumb quotes didn’t matter, for the same reason. Then, though, came the desktop publishing revolution, and then the internet, and the stuff that was being written on computers was being published directly, without the intervention of someone whose job it was to make sure text adhered to established standards and customs. And the computer itself wasn’t the answer. Sure, some apps – and even OS X – can convert dumb quotes to smart, but they can make mistakes. The only sure-fire way to get your smart quotes right is to type them manually – or at least to watch what your computer is writing, and correct it if necessary. But for most of us these days, that’s too much work for too little reward, since the meaning of a sentence won’t be impaired by some sub-standard typography. 'Bad' typography on the web Indeed, there are often many good reasons to use ‘bad’ typography like this. One is that there might be technical limitations imposed by, for example, a content management system, or the platform to which it will spit content out. Websites like this one are the readiest example of this. And what’s more, because websites will be viewed by people using a range of browsers on a raft of operating systems on a plethora of devices, by using the lowest common denominator, typographically, you’re giving yourself the best chance possible that characters will display. Sure, "these quote marks" might be ‘wrong’, but if you can’t guarantee they’ll display properly, some would argue it’s better than than ⍰these quote marks⍰ or something like them if your reader’s browser can’t handle “these quote marks”. What’s more, as more and more content gets repurposed across multiple systems – sometimes being copy/pasted, sometimes referencing a canonical file – then there’s a temptation to use whatever basic character set is common to all, even if the majority of the platforms can use richer typography. The best free web fontsTypography across borders A similar thing happens when we’re sharing documents internationally, where different text encoding standards might prevail. An example of Unicode scriptsThere are robust systems to combat this, however, at least at a technical level. The old ASCII system – which encoded 0–9, A–Z, a–z, some basic punctuation and control codes – has long since been superseded. For a time we had lots of per-platform text-encoding solutions, but as a world we’re beginning finally to settle on an agnostic standard, Unicode, usually specifically UTF-8. Unicode supports over 136,000 characters (with plenty of headroom for more) covering 100 scripts – versus 128 characters for ASCII – as well as right-to-left scripts, combining ligatures and a huge range of other typographic niceties, so so long as documents online and off correctly identify themselves as being UTF-8, say, there’s no excuse for dumbed down typography… at least technically. Choosing simplicity Regardless, people might choose to use a simplified system of typography. Smart quotes, for example, will of course break HTML (another score for Markdown, which doesn’t use quotes in its syntax). It’s also not unheard of for coders to denigrate richer typography even in content (as distinct from the back-end that powers it) and for them to brow-beat writers and editors into adopting simplified typography. That's either because they don’t understand or value typography, or because they’re not motivated to support rich character sets such as UTF-8, despite it being part of the HTML spec since 1997’s 4.0 declaration. Ultimately, though, the gradual abandonment of some of the established typographic conventions isn’t down to technological constraints. It’s because many people aren’t even aware they’re doing things ‘incorrectly’. After all, Unicode, a global perspective, the increasing pressure on foundries to make fonts with rich character sets, and capable tools mean that we can do proper typography with relative ease these days. But if you don’t know that you should write £29·99 instead of £29.99, that 90º is wrong but 90° is right, or that there’s a proper character for inches – 12″ rather than 12" – then even though modern systems make it possible to enter them, you won’t. There are fewer old hands around to educate, and with a move away from print to the brisk, throwaway nature of much of the internet, not only are typographic traditions being abandoned but fewer and fewer people even realise it. So what? you might ask. Like with grammar, even if it’s wrong, your meaning is usually clear; nobody will think ‘90º’ doesn’t mean ‘ninety degrees’ just because it uses the wrong symbol, just as “I ain’t done nothing” can be clearly understood even though it technically means the opposite of what it says it does. Future proofing Maybe so. But quite apart from the satisfaction that comes from doing things right, there is a cost in the future, too. Good typography, like good grammar, isn’t a frivolous decoration, there to constrain your meaning. It’s there to make your meaning unambiguous. Take, for example: 3 1/2". It’s supposed to say three and a half inches, and since we humans are good at decoding the world we can read it as such, but you could also read the numbers as ‘three, space, one or two’. And that mongrel of a double-quote glyph could signify any manner of things. Write 3½″, however, and not only is it easier to read now, but it will be easier to read in the future, by computers, which lack our intuition and fuzzy logic, as well as by humans. Honouring typographic conventions like this is thus a kind of metadata, and “metadata is a love note to the future”. ITSVERYHARDTHESEDAYSTOREADTEXTWHICHISSETLIKETHIS. But mix robust standards such as UTF-8 with established, hard-working typographic conventions today, and as well as looking beautiful and honouring the traditions of typography, you’ll ensure text is readable long into the future. Related articles: 10 typography tricks every designer should know 20 fonts every graphic designer should own 50 top typography tutorials View the full article

There's more to Instagram than beautiful snaps of avocado brunches. In fact, artists and designers have long been using the photo-sharing application to find an audience for their work. Now one of the biggest names on graphic design, Stefan Sagmeister, is getting involved by using his Instagram account as a design clinic. That's right, one half of the legendary and occasionally naked New York-based design firm Sagmeister & Walsh, Stefan Sagmeister is inviting designers to send him their work with a view to it being shared with his hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers. If your work is deemed worthy, it will be posted on his account with a short review written by the man himself. Once live, his legion of followers will be able to weigh in with their opinions, too. 50 brilliant design portfolios to inspire youSpeaking to Dezeen, Sagmeister revealed that the idea came about a while ago, but that he's only been able to put it into action during his year-long sabbatical. "Designers send in work they want to have reviewed," he told the site. "I select from the many that come in, either because they are very good and can be an example for others, or because I think they could be improved with some simple reconsiderations." Designs are largely met with helpful and constructive feedbackUnlike a lot of internet feedback, the vast majority of feedback on the work that Sagmeister shares is refreshingly positive. "I have found that the Instagram community was very helpful," Sagmeister added. "Most commenters genuinely want to improve the work, it has been very constructive. There's been very little snark." Followers of Sagmeister's Instagram account can expect work from designers to be shared several times a week. The designer aims to continue the clinic for the remainder of his sabbatical, so if you want to get your work appraised by one of the biggest names in the business, you've got six months left to get involved. Are you feeling brave enough? Related articles: How to craft a standout portfolio 9 brilliant freelance portfolios for 2017 32 graphic designers to follow on Instagram View the full article

The 19th century was a wonderful time for art. Artists were held in high regard and the public was educated about art. There was a very high level of skilled technique on display thanks to the rigorous academic training available. Artists such as Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Frederic Leighton and William-Adolphe Bouguereau created works of great beauty, classicism and elegance and drew upon inspirations found in contemporary life, but especially antiquity. They all followed a similar process, creating thumbnails, detailed drawings, life studies, colour studies and then the final painting. A great amount of planning and effort was expended before brush ever met canvas. How to draw and paint - 100 pro tips and tutorialsWe can learn a lot from these masters and not hurry through the process of creating an oil painting. Do not rush through the thumbnail stage. This is the best and easiest place to explore your composition. If you can, let your sketches sit for a day or two and then come back with fresh eyes. Once the thumbnails are completed, you can spend a little more time refining a sketch to flesh out the idea. Flaming June by Frederic Leighton, 1895, provided some inspiration for this art tutorial For this project, Birgitte Smoot not only modelled but also helped with the costume. Erin Bjorn made us a costume that was historically accurate, which helped elevate the whole effort from the beginning. We used Blue Ridge oil paints on a wood panel, using Rosemary & Co brushes, and a New Wave Art Expressionist Confidant arm palette. Paint what delights you and you will find an audience that feels the same way about your work. Follow these steps as we attempt to create a painting that echoes the masters and then go and create your own painting inspired by your favourite artists. You will learn more about them, and yourself, in the process. 01. Find inspiration Dolce Far Niente by John William Godward, 1897, also inspired this painting Study examples of the art you love from 19th century masters such as Leighton, Godward and Alma-Tadema. At this stage you're looking for inspiration for your painting. Confidences by Alma-Tadema, 1869, also got the creative juices flowing There is a richness in palette and a refinement of line that is very exciting in these paintings. How can you not be inspired by such beauty? These inspiring artworks will also help you to add some historically accurate details to your painting. The internet is another wonderful tool. You can find references for mosaics on the wall and floor as well as a bronze brazier online, giving you authentic details to put into the painting to add significant visual richness. 02. Test possible compositions Use thumbnails to explore compositions (click the top-right icon to enlarge this image) Explore how to compose your painting by sketching thumbnail images. We created many thumbnails for this painting – here are four of them. You can see they aren’t very pretty or particularly meaningful to others. A quick line or mark can represent a piece of furniture or figure. Imagination is important at this stage and adds a thrill as one imagines the possibilities. 03. Create a sketch to solidify ideas Develop your favourite thumbnail into a sketch Take one of the thumbnails and take it further as a sketch. We did this one in Photoshop, but you could also use charcoal or pencil. The goal at this stage is to solidify the idea so that you can gather proper references and direct the model. 04. Use photography as a tool An inspiring reference photo will help a lot, but use artistic license to interpret it as a painting Unless you have the enviable means to have a model in your studio full-time, photography will most likely be an invaluable tool. Do what it takes to get the very best photo reference possible, but don’t be a slave to your photographs. You are the artist, not the camera. Trust your creativity and use all the tools at your fingertips. 05. Draw out the composition Use a grid to draw your composition onto your canvas This painting is 12 x 16in so we made a 1-inch grid on the panel to draw our final composition onto. You don’t need to draw every detail, though we drew in much of the mosaic, hoping to take advantage of the dark lines in the final pass. Once it was drawn in, we inked the critical lines with a Pigma Micron pen. 06. Tint the canvas A golden imprimatura tint will add warmth to the painting Erase the pencil grid and start the imprimatura, or tinting the canvas with colour. This does a couple of things. It make it easier to judge the accuracy of subsequent layers of paint, and the warm colour will show through in places and help to add warmth and vibrancy in a subtle way. 07. Apply a colour wash A thin colour wash will help your drawing to show through Now apply a thin colour wash over the whole painting. A medium composed of five parts turpentine, one part damar varnish and one part stand oil makes the oil paint seem almost like watercolour, and it dries quickly. It also keeps the paint semi-transparent, to allow the drawing to show through. 08. Make the first pass Start with the head and hands as they will draw most attention The first pass of the painting is underway. Starting with the head and hands lets you establish the quality and value range on what is usually the most important part of a painting containing figures. When painting flesh under cool daylight, keep the shadows warm and lively. 09. Pace your effort You can go over areas again once they've dried When working through the first pass, it is important to remember that you will have the chance to go over everything again once it dries. Don’t fall into the trap of trying to add all the polish and finish in the first stage. It takes some experience but you will soon learn when you are just pushing paint around and when you are actually making progress. 10. Complete the first pass We're nearly finished now The first pass is now complete. Notice that areas are still flat and washy, but the values and colours are well established. The fun part really begins where each stroke seems to make a big impact and you can choose what parts you want to focus on. We're about 80% of the way towards the finish at this point. 11. Start the second pass A brush with a fine tip will help you add tiny details In an effort to paint like art heroes, it pays to be meticulous with the details. For the smallest details, buy a medium sized round brush with a very fine tip. This will let you get all the detail you need and the brush will hold a good amount of paint. Don’t just make marks, be thoughtful about how you are applying paint. Think about the correct colour, value and shape with each stroke. 12. Apply the final touches Add final details such as wrinkles We're almost at the end of the painting. This is the stage to refine the delicate transitions and add in subtle details such as the wrinkles in the hands and veins underneath the skin. You can also glaze and intensify colours, using transparent colours and no medium. The entire process for this painting, from the idea to finish, took 48 hours, with 44 hours of painting time. 13. Frame your work Don’t forget to find a frame to enhance your artwork (or make your own frame). This frame, from Masterworks Frames, is handmade and uses 16k gold leaf for a sense of history and grandeur. The arch of this frame influenced the composition of the painting. This article originally appeared in issue 9 of Paint & Draw magazine. Buy it here. Related articles: 15 tips to improve your brush skills 10 top traditional art tools for September 10 incredible online art schools View the full article

Making objects and typography appear as though they're reflected in the surface they're sitting on isn't complicated. It is, however, a little more complex to make it look convincing within the environment that it's placed in. Over the next few steps we'll run through how to use Adobe InDesign to quickly create an environment for your type to sit in that follows the basic rules of directional light. We'll then demonstrate how to place the type within the environment and create a reflection so that it appears convincing. Get Creative Cloud01. Create the basic scene Start by creating the environment that the type will sit within First we need to start by creating the environment that the type will sit within. Begin by drawing a large rectangle that fits to your document bounds by using the Rectangle tool. Now draw another one in a lighter shade that is half the height and sits flush to the bottom of the document creating the effect of a horizon line. Next use the type tool to draw a large text box and type out the word that you want to work with. Take some time when choosing the typeface, bolder sans-serif faces will have more impact than serifs. In the above example, we've used Gotham in its Black weight and then kerned the letters back by holding alt and the left and right arrow keys. 02. Set the light source Draw a large circle in the top-right of the composition by using the ellipse tool while holding shift Draw a large circle in the top-right of the composition by using the ellipse tool while holding shift. Fill this circle with a shade lighter than your background colour and then navigate to Object > Effects > Basic feather. Increase the feather width until you're happy with the results, in this case 30mm, then hit OK to apply the results. 03. Apply gradients to create depth Now select the background and apply a linear gradient to it by bringing up the gradient panel Next, select the background and apply a linear gradient to it by bringing up the gradient panel. By default this will be a black to white gradient. To make it a smooth gradient create three swatches that range from dark to light in your chosen colour covering the shadows, mid tones and highlights. Next, drag the swatches onto the gradient slider in the correct order so that the gradient gets lighter towards the light source. Set the angle to 30 degrees and then repeat the process for the horizon line but with a 90 degree angle and with its blending mode set to multiply. You may want to lighten the light source at this point. We made it white and changed its opacity to 50 per cent. 04. Apply a highlight sheen to the type Apply a gradient to the typography Next, apply a gradient to the typography using the lightest of your three swatches and white so that the white runs towards the light source, then apply a 30 degree angle to the gradient. Now navigate to Type > Create Outlines so that the type is no longer live text and will now act as a vector object. Copy the type and paste it in place so that it sits exactly on top of the original type. Fill it with white and then draw a large rectangle that covers the bottom half of the type. Use the minus function from the pathfinder panel to delete the bottom half of the type Now select both the top type and the rectangle and use the minus function from the pathfinder panel to delete the bottom half of the type. Reduce the opacity slightly and use the gradient feather tool to make the sheen more subtle, then finally apply an overlay blending mode to the sheen. 05. Create the reflection Now that the scene is set, creating the actual reflection effect is relatively easy Now that we've set the scene, creating the actual reflection effect is relatively easy. Simply select both the bottom type and the highlight and hit cmd + G to group them. Copy and paste them in place and, ensuring that the bottom reference point is set in the top-left, hit the Flip Vertical function found in the top bar and then set the blending mode to overlay. Now you can use the Shear X Angle tool, also found in the top bar, to skew the reflection away from the light source to give it a more realistic effect. Use the Shear X Angle tool to give the reflection a more realistic effect 06. Add further details You may want to take things a step further by increasing the contrast of the darkest and lightest tints We've covered the essentials in the above five steps but it's up to you how much further you take it. You may wish to add more depth as we've done above by increasing the contrast of our darkest and lightest tints. In the above example, we used the same method that we used to create the reflection to create a shadow behind the type. In this case, simply use your darkest swatch colour and set the blending mode to multiply. As a final tweak we added some yellow to the mid-tone swatch to make it a little warmer and more natural. View the full article

"Weird Al" Yankovic - It's All About The Pentiums https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpMvS1Q1sos&feature=share … View the full article

Apple said that macOS' native Gatekeeper security feature would protect against a Keychain attack disclosed this week, but researcher Patrick Wardle said that won't help against Mac malware signed with an Apple certificate. View the full article

When running a design business, it is impossible to underestimate the importance of client relationships. From freelance creatives whose clients are other industry firms, to agencies blessed with rostered regulars – looking after your fee payers should be priority number one. Get Adobe Creative CloudAccording to the great Paul Rand, design is futile "unless it is acknowledged by those that the designer exists to serve – the clients". At its most basic level, a good client relationship means trust, communication and accountability. Client relationships should be a mutually beneficial partnership between you and your client. Your expertise and critical opinion should be valued, while your clients should feel they can trust you in creating the most suitable work for their products. Getting to this stage takes time, hard work and investment in a client relationship strategy, but it is easily achievable for creative outfits of all sizes. Illustration: Ola VoloClient relationships can be an uneven see-saw: you can produce the best work possible, on time and to budget and still lose a client, while you can watch others produce mediocre work and enjoy repeat business. It's unfair, annoying and disruptive. But it is avoidable. Investing in client relationships leads to repeat work, more money and strengthens word-of-mouth promotion. Strong relationships enable the creation of more satisfying, worthwhile projects, which is what all designers strive for and, appropriately, the best way to increase visibility and win new work. In short, strong client relationship skills are where it begins for growing your creative reputation, generating more turnover, and ultimately creating even more fulfilling work. The figures paint an even more convincing argument: according to BDI (British Design Innovation), for every client lost, UK design businesses have to spend around 20 per cent of a project fee on new business activity through promotional means and cold pitching. For repeat work, that figure is zero per cent. Understanding people "Every client is worth holding on to. Winning clients is difficult in itself, so holding onto them is absolutely critical," says Katy Cowan, managing director at Boomerang, the creative agency with a roster that includes retailers, manufacturers and healthcare accounts. "Essentially, business is about people," she continues. "So it's about understanding how to work with people, maintain healthy relationships and be someone that people enjoy working with. Of course, it's also about offering value – ensuring the work you are doing is making a real difference to your client." Winning new clients and establishing a solid working relationship with them takes time and effort, and is traditionally looked after by an account handler or client director. Yet it's vital that all relevant staff are aware of the client and contribute towards the relationship – from creative directors to artworkers. "It's critical that everyone involved in an account knows who the client is, who the contact is, and what the client likes and doesn't like," says Mark Haynes, a new business consultant who was previously client services manager at marketing services company Chime UK. "At Chime, we worked exceptionally hard to get under the skin of our clients' brands, and offer the type of service that fosters trust. You cannot allow even one person to stray off-brief and damage that trust." For agencies and studios like Boomerang and Chime, a client retention plan is critical. This can take the form of a top-sheet of essential client information, for example: contact points for different areas of the account. A more fully-fleshed client retention plan might include a history of the client and the work you've completed for them, as well as a creative overview of the brand and information on any strategic objectives that the client has highlighted. "Being able to pick up the phone and speak to the right person is vital," explains Haynes. "There might be an entirely different person in a different office who has sign-off on artwork, while budgets and strategy are handled elsewhere. You need to keep your communication channels open and make sure you speak to the right people about the right things." It's also advisable to identify some sort of hierarchy and make sure everyone in your business is aware of it. Ideally you need to ensure that, should one of your contact points be unavailable, you know who's next in line to consult. What's more, by identifying a hierarchy within your client's business, you are more likely to be able to cut out 'middle-men' and engage directly with the decision makers - whether that be a creative head, or a strategic or financial manager. Keeping clients Retention plans also generate new business organically. If an initial client brief begins as a rebrand, it can quickly escalate to a full 360-degree project if you prove yourself in the initial stages. "Most of our clients are retained," says Cowan. "The nature of our work relies upon ongoing support, as we provide an iterative service. For instance, we might build a website or app, carry out ongoing user testing and then add new features along the way." Client relationship management isn't about 'schmoozing', as Cowan points out. In fact, very few of those we spoke with gave the impression of Mad Men-style long lunches and big nights out on expenses. Successful client relationships are about communicating and delivering on your promises: basic project management skills. "We have regular meetings and we plan what we're going to do each and every month," says Cowan. "Internally, we use systems like Basecamp to project manage and we'll track time involved using FreeAgent. For some of our clients, we might use software to ensure smooth running – for example, for our social media marketing we use apps like SproutSocial." But don't be tricked into thinking client relationship management is just for agencies and design studios, however. Freelancers too need to treat their clients with care, as the freelance illustrator Steven Bonner points out. "Freelancing is just being a small business-owner so the principles of relationship management are the same," he says. "For me there's no magic to it: you simply treat people well and do what you say you'll do for them. If you deliver on your promises, are accommodating to reasonable requests and can do it all with a smile on your face, then you'll be fine." Bonner is a typographer, illustrator and designer who was won numerous international awards. For him, building and maintaining a relationship is about being professional, and being personable. "You've got to work hard to build relationships, then harder again to make them strong," he says. "It's a small industry where everyone knows each other, so building a good relationship with someone can be a great way of networking and getting a foothold in new companies." Healthy relationships However, it's important to remember that there has to be some give and take. Unhealthy relationships can come about, for instance, if a client never listens to your advice. If that's the case, it might be worth moving on. It's obvious when you find a client with whom you work well, but it's also important to spot bad clients early on. "Clients worth holding onto are those who brief and art direct really well," Bonner says. "Vague briefing and non-existent direction are the bane of a freelancer's life, as they eat into budgets, time and quite frankly, your patience. The good client is the one who understands how to work with you." Managing your client list doesn't just mean picking and choosing who to work with, though. As well as identifying those clients with whom it's possible to have a broader creative relationship, it's also smart to avoid stage managing too much. "It's not something we budget for necessarily, but we do often entertain clients," says Cowan. "It's nice to pop out for a coffee or lunch and offer to pay. I've just had an informal lunch with one of my biggest clients, and it was nice to chat over some sandwiches. Like I said before, business is about people, so offering that bit of give and take always helps to strengthen relationships." Above all else, client relationship management is about treating other people with respect. When your client asks you for a project update; shifts a deadline or drags its feet on a decision, professionalism means you don't get fiery. In fact, according to Bonner, the best relationship technique requires general good manners, and taking an interest in the person as well as the project. "Clients are people too," sums up Bonner. "And people like to deal with people that they can relate to. I'm not saying you need to be their best friend, but it's nice to be able to have a friendly conversation about other things too." Words: Tom Dennis This article originally appeared in Computer Arts issue 220. Liked this? Read these! Illustrator tutorials: amazing ideas to try today! Create a perfect mood board with these pro tips The ultimate guide to logo design View the full article

Back in September 2015, Google waved goodbye to the serifed logo that had served it well for years. In its place was a chunkier, sans serif typeface, complete with a 'G' symbol used across apps and other web domains. While it didn't take long to get used to the new logo, the 'G' letter symbol has been niggling keyboard critics over on Reddit. Brought to light in a thread by Reddit user A_freakin_t-rex, the images of the symbol (above) question the mathematics behind the shape and colour of Google's 'G' symbol. And while A_freakin_t-rex claims not to have made the image (taking credit only for posting it on Reddit's 'mildly infuriating' board), a stream of comments on the thread shows that other designers have taken issue with the symbol design. But what's the problem with the letter? Everyone can read it clearly; the colours communicate the main Google wordmark. Does a great logo design – or any design, for that matter – always have to be geometrically perfect? A closer look As you can see in the images above, the 'G' symbol isn't quite as circular as it appears on first sight. Where it curves in towards the limb, the bowl is slightly squeezed in as well. On top of that, the angles between the lettering and the colours don't line up. Thanks to grid theory and principles like the Golden Ratio, we know that establishing a set of guidelines for type, and the way in which elements should be positioned within a layout, creates visual harmony and helps viewers understand a design. The problem is that design principles like these are often slapped over photos or pieces of art by commentators as a stamp of endorsement; as if by obeying this set of logical design rules – and this set alone – the image in question is of good quality. Which isn't always the case. And especially with type. Optical vs metrical design A key part of typeface design involves managing the friction between reality (what your eyes see) and optics (what your eyes think they see). Take Helvetica’s ‘H’. The crossbar is positioned ever-so slightly above the centre – but it appears to be central. That’s because for a given weight of line, horizontal lines appear heavier than vertical lines. If you positioned Helvetica’s crossbar mathematically in the centre, it wouldn’t appear to be central. Many letterforms therefore need to be optically corrected so that readers don’t notice reality – the same principle is involved in kerning. Google itself explains the decision on its Evolving the Google Identity document: "The Google G is directly derived from the logotype ‘G,’ but uses increased visual weight to stand up at small sizes and contexts where it needs to share space with other elements." "Designed on the same grid as our product iconography, the circular shape was optically refined to prevent a visual 'overbite' at the point where the circular form meets the crossbar. The color proportions convey the full spectrum of the logotype and are sequenced to aid eye movement around the letterform.” See how Google's real logo (left) compares to a geometrically perfect version by maxt0r (right)To illustrate the point, user maxt0r created a new Google 'G' symbol that stays circular and divides its colours more evenly. The result is a subtly different logo with uneven visual weighting. Other users commented that the real logo has more character. Of course, this isn't the first time a global brand has sparked designers' OCD. Back in 2012, Twitter unveiled a new logo that relied entirely on two different sized circles for the shape of its bird icon. Circles are the secret behind Twitter's current logoAs Google's 'G' symbol suggests, there's a time for maths – and there's a time for optical trickery. Related articles: How to use logos in web design 5 expert tips to design the perfect logo 11 places to find logo design inspiration View the full article

Painting a portrait can be a difficult task. Even if you've mastered how to draw a face, you can easily end up lost in details and jewellery. So before starting anything, have a basic rough idea of the final image. Here, I want to depict a portrait inspired by the Venetian carnivals, but without the mask, because we want direct eye contact. We'll be using Photoshop. Get Adobe Creative CloudLight is a key part in any portrait piece. It's how the character stands out – it brings volume, life and intensity – so it must be carefully worked. The light is challenging here, mainly because of the amount of detail. Indeed, I don’t want the detail to become too distracting, which can soon be the case when there’s a lot of it. Remember – if you're not satisfied, don't hesitate to go back and change the elements you don’t like. Sometimes I even restart the entire illustration. For me, that’s just a part of the painting process – and it’s often for the best! Download your resources for this tutorial 01. Assemble some concept sketches Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the imageThe pencil sketch is an important step. I always do a few of these before starting the real painting, to help me visualise where I want to go. I can quickly add details like the crown, or think about what kind of costume I want for my character. It’s a good base to start from. 02. Create colour thumbnails Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the imageThen I scan the pencil sketch into Photoshop and do some quick colour thumbnails. I pick a harmonious colour scheme and start to mix those colours, to see whether they work well together. The challenge when there are multiple elements is to develop something consistent; I find doing a quick colour sketch really helpful in this respect. 03. Lay down colour blocks Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image I start the face in huge blocks of colour, to quickly get everything placed correctly. I try to develop a lot of colour variations in this area because it’s the focal point of my painting and so it needs to be realistic and feel alive. I mix some red and pink for the eyes, mouth and nose to help achieve this effect. 04. Adjust the composition Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image At this point I change the composition and go for a classic dress instead of a neck ruffle collar. The dress will be covered with colourful patterns and some hints of golden embroidery. I always use a big, round, soft brush to sketch patterns, because I need to blend colours quickly at this early stage. I find it helpful to ensure all the details work as a whole and are well integrated; the soft brush is ideal for achieving this. 05. Develop the carnival-esque crown Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image This portrait is carnival-inspired, so my character will be wearing an outlandish crown with feathers. I start with a pyramid shape made up of many little baroque-style curves. I visualise my idea on another layer and start to correct the previous shape based on this. I want the crown to be completely gold, so I pick a colourful yellow/brown to paint the base. I don’t work up the light yet – before starting that, I need to refine the entire crown and add some texture. 06. Define the facial features Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image Now I start to add more details to the face. I work the eyes, add eyelids and eyebrows – this is an important step because it’s now that I decide what expression and attitude I want for my character. I choose to try to make her look mysterious, so her eyes will have a lot of makeup. I use some deep, dark violet to paint the eyelids. I never use pure black for shadows or creases, because that will only make other colours look muddy. Always colour your shadows! 07. Give the skin a sense of texture Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image I’m happy with how the face looks and I can now start to work on texture. For this I use my scribbling technique. I add colour variations and volume all over the face with a one-pixel, Hard-edged brush. I work the light and shadows, but also on some details such as the eyelids. This is a long process but I like the final render – once it’s smoothed it adds a lot of tiny texture or grain. A speckled brush also gives this effect. 08. Design the costume Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image I want my character to be colourful, so I create a specific pattern for her dress with turquoise and red. I keep the design simple because I don’t want it to distract the viewer too much. I also refine the ruffles and crown. I leave the feathers very dark and blurred – they aren’t the main decorative element and must stay discreet. 09. Revise the composition Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image I decide I’m not happy with the composition: it needs to be brighter. The character’s position was too stiff, so I move her slightly to the side to develop a more natural pose. I also change the crown and the light on the upper part of the composition, opting to add more red instead of yellow, and bring in more light there, too. 10. Update costume elements Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image I now take the opportunity to change the ruffles – I found the previous design too boring. I also quickly sketch some more rounded curves to give a sense of lightness to the dress and character. I bring in a degree of transparency, which will help an object look either very light or fragile. I approach the crown in the same way, painting thinner, longer, baroque curves to break the heavy style of the previous one to help produce a more feminine, delicate look. 11. Paint a lace collar Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image I decide to add lace fabric to increase the delicate look of my character and add some mystery. Lace is intricate, but it’s easily done: I use a textured brush to roughly draw some curves and flowers – it doesn’t need to be precise. I add a few dots of light on it to create some volume so that it doesn’t look too flat and unrealistic. 12. Add more life Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image I accentuate the colour of the character’s lips and cheeks, picking a deep pink/red to do this. Red and pink are the perfect colours to add life to a character, especially on the face. Then I select a very small, precise brush and create some long, curvy eyelashes to give her eyes a more dramatic and mysterious look. I always blur the extremities to make them more natural. And finally I add some beauty spots here and there on her face – this quick extra detail is particularly effective when you want to create realistic-looking skin. 13. Introduce texture to the crown Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image Now I need to add more texture to the crown, especially on the feathers. I use a basic Round edge brush (with Hardness at 100 per cent and Opacity Jitter set to 100 per cent), and then paint some little brush strokes all over the feathers, to create a myriad of colour variations that mimic the texture of their real-world counterparts. I do the same on the crown to emulate the appearance of old, slightly tarnished gold. I don’t want something clean. Including flaws helps to achieve more realism in the scene. 14. Make some final adjustments Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image Now it’s time to add some extra light coming from the top. I choose to use a pink colour close to the one in the background, to retain some unity and bring in a colourful glow all over the crown and feathers. I use a big, Round, soft-edged brush to create this special effect, and adjust the layer’s Opacity if I go too far with it. I repeat the same process on the face, this time picking a pale blue to contrast with the background colour. Finally, I use a Brightness/Contrast adjustment to slightly correct the general contrast of my illustration. And we’re done! This article originally appeared in ImagineFX issue 147. Buy it now. Related articles: 95 top Photoshop tutorials How to make manga faces with a touch of realism Get better at figure drawing View the full article

In this month's round-up, we take a look at some of the iOS apps that were recently updated to work with the new features in iOS 11. The best drawing tablets in 2017We also jump into some options for Windows, and we look at an exciting new tool, which is currently in beta. So without any more delays, let's take a look at the picks we have for September... 01. Pixelmator Pixelmator is an easy-to-use alternative to Photoshop$4.99 (iOS) / $ 29.99 (macOS) Primarily an image editor, Pixelmator is an easy-to-use alternative to Photoshop. With full iCloud support, you can start your work on one device and finish it on another. The team is also working on a Pro version, which promises an all-new digital painting experience. 02. Sketch Club Sketch Club is built around a community of mobile artists$19.99 Sketch Club for iOS is more than just a drawing app for your iPad – it's built around a community of mobile artists who can create and share their work. If you're new to the mobile art scene, this is a great place to start (take a look at our round up of great drawing apps for iPad for more). 03. Procreate Procreate 4 includes some killer new features$9.99 Recently updated to include support for iOS 11, Procreate is one of my favourite tools for creating art while I'm away from my computer. The new update includes a completely rebuilt painting engine and support for drag and drop. Take a look at our full Procreate 4 review to find out exactly what it can do. 04. Mischief $25 Mischief is one of those apps you don't know you need until you start using it. One of the features I like best about this digital sketching tool is how you can drop pins anywhere within your canvas and immediately be taken there. 05. Microsoft Surface Studio This sports an ultra-thin, 28-inch adjustable PixelSense displayDespite not being a Windows user, the Surface Studio is on my radar as one of those devices I'd like to see in my own studio. The zero-gravity hinge allows you to tilt the Surface Studio with the slightest touch, yet keeping it locked in place while you're using it. And that Ultra-thin, 28-inch adjustable PixelSense display... oh my! Learn more in our hands-on review. 06. Paint 3D This free drawing tool is great for beginnersFree While we're sticking to the Microsoft Windows platform, let's take a look at one of the free drawing tool options available. Paint 3D is basically a remix of the old MS Paint (which recently narrowly avoided getting canned for good). While I wouldn't say this version is fantastic, it's a nice way to ease into things if you're not quite ready for something like Photoshop and the excellent Creative Cloud (or if you spent all your money on the Surface). 07. Mental Canvas authoring system Although this software is not yet available to the general public, what I've seen so far looks stunning. It takes 2D drawing to a whole new level. If you're interested in testing it out, contact the group to do so. There's also have a player available, which you can download now. 08. Digital Art Masters Digital Art Masters comes out annuallyIf you're looking for some inspiration, grab a copy of 3DTotal's Digital Art Masters. This annual series has been around since 2005 and covers both the technical and artistic aspects of 2D and 3D art. 09. ImagineFX ImagineFX includes tutorials, interviews and plenty of fantasy art inspirationFrom $19 (quarterly) Our own ImagineFX magazine comes packed with in-depth articles, tips and tricks, interviews, galleries and more from some of the leading fantasy and sci-fi artists out there. Take your subscription to the next level by ordering the Print + Digital bundle. 10. Ctrl+Paint This website is ideal if you want to get started with digital paintingA site created and maintained by Matt Kohr, Ctrl+Paint is geared for beginners. On his site, you'll find tutorials to get you started with digital painting and drawing. Most of the tutorials are completely free – however, he does have a store where you can order in-depth tutorials on specific topics. Read more: 10 incredible online art schools How to use digital tools to create a hand-drawn look How to paint a castle with SketchUp View the full article

Photography is one of those skills that just keeps evolving alongside technology. Having a basic understanding of the art will go a long way, and you can always add new abilities to your skillset to get even better results. The Digital Photography with Adobe Bundle is here to help make your photos shine, and you can get it for 98% off the retail price! Get Adobe Creative CloudRegardless of your skill level, you’ll find plenty of useful information in the Digital Photography with Adobe Bundle. With courses that teach you the way around Adobe’s powerful photo-editing tools like Photoshop and Lightroom, plus an introduction to graphic design, you'll learn how to make your photos shine with post production flair. There are 10 valuable lessons to work through that will be sure to teach you something new, and you'll even get a degree to show what you've accomplished! This bundle usually retails for $1,580, but you can get the Digital Photography with Adobe Bundle for 98% off the retail price! That’s huge savings on a bundle that will up your digital photography game, so grab this deal today. Creative Bloq deals This great deal comes courtesy of the Creative Bloq Deals store – a creative marketplace that's dedicated to ensuring you save money on the items that improve your design life. We all like a special offer or two, particularly with creative tools and design assets often being eye-wateringly expensive. That's why the Creative Bloq Deals store is committed to bringing you useful deals, freebies and giveaways on design assets (logos, templates, icons, fonts, vectors and more), tutorials, e-learning, inspirational items, hardware and more. Every day of the working week we feature a new offer, freebie or contest – if you miss one, you can easily find past deals posts on the Deals Staff author page or Offer tag page. Plus, you can get in touch with any feedback at: deals@creativebloq.com. Related articles: The best photo editing laptops 30 Photoshop secrets to improve your skills View the full article

Ad agencies and art directors are continually thinking of new and innovative ways to use billboard advertising to grab the attention and imagination of their target audience. Large and prominently placed, they offer a huge canvas to target the public. But cutting through the surrounding visual noise is truly an art form. The following brilliantly creative examples of billboard design do exactly that. Which is your favourite? 01. Reebok ZPump 2.0 Swedish agency Animal came up with an impressive way of drumming up publicity for Reebok's new running shoes: it set up an outdoor billboard in central Stockholm, challenging people to a human speed test. Anyone who ran past the billboard faster than 17 km/h, unlocked a brand new pair of ZPump 2.0 shoes. The billboard used a speed camera developed specifically for this campaign, which used realtime object recognition and motion detection to identify runner's movements and calculate their pace, to great effect. 100 brilliant print ads02. AIR-INK This slogan is sure to intrigue passers-byLaunched via a successful Kickstarter campaign from Graviky Labs, AIR-INK is an innovative ink made from air pollution. A device captures particles of black soot from car exhaust fumes and chimney smoke, which is then processed and transformed into safe, top-quality ink. To promote the project, the team roped in illustrator Kristopher Ho to paint a huge billboard for London's Shaftesbury Avenue, effectively 'recycling' the pollution into artwork. To make the scale of the undertaking clear, and intrigue passers-by, the billboard has a simple slogan: This art is painted with air pollution. 03. McDrive Taking advantage of the fact that in France its client, McDonald's, operates a lot more drive-through restaurants (known as McDrives over there, because France) than its main competitor, Burger King, TBWA\Paris set up this cheeky pair of billboards near Brioude in the Haute-Loire. The ludicrously tall one gives directions to the nearest Burger King drive-through, 258km away, while the little one points drivers to a much, much closer McDrive. Formidable! 04. The Human Billboard When extreme right-wing party Le Front National won the first round of the 2017 French presidential election, the country saw a rise in racist rhetoric. Leo Burnett France and Le CRAN (Le Conseil Representatif des Associations Noires) used a different type of billboard to remind the French people the lasting damage racist language can have. Racist insults were collected via social media, and tattooed onto the body of a man to turn him into a 'human billboard'. The man then walked around Paris distributing leaflets explaining the campaign and encouraging people to join the conversation. 05. Spotify Spotify's data-driven ads provided a light-hearted look at 2016Spotify had some fun creating a series of billboards worldwide under the heading, 'Thanks 2016, it's been weird'. Drawing on Spotify's vast repository of user data, the ads, created by its in-house team, are made up of posters inspired by some of the more unusual facts and figures related to the digital music service, and pointing out peculiar and funny outliers hidden amongst the data. See more here. 06. Xbox To get a little extra attention for the new Xbox Tomb Raider game during a busy game launch period, McCann London devised an attention-grabbing new use for a traditional billboard, turning it into a gripping reality show. The Survival Billboard featured gamers standing on the billboard in an endurance test, facing harsh weather controlled by the public via a live stream, and it drew thousands of viewers for the 22 hours it took to break all of its participants' spirits. 07. Unitech This Unitech advertising takes marketing to new heightsDeveloped by the team at advertising agency JWT, New Delhi, this Unitech billboard takes advertising to new heights. Here, hundreds of dummy matchboxes were produced and and stuck together in these Lego-like high-rise structures promoting new villas gated community at Karma Lakelands in India. 08. IBM As part of IBM's Smarter Cities initiative, ad agency Ogilvy & Mather Group designed "ads with a purpose", adding a curve to the billboard to create a rain shelter, bench and even a convenient ramp while promoting the technology brand - because "if cities were smarter, life in cities would be better". The billboards seamlessly blend modern design with functionality to help people while they remind them who is behind the act of generosity – a clever way to sell! 09. Burt's Bees To promote their Intense Hydration range, Burt's Bees used their own consumers to reveal a before and after demonstration with an interactive billboard in Minneapolis, created with the company's go-to ad agency, Baldwin&. This clever use of design and construction meant that the before image literally 'flaked' away as viewers peeled off the skin of coupons attached to the board, redeemable at local stockists. Eventually, all the coupons were removed and all that was left was a shiny, flat surface and a happy, smiling 'hydrated' after image. 10. Lego These bus stop billboards feature unique lego art that blends seamlessly into the surroundingsLego has a consistently brilliant, creative and fun approach to its ad campaigns, but one that particularly sticks out is Oglivy Malaysia's bus stop billboards featuring unique lego art that blends into it's surroundings. Certified Lego artist Nicholas 'Blackbulb' Foo worked with Ogilvy’s creative team to design three separate bus stop signs: Whale, Monster and Caterpillar. From the front the murals blend into the background, with lego characters parading the streets as if the board is a portal to another dimension that's entirely made of lego. Also read: How Lego reinvented itself as a super-brand 11. Leica A picture speaks 1000 words, or in this case 12 x optical zoomA picture speaks 1000 words, or in this case 12x optical zoom. These billboards designed by the team at Advico Young & Rubicam in Switzerland display exactly how simplicity can often be the most creative and impactful form of design. Each billboard is a zoomed in image (presumably 12X and taken by a Leica V-Lux 1 camera) of the object behind it, displaying the camera's superior zoom quality that doesn't miss a detail. 12. OBI DIY chain store OBI decided to do something different by placing its billboards not in the usual places but on people's homes themselves. Its thinking was based on the question: Why promote things that make our homes more beautiful, with advertising that makes everything look uglier? Instead, with the help of advertising agency Jung Von Matt/Elbe, it came up with something much more imaginative and attention-grabbing. "The big challenge was the search for appropriate run-down houses," Jung Von Matt/Elbe's Max Pilwat explains. 13. McDonald's This billboard from McDonald's 'slashes' the price difference of its Big MacLove it or hate it, McDonald's has always managed to produce inventive advertisements and this latest offering is one such example. Created by advertising agency DDB Stockholm, this billboard takes an innovative approach to 'slashing prices' on the border of Norway and Sweden. Highlighting the price differences on the cusp of each country, the advert showcases how much cheaper the Big Mac is in Sweden. 14. British Airways This design from British Airways certainly got our attention. Designed by the Ogilvy Group UK, the company uses surveillance technology to track the flights – allowing a child to point to the overhead flights in real time. BA head of marketing Abigail Comber explains, "This is a first, not just for British Airways but for UK advertising." Channelling that childlike excitement of seeing your first ever aeroplane, the billboard is a truly marvellous example of interactive design. You can see the billboards in London’s Piccadilly Circus and Chiswick. 15. OREO One of America's favourite cookies, Oreo celebrated its 100th birthday with the 'Wonder-filled' campaign, and The Martin Agency were tasked with creating a series of inspiring animations. They then teamed up with Brand New School to take over the largest advertising space in the United States - Times Square. "It’s an amazing venue that allows the work shine in a dynamic space that naturally fills people with wonder," creative director of Magnus Hierta enthuses. "This piece also takes advantage of the Times Square space by creating a visual tapestry of sharing that spreads across the screens and leaps from building to building." 16. Formula Toothcare This billboard design tears apart the usual billboard designAn utterly creative billboard design for Formula Toothcare, with the tag line 'builds strong teeth' taken to extremes. The 'broken' metal frame makes the billboard design look all the more realistic and eye-catching – ensuring a strong execution in delivery. This would certainly catch our eye if we were walking past. 17. BMW BMW pushes the electric element of its new car with halo lightingOut-of-home communications agency Posterscope developed an illuminating outdoor advertising campaign to promote the BMW i3, which is claimed to be the world's first premium fully electric car. Posterscope's Hyperspace division worked closely with BMW's creative agency, WCRS, on the attention-grabbing campaign which incorporates 'Halo' lighting into customised billboard special builds to create an after-dark glow effect around 2D cut-outs of the i3. A companion app is available to increase the experienceKey parts of the car are separately illuminated to highlight the models hi-tech eco-friendly features and electric inner workings, while a cutting-edge printing technique accentuates the contrast with the backlit skin. Part of a larger £1m campaign running on across roadside, rail and underground sites in the UK, the advertising also encourages consumers to download a companion mobile app from the App Store, enabling them to take a virtual test drive in the BMW i3. 18. Orphea Orphea4D Protection is a powerful insecticide spray for exteriors. This brilliant campaign promotes the brand by transforming a normal billboard into a huge insect trap. Transparent glue was applied on a portion of the billboard in a recognisable shape and when flies and mosquitoes got trapped there, they made the shape visible. 19. C.A.L.M. Street art can be a great way present a powerful message. To raise awareness of the charity C.A.L.M. graffiti artists Soulful Creative created these brilliant billboards. The posters aim to highlight the fact that three men under the age of 35 take their own lives every single day in the UK. The lighting is also a very nice touch - ensuring that passers-by will almost certainly take notice of the billboards. 20. Nike: Knitting To promote their latest Free Flyknit sneakers, Nike got together with advertising giants Wieden + Kennedy Shanghai to knit a humongous shoe onto a billboard. With the help of three workers, strips of neon green were threaded together to create the shoe on top of a bare foot. The live knitting sessions took place on Nanjing East Road, one of the most heavily trafficked streets in Shanghai, raising more than a few eyebrows... Next page: More impressive billboard ads you just must see! 21. iPod and iTunes There's no confusion as to what Apple is trying to say with this billboard designApple made sure there'd be no chance of missing this advertising campaign for its iTunes store and iPod. Towering several feet in the air, the attention-grabbing design features a fountain of products that can be purchased and enjoyed on the popular portable media player. Apple's message is simple: combine an iPod with iTunes and you have an endless source of entertainment at your fingertips. 22. Black Tower Home Security TBWA/Vancouver prove that people do, indeed, steal in this brilliant campaign for Black Tower SecurityIn a campaign for Black Tower security, advertising agency TBWA/Vancouver demonstrated that some people will take whatever they can get their hands on. The agency lined a 10x20ft billboard with sought-after household items like framed paintings, rugs, pillows, and cookware on a Friday afternoon. By the end of the weekend, the board was bare, revealing the campaign's simple anti-theft message: 'People Steal. Black Tower Home Security'. 23. Sky Discovery Channel This original, wind-powered billboard design was created by DDB New ZealandThis eye-catching billboard design for the Discovery Channel was developed by advertising agency DDB New Zealand. A working model, the design replicated a circuit board demonstrating how various different elements work – the wind turbine powering the batteries, which stored power until the display read 'full', activating the neon lights and finally the light box revealing the Discovery logo. 24. BBC World Clever use of corner billboards in this campaign for BBC World by BBDO New YorkWhen BBC World became available in the US, BBDO New York chose amazing photography and clever billboard placement to tell the country the international news channel had arrived. The imagery, taken from events around the world, is enough to grab your attention alone. But the BBDO team cleverly used corner billboards to show different takes on the same situation. Simple but very effective. 25. Kill Bill Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand drenched the wall, sidewalk and three shiny white cars in its promotion for Tarantino movie Kill Bill, Vol 1Advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand went all out a few years back when promoting Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill, Vol 1. The cool billboard design features Uma Thurman, her priceless Hatorri Hanzo and an impressive wall spatter of blood. The installation was erected at a busy Auckland intersection to promote a local channel's screening of the movie. If anyone was in doubt as to what the film entailed, Saatchi & Saatchi made it crystal clear with this design. 26. Miele vacuum cleaner In order to promote the power of the Miele S8 monster suction vacuum cleaner, Bratislava-based adverting agency Mayer McCann Erickson placed this brilliant billboard design over a well-known tunnel. The agency then filmed traffic over a period of time, resulting in this video that gives the impression of various vehicles being sucked into the vacuum hose. 27. McDonald's This brilliant billboard design promotes McDonald's breakfast menuThe print on this McDonald's billboard is nothing to write home about. But the addition of a sundial mounted on top turns it an innovative and brilliant piece of design. Displayed is the fast food giant's breakfast menu, with the sun casting shadow on each item that corresponds to the time of day you would normally eat it. Created by ad agency Leo Burnett, the sundial not only points out what meal you should go for, it also creates a shadow of the restaurant's famous 'M' as it does so. 28. The Economist UK-based creative agency Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO was the brains behind this ingenious light bulb billboard designThis simple yet ingenious design comes from UK-based creative advertising and brand management agency Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO. The 'less is more' idea features a giant lightbulb popping out of the centre of a red background, the only words reading 'The Economist'. Using electronic motion sensors, the bulb lit up every time someone walked underneath it. A brilliant, effective way to get the message across. 29. Koleston Naturals: Change This billboard advert for Koleston hair colourant uses the sun as part of its designAdvertising agency Leo Burnett like incorporating the sun into their awesome designs, including this one for hair colourant Koleston Naturals. The innovative design features a woman's hair die-cut in the billboard to capture the variations of Koleston naturals' colours through the different phases of the day and night. The effect the sun has on this design is just brilliant, with the model's hair colour changing from blonde to black in just a few hours. 30. Bleeding billboard This billboard design 'bleeds' when it rainsThe concept for this powerful billboard design came from New Zealand-based creative agency Colenso BBDO. The team was approached by South Auckland local government bodies with a brief to create a design that would lower the number of fatal accidents on the road. Noticing that accidents had increased during a particularly wet Easter the road safety team put up this billboard that 'bleeds' when it rains. The message? 'Rain changes everything. Drive to the conditions.' If that harrowing image doesn't make people slow down, we don't know what will. 31. Panasonic nose hair trimmer Saatchi & Saatchi Indonesia incorporated real-world elements into its ad for Panasonic's nose hair trimmerWe love this comedic design by Saatchi & Saatchi Indonesia for Panasonic's nose hair trimmer. The billboards were built around actual wires and poles in Indonesia to amusingly advertise the need for the device and showcase its safety cutting system. So if you're afraid to trim sensitive nose hair, this could be just the product for you. A fun and innovative idea. 32. Colorado State Patrol Keep your eyes on the road, not this brilliant billboard by Amelie Company'Tailgating isn't worth it. Give Trucks room. It's the law.' That's the message that features on this brilliantly designed billboard by French-American advertising agency Amélie Company for the Colorado State Patrol. It's simple, keep your distance or end up looking like the billboard. This is one design that will certainly grab the attention of drivers. Although let's hope the cool campaign doesn't keep their eyes off the road for too long... 33. Science World We wonder how long it took the Rethink team to glue 9,000 diamonds to this billboard?The guys at advertising agency Rethink, Canada teamed up with the Science World Museum to create a series of brilliant billboards dedicated to promoting science in Vancouver. The Rethink team glued 9,000 glass diamonds to a billboard to promote Science World's Treasure exhibit, and to demonstrate that, compared to many other gems, diamonds aren't all that rare. Other brilliant designs include a board covered in pure gold and a stick man made from 9,000 pencils. 34. The Day After Tomorrow This innovative billboard promoted disaster movie The Day After TomorrowIn order to promote Roland Emmerich's 2004 global-warming disaster movie The Day After Tomorrow to Indian audiences, ad agency Contract submerged a billboard in the sea not far from Mumbai. The idea being to mimic the idea of Manhattan being overwhelmed by water, the team also placed a replica of the Empire State building further out to sea. Leaving just the details of the film's release and venue, the marketing campaign attracted the attention of many a passer-by. 35. Smart: Little billboard BBDO Toronto promoted Smart car's low impact on the environment with these itty-bitty billboardsThis pocket-sized design proves that when you have a good idea, size really doesn't matter. In keeping with Smart car's low impact on the environment, instead of using big billboards that pollute the environment, advertising agency BBDO, Toronto created a series of scaled down versions. The miniature street advertising boards were placed in various locations around Toronto, all of them celebrating the beauty of being small. 36. Invisible The JWT team incorporated a 'Thanks for seeing me' message behind the mannequin, in case it was vandalisedOkay, so it's not a billboard and more of a giant poster, but we had to include this brilliant yet touching campaign. The Australian Childhood Foundation partnered with advertising agency JWT to create this unique and powerful billboard design, with the aim of raising awareness of neglect as a form of child abuse. The installations were located at popular sites around Sydney, featuring a huge poster pasted over a child-sized mannequin. The design secured the JWT team the Bronze Lion at Cannes Outdoor Lions in 2010. 37. Levis Levis lets its product do the talking in this billboard designFounded back in the mid 1800s, Levi Strauss and Co has since become known worldwide for its Levi brand of denim jeans. With such a recongiseable brand and product, a simple but clever design was all that was needed for this billboard. Here, Levis lets its jeans do the talking, featuring a section of a giant pair of 501s, unbuttoned to reveal not only the the infamous numbers, but realistic detailing in the denim, stitching, buttons and rivets. 38. Heineken This eye-catching design was developed by advertising agency TBWAThis billboard for Heineken is a perfect example of how a small and simple idea that's perfectly executed can have a big impact. The three dimensional concept features a hand seemingly coming out of the background about to grab the bottle of beer. The concept for the billboard, which graced the city of Amsterdam, was developed by the team at advertising agency TBWA. 39. Absolut Vodka Absolut's long-running ad campaign transformed an ordinary billboard into a stylish NYC apartment back in 2000Absolut Vodka's long-running advertising campaign is one of the most successful consumer products campaigns in the history of advertising. Known for it creative design, the company outdid itself back in 2000 when it created this eye-catching billboard. After teaming up with fellow Swedish global brand IKEA, the company transformed a billboard in Manhattan into a stylish, but cramped, New York City apartment turned on its side - and shaped like an Absolut bottle. Genius. 40. T3 The BBDO design team constructed a visual interrogation room, using the billboard lampNew Zealand television channel, T3, went all out when promoting the latest season of Law & Order. Bringing in Colenso BBDO, the design team constructed a visual interrogation room, using the billboard lamp to spotlight the criminal. Mounted on a concrete building as a backdrop, the result is viewers find themselves dragged straight into the show itself. Related articles: 21 of the best brochure templates for designers 9 beautiful artists' business cards to inspire you 55 inspiring examples of letterpress business cards View the full article

Colour management is a huge topic. While it isn't something we'll be able to completely master in one sitting, this article will provide a great overview for users who are new to colour management, with practical advice for managing colours in Photoshop. Get Adobe Creative CloudOn this page, we'll show you how to convert your images from RGB to CMYK mode, and the effect this will have on the colours within your image. Jump to page 2 to find out how to customise your colour settings to suit your particular needs. Finally, on page 3 we'll show you how to sync your colour profile across all of your Adobe CC apps, add a particular colour profile provided by your printer, and preview a CMYK version of your design without losing any RGB information. How to convert RGB to CMYK When we're working on images at our computers, we are looking at the RGB (red green blue) colour space. In RGB we have access to many more colours than we do when we're going to output for print. When we're printing our images, we have access to cyan, magenta, yellow and black (CMYK, where the 'K' stands for 'key'). When you start off with a document that's in RGB mode and you convert to CMYK, you're definitely going to lose some of the colours and some of the vividness inside that image. The reason that this happens is because the RGB colour space has many more colours than CMYK. One way to avoid this is by using Photoshop's native colour management system. Let's take a look at what happens when we convert an RGB image to CMYK for print. 01. Find your image mode Changing from RGB to CMYK is easy (Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image) To reset your colour mode from RGB to CMYK in Photoshop, you need to go to Image > Mode. Here you'll find your colour options, and you can simply select CMYK. 02. Note your colour profile Photoshop's warning pop-up will tell you the precise CMYK colour profile it's about to useOnce you do that, Photoshop will give you a warning letting you know that you are about to convert to CMYK using the specific profile that will be listed in the warning. The warning lets you know that this may not be what you intend to do and it even shows you where you can go to choose the correct profile. 03. Implement the change Once you click OK you should see a slight shift in colour. You are now in the CMYK colour space. Were you able to see the difference in vibrancy and the reduction in colours? It might be a subtle change, depending on your monitor. Hit the arrow icons above to compare the two images. Try this out on a couple of different images to see the results you get. This will allow you to get familiar with the changes. One thing that is unavoidable is a shift in colour when you're going from RGB to CMYK. In some cases the change will be more dramatic than others, so be prepared for that. Next page: Adjust your colour settings Now you're getting familiar with the conversion, here's how to have more control when converting from RGB to CMYK. For the very best result, you need to adjust your colour profile according to the particular printer, ink and paper you're using. The best practice is to get a colour management profile from your printer then install it on your machine and sync it up with the rest of your applications – you can find out how to do that on page 3. However, if you don't have that information, the following are the standard settings that will work in many situations. 01. Find your colour settings Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image To have full control over the conversion you want to find your colour settings, which you'll find under the Edit menu at the top of your screen (or use the keyboard shortcut cmd+shift+K). 02. Explore the standard options Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image If this is your first time opening the colour settings, assuming no-one has made any changes, you are now looking at the standard colour settings. These settings will work in most cases – however, if you are going to send your artwork to a commercial printer, you would want to ask which specific colour setting they would like you to go with. If you're new to colour settings, this window might seem a bit intimidating. Let's take a look at the main settings you want to look at. 03. Choose a specific region Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image Starting at the top, you have a Settings section. If you click on the drop-down menu you'll find different settings. Choose your specific region. 04. Select an RGB colour space Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image Next, you want to look at the RGB colour space that you will be converting from. There's not just one RGB colour space, you actually have many to choose from. You could test them out to find the one that works best for your particular monitor and workflow, but it's fine to leave it as-is. 05. Select a CMYK colour space Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image Next you want to look at the CMYK colour space that you will be converting to. The same rules apply as when choosing the correct RGB colour space. 06. Explore conversion options Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image The last major setting to look at is going to be inside of your conversion options. Click on the drop-down menu for Intent and you'll see four different options. The one that works best the majority of the time is Relative Colorimetric, but make sure to try the other ones to see if they work better for your particular workflow. Remember if you're not sure which one to go with, just leave it as-is or ask your printer for their suggestion. Next page: Final tips There are a few final things you need to know about colour management in Photoshop. In this final section, we'll show you how to sync your colour settings across all your Adobe apps, add a new colour profile provided by your printer, and preview a CMYK version of an RGB image. 01. Sync your settings across apps Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image Once you get that set up, you want to use Adobe Bridge to sync up all of your applications with the same colour settings. That way you have the same experience between Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. To do this all you have to do is launch Adobe Bridge, at the top of the application, then select Edit > Color Settings. You can then choose which setting you want to sync across all your applications. Then click Apply and that will take care of everything for you – you're all synced up and ready to rock. 02. Add a new profile provided by your printer Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image If your printer is able to provide you with the appropriate colour settings for their materials and machines, this is great. To bring them into your applications, first bring up your colour settings, and in the top right, hit the Load option. This will enable you to search for the new profile provided by your printer. Then select the correct profile, choose Open and you will see it loaded into your colour settings. Click OK to accept this change and you are good to go. You can also create new colour settings and save them for future use. 03. Preview a CMYK version If you want to keep your document and RGB workspace but you want to see what it looks like when you print it out, go into the View menu and choose proof colours. This will allow you to see the CMYK conversion without losing any of the RGB information. Some advantages of working in RGB is that file size will be smaller, and you'll be able to access all of the editing features in Photoshop. About Pluralsight Pluralsight is an enterprise technology learning platform that delivers a unified, end to end learning experience for businesses across the globe. Through a subscription service, companies are empowered to move at the speed of technology, increasing proficiency, innovation and efficiency. For a free trial and more information, visit www.pluralsight.com. Read more: 100 brilliant print adverts Create special print finishes in InDesign The designer's guide to printing a poster View the full article

In January, we shared with you some quick tips to improve your portfolio. There are, though, more deep and fundamental ways to improve your portfolio over time. These may take a little longer, but get them right and the payoffs will be immense. So whether you’re seeking to get more freelance work or a better job, follow these six pieces of expert advice and it should significantly boost your chances. 01. Showcase your personality You get a clear sense of art director and designer Frank Li’s personality from his portfolio site So you’ve got a great collection of work. But stand back a second and ask yourself: beyond that, does my portfolio give a sense of who I am? You may think your work should just “speak for itself”. But in the real world, people hire people, and they’re interested to know the person behind the designs. Agencies are often looking for a certain personality type that’s going to fit in well with existing employees. “For instance, a bit of humour, being a bit bold, a bit quirky is very much along our lines,” says Tim Smith, principal of design at ustwo. So how do you do that within a portfolio? “The style of work is one way,” says Smith. “Sometimes, if a designer has done their own website, you can see through their choice of graphic design what their personality might be or what their stylistic choices are. "And often even the little bits of copywriting – the little quirks about how they might describe a little thumbnail, or the navigation on the site, or the UI – might have some writing that conveys your personality.” Example: Art director and visual designer Frank Li offers a great example of how to showcase your personality through a portfolio. 02. Describe what you did It seems like a point that shouldn’t need to be made. But still in 2017, many designers showcase their projects through images alone. There’s little or next to no text explaining what the brief was, how they fulfilled it, what their design process was and, in the case of a joint project, what part they played. Of course, you want your portfolio to be visually stimulating eye-candy. But that will only get you so far with prospective employers or clients. As Tim Beard, partner at Bibliothèque, explains, “Design is a visual discipline and you make an immediate response based on that, but without some form of explanation it’s a bit empty. If there is a story to tell, or a context to set, then it's best explained as efficiently as you can. It’s about the journey as much as it is the destination.” Madeleine Fortescue, resource and recruitment manager at Moving Brands, agrees. “When we’re hiring, we need to understand really quickly the role an individual candidate played within a project, so the accompanying text is really key,” she says. “We want to quickly glance over the project and see some information about it, not just some images.” And we can’t emphasise this enough: get your text properly proof-read. “Spelling mistakes are always a bugbear, it’s very frustrating,” says Fortescue. “For us at Moving Brands it’s really key to be able to articulate yourself and talk about your work, to provide a rationale for what you’ve done. So not only does the work need to be perfect and have attention to detail, the text is extremely important, too.” Don’t make it too long either, stresses Tony Brook, creative director of Spin. “You’re not going to start reading an essay. It’s not great fun reading on screen, period, let alone reading long lengths of text on screen. So you have to be fairly circumspect: a small amount of explanation, a short caption, will usually do it.” Example: Creative director Jack De Caluwe gives great explanations of his multidisciplinary projects on his portfolio. 03. Empathise with your audience Visitors will often wonder how up-to-date a portfolio is. Eric Hu helpfully provides the date and time his site was last refreshed in the header These days, it seems like there’s somewhat of an arms race in terms of who can produce the most dynamic, flashy and attention-grabbing portfolio. And that’s fine if you’re a senior designer who primarily wants to appeal to your peers, and get featured on awards sites. But for most jobbing designers, that’s not the target audience your portfolio should be aiming at. If you want more freelance work or a better job, it’s all about appealing to clients and employers, and they will often have very different perspectives. Smith, for example, looks at dozens of portfolios in a typical week, but still often finds it difficult to find what he needs. “I want to know what sort of work you’re into and what kind of person you are,” he stresses. “Websites that makes it difficult to do that can be because of an ill-considered user experience, or designer ego, where they’re trying too hard to be visual and to impress. Sometimes it would be nice to be made easy and quick for me just to understand what I’m interested in.” Example: Eric Hu does a great job at anticipating what people will be looking for on his site. He even provides the date and time it was last updated in the header. 04. Ask for a critique Behance offers regular reviews to help improve your portfolio Considering your target visitor and what they’ll be looking for will get you a long way. But sometimes there will just be things you won’t think of. So it’s always worth getting another designer to critique your portfolio. That can be pretty scary, of course; nobody likes to hear criticism of their work. But let’s face it, if you don’t nip problems in the bud, people will be saying far nastier things about your work in private. And while you won’t hear that, you will experience the deafening silence of indifference. When it comes to getting a critique, you have the choice of going the formal route, by taking advantage of Behance Portfolio Reviews or similar sessions held at numerous design conferences. Or you could just ask a friend or colleague, in a more informal setting. Either way, the important thing is to explain carefully what you want your portfolio to achieve. That way the person critiquing it can analyse how well it’s performing that function, rather than just saying they like or dislike it, which is much less helpful. 05. Edit ruthlessly Victoria Spicer’s homepage is stripped back, but still makes it easy to find what you’re looking for Just as with any design work you do, your portfolio needs to be ruthlessly edited to ensure that all but the bare essential elements are included. If there’s anything that could be removed, remove it. Employers and clients won’t take kindly to having their time wasted, so prune, prune and prune some more. That doesn’t mean your site has to be minimalist, but if there’s anything unnecessary, whether that be waffly text, too many images or general graphic clutter, you need to lose it... or you’ll lose everyone’s attention. Example: Set designer Victoria Spicer’s homepage shows how little you need on your homepage while still allowing people to find what they’re looking for. 06. Be honest The point of a portfolio is to sell yourself, so the temptation is to use stereotypical sales techniques, one of which is being ‘economical with the truth’. Anonymous websites make it easy to look like you’ve had more career success than you really have, in all sorts of ways. But ultimately, that kind of approach can be counter-productive. The design industry is, after all, a small and close-knit one, and it’ll quickly become clear if you’re stretching the truth. It’s far better, in fact, to be brutally honest. If you haven’t had a lot of client work, for example, then just say so and present your personal projects as a sign that you’re keen to get on. If you didn’t have a big role in a team project, then just say what you did do, and express your enthusiasm for doing more in future. Remember how at school, if you got a maths problem wrong but you showed the right working, you still got most of the marks? It’s a similar thing with employers: it’s not just about how well the project turned out, but what you put into it. “We always like to see evidence of lateral thinking and concepts,” explains Beard. “Ideas are the most valued currency. So if there is a project that illustrates great scope, but little creativity, then share it and explain the context. "Just in the same way as an awesome idea that didn’t get any traction with the client should be shared. If you didn’t like the outcome, show us what you wanted it to be. Just be passionate about what you do, and clear about why you do it.” Sean Murphy, creative director at Moving Brands, takes a similar view. “Especially with more junior designers, we’re looking at potential,” he says. “There can be a real raw spark of something there that’s really exciting, that you know would be hard to teach, essentially. The rest you can refine. There are a lot of skills you can learn but there are some that are really difficult to teach.” Example: Andrej Cibik lists the things that he’s bad at on his About Me page. But rather than making him look weak, it’s a sign of his strength and confidence as a designer. Related articles: 10 tips for a killer design portfolio 5 ways to get more freelance work The best laptops for graphic design View the full article

Oracle released fixes for a handful of recently patched Apache Struts 2 vulnerabilities late last week. View the full article

Researcher Patrick Wardle has discovered a critical vulnerability that allows an attacker to dump passwords in plaintext from the macOS Keychain. The vulnerability is in macOS High Sierra, Sierra and El Capitan, and has yet to be patched. View the full article