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Sketching a five-minute pose is a lot of fun because it offers just enough time to capture a strong sense of the pose, but not enough time to overwork (or overthink) the drawing. Keeping things simple and being economical is a recurring theme throughout the five-minute process. The main thing to remember for a successful quick pose is to keep the gist of the subject, so we'll build it up bit by bit, adding tone right at the end. Let's get started! 01. Construct the torso Use simple forms to sketch out the torsoOnce the gesture is established, separate the torso into rib cage, abdomen and hips. Then, indicate the openings for the limbs. Next, group the muscles using simple forms. Finally, suggest planes to give the torso structure. 02. Define the limbs Cross-sections and ovals add form to your limbsStart the limbs as long, tapering rectangular shapes that flow from the torso down to the fingers or toes. Next, add cross-sections to indicate their position and direction of movement. Finally, use simple ovals to add muscles and indicate kneecaps and elbows. 03. Simplify the anatomy Group the upper-back muscles into simple formsStarting with the torso, group the upper-back muscles (which surround the shoulder) into simple forms. Where visible, emphasise hip bones, knees and elbows. Finally, emphasise the parts where muscles overlap, as this creates the illusion of more detail and brings the drawing to life. 04. Begin the head Get the head's tilt and rotation rightFor quick head sketches, begin with the gesture and outer shape, making sure the tilt and rotation is correct. Next, add the major planes, such as the side of the head and brow. Finally, add in the features and define the neck muscles. 05. Sketch the hands Start hands off as a simple shape, then refine themHands can be complex, so start with either a box or oval shape, depending on how the fingers are arranged. Next, refine the shape, but keep the fingers grouped. To finish, separate the forefinger and thumb, or any finger necessary to make the hand come to life. 06. Sketch the feet Again, simplify the feet and build up shapeThe feet are fairly easily to simplify since the toes are short and clustered together. Start with a triangle shape to capture the gesture, making sure to emphasise the contact point. Next, refine the ankle and shape of the grouped toes. Finally, separate the big toe, or any other toes as needed. 07. Exaggerate overlaps in side view poses Limbs are great for creating overlapsIn a side view, much of the figure is hidden. To make the drawing work, emphasise and exaggerate overlaps. When available, the limbs are also great tools for creating overlaps at the torso. For more depth, exaggerate the top layers of anatomy, such as the shoulder muscles and hip bones. 08. Use overlaps in foreshortened poses Emphasise overlaps for foreshortened posesSimilar to a side view, emphasise overlaps for foreshortened poses. If the torso is moving away, emphasise the overlap of the hips and abdomen. If the torso is coming toward you, use the rib cage and anatomy to create overlaps. If visible, the limbs drawn with good cross-sections can also create depth. 09. Focus on contact points in reclining poses Make reclining poses look natural by emphasising contact pointsFor reclining and seated poses, you can exaggerate the anatomy that makes contact with the surface. When visible, emphasise the hands making contact by adding more detail at the fingers and wrist. 10. Add tone Smart toning will bring your figure drawing to lifeIf the lighting is good, finish your sketch with tone. One way to do this is by blocking in the shadow and filling in the shape with a suitable tone. This article originally appeared in Paint & Draw issue 6; buy it here! Related articles: Drawing techniques: 7 fundamentals of pencil drawing How to draw a bear Get better at figure drawing View the full article

Storyboarding can help you to solve a multitude of problems. It's a great method that enables Studio AKA – and many other creatives – to work with stories that lack clarity and structure, or concepts that need upending in order to work. If you need to tell stories for any kind of commercial work, try storyboarding by following these tips. 01. Get your story ideas onto paper Starting a storyboard is never easy – all those blank panels! The solution is not to work on one neat sheet of paper. Use small Post-It notes and scribble loads of quick, rough thumbnail ideas. Get all the ideas out of your head in any order you like. Don't feel that you have to just start at the beginning and work forwards. 02. Cut and shuffle ideas into storyboard panels Storyboard panels from The Girl & the Cloud, produced by Studio AKA and Red KnucklesWhen you have a bunch of images that are making sense, re-sequence them and discard as many as possible. Move it all about until it feels coherent and in balance. You can do all this with stick figures, then replace everything with your character drawings once you know what you are doing, working back into the gaps any visual embellishments that reinforce the story. 03. Don't linger on the opening sequence One of the most common mistakes with storyboards is creating opening sequences that drag on, eating up panels with establishing shots. Your aim should be to establish a crisp, clear cadence from the outset. You can always turn that single opening panel drawing into a three-minute tracking shot at a later stage. 04. Keep things flexible The final shot of The Girl & the Cloud, art directed by Amandine PecharmanTry not to lock yourself down at the outset. Some animation directors write in sketches, while others sketch in writing. The storyboarding can start as rough cut and paste, with working boards brought to completion by a process of distillation. Everything should remain open to question up until it's decision time. 05. Embrace random ideas Don't get bogged down in process when it comes to inspiration. If you purge yourself of every single random idea you can, at some point the good stuff will make itself known to you and find its place in the storyboard. Then sleep on it and reconsider it all the next day. 06. Explore character narratives Part of a storyboard done by Mélanie Ballairgé at Pictoplasma Academy 2014Working with sequential or character narratives can be challenging. Try a few exercises to help, such as working through four-, nine-, 12- and 24-panel storyboards, each structured around different character narratives or rules. 07. Make every frame count Creating storyboards within restricted panel allowances pushes an artist to make every frame count. When every drawing must justify its inclusion, being able to distil a story into a small number of key frames is liberating. That refined 'spine' can then be elaborated into a more complex narrative. Set yourself challenges or ask someone else to set you a challenge to see where you end up. Mélanie Ballairgé's Emerged developed from her initial storyboard08. Define your characters An exercise by Andrea López and Gabriela Rodriguez at Pictoplasma Academy 2016To tell any story, you need to understand your character. One way to do this is to ask the basic questions a scriptwriter always asks, such as: Who is your character? What do they want? What do they do to get what they want? What do they achieve in the end? You might also try defining this in another nine- or 12-panel board as the act of visualising those answers really forces you to examine your character. 09. Think beyond what's on the page The surface of a character is described in line or shape on the page, but what really lies within the drawing is given focus by our willingness to engage with what that character can emote and convey. Story, design and biography all influence how a character rises beyond mere mark-making and becomes real to us. 10. Embrace feedback An early storyboard for The Girl & The CloudIt is always easier to know what is amiss with other people's work than your own, and sometimes giving feedback to others can help you think about your own project in a new way. Vice versa, ask others to give you feedback and try to take criticism in a constructive manner, thinking about how you can channel these comments into your character and story to make it better. Even if you don't agree with their suggestions, it's still a good idea to try them out – you might be surprised at the outcome! This article originally appeared in Computer Arts issue 265. Buy it here! Related articles: Create storyboards for web animations How to get started with animation Illustrators will love this storyboard notebook View the full article

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Thanks to its powerful painting tools and workflow features, Corel Painter has become one of the key players on the digital art scene. Part of its appeal is that the software's passionate user base actively feeds into the development of the program. Today's launch of Painter 2018 is no exception, with the digital art studio revealing a range of amazing new and enhanced tools that bridge the gap between traditional and digital art. Aimed at everyone from concept artists to illustrators, as well as fine artists and photo artists, Painter 18 promises to be a vital asset to creators of all levels. Thick Paint tool The headline feature of Corel Painter 2018 is the new Thick Paint tool. Building on the software's already famous collection of painting tools and brushes, Thick Paint pushes the envelope by accurately mimicking the look and feel of viscous paint. The result is a tool that allows you to build up large volumes of paint that behave just like the real thing. Create true to life paint layers with Thick PaintThanks to a range of brushes and palette knives that accompany Thick Paint, you can blend, build up, push, pull and scrape the paint just like you would on a canvas. The pressure of the stylus accurately imitates your tool of choice and allows you to create ridges of paint that pop thanks to shadows in the canyons of the stroke. Elements of 3D functionality are one of the stand-out updates to Painter. While it doesn't deliver a total 3D modelling experience, the software does give you the opportunity to play around with shadow strength and ambient lighting to create a sense of depth in the brushstrokes. Combine this with adjustable paper texture and an array of realistic painting opportunities have just become available to digital artists. Thick Texture Brushes Craggy terrain will benefit from the Thick Texture BrushesTexture Painting has long been a popular tool on Corel's Painter as it gives you the chance to create work that looks like it's leaping off the screen. As part of the latest update, Painter 2018 has taken this tool to a whole new level. With the new 2.5 Thick Texture brushes, you can now apply strokes that look tactile and loaded with depth. This is perfect for creating surfaces that rely on depth to communicate their texture in a way that's true to life. And thanks to adjustable directional lighting, you can amplify textural depth to your heart's desire. Natural-Media brush library This artwork by Deborah Kolesar showcases the power of the Natural-Media brush libraryOne of the biggest ways Painter 2018 will help you transition from creating traditional to digital art is through the new Natural-Media brush library. This library delivers digital brush effects that reproduce everything from pencils and pastels, to oils and pastels, plus a whole lot more. Chances are, if you've got a traditional tool in mind, you'll be able to find a digital equivalent in this library. Selection Brush tools As well as improving how artwork looks, Painter 2018 also upgrades how you work. Thanks to the Selection Brush tools, you can save time by creating a selection just as easily and precisely as applying a brushstroke. By displaying a colour overlay as you lay down a stroke, you can easily distinguish between selected and protected areas. Texture Synthesis The Cloning workflow has been updated in Corel Painter 2018By capturing and synthesising selected areas of a textured piece of artwork, the Texture Synthesis tool gives you the opportunity to reproduce the elements on a larger scale. By randomising the properties of the texture, you can then paint with a brush that is loaded with the same settings. Rounding off the update to Painter are a set of enhancements to pre-existing tools. These include improvements to the Drip and Liquid Brush technologies, plus an upgrade to the Cloning workflow. Corel Painter 2018 is available to new users for £359.99, or as an upgrade for £179.99. For full details of all of the tools and ways to buy, be sure to head over to the Corel Painter 2018 homepage. Now check out these articles: Create portrait art in Corel Painter Are movie posters in a design crisis? 7 best new illustration tools of 2017 so far View the full article

You know the work you do is great, but it's just not getting the attention it deserves. Help get more eyes on your work with a lifetime subscription to Webtexttool's Personal Plus Plan. It's on sale now for just $49 (approx £39). Search engine optimisation (SEO) a necessity for any website, but you can get the effect of perfect SEO with the help of Webtexttool. This powerful tool analyses user data to generate live SEO optimisation tips that will appear as you work. Companies who use Webtexttool raise their Google ranking by an average of 300 per cent and get double the on-page time from visitors. A lifetime subscription to Webtexttool usually retails for $986, but you can score it on sale for just $49 (approx £39). That's a saving of 95% off the retail price for a tool that can help get your business off the ground, so grab it on sale today! View the full article

CodePen and frontend development have become synonymous with each other. As an early user and early hire at CodePen, I had the benefit of learning and growing with the platform as it went from online editor and web playground to a lively community for testing and showcasing HTML, CSS and JavaScript code snippets – which is only set to expand with the addition of CodePen Projects. CodePen is a Swiss Army Knife for frontend developers, offering inspiration, a clean environment to experiment in and more. Everyone has a different approach to development, and there are a few key CodePen features that sometimes go unnoticed and could use a shout out. Here are eight features that you may have overlooked: 01. Preprocessors CodePen can be used in combination with a number of CSS preprocessorsCodePen is a great place to build small components in isolation, without having to set up a development environment. You can design and experiment with a small piece, and when you’re happy, bring it into your larger application. What might not be immediately obvious is that to make isolated development much easier and quicker for everyone, CodePen gives you instant access to a lot of great preprocessors. There are four different HTML preprocessors you can use while creating and editing Pens: Markdown, HAML, Slim and Jade. These can be useful in writing more terse code; or perhaps you are working on projects in these languages and want to keep your examples consistent. Users also have access to JavaScript preprocessors (CoffeeScript, LiveScript, TypeScript and Babel), as well as CSS preprocessors (Less, Sass and SCSS, Stylus and the newer PostCSS). These can be invaluable in helping you get going quickly, but are also a great resource if you’re looking to learn a new language. The ‘View compiled’ option enables you to write with a preprocessor and then see how it translates out once it has been preprocessed. 02. Embed features When it comes to including code in your blog posts, articles and presentations, CodePen embeds are incredibly versatile, and have a few special features. All embeds have a theme that controls the style of the CodePen header, tabs and other details. There are two built-in themes: light and dark. Every CodePen member also gets a customisable personal theme, which you can edit to match your blog’s theme or your heart’s desire. The special thing here is that if you change your theme, CodePen will retroactively update all your previous embeds. So there’s no need to go back to edit each post individually. If you’re a Pro member, you can unlock a few extra features in the world of embeds. Firstly, you have unlimited themes, so you can choose something special for your blog, something different for your slides, and something different again for one-off posts. You can also add your own custom CSS to the entire embed, altering the text styles, fonts and literally anything else. Secondly, Pro users can make their embeds editable. At every conference you head to (or watch online), you’ll end up seeing a few embedded Pens within slides. They’re a great way to showcase your code, as well as its resulting markup and styles. You can show something off while still allowing the code to be tweaked and tuned. Editable embeds are also great for interactive blog posts and tutorials – the author can embed a Pen on the page, and visitors will be able to edit and explore the code and see their changes take effect in real time. Finally, if you’re really going for full customisation, the CodePen iframe has a custom PostMessage API you can use to change the tabs dynamically. First, we get the iframe instance and send it the tabs we want to appear: The above message would set the active tabs on the embed to a split view showing the CSS alongside its result. This feature, combined with a custom theme, enables you to create your own interface and layout through which others can interact with your Pen. In this live example, a Pen cycles through its code to show each tab over time. 03. Live view and live sync Live View is a full-page view of your Pen that updates in real time, as you edit the code. It’s just like the preview in the editor, except that this URL can be open in another window or tab, in a different browser, or even on a completely different computer or device. This means, for instance, that you can use Live View to test your code in Firefox, Safari, Chrome, and on your phone all at once. There’s literally no limit to how many different browsers you can use. As an added perk, events are also synced across these views, so when you scroll on one screen, they will all scroll with you. When you click a checkbox on one, it will be checked on all the screens. It really does make cross-device and cross-browser testing a breeze. And to make things even easier, CodePen also offers a feature that allows you to text yourself the current live URL, so there’s really no excuse not to get testing! 04. The Pattern Library This resource collects Pens to suit a whole range of needs and requirements – if you’re looking for inspiration, head hereAs CodePen has grown, we’ve been able to see so many Pens and collections built out by the world. When you have so much code coming in, it’s hard not to see a few patterns emerging, as well as people solving similar problems in different creative ways. So if you’re in the mood for a little inspiration, or need some ideas to kick off a new project, the CodePen Pattern Library is where you should head! The Pattern Library is an incredible resource filled with hundreds of Pens, all sorted according to specific needs. Looking to add a rating system to your site? There’s a pattern collection for that. Researching different breadcrumb patterns? There’s a collection for that. Submissions for the library are open to the public, so if you’ve made something fun or fitting, you’ll be a shoo-in! In a similar vein, there are some great user-made pens that acts as a live demonstration of a certain JavaScript or CSS feature. I find these incredibly informative and useful as resources: Flexbox Playground: This playground Pen by Gabi Siquès demonstrates interactively how each Flexbox property behaves, making it easy to find the specific properties you’re looking for Easing Playground: This Pen by Craig Roblewsky lets you edit and customise GreenSock easings in real time, so you can get those interactions silky smooth Loaders and Spinners: This collection supports over 500 unique loaders and spinners. If you’re ever in a rut, this will be the single point of contact that can take you out of it! 05. Pens as resources Although CodePen was initially built to show smaller, more isolated code demos, it became apparent that some users wanted a little more structure and obfuscation. The solution was to make it possible to use Pens as resources for other Pens. In its most basic form, this is done by exposing the raw, compiled JavaScript and CSS from each Pen. This way, you can build out a really large project structure with individual components. You can do this for any Pen: so for codepen.io/team/codepen/pen/EVdVpQ you would add the suffix .js to view the JavaScript, or .css to view the CSS. You can link up CSS or JavaScript from one Pen and use it in another to form a ‘dependency’ in the looser sense of the word. However, if you use a preprocessor, it is possible to create a ‘real’ dependency. So if you define a set of variables and mixins for one Pen and link it up to another Pen as an external resource, you’ll be able to use those same variables and mixins in the second Pen, where they would otherwise fail or error. 06. CodePen TV CodePen TV dispays a slideshow of random animated Pens – just sit back and enjoyBorn on a random hack day in 2015, CodePen TV demos Pen collections in an endless loop on a full screen. So if you’re presenting at a conference, this would be a great way to show off what people are making on the big screen in the background. There’s also a little Mac screensaver you can use to display all of your favourite Pens on your idle screens. This works really well with more visual CSS and Canvas Pens. 07. Prefill API With the Prefill API, you can offer links and demos in your documentation without having to code anythingOne of the most powerful and useful features of CodePen is its Prefill API, which enables you to add links and demos to your documentation and demo pages without having to actually code anything in CodePen. This feature has led to CodePen becoming a large part of the Mozilla Developer Network, as well as a number of other great resources. It works by passing specific parameters to a defined URL. To prefill a Pen with the code and options you choose, you can POST to codepen.io/pen/define/ with data, where the value of data is JSON containing all the bits you want prefilled. For example, here is a simple Hello World: When you submit this form, you will be taken to the CodePen editor, with the title and HTML of the Pen filled in as per the defined data. It doesn’t stop here, either. You can define almost all Pen settings from this API, to offer up complete custom editors, with preprocessors included. You can read more about the Prefill API here. 08. CodePen Templates When you’re saving a Pen, you also have the option to save it out as a template. The template feature lets you create and save a default set of code and settings for Pens, like a reusable starter kit. Maybe you like to use Markdown and Sass, and have jQuery available – you could make a template for that. Or maybe sometimes you use Jade, Sass and a responsive meta tag in the . You could make a template for that, too. But templates aren’t just settings, they are the actual code in the HTML, CSS and JavaScript editors as well. Anything you write in the editor panels will be included in your template. These are incredibly useful when you’re working with a company JavaScript library or setup, and want to get a project up and running quickly. These templates are also increasingly being used in specific library setups as well: having react, react-dom and a basic component scaffold rigged up and ready to go in just one click really saves a lot of time! This article originally appeared in net magazine issue 283 – subscribe here. Related articles: 20 JavaScript tools to blow your mind A beginner's guide to designing interface animations 10 golden rules for responsive SVGs View the full article

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Learn everything about running your own design and content sprints at Generate London on 20 September. Right now is an exciting time for design. Huge names like Twitter and Facebook have wholeheartedly embraced it into their culture, and business leaders are starting to see the true impact design can have. One of the companies at the root of this change is GV – recently rebranded from Google Ventures – a company dedicated to providing venture capital to startups. When Braden Kowitz became the team's first designer in 2010, rumours of this change were already afoot. "It was a time when CEOs had been hearing that design was important, but they didn't quite know what that meant," he recalls. "Many of them didn't have any designers on staff." Braden Kowitz: "We're creating many big tech companies that have design in their DNA."Kowitz had been working as a user experience designer at Google, developing products like Gmail and Google Apps, but the opportunity to work with businesses at the start of their journey caught his imagination. "At that stage, design can have a big impact on what the company does and what the company is," he says. He explains that although design is now very prominent in tech giants like Google and Facebook, that shift has taken place very gradually, over the past 10 years. "I'm interested in getting into companies when they are three people, or when they're 10 people. And hopefully those companies will grow up to be at the same scale. We're creating many big tech companies that have design in their DNA." Developing new habits from sprints In the early days at GV, Kowitz would cycle around to the different startups in San Francisco, dedicating a month or so to each, helping them solve problems and guiding them towards a design-led approach. In time, though, it became clear that effecting a real change was no easy task. Kowitz recalls how company founders would ask him how they could embrace design in their business, and he would go in and explain the basic design process and the team they would need. They would nod and agree with everything he said, but very rarely would there be any change in the organisation afterwards. He points out that while altering your habits as an individual is hard, altering the habits of an organisation is much harder. The solution, although it would take a while to fully mature, was to develop a process that any company could follow: the five-day design sprint. The methodology lays out a way for companies to solve any design problem within the course of one working week, and has been making waves in the web industry. It goes something like this: discuss the problem at hand on Monday, sketch your solutions on Tuesday, pick your favourite on Wednesday, prototype it on Thursday, test it with users on Friday, and be out of the office in time for end-of-the-week drinks. Steve Fisher will be hosting a full-day workshop on design and content sprints at Generate London. There are only limited tickets available, so book yours now! It's explored in detail in Sprint, the book Kowitz co-authored with fellow GV design partners Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky. "We decided to show people a very good design process and get them hooked on it. That's part of what a sprint is," Kowitz explains. "When we work with teams, we force them through the process in a very condensed period, so they can see all the way from ideation through to prototyping and testing. Often companies will come back and say things like, 'Wow, you saved us three months of effort.'" This leaves companies more open to embracing other changes, because they have seen firsthand the impact design can have. The sprint process is also a practical solution to the GV design team's burgeoning day-to-day responsibilities. GV now has over 320 companies on its books, and with only five designers on the team, it's clear those days of breezily cycling between startups for a month at a time are gone. With the sprint, GV has an efficient way to teach companies the entire design process. "Sometimes I think of it as being like a recipe," muses Kowitz. "There are thousands of ways to make a cake and there are thousands of ways to practise design. But if you're just getting started in the kitchen, or if you're just getting started with design, sometimes you just need a recipe. "It may not be the only way you do it or the best way to do it in this instance, but it'll get you started. And by doing it you'll understand more about what design thinking is and what the design process is, and the value behind prototyping and talking to customers." How design sprints help clients One project that benefited from the approach was Blue Bottle Coffee, a startup coffee roaster that has since gone international. When Kowitz visited the company, it was looking at moving into delivering coffee via the post and via its website. After one week together, GV and Blue Bottle Coffee had created prototypes and tested them with customers. The feedback from the user tests had led them to a novel solution. "Most people sell coffee by region. You'll go into the store and they'll go, 'Here's some Kenyan coffee; here's some Colombian coffee.' And it turns out very few people know what those would taste like," smiles Kowitz. Instead, Blue Bottle Coffee focuses on how the potential customer brews their coffee at home. Different roasting styles and types of coffee are more suited to particular brewing methods: in a coffee maker or in an espresso machine, for example. "By asking a simple question that people know how to answer, we can very quickly pare down the coffees available to ones that are more likely to be great-tasting for them, and make them feel more confident in their choice," Kowitz points out. "So many people in organisations are creative... great ideas come from all sorts of places."In order to really get to the nub of the problem, and in line with sprint guidelines, GV assembled everyone from the CEO to the director of operations for the process. That might seem like overkill, but Kowitz resolutely believes that having a range of viewpoints feeding into the sprint is vital to reaching an effective solution quickly. The founder can provide insight into the key business aims, while the person responsible for delivering the beans to customers might understand the operations pipeline in a way that no one else could. Design sprints as a team effort Getting everyone together has also had the effect of showing that creative ideas can come from unexpected places. "Designers often think of themselves as a tribe. We call ourselves 'creatives' and we think we're the ones that are going to come up with all the good solutions," laughs Kowitz. "But time and time again I've found that so many people in organisations are creative. If you give them the time and the ability and the encouragement to sketch out ideas, great ideas come from all sorts of places." This ties in with another of Kowitz's beliefs: that design knowledge should not be solely the preserve of designers. Although people may be adamant that they're most effective when they're focusing purely on whatever they see as their job, a little crossover into other disciplines can have a huge positive impact. He draws parallels with the early days of software engineering, when there would be a team writing code, and a totally separate team responsible for testing that code. Having one team motivated by speed and another motivated by quality didn't make for a smooth workflow, nor did it lead to great products. In many organisations today, the picture looks similar. The engineering and product teams are mostly focused on speed, and the design team is tasked with making sure it's a product customers will love. "Often the only way you have to tell what's good is self-critique and community critique."Just as the software quality movement upended the software engineering process, Kowitz thinks attitudes to design are headed for a change. "We're finding that design quality does have to be everyone's job. And that means some other people in the organisation are going to have to probably spend a bit of time on design activities." To clarify, Kowitz is not suggesting everyone should be a whizz in Photoshop or that CEOs should be booking themselves on to colour theory courses. He points to user research as a particular example; for non-designers, it can be extremely valuable to watch the research process. "It turns out that if we don't understand what our customers need or what they want, all the little decisions we make along the way are not going to be as good." Critique as part of design sprints Ask Kowitz what the future of design looks like, and he'll mention a word that most designers dread: critique. "In fields where you can't measure the effectiveness of your work, often the only way you have to tell what's good is self-critique and community critique," he explains. This inward-looking process has led to a view that the design industry is just a bunch of people making beautiful things for each other. However, as design takes a more prominent role, the demands placed on designers are rising. "As design starts to move into the core of businesses, we can develop much better measures of whether design is working," says Kowitz. "We have to move away from just designing things our peers appreciate and into effectiveness. Do our designs actually work? Do they make the company better? Do they make the experience better for customers? That's very much stuff that we can measure and get better at. And I think that is where design is going." Photography: Brian Tan Steve Fisher, experience architect and founder of The Republic of Quality, will run a full-day workshop on design and content sprints at Generate London on 20 September, followed by a keynote talk on the second day of the conference. By booking a combined conference and workshop pass, you save £95. Get yours now! This article originally appeared in net magazine issue 281. Related articles: How to host a successful design sprint Steve Fisher reveals how to run design and content sprints How to design teamwork View the full article

Choosing the right typeface is a crucial part of the logo design process, but when it comes to defining the unique characteristics of a brand, it can also play a much more subtle role in shaping its personality and tone of voice. For smaller brands, this tends to be as simple as selecting an existing typeface that’s best suited for their particular needs. But the ultimate solution, for those with the time and budget to do so, is a bespoke font tweaked to perfection. Studios such as Dalton Maag, Commercial Type, Fontsmith and Hoefler & Co haver extensive experience in developing bespoke typefaces for brands, and many of their clients have honed their personality across many different platforms as a result. Read on to discover how bespoke typography has enhanced brands across five different sectors… 01. Motion-friendly type for broadcasters On-screen branding provides a particular challenge for bespoke typefaces, as motion graphics come into play alongside all manner of other uses, from billboards to corporate stationery. Brody Associates’ highly distinctive typeface for Channel 4 is a great example of the versatility required to convey personality in this field. Within the same family, it combines a functional text face (Chadwick) with a highly expressive display version (Horseferry). Channel 4 can choose between text face Chadwick and display face HorseferryHorseferry incorporates elements from Channel 4’s logo into the letterforms, with highly unconventional, striking results that can only function at large sizes, such as for advertising. Chadwick follows the same basic structure, but calms things down to help with legibility, particularly when used to communicate information on screen. The curves of the ITV logotype are echoed in its typefaceFor ITV, Fontsmith was given the task of translating the smooth, flowing curves of the broadcaster’s logotype into a whole typeface family to be used across the brand, including TV, online and on-demand applications. The resulting typeface is detailed and wide proportioned, with a subtle calligraphic feel. According to Fontsmith: “When you take a pen off the page when writing, you get the sense of a rounded ending to the stroke or line creating a subtle, modern and bouncy script tone of voice.” 02. Standout typography for packaging When it comes to brands that express themselves on packaging, on-shelf standout becomes a critical factor to consider in a typeface. And where global brands are concerned, different language support also comes into play as that packaging needs to cater to different markets. Colgate Ready was translated into a range of different scriptsAnother Fontsmith case study is Colgate, in collaboration with The Partners and Red Fuse Communications. The brief was to reflect the “emotional and tonal dimensions” of the brand through a Roman/Latin typeface in three different weights, and ‘Colgate Ready’ was the result. Colgate Ready was translated into Cyrillic, Eastern European, Devanagari and Thai, with a consistent stroke weight, x-height, cap height, width proportions and terminals. Hoefler & Co's bespoke typeface is used sparingly on Tiffany & Co's packagingAt the other end of the scale, in the luxury market, Tiffany & Co’s unique typeface, created by Hoefler & Co, is used sparingly on the jeweller’s minimalist packaging, making those iconic duck-egg-blue boxes even more desirable. 03. Flexible typography for retail Another fascinating application of bespoke type is in the retail space, where applications range from signage and wayfinding, to point-of-sale displays, to own-brand packaging. Dalton Maag was commissioned to create a bespoke font for Lush, translating the boutique cosmetics brand’s distinctive chalkboard-style handwritten signage into a more neutral and contemporary typeface. “Every letter had two alternate versions, while the most-used letters had three alternates,” explains designer Riccardo de Franceschi. “On top of these we created ligatures, and selected them according to not only frequency of use, but also the way the Lush handwriters write.” For Lush's typeface, each character needed two or three alternative versionsLush’s typeface helps develop its boutique, artisan brand voice, but larger stores need to tread a finer line between personality and functionality – such as Fontsmith’s bespoke typeface for Sainsbury’s, which uses the foundry’s own FS Lola as a starting point. “The new font needed to successfully stretch across a wide range of channels including above the line marketing, online, publications, packaging, in-store services, in-store navigation and in-store pricing,” reveals the agency. “It had to work from 400pt, all the way down to 6pt.” Sainsbury's' font needed to stretch across a wide range of usesFS Lola’s distinctive slab serifs were softened, while regularly used brand words – particularly those that featured in wayfinding and signage – were adjusted on a case by case basis to improve legibility while conveying the supermarket’s personality. 04. Scalable typography for mobile When it comes to mobile use, the need for functionality and legibility at tiny sizes on small screens can all too easily overwhelm brand personality. But it’s not impossible. For Nokia, Dalton Maag faced a massive, multi-platform, multi-language projectBespoke type projects don’t get much more in-depth than Dalton Maag’s breakthrough project for global giant Nokia, which saw the agency expand massively to handle the demands of the multi-platform, multi-language project – including Hebrew, Arabic, Thai, Greek and Russian. “This was all about going back to Finnish design roots – clean, simple, pure – and functionality was the primary objective,” explains Bruno Maag. “There was a big discussion about whether the brand fonts should have more personality or not. While the UI fonts need to be functional and readable, the display fonts have to do something else for their job.” Fontsmith created this bespoke semi-slab serif typeface for Movistar Fontsmith collaborated with Interbrand on a bespoke semi-slab serif typeface for Movistar, Telefónica’s Spanish and Latin American mobile operator. According to the agency: “We needed to be mindful that the slab wasn’t too static, that it had rhythm, progression, an approachable nature, and was authentic.” 05. Apt typography for editorial One of the most varied uses for a bespoke typeface is in a newspaper or magazine, purely because there are so many sizes, weights and styles involved in different capacities. Commercial Type designed this multi-weight typeface for The Guardian in 2005A particularly high-profile example of this is Commercial Type’s multi-weight typeface for The Guardian, which coincided with the newspaper's transition to the Berliner format in 2005. It has served the newspaper well ever since, although the recent announcement that it’ll shrink to tabloid size in 2018 may prompt another refresh. The extensive family incorporates several interrelated families: an Egyptian for headlines; a Text Egyptian; four different widths of Sans for headlines; and finally an Agate Sans. Between them, they can handle everything from hard-hitting headlines to tiny financial listings. Wired is synonymous with innovative typographyOne magazine that's synonymous with innovative use of type is Condé Nast’s Wired – and again, Hoefler & Co rose to the challenge with Forza, an adaptable sans serif based on a rounded rectangle structure that, like Guardian Collection, is available commercially. “Wired commissioned us to design a square sans as its editorial workhorse – one that could handle everything from philosophical essays to down-to-earth service pieces,” reports Hoefler & Co. “Forza’s sophisticated visual vocabulary makes it alert and engaging, and its broad palette of weights ensures it can meet the needs of the most demanding designer.” Related articles: 7 examples of 2017's biggest logo design trend so far 10 great uses of typography in portfolios 50 best free fonts for designers View the full article

http://thehackernews.com/2017/06/russia-telegram-data-law.html … View the full article

Google Project Zero’s Tavis Ormandy found another remote code execution vulnerability in the Microsoft Malware Protection Engine, the third since early May. View the full article

http://www.zdnet.com/article/self-driving-car-owners-could-become-the-traffic-elite-through-hyperlane/ … View the full article

If you want people to notice your site you'll have to get down and dirty with a bit of SEOSo, you've found one of the best WordPress themes and built yourself an amazing design portfolio website using the latest responsive web design tricks, but unless people actually see it then you'll have wasted your time. This means that you're going to have to use a bit of SEO. Don't worry, though; it's not as hard as you might think. Follow these simple tips and you'll be well on the way towards increasing your Google ranking, making your site more visible and ensuring that potential clients can find it easily. 01. Share your content Use your content as an asset to attract traffic and links from other sites. There are plenty of graphic design blogs where you can showcase your design work – from It's Nice That to Creative Boom to this very site. You can start with a simple search like 'submit graphic design work' in Google, to find sites to submit your best content. 02. Categorise your content French designer and art director Leslie David lists her main areas of work down the left of her site Think of your website as a library where content is stored in relevant categories to make it easier to find. Identify themes in your designs that tie them together, whether it's the medium, subject matter, colours or even the attitude of the piece, and use those themes as categories on your site. Aggregating the content in these categories will both make the site more navigable. It also has the bonus of making your site appear an authority on the subject matter. 03. Welcome critique Getting user-generated content onto your site (moderated of course) can be a huge plus, especially if you use special code called Schema Markup to make those comments serve as reviews of your content. You can even get review stars in Google's search results, but to earn those stars, you have to open up your site by allowing comments and reviews. 04. Be unique Every page on your site needs to have a unique title, description, URL and content. While this is a bit technical, it's important for Google to be able to determine what your page is about and know that it is worth including in its index of pages. 05. Get help If you're serious about SEO, you may need to enlist a professional to help When you have a specific question, find one of the many helpful communities on the web to help you get answers. There is the Moz Community, Google Product forums, and many others that can give you specific answers to SEO questions, especially as a beginner. As things get tougher, though, you might need to get professional help. Take a look at the Moz Recommended list to find a reputable firm to help. 06. Hurry up Google has made it clear that fast sites rank better. There are tons of techniques you can employ to speed up your site, but chances are the first step on an image-heavy site will be compression. Spend some time in your favourite image editor's compression tools, like Photoshop's Save for Web and Devices, to find an appropriate balance between quality and size. Both Google and your users will thank you. To go further, check out our article on how to optimise images for better performance. 07. Know the guidelines Google publishes a set of webmaster guidelines to help you avoid penalties. Most of these guidelines are pretty straightforward, but if you have any questions, consult a professional. Getting penalised, or worse banned, in Google can keep you from ranking for months or years. This article originally appeared in Computer Arts issue 253. Buy it here. Related articles: 50 brilliant design portfolios to inspire you 7 expert tips for nailing web performance How to start a blog: 10 pro tips View the full article

The summer is in full swing now, and chances are you’ll want to spend some time away from your desk. In this month's lineup we offer a few suggestions that will help you keep productive on the go. We'll also cover some new hardware options you'll want to see on your desk when you return. And we'll round things out by sharing some books and magazines that all creatives should know about. Use the arrow icons to explore this month's list of top tools. Related articles: What creative pros want from the next Illustrator CC release 21 Illustrator shortcuts to speed up your workflow How to shine at your degree show View the full article

We’ve already brought you our favourite graduates from two corners of the UK: Edinburgh and Falmouth. Now discover the rest of our picks of the very best graphic design, illustration and animation graduates outside of London. Whether you’re looking for new creative talent for your studio or collaborative opportunities, the talented graduates here boast exceptional final year projects that excel in both concept and execution – and are worth keeping an eye on. And don't forget to head over to D&AD New Blood at London’s Old Truman Brewery, Shoreditch, from 5-6 July to get a closer look at the work from the class of 2017 and meet the graduates in person. How to shine at your degree showWant to search by university instead of scrolling through? Just hit the drop-down menu below to skip to: Manchester School of Art, Arts University Bournemouth, Glasgow School of Art, Sheffield Institute of Arts or Leeds College of Art. First up, Plymouth College of Art... Jake Williams University: Plymouth College of Art Course: BA (Hons) Illustration Project: Resilient Reptiles Plymouth-based illustrator, designer and occasional animator Jake Williams produced a fully illustrated 26-page non-fiction children’s book for his final major piece. Focusing on the unique ways that reptiles of the world have adapted to survive, the publication showcases Williams’ shape-based vector style and considered use of bold, vibrant colours. “This was a challenging project because I’d never created a book before, but an enjoyable one,” says Williams, who will be showing his work at New Designers 2017. “I created Resilient Reptiles alongside a range of conceptual editorial images about a range of topical and political issues. At university I spent some time at a placement with Creative Hub, working on illustrations for Cornwall Today magazine. It was great experience and has helped me to hone my style for editorial work.” Josh Fathers University: Plymouth College of Art Course: BA (Hons) Graphic Design Project: Social Fabric Cornwall-based graduate Josh Fathers created a tactile journal to document the “quirks of how people talk in the real world” for his final year project. “I live in a little seaside village and my community is very important to me. Essentially, Social Fabric is about the ways that people communicate when talking to other people is a choice and not a necessity.” As well as being part of the team that designed the ‘Breaking Through’ concept behind Plymouth College of Art’s 2017 graduate shows, Fathers is also communications director of a community interest company in Cornwall. He travelled far and wide to record anonymous conversations for the project, putting himself in situations he wouldn’t ordinarily have found himself in. “I hope that the end result is a testament to the varied skills I’ve developed during my time at the college, but also gives an idea of what community means to me.” Penny Chan University: Plymouth College of Art Course: BA (Hons) Fashion Media & Marketing Project: Girlhood Penny Chan combined her love of graphic design with her magazine-house experience to create the zine GIRLHOOD. “The concept behind the zine is ‘disrupt the system’; inspired by the punk movement and in protest against the highly polished photography and film in the fashion industry,” explains Chan, who’s currently working as a freelance fashion assistant for GQ Style, and has interned at Dazed & Confused as a junior designer. She’s helped style, plan and assist two major international Topman campaigns; worked on a Dr. Martens Spring/Summer '18 campaign and a few British GQ and GQ Style editorials; and assisted on Take That's latest UK Arena tour, helping to dress the band. “I'm currently taking time out from work at GQ Style to focus on my final major project but I'll be back in a few weeks to help style a few London Fashion Week Men's shows,” she says. Sarah Damo University: Plymouth College of Art Course: BA (Hons) Game Arts Project: Wonder Seekers Italian game artist and illustrator Sarah Damo specialises in concept art. For her final major project, she created Wonder Seekers – a game concept set in a near-future, post-apocalyptic world. The story revolves around a girl who runs a robot repair shop and travels on adventures with her best friend, a mutated parrot that has grown too big to fly. Together the pair collect materials that they use to fix robots, working to find a clean energy source that can make the planet habitable by humans again. Damo created concepts for the environments, assets and characters, including 3D models for the characters and machinery within the game. “My personal style is greatly influenced by Renaissance art – in the use of composition, colours and imagery – and impressionism, in the use of light and different types of brush stroke,” she says. “For Wonder Seekers, I combined these influences and tried to add more vibrant tonality to the colours, alongside restrictive palettes for certain environments. I hope that the end result communicates a strong story and mood with the viewer.” Damo wants to work as concept or character artist in the gaming industry, "creating adventures that people can connect with and jump into” – and she looks set to achieve her aim. “Sarah Damo’s work is truly unique,” says Martial Bugliolo, programme leader BA (Hons) Game Arts. “The way that she merges traditional and digital illustration styles with 3D and VR mark her out as somebody with a bright career in the games industry ahead of her.” Greg Johnson University: Plymouth College of Art Course: BA (Hons) Game Arts Project: Game environment and characters Greg Johnson has a background in sculpture, but has spent the last three years specialising in game arts, honing his skills in VR, digital sculpting and modelling, and becoming proficient in software including 3ds Max, ZBrush, Substance Painter and Unreal Engine 4. For his final major project, Johnson produced an environment and characters for a game in which global warming has created a permanent layer of greenhouse gas, which has wiped out most of the life on the planet. With this dystopian world crumbling into a junkyard, the machines have evolved to hunt down the remaining humans on the planet. All of the assets have been modelled and textured for an Unreal 4 Environment. Johnson drew inspiration from the work of Tim Burton and Shane Acker’s movie 9. "I used real-world objects, combining them to create my machines,” he says. “The way the machines move and are constructed takes influence from animals – for example, the way a raptor moves was used to animate a creature made from wind turbines, cranes and CCTV cameras.” “I’ve always liked MMOs, historical games, and strategy games. Total War is my favourite game series to date, and I also really enjoy League of Legends, and the Fallout series has been a big influence on me.” “The dream is to one day work for Creative Assembly as a 3D artist,” he says. “Character art and asset creation are the areas I’m most interested in.” Jessica Mehler University: Plymouth College of Art Course: BA (Hons) Animation Project: BabaY A graduate of the European Film College in Denmark, Jessica Mehler specialised in traditional 2D and 3D printed models with stop motion animation at Plymouth College of Art. Her final project animation film is based on the Slavic folktale of Baba Yaga, an old witch who lives in a house which can walk around on chicken legs. To produce this piece she created an intricate miniature set in her studio. “Adam Elliot’s film Mary and Max is one of the films that made me want to be an animator, along with Yuriy Norshteyn’s Hedgehog in the fog,” says Mehler, who represented Plymouth College of Art at the Creative Europe programme Euranim in Belgium. “I feel very inspired by comic books, particularly the work of Moebius and Enki bilal, but I am also a huge fan of Calvin and Hobbes.” Briony Difford University: Plymouth College of Art Course: BA (Hons) Illustration Project: Asian Folktales Graduate Briony Difford uses a combination of traditional ink painting and digital colouring in her illustrations, focusing on themes of the natural world. Often working with narrative-driven projects, Difford creates Japanese-inspired linework and composition, striving for detail and elegance in her illustrations. For Asian Folktales, her final major project, she depicted her chosen stories in a way that respects traditional Asian artwork, while also bringing them into a contemporary setting and to a new audience. “I wanted to capture the distinct charm that has always interested me in these folk tales,” she says. “After graduating I plan to work more in publishing, creating illustrations for magazines and books as well as making and selling my work at exhibitions and events. I always want to be open to new projects and different experiences.” Warren Curry University: Plymouth College of Art Course: BA (Hons) Illustration Projects: An Illustrator’s Guide To Surviving The Internet; and The Millennial Man Working in a range of different styles during his third year at the college, Warren Curry illustrated two graphic novels: one a non-fiction title, focusing on the pros and cons of illustrators having an online presence; the other a collaboration with writer James Trotter. 
“It was a real challenge to create a complete body of sequential artwork that did justice to a story written by a collaborator, and a great learning experience,” says Curry, who will be exhibiting his work at New Designers. “My plans for the next year are to look for in-house illustration jobs, ideally around the Bristol-Cheltenham area,” he adds. “I’m also open to agency offers or freelance work.” Next page: Our pick of the graduates from Manchester School of Art Get 5 issues of Computer Arts for £5! Computer Arts will be bringing you the cream of the 2017 graduate crop in a special new talent issue, on sale 21 July. Subscribe now to make sure you get your copy – and get five issues for just £5. 01. Tayia Dussie University: Manchester School of Art Course: BA (Hons) Illustration with Animation Project: When I'm 6 For her final year project, Tayia Dussie wrote and illustrated a children's narrative, looking at colour, shape, pattern and character to communicate fun while telling different stories. Recently, she’s been working on a dark tale, O'l Higue, based on West Indian folklore from the villain’s point of view, which was highly commended by The Macmillan Prize for illustration. “In contrast to this,” she says, “When I'm 6 is a brighter, happier tale set in a circus. It depicts a child's wonder at all they see and their desire to become what they admire.” After graduating, Dussie hopes to create commercial work and further her education. 02. Ben Grimes University: Manchester School of Art Course: BA (Hons) Graphic Design Project: MOFO “MOFO – Mock Font – is a project that explores and challenges the stereotypes associated with the Japanese aesthetic,” explains graphic design graduate Ben Grimes. An Eastern-inspired typeface, MOFO is legible as English when viewed from a different angle. “The work highlights the danger of using aesthetic references from foreign cultures in a superficial way,” he says. Grimes fell in love with the Japanese language after studying it as part of his degree. “In the Western world, we often receive a very stylised version of Eastern language and culture, with the language being exploited by fashion brands for its cool and trendy aesthetic. I wanted to protest this by manipulating the fluid forms of Japanese characters and making people think twice about what they are actually looking at.” In a year’s time, Grimes hopes to be continuing to explore the connections between language and design, and combing this with his interest in theatre and set design. 03. Lily Soltanahmadi University: Manchester School of Art Course: BA (Hons) Graphic Design Project: Assembly Graphic design graduate Lily Soltanahmadi put together concept branding for a new creative space during her final year. Tasked with turning a historic building into something beneficial to a city, she chose York’s former fire station – which is under threat of being demolished – and crafted the branding for a café bar, Assembly. “Assembly celebrates the history of the building and provides a creative atmosphere to help bring the community together,” Soltanahmadi explains. “In a year’s time I hope to be working for a branding agency.” 04. Luke Rowland University: Manchester School of Art Course: BA (Hons) Graphic Design Projects: Posters; Europa Std typeface Inspired by modern European typography, Europa Std features a larger contrast than standard sans-serif typefaces, while remaining clean and accessible. “Throughout Scandinavia and many other European countries, clean, bold typography is widely prominent within the cities,” explains Luke Rowland. “Typefaces are often very basic, but retain a style that’s intrinsic to their surroundings. Europa Std aims to explore and highlight these subtle styles and express them enough so that the typeface holds the same aesthetic value, wherever its use may be.” 05. Lauren Dugan University: Manchester School of Art Course: BA (Hons) Graphic Design Project: Love Letters to Gaia “My final year project was centred around the theory that Earth is a living, breathing organism,” explains graduate Lauren Dugan. She produced a set of powerful, large-scale monoprints depicting mankind's dismissive, passive attitude to the damage humans are doing. Dugan also created a series of letters written by 'the last human alive', lamenting the loss of the Earth’s spirit. “I spent a lot of time investigating the relationship we have with Gaia [the personification of the Earth] and finding ways to portray this as being as important as the connections we have with one another,” she says. “If my Love Letters can make at least one person more mindful about their treatment of Earth, then my work has been a success.” Next page: Our pick of the graduates from Arts University Bournemouth Perry Rowe and Steve O’Neil University: Arts University Bournemouth Course: BA (Hons) Graphic Design Project: Net identity For their final year project, graduates Perry Rowe and Steve O’Neil created a flexible identity for an innovative business idea. The concept? Just as different nets are able to define various enclosed spaces, so an experimental division of Crowne Plaza could provide different hotel experiences that could reinvigorate the brand as a whole. Emily Regan University: Arts University Bournemouth Course: BA (Hons) Visual Communication Project: Dance Type This experimental project explores the theme of collaboration through the disciplines of dance and typography, resulting in a dynamic, animated typeface. Graduate Emily Regan worked with a dancer to create a ‘dance code’, choreographing dance motifs from the breakdown of letterforms, before recreating the motifs using animated vectors and reconstructing them into final type design. “In a year's time I hope to be working in a creative agency, constantly expanding and refining my skill set as a creative designer,” says Regan. “My ideal career path is a designer at a fashion magazine or an in-house designer at a fashion brand.” Saul Kaplin University: Arts University Bournemouth Course: BA (Hons) Graphic Design Project: Searchlight At a time where film audiences might be over-saturated by Hollywood’s slick, perfect CGI, graduate Saul Kaplin’s refreshing final year project revisits and celebrates the quirky qualities of analogue stop-frame methods, suggestive of early cinema. His project – a D&AD New Blood-awarded promotional video for a MUBI advertising campaign – captures the atmosphere of this era, connecting with the movie-literate MUBI audience by using elements of its logo. Izzi Hays University: Arts University Bournemouth Course: BA (Hons) Graphic Design Project: Facebook Fortunes What better way to commemorate a long-term virtual relationship than with something tangible? Facebook Fortunes looks backwards at the memories shared, and forwards to those yet to come, through beautifully crafted and packaged fortune cookies. Using Arjowiggins paper, graduate Izzy Hays transformed Facebook into a physical entity that serves as a reminder of friendship in the offline world. “We all have people we still want to be friends with in five years’ time,” says Izzy Hays. “How can Facebook help us look towards to the future of our friendships instead of just the past and the present?” Zante Tolley University: Arts University Bournemouth Course: BA (Hons) Visual Communication Project: Tower typeface Graduate Zante Tolley’s Tower typeface takes influence from the proportions of sister brutalist buildings, Balfron and Trellick Tower, designed by Erno Goldfinger. The crossbars or terminals of the letterforms change according to the service bridge on every third floor, as shown through a slick type specimen book and type specimen posters that showcase the two weights. “The design reflects the dynamic nature of the Brutalist movement,” she explains. Sarah Wickings University: Arts University Bournemouth Course: BA (Hons) Graphic Design Project: Let’s Say What We Mean Graduate Sarah Wickings’ typography-led video campaign attempts to capture the experience of autism by overloading our visual senses while presenting a series of everyday conversational phrases. The aim is to do more than raise awareness or even money – the project seeks to encourage people to communicate more effectively with a call to action: Say what you mean. “Let’s Say What We Mean focuses on the abstract language we use in everyday scenarios and how people with autism struggle to understand it,” explains Wickings. “The aim of this video is to encourage people to consider their day-to-day language choice more clearly to make it easier for people with autism to take in.” Kieran O’Sullivan University: Arts University Bournemouth Course: BA (Hons) Visual Communication Project: The craft of Northamptonshire Kieran O’Sullivan’s ISTD-awarded final year project is an editorial piece exploring Northampton’s rich heritage in the shoe industry. Combining original imagery and archival content from the Northampton shoe museum, the book demonstrates several uses of pull outs, dynamic typography and photography to celebrate the history of the recent graduate’s hometown. "In the next year I hope to take on a number of internships," he says. "Design is so broad – I want to continue learning and expanding my knowledge." Maarit Koobasm University: Arts University Bournemouth Course: BA (Hons) Visual Communication Project: The Beat Maarit Koobasm’s project responds to the notion that typefaces are ready for change, and that future discourse should lead to non-referential type design. “How can human qualities be translated into digital textuality – something we see in handwriting and in letterpress typesetting? But, at the same time, how can we challenge typographic choices meant for print, especially the static essence of typography on screen?” asks Koobasm. Koobasm’s solution was to explore how the rhythms of the heart can interplay with type on screen. “The type is therefore neither bold nor italic, but defined by the human individual. It’s not rigidly set, but develops dynamically.” In a year’s time Koobasm intends to be continuing to develop in the field of experimental typography. “I’m also keen to secure my first internship.” Next page: Our pick of the graduates from Glasgow School of Art Lucy Watkins University: Glasgow School of Art Course: BA (Hons) Graphic Design Project: Careful Engagement 150 Careful Engagement150 is a collection of poetry and illustrations that aims to elevate the human traces hidden within the Report of the Iraq Inquiry. “Over 2.6 million words of political jargon make for an incredibly difficult read for anyone mildly interested in the workings behind the Iraq War,” she explains. Using various methods of investigation, Watkins was able to surface elements of delicate human nature from the report, and a poetic language developed. “The intention is to challenge preconceptions that the document contains little feeling or emotion, and to create an uncomfortable dichotomy between poetry and politics,” she adds. Amir Saidani University: Glasgow School of Art Course: BA (Hons) Graphic Design Project: Micronation “We live in a world in which our borders and how we exist within those borders are constantly being brought into question – Scottish Independence, Brexit, Donald Trump to name but a few,” says Amir Saidani. “In response to these hardening borders, I decided to define my own.” He wrote to Theresa May and declared independence for the Republic of Maktaal’amra, a micronation located at his desk space at GSA. “The project exists as a satirical, yet honest lens refracting current events through my perception. Through that process, I’ve added a little bit of my personality to them.” Next page: Our pick of the graduates from Sheffield Institute of Arts Jasmine Welsh University: Sheffield Institute of Arts Course: BA (Hons) Graphic Design Projects: Young People in Politics and Ballot Box Jasmine Welsh spent three months planning and producing a Question Time event that brought five politicians from the major parties face-to-face with Sheffield students. In a packed venue, Nick Clegg, Natalie Bennett, Paul Blomfield, Spencer Pitfield and David Kurten answered questions on education and immigration, and the event generated a great deal of press including an article on the event by Nick Clegg in the Evening Standard. “Young People in Politics is a campaign designed to encourage 18-24 year olds – who repeatedly have the lowest voter turnout – to make their voice heard,” says Welsh. “I also created Ballot Box, an educational board game intended as a free teaching tool for universities and colleges. It explains current political policies and can be updated with each election to help make voting more clear, combining fun with politics.” Holly Whetnall University: Sheffield Institute of Arts Course: BA (Hons) Graphic Design Project: Explore Holly Whetnall’s final year project Explore aims to encourage walkers to stick to the footpaths within the Peak District National Park and reduce the impact of erosion on the landscape. “Within my research,” says Whetnall, “I found that positive engagement has a greater effect than negative enforcement, such as ‘keep off the grass’.” To promote this positive engagement, Whetnall created a series of large letters spelling out the word ‘explore’ to be positioned along designated paths, creating places to stop and take photographs, and subconsciously drawing walkers along the preferred route. “The letters create a feature whilst also blending sensitively into the environment,” she adds. “They have a dark wooden frame and are filled with a species of moss native to the Peak District.” Seb Gardner University: Sheffield Institute of Arts Course: BA (Hons) Illustration Project: Narratives in the Everyday Narratives in the Everyday saw graduate Seb Gardner finding different ways to create a story around ordinary subjects. Taking inspiration from BBC Radio 4’s The Listening Project – which records segments of conversation between ordinary people – the project aims to make visible the “un-noticed and mundane”. For the Sheffield edition, Gardner focused on the idea of redundancy and identity to develop an animation. “Although very personal subjects are normally only held between family members and friends, being able to visualise this audio conversation brings a whole new perspective to the matter,” he says, “whilst also engaging a still wider audience.” Anna Terreros-Martin University: Sheffield Institute of Arts Course: BA (Hons) Illustration Project: Felix the Fox and the Rainy Day children’s book Graduate Anna Terreros-Martin believes it’s important for all children to have an equal opportunity to read, learn and enjoy illustrated children’s books, so she produced a tactile illustrated storyboard for blind and partially sighted children, and their families. Using a range of different fabrics to create raised images, as well as Bare Conductive Electric Paint – which, when touched, triggers sounds – the storyboard brings the story of Felix the Fox and the Rainy Day to life by prompting readers’ senses. The storyboard is also accompanied by an audio version of the story, so children can read and use the storyboard on their own. “I have developed a strong interest in children’s book illustrations and how they play an important role in childhood development,” explains Terreros-Martin, “in particular, their importance in educating children and developing a strong bond between parent and child.” Ashton Moran University: Sheffield Institute of Arts Course: BA (Hons) Graphic Design Project: By Order of the Committee By Order of the Committee is a brand and style guide that can be used to recreate the distinctive aesthetic of a Working Men’s Club. Ashton Moran used original photography and a collection of family photographs to understand the unique interiors, decoration and signage of these venues, and the shared memories they hold. “This project is important in playing a role in the documentation of this once booming industry, which has a place in so many people’s hearts,” he explains. “It would be a great shame to lose such important places that have their roots in working class culture – although sadly I feel that this will eventually be the case.” “I’d like to think that this guide will inspire someone to start up a fresh club,” he adds, “or will encourage WMCs of the present to update into the 21st century.” Oli Wallace University: Sheffield Institute of Arts Course: BA (Hons) Illustration Revolving around themes of bias, emotive language and censorship, Oli Wallace’s final year project uses editorial illustration to engage and communicate. “I wanted to navigate the reader through the different methods that media outlets use to sway or influence opinion,” he explains. “It also serves to contrast the difference in tone from an article that has been deconstructed and stripped of its leading language. The different illustrations were constructed by creating metaphorical concepts that support and further inform the reader.” Chris Winter University: Sheffield Institute of Arts Course: BA (Hons) Graphic Design Project: For the Love of Books Chris Winter's final year project celebrates the format of the book and the pleasure of print through an experimental exploration of ink and paper. Each exploration was documented and designed into a full-colour, large-scale publication, For the Love of Books, which features double-sided folded inserts with duotone images of magnified ink. “It got lots of people collaborating and needed a lot of tests, failures and research,” recalls Winter. “For one aspect, the unconventional Paper Collection, I created my own paper out of unconventional materials: the ultimate test was if it would print through an inkjet printer, which resulted in nearly breaking the printer several times.” Nikitha Pankhania and Amy Hart University: Sheffield Institute of Arts Course: BA (Hons) Graphic Design Project: The Chocolate Box Company Graduates Nikitha Pankhania and Amy Hart collaborated to create The Chocolate Box Company, which addresses a brief to create, brand and package sustainable, Fair Trade chocolate. “We wanted to make Fair Trade exciting, interesting, accessible and educational so we developed a personal experience designed to simulate curiosity and excitement,” says Pankhania, adding that the brand ethos extends care to farmers, the people who produce the packaging and those who transport goods. “The packaging communicates information about the Fair Trade producers through the use of Adinkara Symbols, which are a very important part of the farmer’s Ghanaian history and culture,” explains Hart. Next page: Our pick of the graduates from Leeds College of Art Hattie Windley University: Leeds College of Art Course: (BA Hons) Graphic Design Project: Zero Zero is a wholefoods store that aims to cut down on packaging and waste by encouraging customers to use their own reusable packaging. Charles Worrall University: Leeds College of Art Course: (BA Hons) Graphic Design This project by Charles Worrall highlights the charm of the North of England, listing many of its characteristics to communicate why fracking doesn't belong in the North. Isla Pearce University: Leeds College of Art Course: (BA Hons) Graphic Design Graduate Isla Pearce created a comparative visualisation of the chords in different songs from a range of musical genres for her final year project. Each ring represents an individual chord and its proportional use within the record. Emily Kaye University: Leeds College of Art Course: (BA Hons) Graphic Design Project: Saltaire Festival branding This contemporary, eye-catching branding was crafted for Saltaire Festival, an exciting, family friendly 10-day event hosted annually at the local heritage centre. Florence Packer University: Leeds College of Art Course: (BA Hons) Graphic Design Project: Strong and Stable Strong and Stable is a screen-printed poster series about items that are strong and stable. According to Florence Packer, the Conservative government based its recent campaign on the idea of this, whereas the poster is based on fact. Alex Robertson University: Leeds College of Art Course: (BA Hons) Graphic Design Project: Chunk On Limited Chunk On Limited is a publication that makes you want to go fishing and take along your camera. It showcases the very best of professional and amateur angler’s stories, interviews and photography, from anywhere and everywhere. Joel Sleet University: Leeds College of Art Course: (BA Hons) Graphic Design Project: Certain typeface Certain is a typeface for uncertain times. Designer Joel Sleet aimed to build trust between the communicator and reader by taking a step away from a corporate style, while still remaining visually consistent and grounded. Taime Newton University: Leeds College of Art Course: (BA Hons) Graphic Design These screenprinted montages utilise a punk aesthetic, with high contrast imagery – both found and original – juxtaposing architecture and retro figurative photography. Get 5 issues of Computer Arts for £5! Computer Arts will be bringing you the cream of the 2017 graduate crop in a special new talent issue, on sale 21 July. Subscribe now to make sure you get your copy – and get five issues for just £5. View the full article

The web you see is only possible because of programmers working behind the scenes. One of the most important tools for web development is JavaScript, and you can learn the essential language with the Full Stack JavaScript Bundle on sale now for 94% off the retail price! The Full Stack JavaScript Bundle is packed with eight in-depth courses that will help you learn learn the concepts of web development powered by JavaScript. This programming language is the backbone for the modern web and you’ll learn how to build with and use it in any project you can imagine. You’ll even learn how to other tools like MongoDB and the MEAN stack work with it so you can do even more with your skills. The Full Stack JavaScript Bundle usually retails for $719, but you can get it on sale now for just $38 (approx. £29). That’s a massive saving of 94% off for this course that will help you start your new career. View the full article

With their wealth of imaginative characters, creative creatures and magical settings, the Harry Potter books are an illustrator's dream. Artists have designed adults' covers, children's versions and deluxe illustrated editions of the books, but none of these can lay claim to being the first depictions of the boy wizard's universe. Yes, back in the 90s, author J.K. Rowling herself put pen to page, but this time to sketch rather than write. The result are a charming set of character illustrations depicting scenes from the first book in the series, Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone. Published on Pottermore, the illustrations show early versions of characters such as Hagrid and Snape, as well as providing a glimpse of how they evolved. JK Rowling illustrated landmark scenes from the first Harry Potter bookOther notable sketches include a Quidditch match complete with diagram-like arrows, and Harry's parents reflected in the Mirror of Erised. It's also interesting to see how Rowling imagined Peeves, a ghost character who was never realised on screen in the films. Regular visitors to Pottermore might already be familiar with these images as they accompany chapters detailing certain characters and events. But for the vast majority of the internet, these illustrations provide a new take on the familiar series, as well as offering an insight into the imagination of the woman behind the words. Diagram style arrows make Quidditch easy to understand Peeves finally gets realised Harry's family appear in the Mirror of ErisedRelated articles: 10 new tools for traditional artists this June How to design a book in InDesign 23 stunning book illustrations View the full article

The world of illustration is constantly changing. And while we’d never encourage you to unthinkingly follow trends, it’s good to stay alert to the direction in which the creative world is moving. So in this post, we’ll look at some of the biggest illustration trends to come our way in 2017 so far. But if you’re not an illustrator yourself, don’t worry; you can still get on board. iStock by Getty Images has a huge range of high-quality, low-cost and royalty-free illustrations, created by talented professionals, to quickly and easily download and use in your designs. We’ve featured some examples in this post: just click on the image to find it on the site. Alternatively, head here to see all the illustrations iStock by Getty Images has to offer, and use the site’s powerful search functionality to find exactly what you’re looking for. 01. Flat and minimal Vector trendy minimalistic red fox in polygonal style, by TechDesignWork. This illustration could be used, for example, as a menu icon on an animal welfare or animal rights website Flat design has been the big graphics trend of the 2010s, and illustrators have followed in its wake, creating increasingly minimal, pixel-perfect vectorised art to match. Magoz, Anna Kövecses, Sergio Membrillas, Malika Favre and Rob Bailey are amongst the illustrators creating inspiring and original work using this approach. With strong emphasis on reduction and subtraction, these kind of illustrations are able to cross language and cultural barriers to convey a subject instantly and clearly. And in a world dominated by mobile devices and high-resolution screens, the demand for flat and minimal illustration is unlikely to go away anytime soon. 02. Abstract and zen Ornate Circular Mandala Multicolored Design by Jennifer Borton. This illustration could be used, for example, as a background texture on a yoga and meditation website The world of 2016-2017 has been a chaotic one in which old certainties have been overturned and uncomfortable new realities are starting to sink in. So it’s not surprising that there’s been a trend in illustration towards more relaxing, spiritually inspired patterns and imagery. Influenced by Buddhism, Hinduism and abstract religious art in general, this kind of zen illustration acts as a philosophical comfort blanket in a rapidly changing and divided world. 03. Hand-drawn geometrics Vector seamless pattern with ink circle textures by Utro Na More. This illustration could be used, for example, as the background for a book cover design Geometric illustration has been a popular trend throughout the decade, but recently we’ve seen a move away from the clinical, digital vector approach and a softening of the style through the incorporation of hand-drawn elements. This kind of illustration combines the brain-delighting qualities of mathematically-based patterns with the spirit and beauty of physical drawing and painting, to create images that are alluring, inviting and potentially quite magical. 04. Tattoo art Blue phoenix art by Stereohype. This illustration could be used, for example, as a graphical element on a festival poster or program You may have noticed that these days, almost everyone under the age of 25 is covered in tattoos. No longer just for those who walk on the wild side, tattoos have entered the mainstream, with their designs become increasingly expressive and beautiful. Now popular tattoo styles are crossing over into the world of illustration too. Their influence can be seen in the work of creatives as diverse as Elena Gumeniuk, Daniel Mackie and Ollie Munden, while tattooists who’ve crossed over into full-blown illustration include Nomi Chi, Shawn Barber and Tim Lehi. 05. Illustrative icons Oktoberfest beer icon sign by pseudodaemon. With Oktoberfest-themed events taking place around the world, this illustration could work well as a hero image on an event-specific app Once, computer icons were just tiny, basic shapes made of just a few pixels. In recent years, however, rapidly increasing levels of resolution on even the smallest screens means there’s been in an explosion in demand for more sophisticated designs. Illustrators have followed suit, creating high resolution icons that make strong use of colour and complexity, while holding true to the fundamental purpose of an icon: to immediately convey a concept in a simple and easy-to-understand way. 06. Multiple exposure Multiple exposure of woman and trees by George Peters. This illustration could be used, for example, on a flyer for a rock band Creative disciplines have always borrowed from each other, and today’s creatives are getting more multidisciplinary than ever. Consequently, one of the latest trend we’ve spotted takes an idea from the world of photography (multiple exposures) and transfers it to the world of illustration. When done right, this collage-style approach offers a great way to evoke a combination of thoughts and feelings in the viewer, in an eye-catching, emotionally engaging way. 07. Vivid colour Colourful humming birds and rainbow by Cienpies. This illustration could be used, for example, to help illustrate a children’s book or leaflet With creatives looking to brighten up an increasingly dark and divided world in 2017, vivid colour has been everywhere. Evident in the work of Nejc Prah, Jack Sachs, Dominic Kesterton, Sebastian Curi, and others, vivid doesn’t necessarily mean primary, but it does mean in-your-face, mood brightening hues that can’t fail to grab the public’s attention. And that can be invaluable when incorporating an illustration into your design, whether that’s for print or online. Make your visuals stand out Whatever kind of creative project you’re involved in, visuals are key to its success. Our brains process images 60,000 times faster than text and so making sure your images stand out is essential. At iStock by Getty Images, you’ll find millions of authentic illustrations, and they even offer a free illustration to download each week. And the best news is, once you’ve found the perfect visual for your project, Creative Bloq readers can get a 10 per cent off discount with code CBTEN. View the full article

Chess is an already-beautiful game that can take any amount of customisation; search for custom chess sets online and you'll find a wealth of weird and wonderful designs, from ornate fantasy and sci-fi inspired sets through to gloriously minimal objets d'art. The latest look for chess comes in the form of a mobile game: Chess Gang is developed by Polish studio, Evil Empire, and it's based around street gang culture. Chess Gang takes it to the streetsSo instead of trying to outwit your opponent and capture their king, in Chess Gang your aim is to be the smartest and strongest on the street in order to defeat your opponent's kingpin and steal their cash. Like any good video game, it even has special moves, like promoting your pawns or castling to enforce your dominance. That's right – it's chess. You don't mess with the rules of chess. What we love about Chess Gang, though, is its powerful visuals, with all the pieces reimagined as gang members and rendered in cartoon sticker form. Konrad Kirpluk has designed a whole new set of chess piecesThey – and the rest of the game's street-art inspired visuals – are the work of Doncaster-based graphic designer and illustrator Konrad Kirpluk, and they're a joy to behold. You get baseball-wielding pawns, pit bulls as knights, gun-toting bishops, rooks and queens, and kings clutching bags overflowing with readies; cartoon fun rather than gritty street violence. Konrad created his striking chess pieces in Adobe Illustrator, and as an added bonus he's made a second set of characters that'll be coming to Chess Gang in a future update, in which instead of rival gangs you'll be able to play as cops versus yardies. The in-game graphics all follow the same street art styleYou can see the full set of Konrad's designs over on Behance; Chess Gang is available now on iOS and Android for a very reasonable 99p. Related articles: London skyline recreated in chess pieces The chess set carved from negative space Stunning type based chess set View the full article

You're reading Interview with Designer: Ivan Tolmachev, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! Eager to learn about the biggest UX trends in the UK and the inside secrets of the industry, I quizzed Ivan Tolmachev, a senior Product Designer at Onfleet. Onfleet is a logistics software company in San Francisco that helps delivery businesses around the world perform their last-mile operations efficiently. Before Onfleet, Ivan was at Rackspace […] View the full article

Put your best pencils and doodle art to one side – it's time to delve into the art of pastel drawing. In use by artists for centuries, pastels are an especially portable medium, enabling you to create colourful art with no need for water, brushes or palettes. But first, what exactly is a pastel? The definition isn't completely clear, and there's been some debate within art societies as to what exactly qualifies as a pastel. The Pastel Society in the UK, however, states the following media are acceptable for its exhibitions: "Pastels, including Oil pastel, Charcoal, Pencil, Conté, Sanguine, or any dry media." Note that an artwork made using pastels is also called a pastel (or a pastel drawing or pastel painting). Pastel used as a verb means to produce an artwork with pastels. And of course, none of these terms should be confused with the use of pastel as an adjective, to mean pale in colour! Pastel drawing lets you produce vibrant colour with the ease of drawing with pencilsThe pastels themselves come in the form of a stick, consisting of pure powdered pigment and a binder. The pigments used in pastels are the same as those used to produce all coloured art media, including oil paints; the binder is of a neutral hue and low saturation. Getting started with pastels Soft pastel sticks do become dusty or dirty when transporting, so carry a cloth to wipe them off before pastel drawing. It's generally easier to work on a toned surface rather than on pure white. You can buy toned paper, or tone it yourself using an acrylic or watercolour wash. To prevent over blending and smudging when pastel drawing you can use a mist of fixative on that area. Beware: if the fixative is sprayed too heavily, it dramatically dulls and darkens the vibrancy. Do some quick trial runs spraying the fixative to experiment with the light mist approach. With these foundations in place, let's get started with pastel drawing. 01. Pick your pastels Use specific pastels for different techniquesSoft pastels have a rich, buttery feel and are easy to blend. Hard pastels, including pastel pencils, are great for adding detail to pastel drawing. Oil pastels have an oil binder, are less opaque than soft pastels and don’t smudge as easily. The newest water-soluble pastels create semi-transparent washes when water is brushed over them. 02. Layering and smudging with pastels Building up pastel colours can create unique texturesPastels are blended on the art surface, rather than on a palette. A variety of colours can be achieved through layering and smudging. Start with darker colours, working up to light. Blending is done by layering the pastels with various strokes such as crosshatching, dots/pointillism or smudging with different tools, from cotton swabs or #9 brushes, to fingers. 03. Select a pastel paper Selecting the right surface texture is crucial for pastel artThe key to selecting paper for pastel drawing is to choose something that has texture or tooth. If it's too smooth, the pastels won't adhere. Check that the paper is pH-neutral. If it's not acid free, it can shift the colour and cause brittleness. Good choices are canvas, watercolour paper, pastel paper and sand board. 04. Experiment with soft and hard pastels Soft and hard pastels create drastically different texturesSoft pastels are rich and luminous in colour, provide a loose grainy texture and are easy to blend with varied surface effect, but are a little fragile. Hard pastels are a little less vibrant in colour, but more stable than soft pastels. They're great for adding detail to your drawings. 05. Test drive pencils and oils Artists like to use pastel pencils to create fine detailsPastel pencils come in a pencil 'lead' form and are easy to control. They're ideal for fine detail and rendering, and are a harder lead than soft pastels. Oil pastels contain an oil binder. They have a thick intense colour, but don’t smudge and blend like soft/hard pastels. 06. Create washes with water-soluble pastels Create a watercolour wash with water soluble pastelsWater-soluble pastels can be used just like a regular soft pastel, except that you can also create watercolour-like washes with a brush and water, providing great variety in the artistic effects you can achieve. You might also like these: 5 things you need for oil painting Paint a portrait like the Old Masters How to fix your finished pastel artwork View the full article

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