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As Black Friday 2017 and Cyber Monday 2017 creeps closer, we're working hard to bring designers, illustrators and artists the best bargains on creative tools. But we haven't neglected our daily deals; today we've got you a great discount on training to boost your graphic design skills. If you want to work as a graphic designer, you're going to have to know how to use Adobe applications. Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator are the tools experts rely on and are packed with tools to help make your work truly shine. You can master these programs with Graphic Design Certification School. Get it on sale now for a special Black Friday price of just $25 (approx £19). Graphic designers love using Adobe's suite of creative apps to bring their art to life, and you can learn why with this bundle of courses. The Graphic Design Certification School will teach you how to make the most of Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator. As we also have an exclusive 15% discount on Creative Cloud subscriptions until 27 November, now is the time to get into Photoshop, Lightroom and Adobe's other great programs. Get your 15% discount on Adobe Creative Cloud hereYou'll get tons of expert-taught lessons that will show you how to take your ideas and bring them to life on screen. You can also get certifications to prove your skills after each course you complete. The Graphic Design Certification School is valued at over $1,197, but you can get this incredible bundle of courses on sale for just $25 (approx £19) for Black Friday. It's a deal you won't want to miss, so grab it while you can. About Creative Bloq deals This great deal comes courtesy of the Creative Bloq Deals store – a creative marketplace that's dedicated to ensuring you save money on the items that improve your design life. We all like a special offer or two, particularly with creative tools and design assets often being eye-wateringly expensive. That's why the Creative Bloq Deals store is committed to bringing you useful deals, freebies and giveaways on design assets (logos, templates, icons, fonts, vectors and more), tutorials, e-learning, inspirational items, hardware and more. Every day of the working week we feature a new offer, freebie or contest – if you miss one, you can easily find past deals posts on the Deals Staff author page or Offer tag page. Plus, you can get in touch with any feedback at: deals@creativebloq.com. Related articles: The 60 best free Photoshop brushes Get 15% off Adobe Creative Cloud with our exclusive deal The best Black Friday phone deals 2017 View the full article

Don’t have access to a photogrammetry camera array to carry out a 3D scan? No problem, these tips and tricks will show you how to capture an actor quickly with great results for 3D modelling – and all you need is a camera or smartphone. Imagine you’re on a movie location with little equipment and only a few minutes with your actor. Getting an accurate scan and generating a useable CG model is now possible with just a smartphone and a laptop running Agisoft PhotoScan software. LA-based Emmy and VES Award-winning visual effects artist, Johnathan R Banta, from Agrapha Productions, breaks down his five-step ‘RapidCapture’ photogrammetry process, taking advantage of professional tools. Christmas offer: Save up to 49% on a subscription to 3D World 01. Get the actor ready Capture the subject using quick-fire photogrammetry Have your actor sit or stand (either is fine as long as they remain stable) and fix their gaze on a point in the near distance. Try to avoid direct sunlight or hard shadows. Our example here was in a room with fluorescent tube lights, but any ambient illumination is fine. Clothing does not matter too much, but try to avoid solid colours, especially white, as the photogrammetry software finds this harder to solve (although in our example, the subject did in fact have a white shirt on). 02. Photograph your actor These are the resulting 15 photos from this capture session Use any camera app on your smartphone (or use any camera). Try an app that lets you fix exposure for better results. In this example, we captured a portion of the actor’s face with just 15 photographs following a geodesic capture pattern at a consistent distance from the actor. Starting at a 45-degree angle to your subject, take a total of 15 photographs in a ‘plus-cross-plus’ configuration. Take one photo in the centre of the angle, stretch arms up, down, left, and right while taking photos pointing at the subject (ie, a plus pattern). Cross-step 45 degrees around to the front, and photograph in a cross pattern. Take one photo in the centre of the angle, stretch arms to the upper left, upper right, lower left, and lower right while taking additional photos pointing at the subject. Step 45 degrees around again, then repeat the plus pattern. You can always take more photos – a full rotation around the subject is likely to be 48-50 photos – but remember that the idea here is to carry out this scan as quickly as possible. 03. Solve the scan PhotoScan solves the positions of the photographs Import your photos into PhotoScan. Choose one photo as the representative angle before picking the Align Photos option. This produces better results, and sometimes will determine the success of the algorithm. There are several options in the software for resolution and point correspondence. The most consistently successful setting at this point has been to use the MEDIUM solving resolution, and leave everything else at default. If you are pleased with the alignment, go on to the build dense cloud step, which will use your solved cameras and sparse point cloud as a guide for a more involved algorithm. There are several resolution options, but to test the solve, a resolution setting of MEDIUM can produce results good enough to evaluate with. There is often extra material in the dense point cloud that is not your subject. Use the lasso tools and other selection methods to delete this excess data before going any further. 04. Mesh and texture model The resulting model will still need cleaning up, but clearly resembles the actor PhotoScan can take the resulting point cloud, and build a mesh of polygons to re-create the surface. Depending on your photos and detail of the subject matter, results can vary. Again, it loves detail, so areas of flat, smooth colour may end up a little noisy (most actors wear make-up to smooth out their skin, and this can result in a noisy solve). The open-source software MeshLab has many capable tools that can take your exported points and build a surface, and if you need to work quickly, it can sometimes do this faster than PhotoScan. If you are serious about this, it is worth a try, but PhotoScan can do a very reasonable job of it, too. The resulting mesh can be exported to other software as a guide for clean-up and modelling. As long as you keep the original scaling and orientation exported from PhotoScan, you can re-import this model for texturing. This is not necessary for quick evaluation, though, and you can build textures directly on the solved mesh as well. The final step is to build texture on the object by projecting every single solved camera image onto the 3D model, and average the result inside PhotoScan. With properly aligned geometry, it is possible to achieve credible results quickly. 05. Export your 3D model Export your model to a 3D program for whatever you need. Export formats include FBX, OBJ, PLY and more, which means you can work with the model in tools such as Maya, ZBrush, Mudbox and 3ds Max. It’s in one of these tools that you can also do further clean-up, or take advantage of the dimensionally accurate model to aid in tracking, matchmoving or digital make-up work. Remember you have the original photos for reference, too. (Thanks to R Brent Adams, director of the Center for Animation at Brigham Young University, for volunteering to be our scanning subject.) This article was originally published in issue 227 of 3D World, the world's best-selling magazine for CG artists – packed with expert tutorials, inspiration and reviews. Buy issue 227 here or subscribe to 3D World here. Special Christmas offer: Save up to 49% on a subscription to 3D World for you or a friend for Christmas. It's a limited offer, so move quickly... Related articles: The secrets of 3D scanning 15 mighty Maya tutorials to try today 30 inspiring examples of 3D art View the full article

Experimenting with new drawing and painting techniques is a great way to bring new flavours to a piece that's almost finished. Try to approach it in an organic, playful way, discovering new things you hadn't even thought of when embarking on an image – these experimental pieces may end up making a great addition to your design portfolio. Here's a portrait I've been working on: it's at a stage where I feel I can play with textures and experiment, using a range of techniques to drive the piece forward to a different place. Start experimenting with textures to add new flavours to your workI'm excited to see what digital techniques can do to the piece and how they can give it a different perspective to what I've previously envisioned. I'll show you how I go about experimenting with this in the written steps below and the video further down the page. The hard part is to be able to open your mind to enable the piece you've been working on to be altered and played with. 01. Add texture Finding stock images can add interesting texture to your piece I now look for photos and textures that are stock-free and have something special in them that I find inspiring. It could be a small pattern, or the silkiness of a fabric, or even the way the light's being cast on a surface. 02. Experiment Crop, invert and rotate stock images to use them as a background texture Once I have some images, I insert them on top and play with the settings and blending modes to see what happens. This is a structured way to achieve happy accidents. I then rearrange them and eliminate parts to fit my piece. 03. Use Color Range Play with colour and levels to create interesting painterly effects This is a quick tool that grabs a similar grouping of colours and values and selects them. You can then copy the selection to a new layer and experiment with it however you wish. Watch the full video This article originally appeared in issue 116 of ImagineFX , the world's best-selling magazine for digital artists – packed with workshops and interviews with fantasy and sci-fi artists, plus must-have kit reviews. Subscribe to ImagineFX here. Like this? Read these: How to improve your character drawing How to draw and paint - 100 pro tips and tutorials The best drawing tablet: our pick of the best graphics tablets in 2017 View the full article

Not all of us have the time or inclination to craft our own creative resumes from scratch, but your CV still needs to clearly impart key information about your career, while displaying a little of your personality. So why not inject it with a little design flair, courtesy of a free template? Exclusive offer: Save 15% on Adobe Creative Cloud now We've had a search around and found these striking free resume templates, each of which offers something a little different. Download one of these templates today and wing your way to a job interview for the role of your dreams, or impress prospective clients with your attention to detail. 01. Elegant resume Vladyslav Tulinovskyi created this simple layout This minimalist free resume template uses subtle illustration and plenty of white space to create a clean, elegant feel. Created by Vladyslav Tulinovskyi, it's available as an editable PSD file so you can change the colour scheme as well as edit the text. This understated style will enable your information to shine. 02. Graphical resume Fay Zodiac's template is bold This resume template by Fay Zodiac isn't one for the faint-hearted. Its bold letterpress-styled icons and, patterns and text certainly pack a punch, and will ensure your CV jumps out from a pile. You'll just need the confidence in the job interview to back up your loud resume design. It comes with the fonts and icons, as well as the Photoshop resume template, and is fully editable. 03. Colourful resume Riccardo Rivieccio's template comes with matching business cards As any designer knows, colour sells. Riccardo Rivieccio's free resume templates come in a choice of six colour schemes with attention-grabbing patterns in the header. And to further sweeten the deal, he's also designed matching business cards. These Illustrator files are fully editable, too, so have fun with colour. 04. Creative Vintage Resume This wonderfully retro template comes in gorgeous earthtonesThis is a splendidly vintage-looking resume template in deliciously earthy tones, and it comes as an .AI file so that you can adjust it to your heart's content. Be aware, though, that the fonts aren't included, so you'll either have to hunt them down yourself (they're all free, luckily) or substitute your own. 05. Creative Designer Resume Template Make an instant impression with this visually-focused templateFully layered and well organised in order to keep customisation nice and easy, this bold and punchy visual template enables you to get yourself and your skills across quickly, without any messing. It comes as a print-ready 300dpi A4 PSD, ready for editing in Photoshop. 06. Project-based resume A centre-aligned layout with space for imagesDepending on the type of application process you're dealing with, it may be appropriate to include samples of your work within your CV. This template, Velli, is great if you have images of visual work that you'd like to form part of the resume, and there's also space for a cover letter. 07. Two-column layout A two-tone layout with two columnsFitting a lot of information onto your first page can help to a grab a recruiter's attention, and a two-column layout is a way to achieve that without making your page look cluttered. 08. Timeline resume Create a good first impression with this free timeline resume template This free timeline-based resume template was created by graphic designer Patryk Korycki. An AI file, the design features typeface Open Sans, with various fields available to enter education details, skills, interests and much more. 09. Stylish resume A stylish resume template that includes a timeline of your employment historyThis subtle yet stylish CV template features all the details you need to include, along with a neat sidebar holding a profile and references and a timeline – in which you can list your employment history. There's also an online profile section to show just how social media-savvy you are and a software skills bar graph so you can show your exact skills. It's supplied in PSD, AI and INDD formats. 10. Resume for icon fans This resume template has some super-stylised icons includedIf icons are your thing, check out this free template from designer Fernando Báez. A sectionalised design, complete with stylish type and icons included (you get the CV in AI format and the icons in PSD), this resume is perfect for customising with your own icons to represent your interests and achievements. 11. Resume for type fans A central typographic column enables you to list your skillsSure, this may not be to everyone's taste – but it's certainly impactful. A central typographic column bursts out to boxes in which you can add your details. The resume is supplied in AI format so you can easily export a PDF – and comes in black and white so you can get creative with colours. 12. Simple resume This simple resume template uses colour Simplicity is the key in this type-based CV that puts your profile at the top, then lists experience and education in simple boxes. There's also a professional skills section enabling you to give yourself a percentage score on languages and professional skills. The Illustrator file makes the most of colour to aid its simplicity. 13. Clean resume The Smart Object header makes it a cinch to add your own graphic to this resumeThis highly-customisable resume template comes in PSD and AI formats and has a Smart Object header, meaning you can quickly and easily link in an image of your choice. It's A4, 300dpi, with 3mm bleed – so completely print-ready. Just add your logo, bio, experience and so on and you're ready to print and send. 14. Hadi Reda Super-minimal with a neat icon style, this resume is ace for designersKeep it super-minimal with this resume template. Once again there's a bar graph for your skills (which we're still not sure about but some employers may like) along with a neat icon style to represent your social media profiles and software competence. It's supplied in layered PSD format. 15. Resume that makes a statement It's definitely worth experimenting with this contemporary resume template by Paolo PettigianiMaybe you're looking to make more of a statement with your one-pager – in which case this typographic template by Paolo Pettigiani may be just the ticket. Easy to customise and available in AI format with all the necessary fonts and icons, it's definitely worth experimenting with. Related articles: 10 beautiful paper portfolios to inspire you 30 brilliantly creative resumes 5 quick ways to improve your portfolio dramatically View the full article

Whether you're after the very best smartphone for designers - like the Samsung Galaxy S8 or Google Pixel 2 - or a bargain basement handset for staying in touch with clients and scanning Instagram, we've sourced all the best prices for you. We've handpicked some of the standout deals that have really caught our eye at the moment - made a lot easier by Black Friday. And below that, our comparison chart is loaded with every phone on the market we can think of. Use the filters to narrow down your ideal price range, calls and data allowance, and choice of network and we'll do the rest! Best flagship mobile phone deals: These are the mobile phones with the best screens, most powerful chipsets and most premium designs. They can sell for a handsome price, so it's worth taking advantage of our research to ensure you bag a more affordable tariff. Best cheap mobile phone deals: You don't have to subject yourself to phone bills of over £30 to get a good mobile. There are some brilliant budget handsets out there these days, or you can look to older generation models that have really stood the test of time. Best SIM only deals: If you've got to the end of your two year contract, but aren't ready to part with your beloved phone then grabbing a SIM only plan is the solution. You can reduce your monthly spend down to a pittance and remain flexible if you do see a new phone you fancy. Today's best mobile phone deals - get the cheapest price on these handsets: Related articles: See the best apps for your new iPhone Get the best iPad deal Find the perfect VPN for you View the full article

In the busy freelance world, how do you make yourself stand out from the pack and attract those clients you've always dreamed of having on your books? Whatever design discipline you're in – be it web design, graphic design, digital art, illustration, 3D art, VFX or other creative fields – there are some tricks that can help your freelance business to take off. Here we've outlined a few of the basics to help you get started... 01. Find a USP Illustrator and art director Justin Maller has a distinct design aesthetic Before you get yourself out there and flaunt your design skills, first and foremost it's important that you understand exactly what you have to offer. Finding a trait that makes you different to others in the industry can help make you stand out in what is often a saturated market. Once you've nailed that, tailor your design portfolio accordingly. Also consider creating or commissioning a distinctive logo design for yourself and splashing it across all your branded social media pages. Read our 30 pro tips to create the perfect design portfolio to help you. 02. Be a big fish in a small pond Maria De La Guardia makes it clear the kinds of clients she wants Knowing which type of client or specific industry you'd like to attract will also help you create a much more targeted marketing strategy, as it will affect how you pitch yourself online and where to look for new business. Do your unique skills lend themselves to a certain sector, for instance, or have you designed work for a number of similar clients that you can use to target their competitors? Finding a niche can also help you build up your name quickly and, hopefully, lead to more work. 03. Start blogging Designer and illustrator Keenan Cummings posts about works in progress Setting up a blog and updating it regularly with snippets about your projects, industry views and some personal stuff will all help you to maximise your online presence and give you a voice within the industry. Check out our tips on how to create a design blog and take inspiration from this selection of great Tumblr blogs. 04. Network online Contacts are perhaps your biggest asset as a lone freelancer, regardless of whether you're looking to market yourself online or offline. Open networks such as Twitter provide the perfect platform for you to engage in conversations with the wider design world and build relationships with your peers and potential clients. Social networks also serve as a platform for you to show off your expertise and gain some recognition. By sharing interesting and useful content with others, you can become an important voice in your industry and a designer in demand. Read our tips on How to make social media work for you to learn more. 05. Use online marketing tools Use MailChimp to send mailshots to prospective clientsThere are so many free marketing tools out there, ready and waiting for you to take advantage of. As well as social networks and blogging, there's also a huge opportunity to grab some attention with the use of a good email marketing strategy. With a database of email addresses from existing clients and a prominent link on your blog to attract new website visitors, you can send out a monthly or quarterly newsletter to keep people up-to-date with your latest projects. MailChimp is just one great and easy tool to help get you get started with your email marketing – check out our guide to the 10 best email newsletter tools here. 06. Seek out client referrals If you've had an amazing experience with one of your clients, get them to shout about it. Don't be shy to ask your most satisfied clients for a few words on their experience working with you and the process overall, and make sure you publicise it across all your digital channels. You never know, your last satisfied client might lead to your next project win. 07. Network in person Don't stay hidden behind your Mac Offline networking at industry events, conferences or even social meet-ups with other designers or agencies can also help get your name out there and provide opportunities to put your business card in the hands of potential clients. Make sure you connect with your new contacts online afterwards so that you can continue the conversation you started in person. Read more: 4 ways to cash in as a freelancer 20 top tools for freelancers How to make social media work for you View the full article

While gaining a higher education qualification may be required to become a doctor, teacher, social worker or solicitor, it’s definitely not required to become a web designer or developer – or indeed, a professional in any creative discipline. Having a degree might not necessarily qualify you for a well-paid job, so here are five steps to consider when looking for a job. Follow these tips to help you to shine in job interviews. 01. Seek positive influences A big problem for school and college leavers is the availability of highly targeted advice. With so much misinformation in circulation, it’s easy for teachers and careers advisors to accidentally pass on inaccurate information. The highest priority for anyone seeking to establish a career in the design industry should be to speak with people who have real industry experience. This could be through social media groups, such as on LinkedIn, or one of the many forums on which industry programmers can be found, such as Quora. 02. Develop targeted skills Use your conversations, as well as researching jobs posted on websites such as jobsite.co.uk, to gain an understanding of the types of roles and pay that interest you. Even though many jobs will be beyond your skillset and experience, you can gain an idea of skills you should develop. There’s no need to be an expert in everything (full stack development), as many jobs focus on either frontend or server-side development and pay just as well. It’s no secret that the best developers are self taught. Programming isn’t something you can become good at by attending a few classes on a course, so you’re going to have to invest time in learning through experimentation. Use tutorials such as those in net magazine to gain an understanding of web development concepts that you can apply to your CV/resume. Also use this opportunity to show employers that you are capable of managing your own skills development without their input. 03. Gain experience The truth is that qualifications have almost no value in the web design industry, and the most important thing you can have is a good resume. Employers don’t care if you have a first class degree if you can’t demonstrate how to apply your knowledge. It’s true that many job adverts list a requirement of a good degree, but this is merely a lazy way for HR to reduce time costs associated with interviewing. For those in the know, there are always routes around these HR filters. An impressive resume doesn’t magically appear from nowhere, so be prepared to do whatever it takes to gain the experience and skills that will make you stand out to employers. An effective way to gain experience and develop your skills is to pick up freelance projects from various job boards such as PeoplePerHour.com. While projects on these websites aren’t usually well paid, they allow you to develop a portfolio of work, and gain experience of being ‘client facing’ that will impress potential employers. 04. Become independent Modern schooling often places far too much emphasis on teaching to pass tests in order to meet government targets. This has resulted in many school leavers being dependent on being directed to solve each part of a task in the same way. This dependence is too costly for employers to justify providing a job, as it would cost them more time and money to support you to do your job effectively. Develop abilities to work independently in your role as a web designer or developer. This includes knowing how to solve problems through research on Google, while also being able to plan your workload to meet deadlines you’ve been assigned. Demonstrating these abilities will give employers the confidence that you can free them from more problems than you create. 05. Be proactive Another problem that employers seek to avoid is the need to micro manage their employees. Learn to identify where your skills can be applied to the bigger picture, so that whoever you report to can be relieved from planning your time deployment. Be proactive in developing and refining your skills so that you become more relevant to the work that employers need you for. This article originally appeared in issue 297 of net, the magazine for professional web designers and developers – offering the latest new web trends, technologies and techniques. Buy net issue 297 here or subscribe to net here. Related articles: How to transform a design internship into a job 8 tips to ace tech job interviews 5 golden rules for getting your first design job View the full article

This weekend saw creative crowdfunding site Kickstarter roll out a surprise rebrand that flies in the face of recent design overhauls. Whereas the likes of Dropbox and eBay have reinvented themselves with vibrant colour palettes in an attempt to grab attention, Kickstarter has done the opposite and launched a bloated, single colour logo, and a pared-back website design. Created in partnership between Kickstarter's in-house design team and New York-based design office Order, the new identity is centred around a puffed up wordmark that does away with the black and green colours from the old logo. The old Kickstarter logo (above) has been superseded by a rounder design (below) Instead, what we can now look forward to when we're visiting the site is a logo that emphasises and blurs together previous Kickstarter design elements. The typography has always been firmly on the bubble writing spectrum, but the new lettering, drawn by typographer Jesse Ragan, inflates it as far as legibility allows. In terms of colour, the new logo appears to mix together the palette from the previous design to create a dusky teal that gives the design an air of seriousness. This might seem like a counterintuitive choice when you consider that Kickstarter is all about encouraging creativity, but when there's money involved it can't hurt to show that you mean business. Especially when your font is that bouncy. Accompanying the new logo is the introduction of two new website typefaces: Cooper Light and Maison Neue. These are both used throughout the new website design, which continues the logo's angle of being professional-looking monochrome text against a while background, carrying over everything that make Kickstarter a success. The new Kickstarter site takes a stripped back approach The result is a crisp and clean site that's easy to navigate and puts the emphasis, rightly so, on finding the creative projects. As with any rebrand, though, there are going to be critics. We've seen creatives and design critics taking a pop at the date that appears on the top-left corner of the homepage, but for a site that's all about project deadlines we think this makes perfect sense – or at least it stops you checking the date on your phone and getting sidetracked. Meanwhile, other designers have been leaving less than favourable reviews on Twitter... Related articles: 25 logo design tips from the experts The 8 biggest typography mistakes designers make 6 Kickstarter tips for designers View the full article

Design is dominated by white, able-bodied men. But it doesn’t have to be. What discourages people from entering the industry? And what can we all do to encourage more inclusivity? A recent report issued by the UK Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport made for rather depressing reading. Despite the good news that design in the UK is thriving, employing 57 per cent more people in 2016 than 2011, it revealed that the industry is mostly white, male and from ‘more advantaged groups’. Compare the figures to the national UK working population (UKWP), and the results are even more unsettling. While the UKWP has almost equal numbers of males and females, the UK creative industries is made up of 63 per cent males and 37 per cent females. The report, did however, reveal some cause for optimism. Between 2015 and 2016, the number of designers from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds increased by a whopping 49 per cent, while the amount of women increased by 22 per cent, the second highest increase across all of the nine creative industries sub-sectors, after advertising and marketing. The number of EU nationals working in design also increased by almost 24 per cent in the same period. If design agencies aren’t inclusive internally, they limit their ability to have a positive impact Marianne Waite But why does diversity matter? Aside from the ethical reasons too obvious to outline, inclusivity is also good for business. Diverse teams mean new approaches and new markets, and have been proven to be better at problem-solving. This is something that Hana Tanimura, who leads Google’s Creative Lab in London, has seen in practice. “It’s true that very different people working together on a project can sometimes require putting in a little extra time to achieve the kind of shorthand understanding that comes quickly with people from similar backgrounds,” she says, “but from my experience, it’s precisely that light ‘friction’ that enables new kinds of thinking and new ideas to flourish.” Marianne Waite, a disability activist who founded Think Designable – a collective that aims to better society’s relationship with disability – agrees. “If design agencies aren’t inclusive internally, they limit their ability to have a positive impact – the better the insight, the more accurate the output,” she says. “People with disabilities are often experts in adaptation, creative solutions and hacking.” Having a diverse team could also help tap into groups you may have previously overlooked. For example, the UK’s black and minority ethnic population has an estimated spending power of £300 billion and Gov.uk puts the spend of disabled people and their families at £212 billion. But with such a multitude of issues at play when it comes to diversity, the topic can be a tricky one to address head on – where do you start? We spoke to industry experts about some of the reasons why design isn’t already inclusive, and what you can do to tackle this. Address financial and cultural barriers There are several hurdles that prevent people from entering the design industry. “From my [West Indian] ethnic and cultural background, parents know the challenges their children will face in the workplace, so they encourage them to go into practices that are more likely to yield results,” says Greg Bunbury, who runs Bunbury Creative. “Parents are very cautious about pushing their kids into creative fields.” Unpaid or poorly-paid internships and the London-centric industry are also likely to put off potential candidates. “If you look at what it costs to live in London now, it’s hugely prohibitive,” says Ansel Neckles, co-founder of Let’s Be Brief – a platform that aims to upskill and champion creative entrepreneurs. A Londoner by birth, Neckles says that he would never have been able to get into advertising were it not for his family home in the capital. Extending diversity helps to improve and widen the pool of thought How can we address the creative industries’ image problem and show that design can be a rewarding – and lucrative – career choice? Both Bunbury, who didn’t meet another black graphic designer until well into his 30s, and Neckles, believe that visibility and role models are integral. “The design industry can be a closed-loop environment,” says Neckles. “Knowing where those doors are generally comes from a knowledge of folks on the inside of those spaces. If you have no idea who to speak to, you can forever remain looking through the window wondering ‘how do I get in?’” Helen Fuchs, design director at digital agency ustwo in Shoreditch, London, agrees. “Go out to a local comprehensive, just to show them that your career is there,” she says. “If kids don’t know anyone, or have a designer in their family, they won’t know how to get in.” Although there’s probably not much (aside from campaigning) that you can do about greater wealth inequality or the undervaluing of the creative industries more widely, studios can make sure there are routes in for less privileged talent. You can start by paying interns the Living Wage, and could consider developing an apprenticeship scheme. And everyone can support organisations aiming to widen access to creative careers, such as Pitch It, Let’s Be Brief and We Are Stripes with time, money or, even better, both. Consider different routes into design Another hurdle can be people not taking non-traditional qualifications seriously, says Haydn Corrodus, founder of We Are Stripes – which aims to address ethnic diversity imbalance in the creative industries. “If we are being honest, a lot of roles you can learn on the job, but job specs oversell what you need to have done.” Women only apply for jobs when they feel they’re a 100% match, whereas men only feel they need to meet 60% Bunbury agrees: “Everything I learned from how to set up a grid to how to pitch, I learned on the job.” When working for a larger agency, Bunbury spent every Friday afternoon holding portfolio reviews as an alternative way of spotting potential hires. “It takes a lot of time, but the results are worth it,” he says. A policy of hiring on ‘potential’ rather than ‘proof’ also helps combat gender bias. Research by Hewlett-Packard found that women only apply for jobs when they feel they’re a 100 per cent match, whereas men only feel they need to meet 60 per cent of the requirements. “If you really want to find talented people, you need to start having conversations in places that you don’t normally have them,” says Neckles. Building relationships with networks such as Pride AM, People of Creativity, Open Inclusion and Advertising and Disability can help make sure your job ads are reaching a broad spectrum of people. And think outside the box – for example, Let’s Be Brief has a show about creativity on radio station NTS, whose motto is ‘Don’t Assume’. “Find people in the places that matter to them; you can’t assume they’ll gravitate towards you,” adds Neckles. Build diversity into your recruitment process Diversity recruitment goals can help. Digital agency ustwo has an agreement with its recruiter than 50 per cent of candidates must come from under-represented groups. “I’m sure that got me on an interview list,” says Fuchs. Evaluate your current process: is your recommendation scheme just bringing in identikit designers? Are your interview questions standardised to make for fair comparison? How gender neutral is the wording of your ad? Starting a conversation about the language you use can lead you to interesting places. Social media platform Buffer changed the wording of its job ads from ‘hacker’ to ‘developer’, for example, in a bid to attract more women. “The problem with bias,” says Wolff Olins’ Ije Nwokorie, “is that we all want to think we’re not. But we’re all human beings and we all form biases.” Organisations such as Altogether Different, Equality and Diversity UK and Creative Equals all offer unconscious bias training, which helps staff identify where those prejudices might come into play. Given that research from totaljobs finds almost one in five hiring managers make a decision on a candidate within a minute of meeting them and 44 per cent decide after just 15 minutes, making sure your team is as open as possible is integral. You could also consider implementing blind portfolio reviews or using an organisation such as GapJumpers, which strips applications of identifying info. It’s not just about recruitment, it’s about retention too – and that’s something you need to work at constantly Helen Fuchs Your interview process may also be discouraging or discriminating against talented candidates, including those with disabilities. “It may be worth deviating from the standard interview process altogether and instead, provide a work trail or test,” suggests Waite. “Hypothetical or obscure industry terminology can be challenging to some people, as can questions that require overly imaginative answers,” she explains. Make work places accessible “It’s not just about recruitment, it’s about retention too – and that’s something you need to work at constantly,” says Fuchs. Luckily, many strategies for making sure people from under-represented groups thrive in the studio make the workplace better for everyone. Karwai Pun, an interaction designer at Government Digital Service, which has been improving digital services for users with all types of disabilities, says: “Having people with disabilities on staff brings greater insight into usability testing, accessibility training and design discussions. "Smarter ways of working such as remote working, home working or flexitime offer useful alternatives for all colleagues, not just those with disabilities.” Similarly, many adjustments to your space – introducing height-adjustable desks or areas for quiet concentration – give greater flexibility to all staff. “Start by auditing your space to identify where the blockers are,” says Waite. “Invite some specialists in for the day to provide recommendations. It’s crucial that you don’t base changes on the experience of non-disabled employee assumptions.” Encourage women's progression “The drop off in women in advertising and design is huge,” says Casey Bird, president of SheSays, a networking organisation for women in the creative industries. “This is often because of a lack of support when it comes to motherhood and flexible work-life balance. This makes many women think, ‘What’s the point?’ and sack it off.” In 2015, SheSays launched its Who’s Your Momma mentoring scheme (WYMM), which pairs female creatives at different levels of their careers, to provide a soundboard on challenges such as how to ask for pay rises or deal with gender bias. “Until I started working at SheSays, I could barely count the number of senior women I knew on one hand,” recalls Bird. “Programmes like WYMM really help break the cycle.” Roshni Goyate, co-founder of The Other Box – a platform for increasing diversity in creative industries – agrees: “I specifically wanted a brown, female, working class, not privately educated senior person as a mentor,” she says. “I asked everyone I knew, and most had basically never worked with another person of colour. It made me feel like I have no place in this industry. I honestly thought about quitting and starting a whole new career.” Mentoring schemes can also be run internally. King, the games company behind Candy Crush Saga, runs a scheme called Women@King, which promotes equal opportunities for women in gaming. King is also involved with RoyaLGBT & Friends, a global network that supports LGBT+ employees and allies. Interestingly, King has recently started reframing ‘diversity’ as ‘inclusion’. “With inclusion, we look as whether people feel respected and valued,” says the company’s diversity and culture manager Natalie Mellin, who also points out that people usually fit into more than one ‘category’. “From an intersectional perspective, I’m not just a woman – I also have a sexual orientation, a skin colour, and so on,” she says. “There will be different issues for gay women, for black women.” Design a team with a place that's open for everyone This thinking has also bled into King’s products. In its workshop scheme called Crush The Norm, designers can identify ways they are portraying gender or race (even in squirrels) and learn to challenge stereotypes. “There’s a growth in the type of people that are gamers today because of the mobile phone,” explains Mellin. “We want everyone to feel included.” Agency ustwo has also made a conscious move towards gender equality. Designed to disrupt the statistic that only 12 per cent of creative directors in London are female, ustwo’s new leadership programme for female employees involves women sitting in on all leadership meetings. “If you see how decisions are made, you’re more likely to think, ‘I can do that’,” says Fuchs. In March, the studio announced that male and female employees can now both take the same maternity leave – six months paid leave – and in the past year they’ve reduced their gender pay gap from 13 per cent to 3.5 per cent by in-depth analysis of pay difference and why it happens. Your accessibility and diversity champions should actively attend events and share stories on social media. Karwai Pun The studio regularly blogs about its diversity challenges and strategies – something Pun stresses is important. “Your accessibility and diversity champions should actively attend events and share stories on social media.” This is not bragging or virtue signalling, but a way to flag to designers from under-represented groups that your company would be an inclusive place to work. Both Sairah Ashman – Wolff Olins' newly appointed (and first female) CEO and Ije Nwokorie, who she succeeds, suggest that part of overcoming the disparity between the number of female employees and female leaders is redefining what those top jobs look like. “You have to be honest enough to interrogate why women are not attracted to that position,” says Nwokorie. Ashman adds: “I’m a relatively quiet person, you wouldn’t hold me up as a poster woman for leadership, but at Wolff Olins, we’ve broadened the platform enough that you can pull up lots of different people and points of view.” To address this, employees could reconsider increasing employees’ access to training and experiment with reverse mentoring, where the creative director shadows a junior employee to see where issues may be arising. Clear goals for progression and promotion can help and, in case things go wrong, make sure your HR support is as independent as possible. Promote existing diversity Knowing your own value is also integral for those from under-represented groups. It can help to push the industry to value diversity more widely. “Embrace your cultural identity; it’s not necessarily a barrier,” says Bunbury. “In all things you do, you should be drawing from a wide creative cultural palette, it’s the thing that will give you uniqueness and make your work stand out,” he explains. Self-promotion and putting yourself forward may also deter some people. “At the beginning of my career I struggled to speak out,” says Roz Fraser, senior designer at GBH, “but I’ve been fortunate to work under both men and women who have pushed me, and now I feel a lot more confident at self-promotion.” Alice Tonge, head of 4creative, agrees: “If someone shoots you down you’ve got to keep on going. Be resilient and relentless.” Resources like Otegha Uwagba’s new title Little Black Book are invaluable for creative women – and indeed all creatives – in developing strategies for things that hold them back. Make a difference When you’re not in a managerial role or are self-employed, it may feel like changing an industry-wide diversity issue is out of your grasp, but there are lots of things you can do. “Talk about it,” says Kath Tudball, design director at The Partners. “Notice hidden biases and inequalities and speak up about them.” Employers want the best staff working for them, and if they realise they’ve got a rep problem then that starts to have an effect Otegha Uwagba From calling out offensive office ‘banter’ or refusing to sit on judging panels or give talks unless there’s a representative mix of people to asking new employees whether they’re okay with whatever pronoun you have assumed to use, being open and honest is a good way to start being an ally. Push clients to rethink their audience or include more diverse faces in their campaigns, and draw on resources like illustration network Women Who Draw (where you can find female, LBTQ+ or people of colour specialist illustrators), racially diverse photo library Autograph Media and stereotype-bashing modelling agencies, such as Campbell Addy’s Nii Agency. Uwagba, who founded the creative networking platform Women Who, says that even freelancers have the ability to make a difference. “It’s about the companies you endorse. Vote with your feet. Employers want the best staff working for them and if they realise they’ve got a rep problem then that starts to have an effect.” Neckles sums up why you should be addressing diversity: “If you’re serious about existing, then you should be serious about widening the pool of people that you work with and learn from.” Illustrations: Guillaume Kashima This article was originally published in issue 271 of Computer Arts, the global design magazine – helping you solve daily design challenges with insights, advice and inspiration. Buy issue 271 here or subscribe to Computer Arts here. Related articles: How do you judge your success as a designer? How to celebrate diversity without being patronising Best free fonts for designers View the full article

Every good designer knows that at the heart of any creative is a strong visual component; one vital image can provide the key to an entire project. To kick off this creative process, Vectorplace – an extensive online collection of top-quality vector illustrations – is a great place to start. It's not always possible to create every illustration from scratch, so for busy creatives a top-quality illustration, meticulously selected and ready for use in your projects, is a real life-saver. The Premium range of images is exclusive to Vectorplace There are a number of things that set Vectorplace apart from the crowd. All images are reviewed for their technical elements and meticulously curated before they are included in the premium vector collection. The Vectorplace team hand-picks each illustration with the customer and their changing needs in mind. All images are offered under a royalty-free license, which means once you've bought one you can use it worldwide in as many online projects as you want, for as long as you want. Vectorplace offers a number of extensions to your license, so you only pay for the exact usage you need. Vectorplace offers basic edits to all the images in its Standard collection As all the images are vector format, you can easily tweak colours, scale them up or down, or basically edit them however you'd like to fit your particular project. For beginners – or if you're short on time – Vectorplace also offers a handy customisation service that enables you to order any illustration from the standard collection with basic modifications, such as switching the aspect ratio, or adding new vector elements. All of which helps you do your job faster, and frees up time for creating cool content. The collection is meticulously selected with designers' changing needs in mind Vectorplace has put a special focus on user experience. The service is intuitive to use, with a well-designed search system to help customers can find exactly what they want as quickly as possible. Pricing is easy to understand and good value, and buying an illustration is simple and pain-free – if you only need one illustration, for example, you can buy that image alone rather than having to invest in a package. If you're after unique vector illustrations, hand-selected for you, Vectorplace is a great place to start. View the full article

If you've seen our Black Friday 2017 and Cyber Monday 2017 early deals pages, you'll know we're working hard to bring designers, illustrators and artists the best bargains on creative tools as we gear up for the big day this Friday. And today we've got you another great deal on training to boost you UX and UI design skills. There's a difference between a web design that looks good and a design that looks and feels good to use. Your users want apps and websites that are intuitive and easy to use when they interact with them. Learn the most important elements of creating engaging designs with the UI and UX Design Bootcamp. You can get it on sale for just $39 (approx £30) – and save an additional 15% off when you use the coupon code GIFTSHOP15 at checkout. The UI and UX Design Bootcamp is filled with more than 39 hours of essential design training taught by professionals who know the topic best. For anyone interested in the art of website and app design, this bundle is a must-have resource. It's the best way to learn the principles of creating engaging and interactive design. It doesn't matter what you’re creating or what platform and tools you're working with, you'll pick up important concepts to help improve the functionality of your designs and keep your visitors coming back. You can get the UI and UX Design Bootcamp on sale right now for just $39 (approx £30). That's a 96% saving off the full retail price of $995 for a bundle that will improve your design projects, so grab this deal today – and make sure you use the coupon code GIFTSHOP15 at checkout to save even more. The courses included in the bootcamp are: Become a Senior UX Design Strategist Rapid Prototyping with Ionic: Build a Data-Driven Mobile App Android Design: Learn UX, UI & Android Marshmallow How to Build Habit-Forming Products Mobile User Experience: The Complete Guide to Mobile 'Mobile UI and UX Design' Course About Creative Bloq deals This great deal comes courtesy of the Creative Bloq Deals store – a creative marketplace that's dedicated to ensuring you save money on the items that improve your design life. We all like a special offer or two, particularly with creative tools and design assets often being eye-wateringly expensive. That's why the Creative Bloq Deals store is committed to bringing you useful deals, freebies and giveaways on design assets (logos, templates, icons, fonts, vectors and more), tutorials, e-learning, inspirational items, hardware and more. Every day of the working week we feature a new offer, freebie or contest – if you miss one, you can easily find past deals posts on the Deals Staff author page or Offer tag page. Plus, you can get in touch with any feedback at: deals@creativebloq.com. Related articles: 30 Chrome extensions for web designers and devs 10 steps to an engaging user experience 11 web design tools you can't live without View the full article

Responsive web design has been around for years now, and in that time we’ve seen a drastic shift in how we approach website development. Media queries let us write CSS based on a variety of conditions, such as resolution, media type and – most popularly – browser viewport dimensions. Christmas offer: Save up to 49% on a subscription to net magazine Design patterns have emerged to help us manage the complexity of building websites that respond to a range of different screens. Brad Frost conveniently maintains a compilation of patterns that you can use for your sites. Generally speaking, these patterns target content based on the full width of the browser’s viewport. In other words, they target elements at a macro level, not at a micro level. On Shopify.com, for example, each band of content is dealt with separately and collapses well on smaller devices. From a design perspective, it’s easier to manage the design for these bands. From a coding perspective, it’s easier, too. Breakpoints You can either create breakpoints at a global level or at band level. At a global level, it’s not uncommon to see mobile, tablet and desktop breakpoints defined and for the developer to choose how each element will respond within those specific breakpoints. At a band level, you have a bit more control over when each content piece should break. Maybe that two column piece should collapse into a single column at 400px, but that three-column piece should collapse into a single column at 500px. While we have a bit more control when dealing with breakpoints at a band level, we’ve also made things more complex from a design perspective. Most designers working in Sketch or Photoshop will create artboards for a few common viewports: likely portrait mobile, portrait tablet and desktop. When dealing with breakpoints at a band level, the designer needs to move away from this limited number of views and start breaking things down into smaller chunks. Yet all of these bands still need to be presented as cohesive designs, in traditional mockups. Complex web apps With many art-directed, content-based sites, the patterns are presented in a limited number of scenarios. Web apps, on the other hand, use smaller patterns across a wider array of contexts. A button group might be displayed in a header, the main body, a sidebar or a modal. Each band – the header, intro and content – can be responsively designed independently of each other and without worrying about context Now consider all of these contexts multiplied by the variety of viewports on which these pages might be displayed. We’ve gone from three possible views (mobile, tablet, and desktop) to hundreds of possibilities. With media queries, we have to use a number of context-based selectors to handle these scenarios. Many web apps need to present similar components across varying layouts of different sizes. For example, an autocomplete component might be presented differently in a wide main column than in a smaller side column. Enter container queries Media queries can only tell us what the width of the viewport is or the width of the document. Therefore, if we want to change how a component looks in a sidebar when the sidebar is larger than 400px, we have to know that the sidebar will be 400px wide when the viewport is greater than 1000px wide. Container queries, on the other hand, allow us to say ‘this is what my component should look like when it has more than 400px of space’. Before you get too excited, allow me to disappoint you quickly: there is no browser implementation for container queries. Worse, there is no specification for container queries (cue sad violins). The reason no specification has sprung up yet is because of the circular logic that can be introduced. Let’s take a look at a quick example: Here, the child element pushes the size of the container to 500px wide. Next, we add a container query to apply conditional styling when the container is greater than 450px wide. Notice, however, that we set the child element to 400px wide. That means our container query no longer applies, as the container will shrink to 400px. Since the container query no longer applies, we fall back to the original declaration of 500px. This pushes the width of the container back out to 500px and the container query applies again – and so on until the browser crashes. It’s not yet clear how to solve circular logic in container queries. Shopify solution With no specification in place, we have to solve the problem with JavaScript. At Shopify, we chose to hand-roll our own solution. We created a custom script that would find our components on the page and could conditionally apply ‘responsive’ classes when the width conditions applied. For our needs, width was the only consideration we worried about. This is by far the most popular property that is considered when building responsive designs, and some scripts only detect width . Of course, having access to query other properties like height can allow us to create more flexible and powerful designs, but this also increases the complexity. To define the queries, we created an array of JSON objects that allowed us to quickly select the elements we wanted, then test whether the parent element was greater than the min-width or less than the max-width . If it was, then we applied the responsive class to the element: The ‘component’ name was a selector – almost always a single-class selector, for simplicity’s sake. We used a naming convention to easily identify our components and continued that naming convention through to the responsive classes that were applied. Those responsive classes would be defined in the same file as the rest of the component. If you’re familiar with Scalable and Modular Architecture for CSS (SMACSS), then these responsive classes behave much like states. Right: Typical layout - A two-column layout using . The content stretches to fill the column it’s in Left: Lining up - When space is tight, Flexbox automatically reflows the right column underneath the left column, and the content grows to fill it Moving fast For complex applications that have a large collection of components, it’s great to be able to focus on a single component with little concern for the context in which it’s used. With a deadline looming, the team was able to divide up the work by tackling each component separately. How would the tabs work? How would the header work? How would the layout work? Each team member could grab a piece, address its concern, create a pull request, and then move on to the next component. This allowed us to take a web application and make it responsive in under a month. ...and not so fast Going responsive in under a month? Holy cow! Why isn’t everyone using container queries and building responsive applications in such a short period of time? Truth is, much of the work took place at design level, which happened months prior to the Shopify Admin going responsive. Having a design team that was considering the impact of their work knowing that we’d eventually go responsive saved us a lot of work. Some components – like tab overflow – needed consideration well before going responsive, and a JavaScript-based solution that didn’t use container queries was built separately. In my recent time at Xero, for example, the design team was going through this process. It takes time to consider every component under every context, and more time to build the component. If the designers aren’t thinking this through then it’ll be the engineers doing it. I don’t say that disparagingly. The work needs to be done regardless, and the sooner, the better. Furious JavaScript The loop for finding elements and applying conditional classes would be executed many times: Every time the page loads Every time the browser resizes Every time an interaction affected document flow Every time content was dynamically injected The more components you have that need conditional styling, the more work JavaScript has to do. Any of these events could create a noticeable lag. The page loads, and then a fraction of a second later a discernible shift occurs when the classes are applied. Avoiding queries altogether Over a year on from when Shopify initially implemented container queries, the team is slowly moving away from using them, choosing other techniques to solve the problem. So if container queries are too taxing for now, what can we do without them? As it turns out – thanks to Flexbox – we have options. The biggest challenge when it comes to responsive design is how to handle multi-column content and reflow it in a sensible way. Let’s take a look at two common examples. Two-column offset design with side navigation Shopify has a number of screens like this: there is a side navigation and then a content area that features two columns, one larger than the other. If the two columns were both the same width, then we could just float the columns. When the page could no longer fit both side by side, one column would fall under the other. However, with offset sizes, simply floating one column under the other would look weird. As you scroll down, you’d notice the content suddenly didn’t stretch to the full width of the container. With Flexbox, we can define a min-width to our columns and a flex-wrap: wrap to the container. When the columns hit their minimum, one will flow under the other. The best part is that when it wraps, each column will now stretch to the full width of the container. By setting min-width on the primary column, we essentially define a breakpoint based on that column, allowing the column next to it to flow under when there’s no longer enough room. The Media object with actions aligned to the right on larger screensMedia object with actions The media object defines a very common pattern: image on the left, with descriptive text to the right of it. This pattern commonly needs to be augmented with a third piece: right-aligned actions. Flexbox combined with our media object allows it to reflow the actions under the contentWe’ve augmented the body of the media object with two containers: one for the content and one for the actions. Like the last example, we set flex-wrap to wrap so when we run out of room, the second container will wrap onto the next line. When the content container reaches its minimum width, set using flex-basis , the actions will flow to the next line. The actions, however, will now be aligned to the left with the content, instead of to the right. Fill 'er up As you can see from these two examples, the best approach to building a responsive site is one where you don’t have to create a bunch of media queries in order to manage the design across different viewports. Take advantage of the fluidity of the web by allowing the components of your design to naturally fill the containers they’re in. Avoid specifying fixed widths and heights that will make your site unduly brittle. The future You’ll need to evaluate your project to decide whether using a JavaScript solution to implement container queries on your site is ideal. At Shopify, it allowed us to move quickly and we accepted the performance drawbacks in the beginning. Getting a native implementation of container queries would be ideal, but we’ll need more advocacy and deep thinking about how to solve the performance and circular issues before we see progress. The ResizeObserver, if introduced into the DOM, could provide an easier and possibly more performant implementation in JavaScript. To get involved with the future of container queries, check out the Responsive Issues Community Group (RICG). This article was originally published in issue 285 of net magazine , the magazine for professional web designers and developers – offering the latest new web trends, technologies and techniques. Subscribe to net here. Special Christmas offer: Save up to 49% on a subscription to net for you or a friend for Christmas. It's a limited offer, so move quickly... Related articles 28 outstanding examples of CSS 16 amazing HTML examples Get started with HTML canvas for animation View the full article

Whoever your graphic design portfolio site is aimed at, you have to remember that people’s time and attention is limited. Employers, to take one example, may look at dozens of portfolios in the space of 10 minutes. So you only have a few seconds to really grab their attention and enthuse them. You don’t want to go too crazy, though. Fill your portfolio with too many tricks and visual flourishes and you’ll end up taking attention away from the work itself, which as a graphic designer is the thing you want people to focus on the most. These eight great portfolios, all launched or updated in the last 12 months, strike a nice balance between being interesting and distinctive without overwhelming the work. Check them out and we hope you pick up some ideas that work for your own portfolio. 01. Rafael Kfouri This minimal one-page site gives Kfouri’s colourful and impactful visuals room to breathe Rafael Kfouri is an award-winning graphic designer currently working for Wieden+Kennedy Portland. He previously worked at F/Nazca Saatchi&Saatchi and CUBOCC. The one-page portfolio site is a tricky thing to pull off, but Kfouri succeeds well in giving his colourful and impactful visuals – including single images and collages – room to breathe. Giving them almost the entire width of the screen, with just a couple of slim sidebars for context, allows visitors to enjoy and appreciate the wide scope of his work at a leisurely pace. There’s only the barest of information about each project, and to be honest, we’d like to have seen more. But as a way of showcasing graphic eye-candy smartly and with minimal (if any) clicks needed to get to the goodies, this portfolio offers a lot of inspiration. 02. Jennifer Heintz Heintz’s portfolio site makes great use of colour Jennifer Heintz is a designer and illustrator living in Boston, USA. Currently a fifth year student majoring in graphic and information design, she’s also creative director of the Northeastern University Political Review. When you’re a student, you typically don’t have a huge amount of work to draw on, so careful curation and imaginative presentation become paramount. Heintz’s site scores highly on both, with a great use of colour, delightfully smooth scrolling and a snazzy eye motif. These work together to make each individual project much more enticing than it might have seemed on a more cookie-cutter site. 03. Pavel Kedzich Kedzich brings some of his own graphic style to the design of his portfolio website Pavel Kedzich is a graphic designer based in Riga, Latvia. He focuses on digital projects with typographic sensibility and an editorial slant. Most portfolio sites take a minimalist, “get out of the way” approach to interface design, preferring to let the work speak for itself, and that’s fine. But Kedzich has decided to add some of his own personal graphic style to the typography and layout here, and this certainly adds an extra little something. Presenting images as preview windows interspersed with pullquotes and typographical elements stands out, and we particularly love that he gives full credits to everyone else who worked on the project. 04. Mat Weller Mat Weller’s portfolio presents both client projects and personal experiments Mat Weller is a freelance graphic designer from the UK who’s currently living and working in Los Angeles. He’s worked with brands including Manchester United, Arsenal FC, BBC Radio 1, J Brand Jeans, BSkyB, G4S and Vodafone. His portfolio site takes quite a different approach from the norm, presenting visuals from a number of colourful projects in a full-screen carousel (although not, sadly, project details beyond the website or type of project in a word or two). More interestingly, there’s also an ‘Experiments’ section, where he’s played around with “themes of luridness, garishness, the psychedelic experience and reality distortion” in intriguing and effective ways. 05. Ade Mills This blue-tinged portfolio site evokes an earlier era of photocopier art Ade Mills is a graphic designer, illustrator and podcaster based in Bexhill, East Sussex, UK. There’s a lo-fi graphic sensibility to his monotone portfolio site that’s reminiscent of old-school fanzines and photocopier art. It’s an inspired and effective way to convey the fact that Mills works happily across both digital and analogue formats. Although it does take a couple of clicks to get to his work, the bold typography and glitch effect you're greeted with on the homepage convey a sense of his style and capabilities before you get there. 06. Ben David Sandhu Sandhu’s portfolio oozes the confidence you expect from a senior designer Ben David Sandhu is an award-winning art and design director based in London, UK, who’s collaborated with clients including Honda, Speedo, Bottega Veneta and Shangri-La. His portfolio site is super-clean, showcasing just one image at a time in a manual slideshow with the absolute minimum of cruft. Click through, though, and you get a useful amount of text and images; the former well crafted, the latter intense and attention-grabbing throughout. 07. Jean-Loïc Antunes Antunes’ portfolio site hosts a variety of design work, and neat type effects help you get to where you’re going in a fun way Jean-Loïc Antunes is a graphic designer and illustrator based in Lyon, France. His portfolio site’s homepage is based around a slightly crazy animated treatment of his name; scroll down and similar typographical trickery awaits. It’s an inventive way to convey the breadth of his multiple design skills, and helps put a smile on your face while you find the section you’re looking for. And once you’ve arrived there, the work itself – from graphic design to illustration, web design and beyond – is consistently top-class. The little photos that pop up when you hover over the main project links are a nice touch, and project descriptions are brief but clear. 08. Alex Coven Coven uses some simple tricks to make his portfolio distinctive Alex Coven, in his own words, “wears three hats”, as a freelance graphic designer, letterer and frontend developer based in Chicago, USA. He illustrates those hats literally on the homepage, which is a brilliantly simple way to convey the depth of his skills and experience. Scroll down on his site to see his work, and across on each one for more information about that project. Clever use of colour overlays again acts as a simple device to keep things distinctive and interesting. Related articles: 6 rock-solid ways to improve your graphic design portfolio The 10 commandments of working at a London design agency 10 visual storytelling tips from top agencies View the full article

Got a winning idea for an app, children’s book or new business venture? Or do you want to diversify your skillset to help you aim big in your next career move? Whatever your dream, stop thinking about it and go for it, with two months of free Skillshare Premium courses to empower you with the expertise you need to see it through. As illustrator Eva-Lotta Lamm says in our Why you should make time for creative side projects feature: “My advice is to just start doing something that interests you and see where it will take you.” Her sketchnotes began as an illustrated travel diary and grew into her main career as she was booked for speaking engagements and teaching workshops. “Personal projects for me are important because they act as a beacon for what I'm about,” Brendan Dawes told us in our recent interview with him, adding that the attention from personal projects can help to get your name out there. Could that great idea of yours be the key to landing a job at a top design studio, or running a successful side business? Numerous creatives like Lamm and Dawes have had success with their passion projects, but they also all had to start somewhere. You may already have design qualifications and be a Photoshop pro or a web design whiz, but still have an area where you feel less confident or have a professional gap. Or you may have a burgeoning interest in a discipline that’s new to you. Learning these skills could see you progress up the career ladder faster, and help future-proof your career at a time when flexible, eager and multi-talented creatives are in demand. If you’d like to learn new skills or make improvements in anything from logo design and typography, to crafting a standout portfolio site and pitching your skills as a freelancer, Skillshare has a course to help. Its courses are taught by working professionals with core expertise in each field they teach about, so you know you’re in capable hands. Learning from passionate creatives will empower you to be the designer or artist you’ve always wanted to be. Some of the standout creative courses in Skillshare’s catalogue include: Ink Drawing Techniques: Brush, Nib, and Pen Style with Yuko Shimizu Hand Lettering Techniques: 5 Ways to Better Work with Mary Kate McDevitt Logo Design with Grids: Timeless Style from Simple Shapes with George Bokhua Creating & Using Custom 3D Objects in Illustrator with Evgeniya & Dominic Righini-Brand Web Design Essentials: Creating Marketing Homepages That Drive Results with Dennis Field Freelancing for Creatives: Strategies & Resources from First Leap to Finances with Margot Harrington As well as driven teachers, every Skillshare class involves other students by having you learn together, exchange feedback and showcase work. Have a look at the student projects on the Skillshare site now, to see what you could be creating. If you're looking to freelance outside of work, launch a side hustle, improve your skillsets at work, or pursue a personal passion project, check out the courses for creatives at Skillshare. Click here to redeem two whole months of Skillshare Premium membership for free. That’s two months to try over 17,000 classes - which will you choose? View the full article

For the best part of a decade, 2K was the prevailing production norm. But in the last couple of years it has been increasingly difficult to stick at this resolution, as film production has shifted to 4K, 5K, and even 6K. The 2012 Olympics even saw some early testing of 8K television cameras. If you’re going to produce 3D art content for the market from now onwards, you will need to have the ability to produce in 4K, and preview results at this resolution. Here, we're going to look at six monitors that can give you the 4K experience, with a range of sizes and prices on offer. (With brilliant Black Friday deals already coming in, and Cyber Monday just around the corner, you might just be able to snap up a bargain on a 4K monitor if you're quick.) 5 best laptops for video editing in 2017It is now possible to purchase a 4K monitor for as little as £250. But screens at this price will primarily be aimed at consumer usage, and won’t be best suited to professional 3D content creation. Primarily, this will mean colour accuracy won’t be guaranteed to an adequate level, but could also imply deficiencies in a number of other areas. However, the screens start at £350, up to nearly £1,000 ex VAT, so there is something here for every budget. Displaying Colour The first thing to consider is what 4K actually means. This just refers to the horizontal resolution, and in digital cinema is natively 4,096 pixels across, with 2,160 pixels vertically. But the TV version maintains the 16:9 aspect ratio, and only offers 3,840 by 2,160 pixels. Virtually all 4K monitors use the latter resolution, although 5K monitors are also starting to emerge, in particular from Dell. While LCDs have generally come in a variety of technologies, including TN, IPS and IGZO, flavours of IPS are usually the norm in the professional space, including Samsung’s variant PLS. The TN panels have faster response rates, as low as 1ms, but IPS panels are usually more like 4ms, or even higher, making them slightly less optimal for interactive activities like games. But colour fidelity is usually a lot better than TN panels. Whatever the screen technology used, cheaper 4K panels could also offer lower refresh rates, such as 30Hz at 4K, rather than 60Hz or above. This might be fine for static graphics work, but will lead to less smooth-looking motion. It’s also worth considering how the monitor displays colours, including the bit-depth of the display itself and that of the signal processing beforehand. Most screens are at least 10-bit with 12-bit processing, but premium screens can go higher. Of course, all of these are on-paper specifications, so we have also tested each of the screens with PassMark’s MonitorTest software, which provides a series of patterns designed to reveal the quality of a screen, as well as displaying a selection of bitmap images, video and 3D models for more subjective testing. Read on for our results. Get Adobe Creative Cloud01. Asus PA328Q The Asus PA328Q is cheaper, but doesn't compromise on colour uniformityAsus sent us two screens, and despite both being 32in and having very similar names, they are actually more different than you would imagine. The PA328Q is cheaper and offers a broadly similar specification to other 4K screens, beyond the screen size. Usability One of the key differences between the PA328Q and its more expensive sibling is that the former calculates colour in 12-bit, while the PA329Q uses 16-bit, although both have 10-bit displays. It still manages to offer 100% sRGB and Rec 709 support. There are the usual swivel, tilt, height adjustment and portrait pivoting options. The DisplayPort and Mini DisplayPort connections are 1.2 standard, with two HDMI 1.4 and a single HDMI 2.0, but no DVI or VGA. Performance Although this is the cheaper of the two Asus monitors, colour uniformity across the screen is already excellent, partly due to brightness uniformity compensation being available as a menu option. There is some banding visible with red and green gradients, as well as white, although not with blue. Gamma wasn’t reading quite as high as the setting implied during our testing, however. Conclusion The Asus PA328Q has the slowest response at 6ms on this test, and this was discernible if you looked closely at the moving rectangles screen in MonitorTest, or the video we used for more subjective assessment. However, the text test in particular shows that 32in is a very natural screen size for 4K. So if you can afford the extra cost of this much screen, the PA328Q is definitely a contender. 02. Asus PA329Q The colours on this screen are high quality with a rich subtletyThe PA329Q is the second 32in entry this batch from Asus, and although the housing is nearly identical in outward appearance, with just a gold strip rather than a red one along the bottom of the bezel, the circuitry inside has been considerably improved. In particular, colour is calculated as 16-bit internally, rather than 12-bit before reaching the 10-bit display. Usability The greater underlying bit depth means that the PA329Q can boast 99.5% Adobe RGB, as well as 100% sRGB and Rec. 709, plus 90% of DCI-P3 wide colour gamut, and support for Rec. 2020. It’s also factory pre-calibrated. There are subtle differences in connectivity, too, with four HDMI 2.0 alongside the DisplayPort and Mini DisplayPort 1.2, five USB 3.0 ports and an SD card reader on the edge of the bezel. Performance Single colour uniformity across the screen is excellent, with no noticeable change even at the edges. Like the PA328Q, there is a compensation option to help this. Red and blue gradients show no signs of banding, with only very minimal evidence in green and white. Overall, the PA329Q provided the best image quality on test, with colourful images having a subtle extra level of richness. Conclusion The 5ms response also means that the ghosting on moving objects is less visible than with the PA328Q, for marginally better production of moving imagery. So although this is the most expensive screen in this test, it does at least provide enough visual quality to warrant the price. If you want the best colour, it could be worth the extra. 03. BenQ BL2711U The BenQ BL2711U has good but not excellent image qualityThe BL2711U is a 27in 4K IPS screen from BenQ with specific preset modes aimed at CAD/CAM and animation, and a 10-bit screen. It offers 100% sRGB and REC 709 colour spaces, and even has certification from Dassault Systèmes for use with SolidWorks. Usability The stand enables the screen to be raised by up to 140mm, swivelled 45 degrees in either direction, and tilted up 20 degrees or down five degrees. It can also be rotated into portrait mode. There is a single Dual-Link DVI connection, one DisplayPort and two HDMIs (one 1.4, one 2.0 only), with the ability to put the image from one input inside another, but no legacy VGA is included. There is a four-port USB 3.0 hub, though. Performance When assessing with MonitorTest, there is a slight darkening along the bottom edge with images of uniformly bright colour, as well as white. Graduated blue and red is very smooth indeed, although green and white had a very slight hint of banding. Very small text was extremely clear. Overall, image quality is very good, but not completely perfect. Conclusion The BenQ BL2711U is a good all rounder for content creation. It has commendable performance with a few minor niggles, and the response rate of 4ms – which is about the best we normally see from an IPS screen – should enhance its abilities at tasks like video editing that benefit from a faster refresh. At £399.99 plus VAT, it’s very keenly priced for a 27in professional screen. 04. Philips 241P6VPJKEB This screen is slightly slower than most but is more afforableThe 241P6VPJKEB is a 23.8in 4K monitor aimed at professional applications, although not just 3D content creation. It uses an AH-IPS panel, which is a variant of IPS with improved colour accuracy, resolution, and light transmission alongside lower power consumption. This is the smallest screen in this test, and the cheapest. Usability The base allows for 130mm of height adjustment, tilting from -5 to +20 degrees, swivelling from -175 to +175 degrees, and can be pivoted into portrait orientation. Connections include VGA, DVI-Dual Link, DisplayPort, and HDMI 2.0, with MHL 2.0 support. The built-in three-port USB hub is 3.0 standard, so won’t slow down any external storage devices you attach. There’s even a built-in webcam and mic – handy for those collaborative Skype calls. Performance No glaring problems emerged during our MonitorTest session, with deep blacks across the full extent of the screen, and solid colours mostly rendered uniformly. There is a slight bit of backlight bleed around the edges of a solid blue screen, but not with solid white. Graduated colours are rendered perfectly. However, there is some unusual discolouration in curved lines, but changes in contrast are clear and small text readable, eyesight permitting. Conclusion Performance is not without the odd fault, and 4K is a lot of pixels to pack into a 24in screen. Philips only claims 99% of the sRGB colour space, where some others promise 100%. It has a 5ms response rate, which is slower than some and there is slight evidence of this in fast-moving content. But the £350 price is reasonable for a professional screen, especially given the extras like the built-in webcam. 05. Samsung U32E850R This screen is perfect for watching motion mediaThe Samsung U24E850R is the third 32in monitor in this group, although the actual screen diagonal is 31.5in. It uses Samsung’s alternative to IPS technology, called plane-to-line switching (PLS), which the company claims has some advantages over IPS. One of these is cost, which is borne out by the fact that the U32E850R is the cheapest 32in panel. Usability The U32E850R offers 97% sRGB gamut, which is a little off some of the best on offer, and Adobe RGB only stretches to 80% – quite a bit less than the Asus PA329Q. Connectivity includes two HDMI ports, one DisplayPort, and one Mini DisplayPort, with no DVI or VGA. There’s a four-port USB hub, but no built-in memory card reader. Performance Despite having a lower price than other 32in panels, the U32E850R exhibits commendable performance. Black, white, red, green and blue are all extremely uniform across the screen, and there is only a very mild, almost imperceptible darkening along the bottom edge of an all-white display. Graduated colour is similarly very smooth, with just the faintest sign of bands in green and white graduations. Conclusion With a relatively speedy 4ms response rate, this is one of the best screens on test for watching motion media as well, which was obvious from the pixel persistence test. Although this is the cheapest 32in 4K screens, you still pay a notable premium over the smaller screen sizes – you could almost purchase two BenQ 27in units for the price of one 32in screen. Nevertheless, with great image quality, the U32E850R offers the best value in its class. 06. ViewSonic VP2780-4K The ViewSonic VP2780-4K has excellent performance but a high price tagThe ViewSonic VP2780-4K is our second 27in screen, and has features to put it above BenQ’s alternative, but also a significantly higher price. While the screen is still 10-bit, colour is calculated to 14 bits of precision internally, so 80% Adobe RGB, and 99% EBU, can be offered alongside 100% sRGB gamut. Usability The VP2780-4K has ditched legacy DVI and VGA in favour of providing three HDMI 2.0 connections, two of which support MHL, plus a single DisplayPort 1.2a and Mini DisplayPort. There’s height adjustment of 150mm, tilt from 23 degrees up to five degrees down, 60 degree swivel, and the ability to rotate into portrait mode. Performance The screen is very uniform with black, white, red, green and blue, showing only very mild variation at the edges. Very minor banding is visible in some of the graduated screens. The higher bit depth internal processing is discernible with richly coloured images compared to BenQ’s 27in entry, with excellent fidelity. Conclusion The 5ms response rate isn’t the fastest here, but is par for the course for IPS panels. Compared to the 4ms panels, there was a little bit more edge blurring in fast moving screen elements. This is an expensive screen – 50% more than BenQ’s 27in entry – so while overall performance is excellent, the ViewSonic VP2780-4K is not such good value. This article was originally published in 3D World magazine issue 212. Buy it here. Related articles: The best video editing software 2017 The best laptops for graphic design 4 things every creative needs to know about 4K video View the full article

Hackers using a specially crafted XLS files can trigger several remote code execution vulnerabilities in the LibXL library. View the full article

It's a problem that daunts even the most seasoned of creative directors: how do you know a good idea when you see one? And how do you nurture that idea so that it can achieve its full potential? To guide graphic designers through how to develop a brand, the creative directors from London-based studio SomeOne, Laura Hussey and Rich Rhodes, walk us through their creative process in the video and written steps below. 01. It should be contagious When a big idea hits, "it's like cayenne pepper: it hits you and then 20 minutes later you can't think of anything else and it explodes throughout the studio," is Hussey’s analogy. "There's a buzz that goes around, everybody cottons on and feels the same thing." As it develops, lots of people will start chipping in with ideas. 02. It could come from anywhere "We once had a designer who started with us and in the first week her idea got through," recalls Hussey. "We had a week to pull off the whole project. Some studios would take it away and give it to a more senior designer, but she got to work on it all the way through – it was just a brilliant idea and everyone bounced off it." 03. It must be flexible For Hussey, a big idea needs to translate effortlessly across different touchpoints. "A brand world is a kit of parts; a toolbox; an operating system," she explains. "It's the stuff that flexes around the main idea, and can be completely different in each type of media. Smaller ideas are limited: that's where you end up not with a brand world, but just a logo, a typeface and a colour." “A big idea is something that both answers a question but then answers another question. You can answer the brief but then, what else can it do?” says Rhodes. “It’s something that is provocative and then pushes further.” 04. It can survive rigorous testing To determine an idea's flexibility, you need to try it out in many different contexts. "Having experience in lots of different sectors is great," Hussey reflects. "Someone will say: 'Great, it works on the website, or in a brochure, or an app, but what would you do for PR? How does that work in retail?' We cross-pollinate all the different things that a brand world has to do." 05. It's prepared for the worst Best-case scenarios are great, but for Hussey it's just as important to anticipate the worst. "What happens in the brand world if something disastrous happens? Does it fall apart? Can it cope? it’s not always about telling the story you want to tell," she warns. This article was originally published in issue 255 of Computer Arts, the global design magazine – helping you solve daily design challenges with insights, advice and inspiration. Subscribe to Computer Arts here Related articles: How to craft a brand voice The designer’s guide to using colour in branding Best free fonts for designers View the full article

That November pay day is getting closer, so we've rounded up the best Christmas gift ideas for design students and junior designers. We've got gifts in four ranges – under $25, under $75, under $125, and (for the more generous), over $125. Books are always a safe bet, so we've got a stack of them – about type, about icons, about the best young designers in the country. We've also got the best Moleskine design of the year. And we've got a workshop that'll get any fledgling designer's Instagram photos flying. Plus there's a little phone printer to print out ideas on the move, a portfolio cover to help them stand out in job interviews, and a first aid kit for gadgets. Let's get started. Best gifts for design students under £20/$25 Did you know that van Gogh supposedly used a Moleskine? Picasso too? And Hemingway… Of course you do. Everyone does. But none of them had a Moley that features graphics by the great American artist and activist Keith Haring. Haring was one of the late 20th century’s most influential image makers, and this is easily the best limited edition Moleskine of the year. Type: A Practical Guide for Students and Designers offers a thorough introduction to typography – "a crucially important skill that underpins practically every aspect of graphic design" – and is aimed at students, recent graduates, and self-taught designers. Richard Poulin, principal of multidisciplinary design consultancy Poulin + Morris, New York State, is your guide. In his new book Thinking in Icons: Designing and Creating Effective Visual Symbols, Felix Sockwell (Google, Facebook, New York Times) talks you through everything from the "refined corporate visual systems" to the "ubiquitous emoji". These icons, he argues, have become an international language we're all fluent in, often without realising it: "This is the designer’s guide to creating the next great statement." Best gifts for design students under £50/$75 Ford Motors. Esquire. Obama. If you don't know the name Aaron Draplin, chances are you've seen his work. This book is a "mid-career survey" of the graphic designer's portfolio, which shares case studies, road stories, and advice on how he made it to the top, with loads of examples of his stuff. His commentary is lively, too. Handmade, Italian leather, pithy inspirational quote: Hope House Press knows the score when it comes to luxury notebooks. Its stuff has a "cult celebrity following." The Progress Not Perfection Notebook comes in nine different colours and you choose from plain, lined or squared paper for the pages. It also comes gift wrapped, with a handwritten note of your choice. Twenty One: 21 Designers for Twenty-First Century Britain looks at the biggest names in British design today. "They lead public taste and critical debate; they are the innovators and the explorers of new materials or processes; they are establishing new ways of working, and redefining what that work might be," it says. Author Gareth Williams looks at the folios of, among others, Troika, Jaime Hayon, and El Ultimo Grito. 07. Magazine subscription From £45/$60 (1 year digital subscription) A magazine subscription is a great option for a design student – not only is this the gift that keeps on giving all year round, it's also a great way for them to get familiar with the industry and learn all the vital info they need to master their specialism. At Creative Bloq, we represent a number of best-selling design and creative magazines, each for a different creative specialism. For graphic designers there's Computer Arts, for digital artists there's ImagineFX, for budding web designers or developers we have net and Web Designer, and fledgling 3D artists can learn plenty from 3D World and 3D Artist. Plus, all these titles have limited-time Christmas offers on with up to 49% off the price of a subscription, so they're a bargain at the moment. Best gifts for design students under £100/$125 08. Under-The-Jack Pack Price: $78The way we see it, the Under-The-Jack Pack has two functions. First, its "ultra-slim profile lets you carry your laptop covertly", which is ideal if you're worried about being robbed or you're a part-time spy. Secondly, a backpack looks rubbish on top of really smart clothes, so this product lets you carry everything you need to carry without creasing up your new winter coat. It's functional, too, with pockets and compartments for phones and headphones, and it's compatible with 13 and 15-inch laptops. The Polaroid ZIP mobile printer prints directly from your smartphone or tablet through bluetooth. Like an old-school Polaroid, it doesn't use ink. It prints 2 x 3-inch photos, full-colour and smudge-proof. The app's free for iOS and Android users. It's small and lightweight, which is a good way of quickly getting ideas off your phone and up onto the wall. This solid oak wooden speaker beefs up the sound that comes from your iPhone. You slide your phone into the slot at the back – no wires, no batteries. Furniture designer Nick James makes all speakers by hand, so you're basically getting a one-off, with no two pieces of wood being the same. Ask him really nicely and he might even chuck in the dog (probably not, though). This is a first aid kit for gadget heads, a "personalised all-in-one tech roll" that includes cables and chargers and headphones for pretty much every piece of kit you could own. And it all comes in a leather, suede-lined case. Best gifts for design students over £100/$125 This workshop introduces the "core concepts of food photography from context to composition" before you head out into London to shoot at various locations. You can do it with a phone or a camera, and the course leaders says there's something to be learned whether you're a beginner or pro. It also includes three food tastings and a drink. If your portfolio is starting to look sharp, you should keep it in something that does it justice. This bamboo wood folder is, "Designed by designers, for designers." You can personalise it, with names laser etched onto the cover, and it's available in various sizes, with any custom sizes offered on request. While it is expensive, if you're looking for a special gift for the design student in your life, you'd struggle to do better than a Surface Book (plus, the price of the original model is on its way down since the release of the Surface Book 2 – and there may be some Black Friday deals to be had if you're quick). This laptop from Microsoft is the first real challenger to Apple's MacBook Pro, and it's difficult to find anything wrong with it – read our Surface Book review for more info. Related articles: The best Black Friday deals 2017 The best laptops for graphic design 2017 26 books every graphic designer should read View the full article

The Harry Potter franchise continues to rumble on with the upcoming release of the second film in the Fantastic Beasts series. To build up anticipation for the latest instalment, called Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Pottermore revealed the film's logo and release date yesterday. We've already seen this year how film logos can contain little hints and suggestions about what to expect from the story. Just look at the logo for Ready Player One, which snuck in a subtle maze and Easter egg image that ties into the events of the film. Speaking of the Ready Player one logo, the Crimes of Grindelwald logo was designed by the same person – Pentagram's very own Emily Oberman. The logo for The Crimes of Grindelwald doesn't contain anything quite as literal as a maze, but the torn up typography does suggest that the film is set to get a little more dark in tone. In fact, the film's synopsis reveals that we will see more of the Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald, so it looks like the wizarding world itself is about to get ripped apart. Following its reveal on social media, fans have gone into meltdown, trying to dig into the messages in the gritty typography design. Does the design of the letter "i" in "Crimes" relate to the powerful elder wand? And why is the letter "a" in "Grindelwald" shaped like a triangle? Could it be a reference to the Deathly Hallows symbol? A short promotional video of the leading cast members accompanied the reveal of the title and logo. In this video, we see the Deathly Hallows symbol for a moment as it emerges from a smoky vortex. What could it all mean? Unfortunately the only way we'll find out is by watching the film, which will be released on 16 November 2018, so we've got a while to wait yet. Related articles: The top 10 big-brand logos The psychology of logo shapes: A designer's guide The 10 best cursive logos of all time View the full article

TypeScript is one of a group of languages that use the JavaScript runtime as execution environment: .ts files containing TypeScript code are compiled into normal JavaScript, which can then be run by the browser. Jeremy Ashkenas first made this concept popular with his CoffeeScript language, but sadly, its relatively terse syntax was difficult to learn for developers acquainted with C# or Visual Basic. As Microsoft expanded into Web 2.0 technologies, it chose to take inspiration from Jeremy Ashkenas. Due to the capabilities of Visual Studio, developers can simply hack away while profiting from the various language extensions. TypeScript is not limited to static typing: it also comes with a variety of advanced features that allow you to simulate object-oriented programming paradigms on the web. This short guide will take you through some of its key features. If the language appeals to you, more information can be learned on the fly. 01. Install Visual Studio Visual Studio 2017 comes with a new installer; the required features are split into payloads to make deployment easier Even though TypeScript can also be used on Linux or macOS, we will stick to Microsoft’s official IDE. Download the free community edition of Visual Studio 2017 from Microsoft, here, and make sure to mark the ASP.NET payload during deployment. 02. Add the SDK Due to the fast release cadence of TypeScript, Visual Studio needs to be expanded with an SDK module, which can be downloaded from the Microsoft site here. Simply run the installer as if it were a standard Windows application. 03. Download TypeScript, for real It wouldn't be Microsoft if there weren’t some extra hassle involved: while the SDK upgrades your Visual Studio installation, the actual TSC compiler is not added to your command line. This problem is best solved by using Node.js’s npm package manager on the command line. PS C:\Users\tamha\Downloads> npm install -g typescript C:\Users\tamha\AppData\Roaming\npm\tsc -> C:\Users\tamha\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\typescript\bin\tsc C:\Users\tamha\AppData\Roaming\npm\tsserver -> C:\Users\tamha\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\typescript\bin\tsserver C:\Users\tamha\AppData\Roaming\npm `-- typescript@2.4.2 04. Break out of the project Visual Studio expects to work in a solution-centric process: while interesting, this is less than ideal for our needs. Instead, create a file called worker.ts and place it in a convenient place in your file system. Open it by dragging it into Visual Studio, and drop it inside the toolbar on the top. Next, modify its contents to include the following code: 05. Create an entry point As mentioned in the introduction, a .ts file can not do much on its own. Due to that, proceed to creating a file called index.html, which must be located in the same folder. Next, add the skeleton code shown accompanying this step. It loads the compiler’s output, and runs it as if it were any other bit of JavaScript. 06. Compile and run The next step involves manual recompilation of the .ts file. Open PowerShell, and enter the tsc command followed by the name of the input file. By default, the output file will share the base filename, but will have an extension of .js instead of .ts. Finally, open the index.html file in a browser of choice to prove the appearance of the message box. 07. Get typed Use this reference table to find basic static types So far, TypeScript has done little more than act as a more complex JavaScript environment. The next step involves activating the support for static typing: it enables the compiler to perform static analysis of parameters, keeping out invalid values. For this, a set of types is needed – basic types are listed in the table above, while classes will be discussed later. 08. Try it out In normal JavaScript, this error would be found only when the line in question gets invoked TypeScript variable type assignments take place via ‘a :’ placed after the variable name. Let us modify our Oi function to take a number, and let us pass in a string instead. Finally, invoke the TSC compiler once again to feast your eyes on the error message shown in the screenshot above – Visual Studio, incidentally, will also highlight the line in question. 09. Avoid the prototype JavaScript implements object-orientation via prototyping: a style of code which is uncommon in the .NET and C/C++ worlds. TypeScript solves this problem by allowing the creation of classes – a process shown in the snippet accompanying this step. 10. Appreciate the public The holding values created by setting the public attribute get populated automatically Normally, the public attribute is used to declare that an element of a program is to be accessible from the outside. When used as a constructor parameter, it instead instructs the TypeScript compiler to create local fields with the same names. 11. Method and instance Let us expand our example class by providing it with a method which accesses the values stored in myResult and myA, and outputs them on the screen. Finally, the new parameter is used to create an instance of the class – it is used for invoking the method. 12. Use its magical features TypeScript’s language design is intended to save developers as much effort as possible. One nice feature is the auto-population of parameters created using the shortcut shown. 13. Perform inheritance Our small example program proves that TypeScript satisfies the core tenets of object inheritance One of the core tenets of object-oriented programming involves basing classes on top of one another. Derived classes can then override the contents of their base class, leading to flexibly adjustable class hierarchies. 14. Analyse the overwrite The code snippet from above extended the Imagine class with a sub-element called Future. Future differs from Imagine in that its saySomething method, being more evolved, emits a message into the command line of the browser. 15. Analyse the overwrite, redux With that, the actual code can be tested. When run, the browser console will contain two invocations of Future – the advanced class keeps its properties even when invoked as an Imagine object. 16. Restricted access Exposing member variables with the public modifier is unpopular: it, after all, takes away most control of what users do with the variable's contents. TypeScript accessors allow you to work around this problem in a fashion similar to traditional OOP. Be aware that read-only members are also supported, but that the use of this feature requires the activation of ECMAScript5 support. 17. Make it abstract The ability to create complex inheritance hierarchies will motivate developers to try their luck at abstract classes. TypeScript also has you covered in that regard – the example accompanying this step creates a class with an abstract and a real member. Trying to instantiate the abstract class directly leads to a compiler error. 18. Make an interface As object structures become more complex, developers often find themselves facing situations where one class implements multiple bits of logic. In that case, an interface makes for a nice workaround – the example shows what to expect. 19. Implement it As in the case of the class above, an interface does us no good if we cannot use it. Fortunately, implementing it is not particularly difficult: be aware that interface authors can, furthermore, declare parts of their creation to be optional. 20. Use a generic class The TypeScript compiler enforces strict variable validity checking. When working on a storage class, generics allow you to let the end user determine the type to be handled. Furthermore, TypeScript also allows other generic elements such as functions, as is shown in the (tautological) snippet taken from the documentation. 21. A question of enumeration State machines and similar elements benefit greatly from having a way to restrict a variable to storing a few well-defined states. This can be accomplished using the Enum data type: 22. Learn more Covering a language as complex as TypeScript in a single article is almost impossible. Look at the TypeScript site's examples to find out more about language bindings. This article was originally published in issue 266 Web Designer, the creative web design magazine – offering expert tutorials, cutting-edge trends and free resources. Buy issue 266 here or subscribe to Web Designer here. Related articles: 20 JavaScript tools to blow your mind Learn to make your JavaScript accessible 12 common JavaScript questions answered View the full article

If you've seen our Black Friday 2017 and Cyber Monday 2017 early deals pages, you'll know we're working hard to bring designers, illustrators and artists the best bargains on creative tools this November. And here's another one on a game-changing Photoshop CC and Lightroom CC course bundle. Adobe has set the gold standard for photo editing and so much more with Photoshop. You can take your work to the next level by learning from the experts to use this powerful tool from Adobe with the Complete Photoshop Mastery Bundle. You can get this collection of courses on sale now for $29 (approx £22). As we also have an exclusive 15% discount on Creative Cloud subscriptions until 27 November, now is the time to get into Photoshop, Lightroom and Adobe's other great programs. Get your 15% discount on Adobe Creative Cloud herePhotoshop is a powerful program that can seem overwhelming when you're first learning it. This bundle will take away your fears by teaching you the ins and outs of the app so that you can master every aspect of it. You'll get access to eight courses packed with 214 lessons, each with actionable information that will teach you how to master lighting effects, create cinematic gradients, colour black and white photos and much more. The Adobe Photoshop and Editing Mastery Bundle is valued at $1,210. You can get it on sale right now for 97% off the retail price. That's an amazing saving on a course bundle that can help all creatives, so grab it today. The courses included in the bundle are: Master Photoshop Light Effects & Style Your Images Design a Unique Bookstore-Quality Photo Book with Blurb Fine Art Compositing with Photoshop CC Lightroom CC Crash Course Amber & Teal: Cinematic Color Grading in Photoshop Master the Art of Coloring Black and White Photographs Photoshop CC: Digital Art Pro Techniques Portrait Photography Masterclass About Creative Bloq deals This great deal comes courtesy of the Creative Bloq Deals store – a creative marketplace that's dedicated to ensuring you save money on the items that improve your design life. We all like a special offer or two, particularly with creative tools and design assets often being eye-wateringly expensive. That's why the Creative Bloq Deals store is committed to bringing you useful deals, freebies and giveaways on design assets (logos, templates, icons, fonts, vectors and more), tutorials, e-learning, inspirational items, hardware and more. Every day of the working week we feature a new offer, freebie or contest – if you miss one, you can easily find past deals posts on the Deals Staff author page or Offer tag page. Plus, you can get in touch with any feedback at: deals@creativebloq.com. Related articles: How fan art can get you paid The 60 best free Photoshop brushes Get 15% off Adobe Creative Cloud with our exclusive deal View the full article

Whenever you see a comic book hero flying through space or crashing through a wall, chances are they're a digital double of a real actor expertly crafted by a visual effects studio. But how is an actor's likeness captured with such absolute photorealism? These days that's often the domain of 3D scanning providers, which rely on portable – and often custom – photogrammetry rigs that they can bring right onto the set. That way they can whisk actors in and out of the scanning process and generate a CG model of their face and body as fast as possible, helping to save the film studio a lot of expensive production time. One company in the 3D scanning services fold is Pixel Light Effects, based in Vancouver, Canada. Using its mobile photogrammetry setup, the studio recently scanned principal actors and extras on location in British Columbia for Matt Reeves' War for the Planet of the Apes, creating detailed CG models to give to Weta Digital for the subsequent digital double work. We asked Pixel Light Effects, which also has a presence in Beijing, how it tackles a typical actor photogrammetry scan – from the capture process right through to producing a useable high-resolution CG model. The basis of a 3D actor scan Pixel Light Effects uses both Agisoft PhotoScan and RealityCapture, seen here, to resolve models from its photogrammetry capture process Over the years, several methods have been used to accurately capture the essence of an actor in CG. These include laser scans, specialised 'light stage' contraptions, and now most commonly, photogrammetry. This process essentially involves taking hundreds of photographs of the actor from multiple angles. The photos are fed into computer software, which then sets about comparing the images and using them to build a 3D model. Photogrammetry is considered an efficient method of capture because it is quick, especially in a camera rig that has many cameras at many angles taking all the pictures at the same time. Indeed, that's what Pixel Light Effects uses, and further mobilises the scan by having it take place in the back of a truck that has the photogrammetry rig permanently installed inside. The truck can be driven directly to the set where the actors are, or to just about any other location. "Mobility is the biggest issue with a rig consisting of hundreds of cameras," says Pixel Light Effects' CEO, Jingyi Zhang. "Taking them apart and putting them back together is very time-consuming and labour intensive. It just doesn't feel right. However, due to the tight schedule of the production, sometimes it's just impossible to have the talent come to us. Being able to perform the service on set is essential." What's in the truck? Pixel Light Effects' mobile 3D scanning van is a modified Mercedes-Benz SprinterPixel Light Effects' photogrammetry rig, contained in a modified Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van, is made up of 144 Canon DSLR cameras. These are all synchronised using a proprietary 'Camera Hub' device, which supplies power and triggers 16 cameras at once. "It's designed to be daisy-chained together, so we use multiple devices to trigger the larger array," explains Zhang. Lighting is an essential part of the photogrammetry rig. For this, multiple flashes and bounce light ensure that there is enough depth of field in the resulting images, and that the actor is lit evenly. The van interior is also decked out in white and the environment is calibrated so that it is as diffuse as possible. The photogrammetry camera array inside the Pixel Light Effects van is made up of 144 Canon DSLR cameras The camera positions inside the rig were R&D'd by Pixel Light Effects for several months before an optimal layout was reached. "Everyone who does photogrammetry knows you just can't have enough cameras," notes Zhang. "You always want more. Having a constrained budget and space means we must have just enough coverage at every angle." Inside a scanning session Raw photographs of subject Sam Yunussov, posing as a Russian paramilitary member, from one of the 144 cameras taken during the photogrammetry scanWhen an actor comes into the truck for a scan, Pixel Light Effects typically has just two technicians running the scanning session. First they will ask the actor and on-set supervisors if it is okay for the actor to wear a hair net. "This gives a more accurate skull shape, which will be helpful down in the pipeline," explains Zhang. However, it may be crucial for an actor to retain their exact wardrobe, such as a helmet or a faux hairpiece. For a full-body scan, the actor will be instructed to make an A-pose, with their elbows and knees slightly bent for rigging purposes. The actor's face is typically posed in a neutral way and then aligned with extra witness cameras. The actual capture is like taking a photo, again highlighting the benefits of a photogrammetry rig. "The capture itself is as fast as taking a photo at 1/1000th of a second," says Zhang. "All the cameras are synchronised, which means we can scan animals – who of course don't stay still – as long as they fit in the capture volume." Scan and deliver The resulting photographs are simply raw images, but they are managed by Pixel Light Effects and ingested into photogrammetry software, typically Agisoft PhotoScan or RealityCapture. It is in here that a CG model is produced, essentially via the push of one button. However, the company does also perform clean-up of the resulting model in ZBrush and Maya to generate a shaded or textured form. This tends to involve patching any holes of missed details and removing surface noise. Pixel Light Effects will provide a client – such as a visual effects studio or the film production – with an OBJ model, JPG textures, FBX files, the raw images, a colour chart for grading, and the PhotoScan or RealityCapture project file for re-projecting textures (since photogrammetry is photography-based, the scans 'automatically' come with high-resolution textures, and these can help create additional fine detail). The textured head of the scanning subjectAlthough the company is relatively new to 3D scanning, it is already busy on productions in both Canada and China. One recent addition to Pixel Light Effects' truck came from a suggestion it received after demonstrating the vehicle to members of the Vancouver visual effects community. "Improvements were made [as a result of] a 'roadshow' we had," remembers Zhang, "where we added live view cameras and monitors, so that the VFX supervisor could communicate with the talent from back of the truck, while the talent was being scanned." For as long as an audience demands movies that defy reality, you can rest assured that somewhere there will be a truck full of cameras, busy scanning an actor's features to transform them into something incredible. This article was originally published in issue 227 of 3D World, the world's best-selling magazine for CG artists – packed with expert tutorials, inspiration and reviews. Buy issue 227 here or subscribe to 3D World here. Related articles: Learn how to model a 3D portrait in ZBrush and Maya The 10 biggest 3D movies of 2017 How VR is revolutionising the creation of 3D art View the full article

We all like to think we’re immune to trends. And it’s certainly true that we shouldn’t follow them blindly. By and large, clients are looking for original and inventive solutions, not me-too copyists. But neither can design agencies exist in a bubble. Much as we’d like to ignore the maelstrom of social, political, technological and economic change swirling around us, we need to constantly understand and adjust our offerings to it. In the evolution of a business, just as in biological evolution, in the long term it’s very much a case of adapt and die. We canvassed UK agency leaders on what they see as the emerging trends that will most affect us in 2018. Many of these, of course, will be long-term trends you’ll have heard about already. But that’s certainly not a reason to ignore them; quite the reverse in fact... 01. Better gender representation magnetic North’s work for BFI reveals shocking statistics around a lack of representation of women across the movie industry From the BBC's gender pay gap revelations and the Harvey Weinstein and Uber scandals, gender issues have been in the forefront of the news. And Lou Cordwell, founder of magnetic North, believes that UK agencies are by no means immune. “In the media and creative industries, we’re at the centre of a new paradigmatic shift, where inequality and abuses of power are no longer being tolerated,” she argues. And it’s not just about changing attitudes, but taking practical action. “As a female-led design company, we have always been passionate about championing diversity,” says Cordwell. “And in 2017 we’ve channelled it into collaborative projects, including the recent launch of the BFI Filmography, which for the first time has revealed a number of shocking statistics around a lack of representation of women across the film industry. “This has been underpinned by my own personal work providing female entrepreneurs with access to funding, information and networks through my role as director of the north for funding network AllBright. "It feels like we've reached a tipping point on gender and we're optimistic that 2018 will see a number of changes that will help to unlock the unique perspectives and talents of women from across the UK and around the world." 02. Planning for Brexit Graphic Thought Facility is one of many UK agencies with international clients and staff We’ve been talking about Brexit for so long that it sometimes seems it’s never actually going to happen. But last Friday, we passed a big milestone: on that date, it was just 500 days before the UK exits the European Union. And as we pass more and more of those milestones, it’s likely that agencies with clients in the EU, or staff who hail from those countries, will start getting more and more anxious about the future. Of course, no matter what happens politically, the industry will battle on and muddle through. But few are enthusiastic. “It's such a crazy own goal,” believes Huw Morgan, principal at Graphic Thought Facility. “Our client list is fairly international so I guess at the moment the upside for them is that we are less expensive than we were a couple of years ago. "But the obvious concern is staff: we have longstanding designers from France, Switzerland, Germany and Portugal and I’m delighted that, for now, they are still with us: pushed by neither fear nor law. Long-term, like everyone else including the politicians, while I can guess on the possibilities I have no idea of the reality. Of all things, I hope that Brexit still allows freedom of movement.” With uncertainty in the air, it’s reasonable to expect the number of agencies expanding or taking on new staff will be muted over the next 12 months. Meanwhile, at the employee level, we’ve heard from many EU designers working in the UK who are forming their exit plans, and British designers with continental ancestry applying for joint citizenship. To hear more about what UK agency leaders think about Brexit, read our article The Designer’s Guide to Brexit. 03. The rise of social video Short, funny and shareable video resonates with the youth audience In the last few years, agencies have been busily adapting to a big shift from traditional media to social media. In 2018, another big shift is set to continue and heighten: the importance of video to social media. Use of video on social channels is nothing new, of course. But the amount of video content people are viewing has been increasing year on year, and it’s a trend that looks likely to become ever-more important in 2018. Karl Goran, creative director at Flow, points to its work for BBC Three by way of example. “We’ve seen a huge increase in that period in the audience for the content and the reach of the videos – total views, likes and shares,” he reports. “The highest number of views for one video we produced in the summer of 2017 was 25 million views, with 255,000 likes and 337,000 shares, with estimated total reach of 79 million on Facebook alone. These are the kind of figures that would cost a fortune with paid sponsored content.” And this video wasn’t a beautifully crafted animation, he notes. “It was a satirical, ‘mash-up’ style video where we placed the heads of Premier League managers over the characters in the fight scene from the Anchorman movie. The key to its viral success was that it was short, funny, sharable, and resonated with the BBC Three youth audience.” The benefits of social video to brands are obvious, he believes. “They include increased online reach, organic growth of online following, and a great way to set a tone of voice for communicating with an audience. I’m sure 2018 will see a further increase of brands using a similar approach to social marketing: creating regular, short-form video content designed purely to entertain their followers and help to establish a tone of voice, and garner precious brand loyalty.” 04. The resurgence of the physical We’re falling back in love with physical things, like this white ceramic bottle for Glenfiddich For the most of the 2010s, trends articles have pointed to the decline of traditional media and a shift towards digital. But there are signs that in 2018, that may begin to reverse, or at least slow down a little. “With digital having been the great white hope of the ad and marketing industry for many years, I am seeing the resurgence of analogue creative,” says Gary Westlake, founding partner and creative director at Purple Creative. “This ranges from the news that books, vinyl and DVDs are all getting popular again, to the increase in campaigns that have real-world textural elements, to the growth of the craft of making.” And this is no accident, he believes. “We as a species want to see people making things and creating objects rather than a purely digital world,” he reasons. Skills like letterpress, pottery and ceramics – as seen in the latest Glenfiddich Winter Storm bottle – are all on the rise and this will feed into the advertising world too.” 05. More brands bringing design back in-house Pepsi’s ‘Black Lives Matter’ ad campaign was widely mocked Another trend that’s been ongoing for a while, and looks set to intensify further into 2018, is that of big brands bringing more design work in-house. Lucozade, Pepsi, Unilever, P&G, L’Oréal, BMW, Pernod Ricard, lastminute.com, Booking.com and Safestore are among the companies that have pursued this strategy in recent years, and the monetary savings are potentially huge – on paper at least. The real success of the strategy lies, of course, in the campaigns themselves, and debacles such as the widely mocked Pepsi/Black Lives Matter commercial give agencies a reason to argue that the third-party way is a better bet. For a detailed and nuanced look at this trend, check out Michael Litman’s recent opinion piece Creativity Needs Collaboration. 06. Greater emphasis on creativity Cannes Lions is paring back in 2018 and focusing more on creative campaigns “Cannes Lions was a bellweather for the industry – it hosted more technology and management consultants there than ever before, and the scope for the event was vast,” notes OneBite’s head of content, Mark Kember. “But for 2018, the event is paring back, and focusing on creative campaigns more and more.” He believes this points to a wider trend in the work of agencies; that they’re moving away from an obsession with data and measurement, and back to generating fresh and exciting ideas. “The emphasis for creative agencies has to move back towards really being creative around what clients want to achieve and how they get there,” he argues. “Data can show you where you came from and what worked, but it can’t provide true inspiration. Rather than data leading the way, this year’s seen the start of a swing back towards big ideas that could be executed over the right channels… not all of them.” And the rise of social media means new ideas are now needed more than ever. Ivan Korolev, insights director at Superimpose Studio, believes it’s leading to a seismic shift, with traditional ‘top-down’ campaigns led by brands and marketers looking increasingly dated. “The industry's relentless focus on newness, innovation and the ‘support’ – for which read: ‘appropriation’ – of youth culture is wearing paper-thin,” he argues. “Brands are not ‘platforms for collaboration’ nor are they agents ‘empowering creativity’; it is now strikingly crystal clear that audiences are the ones holding the power. “In the coming years, brands will no longer be able to push their versions of authenticity at people,” he concludes. “The whole process has to be reverse-engineered in order to allow real human connection, familiarity and purity of intent to be put back at the core of our creative process. Those who understand that will emerge as the new leaders in 2018.” 07. More focus on sustainability Rum brand Fitzroy is making labels from North Sea waste People are increasingly aware of how damaging plastic and excessive packaging is to the environment, but UK agencies are starting to make a positive contribution to solving the problem, believes Westlake. “I think one of the biggest trends this year is creatives, designers, scientists and environmentalists working together to co-create world-changing packaging through foraged and recycled materials,” he says. “In the drinks industry, for example, we’re seeing more and more brands creating sustainable packaging; such as the Navy Rum brand Fitzroy, which is turning waste from the North Sea into labelling with stunning globe-friendly results. “In 2018, I also think we’ll see a reduction in outer packaging and the use of more recycled paper and card. Glass in bottles will also get reduced, perhaps leading to more delicate and elegant solutions. "There’s also an encouraged increase in materials designed to stay in the home or on the bar rather than be thrown out – so as well as being good for the environment, they will become a memento or an object that stays in a customer’s life and continues to resonate with them.” 08. Small and supersized agencies These five agencies have all come together to become one There’s always been a range of agency sizes in the design industry. But lately we’ve seen a trend towards consolidation, leading to some supersize agencies. Most notable was the recent coming together of five WPP companies – Brand Union, The Partners, Lambie-Nairn, Addison Group and VBAT – to create one huge branding agency (as yet unnamed). “Our new company is incredibly exciting,” Greg Quinton, chief creative officer at The Partners, writes in the current issue of Computer Arts magazine. “We have a network of 750 people in 20 offices around the world, appealing to more clients because they’ll be able to engage with a wider array of specialists and a more connected set of services. "With the repercussions of Brexit and the threat of another recession, you need to be a flexible agency to change and adapt to clients’ needs more easily, and being bigger means you can do this without impacting the quality of work or designers’ time.” Of course, there’s also an equal and opposite trend of agencies that are happy to stay small, finding that these days it’s no longer a bar to winning big clients; as the likes of Johnson Banks, hat-trick, GBH, Rose and NB Studio have shown. Plus there are some agencies that do things differently – whether that be by operating as a flat hierarchy, working as a virtual consultancy collective or basing themselves outside the traditional UK agency heartland of London. So perhaps the really important trend for UK agencies for 2018 will be the idea that it no longer matters how big or small you are, or how you organise yourself. The big clients are fair game for everyone, and may the best pitch win. Related articles: 10 visual storytelling tips from top agencies 6 dos and don'ts for using images in agency projects The 17 best startup logos of 2017 View the full article

Photoshop brushes are a fantastic time-saver as they enable you to quickly create rich artwork without having to draw all the individual design elements. There's a huge spectrum of brushes available, ranging from leaf designs to fabric textures, and cloud patterns to typography. And while Photoshop CC does ship with a set of brushes pre-installed, they only scratch the surface of what's possible with the brush engine. Exclusive offer: Save 15% on Adobe Creative Cloud now So whether you're using CS3 or have joined Creative Cloud, grab the free Photoshop brush downloads below and start adding amazing design flourishes to your work. Painterly brushes 01. 25 watercolour brushes This set of 25 watercolour brushes is a great way to create natural-looking work in Photoshop; use them to better effect by combining them with a realistic paper texture. Limitations: none 02. Real markers These amazingly realistic marker brushes are completely freePerfect for fashion illustrations, industrial design and storyboarding, this set of 12 free brushes by Eilert Janßen enables you to create lively imagery that looks like it's been sketched out with marker pens. If you like what you see, Eilert sells a set of 300 marker brushes for just $9. Limitations: none 03. Ultimate Paint Make a mess with these hi-res paint splattersJonas Stoltz created this set of 30 Photoshop brushes in the best possible way: by simply splashing paint onto white boards and scanning the results in high resolution. The results are lovely and splattery – perfect for adding a bit of imperfection (or a full-on Jackson Pollock vibe) to your work. Limitations: none 04. Watercolour shapes and splatters Get that watercolour look with these free brushesIf you're going for a watercolour feel in your work then these shapes and splatters will help you get the look just right; just don't overdo them. Limitations: free for personal use; contact for commercial use 05. Dry brushes These dry brushes are great for rough, harsh texturesArtist Kirk Wallace created these brushes at home using ink and paper, and offers them to all for free. Perfect for rough, harsh textures, Wallace uses them in his own fruit prints. Limitations: none 06. Photoshop brush set For textured brush strokes, look no furtherThis cool set of Photoshop brushes was created by designer Matt Heath, who used an 8B Staedtler pencil and custom settings to give a natural feel and wide variety of textures. Limitations: none 07. Splashes of paint These splashes of paint have been vectored and modified in high-resolutionA collection of 30 big brushes, this set features spray paint patterns suitable for generating dirty backgrounds and textures. For use with Photoshop CS2 and above. Limitations: none 08. Doodle brushes There are 30 different doodle brushes in this free Photoshop setThis free brush pack features a collection of 30 random scribbles, suitable for projects such as greeting cards, web page headers and more. Limitations: none 09. Dry brush strokes This free pack of Photoshop brushes features 12 bristly dry brush strokesA set of 12 excellent brushes from Chris Spooner. These high-resolution dry brushes are fantastically detailed, bristly and texture-rich. Limitations: none 10. Technical brushes These brushes were made from old technical drawingsA beautiful set of 10 illustrative brushes in a technical-drawing theme, including wonderfully detailed cross-sectional designs. Limitations: none 11. Paint lines Details are no problem with this very high-res brush setThese 24 very hi-res brushes will provide a real-media feel to your design work. Some brushes look like paint tin marks, while others are thicker, providing lots of options within the pack. Limitations: none Natural brushes 12. Realistic charcoal brush All the great looks of charcoal, without the mess Charcoal's an essential part of any artist's toolkit, but it's undoubtedly the messiest as well. Get those soft charcoal lines - without getting charcoal all over your hands and everything else - with these excellent brushes. Limitations: none 13. Plant brushes These are ideal if you need a load of plants in a hurry If you need to quickly add some greenery to a project, this set of 23 high resolution plant brushes will let you do just that with the minimum of effort. Limitations: none 14. Lightning strikes Electrify your work with this collection of stunning lightning strikes. Tileable and available not only as Photoshop brushes but also as patterns and JPEG images, there are 18 to choose from in this set. Limitations: none 15. Nature silhouettes There are 19 free nature Photoshop brushes in this packThis is a really useful set of 19 different silhouettes, each featuring a different plant, ranging from trees to grasses. Limitations: none 16. Coffee stain brushes These coffee stain brushes have an abstract feel to themThese excellent brushes are intended to mimic coffee or tea drips, but would pass equally well for daubs of ink. These stain marks add a nice degree of life-wear to your images, instantly ageing them. Limitations: none 17. Vintage wooden brush Create stunning vintage wooden textures with this brush setThis simple brush offered by Creative Nerds brings a wonderful, rich flaking wood texture to your brush arsenal. Limitations: cannot be redistributed 18. Dust particle brushes This free dust particle Photoshop brush set is stunningA really useful set of dust particle brushes from WeGraphics that add instant dirt and richness. Limitations: cannot be redistributed 19. Grass and plant brushes Create realistic nature imagery with this free Photoshop brush set10 different brushes each featuring different grass and plant designs and ranging in size from 500px to 2500px. Limitations: attribution under some circumstances 20. Ornamental butterflies 2 There's a total of 35 brushes in this stylish setA beautiful set of butterflies and other plant-based ornamentation that can add a sophisticated touch to corners and borders. Limitations: none 21. Hair brushes set 1 These brushes don't work in PS7 or lowerGreat for providing touch-ups on model photography, this set of free brushes includes detailed textured hair in a variety of falling styles. Limitations: attribution necessary under some cirumstances 22. Tree borders brushes These brushes are perfect for treesA nice set of brushes that allow you to introduce tree and bush silhouettes to the edges of your composition. Limitations: non-commercial use only 23. GreenPack random brushes These free Photoshop brushes were inspired by the Whole Foods MarketFour green-themed brushes that are mainly worth the download for the excellent tree illustration that's included! Limitations: none 24. Water brushes vol. 2 These brushes are fantastic for all sorts of design projects, from brochures to Twitter backgrounds12 large brushes that include splashes, ripples and water drops. An excellent set for backgrounds as well as foreground design elements. Limitations: none 25. Five simple fabric brushes Add some natural surfacing to your workStraightforward fabric textures, great for backgrounds in both print and web designs as they're high resolution. Limitations: none 26. Floral swirls These swirls are compatible with Photoshop 7 and upUseful set of floral swirl brushes ideal for building up rich borders and textures in both print and web designs. Limitations: none 27. Fabric Textures These brushes were created from a collection of fabricsA useful selection of nine different fabrics that show off the weave and pattern of the material with a scratchy realism. 28. Hi-res clouds Add cosmic and nebulae elements to your designs with this brush setThis is a really useful set of 17 brushes, each of which features a different cloud design that can easily be used to add interest to your images Limitations: none 29. Cloud brushes There are 24 different cloud Photoshop brushes in this free packHere are 24 cloud brushes, at quite impressive sizes, all from artist by Mila Vasileva. "Mushroom cloud included." Limitations: none 30. Moon brushes There are 10 moon brushes in this setThis excellent set provides 10 different phases of the moon in brush format! Limitations: none 31. Leaf brushes These leaf brushes are stunningGreat for creating organic textured background, this set features seven isolated leaf images with intricate details and textures. Limitations: none 32. Fractal brushes 12 fractal brushes, all in different shapesAn excellent selection of fractal-based brushes that look futuristic – great for web design. Limitations: none 33. Feathers and birds These feather brushes are fantasticA total of 12 individual brushes, each of which includes a stand-alone piece of artwork ranging from detailed feather illustrations, to whimsical birds-on-a-branch. Limitations: attribution under some circumstances Next page: Grunge, sci-fi and fantasy brushes Grunge brushes 34. Distressed halftone brush strokes Get the best of both worlds with these brushes If you can't decide between a distressed brush stroke and a halftone brush stroke, why not have both? This set of 21 brushes is perfect for adding a vintage, worn or retro effect to your work. Limitations: none 35. Mixergraph Grunge Brushes Nail that 90s look with these rocking grunge brushesHandmade, digitised and individually edited by Marc Pallàs, this set of five grunge brushes will transform your illustrations and designs with a gloriously rough-and-ready look, making them seem like they're hot off the photocopier. Limitations: none 36. Gritty and grunge Roughen your typography and illustrations with this brush setSeven useful brushes that instantly add a grimy background to your work, featuring useful specks and splatters as well as areas of grit. Limitations: none 37. Speckle brushes Five toast brushes for your perusalThis superb set of five Photoshop brushes were made using a piece of toast. No, seriously. Limitations: none 38. Grimey brushes Add some grime to your designs with this free Photoshop brush setUseful for adding a bit of dirt to your images, this collection of five brushes from Mattox Shuler is understated but incredibly versatile. Limitations: none 39. Sponge party Create great sponge effects with this set of free Photoshop brushesSome beautiful textures make up this collection of eight high-quality brushes, including some excellent sponge brush marks, great for adding timbre to collage work. Limitations: none 40. Scorched and burned Create a scorched and burned effect with this brush setAnother great set of brushes from WeGraphics that feature realistic scorch and burn effects in 10 different designs. Limitations: cannot be redistributed 41. AP brushes: scar face Look no further for scars...Ideal if you want to introduce some scarring to portraits or simply generate beautifully textured background elements. Limitations: none 42. Grunge and smooth floral brushes You'll find some grunge floral brushes in this setA great set of mixed media brushes along a grunge and floral theme. Limitations: non-commercial use only 43. Antique postcards Use these six hi-res antique postcard Photoshop brushesThis wonderful collection of six antique postcard designs provides an excellent background for further design work. Each card brush features text and a delightful patina. Limitations: none 44. Spray splatter These 12 free Photoshop brushes are excellent for grunge and dirty effectsA lovely collection of 12 brushes covering up to 2500px each. This set features a range of spray patterns suitable for generating dirty backgrounds and textures, or highlighting typography. Limitations: none Sci-fi and fantasy brushes 45. Star brushes Add a twinkle with these free Photoshop star brushesHere are six high-resolution star brushes from artist Austin Pickrell. "Just have fun," says the artist. "I would love to see what people do with them... and if you make millions from your piece, I want a helicopter." Limitations: none 46. TC magic spells: moon These moon brushes are the result of a collaboration at Treehouse CharmsA quirky set of 21 brushes, each related to the overall moon theme, and featuring a mythological bias. Great for adding some whimsy, or accenting original illustrations. Limitations: none 47. Fairy tales brush set Quickly create fantasy backgrounds with this brush setA useful collection of fractal renders at up to 2500px, gathered together under the theme of fairy tales due to their other-worldly appearance. Limitations: none 48. Heads up display pack Get creative with these Heads Up Display Photoshop BrushesA set of 30 high-resolution brushes that provide all the elements of a HUD in the style of Iron Man. Includes brilliant details such as exploded diagrams and topographical renderings. Limitations: non-commercial only 49. Dynamic light special FX brushes Create stunning light special effects with these free Photoshop brushesCreate special lighting effects by using these brushes in combination with layer blending modes such as screen or vivid light. Limitations: none 50. Night sky brushes 13 large brushes represent the night sky in this setThis set of brushes includes 13 different night sky elements, including space dust, stars and moons. Limitations: none 51. Glitter and sparkles brushes Glittery swirls and individual sparkles are included in this packA nice and simple brush that adds a sprinkle of diffused light orbs to bring a Disney-esque magic sparkle to your work. Limitations: none 52. Starfield Four brushes from StarwaltDesignFour brushes, each at 2500px square, allowing you to quickly create detailed star patterns and celestial dust clouds. Limitations: personal use only; cannot be redistributed Next page: Special effect brushes 53. Skin brushes Create perfect looking skin with these brushesMarta Dahlig has been creating digital brushes for years now, and as she specialises in portraits, her set of skin brushes is an amazing boost to any digital artist's armory. Limitations: none 54. Fire brushes Niño Batitis relights the fire in PhotoshopDigital artist Niño Batitis has been very kind in releasing 13 high-quality Photoshop fire brushes for free. Perfect for your design projects, these will allow you to experiment with flames, characters and landscapes. Limitations: none 55. Bokeh brushes Use this collection of free Bokeh brushes for free in your next photo-editing projects and moreThe term Bokeh is of Japanese origin and refers to the appearance or feel of the out-of-focus areas of a photograph. Add this cool effect to your imagery with this free set of high quality Bokeh brushes Limitations: none 56. Photorealistic explosions Add fire to your photo manipulations with these explosion brushesA useful set of 16 explosion images, each saved as a standard image, but easily used as a brush. Perfect for compositing or adding impact to your designs. Limitations: none 57. Gradient shapes These gradient shape brushes are free for personal and commercial useA nice set of simple swishes that incorporate gradient colours to provide a modern, soft-edged finesse to any graphic design project. Limitations: none 58. 3D Halftone There are 16 brushes in this free setA really nice set of halftone images arranged in 3D with perspective to create interesting patterns that add depth to designs. Limitations: non-commercial use only 59. Funky paisley brushes There are both fancy brushes and some plain ones in this setA rich set of brushes each featuring a paisley design element. Also includes the original PNG files the designer used to create the brushes. Limitations: non-commercial use only 60. VectorPack brushes Create confident shapes with this free set of brushesA nice range of circular brushes that are clean and modern. Limitations: none Related articles: Review: Photoshop Elements 15 Colour in Photoshop: top tricks The 15 best free Photoshop Scripts View the full article

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