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Understanding programming languages is becoming a necessary skill, even for careers that don't necessarily require you to code. Learn how to speak the language of programmers so you can keep up with the Programming for Non-Programmers Course. It's on sale now for just $10 (approx. £7). Being multilingual is always a benefit. One of the most important languages to understand in the modern workplace is code. If you have no experience with coding, it can be intimidating trying to figure out where to start. The answer is Programming For Non-Programmers. This course includes 31 lectures and 3.5 hours of content that you can access anytime from anywhere. It's the perfect starting place to get you on the right path to speaking the language of programmers. You can get the Programming For Non-Programmers Course on sale for just $10 (approx. £7)! That's a savings of 79% off the retail price for a must-have course that will get even an amateur up to speed on programming basics, so grab this deal today! 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 4 most in-demand programming languages What's the best programming language to learn first? 6 ways to get into creative coding View the full article

Angular Material is a UI component framework that implements Google's Material Design specification for Angular 2 – the new, faster implementation of Angular, written in TypeScript. Although still in alpha, Angular Material already provides a set of reusable and accessible UI components based on Material Design. Angular 2 itself is designed for use across all platforms (web, mobile and desktop), and has many new technologies associated with it. At the JavaScript level we have the additional syntax of ECMAScript 2015 (ES6), typing and interface support from TypeScript, along with decorators from the Metadata Reflection API. It uses observables from the Reactive Extensions library to manage sequences of events in a functional programming way. It uses zones to encapsulate and intercept asynchronous activity to provide a form of thread-local storage, allowing Angular to automagically respond to data changes in asynchronous events to maintain data bindings. Finally, module loading is handled by SystemJS. In this tutorial we are going to use Angular 2 to create a simple to-do app with some signature Material Design elements. Get the source files here. Get set up Setting up the initial environment can be difficult. There is an angular2-seed available, as well as an angular2-starter. However, there is something even better: with angular-cli you can configure your Angular 2 project with a single command. Not only will it take care of the setup for all the technologies I mentioned in the last section (via Node and npm), it will also add in scaffolding for Jasmine unit testing, Protractor end-to-end testing, plus TSLint testing, and codelyzer static code analysis of Angular 2 TypeScript. Although you don’t have to use all of these, you definitely should. It’s so simple to use, you will wonder how you ever got along without it. Angular CLI is available as an npm package, so you will need to install Node and npm globally on your machine using npm install -g angular-cli. Now create a new Angular 2 app with ng new material2-do. You are going to have to wait a little bit, because after it generates the necessary files, it initialises a Git repo and does an npm install to download all the necessary modules into node_modules/. Take a look at the package.json and get familiar with the modules and scripts there. You have now created a new Angular 2 application that follows the official best practices. Add Material Design The default app knows nothing about Material Design (an oversight I'm sure), so we have to add it ourselves. There is a list of published Angular 2 Material Design packages in the @angular2-material library. In this example we are going to use core (required for all Angular Material 2 apps), as well as button, card, checkbox, icon, input, list and toolbar: For the vendor bundle to work, we need to add @angular2-material/**/* to the array of vendorNpmFiles in angular-cli-build.js. We also need to add the path to @angular2-material to the maps object: Let SystemJS know how to process new modules by pointing to the main files of each of the packages: Now it’s time to load the Material Design icon font in the of src/index.html. Any font will work, but we are using the standard Material Design icons: Create an MD dialog We can now work with Material Design in our to-do app. One of the components currently missing from Angular 2 Material Design is a prompt or dialog, so for our first task we will make one! Let’s create a new component using a Material Design card, a toolbar, an input and a couple of buttons. In the src/app folder of your repo, type ng generate component dialog. This generates a new DialogComponent in src/app/dialog, and adds a barrel to system-config.ts so SystemJS knows how to load it. If you look at the generated dialog.component.ts file, you will see the first line is: import { Component, OnInit } from '@angular/core'; . Component is one of the main building blocks of Angular, and OnInit is one of the interfaces it implements. However, in order to have access to communication between nested components, as well as the Material Design components mentioned above, we need to import Input , Output and EventEmitter from @angular/core; and MdCard, MdInput, MdToolbar and MdButton from their corresponding modules in the @angular2- material library. To render these Material components, we need to inject the directives our DialogComponent requires. We will add the following directives to the @Components metadata: We then declare a number of @Input variables (okText, cancelText and so on) that allow us to define the contents of the dialog. We also need to add one @Output emitter that allows us to trigger a function with a value in the parent component when the dialog is closed. Now we can replace the generated constructor in dialog.component.ts with the following code: As well as using the @Input variables inside our DialogComponent within the dialog.component.html template, the md-input allows us to accept input from the user: The md-buttons allow the user to click 'OK', 'Cancel' or whatever you decide to label these buttons: Notice the keyup event handlers, which take care of things when the Enter or Escape key is pressed. These handlers are identical to the click event handlers for cancelText and okText. Escape does the same thing as cancel (emitValue(null) ), and hitting Enter will have the same result as clicking OK (emitValue(value) ). This allows us to prompt the user for a value via an md-input, and receive emitted output. We can see examples of a number of Material Design components: md-card, md-button, and so on. We also need to add some CSS in dialog.component.css in order to achieve the layout we desire – you can view the full code in the accompanying GitHub repo. Now let's add this DialogComponent to material2-do.component.html to see what it looks like: Notice we have literal strings for all of the @Inputs. These require us to use both single and double quotes, otherwise Angular would interpret the contents as a variable name in the Component scope. We also have the one emitted @Output. This makes the dialog simple and extremely configurable. Most of the inputs would have defaulted to empty strings if omitted. Let’s modify Material2DoComponent. We need to import DialogComponent and declare it as a directive, otherwise Material2DoComponent will not be able to render it. We will also add the log function: Let's take a look at our handiwork. You can serve up the app (the default port is 4200) by running npm run-script start, which in turn runs ng server. If you open up the console, you can see what is logged: the contents of the input is emitted when you click 'Yes', and null is emitted when you click 'No'. We are now ready to use this new DialogComponent to create our to-do app. Create the main app We are going to use the following MD Components for the main app: toolbar, list, list-item, checkbox, button, icon, icon-registry, and its dependent, HTTP_PROVIDER, from the Angular HTTP library. So these need to be added to the import section of Material2DoComponent. Once again, in order to be able to render these components, we need to include them in the @Components metadata directives array along with DialogComponent, which we just added: To gain access to the MdIconRegistry, we need to inject it, along with HTTP_PROVIDERS, via the @Components metadata providers array: Now we leverage our DialogComponent, adding in enough logic for a simple to-do application. The todoDialog is called to open our dialog, either with the task to edit (todo) or null if we are creating a new one. We set up the default variables for a new task, or if we are editing a task instead we change them accordingly. We then show the DialogComponent by setting the showDialog variable to true: The updateTodo function is called when we wish to close it. The other functions (editTodo, addTodo, hideDialog) are helper methods for updateTodo. In material2-do.component.html we've given our application an md-toolbar where we have put the title, and an md-icon called add (which looks like a plus sign) for our floating action button (FAB), which allows us to create a new task: We use md-card-content to hold an md-list and an *ngFor to iterate through, and display, our todoList array as md-list-items: md-checkbox enables us to tick off items on our list. And we have two md-mini-fab buttons we can use to delete and edit our task: md-icons delete_forever and mode_edit: With a little CSS, these remain hidden until you rollover (or click). You can see the code in the repo. Going forward As Angular Material 2 is still in alpha, there are some things missing – in particular, the signature MD button ripple effect. While there may be breaking changes to the API ahead, it is very much functioning. It also lives up to the claim of having a straightforward API that doesn't confuse developers, and is easy to leverage for the creation of great looking applications. This article was originally published in issue 284 of net, the world's best-selling magazine for web designers and developers. Subscribe here. Related articles: What’s new in Angular 4? How to build a full-page website in Angular Build a data dashboard with AngularJS View the full article

Over the past few days researchers say DDoS attacks have been using memcached servers to amplify DDoS attacks using UDP-based packets. View the full article

You're reading Google Announces Flutter – Mobile UI Framework, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! This year’s Barcelona Mobile World Conference comes with a big announcement from Google: Flutter, the open-source mobile UI framework released in May 2017, is out of alpha. The framework allows developers to build native interfaces for both Android and iOS. Flutter brings together the best of two worlds, performance and platform integrations of native mobile […] View the full article

A new site has launched that offers exciting new opportunities for type designers and buyers, and could revolutionise the way we buy and sell fonts. Future Fonts is a marketplace for work-in-progress fonts, where you can buy workable early versions of the newest typefaces for bargain prices. The long – and therefore expensive – process of designing a full typeface makes it an unsustainable venture for many creatives. And the (justifiably) high prices of the resulting work can put off prospective customers – especially when there are so many great free fonts around. In short, the industry is due a shake-up. The software industry adopted a similar approach years ago, and there's no reason why it couldn't work equally well for type design. Here are four reasons the Future Fonts model could be the best thing that's happened to the type industry for a while. 01. Access to the newest fonts All the typefaces on Future Fonts are still being developed, which means they're just about the freshest typefaces around– and they won't have been used in a million ads or branding campaigns already. As well as helping graphic designers stay ahead of the curve when it comes to typography trends, there are benefits for type designers too. Only the best ideas will attract attention and customers, so this is a great way to see early on if there's a market for your design. 02. Buy in early for discounts (and free updates) Often, to get exactly what you want, you need to shell out – and the best typefaces don't come cheap. With Future Fonts, the price of a typeface goes up with each updated release. If you spot a typeface you like, you can purchase it for an early bird price, then get free updates as they're released. If you have a good eye for fonts, this is a win-win way to keep your designs fresh without devaluing the creative process. 03. Help fund the design process As any type designer will know, the process of designing a fully functional typeface is a long and arduous one. This new model effectively means customers can help fund typographers by purchasing their work earlier on in the design process. A more sustainable process lowers the barriers to entry into the type design industry, so more budding designers can get involved. And that's a good thing for everyone. 04. Collaborative approach to design Future Fonts promises to make type design a more collaborative effort. It's an online community space for type designers and fans, where experts can share their expertise by commenting on other works in progress. Although the site doesn't require type designers to finish every project, the moral and financial support provided by this approach aims to help type designers on their way over the finish line. If you're intrigued, you can find out more in this Medium post. Read more: 5 tips for better typesetting 12 fun fonts to liven up your design projects 50 top typography tutorials View the full article

Some of the most exciting speaker sessions of Design Indaba 2018 came from the global graduates. Throughout the three-day creative conference, 10 hand-picked young designers – all of whom are making waves in their respective fields – took to the stage to share their ground-breaking design work. Here, we bring you six of our favourite projects and introduce you to the designers behind them. Make a note of their names: these are tomorrow’s design stars and you’ll likely be seeing them again. 01. Renata Souza: Thomy insulin kit for kids Thomy helps children with Type-1 diabetes have fun while managing their condition. Mexican product design graduate and healthcare innovator Renata Souza developed an insulin kit for children after her young cousin Thomas was diagnosed with type-1 diabetes. Named Thomy, the kit is designed to facilitate the administration of insulin into the body. It features an insulin pen that’s been ergonomically designed for a child's hand. And it uses playful, non-toxic temporary tattoos to help children remember where they’ve injected insulin before. The idea is to help kids aged four and over manage the condition by bringing a sense of fun and intuition to the process, reducing any fear of needles and creating a product that children would be proud to carry in their backpack. And it seems Souza, who’s a graduate of the Parsons School of Design in New York, is onto something: last year Thomy was a United States national finalist in the James Dyson Award 2017. Read more: Thomy insulin kit uses design to help kids with diabetes 02. Shaakira Jassat: thirTEA for ONE It takes 30l of 'virtual water' to make a 150ml cup of tea For every 150ml cup of tea made, 30l of water is required throughout the chain process. That’s according to South Africa-born and Design Academy Eindhoven graduate Shaakira Jassat, who created a ceramic installation, thirTEA for ONE, to illustrate the dramatic hidden waste associated with the deceptively simple daily act of making a cup of tea. Jassat’s installation highlights the amount of “virtual water” used to make one cup of tea with a series of ceramic cups connected in an inverse pyramid. The top cup requires constant water until the very bottom cup is filled. The project was particularly poignant at Design Indaba this year, given the water crisis currently being faced in Cape Town. "We take a lot for granted," she says. "That is, until it is gone forever... Water is our most precious element and it is contained in almost everything around us. Sadly, water is scarce." 03. Tomo Kihara: Street Debaters Street Debaters helps build bridges between different levels of society Japanese design researcher Tomo Kihara aims to challenge and reframe issues in society through playful intervention – and he’s received international recognition for his efforts. His project Phonvert, which urged people to find alternative uses for their old phones and reduce material waste, was nominated for Design of the Year 2016 by the London Design Museum. And Kihara is a 2017 WIRED Creative Hack award-winner too. More recently, Kihara – who’s studying for an MSc in Design for Interaction at TU Delft in the Netherlands – has been looking to create a social alternative to begging, by encouraging conversation around a topic of public interest in exchange for donations. The idea, he says, is to allow homeless people to earn money without sacrificing their dignity. His project Street Debaters aims to break too stigma of being on the streets by using a set of scales to pose topical ’yes’ or ‘no’ questions to the public as they walk past. For example: “Is Brexit ok?”, “Trump or Clinton for president?” and “Latest Harry Potter film – good or bad?” People passing by are encouraged to drop a coin into the side of the scale they identify with. The results? Not only did the project spur more people to make a financial contribution – Kihara found that homeless people were able to make up to £13.50 per hour – it also sparked conversation, with 12-13 people stopping every hour to chat. “Now people are talking about politics and Star Wars – and not about being homeless,” says Kihara. “Equal conversations are essential to keeping one’s dignity. Now people aren’t invisible.” Want to get involved? You can download the open-source design files to make your own scales from wood, cardboard or paper. 04. Aleksandra Gosiewski: AlgiKnit bioyarn AlgiKicks is a revolutionary sustainable sneaker that rapidly degrades after the product has finished its useful lifetime Fashion designer Aleksandra Gosiewski is a founding member of AlgiKnit, a New York-based biomaterials research group devoted to developing wearable textiles from readily abundant biopolymers. Fed up of the fashion’s linear economy - fashion is the world’s second most polluting industry, with most clothing ending up in landfill – Gosiewski and her team have created a highly flexible, rapidly renewing biodegradable yarn from kelp. Not only can the bioyarn be woven into apparel, when you’re finished with the item of clothing, it can be easily broken down by microorganisms and fed back into the earth. “Kelp is one of the fastest growing organisms on earth,” explains Gosiewski. “It’s available globally and sourced sustainably and there’s a lot around.” “When [the clothing] is worn out, or you don’t want it, it can be broken down by microorganism and the nutrients reclaimed to feed the next generation of product,” explains Gosiewski. “We see our material beyond just fashion,” she adds. “There are more possibilities. We developed the yarn – we’re excited to see what people make with it.” Read more: Why your next shoe could be made from seaweed 05. Leroy Mwasaru Leroy Mwasaru delivering his Design Indaba talk He might be only 19, but Leroy Mwasaru already boasts an impressive CV. The social entrepreneur is the founder of Greenpact, a social enterprise providing bio-gas solutions to the nine million Kenyan households (that’s 72 per cent of all Kenyan households) struggling without access to affordable renewable energy and proper sanitation. Working between renewable energy, e-commerce and human-centered design education, the One Young World ambassador and Royal Commonwealth Society fellow started Greenpact as a high school project. He also runs CampBuni, a social enterprise teaching design thinking to high school students; and CommCycle, a trade platform to facilitate peer-to-peer trading. 06. Simon Dogger: The Emotion Whisperer The Emotion Whisperer helps partially sighted people 'feel' other people's emotions Product designer Simon Dogger created the Emotion Whisperer after losing his sight and finding himself unable to read body language. When in conversation, the tool translates the emotion of the person through a series of subtle sensory signals. The product comprises a set of glasses with a built-in camera, an “emotion recognition” app – which uses facial recognition technology and algorithms to detect the intensity levels of the base six emotions: happiness, fear, anger, sadness, disgust and surprise – and a small, handheld device. The app analyses and translates any emotion detected into a sensory signal, and instructs the electronic device to give out a specific vibration. That means that with Emotion Whisperer, a user can effectively feel someone smiling. “My work is about turning emotions into haptic signals. With Emotion Whisperer, you can feel someone smiling,” says Dogger. “My job is to make something that turns around the quality of the dialogue, and the quality of life.” Related articles: Be a better designer in 2018 Design Indaba 2018: Building outspoken landscapes 3 design projects that just changed the world View the full article

So you want to know how to draw a rose? Well, you're in the right place. When it comes to drawing flowers, there are many different ways to start the process – and many angles to choose from. In the video below, I unpack some ideas for how to draw roses to make them a little less daunting. I provide a list of written tips further down the article that outline the key drawing techniques involved, too. You'll also find some additional resources covering how to draw roses for beginners and more advanced artists at the very bottom of this article. How to draw a rose Roses are the most popular flowers in the world, so it’s not surprising that they are often found in art as well. However, learning how to draw a rose can be complicated and intimidating for two reasons. First, a rose’s shape continually changes as it blooms making it difficult for the artist to answer the most basic question, 'What shape is it?' Second, it's a soft and delicate object; communicating that requires considerable skill and sensitivity. Follow these pro tips to learn how to draw a rose... 01. Draw draw draw! Understanding comes through repetition Begin by sketching the subject from different angles and reference pictures. This will give you a good sense of whatever it is you’re drawing and help you look for new insight. Your 100th drawing should always be better than your first one. Drawing something over and over again is necessary for drawing with power and authority. Also, by drawing something repeatedly, you will become more confident of the subject, which will allow you to take chances. So draw with abandon and don’t worry about how good those initial sketches are. Draw to learn; each drawing is leading you closer to the perfect rose. 02. Successful thinking leads to successful drawing Don’t just see; think about what you see Successful drawing is more about logical thinking than having a trick up your sleeve. Start by observing your subject and asking the most basic question: What is the shape of this thing I’m drawing? Is it round? Square? Roses are complicated shape-wise because their unfolding petals distract us from its basic shape. The obvious fact is that a rose is an unfolding bud, so it’s egg-shaped: wider at the bottom and narrower at the top. So start by drawing the egg-shaped bud and then add in all the petals unfolding and opening around it. Make sense? Now that's an example of great thinking surpassing simply drawing what you see. 03. Good reference, good silhouettes Shapes are our friends Not all reference is created equal. Sometimes rose pictures that you find might not be helpful to your drawing because they look wilted and not heroic, or be strangely shaped and not very rose-like. Make sure the photo you choose to draw from has a shape that can be instantly recognised as a rose. Once you get drawing, you can turn your rose into a silhouette to see its overall shape and discern if it effectively communicates a rose. If you’re working from good reference, checking the silhouette will keep you on track. 04. Form Good form makes your rose believable If your drawing has good form, that means it has a three-dimensional quality to it that makes it look real and believable. The best way to render (i.e. draw) form is to make sure that you think about what part of the rose you're drawing so that your hand movements follow the same curves of the petal or the roundness of the stem. Making round movements around a round object clarifies form; if something is round, use circular strokes to give the illusion of curvature. 05. Story Everyone loves a good story – even when you're drawing roses You might wonder what 'story' has to do with a rose. Everything! Whereas an amateur artist might draw a stiff stem and leaves (boring), an experienced artist will see the stem and leaves as a chance to tell a story because that’s what will connect them with the viewer emotionally. You can turn the mundane into something magical through exaggeration. Even though the differences between the two roses (above) are slight, the one on the right is much more interesting than the one on the left. Just by adding a few exaggerated bends in the stem, tilting the bloom, and injecting a little wonder into the leaves, my drawing goes from stiff to lively. Here are some additional tips to take your roses to the next level... How to draw a rose: beginner tips If you’re brand new to drawing roses, this screencapture walkthrough breaks down the process into basic shapes. This tutorial is aimed at children and beginners – by the end you’ll have a basic grasp of how to draw a rose. How to draw a rose: advanced tips For expert insight into how to draw roses, this six-minute video tutorial provides a masterclass for sketching a realistic, eye-catching rose with crisp petals. If this 'how to draw a rose' article inspires you to educate yourself further, head over to Schoolism.com to discover courses, workshops and more. It’s an amazing way to study with the pros. Related articles: How to draw: 95 pro tutorials and tips How to draw hands 12 best pencils for designers and artists View the full article

Intel has issued stable microcode to help protect its Broadwell and Haswell chips from the Spectre Variant 2 security exploits. View the full article

The Oscars are fast approaching, and this year marks the award ceremony's 90th birthday. Over those nine decades there have been some pretty incredible stats attached to the Academy Awards. To mark the occasion, Stylight has put together this infographic that represents this prestigious event in numbers. The best infographics This impressive infographic shows you the actors that got paid peanuts for their award-winning performances, the most watched acceptance speeches, the child prodigies and late bloomers, and more. The gender pay gap is still raging Aptly for a year in which the movie industry (and its biggest events) is being shaken up by the long-overdue #TimesUp revolution, there's also a depressing look at the Academy Awards' gender stats. It's still a boys' club when it comes to individual nominations – overwhelmingly so in the best director category, and payscales are still way, way out of whack. The three highest-paid actors all earned well over twice as much as the highest-paid women in 2017, but perhaps the most surprising stat here is that Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson is currently the second biggest earner in Hollywood. We'll leave that to sink in for a minute. Streep is top of the class when it comes to best acting noms Despite this disparity, women still win out when it comes to best acting nominations. The indomitable Meryl Streep has racked up a ridiculous 21 nominations across her career. Trailing behind in the men's category is Jack Nicholson, who has pulled in a frankly embarrassing 12. Click on the image to see the full infographic To see the full infographic, click on the image above. The Oscars will take place on Sunday 4 March – if you're still not up to speed on the flicks set to win big, take a look these brutally honest Oscar movie posters. Read more: 5 outrageous product placements in movies Are movie posters in a design crisis? 15 influential art and design movements you should know View the full article

There's so much that can be achieved natively in the browser using CSS3 or the Web Animations API, in JavaScript. Simple animations and transitions are well suited to CSS3 – whereas more complex animations need to be accomplished using JavaScript. The problem with the Web Animation API is browser support and the current feature set. Being a fairly young specification, this will improve in the coming years. The complete guide to SVG In order to combat this feature and browser support deficit, we can turn to animation libraries, such as GreenSock (GSAP). GSAP gives us the ability to create complex animations and multiple timelines, with the ability to animate almost any element or property/value pair – all achieved with a simple and intuitive syntax. In this tutorial we're going to use the GSAP library to create a few animations. The main and most complex animation we'll be creating will be transitioning the scene from day to night, we'll see how easily we can chain together multiple transitions to create complicated animations. We'll also be creating a few simple animations we'll be running constantly. Download the files for this tutorial. 01. Document setup To start, we need to fork the GreenSock Pen in order to trial its premium plugins. For the tutorial we'll be using an SVG which has already been optimised and pasted into our HTML editor. However, if you're using your own SVG you'll need to make sure that all of the elements have unique IDs. 02. Create the first timeline GSAP offers two timeline types: TimelineLite and TimelineMax. The TimeLineMax version offers access to additional features, such as the ability to repeat animations, as well as playing them in reverse among others. Our first timeline will be the water, which we will repeat infinitely and yoyo back and forth. 03. Create the first animation In order to animate the water we have another path in our SVG, hidden with a '0' opacity. We'll utilise the morphSVG plugin to transform our original water path into the new water path. We'll move the water element '12px' down on the y-axis. The two numbers at the end of the property represent the delay and the start times respectively. 04. Reusable properties Since we will be reusing a number of properties and values a number of times we're going to create variables for these properties. 05. Console logging The GSAP library offers us the ability to get a number of properties from any given timeline. We can log these in the console to make sure that everything is working as we expect it to. 06. Cloud timeline and console log For every element we wish to animate separately and constantly we need to create a new timeline. We also want to log that timeline in the console as we go. 07. Cloud animation Now that we have our timeline ready, we can create our cloud animation. The section of animation which takes the new properties can handle multiple property/value pairs separated using commas. Our cloud animation only needs to be subtle, so we only need to change the values by a small amount. 08. Create the night time animation Next, we'll start to create our day-to-night animation. We'll create a variable for the cycle time and the day. The 'yoyo' setting in GSAP also enables to us to delay the animation before repeating. 09. Animate the overlay layer Inside our SVG we have an overlay layer made of a rectangle covering the entire image with the same background gradient as our night-time background. The overlay applies the 'multiply' blend mode in order to darken the entire image. Our animation simply transitions the opacity of this element. 10. Animate the gradient GSAP offers other tweens on top of the common 'to' and 'from' types. The tween type we need in order to animate our gradient is the 'staggerTo' tween. We can also use the 'cycle' property in order to rotate the colour wheel around to our new values. 11. Animate the sun We can keep adding animations to our 'toNight' animation. This time we'll add a new 'to' tween in order to set our sun. We'll set the display time to be a fraction of the cycle time in order to animate the sun before the moon. GSAP enables us to set almost any attribute. We'll use this in order to animate the 'cx' and 'cy' properties to below the hill on the right. 12. Animate the moon We'll use the same technique we used to animate the sun out of view (see Step 11 above) in order to animate the moon into view. We could achieve this using one tween, of course, but in order to create a faux arc we'll do this is in two parts. In both parts we're also going to apply a new value to the scale property. 13. Animate the moon - part two The second part of the moon animation waits for the first section to finish before it begins. Note: these two parts of the moon animation are chained together inside the animation code along with the other day-to-night properties that we're using. 14. Animate the stars The only part left of our day-to-night animation are the stars. We'll animate the stars into view by transitioning a number of properties. The first of them is to simply bring them into view by animating their opacity. 15. Animate the stars - part two Next we'll use the 'from' tween in order to move the stars up and rotate them from a negative angle as they animate into view. We're using some simple maths in order to calculate our animation time and delay, all based on our 'day_night_cycle_time' variable. 16. Create the stars timeline and the console log Now we've created our day-to-night animation we can create another constant animation to make our stars blink. We'll create the new timeline and then log the timeline duration in the console. 17. Animate the stars Now we've created the timeline ready for animation, we need to create our blinking animation. The animation is really simple – all we want to do is reduce the opacity value. Thanks to the 'yoyo' property the opacity will animate on and off and so will make the stars look like they are blinking. 18. Delay the blinking In the last step we're targeting the stars group in order to apply our blinking animation, however it would look much better if the stars were to blink one at a time instead of together at the same time. We achieve this by targeting each star separately and applying a different animation. 19. Additional elements - snow! That's it! Our day-to-night cycling animation is finished and it looks awesome, but we don't have to stop there. Since the image is in SVG we can easily add new elements to our landscape. Let's add some snow. We'll do this using two separate layers. Each layer has a collection of ellipses large enough to cover the landscape and then the same collection repeated above. 20. Create the snow timelines We create two separate timelines for our snow in order to be able to animate them over different durations. We'll also log their durations to the console. 21. Animate the snow In order to animate our snow layers we want to move the two layers along the vertical axis. By differing their durations we will get the appearance of the layers moving at different speeds. The animation works by moving the collection of ellipses along the vertical axis until the second collection is in place of the first. We then repeat the animation. Find the full collection of tutorial Pens here. This article was originally published in issue 269 of creative web design magazine Web Designer. Buy issue 269 here or subscribe to Web Designer here. Related articles: 21 top examples of JavaScript Create and animate SVG Polygons 12 common JavaScript questions answered View the full article

Web developers have the power to shape the future of the internet. They create and maintain the apps and services that you count on every day. If you want to join the ranks of those important people who help keep the digital world running, then you need to check out the Complete Full Stack Developer eBook Bundle. You can get it on sale now for just $29 (approx. £21)! The Complete Full Stack Developer eBook Bundle is the perfect starting point for any aspiring web developer. This bundle of eBooks will help to lay the foundation for your next career. By working through this bundle of 16 books from SitePoint, you'll learn how to work with the most important languages in web development, including front-end development standards that help strengthen the back-end tech of your sites. You can get the Complete Full Stack Developer eBook Bundle on sale right now for just $29 (approx. £21)! That's a savings of 93% off the retail price for a bundle that will give you a start on your web dev career, so grab this deal today! 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 future of web design 5 articles to improve your web design career How responsive web design changed the world View the full article

When it comes to drawing believable creatures, you need to focus on the skeletal, muscular and vascular systems. This process becomes even more interesting once you start working in 3D. So, first things first: to follow this 3D creature anatomy project, you'll need the right 3D software – we'll be using ZBrush. I had the privilege of working with American scientific and academically trained illustrator Terryl Whitlatch. You can also find the Pyrosuvious in Terryl’s book, Principles of Creature Design. The purpose of this project is to create an anatomy of a believable imagined creature. Creating a creature that does not exist is already a challenging task, especially since we see creatures in movies, commercials and games, all the time. Making a non-existing creature look believable and convincing is the hardest part. There are plenty of resources available on the human anatomy for artists, but not so much for imagined animals and creatures. This project focuses on modelling a popular style of imagined creature: a bipedal dinosaur hybrid. The Pyrosuvious is basically a mixture of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, Spinosaurus and Dromaeosaurids-like creature. Luckily, I had Terryl’s scientific illustrations and collaboration to serve as a great conceptual foundation for an inspirational and educational challenge. In this tutorial you can follow my step-by-step sculpting process in ZBrush, and advice on how to create a 3D print-friendly file. 01. Using references Chicken parts act as as a real-life limb study It’s helpful to find real life animal references for the part you are focusing on at a given time. For example, when focusing on the small, detailed scales, I relied heavily on the Carolina anole lizard and neighbouring species for reference. Many dinosaurs share anatomic features with chickens, especially in the limbs. In this case, I even kept many frozen chicken parts to have on hand as a real-life limb study. I also recommend Unfeathered Bird by Katrina van Grouw as a reference book. 02. Design story Terryl's sketches inspired by The Lost World The Pyrosuvious was originally created by Terryl’s rough compositional doodle and sketches based and inspired by the 1925 film, The Lost World. The Pyrosuvious is a combination of at least six or seven different dinosaur species and is designed to be a scaly reptile. The chapter about the Pyrosuvious is in Terryl’s latest book, Principles of Creature Design. 03. Zsphere base mesh Use ZSphere to start the main base mesh I use ZSphere, a ZBrush tool, to start my main base mesh. Depending on the project, sometimes I start with DynaMesh, but since I have incredible line drawings from Terryl I started with ZSphere to have a little bit more control over my mesh. I turn off the perspective view and start to build my spheres. You can press [A] to see what your mesh looks like at any time. You can add volumes by creating more ZSpheres. Press [Q] to add more ZSpheres. 04. Skeletal anatomy Skeletal side view Initially, building the skeletal anatomy wasn’t required for this project, but I think it helps to understand the muscles and their transitions into bones, as well as understand the structure of the overall mass. Terryl provided me with skeletal front and side view drawings for this task and I built them in ZBrush. If your final sculpt does not call for skeletal structure, I might still suggest completing it to help guide the rest of your muscle and tissue development. 05. Block out the main shapes Working on the silhouette I have front and side view drawings, my base mesh and skeletal system. Now I’ll spend time on the overall silhouette using the Move brush. Concept drawings should give an idea of body mass and shape, but don’t get too hung up on the details yet; it’s important to have a low-resolution model in the beginning while you are making big changes. Press the shortcut BMT for the Move Topological brush (to move vertices) and shortcut BMV for the Move brush (to move big mass). 06. Add muscle mass Adding muscle with the Clay Buildup brush I use the Clay Buildup brush to add muscle mass. Next I isolate the areas that I want to focus on and work on them separately. Use the Clay Buildup brush, smooth it and gently draw muscle lines with the Dam_Standard brush. Slowly build up the fines of the form and move to a different part. Change the Imbed Intensity to 5 and Brush Intensity to 10 for the Clay Buildup brush. Go to Brush>Depth>Imbed. Imbed controls how much deformation the brush stroke will give you. 07. Adding weight Loose skin Weight is one of the most important elements in organic forms. It defines the heaviness and gives us the sense of how this creature would fit into our world. Usually the areas that are intersecting, articulating or the loose skin and membranous parts will need the most time and polish here. If you don’t add weight onto your sculpt it will look less organic. Try looking at your model with a shader that has specularity to see the surface highlights. 08. Surface detail Adding scale patterns Surface detail should be added last to make the surface look rich and vibrant; it shouldn’t change the silhouette of the model. At this point I create the main scale patterns by hand, and for the rest of the details I use skin alpha brushes which you can easily find on ZBrush Central. You can also paint your surface details and convert them into Displacement maps to be projected in ZBrush. Both methods are very useful for creating surface details. 09. Anatomy side carving Carving the surface Once I’m happy with the overall weight and mass on this creature, I start carving my surface. As you start working on the major muscle groups and their relationships with the skeletal system, having access to your concept artist or using real animal references is helpful. I mainly used the Dam_Standard, Clay Buildup and Clay brush here. Working with layers at this stage is very important. I can keep everything organised with layering and take control of the blending. 10. Exaggerate finer details Fine details get lost when 3D printed Details will often need to be exaggerated in order to be readable when printed. Fine scale details might look good on your screen, however when you 3D print them they usually get lost. The good news is, when you take advantage of your layers in ZBrush, you can adjust the exaggeration levels before you send it to be printed. I recommend giving an extra 2mm offset on finer details. Go to Tool>Layers then select the layer and change the layer intensity. 11. Decimation master Pre and post decimation I’ve included the decimated printable écorché of the Pyrosuvious as an .obj file. To buy the original ZBrush file with separated layers and subtools, go to here. Decimation Master is simple to use: enter the number of polygons needed for the mesh or the percentage of the decimation needed. Go to ZPlugin>Decimation Master and hit Pre-process Current first and then Decimate Current. You can enter different numbers to re-calculate the decimation. 12. Final The end result, a perfect Pyrosuvious The more information and background you have about your creature, the more believable it will be. Nature is always the biggest inspiration and provides the guidelines for these types of projects. However, I hope that the Pyrosuvious can also be a tool to guide artists in understanding their creature subject inside and out. This article was originally published in 3D World, the world's best-selling magazine for CG artists. Subscribe to 3D World here. How to draw anything: 95 pro tutorials and tips Drawing techniques: 7 fundamentals of pencil drawing Review: ZBrush 4R8 View the full article

When you need to decide between illustration and photography in your design work, sometimes the choice isn't clear cut. Both have their pros and cons creatively; vary in the costs, time and resources required; and can also communicate your message in very different ways, whether abstract and conceptual, or realistic and literal. To help you make the right decision, read on for our five reasons to choose illustration over photography for your next design project. 01. You want to express something abstract This illustration by Neil Webb visualises some of the different approaches to branding strategy Sometimes, the nature of the idea or concept you're trying to convey will determine whether illustration is the best course of action. Abstract themes, or topics where specific visuals don't come to mind, will often lend themselves better to an illustrative treatment. An interview with a specific person about their business strategy, say, would probably demand photography of the interviewee. It's about access to that individual, and expressing their personality. But a piece about strategy in general could be much better illustrated, to bring a potentially dry subject to life as well as visualise various abstract ideas. Likewise in an ad campaign: sometimes photography is necessary to ground a particular claim in reality, and make it more accessible. Perhaps there's a specific person that needs to be shown – a celebrity endorsement, for instance. But if you're trying to get across more abstract brand values, such as 'playfulness' or 'innovation', illustration could be a perfect way to get that across. 02. The subject is too ambitious to photograph The Partners crafted a beautiful illustrated brand world for The Connaught Sometimes you need your imagination to be the limit, not the budget or the practical logistics of what you can shoot, where and how. The simple beauty of illustration is that you can depict literally anything you like. Futuristic, surreal, or fantastical scenes are all possible with photography in theory, but could cost a small fortune. If some degree of realism is important, consider a middle-ground of photomontage illustration or collage, where stock assets could prove invaluable. Pick the right style of illustration, however, and there are no boundaries for what kind of world you can create. But if you're commissioning bespoke illustration, make sure your brief steers the illustrator in the direction you need. 03. You want to tell a story NB Studio's character-led branding for banking app Zhuck is quirky Storytelling may have become a buzzword in branding and advertising, but the fact remains that a compelling narrative can be enormously effective when it comes to engaging consumers, and getting across a brand's personality and purpose. Illustration is great for taking people on a journey, whether you're literally walking people through a brand's story using illustrated scenes or characters, or constructing a subtler narrative across various brand touchpoints. Characters, or mascots, don't have to be twee or childish. They can be an effective way to represent the attitude of a brand in a tangible, easily relatable way, as well as providing countless options for expanding across different platforms. And illustration can also convey particular processes, or key issues that are important to a brand – its eco-friendly credentials, or educational initiatives, for instance – in interesting, eye-catching and totally bespoke ways. 04. You have some data to visualise Stefan Sagmeister's Happy Show raised a smile with its cheeky illustrated infographics Infographics have absolutely boomed in popularity over the last decade, with visual sharing platforms such as Pinterest and Instagram helping to spread the most engaging and thought-provoking examples far and wide – although some of them do stretch the definition of 'infographic' somewhat. At their core, infographics are about making complex information easier to digest and understand by converting them into a visual form. And here's where illustration steps up to the plate in a way that photography never could: with a touch of creativity, a tedious spreadsheet or list of facts and figures can become a treat for the eyes. Whether it's visualising corporate statistics for an annual report, providing a fresh perspective on a global phenomenon or clarifying a complex process, infographics are definitely here to stay. 05. A particular style is required Aart-Jan Venema's illustrated branding for Green Man Festival was overall winner at the World Illustration Awards 2017 The best photographers may have a distinct trademark style and approach to their subject, but ultimately the camera never lies. The subject will always be the star, and while a carefully art directed photographic campaign will help give a brand coherence, it will never be as distinctive as a particular style of illustration. Illustration can unify a design and totally transform its look, feel and mood – whether it's a multi-platform campaign, a series of graphics for an event or a simple brochure. And this is where picking the right style – whether you're commissioning bespoke illustration, or researching stock assets – is paramount. Commissioning a full-blown, carefully art directed photoshoot can be unattainably expensive. However, as cameras increase in quality and decrease in price, and the quality of stock imagery increases, decent-quality photography is becoming more and more accessible to brands of all shapes and sizes. Illustration can help a brand stand out from the crowd in a much more distinctive way, carving a niche defined by personality and individual attitude. Read more: 5 ways to use images more effectively in editorial design 15 influential art and design movements you should know 7 biggest illustration trends of 2018 View the full article

Dr. Sébastien Deguy will be doing a keynote talk at Vertex, our event for the CG community. Get tickets now! We all know the name of Substance by now, right? This suite of texturing tools has reinvigorated the games industry and is used by the biggest game studios, but that doesn’t stop indies from giving Allegorithmic’s software a try. Allegorithmic’s MAT Contest, which was launched for the first time in 2017, was a first for the company, and a huge success to boot, too. “We received 1,200 entries which might be one of the biggest contests in the digital art world and in the 3D media and entertainment world,” says its CEO, Dr. Sébastien Deguy. There was a real diversity in entries, from seasoned game artists to students and new texture painters. “The winner used Substance Painter for the first time, and it shows that it’s a tool that’s easy to pick up!” One version for all Another part of the attraction to the tools is the payment model, where everybody gets the same set of tools – no light version, no non-commercial version, no restrictions. “When we think about our users, we think of the big guys and the small guys,” says Deguy. “We don’t have light versions, it’s the same product. We don’t like light versions, light versions is like treating people as light people!” Key to Deguy’s core business principles at Allegorithmic has been the idea of fairness that stems from his father, who owned his own plumbing business. “I look back at it and I think it’s one of the most important things when you want to do business in a proper way. When you’re fair, people get back to you again and work again with you. My favourite expression is that ‘life is not a zero-sum game’.” Numberless version releases It’s not a surprise, then, that generosity is also a core value for Deguy, as he admits that in the past Allegorithmic may have given ‘too much’ – making some of the product releases unfair on the development process. One of the reasons that Substance Painter and Substance Designer became numberless in Summer 2017 cycles back to this idea. “It’s an unnatural and fake structure – the big releases. It’s like, should we withhold and wait for this feature to go in a big version? We wanted something that is fair and modular to our users and that is fair and manageable to us too.” The future In five years time, however, Substance may change completely. “We’re having fun,” says Deguy. “Growing this fast is challenging. But what we really like is making products. I’d like to see a more complete portfolio, to do asset creation, what we can do for the left side of the pipeline, like parametrisation, and more hybrid ways of producing content – mixing textures, surfaces and meshes maybe, but also rendering and visualisation, we’d like to improve on that, too. And being more present in films and architectural work – seeing Substance in as many places as possible!” Don’t miss out on Sebastien's talk at Vertex! Book your ticket now at vertexconf.com. There are still some amazing workshops we’ve yet to announce so keep an eye on our website, where you can also find out more about the other amazing speakers, workshops, recruitment fair, networking event, expo and more. This interview has been edited from its original version in issue 110 of 3D Artist, the magazine offering practical inspiration for 3D enthusiasts and professionals. Subscribe to 3D Artist here. Read more: Press Start on your game art skills at Vertex 7 reasons you can't miss Vertex The best 3D modelling software 2018 View the full article

Morphisec said that it has detected several malicious word documents – part of a “massive” malspam campaign – that takes advantage of a critical Adobe Flash Player vulnerability discovered earlier this month. View the full article

Researchers have found sneaky encoded malware targeting WordPress and Joomla sites that pretends to be ionCube files. View the full article

A remote code execution security flaw has been patched in one of the latest versions of Adobe Acrobat Reader DC. View the full article

Move over Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, there's a hot new social media platform on the block and it's called Vero. The platform, which is currently topping the App Store, is being picked up by creatives from all sorts of industries who are looking to ditch other social media sites that have become cluttered with ads. Is it time for designers to leave Twitter? According to Vero, what sets it apart from its rivals is that there are no ads and no algorithms. Vero is being presented as the next logical step for people who want to connect and share online. However usability issues, such as an inability for users to delete their accounts immediately, have already dogged the platform's image. Every platform goes through teething troubles, though, so could Vero be the go-to social media site of the future? If the current influx of designers and artists are anything to go by, the answer's yes. To help you get acquainted with the platform, we've rounded up 10 designers and artists who have already made the move to Vero. (Vero is currently experiencing high demand, so for now we've linked to their portfolio websites. We'll update this article with Vero handles as soon as we can.) 01. Tom Muller Tom Muller has a diverse range of design talents under his belt Tom Muller is a creative director who splits his time between running his own design practice, helloMuller, and working as the creative director at Possible. Specialising in creative direction, graphic design, branding design and more, Muller will be one to follow on Vero for choice insights on a broad range of design principles. 02. Thom Simpson Thom Simpson's illustrations are an intricate marvel It's easy to lose hours looking at the detailed wonders that are Thom Simpson's illustrations. By following the talented artist on Vero you'll be able to do exactly that, and you won't be distracted by ads. 03. Siggi Eggertsson 6 followers... for now Siggi Eggertsson's beautiful creations pack all the charm of pixel art, but with their rounded elements they're a bit easier on the eyes. Be sure to follow him for visual treats straight into your timeline (or whatever the Vero version is.) 04. James Boast James Boast has created illustrations for the New York Times, Volvo, Easy Jet and many more What could be nicer than logging into a social media platform and seeing the delightful artwork of freelance illustrator James Boast? It beats endless holiday snaps in our books. 05. Ben the Illustrator You might remember Ben the Illustrator from his Illustrator's survey If you're an illustrator knocking about online, chances are you have heard of Ben the Illustrator thanks to his annual illustrator's survey. To keep up to date with all of his latest works and thoughts, why not give him a follow on Vero? 06. Velvet Spectrum Velvet Spectrum is sure to take off on Vero The Los Angeles-based creative studio of Australian graphic artist Luke Choice already has a strong following on other social media platforms, so be sure to get in on the ground floor as he sets up shop on Vero. Expect posts that explore his portfolio of surreal and unexpected art. 07. James Jean James Jean designed the poster for The Shape of Water Artist James Jean already has over 60,000 followers on Twitter, but in comparison his Vero profile is looking a little lonely. Why not join him on the new site and give him a larger audience for his stunning work? 08. Thomas Fenton Thomas Fenton's posts are sure to inspire 3D artists There are a lot of traditional and digital illustrators on this list, so to shake up your tastes we recommend following 3D artist Thomas Fenton. And thanks to Vero's lack of data mining algorithms, you won't get spammed by Vero with recommendations for pretenders to his throne. 09. Bobby Chiu Learn something new with Bobby Chiu (heh, that rhymes) On Twitter Bobby Chiu describes himself as an artist/teacher/creator, but now he can add Vero user to that list. With work for clients including Disney, Warner Bros and Star Wars, you're sure to pick up useful industry insights by giving him a follow. 10. TNMZ Design Posters and lettering are the order of the day for TNMZ Design Type fans are in for a treat with TNMZ Design. Set up by 21 year-old self taught graphic designer known as Hendry, TNMZ specialises in logo design, poster design, and professional hand lettering. If those are your bag, give TNMZ Design a follow on Vero and prepare to be bombarded by design goodness. Related articles: 10 social media tricks you didn't know about 5 golden rules for social media strategy How to make social media work for you View the full article

Workshops Create a mixed-media portrait Download video Watch video on YouTube Capture the feel of The Road Download video Watch video on YouTube Download custom brushes Next-level lighting advice Download video Watch video on YouTube Paint a children's book character Download custom brushes Training video Download a sample clip from Epic Fantasy Painting in Oils, or watch the clip on our YouTube channel. View the full article

Designed to reward the very best branding in any given market sector, the Brand Impact Awards is an international prize scheme from the makers of Computer Arts and Creative Bloq – and 2018 entries are open now. Submit your best branding now Final deadline for entries is 5:30pm on 1 June 2018, but if you have a branding project ready to go, you can get a special early-bird rate until 18 March. Who enters the BIAs? Now in its fifth year, the rich heritage of past BIA winners includes the cream of the global branding industry. Previous best-of-show winners include The Partners (now Superunion) in 2017, Johnson Banks in 2016 and 2015, and Rose in 2014. 2017's Best of Show: London Symphony Orchestra, by The Partners (now Superunion) But work is judged anonymously on its own merits, and there are studios of all shapes and sizes in the mix – so it's all to play for. The most important thing is that you've created a stellar piece of branding work. What makes the BIAs different? The Brand Impact Awards are entirely dedicated to branding, in all its forms. The world-class judging panel is looking for: A great, original idea that's appropriate for the client Beautiful, consistent and coherent execution of that idea Branding that stands head and shoulders above its market sector The BIAs differ from other major awards schemes on three main counts: ENTRIES ARE PUT IN CONTEXT. Projects are judged by market sector, so your work is put in the context for which it was designed. ALL BRANDING IS CONSIDERED. As well as branding from the ground up, we also accept campaigns that extend or enhance existing brands. CONSISTENCY IS REWARDED. Judges will be looking for consistent quality of idea and execution across two or more brand touchpoints. Submit your best branding now For more information about the BIAs and how to enter, visit the Brand Impact Awards website. Also read: The designer's guide to using colour in branding 21 outstanding uses of colour in branding 25 logo design tips from the experts View the full article

It’s been a turbulent time for Cape Town. The city started 2018 in the grip of one of the world's most dramatic urban water crises. Three consecutive years of drought mean that in the next few months Cape Town’s taps could run dry. In an effort to delay Day Zero – the day the water runs out – the city has resorted to extreme measures. Inhabitants have a daily consumption limit of 50 litres: that’s one toilet flush (6 litres), a two-minute shower (20 litres), drinking and cooking water (10 litres) and very little else. Meanwhile, new South African president Cyril Ramaphosa – a leader who many believe can restore hope after the scandal-plagued Jacob Zuma years – took office in February. It was to this social and political backdrop that the 20th annual Design Indaba opened its doors. Long an advocate of creating change through action, this year’s conference took on a new urgency: we need to translate thought, to word, to action – and we need to do it quickly. Sunu Gonera on stage in Cape Town at Design Indaba 2018 Afrofuturist film director Sunu Gonera captured the mood immediately in his opening talk, as he urged the Indaba audience to find their voice. “Life is so fleeting,” he pointed out. “What’s your voice? What do you want to do?” Over the following days, each of the speakers illustrated how they’ve used their creative voices to initiate change. Here are five ways they successfully took their ideas from thought to action… 01. Look to nature is a biodegradable yarn made from kelp One area where serious change is finally in reach is biomaterials. Fashion design graduate and Indaba speaker Aleksandra Gosiewski, who’s a co-founder of New York-based biomaterials research group AlgiKnit, entered the field after becoming disillusioned by the linear economy of fashion. AlgiKnit’s goal, as we reported earlier, is to keep fashion products out of landfill and reduce microplastic pollution – and the team has created a sustainable alternative to man-made textiles like polyester, in the form of a rapidly renewing biodegradable yarn made from kelp. They’ve not only made clothing from the bioyarn: they’ve also created a sneaker that rapidly degrades after the product has finished its useful lifetime. “When it’s worn out, or you don’t want it, it can be broken down by microorganism and the nutrients reclaimed to feed the next generation of product,” Gosiewski told the audience. 300 million tonnes of plastic are being wasted annually. This is a good time to ask: can we create man-made objects that are natural; and natural objects that are man-made? Neri Oxmanm, architect and designer Architect, designer and professor at MIT Media Lab Neri Oxman also spoke about the importance of biomaterials. Her goal is to augment the relationship between built, natural and biological environments, using design principles inspired and engineered by nature, and implementing them in the invention of new design technologies. “Nature doesn’t assemble. It grows,” she pointed out during her talk. “We’re at a point in time where there’s a clash between the world of culture and the world of nature. It’s a slow process, but they’re colliding.” “300 million tonnes of plastic are being wasted annually,” she continued. “This is a good time to ask: can we create man-made objects that are natural; and natural objects that are man-made?” 02. Don’t always disrupt Disruption might be a trendy term - but sometimes it’s more effective to create change by bending existing ideas with gentleness and time, as specialist ophthalmologist William Mapham pointed out. He developed the Vula app after experiencing first-hand the difficulties faced by rural health workers when they need specialist advice. Vula is a secure medical chat and referral application that connects doctors to specialists, enabling health workers – particularly those in remote rural areas – to provide patients with quick and efficient specialist care. Since launching in 2014, 25 per cent of all cases, across all specialties, are now managed at a primary level in rural settings. Current response times are under 15 minutes, and there’s a self-learning aspect for rural health workers, too. 03. Constant iteration The is made up of 40 Kio tablets and a , with wireless tablet charging to reduce breakage, and a tough, water-resistant, lockable case It’s all very well having an idea, but how do you translate it into action? One clear piece of advice to come out of Design Indaba was the need for constant iteration. It isn’t about creating finished products: it’s about continually creating working prototypes, testing them as soon as possible and feeding the results back into the next version. BRCK UX design director Mark Kamau illustrated the concept during his talk. BRCK is an innovative technology company focused on connecting all of Africa to the internet. As he explained, there are currently three billion people in the world who are offline – with 800 million based in Africa alone. One of the company’s products, the Kio Kit, is a hardy solution that turns any classroom into a digital classroom in minutes. During the testing phase, Kamau’s job was to go to remote schools – often without electricity or a Wifi connection – and work with young children to continually improve the tablets. Afro-centric UX designer Mark Kamau speaking at Design Indaba Kamau said that the inspiration for the Kio Kit was to level the playing field for children in rural areas who have no access to computer labs at school, but still have to compete in national exams with better-equipped schools in urban areas. “When you’re solving problems that don’t fundamentally affect human life, you’re scratching at flees. But [in Africa] people are grappling with lion-sized problems,” he told the audience. “We’re going to deploy and deploy and deploy until all three billion people are connected.” "Isn’t it amazing that you can have this great idea, and turn scrap into gold in a day." Tom Dixon, product designer For other speakers, the concept of iteration took the form of trial and error. London-based product designer Tom Dixon, for example, talked about the importance of practicing: “The shape [of my products] is defined by a series of failures and a series of tests,” he said. “Isn’t it amazing that you can have this great idea, and turn scrap into gold in a day.” 04. Learn from making hollowed out the inside of a grain silo building on Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront to create South Africa’s biggest art museum, the Zeitz MOCAA Heavyweight designer Thomas Heatherwick highlighted the virtue of not always taking the easy route when it comes to bringing your ideas to life. He set himself the challenge of thinking by making after realising that some buildings seem sterile because there isn’t always a “culture of making” in architecture. “We make [the idea] because we’ll learn more from making it,” he explained. “And if you take a harder route,” he added, “it’s more likely to happen, sometimes, because people think it’s funny or interesting.” 05. Sketch it out Talented kinetic set designer Es Devlin closing the three-day Design Indaba conference Inspiring set designer Es Devlin reinforced the central message of this year’s Design Indaba – moving thought into word into action – with a stunning illustration of what can be achieved if you have big ideas in any field. She specialises in translating voices into visual manifestations, whether that’s through putting “the face in the centre”, as with her large-scale kinetic set constructions for Beyonce or Adele, or by translating purpose through objects, such as the giant animatronic man she designed for Take That's 2011 Progress Tour. Image: . "You can’t make a giant man unless it fits on a truck that can go under the lowest bridge in Hamburg. These are the parameters." All the projects she talked through involved iteration – and according to Devlin, the worse her sketches get, the better the idea they express. She also talked about the importance of practice. “The rehearsal for your life is your life,” she insisted, sharing the biggest lesson she learned from playing the violin when she was younger. Devlin summed up the spirit of all the speakers – and Design Indaba itself – in her closing question. And it’s one for all creatives: “Can you translate a thought to a word to an action? And can you do that quickly, please?” Related articles: Be a better designer in 2018 Design Indaba 2018: Building outspoken landscape 8 things you didn't know about design for film View the full article

You're reading 11 Free jQuery Notification Message Plugins for Websites, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! On-screen notifications have countless uses. They can share updates, marketing messages, or push info to new users who sign up to a website. Notification message started with desktop OS’ but they’ve since been ported to the web with some great plugins. And I’ve curated this list of my top 11 picks for jQuery free notification […] View the full article

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You're reading Optimize Conversions with GetSiteControl, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! GetSiteControl is a web-based solution that can help you increase website engagement. The tool allows anyone to quickly add widgets such as subscription forms, contact forms, chat widgets, social media integration and more to their websites. Launched in 2014, the tool is based on years of experience in user interaction. Unlike other tools, built to address […] View the full article

Still life isn’t everybody’s cup of tea – it takes a certain set of painting techniques – but for me it's always been a favourite. I like having complete control over the colours and style of the setup, the objects, drapes and the way they all work together. Flowers from the garden are a must, and in this painting the retro coffee pot and cups really set the colour and tone. I take my time to get the setup just right. I am aiming for a very relaxed painting, without lots of detail but hopefully with lots of life and energy. First, I create an underpainting using vibrant and sometimes contrasting colour. I build the painting in layers. Working at speed firstly with a large brush and then a palette knife I capture the mood with expressive marks, vibrant colour and texture. 01. Start bold A base layer can be very rough Using a decorator's brush, I start the painting with some bold colour. This is the underpainting – the first layer of paint that will provide a colourful base over which to work later on. I am not worried about drips and don’t want any detail, just lots of vibrant colour. 02. Find the composition A simple viewfinder can nail down the composition In these early stages, I am using a viewfinder – a piece of card with a window cut out to the same shape as my board. I can shut one eye and look through to see the composition. This is very helpful as I start to draw in the objects with the brush. 03. Look for shapes Don't forget to focus on negative space As I apply the vibrant colour, I am looking for shapes. Not just the shapes of the objects themselves, but the spaces between them – the negative shapes. Just a few simple marks help me to plot the composition. I am keeping it all very free and working over the whole board. 04. Cover up Build the whole board up at the same time The white of the board is nearly all covered now and the colours are rich. As the darker tones are added, the objects are becoming more obvious. I am gradually working over the whole board, trying not to concentrate on any details, just the basic shapes. The flowers are simplified blocks of colour. 05. Keep it sketchy Details can be carved out of thick paint I'm using the paint thickly now and it is still wet as I draw into it with the end of an old brush. This creates a textural surface as I pick out some sketchy detail in the coffee pot. This is still the underpainting and I’m excited to see the gorgeous colour and texture coming together. 06. Add more colour Bold colours are blocked in with a broad brush Going back in with the broad brush, I add more colour on the tabletop and among the flowers. There is a white cloth on the table in my setup, but at the moment in the painting it is green and blue. The white will be added later. Using the end of an old brush, I scratch in to the flowers. 07. Coffee break Once the underpainting's done it's time for a pause At this stage I am finishing the underpainting. I give a little more definition to the coffee pot and fruit and add some more foliage. Keeping the painting very free and sketchy, I have created a colourful textural surface and the basic elements of the composition are there. It's time for a cuppa before I switch to my palette knife. 08. Use a palette knife Pale colours are scraped on with a palette knife Using a palette knife to apply the paint, the background drape is now a soft green, with a little of the orange showing through. The cloth is now white. The palette knife with thick paint picks up the texture of the underpainting. Using it lightly, I leave some of the vibrant colours to show through. 09. Add a little detail Working with a knife keeps the composition loose With the knife I can continue to work freely without getting bogged down with too much detail. I’m still looking for the negative shapes as I paint around the objects, and the green on the table helps the coffee pot and cups stand out. I add a little detail to the objects but keep it simple. 10. Keep it clean Contrasting tones help the colours to pop The dark tones of the vase help the light and vibrant flowers to stand out. I paint the flowers with the palette knife, making sure I keep it clean. I paint directly and at speed, keeping the colours fresh and the marks clean. I use the shape of the knife to describe the shape of the petals. 11. Know when to stop Be careful not to over-work the painting It can be hard to know when a painting is finished. I remind myself of what I wanted to achieve. I wanted to capture a mood with expressive marks, vibrant colour and texture – I wasn’t aiming for detail or precision. There comes a point when to carry on working on a painting would ruin the vitality and muddy the colour. This article was originally published in issue 13 of best-selling magazine Paint & Draw, offering tips and inspiration for artists everywhere. Related articles: Sharpen your still life painting skills 4 important tips for painting a still life scene Still life photography: 30 beautiful examples View the full article