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Users who run four different types of VMware products, ESXi, vCenter Server, Fusion and Workstation, are being encouraged to update to address a series of vulnerabilities, one critical. View the full article

Every autumn, Computer Arts celebrates the best branding from around the world at its annual Brand Impact Awards ceremony – which took place on 14 September at the Ham Yard hotel in London’s trendy Soho. The results are on display in an extra-special edition of CA, which showcases 47 world-class projects: 16 of which are highly commended, with just 11 of them outright winners. Buy Computer Arts issue 271 now But it’s not just about bringing home trophies. Making the BIA shortlist at all is no mean feat, and the special report at the core of CA issue 271 taps the wisdom of all 32 shortlisted agencies. Print readers can also enjoy two foils on the cover – a sophisticated matt gold, and a striking shiny copper are a nod to our Winner and Best of Show trophies. There are also two colourways: slate grey, and subtle cream. You can watch a making-of video, filmed behind the scenes at CA's print finishing partner Celloglas, here: Diversity in design The BIA ceremony puts many top creative directors in one room for an inspiring showcase of branding at its best. However, events like these can also highlight the relative lack of diversity at the upper echelons of our industry. With this in mind, and following a recent government report that further emphasised the dominance of white men in the creative sector, we’ve grasped the nettle to explore some of the barriers in place for people to enter and progress through the industry, plus advice to help your studio encourage a more diverse pool of talent. Also in issue 271 of Computer Arts In our video profile, DixonBaxi reveals why it pays to be creatively restless CA's junior designer manual series continues with a guide to retouching images Plus: the best new graphic design, illustration and motion work from around the world Subscribe today to secure your next special issue Next month is another special issue, as CA reveals the top 50 in the fourth-annual UK Studio Rankings – the result of an extensive peer reputation survey of over 80 creative directors. The collectable glow-in-the-dark cover will be designed by the number-one agency on the list, but you’ll have to wait to find out who that is: subscribe today to guarantee your copy! View the full article

Hailing from the heart of the Lake District, Derwent is the quintessential UK brand when it comes to artists’ quality pencils. Derwent has been crafting pencils since 1832, so should know a thing or two about what makes a good one. Always drawn to perfection, its previous coloured pencil ranges have been highly acclaimed among pencil enthusiasts worldwide, made famous by the company's innovative approach to product ranges, pigment-packed leads and top-quality wooden shafts. Following Derwent’s popular Artists, Coloursoft and Studio ranges comes the brand-spanking new Procolour range for 2017. Available in an array of tin quantities, there’s a set to fit most budgets and any of these would make a handsome addition to your studio set-up or sketching kit. Pencil performance The 72-pencil set should definitely be on the studio wish-list, though. This comprehensive set is presented in two vac-form trays tiered within a sturdy metal tin, perfect protection for carting about across dale or on a more urban trek. UK: Get Derwent Procolour Pencils tin of 72 US: Get Derwent Procolour Pencils tin of 72 The tin itself is adorned with the new Derwent branding of the dark-blue toned Union flag design, which makes it instantly recognisable and looks pretty cool, too. The product design makes for a pencil that feels substantial, with each one having a sturdy circular shaft that slots well between the fingers. They look the part too, sporting a sleek matte-grey body embossed with silver type declaring the country of origin, brand, inventive moniker, a handy reference number (for when you drop the lot and need to put them back in order) and finally a lovely gloopy wedge of colour for quick and easy identification. The wooden shafts and leads sharpen effortlesslyWhen it comes to pencils the proof is always in the drawing and the new Derwent Procolour don’t disappoint. Due to its substantial design, the pencil sits comfortably in the hand and its sturdiness gives you the confidence to wield it with unabashed fervour. The lead also feels well balanced on paper. Not too waxy (you can get softer pencils from Derwent if that’s what you’re after) and not too brittle. The high pigment levels are evident from just the lightest of touches, and applying increments of greater pressure gives a wonderful gradation of pure colour without pushing into the surface of your paper or support. The pencils obviously blend wonderfully, but the colours might be best served using a build-up of cross-hatching that allows the purity of each colour to sing out. Sharpening is also a doddle with the wooden shafts and leads reacting effortlessly to a quality metal sharpener or scalpel. There’s a special relationship we artists have with what goes on between the tip of a pencil and our minds’ eye – it’s a subtle balance of trust and experience. If you’re new to the world of pencils, you won’t go far wrong with Derwent. And if your allegiances lie elsewhere, it might be time to gift yourself the chance to try something new. UK: Get Derwent Procolour Pencils tin of 72 US: Get Derwent Procolour Pencils tin of 72 This article originally appeared in Paint and Draw issue 9. Subscribe today. Related articles: How to draw and paint - 100 pro tips and tutorials How to hold a pencil correctly How to improve your character drawing View the full article

The concept for this project, Mushroom Goblin, comes from a drawing by my friend Adrian Smith. I have been working on making this concept into a 3D printed collectible for the site Industria Mechanika. Prep your work for 3D printing: 8 top tipsI used ZBrush to create a 3D sculpt, Polypaint for quick texturing and V-Ray for rendering. I will share my entire process with you, explaining how I took a 2D concept and turned it into a 3D illustration. 01. Study the drawing The original concept for this project is by Adrian Smith Before diving into any project, it’s important to do what I call a ‘warm up’ to get the hang of the character. This warm up could be drawing the character from different angles or messing around with clay for some basic forms, for example. Warming up first means that the digital sculpting process becomes more free-flowing. I also try to draw roughs of the character in T-pose if not provided in the concept so that I can get a good sense of the proportions. Always try to nail the proportions of a concept because they are what make the character look cool in the concept art. You can modify the original later if required, but it’s a good idea to stick to original proportions at least at first. 02. Create a base mesh Sculpt a base mesh using ZSpheres I usually make a base mesh in Maya and get it ready to be sculpted in ZBrush, which is kind of an old-school method. But for this project, I use ZSpheres to make the base mesh. Zspheres mean I can quickly extrude body volumes and create an armature in minutes. This armature acts as my base mesh. You can choose whichever method you like to get your basic mesh. 03. Basic sculpting Keep checking the concept when sculpting I start sculpting basic forms on the base mesh, but only add secondary forms after I feel it’s time to unwrap and pose. The rest of the detailed sculpting can follow later. It’s important not to hesitate when changing proportions and forms in the process. Keep visualising the form, check how it reads in the concept art and try to fill in the third dimension. A good understanding of anatomy is essential while sculpting a character. So if you don’t know much about anatomy then at least refer to reference. 04. Retopologise model Using Maya's Quad Draw Tool is a quick way to retopologise Retoplogy of the basic sculpting can be done directly in ZBrush. I used to prefer TopoGun but I now I tend to use Maya’s latest Quad Draw Tool, which is really handy and quick. Try to capture mid-level details while retopologising to get better results after subdivisions. This is also useful when projecting details later. 05. Sculpt secondary details At this stage, focus on getting the details right Secondary forms help to add details to the existing primary forms by giving it a more finished look. So when you zoom out, the primary forms should read neatly, and when zoomed in a bit, the secondary shapes should just complement rather than supersede. 06. Unwrap your model There is more than one method for unwrapping your model There are various ways to unwrap your model. I use Maya for basic unwrapping and then UV Master in ZBrush. I define the seams of the UVs where necessary in Maya, and then in ZBrush press Unwrap, keeping the existing UVs, and it’s done. ZBrush does the relaxing of UVs quite effectively, especially if the seams are defined properly. 07. Pose using Transpose Master This model is posed sitting on a mushroom After unwrapping the model, I start to pose the character using Transpose Master – a simple masking method – and the rotate tool. It’s not always 100 per cent accurate, but is a quick way to get a pose for illustrative purposes. Posing will help you realise if you need to make any further changes to the proportions – do so now if necessary. After posing there will be areas to clean up. Next, you can move onto adding more details. 08. Add detailing The artist created some of his own alphas for this stage For detailing, again it’s important to retain the secondary shapes and any detailing should complement the forms instead of just using of random alphas. I use the DragRect stroke with alphas. 09. Polypaint in ZBrush Polypainting adds instant life and realism to the model Polypaint in ZBrush is an amazing tool that helps to quickly paint over your model in layers. I use the Spray stroke and Alpha 07 in ZBrush to paint the basic colours to get the overall character covered. Then I keep adding layers of colours and strokes until I feel that it’s close enough to the concept artwork. 10. Extract maps Some of the maps used for this project Multi Map Exporter in ZBrush helps to extract different maps as required. I usually extract some basic maps such as diffuse, specular, SSS, displacement and normal maps. These maps can be then be used to plug into the various render engines. I use V-Ray for this. 11. Set-up in Maya Scaling various elements of your project is vital Using a real-world scale for your models helps you to get accurate results when rendering. But sometimes you have to deal with scaled-down models for specific needs. My goblin character is around two-feet-tall when standing up and in this case, the lighting, exposure, and other factors need to be adjusted accordingly. I don’t recommend using displacement maps if your machine is not super-powerful. Instead, it’s better to export a decent high-res model from ZBrush and normal maps, especially if it’s for a fixed camera angle. That way, you will get quicker results. However, if your machine is powerful enough, then you should go for displacement maps. For this project, I have varied subdivision levels from subtool to subtool exported as per the distance from the camera, which is fixed in Maya. 11. Render in V-Ray Keep testing before finalising the lighting set-up I use VRayLightRect and VRayLightSphere lights to light the scene. Now it’s time to test lots of rendering before finalising the lighting set-up. I place a few area lights from the top. Their intensity and angles vary. Not all of the lights actually light the character. There are a few that are exempt from lighting different parts and a few are included to light the hidden areas. This is not a traditional three-point lighting set-up, but it works for the look I am aiming for. For the grass, I used VRayFur, which is super-fast and gives decent results with a few tweaks. 13. Start compositing A selection of render passes done for this project I do various render passes in Maya with V-Ray, including Diffuse, Specular, SSS, ZDepth and fur pass. It’s also good to have a selection pass, which is helpful to select regions in Photoshop. Play around with the Layers in Photoshop and try to go through and check all the filters (I use Dissolve, Multiply and Overlay between different Layers) to get the desired output. It’s fun. For me, there is no specific method to achieve a specific look. I’m always experimenting and the compositing process is constantly evolving for me. This way of working often leads to happy accidental results that I try and embrace if I can. 14. Final render Colour correction adds the finishing touches Once I am happy with the final look of my piece, I usually export a high-res .tiff file as the master file. Then, with all the Layers merged, I try to colour correct a bit more to enhance the overall look. Usually this means playing around with the colour balance settings in Photoshop until I’m totally happy with my project. This article originally appeared in 3D World issue 224. Buy it here. Related articles: Sculpt realistic anatomy in ZBrush The 10 best ZBrush plugins Top tips for sculpting a creature in ZBrush View the full article

Studying design is about crafting a great design portfolio that will wow potential employers, right? Well, yes. But don't discount the importance of astute creative thinking, and expressing yourself eloquently through the written word. In short, your design dissertation matters. "I don't believe that design students should be focused entirely on portfolio work," argues Myrna MacLeod, programme leader for Graphic Design at Edinburgh Napier University. "They should also be able to demonstrate an interest in the contexts that underpin their work, and the histories and connections that have informed our practice." 5 top tips for graduate designers"Think of a dissertation as an opportunity, not a burden," urges Craig Burston, Graphic and Media Design course leader at London College of Communication (LCC). "It gives us visually-minded people an opportunity to demonstrate that we too can construct arguments and distil complex notions." As Burston points out, this is not just an academic exercise: the power of persuasion is often key to success as a commercial designer. "Clients seek clarity, and project concepts or proposals need to be put into context," he says. Read on to discover some top tips from leading tutors and their students for nailing your design dissertation first time… Treat it like a design brief "A great dissertation should be a designed artefact, and portfolio-worthy in its own right," believes Burston. And like a design brief, it should be about solving a problem: "Make sure it has clearly stated aims, strong focus, and doesn't lack opinion or rhetoric," he adds. "The value of a designed dissertation as portfolio piece is that it is a holistic view of the individual," agrees Sarah James, senior lecturer in Visual Communication at Arts University Bournemouth (AUB). "It shows, type, editorial, research, and aesthetic skill, as well as the personal interests and convictions of the individual." For her AUB dissertation on responsive type, Maarit Koobas conducted an extensive research processJames identifies AUB student Maarit Koobas, who investigated responsive type in both her dissertation and final project, as a particularly strong example of this. "Her design version was one of the most authentic, restrained and elegantly expressive I have ever received," she enthuses. Koobas conducted a huge amount of initial research into both the contexts in which responsive type can be seen – such as advertising, product design, science and material cultures – and the theories behind its analysis, including semiotics, philosophy and politics. "Creating and analysing ideas, before they end up in your portfolio, is what design is all about," argues Koobas. Write about your passion "To develop essay questions, AUB students are asked to consider what they love, hate, or are puzzled by in their practice – essentially, what moves them," explains James. "A poor dissertation is inauthentically chosen for ease as opposed to interest," she adds. "It rambles and blusters, using complex language to mask insufficient research." "You can tell a mile off when the writer isn't interested," agrees Burston. "How can you expect the reader to care about it if you don't? Write about something that reflects your interests, focus and direction. I've read fascinating dissertations on topics as diverse as patterns in nature, and Brutalist car parks. Make me interested in what interests you." Research by Napier graduate Fiona Winchester on typography in graphic novelsFor Edinburgh Napier graduate Fiona Winchester, this topic turned out to be typography in graphic novels. "I love reading them, but I think people still don't take them seriously as an art form, which is a shame," she says. For her dissertation, she conducted qualitative interviews using modified pages with and without imagery (shown above). Her advice is simple: "Narrow down your idea to be precise as possible. The smaller your question, the easier it is to research and try to answer it." If you're struggling to get the ball rolling on the actual writing process, Winchester advocates starting with whichever bit you have ideas for. "If you're stuck, it's so much easier to write in whatever order it comes to you, and then edit it into a dissertation, than to try write straight through from beginning to end," she insists. Don't be afraid to talk to people "I always think my students get the most out of the new streams of knowledge they find from talking to people," says McLeod. "It breaks down barriers and allows them to find answers to problems. Hopefully they will adopt that approach when designing for people also." In some cases, this can involve interviewing your design heroes: "Students are very surprised when they send a question to Stefan Sagmeister, Milton Glaser or Michael Wolff and they reply with the most precious nugget of knowledge," smiles McLeod. But remember: it's your dissertation, so don't get lazy and expect your interview subject to do all the heavy lifting. Kaori Toh's CSM dissertation on Mapping as a Creative Agency: Revelations and Speculations in the Age of InfrastructureIn other cases, it could be as simple as asking friends or family to help proofread. "It is quite daunting writing such a large body of text," admits Kaori Toh, a recent graduate from Central Saint Martins, whose dissertation explored the politics of design and technology. "I often felt I'd get lost in all that text and research," she confesses. "Therefore, I would often send my drafts to a couple of friends to have them look through, and keep my writing cohesive." Reflect on your design practice Most of all, dissertations are an opportunity to reflect on, and develop, your creative process as a designer. "Ultimately, it's your job to make your work relevant and credible, and the dissertation helps you learn how to do this," adds Burston. Of course, writing doesn't always come easily to visually minded people – and Burston highlights the fact that dyslexia is not uncommon amongst designers. "You're not on your own – in our profession, quite the opposite in fact – so do seek academic support, and just enjoy thinking and writing about 'stuff' that informs your practice," is his advice. Entitled New Faces, Tom Baber's thesis at LCC discusses the craft of type design in the 21st century, inspired by his own experience creating a working typeface: Elephant GroteskOne of Burston's stand-out students from this year, Tom Baber, welcomed support from the university to help with his dyslexia. Baber's dissertation focused on type design, and particularly the extent to which the longwinded design process is worth the effort, compared to using an existing typeface. "I saw it as an opportunity to approach other type designers and see what they thought. Turns out I'm not the first to ask the question," he smiles. "Writing my dissertation helped me change from a 'maker' mentality to a 'designer' mentality, and be more critical of my ideas." Related articles: 15 things they didn't teach you at design school The skills every design graduate needs 5 alternative routes into design education View the full article

Adobe applications are still the gold standard for designers after all these years. These are the tools you'll absolutely need to know how to use if you want to get work as a graphic designer, and you can master these programs with Graphic Design Certification School. Get it on sale for 96% off the retail price! You're going to need to have at least some familiarity with Adobe products if you want work as a graphic designer. The Graphic Design Certification School will teach you how to make the most of Adobe's powerful design tools – including Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator. You'll get tons of actionable lessons that will teach 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 96% off the retail price! That means you pay just $39 (approx. £30) for a bundle that will help you improve and certify your skills, so grab this deal today! Creative Bloq deals This great deal comes courtesy of the Creative Bloq Deals store – a creative marketplace that's dedicated to ensuring you save money on the items that improve your design life. We all like a special offer or two, particularly with creative tools and design assets often being eye-wateringly expensive. That's why the Creative Bloq Deals store is committed to bringing you useful deals, freebies and giveaways on design assets (logos, templates, icons, fonts, vectors and more), tutorials, e-learning, inspirational items, hardware and more. Every day of the working week we feature a new offer, freebie or contest – if you miss one, you can easily find past deals posts on the Deals Staff author page or Offer tag page. Plus, you can get in touch with any feedback at: deals@creativebloq.com. View the full article

Fonts come in all manner of designs – retro fonts, handwriting fonts and script fonts, to name a few. In this article, we're focusing on brush fonts, which can add a playful, human approach to your designs. Plus, they look great printed. Here, we've scoured the web to find 20 top examples of free brush fonts to put to good use in your projects. Enjoy! 01. Atmosphere Atmosphere's slightly dry brush texture really brings it to lifeThere are plenty of reasons to love Yasir Ekinci's brush font, Atmosphere, not least that it's free for both personal and commercial use. The font features both uppercase and lowercase characters, as well as numbers and all the punctuation and symbols you'll need, all of them hand-drawn with an authentic and wonderfully scratchy brush texture. And as an added bonus, Yasir has thrown in a set of 20 watercolour splotches to help liven up your work. 02. Rustico Rustico is a great statement font with an energetic feelMade by Hustle Supply Co., Rustico is a bold brush font that's designed to help you make an eye-catching statement, whatever you're creating. Free for both personal and commercial use, its all-caps letterforms are drawn at a slight italic slant, and the rough and realistic brush texture gives Rustico a lively and energetic feel. 03. Westfalia Westfalia provides an authentic hand-drawn feel with its messy edges and varied line thicknessA hand-painted, free brush font, Westfalia was created by the team at Pixel Surplus. Providing an authentic hand-drawn feel with its messy edges and varied line thickness, Westfalia is great for any outdoor and exploration-themed design work. 04. Wild Youth Wild Youth is a modern font with the distinct influence of adventure and the great outdoorsWild Youth is beautiful hand-drawn brush font from designer Jeremy Vessey. Available on Behance, Wild Youth is described as 'a modern font with the distinct influence of adventure and the great outdoors'. Perfect for logos, quotes, stationary, apparel and much more, Wild Youth is free for both personal and commercial use. 05. Banaue Banaue is a handwritten brush font with a homemade lookHand brushed by Ieva Mezule, Banaue is a handwritten free brush font with a homemade look. The name is taken from the Philippines, Banaue being a place in the north where rice terraces stretch around mountains, hence the lady in the blue raincoat, a local rice planter, featured in the main image. Banaue features 104 characters, with all the basic glyphs. 06. Brusher Brusher is a bold and modern brush fontCreated by Vlad Cristea and Raul Taciu, Brusher is a bold and modern brush font. It includes 100 glyphs (including full uppercase and lowercase sets) crafted with precise strokes and smooth lines to give a fresh, modern look. The uneven letter sizes and shapes create a pleasingly hand-drawn effect, while still remaining neat and controlled. 07. Summer Hearts Summer Hearts brush fonts is great for a variety of print and digital projectsSummer Hearts is a hand-painted, all-caps brush typeface designed by Hustle Supply Co, aka Jeremy Vessey, a type designer based in Charlottetown, Canada. The slightly spiky nature of these letterforms would make this free brush font great for a variety of print and digital projects, including posters, branding and logo design. 08. Selima Selima is free for both personal and commercial useThis font was designed by Jroh, is a creative agency based in Aceh in Indonesia. Selima is beautiful and elegant brush font, which is free for both personal and commercial use. Its curved letterforms are combined with slightly raw edges to give a haphazard, free feel. 09. Rissa Rissa is perfectly suited to stationery, logos and much moreWith an authentic brush, handcrafted feel, Rissa is perfectly suited to stationery, logos and much more. This free font comes from Maulana Creative, a graphic design and typography collective from Indonesia. 10. Kust Kust was created using a thick brush using pure black inkKust was created by fashion designer and painter Ieva Mezule. The letters were drawn on hard paper with a thick brush using pure black ink. Featuring 80 characters, every letter has a unique structure, with a distorted look. Next: 10 more great free brush fonts 11. Beacon Beacon is a beautiful hand drawn fontBeacon is a wonderfully fluid serifed typeface created by Cuong Truong Van. Free to download for both personal and commercial use, this font is packed with idiosyncrasies that are sure to add some personality to your work. We particularly like how the open letters and uneven curves give this font a rough wobbly finish. 12. Ampad Brush This scratchy font comes in different stylesThanks to its fading brush marks, Ampad Brush creates a distressed look as the letters appear to be scraped across the screen. Made by Gene Gilmore, Ampad Brush is the go-to typeface if you're looking to inject a sense of horror to your artwork. Ampad comes in four different styles, so you can pick the best one to suit your project. 13. True Lies Create slick, edgy text with True LiesScreeching over the page like a car burning rubber, Jonathan Harris' True Lies font is free to download for personal use. As well as covering the alphabet, thie typeface also includes numbers, symbols and punctuation marks. With a gritty, uneven finish and not a serif to be seen, True Lies is sure to make your text look rough and ready. 14. Goatskin Brush Add a touch of Asian influence with this flowing fontThe broad ink strokes in Måns Grebäck's Goatskin Brush are ideal for artists looking to add a splash of Asian influence to their work. Carefully simulating the type of marks you would expect to find in East Asian calligraphy, Goatskin Brush is the best of both worlds as it adapts the style to fit the English alphabet. Including uppercase and lowercase words, plus a selection of punctuation marks, Goatskin Brush is a must-have typeface for your toolkit. 15. Surfing Capital Surfing Capital has a suitably washed out lookLooking as if it's been bleached by the sun, Surfing Capital is a pleasant, relaxed font created by the Branded Quotes. Thanks to the different layers of shading, Surfing Capital has a greater sense of texture than your average typeface, making it a sure-fire way to add a spot of personality to your message. 16. Levi Brush This paint splatter-style font comes in two free varietiesThis free brush font was designed by the Romanian designer Levi Szekeres. The paint splatter holds similarities to album covers from David Guetta's 'One Love' to Coldplay's 'Viva la Vida'. A variation called Levi ReBrushed is also available for free and includes variations on the paint splatter. 17. Brush Hand New Brush Hand New is a refinement of Edwin W Shaar's Flash BoldBrush Hand New is a free brush font based on Flash Bold, a typeface created by Edwin W Shaar in 1939. K-Type's New version simplifies, lightens and smoothes out ragged edges. Outlines are improved to remove any remaining harshness, resulting in softer, smoother flowing glyphs ideal for titles and display purposes. 18. Paint Hand Distorted brush font Paint Hand is ideal for child-focused designDistorted and ragged, Paint Hand is a free brush font designed by Ursula Hitz from Switzerland. The typeface we feature here is playful and ideal for child-focused products or content. Hitz has cultivated diverse talents in typography, graphics and cheese making. Since moving to London a decade ago, her work has focused on location and place, and has been exhibited in a range of galleries. 19. Cylburn Cylburn offers a nod to the art of sign paintingCylburn is a semi-connected script by Dai Foldes. Cylburn structurally based on Roundhand but written with a pointed brush and restrained tension that separate it from its traditional roots. Dai Foldes lives in Baltimore, applying his background in painting to lettering and type. We love this free brush font for its balance between the imperfect hand and pixel perfect rendering – a nod to the art of sign painting. 20. Mothproof Script Mothproof Script has a visual weight similar to traditional blackletter formsMothproof Script is a expressive and broad calligraphy typeface designed by Diego Quintana. This free brush font has a visual weight similar to traditional blackletter forms, with better legibility. Quitana is a self-made freelance graphic designer and self-taught web programmer. He enjoys projects that try to change and move people over selling them products. Related posts: 7 new typography tools for 2017 How to choose the right typeface for a brand 20 perfect font pairings View the full article

An agency’s online design portfolio has to tick a lot of boxes. It needs to present a wide range of clients and an impressive breadth of skills. It needs to showcase what it can do for new clients in the digital space. It needs to be good looking and user-friendly. It needs to make full use of large, high-end screens but also work well on small ones and low-bandwidth connections, as well as conforming to accessibility standards. In truth, not more agency websites can claim to have a perfect scoresheet in all of these areas, especially accessibility. But that doesn’t stop us from learning from, and being inspired by, the areas they do score highly in. In this post, we look at seven of the coolest new sites from agencies in the Big Apple this year. We hope they inspire your own agency websites. 01. BRAVÒ BRAVÒ’s new website makes it clear what they’re all aboutBRAVÒ is a multidisciplinary team of creatives led by Ivan Olita, specialising in developing films for both editorial and commercial outlets. Based on West 16th St, its impressive rosters of clients (including Adidas, Hugo Boss, Condé Nast, Campari and Rémy Martin) is usefully listed on the homepage in the centre. Appropriately enough, this is set against some beautiful video backgrounds, so you’re left in no confusion about exactly what BRAVÒ is about. 02. Form& Form&’s new site is beautifully art-directedBased at 200 Hudson, Form& creates innovative, high-end branding for clients including Ebay, Havas and World of Watson. Its new website is beautifully art-directed, with sparing use of huge type, a wonderfully off-kilter layout and an uber-confident use of white space. There are some kinetic bursts of movement, from the most unexpected directions, to keep things interesting too. 03. Croscon Croscon’s site makes brilliant use of geometric shapesCroscon is a digital product studio that specialises in designing and building digital businesses, located at 134 W 26th St. There’s a smart focus on geometric style on its new website, which carries forward from the homepage throughout the site. The inventive method of presenting screengrabs from projects, shown in the example above, is used across all the case studies, and adds an original touch to a colourful and attractive website. 04. Zero Studios Zero uses full-screen imagery to create a cinematic viewing experienceZero is a digitally driven design and branding studio based at 442 Broadway, with clients as diverse as Stones Throw Records, Dune Resorts Branding and Concord Music Hall. Rather than the normal approach of chucking lots of imagery on their homepage, Zero’s new site simply lists the clients, making for a cool looking monochrome experience. Hover over any one of them, however, and a beautiful piece of full-screen photography or video appears. It’s a cinematic approach that really pays off and marks Zero out as a studio with creativity in their DNA. 05. Coop Brand CO OP’s new site makes it easy for you to find what you’re looking for, quickly and easilyWith studios in New York (at 75 Broad Street) and Boston, CO OP is a full-service creative company with the tagline 'We Make Brands Work'. Its new website presents everything in a fairly standard image grid, but it’s an elegantly constructed one, with some nice transitions on hover. The studio has also done a stand-up job of categorising everything so you can find what you need quickly: you can filter either by type of work (industry, real estate, media, and so on) or capabilities (visual identity, art direction, photography). 06. The Future Forward The Future Forward’s site has some quirky touchesBased in Brooklyn, The Future Forward is a creative agency helping brands achieve greater influence through strategy, design, and technology. And it's got a smart and slightly quirky new website for 2017. The grid-based homepage makes full and unrestrained use of the colourful and high-end photography from their various projects. We also love the cute little symbol in the top-left corner, which spins when you jump from page to page, and that the site is '© 2021'; a cheeky little reference to the company's name and associated ethos. 07. Canvas United Canvas United’s retro-themed website riffs off the notion of new technologyWith clients including Showtime Networks, Credit Suisse, BBC Worldwide, and Estee Lauder, Canvas United is a full-service digital agency located at 104 and 5th. While some agency homepages assault you with a blast of vibrant colour, Canvas United’s new website takes a somewhat different route. Riffing on the notion of being at the cutting edge of tech, it uses a fuzzy and distorted black-and-white video background to add a touch of the avant garde. Combined with a retro-futuristic colour scheme and typography, it works quite brilliantly, and is carried through the whole site with admirable consistency. Read more: 10 brilliant image-led portfolio sites for 2017 Create the perfect design portfolio: 30 pro tips 8 common portfolio mistakes (and how to fix them) View the full article

Anton & Irene will be presenting a special 'Concept, Create & Sell!' workshop at Generate London next week. Here are Irene Pereyra's three favourite websites... The Goldfinch Made by This Page Amsterdam Maybe I’m biased because I am Dutch, or maybe it’s because we all love to root for the underdog, but a site that celebrates a small tiny painting of a tiny bird in a grand scale really tugged at my heartstrings. I knew the painting, but before diving into this interactive experience I did not know the painting was by Fabritius, who is widely considered to be Rembrandt’s most talented pupil. As you scroll through the site, beautiful and simple animations reveal contextual and historical content for the user – like how back in the 17th century goldfinches were kept as chained pets in small cages, never allowed to fly. We also discover how the goldfinch appeared in other historical paintings, and what its role was in Christian symbolism. The musical score sets the right tone and the interactions invite you to dive deeper into a story you never thought you’d be interested in. You come away from the experience feeling like you’ve learned something new and a newfound appreciation for something you may have never otherwise noticed. Shantell Martin Made by Anton & Irene Shantell is a good friend of ours, and also a fantastic and influential emerging artist who is known for her playful, illustrative drawings. So we wanted to create something playful and original that didn’t follow current web trends and really captured her and her style while also giving fans a way to personally interact with her artwork, beyond just case studies. At the beginning of each chapter there’s a Campaign Status ticker showing the amount of money donated to this cause so far. This makes it clear the issue is not someone else’s problem, and moves this project from simple storytelling to advocacy. You navigate around her ‘body of work’ and zoom in and out of the website’s sections that are positioned around her body. The art on the interactive homepage reacts to the user’s mouse movements, and by clicking on the word ‘play’ you launch a hidden Easter egg panel where you can control the way the illustration reacts to your interactions. A is for Albert Made by Studio Lovelock Inspired by his first child, creative director Joe Lovelock created a typographic homage to parenting that takes the viewer through all the letters of the alphabet accompanied by little stories that all parents can relate to. When I first saw the site, I was immediately drawn to the flat, geometric illustration style and the simple animation. The big letters are all made of circles, squares and triangles, and the illustrations are made of simple shapes. The colour palette combines in multiple ways but remains consistent in every variation. And yet the words, and how they animate to tell a story, are what really makes this project sing. By the time I got to the bottom I was double impressed by the fact that this was a labour of love, an unpaid side-project that was done in-between client work. When I contacted Joe and asked him why he decided to do this personal project, he told me that he really just wanted to do something for his own satisfaction that would let him push his skills further, without any of the constraints from a commercial brief. He also thought it might garner some attention for the studio, and that long shot panned out – Studio Lovelock is currently working on animations they’ve won directly off the back of this project. This article originally featured in issue 293 of net magazine. Buy it here. Anton & Irene will be presenting a special 'Concept, Create & Sell!' workshop at Generate London next week. You’ll learn how to sell your idea, make a convincing argument, tell a compelling story, and present effectively in front of a large group of stakeholders. There are a limited number of tickets for the workshop still available. Make sure you grab your ticket now before they sell out! Interview: Anton & Irene 5 Classic designs that inspire Irene Pereyra Irene Pereyra on the USA Today redesign View the full article

Equifax divulged on Wednesday that the culprit behind this summer's breach of 143 million Americans was an Apache Struts vulnerability, CVE-2017-5638, patched back in March. View the full article

The Vecteezy Editor is a free vector editing suite that runs right in your browser. This tutorial covers the basic shape tools and editing tools you can use to edit any vectors on the site. This way you can build badges, buttons, logos, or anything else with relative ease. The GUI for this editor feels similar to Adobe software, so if you already use Photoshop or Illustrator, you'll have an easier time learning the ropes. But even complete beginners can dive into this and pick up the basics from scratch. Get Adobe Creative CloudWe're going to use these shopping icons from Vecteezy. Just visit the icons page and click the 'Edit & Download' button. This opens the editor right in your browser so you can customise and build upon these graphics. For this tutorial, we'll show you how to nab some of these icons and convert them into a larger progress bar graphic – the perfect choice for any eCommerce homepage. So with those shopping icons open in the Vecteezy Editor, we can get started! 01. Pick the icons Click into the icon group and select one icon, then click Duplicate at the topDouble-click on the icon group to select all the icons (you might need to double-click twice). I'll use three specific icons for this tutorial: the shopping bags, the credit card and the gift box. Select the shopping bag and click Duplicate at the very top of the page. This should give you a duplicate of the whole icon. Move this up towards the top and duplicate the other two. Note: the gift box isn't fully grouped, so when you click to duplicate you'll only select a piece of the icon. To fix this, just drag a selection box over the entire gift icon, then at the top click Edit->Group. Now, you can duplicate the whole present icon with one click. Once you have duplicates of all three icons, double-click anywhere on the empty canvas. This brings you outside the group of icons so you can select other objects on the page. If you click any of the older icons, you'll select the whole group. This is perfect, because you'll want to drag them down off the canvas so they're out of sight. 02. Clear the rubbish Change the background opacity if you want it to be white instead of transparentDouble-click on each duplicated icon to access the individual shapes inside. We only need the main icon, so you should select and delete the colourful circle backgrounds and drop shadows. To do this, simply zoom in very close and select the background circle. Then press Delete, and it should disappear. If the entire icon disappears – don't panic. Just click Undo near the top or press Ctrl/Cmd+Z and try again. You may need to double-click to get inside the icon group. By the end, you should have three clean icons ready to use. If you don't like the transparent background you can always access the Background panel in the left-hand menu (third button down) and increase the opacity to 100 per cent for a pure white background. 03. Adding text Add text labels under each icon with the same font settingsThis progress bar will be incredibly simple; just advertising three stages of an eCommerce shop. To emphasise this process, let's add labels underneath each icon. In the left-hand toolbar, find the Text tool (second button) then click underneath the bag icon to add a text block. Add the text 'SHOP' and hit Enter on your keyboard. This auto-selects the text so you can move it around and find a good position. But if you select the Text tool again, you can change the font family, colour, size, letter spacing and other features. I'm using Open Sans Semi-Bold size 30 with a -1.50 letter spacing. Text colour is #525252. Duplicate this text twice and place the duplicates under the other icons. Use the text 'PAY' under the credit card icon and 'RECEIVE' under the gift box. You should use the Select tool for repositioning the icons above the text. Also, space each icon close to equidistant apart if possible. 04. Adjusting graphics Shift+click to select the ribbon shapes and change the background colourBefore creating the progress bar, you can alter any colours you like in the icons. To do this, double-click to enter any icon group, then select whatever shape you want to change. In this case, I'll edit the gift box ribbon to change the colour from blue to green. Once you're inside the icon group, hold Shift while clicking to select more than one item at a time. I'll select the horizontal and vertical rectangles, plus the bow shape at the top. In the Select panel (first icon in the left-hand menu) find the Fill settings. You'll see the default colour is #2e3192. Click that Fill menu to access a drop-down colour wheel. Here, you can either drag around to find the colour you want, or enter a hex code directly. Enter #518531 and hit Enter. This should save the result and update all three shapes at once. Feel free to play around with any other colour settings you'd like to change! 05. Starting the progress bar Click the top-left circle in the Elements panel to add a new circle to the canvasTo create a progress bar, you only need two shapes: circles and rectangles. Thankfully, both of these are available in the Elements panel located at the very bottom of the Tools menu. Click to Elements panel and select the circle shape, which is the very first item in the list. It'll automatically place a dark grey circle in the centre of your workspace. You can resize the circle by dragging the little white square boxes in the corner or the select boundary. This works well, but it's not as precise as the direct resizing feature. So instead go back to the Select tool and make sure your new circle is selected. At the very top of the Select tool panel, you should see a selection size with a height and width value. Enter 100 in both fields and drag your first circle under the first icon. 06. Duplicating circles Resize the circle and duplicate twice, then move them under each shopping iconWith your circle shape selected, click Duplicate in the top menu. Now, reposition this duplicate so it aligns closely with your original circle. Try to get it right on top of the first circle so they look like one shape. Now, if you hold Shift and click, you can drag this duplicate circle in a straight line horizontally. This lets you perfectly align all your circles together in a straight line (or close enough to one). Do this until you have three different circle shapes at 100 x 100, each placed underneath the three icons. 07. Add some connecting lines Select the rectangle shape and arrange it behind the three circlesMove back to the Elements panel and find the square shape. Click to add one square onto the canvas. With this shape selected move back to the Select tool and find the width/height size panel. Since this rectangle should span the entire width of the progress bar, we just need one really long shape. So change the height to 10 and the width to whatever number you need to connect all your circles together. Mine is 750 wide. Now, with this rectangle in position, look towards the bottom of the Select panel where it says Arrange & Flip. Click the second icon in the top row, which lets you move any selected shape behind the other shapes. Note: you may have to click the Lower button a few times to get the rectangle behind all three circles. But now the connecting rectangle is only visible between the circle shapes, so we can add text into the circles later. 08. Recolouring Recolour all the shapes and include a small stroke on the three circlesThe current progress bar looks a little dark, so let's alter the colour a bit. Click to select the long rectangle and find the Fill Settings in the Tools panel. Change the colour to #c5c5c5 and hit Enter. Now, click anywhere off-canvas to deselect the rectangle. We also want to change the circle colours, and they should be lighter, using the darker grey as a border colour. Hold Shift, and click each of the three circles. Adjust the fill colour to #f5f5f5, hit Enter and then click the X icon to close the fill colour select panel. Below, you'll find stroke settings. Change the stroke fill to #c5c5c5 and hit Enter. Click the X icon to close this colour selection panel, then change the stroke size to 6. At this stage I also recommend grouping all the circles and the rectangle together by dragging a selection box and going to Edit>Group. Now, you can adjust the position of all shapes at once with ease. 09. Adding progress steps Add a text label into the first circle and duplicate the text for all three shapesLet's add some numbers into each circle to finalise the progress bar design. Click the Text tool and enter the number 1 into the first circle. I'm using Open Sans Extra-Bold, size 45 with the colour #c5c5c5 to match the borders. Drag this text so it's positioned in the centre of the circle. Duplicate the text element and move it into the second circle with the text '2'. Do the same for the third circle with text '3'. 10. Highlight the first step Recolour the first circle blue so it appears like the active progress stepAs a finishing touch, let's highlight the very first step using a lighter blue outline. First select the number '1' you just created, and change the fill to #4976a3. Then click to select the circle behind the text. Find the Stroke Settings and change the stroke colour to #4976a3. This should add a dark blue border around the circle. With the circle still selected, click the Fill Settings and change the colour to #e2ebfa. And that's it! Now you can export this as a PNG/JPG using the Download feature in the top-right corner. You can also hide the white background to export this as a transparent PNG and change the overall document size using the Background panel (third button in the left-side menu). Or if you'd like to save this for future changes, just go to File>Save For Later. You'll have to create a free Vecteezy account but it's a great way to keep your hard work saved for future reference. This article originally appeared in net magazine issue 295. Buy it here. Read more: 10 golden rules for responsive SVGs Explore the exciting new features in SVG 2 Supercharge SVG animations with GSAP View the full article

WPP, the world's largest communications services group, has announced that five of its top brand consultancies and design agencies are being merged to create a massive new global brand agency. The new agency will have a network of 750 people in over 20 countries, with client billings in excess of $100 million worldwide. 25 logo design tips from the expertsIt might seem a strange decision to create an enormous new agency at a time when the trend seems to be for small, agile operations staffed by a handful of creatives at most. But WPP says that the decision has been made as part of a client-centric plan for growth. "It will enable clients to engage with a wider array of specialists, provide a more connected set of services, and will make the strategic, creative and client-focused excellence of each of the five agencies accessible at scale," the company explains in its announcement. The Partners' branding for the London Symphony Orchestra won Best of Show at the Brand Impact Awards 2017One of the five agencies involved in the new super-agency is The Partners, which triumphed at the recent Brand Impact Awards 2017, winning the Best of Show accolade for its work with the London Symphony Orchestra. It also scooped the prize in the Entertainment category for its Arte branding, created alongside another agency that's part of the merger, Lambie-Nairn. As well as The Partners and Lambie-Nairn, the other agencies coming together will be Brand Union, Addison Group and VBAT, and each one has been chosen to bring a specific strand of expertise to the new Voltron-style branding outfit. The Partners and Lambie-Nairn also won in Brand Impact's Entertainment category, with their work for ArteWPP explains: "It will combine Brand Union's strategic strength and global influence, The Partners' award-winning creative excellence, Lambie-Nairn's unparalleled history in identity and motion graphics, Addison's unique understanding of corporate audiences, content development and digital delivery and the premium packaging offer of VBAT (which will continue to operate under the VBAT name)." The new agency will be led by Jim Prior - currently CEO of The Partners and Lambie-Nairn - as Global CEO, and Simon Bolton - CEO, Worldwide of Brand Union - as Executive Chairman. As yet it doesn't have a name, but there's plenty of time to sort that out, as it's not launching until January 2018. Related articles: How to craft a brand voice How to build a brand the KLF way How to create effective brand guidelines View the full article

Heading off to uni this year, and looking for recommendations for books to keep you inspired? Or just bored of the set texts on your reading list and keen to expand your mind further? 26 books every graphic designer should readThe following five books will add real-world context to your studies, give you that extra spark of inspiration, and help you hit the ground running as a more rounded designer when you enter the industry. 01. How to be a Graphic Designer, Without Losing Your Soul Adrian Shaughnessy is a no-nonsense bible for design studentsDesign consultant and writer Adrian Shaughnessy’s seminal text is a no-nonsense career manual to help lead you through the perks and pitfalls of the modern design industry. As the title implies, at the core is the premise that once you graduate and take your first steps into professional life, there’s a risk of settling into mindless and unfulfilling bread-and-butter projects if you’re not careful. Shaughnessy’s book is a manual for independent-minded designers who prefer to work on something more meaningful and rewarding, and as such is packed with the kind of advice you won’t get taught at college. This revised 2010 edition includes chapters covering professional skills, the creative process, and global trends: including green issues, ethics and the rise of digital culture. 02. A Smile in the Mind Beryl McAlhone, David Stuart and Greg Quinton update the seminal design guide of the 90sA Smile in the Mind was fast-established as one of the most influential design books when it was published in 1996, and was given an overhaul 20 years later under the watchful eye of The Partners’ ECD Greg Quinton. While How to Be a Graphic Designer, Without Losing Your Soul will shore up your business savvy and get you ready for the machinations of the industry, A Smile in the Mind is visual stimulation for the mind: a springboard for ideas-driven design. Ultimately, the book establishes wit as the magic ingredient to develop a truly engaging brand, as illustrated by an extensive selection of inspirational projects from around the world over the last four decades. All told, a great reference for developing and strengthening your ideas. 03. Branding In Five-and-a-Half Steps Track the process of a design mogul as he graciously reveals his processJohnson Banks’ recent ‘open-source’ rebrand of Mozilla put the award-winning agency’s thorough creative process firmly in the public eye, inviting comment and critique from the public at large. In a similar spirit of transparency, creative director Michael Johnson lays bare the wisdom of over two decades at the forefront of the branding industry with his 2016 book Branding In Five-and-a-Half Steps - an invaluable manual about the creative process. For Johnson, there was a perfect sweet-spot in between the many dense tomes on brand strategy, and the equally prolific inspirational showcases - a book that demystifies the links and overlaps between the two, and is both practical and inspirational. In it, he breaks down the five steps in Johnson Banks’ branding process - including a fluid ‘half—step’ between strategy and design - and explains how it all works, from the perspective of a world-class studio. 04. How to use graphic design to sell things, explain things, make things look better, make people laugh, make people cry, and (every once in a while) change the world Michael Beirut: a man of few wordsIf the 10-word title of Shaughnessy’s book isn’t quite wordy enough for your newly established design bookshelf, up steps Michael Bierut to triple it. In 2015, the veteran designer and Pentagram New York partner puts a fresh twist on the conventional monograph here, by treating it as a combination of manual and manifesto. Using 35 projects by way of demonstration, Bierut illustrates the varied role that graphic design plays in the modern world, from his own invariably entertaining perspective. By including rough sketches and rejected ideas alongside the finished work, he also makes the towering success of his career much more accessible to anyone at the start of theirs - and the book is packed with insights into the creative process. 05. Graphic Design Rants and Raves Steven Heller's text explores design from a cultural and psychological perspectiveSo far your new bookshelf will help you refine your creative process and forge a meaningful career in design that’s driven by ideas and substance rather than eye-candy and fluff. Our final recommended addition is also the newest book on our list: a fascinating 2017 anthology of thought-provoking essays by art director, author and lecturer Steven Heller that will help hone your critical edge and question the changing role of design in the wider world. Covering the full spectrum of graphic design and related art and culture, Heller’s 40-plus essays cover everything from the relationship between design and sex to the role of design in the recent US Presidential race. Read these five highly-recommended books, and you’ll be well on the way to becoming a well-rounded, 21st-century designer when you graduate. Related articles: How to become a junior designer How to create the perfect design resumé 100 amazing Adobe Illustrator tutorials View the full article

You're reading Exit Intent Modal Windows: Design Trends & Examples, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! It seems like exit intent modals are the norm with every major blog, SaaS product, and digital ecommerce shop. These exit intents are modal windows that appear on top of the page once your mouse cursor leaves the website. It’s used as a marketing technique to draw people back to the page, or to convert them into […] View the full article

British designer and artist Brendan Dawes mixes digital and analogue materials to explore the interactions between people, objects, technology and art. As well as authoring two books on interaction design – Analog In, Digital Out and Drag, Slide, Fade – Flash ActionScript for Designers – he's worked for clients including Airbnb, Google and Twitter. Next month, Dawes will be speaking at Something Good – a new two-day design festival in Bristol, UK (Creative Bloq readers can get 20 per cent off tickets with the code: CreativeBloq20). We caught up with him ahead of his talk. How to start a side project: 21 pro tips Dawes was commissioned by EE to create a digital portrait for each city formed from millions of bits of data as people talked and interacted about the biggest events of the day How would you describe your work? The feedback I often get is my work seems very human, even though I work mostly within the digital world, which maybe sometimes can seem quite cold. I'm not sure it's a conscious effort on my part, that's just how I am and how I think about things. Did you have any bumps in the road or make any cringey mistakes in your early career? (Our first commissions article has a classic mistake, for example.) All the time, but that's how you learn. Very early on I'd do work without a contract, which I wouldn't advise anyone to do. But when you're starting out you're just excited to be working on something so you think asking the client to sign a contract might in some way sully that relationship, which of course it doesn't. Also try to avoid working with sociopaths. Do you make time for personal projects, or have any habits to nurture your creativity outside of your main work? Yes all the time, or at least when time allows, though really they're all part of my work output – I don't really separate the two. Often even when I have a deadline I might spend the morning doing something seemingly unconnected because at that moment I feel the need to do something else. That might be something physical, maybe an electronic thing or just simply writing a letter to someone and taking time to get the paper and envelope just right, or it might be writing some code for an idea I have that I might use at some point later on. Personal projects for me are important because they act as a beacon for what I'm about, like the Plastic Player I created, born out of my love of both analogue and digital music and how I might merge the two. That project got quite a bit of attention and so I would encourage anyone else to do the same if you're trying to get your name out there. Exploring Deep Cyberspace – created for The Atlantic in partnership with Seagate – visualised the real-time flow of data through five of the internet's biggest platforms What’s the secret of your success? I wish I knew! I don't think there's any one thing, I guess it's more of a collection of things: put work out into the world that deserves to exist; be prepared to fight for your work; realise that clients are not the enemy – most want to help you make great work; and practice, practice, practice. Also don't be a dick; learn new things all the time; don't worry what everyone else is doing; become an expert (as much as you can) in your own work; stay off Facebook; be curious and be interested in things other than your immediate work; be yourself; and be generous. Local Murmurs was a story-sharing installation for Airbnb at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival How do you deal with vague creative briefs? It's up to me to dig deeper. Have a conversation with the client. I mean an actual physical conversation. When you talk to someone there will be nuanced moments that will arise and they might be the gold you're looking for. That rarely happens on email. Together with that, I sketch what I'm thinking – sometimes in pencil, sometimes as little coded things. I make lots of iterations early on that I show the client, creating something to criticise so that I can get that conversation going. Dawes in front of his EE portrait of LondonWhat sorts of themes or advice can visitors expect from your talk/workshop at Something Good? Well to be honest I'm still figuring out what I'm going to talk about, but I think a theme that constantly runs through my talks is attempting to create work that resonates with people in more nuanced ways rather than huge but vacuous epic moments. If I had a barometer made from film directors, I want to be at the Terrence Malick Malick end rather than the Michael Bay end of the scale. Hear more of Dawes' story at Something Good in Bristol, UK, on 6-7 October. Creative Bloq readers can get 20 per cent off tickets for both Friday's talks and Saturday's workshops with the code: CreativeBloq20. Related articles: Why you should make time for creative side projects Brendan Dawes on stories hidden in data Anthony Burrill interview: Why minimalist design speaks to more people View the full article

I can't begin to tell you how many Adobe Illustrator files have been passed to me for animation that were clearly not ready for After Effects. The file often contained one giant layer, was saved with the wrong colour profile, had elements that only partially fitted inside the artboard and/or contained a plethora of other issues that make it impossible to work with in After Effects. It really does causes a lot of confusion and friction between the illustrator and the animator, which is not a great place to start a project. Get Adobe Creative CloudThe most surprising thing I learned was that the designer rarely had any idea that they were causing any extra work. They simply weren’t educated on what animators need from an Illustrator file in order to be set up for success. To ease the pain, I’ve come up a list of basics that every illustrator should be aware of when preparing Illustrator graphics for After Effects. 01. Create multiple layers If your vector graphic is complete but you only have one or two layers inside of Illustrator, you’re not done yet. In order to animate your new graphic, you’ll need to separate each part (sub-layer) into its own layer. Animating a single layer that has many parts to it tends to give in a rigid and unprofessional result. For example, if you have a logo with three letters, you’ll want to make one layer with all the elements that make up the first letter, then another layer for the second letter and another for the third. You can then easily animate each letter independently in After Effects. If you had just saved it as an ‘.ai file’ without making additional layers and brought that in After Effects, it would be one flat layer. Click the target icon to identify which item is which In the Illustrator Layer panel, click the target icon next to each element to identify which item is which. You can also toggle the visibility of each item to see what the item is. Create new layers using the menu shown above Make several new layers by clicking the ‘Create New Layer’ button on the bottom of the Layer Panel, and name each of them. As you identify each item, move it into the appropriate layer. Be mindful to ensure that the new order of items in each layer does not cause issues with how they appear. Moving each item independently into different layers can be tedious, but there is a much simpler way. If everything is in one single layer, simply select that layer and then choose ‘Release To Layers (Sequence)’ from the Layers panel menu. This will convert all items inside the layer into layers themselves. These can then be dragged out of that layer to populate the full list of layers. Make sure you label your layers appropriately All of the layers in the layer panel will then be visible in After Effects, so you can animate them independently. If some of the new layers turn out to be small parts of others then simply drag the two together to combine them. Help the animator out by making sure you name each layer appropriately! When the file is moved into After Effects, the layer names will be retained. Calling each layer what it actually is will make identifying each one quick and painless. 02. Resize your artboards The size of your artboard and the graphics inside matters when importing to After Effects. If you have a 10x10px artboard with a tiny graphic imported into a 1920x1080 After Effects composition, it will require a good deal more work to get everything to the correct size before animating. Make sure your artboard in Illustrator is scaled so it's a similar size or larger than your After Effects composition. Ensure your artboard is a similar scale to your After Effects composition Before you save, be sure that no part of your graphic is cut off by the edges of the artboard. It may look great as a still image in Illustrator, but if it needs to be scaled down for animation, it's no good if the edges are stuck the same shape as the edge of the artboard. Whatever is inside the artboard will show up in After Effects and anything outside of it will not. Simply put, be sure everything you will need animating is within the boundaries. If you have multiple artboards you can save them out as separate files. When you're saving your file, you'll be asked to set your Illustrator options. Be sure you check ‘Save each artboard to a separate file.’ You can then go to each new Illustrator file and ensure all layers are separated and named appropriately for animation. 03. Change the document colour mode CMYK is only for print – set your colour mode to RGB Before you save your file for import into After Effects, make sure you are working in RGB. CMYK is great for print but if you’re moving to After Effects chances are you won’t be printing this version of your graphic, and you want to ensure the colours show up correctly in your final animation. You can do so by going to 'File > Document Color Mode > RGB Color'. 04. Select the correct file type Save your work out as an ai fileThe ideal file format for After Effects is an Adobe Illustrator (ai) file. Avoid EPS or SVG files as they won’t import as a composition with many layers. Save your vector image by going to 'File > Save As > Format: Adobe Illustrator (ai)'. Make sure you have ‘Create PDF Compatible File’ checked When you are prompted with more options, make sure you have ‘Create PDF Compatible File’ checked, or the file will not import correctly to After Effects. If the animator is working in an older version of After Effects, you can choose to save as a legacy version of Illustrator at the top of this prompt. Otherwise, the default settings are great. Click ‘OK’ to save. 05. Import into After Effects After you’ve formatted your Illustrator file, it's time to import it for animation. In After Effects choose 'File > Import > File' and choose your Illustrator file. You will be prompted on how you want After Effects to treat the file, be sure the ‘Import Kind’ is set to ‘Composition’ or all of those layers you just spent ages splitting apart will be combined back together. Set to 'Composition' to preserve your layersThe Footage Dimensions are up to you. If you want each layer to stay the same pixel size as the space it takes up then choose ‘Layer Size.’ Alternatively, if you would like each layer to be as large as your entire artboard choose ‘Document Size.’ Your layers should all appear within your Timeline When you click ‘OK’ a new composition will be created inside the Project panel. Double-click on your new composition for it to open up all of your new layers inside the Timeline. They should all be named just as they were in Illustrator and easily animated independently from the rest of your layers. You’re now set up for success in the creation of the highest quality animation possible! About Pluralsight Pluralsight is an enterprise technology learning platform that delivers a unified, end to end learning experience for businesses across the globe. Through a subscription service, companies are empowered to move at the speed of technology, increasing proficiency, innovation and efficiency. For a free trial and more information, visit www.pluralsight.com. Related articles: How to move from Photoshop to After Effects 43 amazing After Effects tutorials Top tips for creating animations in After Effects View the full article

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If becoming a web developer has always been a dream of yours, then you're in luck. The Complete Web Developer Course 2.0 is here to take you from novice to expert while helping you build sites and apps along the way. You can get this professionally-taught course on sale now for just $19 (approx. £14)! When you understand the fundamentals of code, you can create just about anything imaginable. It’s time to expand your opportunities and improve your resume with the Complete Web Development Course 2.0. Work your way through the basics of web and mobile development and learn how to make the most of programming languages like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and jQuery. You’ll get over 30.5 hours of instruction and hands-on lessons that will teach you how to build 25 different websites. The Complete Web Developer Course 2.0 usually retails for $149, but you can save 87% off that price right now. That means you pay just $19 (approx. £14) for lessons that could launch your next career, so grab it today! Creative Bloq deals This great deal comes courtesy of the Creative Bloq Deals store – a creative marketplace that's dedicated to ensuring you save money on the items that improve your design life. We all like a special offer or two, particularly with creative tools and design assets often being eye-wateringly expensive. That's why the Creative Bloq Deals store is committed to bringing you useful deals, freebies and giveaways on design assets (logos, templates, icons, fonts, vectors and more), tutorials, e-learning, inspirational items, hardware and more. Every day of the working week we feature a new offer, freebie or contest – if you miss one, you can easily find past deals posts on the Deals Staff author page or Offer tag page. Plus, you can get in touch with any feedback at: deals@creativebloq.com. View the full article

If you need a handwriting font for your project, look no further. When we talk about handwriting fonts, we're not just referring to one style of typography; they can come in a variety of executions. They're in the same area as cursive fonts, but with fewer constraints and often based on freeform illustrations. Get Adobe Creative CloudRecently, this style of typography has been making more appearances than ever, with both print and digital platforms favouring it over more traditional offerings. Here, we've curated some of the best free fonts in a handwritten style for you to download and enjoy. 01. Stay Writer Add charm to your designs with Stay Writer handwriting fontCharming handwriting font Stay Writer was created by graphic designer and illustrator Syed Faraz Ahmed. "A hand-drawn display font, every single letter has been carefully crafted to make your text looks beautiful," Ahmed comments on Behance. 02. SoulMarker Handwriting font SoulMarker is available in two styles; light and boldHandwriting font SoulMarker was created by graphic designer and illustrator Faraz Ahmad. Available in two styles, light and bold, SoulMarker is great for a variety of print and digital projects. 03. Claire Hand Handwriting font Claire Hand is 'fun, bold and friendly'The team at Australian-based design agency Team Scope are behind handwriting font Claire Hand. Available over on Behance, the team describe the design as: 'fun, bold and friendly, and its handwritten style represents our commitment to creative spontaneity (you know how the best ideas get scribbled down on a napkin?). Because we're serious design tragics, we even created each letter in two different weights so it's even more individual'. 04. Cavorting Cavorting typeface is free for both personal and commercial use"This is a one-day font," says Cavorting typeface creator Missy Meyer. "I created the letterforms and did all the spacing and kerning in one day." The, in Meyer's own words, 'goofy' handwritten typeface is free for both personal and commercial use. 05. Mightype Mightype is free for personal and commercial useFree for both personal and commercial use, Mightype was created by the team at AF Studio. A handlettered script font, Mightype is great for packaging designs, branding and much more. 06. Futuracha Add a touch of elegance to your designs with this beautiful handwritten font FuturachaA group of curious designers explorers make up høly and are the team behind beautiful handwritten font Futuracha. The holy Behance page states: "The name is the combination of words futura and cucaracha (cockroach in Spanish). "The design is based on the basis of the pf futura book. The letters edges radically extend in a forceful way trying to remind the art deco's style." 07. Nawabiat Handwriting font Nawabiat is full of charm and personalityNawabiat is a free handwriting font, created by graphic designer and illustrator Syed Faraz Ahmad. Full of personality and charm, Nawabiat is great for posters, logos and much more. 08. Reis Reis is great for posters, logos and much moreThis handwritten design Reis was created by Marcelo Reis Melo. Great for posters, logos and much more, Reis is available free for personal and commercial use, with donations to the author, as always, appreciated. 09. Bellaboo Bellaboo is great for creating eye-catching headlines, posters and moreIn need of an authentic handwritten font for your latest project? Bellaboo by Marcelo Reis Melo may be just what you're looking for. A bold design, Bellaboo is great for creating eye-catching headlines, posters and more. 10. Ludicrous Ludicrous is another free handwritten font from designer Missy MeyerAnother free handwriting font from Missy Meyer, Ludicrous is great for giving your projects an authentic handmade feel. Free for both personal and commercial use, with donations to the author, as always, gratefully received. 11. Fofer Fofer is free in exchange for a tweetToday's typeface of choice is handwritten design Fofer, created by Mousse Creative founder and creative director Angie Raess. "Sometimes the best projects are the ones created from a problem," Raess comments on Behance. "We needed a specific font and couldn't find it. What better way to solve a problem than to use our own handwriting?" Fofer is available to download over on Behance, all Raess asks for in return is a simple tweet. 12. California Sans California Sans includes a full case of upper and lowercase letters, numbers and various special characters.California Sans is a handwritten font, created by Mexico-based designer Noe Araujo. Available as a free download, the design includes a full case of upper and lowercase letters, numbers and various special characters. 13. Skinny Skinny is completely free for commercial useThis handwriting font is, by far, the most popular of the type designs offered online by the artist known as notfon1234. The last update to the design saw a clean up to the spacing and characters, and the font is now completely free for commercial use. 14. Gunny Rewritten Based on his older font Gunny Handwriting, type designer Vit Condak released this new free handwriting font Gunny Rewritten. Unhappy with his original version, Condak completety remade the design and now offers it as a free download for all to enjoy. 15. Halo Handletter Designer Mario Arturo specialises in fancy and script fontsThis elegant hand writing font was developed by graphic designer Mario Arturo. One of over 20 fonts created by Arturo, who specialises in fancy and script designs, Halo Handletter is perfect example of the latter. Free for non-commerical use only. 16. LeHand LeHand is the first font from web designer Ferdie BalderasLeHand is the first font created by indieferdie. The LeHand font reflects a playful handwriting style that will be great for experimenting with on your new design projects. As a web designer and branding designer, we think there's much more inspirational work ahead for indieferdie. 17. Yore Yore is a playful take on the more traditional script fontsCreated by Vietnamese designer Poem haiku, the Yore script is a fun take on the more traditional script offerings. Pulling in his influences from illustration, Yore will be perfect for content experimentation and might even work well on a branding project or two. 18. Whatever it takes The designer asks for a $5 donation if the font is used for commercial purposesThe 'Whatever it takes' free handwriting font harks back to those school boards and chalk typography. It's free for personal and non-profit use. The designer does however, ask for a $5 donation for any commercial use, which we think is still a bargain! 19. Before Breakfast Designer Simon Stratford created Before Breakfast using iPad app iFontMaker in under 10 minutesRecently, designer Simon Stratford discover iPad app iFontMaker and shortly after challenged to create a font with it in under 10 minutes. The result? This hand drawn typeface Before Breakfast. It may not be one of the most considered entries in our free fonts list, but, as Stratford comments: "It's a fun, handwritten typeface that probably breaks every rule in typography." 20. Engine A free handwriting font that comes in an array of different languagesOne of our favourite free handwriting fonts, this design by Ferdie Balderas comes in regular and italic as well as capital and lower-case letters. He's even made it supportive of a number of different languages including French, Spanish and Polish. 21. Chomp Another free handwriting font that's playful and funWe just had to include this download in our list of free handwriting fonts. Chomp is a playful design created by Camberwell based designer William Bayley Suckling. As a student at The London College of Communication, Suckling regularly experiments with fonts and is happy for you to use it with any personal or commercial work. 22. LSTK Bembo LSTK Bembo was inspired by an age-old book font to create this free handwriting fontOne of the loveliest free handwriting fonts we've seen in a long time, LSTK Bembo is an ode to one of the real daddies of book typefaces, Bembo. This handdrawn version of this classic typeface can be used whenever you want to combine personality, tradition and a pinch of attitude. The important glyphs are included in this postscript font except the lowercase x. 23. Haiku's Script Free handwriting font Haiku's Script is Poem Haiku's first attempt at creating a typefaceHaiku's Script is Poem Haiku's first attempt at creating a font. Beginning in 2011, it took three months to finish, from July to September. It's free for personal use and Poem Haiku would love to hear any thoughts and comments about this free handwriting font. 24. Pops This free handwriting font was inspired by the designer's father's handwritingNew York based designer Sune Matras tasked himself to create a font based on one of his father's handwriting styles – a very personal and specific one – normally used for short messages and headlines. We're pleased as punch to include this gorgeous design in our list of free handwriting fonts. 25. Sketch Block Grab people's attention with this bold, headline font. Image © Lukas BischoffThis hand-sketched headline font was designed by artist Lukas Bischoff. He comments: "Created solely by me from sketch by hand and then digitized, Sketch Block makes a perfect font to create the hand-made character look, or to supplement illustrations with typography." Free for personal use only, it's one of the nicest free handwriting fonts we've seen in a long time. Next page: 25 more wonderful free handwriting fonts The best laptops for graphic design26. GoodDog Incorporate this curly, decorative font by Fonthead Design into your personal projectsA contemporary and decorative font, GoodDog was created by Fonthead Design. The curly typeface is a popular choice, having been download almost a million times since its release. This free handwriting font comes complete with a full set of upper and lowercase letters, numbers and characters. 27. J.D Handcrafted This stylish, script-style design was created by Emerald City FontwerksJ.D Handcrafted is one of 16 fonts created by Emerald City Fontwerks, the stylish design being one of the studio's most popular. The brush, script-style typeface is free for personal use, with a full set of characters at your disposal. 28. Amatic Amatic is available for free download in both regular and bold stylesA quirky, narrow and condensed design by typographer Vernon Adams this free handwriting font is perfectly suited to designs on the funny side, such as comedy strips. Amatic only includes uppercase letters but comes in both regular and bold styles. 29. Journal Free handwriting font Journal includes a full set of lower and uppercase letters, numbers and special characters. Image © FontouristCreated by Hans Gerhard Meier aka Fontourist, this beautiful script-style font's name explains exactly the type of design its suited to. This is one of three fonts designed by Meier and his most popular download by far. 30. Mari & David You can also receive numbers and symbols with this free handwriting fontThe charming free handwriting font was designed by Chilean designer and typographer Rodrigo German. The Mari & David font comes in regular, bold and extrabold, which means there's plenty to play around with. You can also receive numbers and symbols in this style when you download the font. 31. Daniel All three styles of the Daniel font are available as a free downloadDaniel is one of many fonts created by designer Daniel Midgley. Free for both personal and commercial use, Daniel includes a full set of upper and lowercase characters, numbers and various special characters. 32. Sumitra This is a handwriting font with plenty of versatilityThis gorgeous, calligraphy based handwriting font was created by Nepal-based graphic designer and typographer Ananda Maharjan. Placing the font on a base of watercolours as well as a white canvas ensure that its versatility shines. 33. LSTK Clarendon This free handwriting font comes in bold and outlineCreated by Austrian mobile studio Studio Elastik, this is their second free font to be released into the wild. They describe it as their "handlettered badass version of the English slab serif typeface, Clarendon", which explains the name. It comes in bold and outline. 34. Mawns' Handwriting This font is to be downloaded for personal use only!This free handwriting font – Mawns' Handwriting – is another created by Måns Grebäck; a graphic designer specialising in font, logotype, and typography design. Mawns' Handwriting is free for personal use, with donations to the designer welcome. 35. Bispo Nova Jackson created the bispo font after studying calligraphy for a number of monthsBispo is a script typeface made inspiring on italic chancery calligraphy, with a flat nib pen and a module of 10 pen widths. Designed by Brazilian typographer Jackson Alves, he decided to make this typeface to allow everyone to be able to create pieces with a charm of calligraphy and taking advantage of the Opentype features. 36. Scribulous Scrawlin' This free handwriting font has a great chalk effect for your designsWe had to pop a chalk-styled free handwriting font in the list and this one which was designed Alphabeta85 is a perfect addition. It comes in both capitalised and non, as well as numbers, punctuation, and symbols. As always, make sure you only use it for personal work! 37. Linny This cute font is actually the designer's real handwritingThis cutesy font was designed by Maya aka Linny. This handwriting type is actually Maya's handwriting and after being asked to develop the font for personal use, she finally did! It comes in upper and lower case, as well as numbers and punctuation. 38. Fatstack Use this heavy-duty handwriting font for bold design workWe love this heavy duty, scribble-friendly font designed by Blambot Comic Fonts and Lettering. Consisting purely of capital letters, this is a free handwriting font that would be perfect for some seriously bold design work. You can also grab some punctuation and numbers in the free package. 39. Soft Sugar Soft sugar evokes a sense of the old-school comic book fontsThis fun handwriting font can only be downloaded for free in the regular format but we think it's a great one to play around with. Evoking a sense of the old-school comic book style fonts, we're sure you'll be able to create something special with this one! 40. Architect's Daughter This neat, blocky handwriting font was inspired by architectural gridsInspired by architectural grids, this neat, blocky handwriting font Architect's Daughter was created by Kimberly Geswein. Author of over 200 fonts, Geswein offers many of her designs, including this one, free for personal use. 41. Worstveld Sling Extra Worstveld Sling Extra is a popular handwriting designOne of 82 typefaces developed by Gem Fonts, Worstveld Sling Extra is one of it's most popular hand writing designs, receiving over 400,000 downloads since its release. Free for personal use, this free handwriting font family includes a full set of upper and lowercase letters, numbers and various special characters. 42. Housegrind This cool script font was created by graphic designer Måns Grebäck. llustration © Måns GrebäckThis cool script font was created by graphic designer Måns Grebäck, who specialises in logotypes and typography. Free for personal use only, a commercial licence for Housegrind can be purchased via the Aring Typeface website. 43. VersionType VersionType is designed to be playful and looseA condensed sans-serif font, VersionType was created by senior designer Victor Coreas. "It is meant to be playful and very loose," he comments. The typeface includes a full set of upper and lower case letters, numbers and special characters, and it's free for personal and non-profit use. 44. Billy Billy is based on Claire Joines' own handwritingCreated by student and freelancer Claire Joines, Billy is a font made from her own handwriting. "Because it's my own handwriting it didn't take me long to make," says Claire, "So I decided to put it online for other people to use freely!" It's free for personal and non-profit use (although attribution or a thank you would be nice); if you want to use it commercially, get in touch with Claire. She'll normally ask for attribution and a small donation. 45. Novito Nova "This font was made for making people happy," Nina commentsNovito Nova was created by Russian designer Nina Z. "This font was made for making people happy," she comments on Behance. A whimsical design, Novito Nova is great for providing projects with an authentic handmade feel. 46. Mink Type Mink Type features three variations for each letter to keep things freshMink Type was created by New York-based art director Filiz Sahin. "Mink Type is a cool, handpainted display typeface that was developed using brush tools in Illustrator," she comments. "Each letter has three variations including upper and lower cases so you can create a custom feel for your designs." 47. Happy Fox All the Caldentey and Llull ask for in return for this free download is a simple tweetThis Happy Fox font design was a collaborative effort between illustrator Laura Caldentey and Fran Llull. Wanting a thin font to use in their projects, Caldentey drew an alphabet and a selection of glyphs, and worked closely with Llull to refine into this final design. 48. Dickie Freelance designer David Ellis created handwritten font Dickie using MyScriptFontFreelance designer David Ellis created handwritten font Dickie using MyScriptFont, an online tool that allows you to create a vector font from your own handwriting. "It’s a great starting point as there aren’t that many great handwriting style fonts out there and it’s a pretty quick process," Ellis comments. 49. Yunus Handwriting font Yunus is suitable for all manner of creative projectsHandwriting font Yunus is another by graphic designer Faraz Ahmad. "Every single letters has been carefully crafted to make your texts look beautiful," he comments on Behnace. The typeface includes a huge number of glyps, making it suitable for all manner of creative projects. 50. Ruffle Beauty Ideal for poster designs, Ruffle Beauty is free for both personal and commercial useIf you're on the hunt for a playful handwritten font, today's typeface of choice Ruffle Beauty by Anis Iday could be just the solution. Ideal for poster designs, Ruffle Beauty is free for both personal and commercial use. Related articles: 20 perfect font pairings The 100 best free fonts 10 best new fonts of 2017 View the full article

Julia Khusainova currently works as an experience designer at Airbnb, previously led design for a new product line at Shyp, worked on growth at Twitter and established design at various early stage startups. Next week she will give her first conference talk at Generate London, in which she will walk through her process for developing new products from ideation, testing and validation, development, to release and beyond — achieving business goals without compromising the user experience. We caught up with her to find out more about what product design and software engineering have in common, how collaboration at Airbnb works, how to create a compelling onboarding experience and more. You’re originally from Russia. How did you end up in San Francisco? Julia Khusainova: I've always had a passion for traveling and it was only a matter of time until I decided to leave the familiar life behind and move to a new country. I ran a design consultancy in Russia and one of my clients turned out to be a start-up in San Francisco who was looking to bring a designer on board. They wanted me to join as their lead designer. So I did. How did you make the jump from software engineering to product design? JK: In my mind, both disciplines are very similar, just tackling the user problems from different angles — what should the product be and look like vs how to build it. We even draw the same diagrams! It’s always amazing to see that as soon as design and engineering are aligned on the goal, they start singing the same song. I just wanted to try the other side of this process — the “pre-building” phase where I would be defining the user experience. I still write code for fun. You joined Airbnb earlier this year. What does your role involve, and what kind of projects have you worked on so far? JK: I design experiences for Airbnb, meaning it’s not “just” the digital product — it’s an end-to-end user journey. A big part of Airbnb happens offline, and as an experience designer, I am responsible for taking that into account when I design. I’ve worked on a variety of projects from defining the identity of a person on Airbnb to being a creative director for photography projects and writing travel stories. It’s always fun and engaging! The product goes smoother if everyone is aligned on the goals and the outcomes at the beginning of the project. I assume you work with lots of engineers, project managers, user researchers and others at Airbnb. How does the collaboration work? JK: I do indeed! The teams at Airbnb are fairly large and there’s a lot of cross-collaboration happening. I always put my foot forward to have the conversation with my engineering, product, content strategists, data scientists and research partners as early as possible. It makes the product go smoother if everyone is aligned on the goals and the outcomes at the beginning of the project. In-person communication with note taking is always best, but email works too. It’s a balance between sharing the information too early and not early enough. The proper documentation and knowledge sharing are also crucial. You were at quite a few startups before, including Shyp and Twitter. What do they all have in common when it comes to product design? JK: They all strive to deliver the best user experience. I learned a lot about working in a team setting, collaborating with engineering and product partners, as well as other designers, and prioritization and analysis of user behaviour. Also research. It’s hard to put numbers on what a good (or bad) experience is — but it’s eye opening to see how people react to your design, and it’s certainly a valuable lesson I learned while working with my research partners. In her talk at Generate London, Julia Khusainova will walk through her process for developing new products How do you approach design systems to develop products faster and more consistently? JK: I start by thinking holistically about the product and defining design principles. What do I want the product to feel like when people use it? What’s the most important part to communicate? How will users be engaging with the product? Answering these questions at the beginning as well as bringing the engineering team on board with my decisions makes it a smoother journey when designing the actual experience. It’s also important to lay the foundation — like the typography and colour scheme — that are the atomic elements of most design systems. After that, when I have the base, I can create more complex elements like buttons and tables and define their behaviour along the way. What kind of prototypes do you create and how do you use them for user research? JK: I work in InVision, Framer, and Principle for fast interactive prototypes. I create a few versions depending on what I want to test (the messaging, the storytelling aspect of it, the layout, etc) and present it to the user. I iterate fast based on the feedback, so the next person gets a “better”, more refined version of it. I have experience using paper sketches and even creating an “ideal” product with the users — it’s a lot of fun to draw together! I work in InVision, Framer, and Principle for fast interactive prototypes. What’s the secret to a compelling user onboarding experience? JK: Being clear on the benefits of using the product you’re getting onboarded on, the features, and being concise. Nobody wants to scroll or click through 40 screens of how-tos when they just went through the pain of downloading the app or registering on the website. Cut the scope, leave the three most important features you want the user to know and introduce the rest later on in the user lifecycle. In her work Julia Khusainova thinks systematically and designs for scalabilityWhat is the biggest pain point in your work as a product designer and how do you overcome it? JK: I often think like an engineer. It makes it easier to negotiate my design decisions with myself because I anticipate certain questions to be asked by my engineers. So I’m trying to shut that part off until it’s time to have a conversation. What can people expect to take away from your talk at Generate London? JK: We’re going to be diving into the exciting and challenging world of startups, and what it means to be a designer at one. How to think through, design and build the product that is innovative, different from what was previously built but still preserves the brand authenticity that is important for the existing customers. How to think systematically and design for scalability. Generate London on 21/22 September features 15 other presentations covering web animations, UX strategy, prototyping, user research, accessibility, performance, responsive CSS components, and much more. There are still a few tickets left for the workshops on 20 September, too. Reserve your spot now! 10 essential TED talks for UX designersView the full article

Exploit acquisition vendor Zerodium said Wednesday it will pay up to $1M for an unknown Tor Browser zero day. View the full article

The WordPress community is big. Really big. We're talking thousands of designers and developers, tens of thousands of writers, and millions of users, all contributing to pushing WordPress forward. And one very popular way to do this is designing and developing free WordPress themes. Free Wordpress themes are a great way to get a blog or website off the ground – and there are countless WordPress tutorials online to help you do just that. You might want to start writing about a topic but don't want to invest the money in a custom site design on top of hosting and a domain. And once your site is up and running, there's nothing to stop you dissecting them, building on top of them and learning from them. 01. Mallow Mallow is designed with writers in mindAimed at writers of all kinds, Mallow is a well-balanced and flexible theme designed to be a blank canvas to express what’s on your mind. Perfect for blogging and case studies, it's fast and fully responsive with complete browser support and regular updates; upgrade to the Pro version for a live theme customiser and unlimited colour choices. 02. Bandana Bandana is responsive and versatile with plenty of useful featuresFeaturing responsive layouts and Font Awesome support as well as custom menus, widgetised sidebars, custom background, featured images and more, Bandana is a free, clean and simple WordPress theme that's tested in modern browsers and fully optimised for SEO. And if you don't mind getting handy with code, you can fork it on GitHub to create your own version. 03. Sydney Set your business up for success with SydneyIf you're looking to improve your online presence and attract customers or clients, Sydney is an excellent choice. It was built with business owners and freelancers in mind, and provides a wide array of customisation options that will help your website stand out. Sydney is also fully responsive, supports translation, and makes social media integration a cinch. 04. Illdy Illdy boasts plenty of plugin supportBuilt on the Bootstrap framework and fully responsive and mobile-friendly, Illdy is a fantastic-looking multipurpose theme. All the heavy lifting is done via the WordPress Customizer, enabling you to build your site on the fly using preview mode, and it's entirely compatible with popular plugins such as Contact Form 7, Gravity Forms and Yoast SEO, with WooCommerce support coming soon. 05. Hemingway Classic blog template with large textUnless you want to change themes every year it's best to pick something that won't look dated as design trends evolve, and Hemingway is a good option in that regard. It's a simple, elegant two-column layout with classic typography and large, readable text. Bloggers will find it ideal. Hemingway is built to be responsive, so will work on desktop and mobile. 06. SKT Full Width Fill the browser with your large imagesThis is a nice one if you've a site whose main purpose is to display images; it uses the whole browser window and lets you add discriptions via overlay text. The only thing to watch out for is whether your images will stand up to being displayed on very large screens. 07. Origin Origin, beautiful type for long readsIf you want to fit a lot of text onto your homepage, Origin does a good job of that without looking messy or cluttered. Your articles are arranged in a column that gives each one space for a decent intro length, and the type looks great. A good choice for a site with a lot of reading. 08. Upright Upright is a free Wordpress theme that can be used for portfoliosUpright is a fully responsive blog magazine theme for WordPress that leverages big imagery and portfolio functionality to present content effectively. Featured sliders, sidebar colour pickers, and custom background images allow users to create unique websites without having to code. Upright is search engine optimised from the get-go which helps increase traffic. 09. Fashionista Bold headlines for a magazine blogFashionista is another type-driven theme that's good for magazine-style blogs. We like the bold headlines and pleasingly busy layout that will look good on both desktop and mobile. 10. Hatch The image grid shows visitors your work with no clicking or scrollingIllustrators, photographers and artists will love this theme: the layout has one slot for your main image and then a grid of 12 that instantly gives visitors a sense of what your work is like. It's a great use of space that fits a lot of content into one screen. 11. Future Lite Creative agencies might want to check out this smart, feature rich themeA clean, creative, feature-rich and multipurpose theme that would be perfect for creative agencies, creative portfolios or freelancers. The responsive layout of this WordPress theme adapts well to the screen size of different device your visitors are using. Future is also retina ready and will look sharp on high resolution displays. It's powered with custom menu, custom header, sidebar widget, featured image, theme options, nice typography and built-in pagination features. 12. Lightly This free WordPress theme is another that can be used for portfoliosLightly is a clean, minimalist blog magazine theme for WordPress that puts your content centre stage. The theme's refreshing design features a home page slider and a widgetised home page that allows users to create custom layouts by simply dragging and dropping everything into place and high quality coding ensures your site performs optimally every time! 13. Longform Tell all your stories with LongformGreat for storytellers, Longform is a free WordPress theme designed to be fully compatible with the powerful Aesop Story Engine plugin. It includes beautiful styles for all Aesop story modules with no code snippets or extra configuration required. Fully responsive, retina-ready and super easy to customise. 14. Moesia As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words...Moesia is perfect for building your business's online presence. Choose from eleven predefined blocks and build the homepage that best suits your company. Each of the homepage blocks can have a parallax background image and its own set of colours. Featuring a good selection of Google Fonts, two types of layouts for the blog page, cool animations and effects, a parallax header and much more... Make sure you have a great header image to grab attention! 15. TA Dailyblog A great blogging template for the avid blogger!TA DailyBlog offers a simple and clean design with full optimisation for smartphones, tablets, desktops and any other devices. This free WordPress theme would be ideal for blogging, especially for daily or hobby bloggers who love to share their stuff. It's very flexible and fully customizable with 16 color schemes and smooth and fast user experience. What’s more, the theme is SEO friendly, with a Schema compatible structure that will make Google love your website. It supports most popular plugins, too. 16. InterStellar InterStellar is a clean, sophisticated designCreate and manage your portfolio or blog with ease with this clean and sophisticated InterStellar design. With multiple portfolio page layouts, this theme's options allow you to change the layout, colour scheme, logo and add your Google Analytics code, buttons, Google maps, columns and more. 17. Arcade Create a stand-out site with fully responsive HTML5 theme ArcadeCreate a stand-out website with Arcade, a lightweight and fully responsive HTML5 theme. Customise it to your taste by adding your own header image, page layout, site width and more. Each post can be distinguished with one of the eight supported formats; video, image, aside, status, audio, quote, link and gallery. 18. vFlex vFlex was designed specifically with designers and bloggers in mindDesigned specially with bloggers and designers in mind, vFlex is a stylish, free, responsive WordPress theme. Its main features include an inbuilt FlexSlider so you can simply select featured images, and an integrated VibeOptions panel, which supports logo upload, import and export settings and many other features. vFlex's responsive layout also means the theme looks great on iPad, iPhones, and other devices. 19. Meeta Don't overlook this 'plain Jane' themeSometimes "Plain Jane" themes like Meeta get overlooked. However themes like this are easily converted and modified to fit your site and content. With two navigations, a featured graphic and a responsive layout, this free WordPress theme will act as a great foundation for your site or blog. However you will need to dedicate the time to customise it a bit. 20. Folder Free WordPress theme Folder is perfect for showcasing projects and productsFolder is a free WordPress theme with a slight retro feel to it. With a design dominated by images, this responsive theme is perfect for displaying projects and products. Features include custom project posts and admin panel, five different widgets included (video, latest work, contact form, twitter feed, recent posts), and more. Next page: 12 more awesome free WordPress themes 21. YAMINTH Yet another minimal WordPress theme available for free downloadThere's no shortage of modern and minimal WordPress themes available online. But YAMINTH (Yet Another Minimal Theme) and its unusual image layout caught our eye. The free theme comes with light colors, dark footer, Google Web Fonts and jQuery fade in, fade out of images. It also has an options page for easy customisation and is free for use in both personal and commercial projects. With an unlimited selection of colour themes this theme would be appropriate for any blogger. Another feature, which has been cropping up on some of the newer WordPress themes, is the Translation-ready abilities, reaching new audiences in a foreign languages. 22. Thoughts Thoughts takes it cue from flat designLike flat design and want to use large images on your website or blog? Want it to be responsive? Then as free WordPress themes go, Thoughts is probably good one to investigate. 23. Glider Who needs images? Glider brings text to the foreDon't want to mess about trying to find beautiful imagery? Looking for free WordPress themes that focus on the text, to make that look beautiful instead? This minimal text-focused theme is all about seamless reading: no page loads, no interruptions, just a quick and easy way to access content. 24. Travelify Travelify is inspired by natureThe Travelify free WordPress theme is inspired by nature. Fully customizable, with several Theme Options and page templates, this theme is an obvious choice for travel blogs, green thinking and adventurists. 25. Clean Retina Clean Retina is simple, clean, responsive and retina-readyClean Retina delivers exactly what it says on the tin. The theme is simple, clean, responsive and retina-ready. There is a selection of nine homepage layout options, also a large homepage slider with space for supporting text. This is one of those free WordPress themes that would work nicely for bloggers or small business owners. 26. Simple Corp Simple Corp has plenty of time saving featuresSimple Corp is a responsive HTML Theme by Site5. It includes plenty of time-saver features, so no need hunting around for plug-ins. The contact page consists of a built-in contact form furthermore and a large Google Map. Multiple colour styles can be easily accessed via the colour options tab. One of the best free WordPress themes we've seen for business, it can update a corporate website with a fresh vibe. 27. Photo Photo is the ideal free WordPress theme for photographersPhoto is, you won't be surprised to hear, best suited for a photographer, as its major feature is the responsive gallery. The theme is clean with a bold header that emphasizes your logo. This is perfect if you're looking for a minimal and versatile theme. 28. Great Great is exactly what it claims to beWith an unlimited selection of colour themes, as well as being SEO Optimized, this free WordPress theme would be appropriate for any blogger. Another feature which has been cropping up on some of the newer themes is the Translation-ready abilities, reaching new audiences in a foreign languages. 29. Grid Grid is great for a graphically rich or photo-heavy siteGrid gives you the feeling you're on a site that's had a lot of thought put into its design. This free WordPress theme would work really well for a portfolio, artist or event site. It's very graphic or photo-heavy, so make sure you have the content to back it up. One plus is that this theme maintains its responsiveness quite well. 30. Sensitive Sensitive features a Metro-styled accent to its designSensitive is a fully responsive theme built using Twitter's Bootstrap framework with Metro Styled Accent. It ships with three different page templates, support for custom backgrounds and menus. It's a great option if you're looking for clean and modern, without a lot of fussy code. 31. _ARCHITEKT Architekt is a minimalist, responsive themeArchitekt's layout and minimalistic approach to design makes content (especially photos) stand out well. This is a really nicely designed and well thought-out responsive theme. 32. Panoramica With a full-width slideshow on the homepage, Panoramica is perfect for showcasing your photosIf you want to showcase images in all their glory, free WordPress theme Panoramica may be just what you're after. Its design heavily emphasizes the use of images, with its appearance fully customiseable through an extensive options panel. Panoramica also features a full-width slideshow on the homepage, perfect for grabbing prospective client's and employer's attention. Contributions to this article from: Aaron Kitney, a freelance graphic designer and art director based in London and Vancouver. Jesse Friedman, a veteran WordPress developer. Sam Hampton-Smith, a freelance author and front-end designer/developer based in Scotland. Tanya Combrinck, who has been writing about the web for over four years. View the full article

At the start of 2014, Pip Jamieson launched The Dots – an online professional network specifically aimed at designers (think LinkedIn for creatives). Since then the platform has gone from strength to strength, with leading companies including the BBC, TATE, Facebook, Wolff Olins and Pentagram using the site to promote their brand, attract clients and hire talent. It hasn't been plain sailing though. At Reasons To Jamieson talked through her Dots journey, and Creative Bloq was in the audience. Here's what we learned about how to launch your own successful creative business: 01. Build diversity into your teams The dots team includes individuals from a range of backgroundsBefore launching the Dots, Jamieson worked at MTV. She recalls how for any given role, the company would attract hundreds of interested creatives – so to avoid having to spend hours finding the best person for the job, they'd turn to their little black book of contacts. Hiring friends and existing contacts eventually led to the output becoming stale and samey. It's unavoidable: you need an injection of fresh ideas to keep things interesting. When hiring for The Dots, Jamieson purposefully looked to employ a mix of people, a balance of genders, and people from different backgrounds, to build different perspectives into the product. 02. Go all-in... Launching any business is going to be a rollercoaster"You can't really execute a business idea unless you're all-in," says Jamieson. It's a risk, but if you really want to see the potential of your idea, at some point it has to stop being a side project. That means taking a leap of faith, giving up your main job and committing yourself fully. And even then, it's going to be tough. "[Launching The Dots] has been the happiest I have ever been, and it's also been the most desperately sad I've been in my life," Jamieson says. But she's adamant that if you're not going through a rollercoaster of emotions, you're not pushing yourself enough. And it'll be worth it in the end. 03. ... but don't burn yourself out At a certain point, working harder doesn't equate to increased productivity"It's seen as such a badge of honour to work all the time when you're starting something new, but it's actually really stupid," emphasises Jamieson. While you need to dedicate yourself, there's a point where it's proven that productivity actually starts going down. Plus, burn yourself out and you're looking at time off work, and that's not helpful for anyone. Jamieson suggests being wary if you're getting colds or feeling under the weather a lot: it's a sign you're pushing yourself too hard. She also advocates trying to pin down what saps your energy at work, then (if possible) outsourcing it. For example, if money matters leave you drained, hire a good accountant, and put your energies into things that will keep you energised. Similarly, work out what gives you energy in your personal life – whether that's doing yoga or going out on the town – and make time for that. 04. Build relationships based on trust BBH co-founder Sir John Hegarty has joined The Dots as chairmanAt particular low point in the Dots journey, Jamieson and her then-business partner found themselves three weeks away from going out of business. In a meeting, they were offered investment from an individual the pair instinctively felt was wrong for the business. Rather than take up the offer, Jamieson remortgaged, and her partner borrowed money from his parents, to buy The Dots another month. She maintains it was the best decision they could have made. "Going into investment is like going into marriage – you have to trust the people you're taking money off," she says. 05.Use OKRs rather than KPIs OKRs ask teams to take control of how to reach their goalsOKRs – or Objectives and Key Results – were popularised by Google several years ago. Unlike KPIs, OKRs provide teams with purposefully ambitious goals and asks them to innovate and work out how to reach them for themselves. Jamieson swears by them, and credits this approach with contributing significantly to the happiness of her employees. 06. Find some novel self-promo Pip Jamieson runs The Dots from her houseboat – a popular spot for client meetingsGetting people interested in your business can be an uphill struggle. Thankfully, Jamieson had an ace up her sleeve: her houseboat, Horace. While cold-emailing people to meet tended to yield poor results, invite them to a houseboat and suddenly there's more interest. "People would say yes just because they wanted to see the boat," she smiles. 07. Keep it positive Building a business difficult enough – don't let negative people into the foldOne of The Dots' core values is positivity. Building up a new business is difficult enough, says Jamieson, and when things are tough, you need people who will focus on solutions rather than problems. Maintaining a culture of positivity also means getting rid of people who are bringing negativity into the workspace. "You have enough to be getting on with to have have wingers on the team, or people who like to play politics," she warns. To try and make sure everyone stays happy, The Dots employees periodically complete a survey asking them what they're happy with and what frustrates them about their work. This gives management a chance to adjust things and make improvements that suit the team. Related articles: 5 golden rules of self-promotion How to make social media work for you Create the perfect design portfolio: 30 pro tips View the full article

The iPad Pro 12.9 (2017) is Apple's top-end iPad, sitting above the iPad Pro 10.5 that made its debut earlier this year. The iPad Pro 9.7 is no longer available. Here we're looking at it alongside iOS 11 – the latest version of Apple’s now-legendary mobile operating system. There are some significant improvements in this update that are specifically designed to make the iPad Pro more, well, Mac-like. We tested it out on our iPad Pro 12.9 to see what all the fuss is about. The 12.9-inch version of the iPad received several upgrades earlier this year to put it on an even footing with the new iPad Pro 10.5 – notably HDR video support, TrueTone display and a new Apple A10X processor. While iOS 11 is a good update for the iPhone, it’s a particularly super update if you use an iPad on a regular basis. Multitasking was present before on the iPad, but now it has been powered up to provide even more desktop-like functionality. iOS 11 availability iOS 11 is a free update for the iPad Pro and will be released on 19 September. Expect servers to be busy that day, so you might have to wait to download it to your iPad Pro. Note that we’ve been using the public beta version of iOS 11, so the final version may be ever so slightly different than the images you see here. (And to use Apple Pencil you’ll need an iPad Pro 9.7, 10.5 or 12.9-inch.) iPad Pro 12.9 design and screen The first time you see the iPad Pro 12.9 it looks daft – a big, silly joke; something ludicrously, pointlessly oversized – but it's amazing how quickly that impression passes. In part that's because it's lighter than you expect it to be for its size. It's not light enough that you would want to hold it for the length of time it would take to make even a simple portrait sketch, but it's perfectly reasonable to hold it one-handed for minutes at a time. It's also slim, such that when you're using it flat on a table surface, you can just about kid yourself that it's almost not there. That big screen is, in any case, just terrific: bright, saturated, and with liberal viewing angles. iPad Pro 12.9 video and audio The scale of the screen makes it great not just for painting on, but also – for example – to give you more room for digital audio workstations, for editing movies, for creating diagrams and for sketching out wireframes for print or digital layouts in Adobe Comp, which you can then export to InDesign, Illustrator or Photoshop. As we've already touched upon, it's a TrueTone display with support for HDR video. Viewing video on this device is a delight, while the quad speakers are surprisingly beefy. Sure, you don’t want to rely on them to fill a room, but everyone who hears them does the same 'Oh, they sound that good?' face. (There's some smarts here: there is a speaker at each corner, and for any audio all four always produce bass, since we can't tell what direction bass comes from. The mid-range and treble is then also played out of whichever two speakers are on the top, depending on orientation, for a proper stereo soundstage.) iPad Pro 12.9 performance and battery life With Apple's A10 X processor, this is a seriously powerful tablet. The big display means that iOS 11's support for multitasking – the ability to run two apps side by side, and/or also have video play in a floating picture-in-picture window – makes such great sense here and works instantly. It's entirely possible, for example, to draw on one side of the screen while referring to source material on the other, or keep an eye on your email as you type a document. The iPad Pro will easily last a day of use. Apple cites 10 hours of battery life and that's about right in our experience. However, the Smart Keyboard accessory draws power from the device, so take it off if you're low on battery. If you're tapping away with the Apple Pencil all day, this may decrease further and you will need to charge it during the day as well. iPad Pro 12.9 accessories The optional £169 Smart Keyboard cover is genuinely good, enabling the iPad Pro to shine in more of the situations where you might hitherto have used a laptop. The fact it doesn't quite work as your Mac or Windows laptop does is a little confusing though – your finger keeps twitching towards the non-existent trackpad. However, cheaper versions are available from other manufactures and, of course, the iPad Pro works with any Bluetooth keyboard. Apple Pencil Then there's the superb Apple Pencil. We've touched on its improvements in iOS 11 below. This stylus – yes, Apple made a stylus – is nothing more nor less than the best digital drawing tool ever made, and with the iPad Pro's generous 12.9-inch canvas, for some illustrators and artists it is, more than ever before, possible not just to sketch out ideas on an iPad, but take them all the way through to completion. It's a bit nuts to say you want the iPad Pro because of another bit of kit that itself costs eighty quid, but the experience of using them together is so good. The pressure- and tilt-sensitivity, the near-perfect palm rejection and the impressively low latency all combine to make it the most real and analogue drawing and writing experience you'll have today unless you're actually using pen and paper. There are some truly magnificent apps on iOS that work great with Apple Pencil; the glorious Procreate, the characterful Paper, the expressive Adobe Photoshop Sketch and the hugely useful Adobe Comp, for example – as well as productivity apps such as Evernote and LiquidText. Many apps will be updated to support iOS 11's drag and drop functionality, including Adobe’s mobile apps, Procreate and Morpholio Trace. How has iOS 11 improved the iPad Pro? Despite its success, iOS has remained an operating system for phones and tablets – not for serious professional work. Can it really turn the iPad Pro into a tool so creatives can move on from their laptops? The first of the enhancements that work especially well with the iPad is the dock. Yes, you’ve seen one of these before right? Well, yes, but the new dock works quite like the one on the Mac. It sits at the foot of the screen like the old dock but instead has support for dragging and dropping app windows and more around the screen. There’s also a recently used files pop-up when you do a long tap on an app that supports it – similar to recent files on a Mac or PC. The dock and is split into two parts; the left is where you have apps you put there yourself (drag them from your home screen) while the right-hand side features apps chosen by Siri. Most likely, these will be the three latest you have used, but it may well bring your chosen music app up when you connect your AirPods. It’s clever like that. As we mentioned, dragging and dropping works with the dock – drag and drop isn’t anything new of course, but you can now drag things around in iOS 11 using Split View, such as an image from your camera roll into an email and so on. Say you were in Photos and wanted to drag something into an email, then just swipe up the dock, and drop Mail on the side of the screen. It opens in Slide Over view, but you can just tap the line at the top of the window to go into Split View. You can even drag things onto the dock as well you don’t expect, like a link from Safari or an image. The implementation of this is really rather great. You can still run a couple of apps at once using the Split View (two apps running side-by-side) and Slide Over (two apps running with one in a floating window). You can now add a third app on an iPad Pro. Note that Slide Over and the advanced multitasking works with iPad Pro, iPad (5th generation), iPad Air and later, or iPad mini 2 and later. iOS 11 and the Apple Pencil Apple Pencil is a fantastic tool for the iPad Pro series and wonderful for artists, but you haven't been able to use it everywhere you've wanted to in all iPad Pro apps. iOS 11 powers up the Apple Pencil's capabilities significantly. Now though, you can create Instant Notes simply by drawing on the lock screen (these are then saved in Notes). Drawing on notes near existing text cleverly now moves the text out of the way. Instant Markup enables you to draw on PDFs and photos. All of your Instant Notes on the lock screen are saved in Notes where there's also a Document Scanner, which scans, crops edges, removes tilt and glare and lets you fill in forms or sign away with an Apple Pencil. You can then save and share the document. There are plenty of Apple Pencil-supporting apps that have enhancements planned for iOS 11. Don't forget to check out our guide to 9 iPad Pro apps that make the most of Apple Pencil How files are handled in iOS 11 on the iPad Pro Apple has also remedied a long-standing issue with iOS – there’s no way to access files on the device unless they’re things like images in your Camera Roll or PDFs in iBooks. OK, so Apple has fudged this for the last few years with iCloud Drive, but the fact is we’re all pretty used to storing stuff on our own devices. Now though, there’s a Files app. You can browse through files stored on your iPad as well as the files synchronised on other devices. It’s all pretty intuitive and frankly pretty basic – it’s just that we haven’t had it before. There are also more options within Settings for you to optimise the storage on your device, including the offloading of unused apps. This will be pretty useful for less tech savvy people who just want to free up a bit of space to do some work. You can also use Files to browse iCloud Drive and cloud services such as Dropbox and, best of all for you, Adobe Creative Cloud. You can tag your files and folders as well – just like on macOS. What else is in iOS 11? Naturally there are also a bunch of other enhancements, such as improvements to Control Center, Siri (it sounds more human and can translate short phrases), Live Photos, the App Store, Apple Music and more besides. One thing that might also be useful is that you can now pay contacts using Apple Pay, while there's also a driving mode. More useful for the iPhone, granted. There are also new iPad keyboard shortcuts which mean you no longer have to flip back and forward between keyboard layers. A new 'flick' gesture means you can access the hidden characters underneath. It all saves time. Control Center is accessed by continuing to swipe up from the dock. On the face of it, it is quite a mish mash. But it's now customisable so you can add and remove features at will. You can now also screen record in iOS 11, so you can send someone a 'how to' video of what you're doing. The screenshot feature has also been improved in iOS. When you take a screenshot using the Home and Power buttons, a preview now hovers in the bottom left for a short time. Tapping on it enables you to edit it right away. Safari has some nice touches, too, including suggestions based on what you were just reading. The Apple browser can also link to your iOS Calendar app, adding entries for flights and hotel stays instantly – useful for planning work trips. Final verdict There is an obvious caveat to this: the iPad Pro, of course, doesn't run Mac or Windows apps, so you're not going to be able to use the big, full, familiar apps from Adobe, Affinity or Corel. And for many – who either don't want the hassle of learning new tools or literally can't do the things they do in the way they want to do them without a traditional desktop – that's reason enough to dismiss the iPad Pro right from the get-go. The iOS 11 dock and multitasking really makes everything sing though, even if the elegance and simplicity of the iPad experience – one screen, one app, one task is now a thing of the past. The iPad Pro is – more than for any other group – for creatives. That big canvas, the sheer processing grunt and, above it all, that wonderful, you've-never-used-anything-like-it-before Pencil are all peculiarly suited to the kind of work we do. It lends itself particularly well to digital painting and illustration, of course, and Procreate is capable of some wonderful things, but it's not only good for that. The fact that you can't run, say, InDesign on it will of course mean that it can't fulfil the role of a primary computer for everyone in the creative industries. But set against this is the fact it does things that a Mac or PC can't. Can it be your only computer? No. But as a go-anywhere portable companion to a computer with full desktop apps, it's unbeatable. View the full article

If you're familiar with Netflix’s cult series, Stranger Things (and if you aren’t, where have you been for the past 18 months?) you'll also be aware that season two of the critically acclaimed supernatural drama is nigh – and Netflix has gone all out with the poster designs. The must-see show is not only set in the 1980s but unapologetically influenced by everything from Stephen Spielberg to Stephen King. Paying homage in every aspect of the show's design and production, the Duffer Brothers transport you straight back to the era of puffer jackets, Reebok high tops, The Goonies and, of course, OTT low budget sci-fi and horror flicks – they even managed to bag Winona Ryder in a starring role. The producers keep no secret of the influence 80's cult classics have on the showTheir approach to garnering publicity for the second series is no different, and their new marketing campaign reads like a love letter to their influences. As reported by ProMax's Daily Brief, the visual masterminds behind the show have gone all out by reimagining influential movie posters from the decade that spawned horror franchises even bigger than it’s hair-dos. Are movie posters in a design crisis?Have a scroll through the gallery below for a heavy dose of nostalgia that’s sure to get you excited for the show’s return. Can you guess which cult classic is being referenced in each poster? Season Two is set to be released just in time for Halloween, 27th October 2017 exclusive to Netflix. Related articles: Creating the official retro-style Stranger Things poster Scarily superb illustrated tributes to classic horror movies Top 25 movie posters of all time View the full article