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Sometimes, a product evolves in a way that its name no longer reflects its use and its capabilities. This is what happened to Corporate Software Inspector (or CSI, as our loyal customers over the years have referred to it). When the first version of Corporate Software Inspector was launched by Secunia in 2008, this is what it was: a scanning engine to determine the patch status of applications. A purpose-built solution to inspect software used in corporate systems for unpatched vulnerabilities. Over time, the solution evolved to support remediation of vulnerabilities through patching via integration with WSUS and SCCM (industry leading technologies for deploying patches to Windows systems). CSI gradually became synonymous with “Complete Patch Management”. In the recent years, market needs drove us to focus on expanding its capabilities to support more steps in the process to manage software vulnerabilities. We firmly believe that remains the best path forward: to continue to develop an integrated solution that gives our customers what they need to continuously reduce the risk of incidents caused by exploitation of vulnerable applications. Our commitment is to make sure that our customers don’t go from one vulnerability crisis to another, but rather gain control of their software vulnerability management activities by connecting vulnerability and patch management processes. Ultimately it is our vision to optimize operational processes to help customers save time while effectively reducing their risk. Continuing to call our solution Corporate Software Inspector, is not reflective of how our solution has evolved over the years and does not translate our vision for its continued evolution. For this reason, Corporate Software Inspector will be renamed to Software Vulnerability Manager. This change will be effective in the next release of Corporate Software Inspector scheduled for the first half of May 2018. The functionality and the interface remain the same today and will continue to evolve as you would expect. Software Vulnerability Manager is the future! Source View the full article

A common response when telling someone you work in the creative industry is how exciting the work must be. While it of course can be, it's also really easy to get stuck in a creative rut – taking on the same kind of commissions, spending hours developing your design portfolio and having your creative freedom restricted by clients. 11 of the best creative resumes But work doesn't have to be like that. Yes, change can be scary, but sometimes making a brave or bold move can make all the difference to the success of your career. Question is, are you willing to try? And if not, what's stopping you? Here are five successful creative folk with some brilliant tips on how to really push your creative career to new heights. 01. Quit your boring job Illustrator and designer Lisa Maltby had higher hopes for her creative career For some, having a baby might be a good reason not to leave the financial security of a full-time job. But for Sheffield-based illustrator and designer Lisa Maltby, it was actually the catalyst to do so. She’d been working at a design agency and things had been going well, she recalls. “But I’m a real ideas and creative person, and there wasn’t a lot of opportunity to push ideas as much as I wanted to. I didn’t feel as challenged as i did when i first began.” So just a few months after having her second child, she thought to herself: ‘Life’s too short.’ “I think kids make you feel like that,” she says. “They bring this fresh sense of life, where they’re limitless in their imaginations, and you kind of want some of that too.” I found the initial few months gruelling, but I’m now working more flexibly and creatively than I was before After striking out on her own, she hasn’t looked back since. "I found the initial few months gruelling to say the least, working on four hours’ sleep and going to meetings with baby puke down my back,” she says. “But I’ve since gone on to have some amazing commissions and opportunities, and I’m now working more flexibly and creatively.” And that’s important to her psychologically as well as financially. “My creativity has always been part of my self-expression, as well as wanting it to be a career,” she stresses. “So it was almost my way of survival: that I wasn’t just knee-deep in nappies, that I had something else.” Why there's never been a better time to quit your job 02. Build you reputation Amy Kilner's Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat illustration was bought by DJ Fatboy Slim After five years working at design agencies across Yorkshire, people thought Amy Kilner was crazy to chuck in her job and go back to college. But the 24-year-old from Rotherham was adamant. “I'd never completed my design degree because I got a design job in my second year and left uni,” she explains. "But as I got older, I realised I needed to go back and finish it.” She eventually did so, funding herself through a mix of student loans and freelancing. And as an unexpected by product, she ended up selling a piece of her student work to superstar DJ Fatboy Slim. “It was a typography project for my course,” Kilner explains.“The brief was to create a poster based on song lyrics, anything we wanted. I chose the words to Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat. When I’d completed it, I posted it on Instagram, tagged it, and didn’t think any more about it.” A few days later, the star’s manager emailed to ask if he could buy the illustration. Kilner agreed, and then the DJ himself emailed, requesting a signed copy to display in his home alongside artwork by Banksy, Chemical X and Jimmy Cauty. “I was like, ‘oh my goodness, this is not real!’” It’s one of many successes she’s had since returning to education, convincing her she’s made the right decision. “I haven’t taken the normal career route,” she admits, “But it’s got me to where I am, and I’m happy.” 03. Win a dream client Waterson secured work with Nike after the company saw her illustrations on Instagram Rose Waterson may have been a talented illustrator, but she wasn’t really aware of it. The fine art graduate and freelancer lacked confidence in her work, and didn’t expect to attract clients outside of her hometown of Brighton. So it was something of a surprise when she got a call from Nike. It all stemmed from a logo and poster she had designed for a group in Brighton called Girls Can’t DJ. “They’d posted it on their Instagram account. And then later on, they’d done an interview with Nike about women in the music business,” she says. When Nike saw Waterson’s work on the group’s Instagram, it was a case of good timing; the brand had just decided to collaborate with seven female artists to promote their new workout pants line, Nike pant Studio. So the company got in touch and commissioned her for the campaign. I’ve realised the power Instagram has now, and the difference it can make if you invest in it “It was about three days before the deadline,”she recalls.“They contacted me on a Monday and wanted my illustration on a Thursday. It was very last minute but I managed to do it somehow. The campaign came out about a month and a half later; the whole thing was quite swift.” Working for Nike has raised Waterson’s profile and been a big boost to her self-confidence, she says; plus it’s taught her two main lessons. “Firstly, the importance of Instagram. I’ve always used it, but I’ve realised the power it has now, and the difference it can make if you invest in it. And secondly, you never know who your contacts are going to be. I had no idea that this DJ group had any connection to Nike, which is a bit mental if you think about it.” 04. Start a new side project Some of the women who have joined the passionate project In September 2016, Ariana deLuca, an art director based in New York, was looking for a photographer. “I wanted to reach out to someone new, so I put the word out,” she recalls. “But I was getting a lot of responses from men that didn’t sit right. I didn’t feel comfortable with anyone who responded. And I thought to myself: I’d really love to work with another female creative, who has similar goals and ambitions to me. But nothing like that existed.” DeLuca couldn’t think of an easy way to find new female creatives she didn’t already know, who were also eager to create and connect. “Then I thought: this should exist, why don’t I just make it?” So that’s exactly what deLuca did. She got in contact with photographer and conceptual artist Heather Leigh Cullum – who she knew through a mutual friend – and in February 2017, they launched a new group for women called The passionate project. Its mission is to help ‘female creatives who want to collaborate on projects, strengthen their portfolios, and network.’ DeLuca has done all of this outside her full-time agency job, but despite the hard work and long hours, she’s loved every minute. “I think it’s great to take a risk and to open up new doors and meet people, and just help each other out,” she smiles. People marvel at her energy and constantly ask her ‘How do you find the time?’, she says. But rather than basking in the glory, she urges others to follow her lead and pursue their own passion project. “I just tell people: ‘you can do the same thing,’” she says. "It’s all about working hard, finding the thing you love and going forward. I try to be really encouraging and tell people to go for it. Push through those doubts and those fears, grind it out, and you’ll get there.” 05. Find the ideal work-life balance Sparrow worked on this collaborative branding cover concept for Alice in Wonderland Shanti Sparrow was working as a designer in a little boutique studio in Sydney. She enjoyed her job and found much of the work fulfilling. But something was missing, she just didn’t know what. So she decide to take a year off travelling, in order to work out what it was. She used her savings to rent a flat in New York and stayed for six months. “When I arrived, I didn’t want to get straight into work,” she recalls. “I was so exhausted I just wanted to absorb New York, have some fun and just sleep.” Eventually she started doing bits of freelancing for her old employer. “It worked out really well for their timeline,” she notes, “because I could do it overnight, they could go to sleep and then when they woke up, it would be done.” After half a year in the US, she then spent another six months going around Europe and Japan, visiting 17 countries in total. "It was amazing,” she smiles. "After going to Barcelona and Tokyo, I’ll never see colour in the same way again.” I took time to focus on me. And after that, eventually, everything started to make sense On return to Australia, though, she still struggled for a time to work out why her career wasn’t sitting right. Then, finally, it all fell into place, when she saw an ad for graphic design mentors at Shillington back in New York. "I'd always been the mother hen of every studio I’d been at, I was always training juniors,” she explains. “And I loved the idea of still being in graphic design, but without the deadlines and clients.” She’s now found the perfect work balance, combining a job as a lecturer for Shillington with design freelancing. And she thinks she’d never have got there without the perspective gained from travelling. “I took that time in New York to focus on me,” she explains. “And after that, eventually, everything started to make sense.” This article originally appeared in Computer Arts issue 275; subscribe here. Related articles: 16 great places to sell your design work online How to become an art director 10 best portfolio templates for designers View the full article

Caroline Pay is at the top of her game. Over the past 20 years she's worked for the biggest agencies in adland, including Mother, BBH and Wieden + Kennedy, and won major awards for her work with brands such as Levis, Coca-Cola, Honda and Dr. Pepper. Just over a year ago Pay landed the job of joint CCO at Grey, where, along with Vicki Maguire, she runs an agency of over 400 talented creatives. We caught up with her after a packed-out talk at D&AD Festival 2018 to find out how she got to the top spot – and what you should be doing if your work alone isn't earning you the promotions you deserve. 01. Be choosy about where you work Pay opted to join Grey because she felt the agency would nurture her particular talents To have a successful career within an agency, you need to be working somewhere that will make the most of your talents. When Pay joined Grey, she was looking for somewhere that would allow her to shine. "I wanted to thrive," she replies, when we ask her about her aims when she took on the role of joint-CCO. "And for the job I was looking for next, I needed to know that the people I was working with would allow me to do that. That means recognising what I'm good at, and asking for it and encouraging it.” 02. Be greedy Alongside a solid work ethic and unarguable talent, Pay credits her career success to tenacity, competitive ambition, ego and self-belief. “I wont be beaten. Ever,” she smiles. "I’m so ambitious – especially if something gets in my way. So like: ‘I want to run the biggest account in the agency. I want to run the agency. I want to run a bigger agency.' It’s this appetite for more. I’m greedy." 03. Get excited about meetings If you slink into meetings late and with no ideas, you're doing yourself no favours. “I get in there early, and put my shit down on the table and am ready to own the meeting," asserts Pay. "Prepare. Prepare to be amazing." Recognise that this is also your opportunity to sell your ideas and display your talent. "Be really excited to show your work, because that energy will ooze out of you,” she adds. Don't underestimate how far a little enthusiasm can get you in general, either – Pay says when she hires young creatives she looks for 50 per cent talent and 50 per cent energy. 04. Don’t assume you have to work full-time When Pay had her son, she worked as a part-time freelancer at Wieden + Kennedy, on projects including the Honda Drive Every Drop campaign (above). “I managed to run big accounts and create big bits of work for very, very big clients in three days a week," she says. After a couple of years she moved to a four-day-a-week permanent contract, but only went back to work full-time when her son started school. While not being in the office full-time didn't hold back Pay's career one bit, there are some rules to follow. "I genuinely believe you can have it all, so long as you don't try and do it all," she says. She advises being very clear about when you’re available and when you’re not, working with others and not trying to do everything yourself. And don't underestimate the value of having a great team around you that respect you. 05. Use life to fuel work When you're not at work, try and switch off from it. Pay describes herself as "a bit like a robot" in that even from her days as a young creative at Mother, she has been able to leave her work behind when she walks out of the door of the office at the end of the day. "Life is so much more important and inspiring than just sitting and poring over advertising..." she smiles. "Because I give so much when I'm at work, I expect so much out of life in order to fuel me at work." 06. Don’t repeat yourself Grey is an agency behind some incredible campaigns, and following in the footsteps of Nils Leonard was, Pay admits, "intimidating". But she was adamant she didn't want to continue in the same vein, and "definitely wanted to outdo him", and encourage new and different ideas. “I don’t believe in looking backwards or going back to your best,” she says. "Grey had a fantastic couple of years, but coming up we’ve got more, different, greater moments to come.” In fact, Pay's whole talk at D&AD Festival was centred around the idea of breaking with tradition and doing unexpected things. "I genuinely believe at this time in our industry we need to break the rules, because we're fucked. We have nothing to lose," she explains. Related articles: View the full article

There are hundreds of millions of websites online, meaning it can be easy for yours to get lost in a sea of other sites. SEOPop has the tools you need to make sure your site gets seen by the people who are looking for it. Get this must-have search engine optimisation tool on sale now for just $9.99 (approx. £7). It's important to get your site in the top three of Google search results, as that is where the majority of traffic ends up going. Luckily, SEOPop can help get you to the top of the page. This powerful tool analyses your website and produces an SEO report card that grades the site based on a number of factors that Google looks at. SEOPop automates the process of optimising your site so you can quickly give it the tweaks it needs to appear right at the top in all relevant search results. A lifetime subscription to SEOPop usually retails for $149.99, but you can get it on sale for 93 per cent off the retail price. That means you'll pay just $9.99 (approx. £7) for this essential service, so grab this deal today. Related articles: 5 top tools to master SEO Everything you need to know about SEO in 2017 30 best SEO tools View the full article

Buy Octane Lighting Essentials for $99 Joren Kandel, owner of The Pixel Lab, has built up a reputation for creating high-quality products for Cinema 4D users. Over the last few years he's teamed up with a number of collaborators to produce themed collections of models and materials. 10 top Octane tips and tricks This latest pack is a little different in that it is aimed at making life easier for users of a specific render engine: in this case Octane. Although not a plugin in the truest sense of the word, its implementation can be treated as one. In essence, the pack consists of a number of lighting rigs, all pre-configured to be a one-click solution for popular 'looks'. Each 'studio' can be added to a scene, where you can hit render and get great results, making it simple for users of any level. What's more, each studio has an Xpresso rig built in, allowing for efficient and intuitive adaptation of the light within the scene – from simple colour and intensity, to targeted positions of lights and effects such as falloff and volumetrics. The pack ships with a set number of lighting rigs but with the promise of an additional rig for every month of the product's first year, so the $99 price tag will, finally, equate to 20 rigs – excellent value. No matter what the cost, quality oozes from each rig, with even single-click renders looking fantastic. Take the time to tweak to suit your scene, be it still or render, and truly useful production-quality results can be had at a far lower overhead than manually setting things up. Every rig has a full Xpresso setup for easy customisation Sometimes packs like this contain just one or two useful items and are instead full of features that have 'personality', which, despite looking good in the marketing material, have less actual use in a production pipeline. Fortunately this pack is chock full of truly useful rigs for a wide array of projects, specially with the easy Xpresso controls to adapt the defaults. If you are an Octane and Cinema 4D user, then this pack is great value. It will help you get great render results with very little work, whether you're a novice or a veteran. Buy Octane Lighting Essentials for $99 Also read: 12 tips for realistic 3D lighting This article was originally published in issue 232 of 3D World. View the full article

It's been a busy few weeks for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Fresh from his grilling in front of congress, the Facebook leader has also been issuing print apologies in the wake of the social media site's massive data leaks. Now Facebook is taking the apologies up a gear with its largest brand marketing campaign ever. The good, the bad and the WTF of brand apologies First aired during the NBA Playoffs, the TV spot hopes to go some way to restoring the world's confidence after the data of 50 million Facebook users was snatched by Cambridge Analytica. It's very much Facebook pulling out the big guns. With hashtags swirling around on other platforms encouraging users to leave the site, it's no wonder that Zuckerberg and co have gone nuclear with the biggest campaign in Facebook's history. In the advert, titled Here Together, Facebook wants to remind people why they signed up to the site in the first place. There's even a cautious dash of humour as it alludes to befriending bosses and complicated relationship statuses. However the main thrust of the video is that Facebook wants to go back to basics and help people connect with one another. The video, created by Facebook's in-house marketing team, The Factory, does a stylish job of addressing the situation, although it's also drawn fire for perhaps being a tad economical with the truth. Referring to a massive data breach as "something happened" is very much the damage-controlling language of someone who's been caught with their trousers down. On top of that, pointing out that algorithms and ads on Facebook can be annoying is pretty rich, given that Facebook itself is in the best position to change that. So is this a sincere apology, or more of a "I'm sorry I got caught" situation? It depends on how you look at Facebook. If you see the site as a harmless way to connect with your nearest and dearest, the ad's melancholic music and sincere intent might win you over. But if you're the sort of person who doesn't even like sharing personal details with your doctor, this probably isn't going to convince you to log in. (Although you do get to indulge in some Silicone Valley schadenfreude.) Related articles: 9 embarrassing branding blunders 5 big branding mistakes to avoid Build a better personal brand View the full article

You're reading Ghost Buttons and Hollow Objects – Line Art is Thriving, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! They are less powerful in terms of driving conversion, they are less attractive in comparison to its solid shapes, their effectiveness primarily depends on contrast and surroundings – there are so many cons that it seems that ghost buttons should … View the full article

You're reading Test Google’s Refreshed Material Design UI in Chrome Canary, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! With Google I/O 2018 just a few days away, we are close to getting a glimpse at the next iteration of Google’s Material Design. And while everyone expects that the new version will be named Material Design 2, I hope … View the full article

Valentina D'Efilippo is an award-winning information designer and the woman behind some of the best infographics around (including those pictured above). But infographics have exploded in popularity in recent years – you can see them everywhere. So what do you need to do to make one that truly stands out? We caught up with D'Efilippo after her infographics masterclass at D&AD Festival 2018 to find out her best tips for building a data visualisation from scratch – and then how to elevate the design from good to great. 01. Pick an unexpected topic OddityVis is a visual deconstruction of Bowie's Space Oddity Clearly your infographic needs a subject. But don’t be fooled into thinking infographics are only for topics with lots of obvious facts and figures – an infographic can explore just about anything, says D'Efilippo. A good subject is anything that’s relevant to the public, be it political, social, economic or cultural. “The good thing with data is that it can actually be found everywhere,” she says. “Data is everywhere around us; what we do, what we consume, what we like, what we share.” It's just that it doesn’t often come in a format that’s ready to be visualised. A case in point is D'Efilippo's OddityViz project, which visualised David Bowie’s Space Oddity, and won an Information is Beautiful award. . “The Bowie project started with: ‘If you could actually see this song, if you could capture the complexity of te music, the imagery, as well as the emotional response, what would we see?‘” she explains. 02. Bring in an expert The next step is to take the data and narrow it down to what you’re going to show. D'Efilippo describes this process as “very arbitrary and editorial”, and recommends bringing in an expert in that topic. Consulting someone who fully understands the complexity of the subject matter can help guide you when making decisions on how it will be best represented. As a designer, that’s not your area – and that’s ok, she says. Great data visualisation is a collaboration of different disciplines. So for her Bowie tribute, D'Efilippo spoke to a musicologist. For her book The Infographic History of the World, she brought in a data journalist. Once you have your specialist in the room, ask as many questions as possible to try and gain a full picture of the topic. 03. Shape the data When it comes to turning the data into a visualisation, D'Efilippo has three main considerations: Audience: Who am I talking to? Purpose: What am I trying to say? Channel: How will people interact with this visualisation (social media, print and so on)? “When I have a clear answer to these questions, I feel like I have the right framework to decide how I’m going to visualise it,” she explains. The next step in the process involves playing around with the data and analysing it to get a sense of the patterns, variables, dimensions, outliers and so on. “I need to get my head around it and get a picture of what I’m seeing. Because I’m not a data expert, the only way I can see this is though visualising them,” she adds. D'Efilippo recommends getting the data into Excel and plotting some basic graphs so you can start to see where the interesting parts are and the shapes the data might take. 04. Make it relevant The Invisible Cities infographic is engraved rather than printed While the subject can be anything, what's really key is finding the story you want to tell, and turning the data – in whatever format it comes, and however complex it may be – into something that's relevant to people. “How can we bridge the gap between the complexity and something that can resonate with the audience? How can we create a shortcut?” D'Efilippo's Invisible Cities project focuses on the idea of sustainability in cities. Rather than printing the design in ink, she laser engraved it. The cities take form without the need for another material to be added to the process – the paper itself becomes the sculptural medium. The process adds another connection to the subject matter and reinforces the idea of sustainability. “Usually I feel like there's a lack of humanisation in the way we represent the data,” muses D'Efilippo. “We’re missing opportunities to communicate really interesting stories because we're not making them accessible.” 05. Be accurate It should go without saying, but there’s no bending the truth to fit your story or design here: your infographic should be entirely accurate and factual. “Whenever we’re representing data, we need to make sure we’re using sources that are already providing a truthful point of reference, and are as accurate as possible,” warns D'Efilippo. Make sure your scales are correct and your data is plotted properly. 06. Don't hide the story A few years ago, data visualisation was all about lots of complex dashboards, filters, buttons and ways to interact with the data, but we’re moving away from this now, says D'Efilippo. In data journalism in particular, there’s been a shift to designs that enable users to explore the data but at the same time explain the process – sometimes in the form of walkthroughs that guide the viewer through the complexity of a chart. It's a welcome shift for D'Efilippo. "Because actually, [when presented with complex, interactive data] most people don’t click," she explains. "You're submerged by all this visible information and to ask for the audience to interact with your piece is asking a lot. The more you can deliver by guiding the user, the better.” 07. Use visual storytelling Poppy Field uses all the graphical elements to relate information With data visualisation, you have a number of elements through which to tell your story. “Because the stories we’re visualising are so complex, it would be quite reductive to visualise them all though bar graphs,” says D'Efilippo. “Then you lose the shortcut, or the empathetic bridge into the story.” So consider all the elements you can use to visualise the data in a way that carries more of the meaning of the subject matter – the iconography, images, colour and so on. For D'Efilippo's interactive data visualisation of the wars of the last century, she used the motif of poppies. The stem starts in the year the war began and finishes when the war ended, while the size of the flower reveals the number of deaths, and the variation of colour represents the areas involved. For this step, D'Efilippo uses Illustrator predominantly, although if there’s lots of interactivity she might delve into Adobe XD or Sketch, and use those to build a user flow. 08. Create something memorable "Especially in my personal work, I really put an emphasis on the experience,” says D'Efilippo. We tend to focus on processing the numbers and analysing them to form a story, and then rendering the story, but for D'Efilippo there’s a third part: sensing. She aims to create infographics that viewers will look at and gain a true understanding of the topic. ”Like ‘Oh, now I get it!’ Like a lightbulb,” she smiles. “I haven’t just seen a chart, I actually understood the story.” Related articles: The 60 best infographics 13 incredible tools for creating infographics 6 secrets to creating outstanding infographics View the full article

Creative projects can be a rollercoaster of emotions, with towering highs and crippling lows. It’s ok to feel fear at some point: indeed if you don’t, there's a good chance you’re not pushing yourself enough. Inspired by the description in creative collaboration book Make Space by Scott Doorley and Scott Witthoft, Fred Deakin – professor of Interactive Digital Arts at UAL and ex-Airside founder – outlines the six stages creatives typically go through on challenging projects, and how to deal with each. 01. Excitement: the promise of the new 
Being on the cusp of a new idea, or being presented with a fresh creative brief, is probably one of the most enjoyable and exhilarating parts of the creative process. The possibilities seem limitless and you've usually got the time and leisure to frolic in the creativity of it all, at least for a while. What to do at this stage Make sure to enjoy it and let your inspiration fuel and guide you. However, you should also ready yourself for the inevitable fall from grace. 02. Confusion: the step into the fog When you really get stuck into the project, you'll begin to feel the initial glow start to slowly fade and the reality of the undertaking gradually seep in. You quickly realise that there are so many more things to think about than you originally anticipated. The enormity of it all can feel overwhelming. What to do at this stage Too much thinking at this stage can be poison. You need to break through the fog by doing and/or making. Get straight to sketching and mocking up quick and dirty prototypes. Use the creative momentum to steer you away from the quicksands of complexity. 03. Hope: the moments of clarity 
The fog lifts and you feel like you've got it all figured out! The creative angels are calling you home. Take caution here. The road ahead might seem clear, but you might have missed the bigger prize still a few sketches and mockups away. What to do at this stage Push to find the path forward, but remain critical of the clarity you stumble upon. Don't fall into any false sense of security. Challenge your own thinking to reach the best result. 04. Despair: the crisis of confidence What were you thinking? Who do you think you are? You can't do this. You're a failure. Useless. What to do at this stage You can and should mostly ignore these inner-goblins. You can do it. In fact you already are doing it! Move on. Keep creating. 

 Play to your strengths by using your particular skills to push the project forward. Hitting a wall may be a sign you need some outside perspective or help from someone with complimentary skills to your own. 05. Acceptance of the creative compromises 
As the deadline begins to loom, you slowly realise you're not going to be able to do it all. As you begin crafting the deliverables, you find everything takes longer than you expected. What to do at this stage You know you will have to make compromises. Be brave enough to stick with what will make your project special, and be wise enough to let go of the rest. More doing and prototyping may help you come to these conclusions.
 06. Relief: the finish line 
It's all over. It nearly killed you, but you did it. It feels good, but in the sweetness there may be a lingering sense of anti-climax. What to do at this stage Take time to celebrate your accomplishments and reflect on your process. Know what you want to do better next time. 

You know deep-down you're not really done anyway. Go back to the start if feel you inspired to. If not, move on to bigger and better things soon. This is an updated version of an interview with Fred Deakin during two-week creative workshop Modual. Liked this? Read these... 12 useful mind mapping tools for designers What makes a truly great logo design The designer's guide to working from home View the full article

A good logo design often depends on a good typeface. If you get it right, the perfect font choice can become synonymous with a brand. To show how a strong identity can remain recognisable even when you swap out the brand name, designer and teacher Emanuele Abrate has been conducting a series of interesting logo experiments. In his experiments, Abrate has swapped out the names of brands like Adidas and YouTube for the names of the fonts they use. Speaking to Co. Design, he revealed that the project came about as he struggled to identify the typeface in a logo. "Every time I see a logo, I wonder how it was conceived, how it was designed, what kind of typeface was used and why." The results will make you double-take. In most cases, our eyes have become so used to the font styles and logo graphics that we'll just glaze over when looking at a design that looks recognisable enough. Take a look at them by scrolling left to right with the arrow icons in the gallery below. Related articles: The rules of responsive web typography 5 typography trends for 2018 50 top typography tutorials View the full article

If you're retouching photographs and want to cover up small blemishes or remove unwanted details, Photoshop's Content-Aware Fill can be a life-saver. It's perfect for patching up small areas of images, but if you try it on larger areas the results are guaranteed to turn out looking fairly weird. The 34 best photo apps The 5 best laptops for photo editing However, a team of researchers from Nvidia is working on a technique that makes it possible to realistically fill huge gaps in photographs, without the results looking like a genetic experiment gone badly wrong. The technique's called 'image inpainting', and it uses a state-of-the-art deep learning method to edit photos by removing content and filling in the gaps, and reconstruct images that are badly corrupted with holes or missing pixels. The team used high-end Nvidia Tesla V100 GPUs to train a neural network with over 55,000 randomly generated masks of streaks and holes that were applied to images from the ImageNet, Places2 and CelebA-HQ datasets, so that the neural network would learn to reconstruct the missing pixels. The team then used a different set of nearly 25,000 masks to test the network's reconstruction accuracy. Column C shows the AI technique filling in the holes from column A; column D is the original image We're not going to pretend to understand how it all works, but the results speak for themselves. The image inpainting technique is capable of filling in huge gaps – even with really difficult subjects such as human faces or complex landscapes – and doing it in such a way that the edits don't stick out like a sore thumb. Look closely, of course, and you can see the join, but the overall effect is nowhere near as jarring as other content-aware techniques. The demo video uses fairly low-resolution images, but researchers say that their technique can scale up to handle super-resolution tasks as well. Don't expect to see it in Photoshop any time soon – it currently relies on extremely powerful and expensive deep learning-focused hardware that you won't see outside of a lab. But give it a few years and you should be able to rescue even the most battered of old snaps with a simple one-click fix. Image inpainting does an incredible job of filling in the gaps here To find out more, read Nvidia's report on its image inpainting technique, while if you're feeling clever you can read read the original – and highly technical – research paper. Related articles: The 14 best photo editor apps Will designers be replaced by robots? The 5 best laptops for photo editing View the full article

When you understand the techniques of Six Sigma, you'll know how to eliminate inefficiencies in your process and maximise your skills. Mastering this approach is important in just about every field, and now you can learn how with the Complete Six Sigma Training and Certification Bundle. It's on sale for 96 per cent off the retail price. Six Sigma has been the go-to technique for achieving excellence in all sorts of environments. Companies like Motorola and General Electric have counted on it for years, and now you can master it with the Complete Six Sigma Training and Certification Bundle. Work your way through these six information-packed courses to learn how to make the most of your efforts in the workplace, and get certified to prove your skills to future employers. The Complete Six Sigma Training and Certification Bundle usually retails for $2,300 (around £1,648), but you can get it on sale now for 96 per cent off the retail price. You'll have a hard time finding a better offer on a bundle that can improve your productivity, so grab this deal today. Related articles: 9 tips for improving your time management Top tips for nailing project management 5 tips for managing your team's time View the full article

Text makes up 95 per cent of all digital communication. So no matter how carefully refined the user interface, icon design or choice of imagery within an app, your choice of font is absolutely crucial. Typography has a direct impact on an app's user experience. If content is difficult to read, menu options are unclear, or the purpose of buttons and other calls to action are undecipherable, usability suffers enormously. And all these decisions must be made with a small screen in mind. Read on for five top tips for picking the perfect font for your next app design... 01. Consider a native app font Released in 2015, Apple's San Francisco typeface was designed in-house and is now the standard across both iOS and MacOS Apple clearly saw the value in typography when it released its own sans-serif typeface, San Francisco, in 2015. Having used a mixture of Helvetica Neue, Lucida Grande, Myriad Pro and VAG Rounded for its various software, hardware and marketing needs until that point, SF ticks all the boxes for the tech giant. As the default iOS font, San Francisco can be licensed to registered third-party developers to design apps for Apple's platforms. It's designed with utility and legibility in mind, and iOS automatically switches between Text and Display variants when the size drops below 10pt or above 20pt. Three years earlier, Google had also released its own in-house designed app font for the Android platform: Roboto, which replaced previous system font Droid. Like San Francisco, it's a clean, modern sans-serif, but it has a few more personality quirks. If a 'native' look is what you're going for, San Francisco or Roboto are a good bet – and the designers at Apple and Google have done the hard work in terms of ensuring they work on mobile. 02. Choose a font to suit the content Long-form reading is much more comfortable in a serif font, and The New York Times app is designed accordingly Both San Francisco and Roboto are clean sans-serif designs, which tends to be the default choice for most app designers: sans-serifs are neutral and safe, and great for legibility on buttons, menus and headlines. If your app contains large amounts of long-form content, however, a serif may well be a better choice. Medium, iBooks, and newspaper apps such as Bloomberg or The New York Times all use serif fonts, for instance. Apps such as these must cater to a wide variety of ages and preferences within their readership. If your app features large bodies of text, it may be worth building in some level of customisation of both font and size to cater to particular user needs. 03. Use size and weight to create hierarchy Even subtle variations in size and weight can create hierarchy in complex information, as this Stash Invest app demonstrates Apple advises a minimum of 11pt text to maintain legibility on the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, although try to avoid pushing the limits. The ideal value is more like 15-19pt, so allow plenty of space and avoid over-cluttering the interface. San Francisco, Roboto and popular app design alternatives such as Open Sans, Proxima Nova and Museo Sans come in a range of useful weights, so make full use of them for emphasis and hierarchy. You don't have much space to work with, and bringing a key element up a weight or two can work wonders to draw attention. As a rule of thumb, Regular weights are best for the minimum 11-19pt range, Medium weights work well from 20-34pt, and anything above that – usually main headlines – works well in Bold. Light and Ultralight weights are best saved for very large type, as legibility will suffer otherwise. Consider line-length as well. On average, a website will have 60–75 characters per line, whereas apps are much narrower: you're looking at more like 35–50. If lines are too long, they become unwieldy and users can lose track of the information; too short, and reading becomes unnatural. In practice, if you meet the font size guidelines you should avoid these problems. 04. Add a twist of personality While clean, neutral sans serifs abound in app design, a "warm and versatile" font like Klinic Slab can add personality When it comes to very pared-back, minimalist, functional interfaces there aren't so many tools at your disposal to add character to your app design. Flat design is all about colour, simple shapes – and typography. Accordingly, if type is one of the most prominent aspects of an otherwise brutally simple user interface, a display font that has some subtle, but unique quirks is worth considering. Commonly used, neutral typefaces are effective but you could run the risk of your app losing its identity. Typefaces that have flourishes or particular design features on certain characters are worth a look. Browse Google Fonts for free options such as Raleway or Quicksand, or license a more complex and versatile typeface such as Klinic Slab. 05. Leave plenty of white space The Amazfit app interface is a masterclass in white space and visual hierarchy One of the most important rules in app design is to avoid clutter at all costs, and this inevitably has a knock-on effect on your font choices, as well as how you apply them in the design process. Mobile screens don't give you much space to work with, but you need to leave as much of it free as possible and respect the breathing space between elements. Too much text, and too many options to choose from, adds nothing but confusion and is not a satisfying user experience. Likewise, leading between lines and paragraphs needs to be sufficient. Crushing this down to fit too much content into a single screen is an all-too-common mistake that will frustrate users who are used to apps that make their lives simpler and easier. When the 'white space' rule is combined with the minimum size guidelines for text, the outcome is clear: you need to cut it back, not squeeze it in. Related articles: How to use imagery more effectively in app design Pick the right font for your social campaigns 4 design trends we're all tired of hearing about View the full article

You're reading GitLab 10.7 Released with Open Source Web IDE and Extended SAST Support, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! The latest GitLab release is a real treasure. The number of features added in GitLab 10.7 will make any developer using the popular tool very excited. Thanks to GitLabs’s downtimeless upgrade feature and the few deprecations that come with the … View the full article

You're reading Building Better User Experiences with IPstack, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! Knowledge is power. This is perhaps true. What about “knowledge and data are power?” That’s undeniable. Data is the most valuable asset in today’s connected world. For developers, publishers and even enthusiasts, ipstack.com, a service providing IP to geolocation data … View the full article

Researchers have found an exploit in Nvidia Tegra X1-based systems that they say cannot be patched. View the full article

The Ukrainian Energy Ministry has been hit by a ransomware attack – and for once it looks like this is the work of amateurs, not nation-state attackers bent on making a geopolitical point. However, the bad actors appear to have made use of the recently patched Drupal vulnerability, pointing out yet once again that patch […] View the full article

With a shorter learning curve than InVision App and brand new design handoff tools for enterprise teams, there’s no better time to explore how Marvel can be a swift and effortless solution for prototyping web and mobile applications in teams. Marvel helps teams take their designs (made either in Sketch or Marvel itself) from sketched idea to initial to tested concept. Its collaborative tools encourage stakeholders not only to have their say but to be a part of the design workflow. 01. Create your first Marvel project Once you’ve picked your project, click one of two buttons to start the design process Sign up at Marvel to begin, where only your name and email address are required. Choose either Design Project or Prototype Project. A Prototype Project is when you upload screens that you’ve already designed (usually in Sketch). A Design Project is when you’re starting from scratch and you’d like to use Marvel’s own design tools to create a low-fidelity mockup (this is an amazing option for rapid iteration and brainstorming). Choose Design Project, then give it a name, then choose iPhone X and click the Create Project button. From here (we’ll call this the project dashboard from here on out), click the Design button on the left-hand side, or the Start designing button in the middle of the window. 02. Design low-fidelity prototypes You can use and adapt ready-made components, like this camera screen Our core aim here is to visualise our ideas quickly without wasting too much time worrying about what the final outcome will look like. From here we’re able to create shapes, images, text, ready-made components like tab bars, and even entire full-screen components like this camera screen (which was selected from the left-hand sidebar and restyled using the right-hand sidebar). Drawing shapes, creating text layers and making simple visual changes is fairly easy even for a non-designer, although seasoned designers will love how quickly they’re able to throw an idea together and click the Add to Project button. Although you can’t expect vector drawing, masking and other complex design tools, this interface will nonetheless feel quite familiar if you’re a Sketch, Adobe XD or Figma user (in fact, we’ll discuss importing higher-fidelity designs from Sketch in a moment). What you can expect is zooming, aligning, grouping, basic visual design tools, mouse controls such as dragging, resizing and rotating and a few handy keyboard shortcuts. 03. Receive feedback However, Marvel isn’t only for designers. While it may require a designer to create the final design in an industry-standard design app, ideas should (and do) come from all kinds of stakeholders (managers, clients, developers, and so on). No matter what your primary role is in a team, it should be super-easy to say: “Hey, could this be an idea?”, and then demonstrate that visually. Marvel’s POP mobile app reduces the barrier of entry even further by bringing these simplified design tools to mobile devices because, let’s face it, ideas can come to us at the strangest of times. Ideas sketched on paper can be converted to an interactive Marvel screen using the device camera. Design needs to be a democratised, where anybody can have a say without being restricted to using complex design applications. 04. Integrate Marvel with Sketch After productively brainstorming low-fidelity ideas with your team, you’ll want to mock up the first iteration in your design app of choice. While you can totally upload exported PNG screens from any design app, Sketch is the recommended app because there’s a dedicated Sketch Plugin that automates the process (and even readies the design so that it can be inspected by developers later on). Photoshop support for design handoff will come later, however Adobe isn’t touting Photoshop for user-interface design anymore, since it created Adobe XD. From the dashboard, click Settings > Integrations > Sketch Plugin, then Download Plugin. Once you have it installed, and your design file open, hit the Sync Selected or Sync All buttons in the Marvel bar (this appears above the layer list) to begin choosing a Marvel Project to sync the screens into. 05. Prototype interactions Drag-select regions to create hotspots for linking from one screen to another But of course we can’t test prototypes if we haven’t added any interactions to them, so let’s do that now. Moving back to the Marvel dashboard, where you’ll see the screens that we synced, click View on any one of the screens to enter screen mode. From here we can still navigate through the screens using the left and right arrows on either side of the window, click Timer to have Marvel cycle through the screens after a certain number of seconds (useful for presentations!), or click No Comments to add your first comment or annotation on the screen. Probably the first thing you’ll notice is the Fixed Header and Fixed Footer buttons that appear near the top-left and bottom-left corners of the screen respectively. These buttons are draggable and they can also be moved to mark the cutoff region of a header section that is to stay fixed to the top of a scrollable viewport. You can also use the text fields in the top-right and bottom-right corner to specify this value manually. But how do we actually link one screen to another? Simple: with the mouse, drag-select a region on the screen that is to link to another screen (this is called a ‘hotspot’). Once you’ve done that, an interface will appear at the bottom of the window that enables you to customise where the user is taken to, any transition that happens during the interaction and what gesture is required to activate that interaction (tap, swipe etc). And of course, we can use these prototyping tools even on low-fidelity mockups. In fact, it’s recommended that you do, all the while using the commenting features to discuss and reiterate. 06. Handing off designs to developers Design handoff makes it easy for design and developer to work with each other When your team retains full confidence in the final design, validated using the commenting and user testing tools, it’s time to hand it over to the developers who can then inspect and code. It’s important to remember that a designer isn’t ‘done’ once the design is handed over and that designers and developers should always communicate in harmony to oversee the development until its completion. The developer may also have some questions, so those commenting features should still be very much active. Hit the Play button, then click Handoff in the bottom-left corner to open the design handoff interface. From here, developers will be able to click on the design elements and inspect the individual styles that make them what they are, using the sidebar on the right-hand side (much like the inspector interface in Sketch, Figma or Adobe XD). The only difference here is that developers are able to click on the Copy button to copy the styles as code to the clipboard. This article was originally published in issue 301 of net, the world's best-selling magazine for web designers and developers. Buy issue 301 or subscribe to net. Get more insight into iterative prototyping Marisa Morby is giving her talk Discover How Iterative Prototype Testing Will Help You Create A Winning Design, Every Time at Generate New York from 25-27 April 2018 When most companies need to create a new web design, the process typically starts with pitching ideas, moves to design, then development, and then goes live. But what if it doesn't work? That's a lot of time, effort, and money to spend just to find out that an idea performed poorly. Fortunately, in her talk at Generate New York from 25-27 April 2018, Marisa Morby, head of research at Clearhead, will show you a better way to create and validate new designs that is faster, easier, and less expensive than the traditional design process using iterative prototyping and testing. Generate New York takes place from 25-27 April 2018. Get your ticket now. Related articles: 10 top prototyping tools The 18 best wireframe tools How to avoid prototyping pitfalls View the full article

Perspective is everything in design. If something you’ve drawn has a perfect perspective, it will help your work look more realistic; alternately, Pablo Picasso made history by drawing with a very skewed sense of the reality around him. Isometric art is as much of a science as anything, though. It has a very strict set of rules when it comes to what goes where. That’s pretty difficult to sit down and draw yourself, but when it comes to Photoshop, you can create a guide for anything. Get Adobe Creative Cloud In this Photoshop tutorial, we’re going to set out a perfect isometric grid before we build a world on hexagonally facing lines. In this London-inspired image, we’re going to trace the Thames isometrically, and even create isometric versions of landmarks. You’ll find that anything can be created on this grid, since it simply holds cubic shapes together. Curves can simply be drawn from corner to corner. Everything in the image is going to follow this structure too. You can use images to copy, you can follow our steps religiously or you can design your own icons following isometric patterns. It’s entirely up to you – within the limits of isometry, of course. Download the tutorial files 01. Start the grid Hit the icon to open the full-sized image. Begin by creating a new document of 20 x 20 pixels. Create a black strip down the right and bottom of the document with the Rectangular Marquee tool. Use the Grid if you need to, by hitting Cmd/Ctrl+’. 02. Define your pattern Hit the icon to open the full-sized image. Go to Edit>Define Pattern. Name it and then click OK. Create a new 1920 x 1080 document by going to File>New, and then go to the Paint Bucket (G). Use Pattern fill and on a new layer, fill with the pattern you’ve created. 03. Transform the pattern Hit the icon to open the full-sized image. Now we’re going to make the pattern isometric! Make the width and height much bigger, the angle 35 degrees and place in the centre of the document. The grid should be made of diamond shapes. 04. Choose your palette Hit the icon to open the full-sized image. We’re going to use five different colours for this, but different shades of each. The colours are Royal Blue (#021574), Muted Red (#f22f50), Spearmint (#6ec5cf), Peppermint (#6ecfb0), Tan (#ff935e) and White (#ffffff). 05. Lay out your text Hit the icon to open the full-sized image. Use the Type tool and create the text that you want to use across the document; we’re going with ‘London, England’. This is important, as it will dictate the size, spacing and whole look of your isometric poster. 06. Create some letters Hit the icon to open the full-sized image. Create isometric letters with the Pen tool, following the guide that you created. This is a trial-and-error part of the process, and will take the longest of everything. Experiment with shapes and Fill with #808080 for now. 07. Work on the letters Hit the icon to open the full-sized image. The isometric letters are going to have to have one side that predominantly faces forwards. Work out where the curves are on each of the letters by reducing the opacities. This might take some time to figure out, and you may need to redraw some letters. 08. Shade the letters Hit the icon to open the full-sized image. Group each set of layers for each letter. Create clipping masks for each, and add either light or shade to the letters so that they appear 3D. Work out where the light is in the image and judge accordingly. 09. Colour and build bridges Hit the icon to open the full-sized image. Create new Overlay layers above each of the letters and fill with one of your colours. Add Colour layers, clip, and brush in another colour to flesh it out. Next, create bridges between some of the letters. Colour this with another colour. 10. Create a speaker Hit the icon to open the full-sized image. Now, we’re going to add objects to the scene. Create a box using the isometric guide, lightening and darkening either side of the box to create perspective. Create two circles, and Transform these to fit into the box along the guide; add a Stroke to the circles using Layer Styles. 11. Add a flag Hit the icon to open the full-sized image. Next, we’re going to create a flag. Again, use the Pen tool to draw along the guide, and then fill with white. Clip layers to this, and touch soft black brushstrokes over one side of the flag to add shade. 12. Plant some trees Hit the icon to open the full-sized image. Trees are easy to create with the Pen; create a triangle with the two bottom sides lining up along the isometric guide and then darken one side. Repeat this twice, then add a stump. Colour with an Overlay layer. 13. Escalators and map planning Hit the icon to open the full-sized image. We’ve created escalators using the same methods we used to create the other objects, using the isometric guide to draw over. After that, we’ve used a real map of London to roughly trace the Thames and draw a white outline for some water to fill. 14. Curve the edges Hit the icon to open the full-sized image. Use the Pen tool to curve the edges of the white structure that you’ve just created, and fill with #808080. Use a soft, black brush to create the illusion of a curved space for the water to sit in. 15. Fill with water Hit the icon to open the full-sized image. Use the Pen tool to select the grey space in each of the white structures and falling from the top structures, and fill with blue on a new layer. Set this layer to Hard Light to make it look like it’s actual liquid. Clip a white layer and delete a jagged pattern in the middle for added effect. 16. Start the chandelier Hit the icon to open the full-sized image. Create a new layer and add dots in the intersections of the lines like you can see in the screenshot. Select the back rows of these dots and reduce the Lightness to -10 by using Hue/Saturation (Cmd/Ctrl+U). Duplicate this downwards to create more dots. 17. Finish the chandelier Hit the icon to open the full-sized image. Create the same effect three times with multiple rows of dots, then resize the two latter ones. Stack these to create a chandelier effect. On new 20% layers, create white dots to suggest light emanating outwards. 18. Create Big Ben Hit the icon to open the full-sized image. Use a stock photo of Big Ben to draw the clock with the Pen tool; you don’t have to be as detailed, though, of course. Draw it in shades of grey; draw the spire to one side of the building rather than straight upwards, too. 19. Place the landmark Hit the icon to open the full-sized image. Colour Big Ben with some Overlay layers, duplicate the layer and then flip this new one horizontally. Resize both layers and Skew with Free Transform to fit along the guide that you have created. 20. Finishing touches Hit the icon to open the full-sized image. Make any final flourishes that you’d like to add more to the image; this might include stars in the background with little dots, a whale in the Thames or altering the colour with a Curves adjustment. 21. Add noise Hit the icon to open the full-sized image. Finally, select black and white in your Swatches (D). Create a new layer, fill with black (Alt/Opt+Delete) and go to Filter>Noise. Choose 400%, check Monochromatic and click OK. Set this layer to Soft Light, 10% opaque. This article was originally published in issue 271 of creative web design magazine Web Designer. Buy issue 271 or subscribe to Web Designer. Related articles: Create isometric grid-based 3D lettering in Illustrator Isometric vector art made easy Create a 3D isometric effect View the full article

We've all had that moment, when the announcement comes in that your favourite movie from yesteryear is getting a remake. How can they do it? How can they mess with your favourite characters? I've been there too, but I've also been on the other end, being responsible for the designs of reimagined much-loved characters such as Shredder and Turtles from TMNT, Pinhead from Hellraiser, the BETAS from Videodrome and many more sworn to secrecy. If done right, a reboot of a character design can add to the richness of the franchise, but if done wrong, it can kill any future plans of expanding the world and evoke a mass of fan hatred. 20 top character design tips The one thing to get right, above all else, above any detailing or fundamental design elements, is the tone. If you nail the tone early on, that's half the battle, so you need to ask yourself a few questions before you start. The one thing to get right, above all else, is the tone If reimagining characters for a movie, are you creating this for a film you would go and see now, or a movie you would have seen when you were 14 or so? What are the iconic elements that made this character so appealing in the first place? Break them down to their fundamental basics. Finally, how far are you willing to push it? To put my process to the test I set out to reimagine a whole series of characters that were due a major update – characters I admired for the sheer imagination and bold design elements. To make it as challenging as possible I chose cartoon characters, specifically those from popular 1980’s cartoon series. I started with Man-At-Arms, one of the main protagonists from Masters of the Universe. The original 1980's Masters of the Universe character Man At Arms For this piece I decided the tone would need to fit the essence of the character, not the spectrum of its initial audience. So it would no longer appeal to children, but would more than likely appeal to fans of Game of Thrones, Conan the Barbarian (1982 version), Star Wars, Batman and so on. Yet I didn’t want a superhero look; he should retain the medieval feel of the character mixed with its own unique technological style. You are in essence world-building with an initial image. The 10 best 3D movies of 2018 The iconic elements broke down to the helmet shape and armour colour (although I muted the colours somewhat to add realism). An older face, war torn, the face of experience and knowledge. To add more to the ‘older’ feel I moved away from a superhero pose, instead adopting a poignant contemplation piece. This in itself adds to the tone and brings out his personality. Other iconic elements were the chest piece and mouth guard, both now given function as well as form. They serve as defence elements and you see how each piece of armour works in conjunction with the tech. The fur on his back is a nod to the medieval vibe the cartoon often portrayed. Man At Arms reimagined by Paul Gerrard You start with a tone piece, and from here you can go back and start to design full profile shots, costume design details and so on and so fourth. As long as your tone is right and you have a mood image like this from the get-go, it will keep you on track going forward. This article originally appeared in 3D World issue 232; subscribe here. Related articles: How to draw: 95 tutorials for drawing animals, people, landscapes and more 95 top Photoshop tutorials Perfect your figures with our anatomy masterclass View the full article

This month we’ve seen a whole host of new tools for graphic designers. Here we've rounded up our favourites – which include an innovative Illustrator plugin, a book on breaking into the creative industries, new brushes and a 4k BenQ monitor aimed at designers that won't break the bank. Read on for our selection of the best new graphic design tools this April. Pro colour-control Illustrator plugin Phantasm has received its biggest update in 12 years. If you’re not already aware of the highly acclaimed Astute Graphics Illustrator plugin, Phantasm gives you incredible Photoshop-esque functionality in Illustrator, letting you easily adjust vector artwork, text, effects and embedded images with curves, levels, hue/saturation and other essential controls. With the version four comes a new Phantasm panel for instant colour control, an improved vector halftone engine, a new vector halftone clipping option and a prepress correct effect with the ability to auto-apply to all layers. This is an invaluable plugin for anyone who works with vectors. Trial Phantasm v4 for free Buy Phantasm v4 for £69 Designer and author Craig Oldham’s new graphic design book offers a no-nonsense guide to breaking into the creative industries. Sharing experiences, ideas, advice, criticism and encouragement, Oldham creates a platform for meaningful discussion about how to get started in 'The Industry' and democratises the route to being a designer . What now? Where do you live? Can you afford to live? How can you make money doing design? How do you get a job? Who do you want to work for and are you good enough? These are the questions Oh Sh*t... What Now? aims to tackle honestly. "If nothing else it tries to make a meaningful and genuine attempt to help young creatives rather than perpetuate the same vacuous platitudes proffered by the industry," explains Oldham on Twitter. With sections spanning education, portfolios, jobs, freelancing, working process and personal development, Oh Sh*t... What Now? makes for a comprehensive, insightful rescue for any new graduate or final year student. BenQ’s huge 32-inch Ultra HD display isn’t new: the PD3200U was added to the company’s Designer Monitor range in 2016. But thanks to its impressive performance, accurate colour reproduction, professional-focused features and reasonable price, it’s one of the best monitors you can buy today if you’re a designer or creative. The IPS panel has a native contrast of 1000:1 and offers good viewing angles, with a 100% sRGB color gamut, plus Rec. 709 for video production. It also comes with a KVM (Keyboard Video Mouse) switch, which lets you plug in a second computer for graphic design and switch between the two while using a single monitor, keyboard and mouse. If you’re looking for a 4k monitor that will improve your productivity thanks to its sheer size – let alone handy pro features – the BenQ PD3200U is worth a look – just make sure you have space on your desk. Design assets company RetroSupply has bundled together four of its most recent, best-selling packs of Illustrator brushes to create the Hand Drawn Illustrator Vector Brush Bundle. In it, you get 321 high-res brushes –including vector engraving brushes, fine liner pen brushes, stippling brushes, and vector halftone brushes and swatches – and the usual example files of artwork from RetroSupply to demonstrate how the brushes might be applied. The best part? These would normally cost $116 if you bought the packs separately – but you can get the bundle for $49. That’s a 42 per cent discount. Buy the Hand Drawn Illustrator Vector Brush Bundle: $49 Create chalkboard lettering and artwork from the dust-free environment of your iPad Pro with Ian Barnard’s Chalk Dust lettering kit for Procreate. (There’s a Photoshop version of the Chalk Lettering Kit too). Created from real chalk textures, these realistic Procreate brushes include two bonus script brushes from hand letterer Stefan Kunz and six blackboards. The pack also comes with a tips and tricks guide sheet, as well, showing you how to create shadows, shading and drawing elements like banners and floral elements. Buy the Chalk Dust Lettering Kit for Procreate for $19 Read our review: Procreate 4 Last month Wacom announced an upgraded version of its entry-level Intuos pen drawing tablet. Available in small and medium sizes – and a choice of three different colours – the new Intuos models boast improved accuracy, a built-in pen tray, four express keys and, if you choose one of the Bluetooth models, a whopping 60 per cent boost in battery life. The new tablets also comes bundled with up to $160 worth of creative software for drawing, painting and image editing. This includes Corel Painter Essentials 6 for design and illustration, CELSYS CLIP STUDIO PAINT PRO for comic and Magna creation, and Corel AfterShot 3 for photo editing. Ideal. You can pick up the Intuos S for $80 / £69.99, the Intuos S with Bluetooth for $100 / £89.99, and the Intuos M for $200. Related articles: 12 essential tools for graphic designers in 2018 The best laptops for graphic design 2018 The best mouse of 2018 View the full article

It's never too late to pick up the skills you always wished you had. Here’s your chance to prove it. Just grab the eduCBA Design and Multimedia Lifetime Subscription Bundle. It's packed with the courses you need to pick up new skills, and you can get a lifetime subscription on sale now for 97 per cent off. When you sign up for the eduCBA Design and Multimedia Lifetime Subscription Bundle, you’ll find hundreds of courses with actionable lessons waiting for you – plus new ones are being added all the time, so you'll never run out of opportunities to learn new things. You’ll have unlimited access to more than 200 courses that will take you through tons of media and design essentials. Learn how to work with Photoshop, InDesign, Maya, Flash and more. The eduCBA Design and Multimedia Lifetime Subscription Bundle usually retails for $797, but you’ll pay just $19 (approx. £14). That’s a saving of 97 per cent off, a great deal for a lifetime of access to skills that could change your career, so grab this deal today. Related articles: 16 top online coding courses 250 free Udemy courses The 10 best free graphic design courses online View the full article

From the founder of HypeForType, Alex Haigh, comes Typerium – an ambitious new decentralised content-creation platform promising a marketplace, social media network and new creative design software to boot. Aimed at more than two billion creative content-makers worldwide, it's the latest creative venture to capitalise on the blockchain economy in the name of tackling piracy for content creators. Recently we reported on two companies planning to shake up the stock business with a bit of blockchain magic. Which blockchain should you use? Typerium, as its name suggests, appears to be starting with type assets – that's according to the platform's white paper, which is available to read here. However the recently launched website makes no mention of type, referring instead to 'content', suggesting that this is intended as a scaleable concept. Fighting piracy At the heart of Typerium will be a decentralised marketplace that's designed to protect the intellectual property rights of content creators. It promises an 85 per cent commission on all sales, and dramatically faster payment times thanks to its blockchain economy. Like other blockchain-based services, all content within the Typerium ecosystem will be bought and sold with tokens – in this case, TYPE Tokens. These leverage blockchain and smart contract technology to keep content safe, and, say the makers, can be exchanged for flat currency at any time. The blockchain economy will also remove big-marketplace overheads from transactions. What's interesting about Typerium is that aside from its marketplace and integrated blockchain ecosystem, the platform spans two additional areas. Typerium says that it's developing its own integrated design software that “allows creators to produce high-quality visual content for any platform” and publish content with a single click. And the final part of the ecosystem, meanwhile, is a social media network – which claims it will reward users “so you don’t have to rely on just your sales”. Here’s what the explainer video says: “Typerium is designed to bring content creators and consumers together. Creators earn tokens by creating content, and when consumers license that content, everyone earns a share of the value through our unique reward system.” “We’re building a community that’s driven by user contribution, so you don’t simply have to rely in sales, you’ll also be rewarded overtime a transaction takes place.” Working alongside Haigh is celebrated type designer Rick Banks as brand design lead, and a rich team of blockchain, design and development experts. Limited token pre-sale A 30 day-countdown to a Typerium token pre-sale has started. From 21 May until 25 June 2018, 300,000,000 Ethereum-based tokens will be made available. The initial price puts 1000 TYPE at 0.0195 ETH. Another token sale between 26 June and 23 July 23 2018 will make a further 700,000,000 tokens available. For more information you can read the Whitepaper or sign up to Typerium. Related articles: What the hell is blockchain? Which blockchain should you use? Will blockchain change image libraries forever? View the full article

A botnet has exploited a highly critical Drupal CMS vulnerability, which was previously disclosed by Drupal in March. View the full article