Rss Bot

When it comes to launching a startup, logo design is not usually at the forefront of people’s minds. And rightly so. Finding a product or service that people care about, recruiting the right talent, raising seed funding – those are your priorities at this stage. And many startups get by just fine in the early years with no logo at all. If you do find time to develop a logo, though, it can help enormously with spreading the word about your nascent enterprise – as long as it’s done right, that is. Here are 17 logos for 2017 startups that we reckon hit the sweet spot. 01. Mush Mush helps new parents find each other locallyMany new mothers are surprised by how isolated they suddenly feel. That’s the thinking behind London startup Mush, whose app helps new parents find each other locally, then chat, swap and sell items. Its logo is appropriately fun, friendly and upbeat, using nicely designed icons to convey the kind of multitasking that motherhood demands. Normally, of course, you don’t want your logo design to be too cluttered. But here the different icons perfectly evoke the chaos of life as a new parent, without being too messy, so the approach works well in this particular context. 02. Naava Naava’s smart walls provide fresh air so you can focus on your dayNaava is a startup based in Helsinki, Finland, providing smart walls that clean up indoor air and make it healthier to breathe. As its aim is to purify your environment and life, its logo is appropriately minimalist. And rather than aping the clinical minimalism of the average tech company, it brilliantly uses deconstructed letters, cast in the appropriate shade of pine tree green, to suggest a theme of trees and nature. 03. Uniplaces Uniplaces helps students find accommodation across EuropeUniplaces is a startup based in Lisbon, Portugal, that has helped more than a quarter of a million students across Europe link up to landlords and find somewhere to stay. The cartoony lettering of its logo, and the marked absence of a dot over the eye, convey a relaxed sense of youth, while the icon evokes both the idea of living space and the broader sense that attending university ‘opens new doors’ in your life. 04. Paracosm Paracosm is working at the cutting edge of new 3D technologiesFlorida-based startup Paracosm develops mobile 3D scanning, progress monitoring, and visualisation solutions to help construction teams build things. In these days of samey tech logos, it’s great to see it has gone for something… well, pretty different. We’re not sure how a flying space parrot ties in with its clever software, but we expect there’s a coding in-joke in there somewhere. Or perhaps they just think parrots are a cool play on its name, Paracosm. 05. Shipyard Shipyard Games is driving location-based gaming ever forwardAnother Helsinki-based startup, Shipyard Games develops location-based games and is backed by Supercell. As you can see from this website hero image, when it comes to visual branding it has taken the name of the company and run with it. We particularly love the way a stylised shipyard hook emblem has been incorporated as the opening letter S. 06. Monzo Monzo describes itself as ‘the bank of the future’Monzo is one of the hottest startups in the fintech world right now, having been granted a full banking licence in April. When you’re asking people to entrust you with their money, you can’t be too crazy with your branding, but as a startup you want to emphasise your youth and cutting edge approach. We’d argue this formal yet colourful logo strikes the perfect balance between the two positions. 07. Bundlelist Bundlelist seeks to make mobile bundles more transparent to consumersBunch Design designed this logo for Bundlelist, an online platform aiming to help people decide which mobile bundle they should buy for their connected device. It’s a smart, original creation, catching the eye with its individuality while still remaining simple enough to be super-flexible. 08. Elevatr Elevatr is a mobile platform for people with mental health issuesNew York startup Elevatr is aiming to help people suffering from mental health problems, via a free mobile community that connects them with others going through similar experiences. Much like the Naava logo earlier, this simple yet clever logo deconstructs the A and turns it into an ‘Up’ button, evoking both the idea of an elevator and a positive outlook in general. 09. Houndlabs Houndlabs is developing ways to test marijuana intoxication scientificallyHere’s something a bit different: Houndlabs is working to create the first marijuana breathalyser. As more and more countries legalise the weed, they believe it’s important to be able to scientifically test when people are intoxicated, while driving or working heavy machinery, for example. The idea of ‘sniffing out’ a miscreant is neatly encapsulated by the hound icon, while the colour scheme and overall theme remain upbeat, ensuring that the company is seen as responsible, but not a ‘narc’ on an anti-dope crusade. 10. Bomberbot Bomberbot wants to develop the next generation of computer programmersBomberbot is a startup in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, aiming to teach kids coding in a fun and accessible way. Its colourful, Nickelodeon-esque logo certainly brings the fun, but there’s also a geometric formality to it that suggests a structured approach to learning. Plus, who doesn’t like an old-school robot? 11. Norsepower Norsepower is helping reduce the amount of fuel freight ships need Finnish startup Norsepower builds sails for freight ships to help them save fuel and reduce emissions. It sounds like a wacky idea, but it’s based on solid science and engineering: the rotor sail device is based on a 21st century version of the Flettner rotor. Its logo helps to sell the seriousness of the project, too, with a formal approach and colour scheme that wouldn’t look out of place in an older company. (It’s a startup though, so of course it’s lower-case lettering all the way.) 12. Seenit Seenit helps companies crowdsource their video needsSeenit is a London startup that lets companies crowdsource video footage to save on employing a film crew. We love its logo emblem, based on a deconstructed S, which is instantly recognisable wherever you see it. Our knowledge of video production isn’t that deep, so we’re not sure if there’s a meaning to it or it’s just a cool looking shape. Either way, it works in our book. 13. Habito Habito positions itself as a free, online mortgage brokerHabito is a London startup that aims to make it easier for people to apply for mortgages. Its logo is simple but effective, hitting that sweet spot between fun and formal that’s so important in the new digital market for financial services. The raising of the O, especially, adds a sense of the upbeat and optimistic, which is entirely appropriate when it comes to people’s financial futures. 14. Revue Revue is based on the notion that “everybody should send a newsletter”Dutch startup Revue is an online service that makes it super-easy to create and send newsletters. Compiling a newsletter is rarely a task anyone looks forward to, so the curvy and friendly letters of its logo, each one of which appears to be ‘smiling’, do a great job in encouraging you to give it a try. 15. Varjo Varjo is aiming to jumpstart a new era in VR, AR and mixed reality Helsinki, Finland, VR startup Varjo is developing technology that mimics the natural behaviour of the human eye, and promises this will allow us to create products with up to 100 times the resolution of current VR/AR devices. Exciting stuff. Appropriately, Varjo’s cool geometric logo pushes abstraction to its limits, conveying just how boundary-pushing the startup is, without becoming totally illegible in the process. 16. Mellow Mellow is developing new ways for you to control your culinary creation remotelyLisbon, Portugal-based startup Mellow is developing a smart sous chef, in the form of a sous-vide machine you can control via your phone. The emblem shown above might not mean anything to you right now, but once you’ve seen the machine in question – which has that exact shape – its logo design makes perfect sense. 17. TravelPerk TravelPerk wants to make co-ordinating multiple business trips easierTravelPerk is a startup in Barcelona, Spain, that allows you to book and manage multiple business trips in one place. Its simple logo cleverly uses Wi-Fi-style curved lines to convey both cutting-edge tech and a sense of movement. Which is, after all, what the travel industry is all about. Related articles: The 6 best design industry logos 5 ways to use imagery to create better branding 5 design industry trends that students need to know about View the full article

The Tor Project released a patch for a vulnerability that leaks the real IP addresses of macOS and Linux users of its Tor Browser. View the full article

Painting digitally using a drawing tablet and drawing software ArtRage is easier than it looks, and strangely addictive. Using on a graphics tablet or mobile device means that you are not tied to just the office or studio – you can paint anywhere. In this tutorial, we'll show you how to create a believable digital portrait using only the pixels on the screen. The Surface Pro 3, with its touchscreen and ergonomic stylus is ideal for this workshop, but any touchscreen device would be able to produce similar results – see our pick of the best graphics tablets for a start. We’ll take you through each step of the process, from creating a new file and loading up a reference image, to sketching out ideas and thumbnails, making initial pencil drawings right through to blocking in and adding thick textured paint. We'll also show you how to add some final digital flourishes before explaining how to save your finished digital artwork, ready for printing. Find a work setting and get comfortablePainting digitally is pretty much the same as painting with real oils and acrylics, so hopefully the process won’t feel too alien if you come from a fine art background. The tutorial helps to show how the screen really does become a canvas before you. The portrait we're walking you through here is of a young man in a modern setting. We'll keep the paint loose and choppy to create movement and interest while maintaining a vibrant feel, all the while adhering to real-world painting techniques. Follow the steps below to learn how to create your own portrait in ArtRage, and watch the video at the end to help you along further. 01. Pick a subject The portrait here is of a young man in a modern settingIt can sometimes be a bit of a struggle to source a model, or royalty-free images that you are allowed to draw from. No need to worry, as with a bit of searching you can find a plethora of websites that have stock images ready for you to use. Pixabay or Flickr Commons have a vast array of great reference images, for example. 02. Create a new file for your painting Ensure your saving settings are correct to create a high res painting [Click the arrows icon to enlarge this screenshot] Open ArtRage and click on File in the top-left corner. In the drop-down box, select New Painting and then in the Print Size tab, set the dimensions for the painting (in this case, 222 x 300mm, but these could be any size). Make sure to change the default 72 pixels/inch setting to 300 for a high-resolution painting. 03. Import the reference photo into ArtRage Import your chosen reference material so you can easily refer back throughout your painting session [Click the arrows icon to enlarge this screenshot] To import your chosen reference image, simply select Refs on the right-hand side of the screen and in the new box that opens, either click the file image or the Post It note with a pin in it. A new window will open that enables you to search your computer for your chosen picture. Double-click the image for it to open, ready to copy. 04. Make thumbnail sketches I like to start a painting at the dining room table and finish it reclining with my feet up on the sofa [Click the arrows icon to enlarge this screenshot] Doodling thumbnail sketches often helps you to understand the space better and to choose where to place the drawing on the canvas. Draw a very rough rectangle to mimic the canvas dimensions and sketch the head roughly. This does not have to be a masterpiece, but it will get you warmed up and ready to begin. 05. Make an initial pencil sketch Play with different tools before you start working [Click the arrows icon to enlarge this screenshot] Select the default Pencil tool from the tool selection panel on the left of the screen. Start by drawing in guidelines for where the top and sides of the figure’s head will be, along with the neckline and shoulders. Begin drawing in the eye and work outwards, roughly at first then adding more detail as you go. 06. Add layers Experiment to learn new techniques [Click the arrows icon to enlarge this screenshot] If we were using real paint, we would paint directly over the sketch on the canvas. However, in digital art you can keep these lines on a separate layer in case they need tweaking at a later stage. Select the Layers box on the right-hand side of the screen and click the plus button. A new layer is now created and selected for you to paint on, without losing your pencil sketch. 07. Block in the basic colour Start blocking just like you would if you were creating a traditional oil painting on paper [Click the arrows icon to enlarge this screenshot] Select the Oil Brush tool, but don’t add too much paint just yet. This is to stop the painting becoming muddy and hard to manage. Once selected, click the Settings box and pull the slider labelled Loading right down to between 4% and 9%. This now gives you a dry brush with which to paint in the tones, highlights and shaded areas. 08. Apply thicker paint Building upon your initial painting is what really brings it to life [Click the arrows icon to enlarge this screenshot] Select a new layer and in the Settings box of the Oil Paint brush, slide the Loading setting up to between 16% and 30%. Now the paint flows far more freely and you can begin to load it onto the canvas heavily with chunky strokes. The paint now mixes believably on the surface and enables you to form the shapes, shading and contours better, while bringing the painting to life. 09. Paint the background Add an abstract background for a modern look full of movement [Click the arrows icon to enlarge this screenshot] Create a new layer as we did before and drag it right down to the bottom of the other layers. Any thick paint or texture you put on this layer will add depth and chunkiness to the brushstrokes above. For the background, decrease the Loading on the brush to 3 and click in the Brush Size box and select 300. You can now fill in an abstract background easily. 10. Save and export the painting Never slack on saving – the last thing you want is to lose all your hard work! [Click the arrows icon to enlarge this screenshot] Make sure you save your artwork throughout the painting process, just in case the app crashes or you spill tea on your tablet. Simply click the File button and select Save Painting As and name the file. Once named, only click the Save button as you progress. When you've finished your painting, click Export Image File and save as a JPEG from the drop-down box. Watch the video below to see all of the steps in action. Related articles: How to draw and paint - 100 pro tips and tutorials 10 incredible online art schools The best drawing tablet: our pick of the best graphics tablets View the full article

Threatpost editors Mike Mimoso and Tom Spring discuss the week's top information security news stories. View the full article

Adobe's Creative Cloud subscription packages continue to divide designers – they offer great flexibility, regular updates and the latest app updates, but they do cost more for long-term users than outright purchasing used to. If you use more than one app (which you almost certainly will), you’ll find yourself paying at least $600/£600 per year to use the Creative Cloud package. Special Creative Bloq November deal: We’ve teamed up with Adobe to offer Creative Bloq readers a special 15% discount on Creative Cloud membership. Instead of paying the usual $49.94/£49.94 every month, you’ll pay just US$42.49/£42.49 per month for the first year. So if you’ve been debating whether to sign up, now’s your chance to get hands-on with Adobe’s stellar suite of world-class design tools – and save some cash in the process.The offer is valid from now until 27 November 2017, and includes Adobe’s entire suite of desktop and mobile apps for Mac and PC, from essentials such as Photoshop CC to next generation tools such as Adobe XD CC. If you just fancy paying as you go (with a monthly contract) the price rises to nearly £76 per month. Add Adobe Stock on an annual contract and it’s around £75 per month. Remember that Creative Cloud subscriptions also give you 20GB cloud storage allowance, making it easier than ever to create across multiple devices and collaborate by sharing files with others. Our pick of the best Adobe Creative Cloud deals available right now The best Adobe Creative Cloud deals As well as our exclusive 15% discount on subscriptions, the price widget below will show you the latest deals on Adobe's Creative Cloud today. The best Adobe Creative Cloud Photography Plan deals As well as our exclusive 15% discount, the price widget below will show you the latest deals on Adobe's Creative Cloud Photography Plan. Related articles: 95 top Photoshop tutorials The best Black Friday deals 2017 7 insane tech sneaks from Adobe Max 2017 View the full article

CodePen provides users with a development playground, whereby people can create small webpages called Pens. These Pens are a mix of HTML, JavaScript and CSS and are used for a wide variety of reasons. Whether it be to show off a UI concept, an API, to debug a problem or to show off some fancy canvas work, CodePen aims to be the one-stop shop for quick, unhindered development. The move for CodePen to being entirely HTTPS was a large one. With over 15 million Pens created, and since CodePen puts no serious limitations on what people can create, over three quarters of Pens created have links, images and requests to outside sources that could possibly be insecure. HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) protects the integrity and confidentiality of data between the user’s computer and the site. Secure and private sessions online are fast becoming an expectation, rather than an option. For a long time now (since Firefox 23, IE9 and the early days of Chrome) browsers have prevented mixed content running on secure sites. HTTPS therefore will not allow scripts transferred from HTTP to run. For CodePen, this means that if someone is hitting an API that isn’t secure, their Pen could suddenly stop working, which is the absolute last thing that we want. It would also prevent us from processing signups and accepting passwords when a page is insecure, which we also need to avoid. Here's how we made the move to HTTPS at CodePen – we hope you can learn from our experience. 01. Plans were communicated early Before we get into the good stuff, a big part of making the move to HTTPS – especially if you have active users – is communication. This can’t be overstated. We gave everyone on CodePen plenty of notifications and information months before we began making permanent changes to the site. Three months before the change, we told everyone that we would be moving to HTTPS and what this meant for them, especially if they’re using specific APIs and libraries that may be served using the insecure HTTP protocol. This was about seeding the idea that there would be change. One month before the change we contacted everyone again, to reiterate the date of change. Then a week before we released tools (we’ll get into that later) and told everyone about the changes that had already been made. Finally, a day before the move, we filled everyone in on our progress once again. This may seem like a lot of emails and notifications, but in reality the more people know about changes that could affect them, the better. We wanted there to be no excuse to not know. After telling over one million users, we received not one single email of complaint and just a few asking for advice on how to fix up Pens. 02. Users were educated There are a lot of things to do to get secure, the first one is getting a correct certificate. For us, this was done through the AWS Certificate Manager, which enabled us to procure, manage and apply the certificate to our servers with ease. There are lots of smaller pitfalls that you can come across making this jump which we won’t go into here, but you can read more here. We made sure new creations began on an HTTPS page... This was a big step in nudging everyone into creating more secure Pens After this was sorted, we wanted to begin updating people’s Pens, posts and collections, but alas this had to wait. To make this move without disrupting anyone, we needed to take measures to a) Educate people about links that were using the insecure protocol, and b) Prevent people from creating more insecure links. The first step we took was to make all new creations begin on an HTTPS page. This meant that if anyone tried to use resources that were insecure, they would immediately see in their developer console that the browser had stopped the request. This alone was a big step, silently nudging everyone into creating more secure Pens and projects, and this process was immediately effective. Showing users what the problem is is better than telling them just to change with no explanationSecondly, we started notifying people if they were including something that could break in the future. These included little alerts when you added an external resource to a Pen. These external resources are the main entry point for HTTP links in CodePen, where people would link to things like Google Fonts, external images and custom hosted scripts. 03. Content was redirected Once we were in a place where the majority of people building things were creating them in a secure way, we could start to migrate pages over to HTTPS. This was a gradual process, with a few quirks, ultimately making sure that some pages would only be accessible using the secure protocol. If they were requested in HTTP form, they would be redirected. Initially we moved over pages that didn’t contain any user creations, since with these pages we could ensure that nothing would break – things like the blog, documentation pages, jobs, meetup and the CodePen Spark. It turns out that these little moves were incredibly important to the bigger picture, as we watched traffic slowly move to HTTPS. The real benefit was that once people were on any page in a secure protocol, the rest of the links on CodePen were protocol agnostic, meaning they would stay on HTTPS. Because of this, we found that the majority of people using CodePen ended up browsing securely from this point onwards. 04. We fixed potentially broken links Once we had a secure protocol, and people were actively browsing the site on it, we could begin the monolithic process of trying to fix potentially broken content. This was a vital piece of the process, since CodePen hosts millions of embeds, in blogs and documentation all over the web. The last thing we would want is for CodePen to become some kind of coding graveyard. The first step was to locate anywhere that people could enter their own URLs. In the end we had a huge list. We then went over this list, and saved any string that was a URL. We quickly realised the size of the task at hand was enormous: we had over 10 million individual links. Of these 10 million, there were exactly 2,129,437 insecure links. We were able to convert 1,787,411 of the 2,129,437 URLs to their secure counterparts, saving a lot of Pens from obscurity We ran a script though these 2,129,437 links that would check if there was a similar resource hosted on the HTTPS version of the link. So for something like http://fonts.google.com, there would be an exact copy at https://fonts.google.com, which meant that we could change the URL without feeling intrusive or jeopardising the Pen’s functionality or the creator’s privacy. This process was lengthy, with us sending out hundreds of thousands of requests, although it was made a little quicker by caching results. For example, once we knew there was an HTTPS version of fonts.google.com, we knew that every similar link from that point on could be converted without doing another check. That said, even after this was completed we would also do a manual check over links to see if there were any discrepancies. As much as you can trust your code, it’s always good to get another eye. We were able to convert 1,787,411 of the 2,129,437 URLs to their secure counterparts, saving a lot of Pens from obscurity. We didn’t want to abandon those remaining resources, so we parsed through those that couldn’t be fixed, and compiled a list of those most used. Any resource that had over 500 uses that didn’t have a secure server was put onto a list. We reached out to the creators of these, and found a lot of them were happy to provide us with either a new URL (if they had the resources hosted elsewhere) or to provide those resources from a secure protocol themselves. 05. We helped users to fix remaining links Our tooling helped identify when a Pen has a particular problem, and how to solve it With the majority of Pens secure, we wanted to do something for those who weren’t updated. We created a tool that would allow people to see which of their Pens were in violation of the secure protocol. For this, we created a dashboard page for everyone to see which of their Pens were potentially compromised. This itself has its own problems, since we needed to parse through all the code within each Pen. From a machine’s perspective it’s difficult to tell which of the URLs were going to be used and which ones were harmless. For example, an insecure link in a comment will not jeopardise the integrity of the page. For JavaScript, we used Esprima, an ECMAScript-compliant parser that was used to check if URLs were in use within the code. For HTML, we used the browser’s DOMParser API. Once we had these results, we provided a simple page that would show which links were invalid, enabling everyone to see and fix up their remaining Pens. All in all, the steps taken to secure CodePen were lengthy and involved a lot of hands-on action. The best time to have your website served from a secure protocol is 20 years ago. The second best time is now. Read more: 8 CodePen features you didn't know about Download images securely with a VPN 9 security tips to protect your website from hackers View the full article

Siemens has fixed a remotely executable vulnerability in some versions of its SIMATIC PCS 7 distributed control system, and said that it is working on a fix for remaining affected versions. View the full article

Learn to create your best-ever art with the amazing pen and pencil skills explored in ImagineFX issue 155 – on sale now. Inside the latest issue you will find out how Andrew Marr created our stunning cover art. In the tutorial he shares plenty of pro secrets, so you're bound to learn a new technique to give your own art a boost. Buy issue 155 of ImagineFX here Also in issue 155 is a workshop on how to create a clear story and memorable character designs in Photoshop. We also review the latest software and books that digital artists need to know about, plus we showcase the best artwork sent in from our talented readers. And that's still not all. Take a look at these features below to get a look at what else is in store with issue 155 of ImagineFX. Click here to subscribe to ImagineFX How to take art criticism Remember - don't take criticism personallyReceiving a critique on your art can be tough. But remember, this is one of the most important ways to improve your work. We chat to leading artists to find out how to make the most out of a critique, as well as learning how to not take the feedback personally. The concept art of Syd Mead This interview is a must-read for concept art fansSelf-described visual futurist Syd Mead has defined the look and feel of some of cinema's most iconic sci-fi films. Ahead of the release of a book dedicated to his design work, we talk to the artist about his impressive career. Meet illustrator Gregory Manchess Manchess has worked as a freelance artist for nearly 40 yearsWhen it comes to creating his amazing art, Gregory Manchess wants to forge an emotional connection with the viewer. ImagineFX interviews the freelance artist to hear how he stays curious and creative. Improve your pen and ink skills Learn art skills from the amazing Andrew MarrThe ridiculously talented Andrew Marr takes us through how he created the fantastic cover art that graces the cover of ImagineFX 155. This is a valuable chance to learn from one of the best illustrators in the business, and you're sure to pick up some pro secrets. Draw better fantasy creatures Give fictional creatures a real world groundingIf you want to create fantasy creatures with purpose, there of lots of tricks you can fall back on. Creature designer Bobby Rebholz shares his techniques for making fictional beasts look as real as possible, and why this will improve your art. Related articles: Top learning resources for illustrators How to be an award-winning illustrator 6 best digital art tools of 2017 so far View the full article

The likes of The Wizard of Oz and Guardians of the Galaxy have been transformed into wonderfully detailed maps in this series of illustrations by freelance illustrator and artist Andrew DeGraff. Over the years we've seen artists reimagine their favourite films in weird in wonderful ways. From comics that wonder how smartphones could change the plots of classic films to a range of art prints that recreate fictional boarding passes, it seems that there's no limit to how creatives can reinterpret their most loved movies. But we've never seen anything quite like these maps by DeGraff before. They remind us of London's famous underground map (which itself has been reimagined many times) thanks to their colourful routes, which track the movements of the main characters in films. To get a taste of DeGraff's maps, check out these examples inspired by some of the biggest movies around. First up is everyone's favourite dinosaur disaster flick, Jurassic Park. Click the magnifying glass in the top right to see the full size image We love the attention to detail in these maps. Not content with just tracking the general routes of the characters, DeGraff has been thorough and included instances where the action moves back and forth in a scene. Remember that bit in Jurassic Park where sleazy smuggler Dennis Nedry struggles to free his car from the mud so he has to wrestle with a winch before getting killed by a Dilophosaurus? That makes it to the map. Just follow the yellow line. Click the magnifying glass in the top right to see the full size image Doing justice to the beautiful maps in Tolkein's Lord of the Rings Books, the map above shows the paths that the ring travelled throughout the three main books, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King. De Graff's website shows close ups of this image's stunning details, such as the towers of Minas Tirith (below). Several characters' paths cross in these pieces DeGraff's site also gives an insight into his process, showing this massive 52.5 x 30-inch piece taking shape from a pencil sketch to the finished, detailed piece. Click the magnifying glass in the top right to see the full size image This sprawling map for the first Guardians of the Galaxy film does a great job of bringing the massive space opera into one image that viewers can navigate. But our favourite detail is the little purple arrow that shows Thanos swivelling round in his chair. It's the only movement he makes in the film, but even that makes it to the map. Click the magnifying glass in the top right to see the full size image This Wizard of Oz illustration might be our favourite map of the lot. There's so much going on, from the transition to black and white Kansas, to the circling route of the house as Dorothy and Toto spin through the tornado. If you like these maps you'll be over the moon to hear that DeGraff is featuring these illustrations plus many more in a new book called Cinemaps. Not only that, but his work will be featured in an art show at Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles, CA, kicking off today. Related articles Interactive infographic maps UK music scene 18 illustrators to follow on Instagram 10 spectacular Inktober 2017 artists View the full article

It's just three weeks until Black Friday 2017 will bring you some great discounts on creative tools, but in the meantime, we've got you a great daily deal on courses to help you master Adobe's Creative Cloud software. If you're a creative of any kind, you're going to want to know how to work with the apps in the Adobe Creative Cloud Suite. These powerful tools are counted upon by amateur and professional creators, and you can learn your way around them with the Adobe CC Lifetime Mastery Bundle – and you can pay what you want for it. If you're an aspiring creator, you'll definitely want to know your way around the Adobe Creative Cloud. It's the most powerful set of design tools around, and the Adobe CC Lifetime Mastery Bundle will help you make the most of it. In this bundle, you'll find more than 40 hours of actionable courses that will make you a master of Adobe's powerful artistic tools – from Photoshop and Illustrator to After Effects and InDesign, plus you'll learn how to make use of motion graphics in After Effects and more. The Adobe CC Lifetime Mastery Bundle is valued at over $384, but you can get it now for a price that you pick. Beat the average to unlock it all, get on the leaderboard, or just pay what you want. You can't go wrong, so grab this bundle today. With our other exclusive deal giving you 15% off Adobe Creative Cloud subscriptions at the moment, now is the ideal time to learn to use this powerful design software. The courses included in this bundle are: Photoshop CC Masterclass Illustrator CC Masterclass Total Training for Adobe Dreamweaver CC InDesign CC: Essentials Getting Started with Adobe After Effects CC 2015 Become a Motion Graphics Designer Using After Effects Mastering Adobe Bridge CC About Creative Bloq deals This great deal comes courtesy of the Creative Bloq Deals store – a creative marketplace that's dedicated to ensuring you save money on the items that improve your design life. We all like a special offer or two, particularly with creative tools and design assets often being eye-wateringly expensive. That's why the Creative Bloq Deals store is committed to bringing you useful deals, freebies and giveaways on design assets (logos, templates, icons, fonts, vectors and more), tutorials, e-learning, inspirational items, hardware and more. Every day of the working week we feature a new offer, freebie or contest – if you miss one, you can easily find past deals posts on the Deals Staff author page or Offer tag page. Plus, you can get in touch with any feedback at: deals@creativebloq.com. Read more: How to get the best Cyber Monday deals 2017 Get 15% off Adobe Creative Cloud with our exclusive deal 7 insane tech sneaks from Adobe Max 2017 View the full article

Although we might hate to admit it, even the most amazing designers can have annoying traits. So much so, in fact, that the team over at Spiralytics decided to investigate, with resident designer Jevie Palalay illustrating the nine most annoying things that designers do. "I think I speak for every designer when I say that this job changes how we think and act in the outside world without even realising it," Palalay comments. "Some good, but some are downright annoying for non-designers, especially for those who date us," she explains. From buying products purely for their packaging (even if you don't particularly want the product inside) to critiquing absolutely everything you see, it could be said that working as a designer has a pretty huge impact on your life. We can't help it, we're just inspired by everything we see, okay? You never know when the fonts on that old herbal tea box or colours on that chocolate bar wrapper will come in handy. The 'mess' on our desks will drive fastidious partners, friends and office PAs crazy, but we're never going to stop. Apparently, taking five minutes to even open the menu can get tiresome to hungry friends. But if said menu has a particularly striking (or, even better, a perplexingly awful) logo, what can we do? It's not our fault we were born this way! You never know when a graffiti font or retro font might be just what you need. Or when a project might call for 23 subtle variations on Helvetica. (FYI, our best free fonts for designers post has 56 different fonts at the moment. Just sayin'). Part of being a creative is being open to other types of creativity, not just design. Apparently, non-designers can find this a bit pretentious though. We may not be Cecil Beaton, but we have a good eye for striking visuals (well, duh). Don't hate the player, non-designer friends. These graphic designers have particularly strong Insta game. A bit like the menu thing, designers just can't switch off. If there's bad kerning or dodgy compositing, it will actually haunt our dreams. Maybe. But apparently our loved ones just don't care that much – they just want to watch Stranger Things without analysing its poster first. Moving swiftly on... But ARGH! That Dave is an absolute moron for doing that, how on Earth can he think that copying and pasting into World is a legitimate way of sending photos? What is this, 1995? Those blank stares from your mum are because she secretly thought this was fine, too. We actually don't think this is a problem. After all, beautiful illustrations and designs have long been part of the joy of buying and reading books. Go on, head down to the book store and lust after some more – the new Futura book has a pretty sweet embossed cover. For a more in-depth look at these traits, head over to the Spiralytics website. Related articles: 26 books every graphic designer should read Doodle art: 52 great examples 12 of the best places to live as a designer View the full article

http://www.zdnet.com/article/tpg-hit-with-au360000-fine-for-spamming/ … View the full article

These days, new technologies make it easy to set up a studio anywhere in the UK, and there are plenty of great design agencies outside of London: check out these great Manchester agencies, for example. But it’s a fact of life that some of the world’s biggest design agencies are based in London, attracting some of the brightest talent from towns and cities around the UK. So if you’re about to make the leap to the English capital to work as a designer, here are the 10 commandments that you need to follow. 01. Thou shalt feel like a global citizen Working at a London agency can feel like getting a passport to the global design community. Image: Tuk Tuk DesignThe world is constantly shrinking, and wherever you live in Britain these days, you’re part of a diverse multicultural community, right? Well, that’s what you think. You might feel like the small town you come from is pretty darned globalised, what with its mosque, and two Polish shops, and everything. But London is a whole new ballgame. You’ll hear dozens of different languages and see every nationality under the sun during your daily Tube journey. Your agency will routinely recruit talent from all over the world, irrelevant of race, religion and nationality. Soon, you’ll be feeling like a true global citizen. Your thrill at being at the heart of such an internationalised world will be tempered only by one thing: your guilt at being a monoglot, among people who effortlessly switch between multiple languages mid-sentence. Damn the UK education system, you’ll cry (if you're from elsewhere in the UK), and possibly enrol in Spanish evening classes for a couple of weeks, before getting distracted by something else. 02. Thou shalt attend creative events (and feel smug) Stroll over to London events and meet your creative heroesThere are tons of creative events happening all the time in London, and it’s wise to take advantage. That’s partly because, like most London designers, you’ll only be able to afford a poky flat, so any excuse to get out and about will become much more appealing. But it’s also because you’ll recognise the incredible array of opportunities to meet your creative heroes and inspirations, face to face, as equals. Most importantly, anyone attending the same events from elsewhere in the UK will have spent a sleepless night in an overpriced Travelodge, or will have woken up extremely early. So when you wander in casually, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, you’ll be entitled to feel just that tiny bit smug. 03. Thou shalt quickly get bored of famous people It won’t be long before you’re totally over meeting celebrities. Image: fvoellmerMeeting your creative heroes in person is one of the best things about being part of London’s creative scene. And at first, it’s also quite a thrill to run into, or even just glimpse, the wider world of celebrity. Hey, look, David Dimbleby’s in the office chatting to the creative director. Wow, isn’t that Fearne Cotton over there buying a smoothie? Gosh, that guy from Mock The Week just asked if I knew the way to Starbucks. Pretty soon, though, you’ll realise that celebs are always popping up in London design studios, and elsewhere too. And you’ll join your fellow designers in realising that, actually, they’re just not that interesting. 04. Thou shalt be liberal (or convincingly fake it) If you’re passionately pro-UKIP, you might want to keep it under wraps at work. Credit: Christian PackeniusIn general, people working in any creative industry tend to be left of centre when it comes to social and political issues. But the London design agency scene seems to take this to new heights. It is, to be blunt, quite overwhelmingly liberal. None of this is ever made explicit, of course. Nobody ever sits you down with a rulebook telling you exactly what you’re allowed to think on everything from gay marriage to drug decriminalisation. But you’ll quickly come to sense what’s going to be an ‘acceptable’ opinion. So even if, say, you think Michael Gove had some pretty good ideas on education, or that Brexit might not be a bad thing in the long run, it’s probably best you keep that to yourself – at work at least. 05. Thou shalt detest the commute Everyone complains about the Underground. Except for those in other cities, who don’t have one and think it’s amazing. Image: Free-PhotosIf there’s one thing that unites designers more than anything else, it’s their frustration with unreasonable clients. Except, that is, in London. Because here something that’s even more guaranteed to bring creatives together is their hatred of the commute. If you’ve never lived in the English capital, you might assume that this is a sign that public transport there is inefficient. In fact, it’s the opposite. Because the buses, taxis, underground and overland trains and river ferries (yes, river ferries!) are generally efficient and reliable, the moment a delay occurs, commuters throw their hands up in horror. In other towns and cities, one service breaking down might mean you’re stuck for hours. In London, however, there’s almost always another route you can take, so the delay to your journey is usually far shorter (albeit more hot and cramped than usual). Just don’t say any of that to a designer who’s turned up 18 minutes late because of signalling problems on the Northern Line. They won’t thank you for it. 06. Thou shalt walk stupidly fast Walking fast is one of the most popular London pastimes. Image: Free-photosWorking at any design agency, you’re always in a race against time to get work done to a deadline. But for some reason when you’re working in a London agency, it just feels that little bit more urgent and more important. So, once you’ve lived in London for a while, you’ll mysteriously find yourself speed-walking to work like a person possessed – even if you left the house on time and your train wasn’t late. And the worst thing? When irritating tourists slow you down with their lazy ambling. You won’t believe they’re SO SLOW. In truth, though, that’s probably the exact speed you used to walk, before London’s insistent pace burrowed its way slyly into your soul. 07. Thou shalt no longer feel special Being surrounded by top-flight talent can be a knock to your self-confidence. Image: GeraltWe’re not saying that London-based design agencies are any better or more professional than others elsewhere. But because there are so many top-flight studios in London, working there can sometimes dampen down some of the self-esteem you had as the ‘big fish in a small pond’ in your home town. It’s not just about other designers, either: it’s also about the other superstars you’ll encounter: the actors, the models, the fashionistas, the writers, the business leaders, whom you’re now much more likely to run into, both in work and socially. The trick is not to be bitter that some people are doing better than you, but to admire and be inspired by them. And to remember above all, that you’re doing what you love, and that as long as you stay on that path, everything else will eventually fall into place. 08. Thou shalt find it easier to explain what you do The number of design job titles may be dazzling, but they need explaining here less than in other placesThe fact that everyone you meet in London seems to work in a creative field does have some upsides, too. And one of those is when it comes to the question ‘What do you do?' Tell people back in your home town that you’re a frontend web designer specialising in UX and service design, or that you’re working at the borderlines between mixed reality and Fintech, and you’ll just get blank stares and furrowed brows. Say the same thing in a hipster pub in Brixton and everyone will nod appreciatively and recognise that you are indeed cool. (Even if they don’t know what you’re on about either, they’ll at least pretend they’ll do.) 09. Thou shalt be exhausted (and a little in denial) Being tired all the time is the price you pay for a big city lifestyle. Image: StocksnapYou’re living the dream, working for a cool agency and living in the greatest city on Earth. So why are you so exhausted? It’s probably because of all the noise and pollution, right? And the London commute, it really takes it out of you. And you’ve been working so hard lately, it really has been manic. Those deadlines have been merciless... So, nothing to do with all those parties, pub meets and boozy launch events you’ve been to this month. Or all that fast food and wine you polished off in front of Netflix between invites. No, of course not. 10. Thou shalt be addicted to London life You may mock the tourists, but you love London just as much as they do. Image: MajomkaYou’ve only been in London for a couple of years, but you already feel like a native. You describe yourself, out loud, as a ‘Londoner’ and actually get away with it (call yourself a ‘Mancunion’ after two years living in Manchester and you might not be so lucky). “At this point in my life, I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else,” you muse sagely to your colleagues. Like Samuel Johnson – another outsider who came to London and became one of its fiercest defenders – you’ve come to truly believe that “When you’re tired of London, you’re tired of life.” Spoiler alert: in a few years time, when your closest friends (who are also mainly outsiders) move out of London and back to their home towns, you might start feeling very differently. Related articles: The 7 best London agency websites of 2017 5 best agency side projects of the year 6 rock-solid ways to improve your graphic design portfolio View the full article

Researchers from MWR Labs used 11 vulnerabilities across six different mobile applications to execute code on a Samsung Galaxy S8 at Mobile Pwn2Own. View the full article

Most designers have experienced issues with getting colours in print to match what's on our screens at some point. After picking the colours in your designs carefully, maybe considering colour theory to influence your colour palette choices, if things don't turn out as expected it can be confusing and frustrating trying to troubleshoot the problem. Thankfully there are a few simple steps you can take to improve your colour matching, thereby reducing the amount of proofing you need to do and embarrassing delays to delivering print to clients. What is colour matching? Colour matching is the process in which you make efforts to ensure that the colours you see on your screen are accurately recreated when your design is printed. The idea is to ensure that particular colours on screen print with the same hue, saturation and brightness, allowing you to make accurate decisions within your design work. Following these eight steps should ensure colour accuracy in your print projects, every time. 01. Optimise your workspace Avoiding monitor glare is a necessary first step, so try viewing your screen at different anglesSome of the most common colour matching problems faced by designers can be solved easily by improving the working space. Avoiding unnecessary glare on the monitor, working in dark or overly bright conditions, and even the angle at which the screen is viewed can all affect colour perception, leading to unexpected results when work is printed. Ensure you're viewing your screen straight-on, as colour isn't faithfully reproduced by many monitors once you move a few degrees off-centre either horizontally or vertically. Take a look at how your office is set up and remove any very bright light sources that might cause reflection or glare on your screen which may affect the way your eyes interpret colour. 02. Use a decent monitor Eizo's ColorEdge CG318-4K is the best monitor you can get There are some limitations to equipment at the cheaper end of the market that will directly impact on your ability to accurately predict print results. Cheap low-end monitors might not reproduce colour accurately across the entire gamut, leading to obvious artefacts and colour-banding in dark areas. Take a look at our buying guide, The best monitors for designers, if you're in the market for a new display. 03. Check your eyesight If your prescription isn't up to date, your colour perception may sufferKeep in mind that if you have an eye prescription, failing to keep this up to date can result in your own personal colour perception being affected. It's common for one eye to be more sensitive to particular colours than the other, and failing to wear glasses when you need them can not only cause eye-strain but also affect your ability to judge contrast, brightness and colour. 04. Calibrate your screen Devices such as the Spyder5ELITE make it easy to achieve consistent colour matchingOnce you've checked your eyes and got your environment up to scratch, the next item to check is that your screen is accurately reproducing colour. The best way to do this is to calibrate your screen. There are lots of ways you can do this, but the easiest is to buy yourself a calibration tool such as the Spyder5ELITE. These devices work by measuring the ambient light in your workspace as well as the light emitted by your screen, adjusting the colour space your monitor works within to compensate for both factors and to reproduce accurate colours. This takes all the guesswork out of calibration and makes the entire operation as simple as clicking a button and following the instructions on screen. If you can't stretch to a dedicated device, some home and office printers offer a built-in calibration tool that prints sheets with blocks of colour and asks you to judge which is closest to a colour shown on screen. The process is repeated until your printer is reproducing accurate results, but note that this will only work with that specific printer. Also read: The best monitor calibrators for designers 05. Work in the right colour space Avoid common colour issues by setting up your system to use specific colour profiles rather than relying on the pre-installed profiles to be suitableYou may have noticed that there are several different colour space profiles installed on your computer. Almost every computer uses sRGB by default, while installing any apps from Adobe will introduce the AdobeRGB colour space, and then you'll have various CMYK colour profiles. By working in the appropriate colour profile for your intended output device, you can save a lot of heartache. Our article on 5 things every creative needs to know about print design explains the difference between RGB and CMYK, among other useful tips. 06. Soft-proof your work Most popular design software has soft-proofing options to allow you to preview your work in a simulated print environment on-screenAs well as printing your work, you can also simulate the printed look in some applications, allowing you to get a semi-accurate idea of how the final printed work will appear. In Photoshop, for example, you can access the proofing options under the View menu. Choose View > Proof Setup and choose from one of the preset options, or if you've got a particular printer in mind you can create a custom profile. This will reflect your choice of printer and paper stock, so don't forget to update the profile when you change your output intentions. Photoshop isn't the only software to offer this option, so check out the online help for your preferred apps and use the proofing tools to get a sense for the final output. 07. Talk to your printer Colour reproduction is affected by the paper stock used, and the printer's mix of the base colours Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and BlackIf you're attempting to reprint something you've previously sent to commercial printers, or to match an existing piece of collateral, it’s really worth speaking to your printers and providing them with a sample of that previous work so they can colour match at their end. This isn't a way of absolving yourself of responsibility to get the colour right in your file, but different technicians have their own preferred mix of base colours, so to ensure accuracy it always pays to provide reference material. This is especially worthwhile if you're doing large runs or especially complex jobs, and reputable printers will have no issue with you providing samples for colour matching, so long as you're spending more than the cost of a few business cards. 08. Use a colour library The Pantone system offers a fixed colour reference to ensure perfect colour reproduction across different media and print runsFor colour-critical applications, such as branding where accurate colour reproduction is essential, consider using a colour library system such as that offered by Pantone. This can feel expensive, especially if you're a sole trader and you've not had cause to buy into the library before: a set of colour-accurate sample chips can cost £100+, and need to be replaced regularly as light causes the colour to fade. The expense is worthwhile, however, when you can show your client the exact colour that their print will use. Plus, a starter kit is more affordable, at under $60/£55. You can also use the approximate CMYK and RGB reference equivalents to accurately pick colours for use in designs without going to the expense of printing a fifth colour. Practically every professional print-orientated application supports Pantone straight out the box, and although there are other libraries out there, Pantone is the best known. Related articles: The essential guide to colour correction How to manage colours in Photoshop The designer's guide to printing a poster View the full article

Serif has launched the latest versions of its award-winning professional desktop apps, Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer. Version 1.6 sees a big performance boost across both apps and the option of a light UI among its headline updates. New features also include brush stabilisation and enhanced document handling. (Scroll down for the full list of updates.) Free bundles New buyers and existing owners of photo-editing app Affinity Photo and vector design app Affinity Designer can also claim a bundle of free creativity-boosting content, from high-res textures and brushes to overlays, icons, buttons and more. Affinity Photo comes with around £105-worth of extras, while Affinity Designer comes with around £60-worth. The offer closes on 16 November, so you’ll need to move quickly – simply follow the prompts in the app to claim the extra goodies. Unlike Adobe, there’s no subscription needed. The Affinity apps cost a one-off purchase price of £48.99 / $49.99 / 54,99€ (subject to regional currency variations), and according to Serif, “the free content alone would cost more than the app, if bought separately.” Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer for Mac are available to buy from the App Store, with full optimisation for macOS High Sierra. Windows users can buy direct from Affinity’s website. Free trials are also available from the website – including for users who have trialled the apps before and were previously unable to download a second trial. New features in the Affinity apps v1.6 update New light user interface option New stroke stabiliser for all pencil and brush tools New "Edit In" integration with Apple Photos (Affinity Photo only) Improved view pan/zoom performance Improved performance with large documents New font chooser dropdown with recents, used fonts and favourites New Glyph browser Align to key items Text frame vertical alignment options Fit frame to text Custom brush wet edges (Affinity Photo only) Outlier stacking mode (Affinity Photo only) Improved Photoshop Plugin support (Affinity Photo only) Improved Live Filters performance (Affinity Photo only) Many PDF export improvements including vector export of multi-stop gradients 360 image roll correction (Affinity Photo only) Numerous bug fixes and other improvements Related articles: Empty listView the full article

Apple Music has launched a clever new visual identity based around a musical note logo. A 30-second advert entitled Anthem was released today, and kicks off the campaign in style. The video sees individual artists from the music streaming service's extensive catalogue being represented as a stylised musical notes, set to a banging backing track. Each musical note style flashes up on the screen for a split second, making for a fun game of 'name that artist' – there's everyone from Lorde and Drake to Sam Smith, Eminem and Fleetwood Mac in there, if you're quick enough to catch them. The playful ad is also an impressive showcase of different design disciplines, including a whole range of techniques and approaches to match each artist, genre or playlist on show. There's illustration, VFX and live action footage, and a whole lot of stellar 3D work (one render looks like it's been made from rainbow plasticine; a bouncy ball note holds for a second and then collapses to the ground). The diverse imagery is tied together with the note motif. A range of design disciplines are featuredSome scenes reference an artist's personal brand – a hirsute pair of quavers flicks its two-tone fringe as an unmistakable Sia; patent thigh-high boots poke through a cutout note as a tribute to St. Vincent. Others integrate the note into existing music videos from past and present chart-toppers: a bubbly note hovers behind Demi Lovato in a clip from Sorry not Sorry; a lit-up note flickers in the background of FKA Twigs' Two Weeks video. Some scenes see the note integrated into existing music videosAlso included are more abstract references to Apple Music's curated playlists, for those who want to discover new artists within their preferred genre. It's a smart way of reflecting the diverse range of different artists and musical styles on offer. The Apple Music service – a rival to Spotify – launched two years ago, and enables customers to stream music or video from an extensive library for a monthly fee. Read more: The top 10 big-brand logos 21 outstanding uses of colour in branding Branding pros share how they nail brand voice View the full article

You're reading Best Websites to Find Design Freebies: The Ultimate Collection, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! Design freebies can save you time recreating assets from scratch. If you search hard enough you can find everything from icon sets to UI kits and free stock photos too. Over the years freebie sites have come & gone. The best have risen to the top and that’s what I’m covering in this post. I’ve organized the […] View the full article

Adobe has teamed up with Fontself to release a diverse range of specially designed colour fonts that show off the full potential of its OpenType-SVG format – and you can download them for free. At last month's Adobe MAX conference, Adobe announced that Illustrator will now support colour fonts, also known as OpenType-SVG fonts. These allow users to design fonts with unique colours, patterns and gradients that aren't available in traditional fonts. Capable of being used in Adobe's design programs including Illustrator or on a website just like ordinary fonts, colour fonts come with colour information built in as standard, to change the way people interact with type. Save 15% on Adobe Creative Cloud nowAdobe's collaboration with Fontself shows the creative community what can be achieved with colour fonts, with the fonts available to download for free this week. Inspired by geometry, nature, textiles and architecture, the offerings were created by five global artists from countries including Germany, Argentina, Denmark and the US. Watch their evolution in the video below. As well as being able to download stunning free fonts, by following #ColourFontWeek on Twitter you'll be able to pick up tips and tricks on how to use colour fonts. Tips so far include how to create your very own colour fonts with Fontself Maker. This extension lets users create fonts in both Illustrator CC and Photoshop CC. Do not adjust your set...If you're after some vibrant and original free fonts (who isn't?) you've got until Sunday 5 November to head over to the Fontself download page. Here you'll be able to grab fonts like New York creative Alex Trochut's MEGAZERO set (above), which is designed to look like a TV set that isn't tuned in properly. It's an inspiring example of what can be achieved with colour fonts, plus you can use it for both personal and commercial projects. There are currently three free fonts to choose from, but be sure to bookmark the download page and check back over the next couple of days to snap up the full set. Related articles: 30 free font resources 56 best free fonts for designers Rainbow flag designer commemorated with free font family View the full article

The HTML <canvas> element is a powerful solution for creating pixel-based graphics on the web using JavaScript, and will allow you to create some remarkable effects with a bit of practice. In this tutorial, we'll take a look at creating a canvas object, drawing simple visuals on it and animating those visuals. 01. Create a page Canvas is fundamentally an HTML element that you place on the page, scale to cover the area you want and can then draw upon. To get started, we need to create a simple page with a canvas object. 02. Scale the canvas To give us plenty of space to play with, we want our canvas to fill the whole screen. We'll also give it a black background so you know it's definitely there. This can actually be a bit tricky to do without ending up with scroll bars or white space. The CSS below should take care of it. 03. Initialise the canvas for use Next we need to add some JavaScript to set up the canvas ready to use. We'll have it hook off a DOMContentLoaded event to ensure the script doesn't try to run before the canvas element is ready. We'll also have it set the canvas resolution to match the area it covers – otherwise the canvas will scale up without increasing resolution, leading to blurry or pixellated graphics. 04. Draw a shape You'll notice that in the last step, we crated something called a ‘context'. This is how drawing on canvas occurs. It's easiest to think of the context as a paintbrush that we can use to draw different lines, arcs and basic shapes. What we can now do is put our context to use by writing a drawCircle function that will create a 360-degree arc – that is, a circle. We do this by telling the context to define an arc, set styles for the border and fill, then rise the fill() and stroke() functions to actually draw the shape (stroke draws the border). 05. Create many circles Great. We have a function that can draw circles. Now we need something to draw. Let's extend the code from step 3 to create an array describing circle objects. It will store each circle's x and y co-ordinates, colour and a direction value. We create this array structure rather than just drawing circles straight away because it will enable us to animate the circles by re-drawing the contents of the array later on. 06. Randomise the colour In the last step, we've used a couple of new functions that haven't been defined yet. Let's start with randomColour(). This will be a utility function that returns a randomised hexadecimal string representing a colour. It's fairly straightforward to implement. 07. Draw the graphics on the page Now we're ready to bring things together by implementing the draw() function. This will do two key things. Firstly, it will clear the canvas using the clearRect() function. This will be important when we come to animate our circles, to avoid drawing the new frame over the top of the old. It will then iterate through the array we constructed and draw each circle on the canvas in succession using our drawCircle function. 08. Animate the shapes If you try it out now, you'll see some static circles painted on the page. But we want to animate them. To do this, we need to extend our draw() function in a couple of ways. Firstly, we'll use the circle.direction value we pushed to the array to calculate changes in x and y position for the circle. Next, we'll use a built-in function called requestAnimationFrame that recursively calls the draw() function. requestAnimationFrame allows the browser to decide when to call the function again, avoiding the need to implement timers to calculate when to draw the next frame. 09. Bounce at the edge of the page There's one thing still missing, though. The circles now just disappear off the edge of the screen. Let's make them bounce back. To do this, we'll add a call to a new function, bounce(circle), within the forEach loop of the draw() function. The bounce function will determine when a circle is at the edge of the screen, and adjust its direction value appropriately. This article originally appeared in Web Designer issue 266. Buy it here. Related articles: Create a digital Etch A Sketch using canvas Everything you need to know about the new Node.js 8 How to export After Effects animations to HTML5 View the full article

https://www.welivesecurity.com/2017/11/01/wordpress-update-now/ … View the full article

http://www.zdnet.com/article/watch-this-motorcycle-riding-robot-is-no-match-for-one-of-the-most-successful-racers-of-all-time/ … View the full article

We're busily gearing up to bring you the best discounts for creatives on Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2017 at Creative Bloq at the moment, but we're still making time to find you great daily deals as well. For today's daily deal, we've got you a great discount on a high-dynamic-range (HDR) photo editing app. If a standard picture is worth a thousand words, just imagine how many books you'll be able to fill when you take your photography to the next level with HDR photo editing app Hydra Pro 4. Get this app for Mac on sale for 50% off the retail price. Hydra Pro 4 makes it easy to pull out the best elements from photos taken at different exposures. You'll be able to easily enhance the details that make a photo stand out no matter where you share it. With HDR editing, you'll be able to capture darks and lights the way they are meant to appear, draw out contrasts and make your photos truly pop. Hydra Pro 4's all-new computation and display architecture is optimised specifically to give you total control over every aspect of your HDR photo editing experience. You can get Hydra Pro 4 on sale for just $24.99 (approx £19). That's a saving of 50% off the retail price for a tool that will make your photos stand out, so grab this deal today. About Creative Bloq Deals This great deal comes courtesy of the Creative Bloq Deals store – a creative marketplace that's dedicated to ensuring you save money on the items that improve your design life. We all like a special offer or two, particularly with creative tools and design assets often being eye-wateringly expensive. That's why the Creative Bloq Deals store is committed to bringing you useful deals, freebies and giveaways on design assets (logos, templates, icons, fonts, vectors and more), tutorials, e-learning, inspirational items, hardware and more. Every day of the working week we feature a new offer, freebie or contest – if you miss one, you can easily find past deals posts on the Deals Staff author page or Offer tag page. Plus, you can get in touch with any feedback at: deals@creativebloq.com. Read more: The 5 best laptops for photo editing How to shoot print work for your portfolio The best cameras for creatives in 2017 View the full article

Bootstrap is a free framework that helps you get responsive web design up and running quickly and easily. With Bootstrap, you can use HTML and CSS templates for web-based content such as forms, buttons, navigation and more. You can also use JavaScript plugins. While there are a number of reasons to use free Bootstrap themes, the biggest are that it's easy to use and has a mobile-first approach. This makes it an excellent choice as the framework for a website builder. But it's not just for beginners; Bootstrap is a great choice for experienced web developers, too. Here's a selection of some of the best free Bootstrap themes out there. 01. Marble Marble is flexible enough for most applicationsMade with portfolios in mind but flexible enough for just about any application, Marble features a fixed left sidebar menu that makes way for an off-canvas menu on mobile devices. And to help show off your work to best effect, it boasts smooth scrolling and eye-catching animations and fade-ins. 02. Lattes If you want cool HTML5 and CSS3 tricks, check out LattesDeveloper-friendly and easily modifiable, Lattes is a clean and elegant Bootstrap HTML template aimed at small businesses, agencies and creatives. Its responsive design ensures that your site will look great on any device, and it incorporates all of the cutting-edge HTML5 and CSS3 elements you want, without the need to write any code. 03. Material Kit Create a website inspired by Google's Material Design systemAll of the interface elements in this great UI kit have been restyled to fit with Google's Material Design system. There are 60 components as well as three fully coded example pages to get you started in this free UI kit. The $79 pro version includes 1000 components, seven plugins and 11 example pages. 04. Elate Smart, modern layoutThis theme gives you a modern one-page layout with subtle hover animations, gradient backgrounds and some slight, sensibly-used parallax scrolling effects. It offers four ready-to-use styles as part of the free package. 05. DashGum – Free Dashboard A visually pleasing and functional dashboardDashGum – Free Dashboard uses a great colour palette, elegant fonts and a smart layout to produce a design that's both visually appealing and functional. A lot of information fits into this dashboard without feeling cluttered, and you get charts, panels, tables, calendars, notifications and more with the free version. 06. Initio Build a company or personal site that gets straight to the pointThis is a fairly classic design for a personal or company portfolio that gets straight to point and delivers a lot of information without requiring a scrolling marathon from the user, including a bold call to action box. 07. Creative This free Bootstrap theme has subtle scrolling animationsThis free, one-page Bootstrap theme has flexible options, including custom button styles. It also includes a full-page image header banner with vertically centred content and subtle scrolling animations, which look fantastic. With rich features and plugins, you can use it as a boilerplate for your next project. 08. Cardio One Page Template Get a fitness-type feel with this free Bootstrap themeAs the name implies, this is another one-page Bootstrap theme that offers a clean yet colourful look. Although this template has a 'gym related theme', it has the potential to work for other industries as well. There's even a live typing effect in the header. 09. Freelancer This free Bootstrap theme does exactly what it says on the tinGreat for freelancers, this one-page Bootstrap theme has a lot of features such as flat icons and fixed top navigation that collapses on scroll. Also, the font choices for this theme are easy on the eyes. 10. Pratt Theme This theme is a nice clean exampleIf you're looking for something simple to use for a landing page or coming soon web space, here's a great template from Carlos Alvarez of BlackTie. Its demo version hosts annotated screengrabs and simple buttons that show off an app product. 11. Magister This free Bootstrap theme is simple with nice transitionsQuite possibly the purest theme on the list, Magister by Sergey Pozhilov offers a beautifully simple design that's ideal for portfolios and coming soon pages. The subtle animation between page changes gives this template a nice touch. 12. Simple Sidebar Get a simple sidebar with the Simple Sidebar themeIf you need a simple sidebar page menu layout, this Bootstrap theme gets the job done. One of the great features of this theme is the off-canvas navigation toggling on smaller screens. 13. SB Admin 2 This template is great for dashboardsAnother admin theme, this one includes sidebars with multi-level dropdowns and active classes. Also included is a Bootstrap chat widget and login page. This template is great for a dashboard site or web app. 14. Studio – One Page Theme This free Bootstrap theme has some neat parallax scrollingAnother one-pager from BlackTie, this free Bootstrap theme features parallax scrolling and uses Font Awesome 4.0.3. With a few modifications, this template can be used for a variety of industries. Contributions: Creative Bloq Staff Related articles: 21 top examples of JavaScript Get started with web accessibility 25 top-class website templates View the full article

In itself, no app can make you creative. But sometimes it can help to give you that nudge you need to release your inner creativity. We’ve all suffered from an impasse that’s prevented us from engaging our grey matter in the way we need to solve a design problem. The following apps promise to help. Of course, everyone’s brain is different and they might not work on you. But they’re all free to download, and quick and easy to set up, so there’s no harm in giving them a go. 01. Brainsparker Use this brainstorming app to spark creative inspirationPlatform: Android, iPad, iPhone, Apple Watch When you’re trying to come up with a new creative solution, a popular brainstorming exercise is to write words on slips of paper, pull them out of a hat at random, relate them to the problem at hand, and see what they spark in your brain. In other words, sometimes you need a bit of randomness to generate the right creative ideas. It might sound stupid but if you keep an open mind, it really can work. Brainsparker is a free app that provides a similar exercise to stretch your creative muscles. The app contains 200 cards containing thought-provoking words and phrases; you simply shake your device to shuffle the pack and produce a new card. The rest, of course, is up to you. Also check out these 10 tools to unlock creativity 02. SimpleMind This mind mapping app will help you connect up your ideas into a coherent wholePlatform: Android, iPad, iPhone, Mac, Windows Sometimes the problem you have is not generating ideas, it’s organising them into something that’s actually going to work. So if you have dozens of chaotic, free-floating ideas that don’t seem to connect up with each other, mind mapping is a technique that can help. At its most basic, a mind map is a diagram linking up different ideas, represented by words and/or images, in a way that helps you make sense of them. There’s often a central idea in the middle and other, related ideas branching out from those, although there are no strict rules: it’s whatever works for you. SimpleMind is a great app for mind mapping on your computer, tablet or phone, and it’s easy to swap your maps from device to device. Cool features include the ability to create an invisible note (so you can add large texts without cluttering your mind map); to add voice memos on iPhone, iPad and Android; and to add video on iPhone and iPad. Also check out these 20 tools to make your team more productive and these 12 useful mind mapping tools for designers 03. TED Talks Get ideas and inspiration from the world’s leading creative mindsPlatform: Android, iPad, iPhone TED (which stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design) is a global set of conferences under the slogan ‘Ideas Worth Spreading’. Attracting some of the most innovative and provocative thought-leaders on the planet, the best TED talks can provide a shot in the arm of refreshed creative inspiration. The free TED app includes hundreds of videos to download to your device, and even has an ‘Inspire Me’ function, which makes it easy to select exactly what kind of inspiration you’re looking for. Check out these 10 essential TED talks for UX designers 04. Coffitivity Stimulate your senses by piping in the coffeeshop atmospherePlatform: Android, iPad, iPhone Coffitivity does one thing and does it well: it recreates the ambient sounds of a cafe. This is based on research showing that such background sounds really do make your brain more creative. We’re not sure of the science here, but we do know many designers who say that they do some of their best work in coffee shops. If that’s you, then brewing your own caffeine drinks at home and using this free app for ambience is certainly going to be cheaper than a day spent in Starbucks. Also check out these 20 top tools for freelancers 05. Unstuck Beat prevarication and creative block with this "in-the-moment digital coach"Platform: Android, iPhone, iPad, web The biggest enemy of creativity is creative block. But that feeling of being stuck and not knowing how to proceed isn’t just limited to design challenges: it’s something that everyone experiences in different ways. Describing itself as "an in-the-moment digital coach", Unstuck is a self-paced course that teaches you to overcome 'stuckness' through provocative questions, targeted tips and action-oriented tools. So if you feel you’re lacking creativity not just momentarily, but constantly, this might be worth spending some time on. Related articles: 10 tools to unlock creativity The 10 best free graphic design courses online Use this trick to get free premium stock images View the full article