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Creative collaborations can push projects in new directions and bring a uniqueness to your work that it wouldn't have had from you alone. Whether you're an agency working with illustrators for branding projects, a digital artist working with others on packaging design, a VFX specialist joining forces with 3D artists or another creative looking to partner up, the benefits are huge. But there’s a fine art to a successful collaboration. Here are our top tips for ensuring your collaborative projects run smoothly and produce the results you (and your client) had hoped for. 01. Settle on an idea first Kristjana S Williams' style was an ideal match for Design Bridge's concept for this festive packaging For starters, it’s important to know when to approach another creative. Rather than beginning a project with a particular partner in mind, come up with the creative idea for the project first. Then, as your idea takes shape, certain creatives are bound to come to mind. This means you can avoid the awkwardness of approaching someone too soon, only to find that your idea or approach has changed and you no longer need them. For example, when working on the Fortnum & Mason Christmas range, our idea at Design Bridge was to conjure the magic and excitement of everyone coming together around the Christmas table for a sumptuous Fortnum’s feast. I’d seen Kristjana S Williams’ work previously on something I’d received through the post and thought, ‘Yes! She’d be great for this.’ Her eclectic style puts a modern twist on traditional woodblock techniques – perfect for expressing both a traditional and contemporary Fortnum’s Christmas. 02. Welcome collaborators into your team Design Bridge brought Rob Bailey on board to work on these limited edition bottles Bringing distinctive individual styles to your work while ensuring the design is absolutely right for the brand is both fun and challenging. It’s a balancing act, calling for constant communication, so you need to treat the creative partner as part of the team and truly work together. We recently collaborated with Rob Bailey on a limited edition Smirnoff project to celebrate British Pride 2017. I’ve loved his work for years and was inspired by his piece Hey Man, which depicts two figures in a warm, loving embrace. Bailey’s style expressed the ‘Choose Love’ message of the project so well. It was a tight turnaround, so we had to work very closely to make sure that we remained true to both his style and the Smirnoff brand, producing work that would look great on the bottles, too. 03. Make the most of each individual's skills Design Bridge worked with Coralie Bickford-Smith to bring this honey packaging to lifeUnderstanding the complementary skills that a designer and an illustrator bring to a project is also crucial to get the best out of a collaboration. We worked with Coralie Bickford-Smith for our Fortnum & Mason honey range. Her intricate book cover designs were perfect for our creative idea of labels inspired by postage stamps from far-flung corners of the world. I did some initial sketches based on her existing work and the practicalities of designing a label, which she then developed. It was a real labour of love, but working with Bickford-Smith was a dream for me as I collect her book covers. I feel lucky to work on such amazing projects where we can bring an idea to life with the help of talented illustrators that I’ve often admired for years. Each project involves a lot of work, but an open, honest and truly collaborative approach ensures the best results every time. This article originally appeared in Computer Arts issue 270. Buy it here or Subscribe here. [Main photo by rawpixel.com on Unsplash] Related articles: How do you judge your success as a designer? Is it better to be a competitive or collaborative designer? The 18 best tools for online collaboration View the full article

We may be busy gearing up to bring you the best discounts for creatives on Black Friday 2017 at Creative Bloq, but that doesn't mean we've neglected our current deals. For today's daily deal, we've got you a great discount on a course to teach you all about how to promote your services on Facebook. There are more than one billion people on Facebook already, and the network is still growing. That’s a lot of people who you can reach easily if you know how to do it. The 2017 Facebook Ads Certification Course will teach you how to do just that, and you can get it on sale now for 88% off the retail price. Thanks to the growing network and powerful targeting tools, Facebook has become an essential part of any marketing campaign. The social network gives you the capability to reach just about anyone, especially those who may be interested in your product or services. The 2017 Facebook Ads Certification Course will teach you how to make the most of Facebook's marketing tools. Work your way through this course and score a certification to prove your skills. You can get the 2017 Facebook Ads Certification Course on sale for 88% off the retail price. That makes your total just $15 (approx £11). It’s a deal that will pay for itself in time as you reach more people and sell more products, so grab it today. The course promises to teach you: The fundamentals of Facebook marketing and advertising To create core, custom, and lookalike audiences How to deploy Facebook’s objective-driven ad campaigns Advanced applications of Facebook ads 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 the Offer tag page. Plus, you can get in touch with any feedback at:deals@creativebloq.com Related articles: Best Mac apps to make you more creative How to make social media work for you The best Black Friday deals 2017 View the full article

Global satellite telecommunications company Inmarsat is warning customers of two critical vulnerabilities that could allow attackers to infiltrate a ship's on-board computer system. View the full article

Save the date! From the makers of 3D Artist, 3D World and ImagineFX comes an exciting, brand-new event – Vertex – for one day only on Tuesday 13 March at Olympia, London. Just like how a vertex connects everything, our event will bring these sister magazines and the CG community together for practical inspiration and a fantastic networking opportunity. This special event assembles experts from every industry and discipline in CG, from games and VFX through to VR, covering character concepting, real-time creation and more. You’ll be able to boost your skills with leading industry artists and learn from the world’s best creative studios no matter which area you specialise in. You’ll get hands-on advice and tips and hear about the newest developments at our top talks, engaging masterclasses and workshops, portfolio review sessions, fascinating evening panel, and unmissable networking event. There’s even a recruitment fair for aspiring and professional artists and an expo area to showcase the latest in technology and software. What’s more, there will be an ‘Ask an Artist’ area to help you troubleshoot your technique woes one-on-one with pro artists. We can’t wait to reveal the amazing speakers we have lined up, so make sure you sign up to our newsletter and keep an eye on our website and social media channels for announcements soon! View the full article

For newcomers to ZBrush, the interface seems very different to other 3D modelling programs, so can be intimidating. If you often find yourself scratching your head and searching the web for training or tutorials on how to accomplish tasks in ZBrush, we're here to help. This image, Metamorphosis of Nyssa, is about the never-ending desire to change who we are, when all the beauty we need is already inside us. This image is inspired by Lois van Baarle, and is deeply influenced by the work of Carlos Ortega Elizalde. Although the final composition was laid out in DAZ Studio to take advantage of the GPU accelerated real-time rendering with photo-realistic results, it also used Cinema 4D for much of the initial modelling, Marvelous Designer for the dress, and ZBrush extensively to refine the details. Just as moving between DAZ Studio and Cinema 4D helps you strike the right balance between detailed modelling and an accurately posed character, moving between DAZ Studio and ZBrush in this case enabled us to adjust the character's hair bit by bit. For greater independent control over the different hair parts, we broke up the hair into several sections, which are all imported into DAZ Studio as separate objects. This way, we could select any hair part we weren't happy with and move it back and forth between DAZ Studio and ZBrush, creating a new morph and making subtle changes until happy. 01. Send objects from DAZ Studio to ZBrush Use the Send to ZBrush option to export from DAZ Studio [Click on the arrows icon to enlarge this image] GoZ (short for GoZBrush) is a dynamic bridge between ZBrush and other 3D packages. With a single click, you can send your object from DAZ Studio to ZBrush for editing. Once you are all done, you can then send it back to DAZ Studio, again with just one click. Select the object you want to adjust on the Scene tab in DAZ Studio. Click File, and then Send to ZBrush. When the GoZ Export Options dialog appears, select Export with Deformations and click Accept. ZBrush will open with a blank canvas. If the LightBox menu appears, you can just click the LightBox button to hide it and get it out of the way. 02. Set up objects in ZBrush Orient your object and bring it fully into view [Click on the arrows icon to enlarge this image] Click and drag on the canvas to add your object. Hold down the Shift key at the same time to snap the object to the correct orientation. Click the Edit button on the tool bar. Note that this is different to Edit on the File menu. Now the object is successfully loaded in ZBrush, click Frame to bring the object to the centre of the canvas and fully into view. 03. Edit the object in ZBrush Use the Move and Move Topological brushes to make adjustments [Click on the arrows icon to enlarge this image] From the Brush menu, use the Move and Move Topological brushes to make any adjustments to my object. Other brushes will work, but keep in mind that drastic changes, especially to the core geometry, may have unintended results back in DAZ Studio. Once done, click on the GoZ button in ZBrush and you'll automatically be taken back to DAZ Studio. 04. Move back into DAZ Studio Back in DAZ Studio, morph your adjustments to taste [Click on the arrows icon to enlarge this image] In DAZ Studio, the GoZ Update Options dialog appears. Choose Update Geometry, select Create Morph, and click Accept. The new morph is now available by clicking the word ZBrush on the Parameters tab. Adjust the Morph slider to your taste. Creating morphs with ZBrush is handy as your adjustments can be as dramatic or a subtle as you want. This article originally appeared in 3D World issue 225. Buy it here. Related articles: The 10 best ZBrush plugins 10 essential ZBrush shortcuts to improve your workflow 30 inspiring examples of 3D art View the full article

Adobe Illustrator CC can sometimes seem like a daunting tool to use if you’re dipping your toe in the graphic design water for the first time. It’s certainly not as forgiving as Photoshop CC – often there is a specific way to achieve a certain task in Illustrator rather than being able to fudge or force your way through it, which is often possible in Photoshop. Get Adobe Creative CloudThe pathfinder panel forms the backbone of all shape building within Illustrator, and once you get your head around this you’ll find it far less daunting. Through the next several steps we’ll run through some essential pathfinder techniques for creating basic graphics and icons, including teardrop shapes, an expand button, a chevron-like pattern, an eye icon and a camera shutter icon. These tips should be useful to both fledgling Ai users and more experienced designers alike. And don't forget, we have 100 amazing Adobe Illustrator tutorials for you on this site, to spark further inspiration and show you how to achieve great designs. 01. Create a simple teardrop shape You can create a teardrop using a circle and a square We'll begin with the basics of the pathfinder tool and how it can be used to create simple shapes from separate drawn vectors. Start by drawing a perfect circle using the ellipse tool by holding shift with 'snap to grid' selected from the view menu. Create the circle to fill four of the larger grid squares and draw a perfect square that fills one of the larger grid squares, as shown above. Select both shapes and use the unite function from the pathfinder to combine both shapes into one vector. Now hit R and rotate the shape to look like a teardrop. 02. Create an expand button Minus a diamond shape from a square to create an expand icon Start by drawing a square, then copy and use the cmd+F shortcut to paste it in place on top of the existing square. Hit R to bring up the rotate tool and rotate the top square by 45 degrees by holding shift. Now with both squares selected, use the 'minus front' pathfinder function to subtract the top square from the bottom one, creating four corner triangles and a simple expand button in the process. 03. Create shapes from strokes Once the stroke is outlined it will function as a shape Use the pen tool with 'Snap to grid' turned on to begin creating some simple vector strokes, in this case a basic arrow shape. Increase the stroke weight to 25 and choose 'Round cap' from the stroke panel. Now holding alt and shift, drag the shape to duplicate it, then hit cmd+D to continue duplicating it a number of times. Select all the shapes and navigate to Object > Path > Outline Stroke. Now the stroke is outlined it will function as a shape, so you can use the pathfinder with other shapes. In the example above we've knocked all the arrows out from a rectangle using the minus function. 04. Create a simple eye icon The area where the two circles overlap will form the eye shape Begin by drawing a perfect circle and then hold alt and shift to drag and duplicate it. The area where the two circles overlap will form the eye shape, so use your judgment here. Next, with both shapes selected use the intersect function to create a shape from the overlapping areas of the circles. Rotate the shape so that it looks like an eye and then use the technique from step 03 to knock out an outlined stroke circle. 05. Create a camera shutter icon Begin by drawing a perfect circle, then add a polygon Now we're going to combine a couple of techniques to create a graphic camera lens icon. Begin by drawing a perfect circle, then draw a polygon using the polygon tool and place it over the top of the circle. With both shapes selected, use the align panel to align the horizontal and vertical centres. Now simply use the minus front pathfinder command to subtract the polygon shape from the circle. Now turn off Snap to grid and horizontal line along the top edge of the pentagon extending beyond the circle bounds. Hit R to bring up the rotate tool and hover over the central grid point of the polygon, hold alt and click. Rotate and duplicate the lines Enter the fraction 360/6, hit the copy button and press OK. Now simply hit cmd+D to duplicate the lines. Repeat the technique shown in step 03 to outline the strokes and then subtract them from the circle to create your camera icon. Read more: The 17 best Adobe Illustrator plugins Create a perfectly geometric logo design in Illustrator 11 places to find logo design inspiration View the full article

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Researchers warn that hackers have weaponized a vulnerability that could be used in an IOTroop (or Reaper) attack, bringing the likelihood of an attack one step closer. View the full article

The web as we know it, is constantly changing and evolving. What we still can remember as a simple and straightforward medium gained another dimension a few years ago, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to stop there either. For a website builder, what was once part of science-fiction movie visual effects is now possible on a tablet lying on your couch, and there are buildings covered in large-scale interactive installations that are actually just fullscreen Google Chrome windows. Follow the steps below to find out how to create a realistic melting effect with three.js. 01. Set up the three.js scene Go ahead and grab the three.js library and include it in your site. You’ll need to instantiate the WebGLRenderer, the Scene and PerspectiveCamera. After these are instantiated, you will need to render the scene on RequestAnimationFrame. 02. Add lighting to the scene Next, lights need to be added to the 3D scene. In this example, two lights will be used: an ambient light and a point light. The ambient light serves as an overall global colour for the scene, while the point light will emit light that diminishes with distance. This will give the scene some contrast. 03. Load the 3D model Now that the scene has been set up, the 3D model needs to be loaded in. The model can be loaded using any supported format (JSON, OBJ, DAE, etc). Below is an example of loading a DAE model. In this example, it’s very important that the model has enough polygons to perform vertex modifications. The deer skull that’s being used in this example has 3,500 polys. If the poly count is too low, the vertex animations will be too explicit and distorted. 04. Add a bump map Bump maps are perfect for adding depth to your textures at a low cost. Once you’ve created your bump map image, you can implement it by simply applying it to the material like below. Also, you’ll need to adjust the scale of your bump map to fit the scale of your model. 05. Use the vertex animator Throughout his site, Johnny utilises a game extension by Jerome Etienne for three.js that makes it easier to do vertex animations. This extension allows easy access to each vertex of a model at the frame rate, making it straightforward to manipulate vertices using waveforms. The Vertex Animation extension is available via Etienne’s GitHub. We’ll go further into how it’s used in the next steps. Users can interact with the 3D model and view from multiple angles06. Start melting Melting a piece of geometry involves a few overall steps. First, each point is continuously pushed downwards. When a point reaches the ground, it’s pushed outwards using what we’ll call a ‘push vector’. Next, we’ll give the points that gather along the bottom a thickness so the melted geometry isn’t completely flat. In order to achieve this, Johnny has ported code from Skeel Lee’s VFX shader in Houdini and modified it. 07. Start moving the vertices downwards Below is an example usage of using the vertex animator to continuously push a model’s geometry towards the ground. This will push points down at the rate defined by the meltAmount. Remember to also call ‘update’ on your vertex animation in the render cycle. 08. Determine the push vector When a point has reached the ground, it needs to be pushed outwards to achieve a melt effect. The code below is determining which direction in the X and Z axes to push the vertex so that you get a uniform displacement. The conditional ensures that only points that have reached the lowest bounds of the model (the ground) are pushed outwards. 09. Make the melt feel natural The code below uses noise to create randomness in the movement so the melt feels organic. The noise variables can be tweaked to get the effect desired. The noise is then applied to the push vector along with meltAmount and spreadAmount to control the rate and size of the melted pool. This outward vector is finally calculated and then applied to the vertex itself. 10. Give the melted pool thickness The code explained so far will achieve the melt effect, but two things are wrong with it. First, the pool will feel quite flat, because all of the points have melted to the same Y position. Secondly, since they all share the same Y, too many points will be stacked at the same height, which can cause flickering. To avoid this, a thickness is applied at the melt rate: 11. Try it out on other models With the code above, any model with enough polygons can be melted. Download a zip file out the code here and swap out the model with anything you’d like. Have fun! This article originally appeared in Web Designer issue 265. Buy it here. Related articles: Create interactive 3D visuals with three.js The best colour tools for web designers Beware the cutting edge of web design View the full article

Gone are the days when you needed to spend tens of thousands of pounds to buy a camera that can produce professional-standard images – the quality of affordable digital camera kit is now so high that a purchase of between £500 and £4,000 will be more than enough to make your work sing. But that doesn't make it any easier to choose between the models crowding the digital camera market. A top-of-the-range DSLR may seem like a tempting option, but they're bigger than other models and are so brimming with features that they can seem complicated and intimidating to use. If you’re having to think about menus and settings, you won’t be concentrating on more important aspects of composition and lighting. The best cheap camera around may be more than adequate for your needs, while saving you a couple of thousand quid. But if you don't budget enough, you may miss out on vital functions to your vocation such as 4K video or robust casing. Below you'll see our pick of nine fantastic cameras, including DSLRs, cheap compacts, cameras capable of 4K footage and the best phone camera money can buy. Whatever your need it for, whatever your budget, we're confident you'll find the best digital camera from the rundown below with the best prices – whether you're shopping on Black Friday or not. Quite simply, this is the best camera money can buy right now. A quick look at the Nikon D850's specs will tell you why – 45.4MP full-frame sensor, 153-point AF system, 9fps burst shooting speed. The result is a remarkable DSLR that captures absolutely sensational images. There's one significant setback though... the price tag! That said, if you were planning to buy two cameras – one for stills and one for 4K video shoots – the D850 kills both of those birds with one stone. If your budget stretches this far, you've just found the best digital camera overall to buy! Read our sister site TechRadar's Nikon D850 review Yes, you are reading that correctly: the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV has a monumental 30.4MP sensor. Although a high megapixel count isn't the only measure to go by, it's a good start and this Canon DSLR backs it up with an advanced 61-point AF system and 7fps burst shooting. It can take 4K video and has all the features and outputs you'd expect of a market-leading DSLR, but it's the pure image quality that really strikes a chord. If you need to print out examples of your work, you should have no problems producing richly detailed prints at Super A3, while A2 prints are possible, too. Read TechRadar's Canon EOS 5D Mark IV review It's difficult to quite understand how Nikon can make the delightful D3400 so affordable. It certainly doesn't want for image quality, featuring a 24.2MP sensor with a keen eye for detail and full-HD video recording. It adds bluetooth connectivity to its predecessor (another excellent cheap DSLR, the Nikon D3300) and we particularly admire the way its Guide Mode walks you through the camera's oodles of features. A brilliant camera on a budget. Read TechRadar's Nikon D3400 review We often detect a lot of snobbery around compact cameras. It's often simply because they don't look as stylish as DSLRs. But they're a lot more convenient and easy to cart around – not to mention cheaper – than their chunky brethren. So do consider the fantastic Panasonic ZS100 (called the TZ100 if you're living outside the US), which we think is the best compact camera on the market. It still squeezes in a 1-inch 20.1MP sensor, which equates to image quality that's just as good as many mid-range DSLRs can manage. And, frankly, the electronic viewfinder is a lot easier to use than optical where you need to compose your shots quickly. Read TechRadar's Panasonic Lumix ZS100 review / TZ100 review Users of the Sony Cyber-shot WX220 are never going to win throngs of photography awards, but if you need a handy, affordable snapper that produces better images than your phone, then we think this is the best cheap camera out there. For a camera that's quite affordable, you'll be impressed by the 18.2MP sensor, 10x optical zoom and 25-250mm lens. Images are bright and punchy, with decent detail – ideal for sharing online or printing at typical sizes – while it's nice to see Wi-Fi connectivity included as well. Read Techradar's Sony Cyber-shot WX220 review OK movie-makers: time to start paying attention. The Panasonic Lumix GH5 is the camera you need in your life if you want to shoot 4K film, but can't stretch to a full-on video rig. Let's get geeky: the GH5 allows you to shoot Cinema 4K (4096 x 2160) at 60p with a bit rate of 150Mbps with colour subsampling at 4:2:2 and a colour depth of 10-bit – that means beautifully rich graduations and colour information on screen. And because the camera uses the entire width of the chip, framing won't be cropped when you come to upload your footage. The video spec on the GH5 is comprehensive to say the least! Read TechRadar's Panasonic Lumix GH5 review Like the sound of the GH5 but can't stretch to that budget? Well we recommend that you stick to Panasonic Lumix family, but pick up the much more affordable G85 (named the G80 outside the US) instead. It's jam-packed with much of the latest technology, without the eye-watering price tag. If you know your cameras, then you'll know that the likes of live cropping, zebra patterning and focus peaking are all useful additions to a video camera, while the richly detailed stills it takes will appeal to anybody who wants a capable all-rounder, so don't be too put off by that measly sounding 16Mp sensor. Read TechRadar's Panasonic Lumix G85 review / G80 review The EOS Rebel T7i (known as the EOS 800D outside the US) sits at the top of Canon's entry-level EOS DSLR range. It's the ideal purchase if you want an affordable camera that's still got enough features to throw you in to photography. For starters, you can have confidence in the mighty 24.2MP sensor, which is ably supported by excellent autofocus with a 45-point arrangement. The real boon for beginners is the splendidly designed graphical interface that makes navigating the Rebel T7i and making the most of its bountiful features a doddle. It won't take long before you're snapping like a pro! Read TechRadar's Canon EOS Rebel T7i review / Canon EOS 800D review If you're in the market for a new phone and need a handset that's great for instantly sharing your work and videos, then make sure you consider the new Google Pixel 2. An excellent mobile in its own right, it's also just taken the crown of the best camera smartphone you can buy. The 12.2Mp camera is the best part of the Pixel 2 experience. Images are consistently in focus and true-to-life while still looking vibrant, whether that's in normal conditions or in dim light. We love the portrait mode and the 240fps slow motion mode is a nice touch, too. This is currently the best in class camera phone. Read TechRadar's Google Pixel 2 review View the full article

When I received my first tarot deck, I was enchanted by the beautiful artwork and the stories that accompanied every card. It became a source of inspiration for me, and I started creating my own deck: the Blood Moon Tarot. The concept attached to each card is an integral part of the tarot. I find that many decks stick close to the imagery found in the familiar Waite-Smith Tarot, but for my own deck I wanted to explore the meaning of each card, relate the meaning to my own experiences, and then use my experience to create my own symbols and a unique view of the card. 18 watercolour techniques every artist should knowFor this workshop I'll be painting The Emperor. I'll walk you through the steps I take to create the card art. Tarot decks can vary in size; for my own I chose to stick with typical tarot card dimensions – about 3x5 inches. Though I primarily work in watercolour, you'll see that sometimes I incorporate acryla-gouache, ink and crayons. Each card is a new problem to solve, and by staying open to a variety of solutions I've discovered new mediums and painting techniques during the creation of the deck. 01. Decide on the concept Brainstorm some ideas and come up with some concept sketchesEach tarot card has a specific meaning, so my first step is to research interpretations of the card, brainstorm my own ideas and connections to the concept, and create thumbnail sketches. For the Emperor I ended up relating my personal ideas of foundation and protection to oak trees in the forest. He's a solid oak tree growing in the forest: difficult to sway, impossible to move, but a fortress for thousands of creatures that he shelters with strong limbs and tough bark. Each year when autumn turns he lays plans for other leafy strongholds and tucks them away beneath the shells of many acorns. 02. Start with pencil drawing Experiment with your sketches until it starts to feel rightDrawing is a chaotic process for me. I like to keep my sketches messy and loose at first because it gives me a chance to find visual solutions that I may not have initially thought of. I begin with a pencil sketch, which I draw over digitally, then print out and draw over with layers of vellum until I'm satisfied. 03. Prepare value and colour studies Value and colour studies save you having to correct mistakes laterI work primarily in watercolour. Because it's a difficult medium to correct mistakes in, I prepare with colour and value studies. Studies will help me decide on a colour palette, and I can reference my studies during the painting process so I don't deviate too far from my planned intentions for the image. 04. Transfer the drawing Scan your final drawing, print it out then go over the linesWhen I'm ready to start painting, I scan the final drawing and print it out on hotpress watercolour paper. Before I do anything else, I go over the printed linework with pencil, adding more weight to important lines and insuring the image will remain if the printer ink fades. 05. Stretch your watercolour paper Soak the paper and stick it to your boardI soak the paper with water and adhere it to a board using Kraft paper tape, which has water-activated glue on one side of it. I leave space around the drawing because I'll have to cut that tape off later. When the paper is dry I put painter's tape around the drawing, so the illustration will have clean edges. 06. Choose two colours for the underpainting Underpaint the parts of your page that will be darkerNow that the paper is stretched, I thoroughly wet it and chose one or two colours for the underpainting. These first washes are very light and I use them to tone down the white of the page in areas that will have a darker overall value. In lighter areas, such as the buildings and acorn, I keep the paper's white. 07. Make use of liquid frisket Mask out the white areas with liquid frisketOccasionally I use masking fluid when I have a lot of small areas where I want to retain the white of the paper. I make sure the paper is dry before I do this, and I use a tool that will enable me to cover the little details with the fluid. 08. Work wet on wet Spray water on your damp paint to create interesting texturesBefore starting my washes, I wet the paper again. I add many loose layers of paint with a wet brush (wet on wet technique) and I create interesting texture by spraying the damp paint with water. In this step the trees and the leaves start to take shape, but I don't get too detailed. 09. Tackle the details Use a wet brush on dry paper to paint in the detailsHere I use a wet brush on dry paper, layering transparent washes. I add detail to the buildings in the city, the trees and leaves, the Emperor's face and the brooch. I don't go into fine details just yet, but I get it to a point where I feel like the linework needs to be defined. 10. Remove the frisket Wait until your paint's dry before you remove the frisketAgain I wait for the paint to dry completely. I then use an eraser to gently remove the frisket. I don't like to use my fingers to peel it off because I don't want to rub dirt or oils from my hands onto the paper, and it's easier to remove the small spots with an eraser. 11. Ink the lines Ink in the lines if you feel they're getting lostWhen I feel like the linework is getting lost I make a half-and-half mix of sepia and black waterproof ink. I use a very small brush to darken the lines, especially on the face, hands and other delicate details. If I want my lines to be even darker, I'll add more black ink to the mixture. 12. Dry brush details With a dry brush technique you can bring some energy to your paintingFrom here I add energetic lines with my smallest brush using a dry brush technique, which I like because it feels similar to drawing. I add lines around the roots of the city and the acorn – I want it to feel like there's light and life flowing around that area, while other areas in the painting are more stable and still. 13. Add acryla-gouache highlights Add highlights with acryla-gouache and a jelly roll penI use acryla-gouache and a jelly roll pen to bring in highlights on the skin, city and acorn. I also flick the brush to create a small splatter effect with the paint. This looks like dust in the light, and I use the jelly roll pen to make smaller white speckles as well – closer to the acorn and window light. 14. Take a break Step away from your work for a bit so you can come back and see what needs fixingI take a break from the painting and give my eyes a rest. When I return it's easier to spot where adjustments are needed. Acryla-gouache is my go-to for fixing anything that I can't fix with watercolour. I also add light texture by gently using a water-soluble crayon so that it catches on the tooth of the paper. 15. Finish with digital tweaks And you're done!When I'm finished the painting, I remove the white tape and cut away the brown tape with a pair of scissors. To avoid any noise and make it easier to digitally remove dust, I scan the painting at 1,200dpi and make very small adjustments to the colour and value, resize the image, and then I'm done. This article originally appeared in ImagineFX issue 151; buy it here! Related articles: 14 wet-in-wet watercolour painting techniques How to paint magical glowing runes Choose the right paper for your watercolour painting View the full article

We’re excited this month by the announcement of InVision Studio – a screen design tool done the InVision way – which you can sign up to access ahead of general release. Also important is the Web Share API in Chrome 61, Rachel Andrew’s new book, and a new version of Sublime Text. Read on to find out more about these, as well as the usual roundup of useful things to make your life easier. 01. The New CSS Layout Expert advice from web pro Rachel AndrewThis new book by Rachel Andrew is a treat; she's an invited expert to the CSS Working Group, so when you learn from her you can be sure you're getting the best information. A great way to get your head around Grid if you haven't done so already (read her guide to CSS Grid basics). 02. InVision Studio We can't wait to get a look at this new design environmentInVision has built a screen design tool! But it's more than that; it's a 'unified digital product design environment', designed to enable your team to collaborate more effectively. There's a special layout engine to make your designs responsive, an open platform so that users can create add-ons, and much more. It's not out yet, but you can sign up for early access on the site. 03. The Web Share API Mark Muskardin's post demonstrates what the Web Share API can doThe Web Share API is now working in Chrome 61 for Android, which means you can invoke the native sharing capabilities that would previously only be available in native applications. So your users can send something to Dropbox, Slack, Facebook or via email with a couple of taps, instead of having to use copy and paste. This is cool and important because it means we're seeing better integration between the web and mobile devices. Mark Muskardin has a good write up here. 04. Pageclip Make an HTML form the easy way with PageclipPageclip is a server for your HTML forms; use it to place a hosted form anywhere you can put an HTML form or run JavaScript. Results can be received via CSV, email or JSON, and for a single form with up to 1000 submissions, it's free. Use it to capture emails for a newsletter, collect leads for a new product, or setup a contact form for visitors to your site. 05. Essential Image Optimisation Get the low-down on image optimisation from Addy OsmaniIf you can't be bothered to read a whole ebook on this topic, the author, Addy Osmani, has prepared a handy TL;DR to save you time. It states that we should all be compressing our images efficiently, that compression should be automated, and outlines some of the best tools for the job. This is good advice. The ebook itself is concise and interesting – you'll find out how to reduce page bloat and increase conversions with fast-loading, sharp-looking images. For more advice, take a look at our 10 ways to optimise images for better performance. 06. The Startup Way Business advice from Eris RiesThis new book by the author of The Lean Startup is about how any company – even large, established ones – can use the entrepreneurial principles of a startup to improve efficiency, drive growth and modernise. Author Eric outlines a comprehensive framework for entrepreneurial management that business owners can use to drive sustained growth in today's uncertain climate. There are also case studies, insights and tools to help you on your way. 07. URL to PDF Microservice API Convert the target of any URL to a PDFThis API converts any HTML content into PDFs, and you can set it to operate automatically at regular intervals. It's easily deployed to Heroku and has features that even most of the paid-for options lack. 08. doitlive Take the pain out of live presentations in the terminalThis is clever: doitlive is a tool for when you have to do live presentations in the terminal. Typing commands in front of an audience is tricky, and you don't actually want to execute them. doitlive is a kind of demo environment – it reads commands from a file that you've prepared in advance and plays them out in a fake terminal. To make this happen, you just type random characters so it seems like you're live coding! 09. Sublime Text 3.0 Sublime Text is now even more sublimeThe new version of Sublime Text came out this month, and the team have made everything even better. There's a new syntax highlighting engine, automatic indentation is improved, there's a new user interface theme and the whole thing runs faster. There are so many little improvements and together they add up to a faster, smarter way of working. 10. Bubbly-bg Animated bubble backgroundsThis fun and simple tool enables you to create great-looking, configurable, animated backgrounds. A cool little utility that's just 696 bytes gzipped. Related articles: 18 great web design podcasts 12 common JavaScript questions answered Create interactive 3D visuals with three.js View the full article

There's a reason people of all skill levels love WordPress. The platform is malleable and easy to customise – you just need to have the right tools to make your site look good. Give your site the professional look it deserves with a lifetime subscription to Theme Junkie. You can get unlimited access on sale for just $24.99 (approx £19). When you're building your website, you won't find a better platform for it than WordPress. No matter what you want to do with your site, you can make it happen with the help of themes designed by the experts at Theme Junkie. Grab a lifetime subscription and You'll find more than 50 beautifully crafted and totally responsive WordPress themes – with more being added all the time. Get highly optimised themes that can be customised to your heart's content. You can get a lifetime subscription to Theme Junkie’s stash of incredible WordPress themes on sale for only $24.99 (approx £19). That's a savings of 74% off for a lifetime of access to themes that will make your website 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. Related articles: 25 brilliant WordPress tutorials 10 great WordPress plugins for designers 22 great examples of WordPress websites View the full article

As a creative it can be difficult to settle on the best tattoo for you – you want something cool that reflects your personality as well as your taste in design (take a look at our post on top designers and their awesome tattoos to see how others decided on their body ink). For those of you thinking of taking the plunge, we've rounded up some of the best tattoo art from around the world. These are the tattoo artists really pushing the artform to its limits. Or if you're after something more subtle, see our 70 best tattoo designs. 01. Frank Carrilho Carriho's linework works with the body to create bold yet delicate designsFrank Carrilho's 'chaotic blackwork' might sound messy, but it's anything but. Every single line works with the image to create a unique sense of movement, and build up a sense of three dimensionality. The Canadian artist doesn't need even a hint of colour to produce realistic artwork that's full of impact. 02. Mr K Mr K's intricate works are nothing short of masterpiecesSanghyuk Ko – or Mr K as he is more often known – is a Korean-born tattoo artist currently based in NYC. His intricate linework is nothing short of bewitching, as he manages to create the same depth and shade as with a soft B pencil. His hypnotic art retains a sketchy, delicate quality without sacrificing detail. It's no wonder they cost a pretty penny! 03. Liz Clements Quirky doll-like portraits are Clements' specialityBrighton-based illustrator Liz Clements creates the most impressive, unique pastel-pretty illustrations of women – And she as handy with a tattoo gun as she is with a pencil and ink. If you're not so sure about going under the gun, you can pick up a print version of one of her gorgeous portraits on her online shop . 04. Johnny Gloom Gloom was studying advertising before she took the plunge into tattoo artParis-based inker Johnny Gloom is in fact a female tattoo artist who was quick to carve her niche in the male-dominated industry. Her powerful, dark, film-noir styled fetish line drawings prove simplicity is by no means substandard – in fact less can be more. Love, hate, violence and passion are the things that make Gloom tick, as is clear in her dramatic tattoo art. 05. Michael Taguet Taguet's portrait in tribute to late Linkin Park frontman Chester BenningtonFrench tattooist, Michael Taguet is a master in photorealism. Featured in the print edition of tattoo artist directory L’Annuaire des Tatoueurs Français, it's easy to see why Taguet is so sought after. His detailed colour portraits could be mistaken for photography, but it's come after a long road of hard work and trial and error. Taguet has been tattooing for over eight years, trying out all sorts of different techniques before finding his niche – but it was clearly well worth the wait. 06. Matt Hunt Matt Hunt likes to mix up nature, geometry and watercolourThe co-owner of Modern Body Art in Birmingham since 1999, Matt Hunt has been tattooing full-time for the last 10 years. He enjoys tattooing in a graphic style, creating striking imagery that mixes up elements from nature with abstract geometry and soft watercolour backgrounds. 07. G.NO G.NO's delicate botanicals have won her plenty of admirersFloral designs are something of a specialty of G.NO's. This picture-perfect rose tattoo art is a good example of her signature style – although she also dabbles in expressive watercolour tattoos. G.NO is at Tattoo People in Toronto, and her work is so popular you'll be lucky to bag an appointment. 08. Lewisink Geometric tattoos are one of the oldest forms of body art and Lewisink believes they age bestLewisink fell in love with geometric art whilst studying graphic design. However, even after seven years of study, he never pictured himself as a graphic designer. Learning through computers gave him the opportunity to create more complex patterns and geometric shapes than he could attempt by hand, leading him to transfer this style into tattooing. The Paris-based artist says his preference is dot work as he is interested in the texture and believes they age best on skin (we'll take his word for it!). 09. Jun Cha Jun Cha's classically-inspired ink has an incredible depth to itBased in Los Angeles and booked solid until the end of 2018, Jun Cha specialises in fine-line black and grey tattoos inspired by classical sculpture and Renaissance art, with the most amazing sense of depth and solidity to them. He won't take on any old client; each inquiry is carefully considered, and only those who share the values of his studio, understand his process and are committed for the long term will be accepted. 10. John 'Yogi' Barrett Mixing photorealism with punchy graphics, Yogi Barrett's tattoos are a joy to beholdA versatile tattoo artists comfortable with most styles, John Barrett is at his best when he's mixing up photorealism – at which he's an absolute dab hand – with more traditional graphic elements. He's currently a travelling tattoo artist based in Georgia. 11. Giuseppe Orrù Orrù's designs reflect his love of cyberpunkLondon-based tattoo artist Giuseppe Orrù works under the studio name Black Circle. His love of all things cyberpunk is clear from his signature designs, which transform clients' bodies into cyborgs. You'll need some strong nerves to get tattooed by this man though – his work typically features large areas of black. Ouch. 12. Aleksandras Kuznecovas Kuznecovas specialises in gory designsCurrently based at Stigma Studios in London, Aleksandras Kuznecovas has a particular talent for horror tattoo art. His Instagram page showcases everything from bleeding eyeballs to zombie nuns. He mostly favours black and white designs, although blood red also makes an appearance, for obvious reasons. 13. Kim Rense Rense's tattoos are often inspired by folkloreKim Rense is a tattoo artist based in The Hague, Netherlands. His designs look almost like traditional book illustrations, but have been given a modern edge thanks to the interesting subject matter. Rense's black and white efforts are often inspired by fairy tales and folklore, and her attention to detail is a real winner here. 14. Sam Ricketts Ricketts' style flourishes over a range of designsSteadily gaining Instagram followers, Sam Ricketts is a Swindon-based artist whose colourful creations have earned him plenty of fans. From full body pieces to smaller, palm-sized executions, his unique style is shines through. He Ricketts also has an online print store, for those who aren't ready to get inked just yet. 15. Charlie's Ink Charlie enjoys helping translate the ideas in her clients' heads onto their skinCharlie studied art and design at university, but struggled to settle on one medium or style. A family friend mentioned there was an apprenticeship going at a local tattoo studio, and the rest is history. She's currently based at Ten Tonne Purley in south east London, and exploring dotwork tattoos. "I find that some clients struggle getting the idea in their head put to paper, so I work with them closely to get the best possible result," she says on her website. 16. JonBoy JonBoy has tattooed a whole bunch of celebritiesWhen it comes to simplicity, JonBoy is king. Based in New York City, he's tattooed the likes of the Kardashians. Whilst his work mostly consists of blink-and-you'll-miss-them quotes and simple linework, it's easy to see why celebs are flocking to his studio. Take a look at his Instagram page for a whole host of tiny but beautifully rendered tattoos, from constellations to lightning bolts, ghosts and letters (plus some far-from-tacky Chinese symbols). 17. Kenji Alucky Alucky's super-sized geometric designs make a real statementTattoo artist Kenji Alucky specialises in large-scale geometric designs. He runs his own tattoo studio in Amsterdam called Black Ink Power. Alucky doesn't do things by halves – his intricate, symmetrical designs often covers entire limbs. 18. Hannah Keuls Keuls' work look like it has been painted onHannah Keuls works at Good Times Tattoo in Shoreditch, London. She has a unique, sketchy style that features swooping curves and feathery linework, and much of her tattoo art looks more like it has been painted onto her clients' skin with a brush and ink than with a tattoo gun. 19. Dmitriy Samohin Incredibly, Samohin is completely self-taughtHailing from Odessa, Ukraine, Dmitriy Samohin is a master of bold, realistic pieces with incredibly intricate detail and vibrant colour. A self-taught artist, he's been in the business for more than 10 years and his workshops are much sought-after at tattoo conventions. 20. Jean Le Roux Jean Le Roux takes an original approach to animal and portrait tattoosJean Le Roux has an original illustration style that's generally focused on stylised animals and portraits. He graduated as a graphic designer and followed his passion into illustration, which led to an apprenticeship at a tattoo parlour. As well as tattooing at Black Garden Tattoo in London, he also runs The Tallon – a shop that sells clothing and bags adorned with tattoo-style designs. Next page: more inspirational examples of tattoo art... 21. Gakkin Gakkin's work mashes up traditional styles with modern influencesGakkin, who works at Harizanmai tattoo studio in Kyoto, takes a new approach to traditional Japanese themes, strongly influenced by manga, graffiti and graphic design. But although his tattoos are definitely 21st-century, Gakkins still follows many of the traditional rules of Japanese tattoo art, such as: 'Never put momiji [message dolls] and sakura [cherry blossom] in the same drawing', and 'Tigers should always go with bamboo'. While the background of this design is reminiscent of traditional Japanese prints, the colourful maple and the steaks of bright red on the koi makes it stand out as strikingly modern. 22. David Hale David Hale's beautiful tattoo work is on a par with his outstanding illustrationsDavid Hale is an artist living in Athens, Georgia, where he runs design and tattoo studio Love Hawk. This is just one of his incredible pieces of tattoo art. His work typically uses only black and red ink, and he favours designs the combine geometric simplicity and a natural world subject matter. 23. Jason Donahue Jason Donahue's work has a traditional tattoo art vibeArtist Jason Donahue works at Liberty Tattoo in Seattle. His work often features Native American themes. His minimal use of colour is both subtle and striking, and his style looks great on both smaller hand pieces and larger coverings. 24. David Corden Corden's portraits are uncannily realisticWhen it comes to realistic portraits, there's no one better than UK artist David Corden. He's inked tattoo versions of everyone from Sean Connery and Harrison Ford to Eminem and er... Keith Lemon. Despite getting a 'U' in A-Level art (he was told that his work looked so much like a photo, he may as well have handed in a photo) and spending 15 years working as a ventilation engineer, he eventually followed his true calling in tattoo art. 25. Genko Genko gives traditional Japanese tattoo designs a modern lookGenko is known for putting modern spin on traditional Japanese tattoo art, although he insists that 'his style is having no style'. His portfolio of work takes in tribal, new school and greyscale tattoo designs. He's based in Japan and has won multiple awards for his work. 26. Adriaan Machete How about a zombie apocalypse? On your legNot only is this artist a sublime master of his craft, he also has a very cool name. Adriaan Machete is the kind of name you expect from a tattoo artist. Check out this awesome, if gruesome, leg design: vibrant turquoise against pink with clever line work make the characters pop. 27. Peter Aurisch Peter Aurisch's tattoo art takes inspiration from cubismThis design from Peter Aurisch is a great example of the artist's painterly, cubism-inspired style. His colourful, abstract works have put him in high demand as a tattoo artist. Aurisch is currently based in Berlin. 28. Shige Shige creates full-body masterpiecesShige is a self-taught tattooist based in Yokohama, Japan, and the founder of Yellow Blaze Tattoo. While the basis of his work is Japanese history and traditional culture, Shige has created his own original style, which he describes as a never-ending work in progress. His large-scale works are truly breathtaking. 29. Peter Lagergren Bizarre yet brilliantly executedWe love Peter Lagergren's work purely because it's so bizarre. The Swedish tattoo artist is currently working at Malmö Classic Tattooing, and specialises in acid-bright, trippy images of animals and monsters. 30. Ed Perdomo The expression, shading and unique colour palette are all typical of Ed Perdomo's workEd Perdomo is a tattoo artist from Columbia who now resides in Goteborg, Sweden – although he loves to travel, so he might not be sticking around for long. "I only do custom, love colours and big spaces... my work is optimistic and a bit crazy," he says. 31. Tim Senecal Tim Senecal favours bright, bold, freehand designsTim Senecal has been tattooing since 2001, and is known for his big, bright, bold, freehand designs. He's currently looking to evolve his style: "I am interested in hearing ideas which may have me explore outside what you have seen from me," he says on his site. "I will be accepting all projects that catch my interest, and none that do not." 32. Anthony Romero Tattoo artist Anthony Romero is a masterful craftsmanAlso known as The Man With the Neck Tattoo, Anthony Romero is a dab hand at recreating haunting black and white portraits on his clients' skin – he's inked tattoo versions of everyone from John Lennon to Yoga. He also has a bit of a thing for horror – as you can see in the design shown above. 33. Ondřej Konupčík Ondřej Konupčík's is a master of the watercolour tattoo styleWho says ink has to be well-defined and crisp? Well not Czech tattoo artist Ondřej Konupčík, that's for sure. He studied fashion before moving into tattoo art, and building up an international reputation as a master of the now super-popular watercolour tattoo style. As well as beautiful expressive tattoos, he also creates artwork. 34. Myke Chambers Myke Chambers travels the world inking his customersIf you'll excuse the pants, check out this intricate (and suitably large) traditional American piece of tattoo art by Myke Chambers. Coverage is very high but the colour work is stunning – as is the detail in the various animal and human portraits that run through the design. Chambers completed his first amateur tattoo aged 12 (shudder), and never looked back. 35. Emily Rose Murray Emily Rose Murray is the leading lady of tattoo designAustralian tattoo artist Emily Rose Murray blends a strong comic art-influenced style with some amazing colour and shading work. The Melbourne-based artist is known for her glamorous women with a gothic edge. 36. Amanda Wachob With a background in painting, Amanda Wachob has created a unique brand of tattoo artOriginally a painter, Amanda Wachob has developed a beautifully unique style of tattoo art. Influenced by the work of Hans Hofmann, she allows the organic forms of the body to influence these abstract shapes. Take a look at this interview to discover how she earned herself an almost cult-like following. What happens when tattoo design meets illustration How to generate new ideas for character designs How to hold a pencil correctly View the full article

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Originally I was planning to write an upbeat account of some of the things that freshly graduated students armed with carefully crafted design portfolios and newish designers need to know when entering the design profession. However, following the UK's decision to leave the EU, the reality is things are getting tougher for young designers and the industry as a whole. Against this backdrop, here are five things that newbies need to know. 01. Take the rough with the smooth Most of us choose to become a designer because we crave the adrenalised buzz that comes from being valued for our creativity. But this craving blinds us to the fact that being a designer also means that we have to live with rejection, failure and missed opportunities. I’m sure that dentists and insurance brokers will say that it’s no different for them; the pleasure of doing any job well is undeniable, and there are workplace traumas in every profession. But design seems an especially precarious occupation: for every award-winning logo, there are dozens of projects that don’t turn out the way we hoped they would. Learning to deal with the mix of joy and pain is an essential requirement for a career in design. 02. Avoid unpaid internships It’s true that there have been occasions when the design world was awash with cash, and students and tyro designers were hired by the yard. The last time I can remember this happening was during the dotcom boom of the late ’90s. But getting a first job, and then getting the right job, has always been difficult. Every generation has to clamber over obstacles, and for today’s newcomers there’s the added difficulty of a culture of perpetual internships. Unpaid internships should be resisted no matter how appealing – and design studios that offer them should be ashamed of themselves. But a career in design has always demanded self-reliance and an entrepreneurial spirit. Failure to understand this will make life difficult for the new designer. 03. Prepare to collaborate Many of us go into design looking for the reward of personal authorship. Paradoxically, design has now become more of a collaborative activity than ever before. You can argue that design has always been collaborative. Graphic designers used to work closely with typesetters, for example. But these tended to be unequal relationships, and therefore not genuine collaborations. In the new multidisciplinary design landscape, collaboration has become almost mandatory. Shared authorship is the new personal authorship This is due to the increasing complexity of communications in a multichannel world, but also because clients are demanding work that comes out of collaborative intelligence rather than the solo instincts of an individual. The days of Leonardo Da Vinci, as one expert has noted, are over. Shared authorship is the new personal authorship. 04. Guard what sets you apart from AI I used to believe that design had immunity from automation: how could a machine replace a designer? But automation in design is already a reality. Smart software and algorithms that remove the need for the eye and hand of a designer now do much of what designers once did. Branded websites can be downloaded from the internet; off-the-shelf logos can be bought for a few dollars; brand identities are implemented by marketing people using templates; and businesses can be started with a Facebook account. How long before AI replaces designers? 05. Keep on learning But there are good reasons for optimism. Designers have agile minds – you can’t be a good designer without one. This mental agility means that designers are equipped to deal with a world of constant change. Few of us will be doing the same job in 10 years’ time, but designers are amongst the most able to adjust to new ways of doing things. As long as we remain willing to learn and relearn, it is possible to be optimistic about design’s future. This article was originally published in Computer Arts magazine issue 256. Buy it here. Related articles: Five design student stereotypes to avoid Must-read books for design students The student guide to working at a top agency View the full article

In this design-obsessed age, branding is becoming more and more important for all kinds of organisations. But if your prime constituency is the design industry itself, you’re really going to have to pull it out of the bag when it comes to your logo design. Here we select our favourite logos from design industry organisations. We hope they inspire your own logo design projects. But if there’s an iconic design industry logo you feel we should have included, let us know on Twitter or Facebook. Before you do though, note that we did want to include Sid Lee’s classic Art Directors Club logo. We couldn’t, though, because the ADC has now ceased to exist on its own, merging with The One Club. 01. D&AD After more than half a century, the D&AD logo still doesn’t look datedD&AD, which stands for Designers & Art Directors Association, was founded by a group of London-based creatives including David Bailey, Terence Donovan and Alan Fletcher and Colin Forbes, in 1962. Its aim was to celebrate innovation and great work in the advertising and design industries. One year later Forbes, who was then working at Fletcher/Forbes/Gill, designed the organisation’s logo by sticking its four characters onto the sides of a wooden cube and photographing the result. It’s a testament to the brilliance of this design that, with just one major tweak, it’s stayed in place for 55 years and counting… yet still looks strikingly modern. The latest update of the logo, created by Rose Design in 2006, retained the essence of Forbes’ design but modernised it by placing it inside a hexagon. This made it easier to apply consistently to all corporate materials. The hexagon also represents the top of a Black Pencil, the distinctive awards D&AD gives out for superlative work every year. 02. Adobe Adobe’s 1990 logo has reached iconic status within the design industryAnother iconic industry logo that’s stayed in place for decades and yet still shows no signs of dating is that of design software giant Adobe. Adobe was founded in 1982 and its first emblem contained the full company name, Adobe Systems Incorporated. It was created by Marva Warnock, graphic designer and wife of company co-founder John Warnock. A new, sleeker logo was created by in-house in 1990, featuring a stylised white A on a red background, and it’s been in place ever since. Instantly recognisable by anyone who’s ever opened Photoshop or Illustrator, it’s become somewhat iconic across the global design industry. Since 2013, Adobe has capitalised on this phenomenon by asking a range of well-known creatives, including Sagmeister & Walsh, Alex Trochut, GMunk and Craig Ward, to produce their own unique versions of the logo. You can see what they’ve come up with on this Behance page. 03. SXSW The SXSW logo has been modernised for the long haulStarting life as a local music festival in 1987, South by Southwest has become one of the world’s biggest music, film and interactive design festivals. (The name, a play on the name of the classic Hitchcock film North by Northwest, points to its geographic location in Austin, Texas.) Until recently, the festival commissioned a new logo every year, and then were generally quite colourful and cartoony. But 2017 saw a change of tack when it comes to the event’s visual identity. The organisers asked Austin agency Foxtrot to create a new, cleaned up logo and typography that could be used consistently for many years to come, and the design shown above is the result. The new monochrome, sans-serif wordmark, with its self-explanatory directional arrow, does the job perfectly. So much so that, even though relatively young, it already feels like a classic. 04. Society for Environmental Graphic Design (SEGD) Pentagram’s logo for SEGD is beautifully originalDescribing itself as a “global, multidisciplinary community of professionals who plan, design, and build experiences that connect people to place”, the Society for Experiential Graphic Design (SEGD) is a non-profit organisation for graphic, architectural, interior, landscape, and industrial designers. Its current logo was created in 2009 by designed by Pentagram partner Michael Gericke and his team. This colourful creation consists of four brightly coloured panels that, say Pentagram can be interpreted as “three-dimensional forms, printed graphics or interactive menus”. This logo succeeds in being unique and distinctive while still offering the geometric flexibility to work across a variety of media; some of which weren’t even invented at the time of its conception. In an age of minimalist tech logos that all look the same, Gericke’s design offer a great example of how a logo can be simple and stylish without defaulting to the lowest common denominator. 05. Society of Graphic Designers of Canada The GDC logo conveys a sense of both professionalism and national identityFounded in 1956, the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada (GDC) is a member-based organisation of design professionals, educators, administrators, students, and associates in communications, marketing, media and design-related fields. Its current logo was created in 2014 by Vancouver-based designers Dennis Boyle and John Ngan. The aim of this redesign was to help promote the organisation to designers and its certification process to the wider business community. Combining the vertical strips of the country’s flag with the vertical shapes of the font, Braggadocio, created a compelling design that instantly read ‘Canada’ to its intended audience. There’s also a strong sense of movement and dynamism to the design that adds a real sense of authority to this national body’s visual identity. You can learn more about the thinking behind the logo in the video above. 06. Institute of Designers Ireland RichardsDee’s logo design for The Institute of Designers in Ireland is super-cleanThe Institute of Designers in Ireland (IDI) represents designers and design students who practise on the island of Ireland and abroad. Founded in 1972, the non-profit organisation covers all design disciplines including graphic design, interior design and product design. Its current logo was created in 2014 by Dublin brand and design agency RichardsDee. It sets the main three words of the organisation’s lengthy name in a condensed sans serif with smooth round corners, inside an overarching ‘D’. This design may not be the most exciting logo ever but no one can argue it isn’t super-clean. Black and white, simple, legible... what’s not to like? Related articles: 5 ways to use imagery to create better branding Best Mac apps to make you more creative 7 classic logos that should never have been changed View the full article

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The DUHK Attack leverages a 20-year-old random number generator flaw to recover private keys. More pertinent, researchers said, is that the flaw exposes gaps in the FIPS certification process. View the full article

You've learnt how to draw a range of subjects, assembled all the necessary tools, set up your own workspace and you're ready to start your artistic journey in paint. But before you do, it's worth knowing some fundamental painting techniques that will to help you along the way. Here are seven essential painting techniques that will have you painting like a pro in no time. 01. Underpainting Work paint up from thin to thick, especially when using slow-drying paintsI never work from white when using oils or acrylics. Create an underpainting in burnt umber or a mix of burnt sienna and phthalo blues to establish shadows and values. Acrylics are probably the best medium to use at this stage as they're quick-drying and permanent. Work paint up from thin to thick, especially when using slow-drying paints. It's impossible to work on top of heavy, wet paint. In the same way, work up to highlights, adding the brightest (and usually heavier) paint at the end. Have a roll of kitchen towel to hand to clean brushes and remove any excess paint if you make a mistake. 02. Blocking in Brushes come in a number of shapes and fibre typesBrushes come in a number of shapes and with different fibre types, all of which give very different results. The key is to try all of them as you paint. The most versatile are a synthetic/sable mix – these brushes can be used with most of the different paint types. Brushes come in flat and round types and it pays to have a selection of both. Check out our guide to picking the right brush to learn more. I work with a range of brushes. For most of the early work I use larger, flatter and broader brushes. A filbert is a good general brush for blocking in form and paint. It has a dual nature, combining aspects of flat and round brushes so it can cover detail as well as larger areas. I tend to use smaller brushes only at the end of the painting process. 03. Building up texture Have a dry flat brush you can use to blend and create smooth transitionsHave a dry, flat brush that you can use to blend your paint and create smooth transitions. I tend to like lots of texture and like to see brush marks in my own work. Almost anything can be used to add texture to your paint. There are ready-made texture media available, but I have seen items such as egg shell and sand used to add interest to a painting. One tip is to use an old toothbrush to spatter your image with paint. This can be remarkably effective at suggesting noise and grain. 04. Dry brushing This is a method of applying colour that only partially covers a previously dried layer of paint. Add very little paint to your brush and apply it with very quick, directional strokes. This method tends to work best when applying light paint over dark areas/dried paint and is useful for depicting rock and grass textures. 05. Sgraffito Removing paint can be as important as applying itRemoving paint can be as important as applying it. Sgraffito is the term used when you scratch away paint while it's wet to expose the underpainting. It's especially useful when depicting scratches, hair, grasses and the like. You can use almost any pointed object for this – try rubber shaping tools or the end of a brush. 06. Glazing Glazing is the process of laying a coat of transparent paint over a dry part of the painting, and it's used for intensifying shadows and modulating colour. A light transparent blue over dry yellow will of course create green. 07. Painting with mediums Mediums can be added to paint to modulate its consistency, drying time and textureMediums are fluids that can be added to paint to modulate its consistency, drying time and texture. In the case of acrylics, you get different mediums that make the paint matte or gloss. However, I tend to use the matte medium mainly to seal my paper or board, so paint doesn't soak into it. This article originally appeared in the ImagineFX special bookazine How to Paint and Draw. Related articles: How to draw and paint - 100 pro tips and tutorials 10 essential oil painting tips and techniques How to draw manga characters View the full article

The podcast format is as popular as ever, and it's easy to see why. They fit in perfectly with our lifestyles, enabling you to make the most of your commute, run, or down time, and are a relaxing way to absorb web design inspiration and information. We've asked some leading web designers to tell us what they're listening to at the moment, and what they get out of it. Plus we've listed some of our own favourites from past and present. They're all free, so why not try some out and subscribe to your favourites? 01. Motion and Meaning Motion and Meaning covers the growing world of motion in web designHosted by Val Head, with Cennydd Bowles joining her in the first season and various web experts guesting in the second, Motion and Meaning is a podcast discussing the ever-growing world of motion and animation in web design, and why it's an important tool that designers need to pay attention to. Covering everything from the basic principles of animation through to advanced tools and techniques, it's an essential listen for anyone keen to bring more movement into their UX, and each episode comes complete with a full transcript that you can read at your leisure. 02. Shop Talk Show The Shop Talk Show is a treasure trove of web expertiseWith over 280 episodes online - with a new one being added every week - you're certain to find something worth listening to on Dave Rupert and Chris Coyier's Shop Talk Show. Covering all manner of subjects within the worlds of frontend web design, development and UX, and featuring plenty of expert guests, it's essential listening if you're keen to stay up-to-date with the latest web technologies. 03. JavaScript Jabber Can't get enough of JavaScript? Step right up!If you don't care for JavaScript then steer well clear of JavaScript Jabber, because that's pretty much all it likes to talk about. If, on the other hand, you live and breathe JavaScript then you're in for a treat, with a fresh discussion every week covering JavaScript, frontend development, community, careers and frameworks. 04. Responsive Web Design Podcast Responsive Web Design Podcast is co-hosted by Karen McGrane and Ethan MarcotteResponsive Web Design Podcast is co-hosted by Karen McGrane and Ethan Marcotte. In each episode, McGrane and Marcotte interview the people who make responsive redesigns happen. 05. Responsive Design Podcast A podcast that interviews some of the best names in the businessA podcast by Justin Avery that interviews some of the best names in the business about their experiences of responsive web design. 06. Developer Tea Developer Tea is the 10-minute podcast for developersDeveloper Tea is the 10-minute podcast for developers. It's engineered to be a highly-concentrated, short, frequent podcast specifically for developers who like to learn on their tea (and coffee) break. 07. Style Guide Podcast A small batch series of interviews on Style GuidesThis podcast offers a small batch series of interviews on Style Guides, hosted by Anna Debenham and Brad Frost. 08. CodePen Radio Discover the ins and outs of running a web software businessChris Coyier, Alex Vazquez, and Tim Sabat, the co-founders of CodePen, talk about the ins and outs of running a web software business. 09. Let's Make Mistakes Everyone in the web design and development industry should be listening to Let's Make Mistakes Karen McGrane, the content strategist and UX designer behind the Responsive Web Design Podcast, says: "Everyone in the web design and development industry should be listening to Let's Make Mistakes. Leah [Reich] and Mike [Monteiro] are a great combination." 10. BizCraft Carl Smith and Gene Crawford tackle issues related to design business Dan Mall has worked as a designer at Happy Cog and Big Spaceship, and this year he founded his own venture, SuperFriendly. He champions BizCraft. "Carl Smith and Gene Crawford tackle issues related to design business," he says. "As someone starting a new business, everything they discuss is invaluable." 11. The Businessology Show Dan Mall talks about the business of design and the design of business Mall's next selection is an obvious choice... "If I could toot my own horn for a minute, I have my own podcast with my CPA Jason Blumer," he says. "We talk about the business of design and the design of business, hoping to help give a kick in the butt to those who want to take their careers to the next level." 12. Data Stories Brian Suda listens to Data Stories Iceland-based Brian Suda is a software developer, master informatician and author of A Practical Guide to Designing with Data. As well as design, his passions include Microformats, XHTML and PHP. He listens to Data Stories, and says it's: "A great, occasional podcast about data visualisations from two of the world leading experts. Sometimes the discussion is very academic, but other times they experiment with audience participation. There's a wealth of knowledge in each episode. If you're into data viz, infographics, storytelling, journalism and working with data, you need to be listening." 13. 99% invisible Suda's favourite podcast is 99% invisible Suda's favourite podcast is 99% invisible. "Only 15-20 minutes per episode, it's the perfect time for a nice walk or other activity. The production quality and stories are always amazing. If you're detailed oriented, this podcast focuses on the 99 per cent of the work that went into things you never even notice. For any designer, architect or innovator, listening should be mandatory!" 14. The Back to Front Show Keir Whitaker discusses backend tech, frontend dev and plenty in-between Keir Whitaker, experiential marketing lead at Shopify, also bigs up his own podcast: "Kieran Masterton and I host a weekly podcast in which we discuss backend tech, frontend dev and plenty in-between with a view of sharing experiences, questioning trends and sharing interesting articles, etc." 15. The Big Web Show Everything that's important on the web, hosted by Jeffrey ZeldmanThis podcast features everything that's important on the web, hosted by Jeffrey Zeldman with special guests including everyone who's anyone in the world of web design. Although it's been a while since the last podcast went up on the site, the Twitter account is active, so we hope for more shows soon. 16. Boagworld Paul Boag and Marcus Lillington are joined by a variety of guests to discuss topics for web designersHosts by Paul Boag and Marcus Lillington are joined by a variety of guests to discuss topics for designers, developers and website owners. As it states on the website, the podcast is "fun, informative and quintessentially British!" 17. CTRL+CLICK CAST The tech podcast delves into all areas of the web design industryCTRL+CLICK CAST was formerly the ExpressionEngine Podcast, but thankfully it is still hosted by Lea Alcantara and Emily Lewis. The tech podcast focuses on content management systems but delves into all areas of the web design industry too. 18. The Gently Mad The Gently Mad is an interview show about what drives us as creators and connects us as peopleThe Gently Mad is an interview show about what drives us as creators and connects us as people. Each week, host Adam Clark and guests explore the stories, experiences and insights of awesome people who make awesome things. This updated article is based on a feature that originally appeared on the net magazine website. Subscribe to net here. Related articles: 8 great 3D web projects to inspire you 12 common JavaScript questions answered The benefits of working remotely View the full article

Whether you're new to illustration or you're a seasoned professional, there's always more to learn. But with so many options, how do you know where to focus your time – or more importantly, where to spend your money? This round-up explores great 10 ways to learn, including both paid and free online resources, books in print, and even some of the best YouTube channels for illustrators. If you're looking for a few more resources in your learning toolbox, this should get you started. Online learning You can learn almost anything online these days, so it's no surprise at how many places offer courses on design and illustration. Here are my top three picks for online learning. 01. CreativeLive From free CreateLive offers online classes for creative professionals, including classes that focus specifically on art and design. You'll need to pay between $39 and $199 for its on-demand courses, but it also offers a ton of free, live and on-air classes. With more than 10 million students and 650 instructors, there's a large, growing community of creatives waiting for you to connect with and learn with. 02. Society of Visual Storytelling From US$10 per video/ $12.50 per month to access everything SVSLearn is another online learning resource for illustrators. Since 2012, SVS co-founders Will Terry and Jake Parker have been making instructional videos that highlight their work process. Since then, Lee White has joined the team, along with other top illustrators and industry professionals, such as Guy Francis and Mel Milton. 03. London Art College From $283/£190 My last recommendation in this category is the London Art College. The London Art College offers 30 online art courses for all ages and abilities. Its courses are accessible 24/7, and you can work at your own pace. As an added bonus, you'll have access to your own personal tutor. Prices are reasonable, and there are a few different study types available: Diploma (most priced at $508/£360), Certificate ($396/£275), Short ($283/£190), and Young Artists ($198/£125). Recommended books Books are another great resource for continued learning. If you're a designer or an illustrator, make sure you have these three books nearby – or for a more comprehensive collection, take a look at our list of books every graphic designer should read. 04. Universal Principals of Design $25/£13 Whether you're an artist, illustrator, designer, or developer, the Universal Principals of Design by William Lidwell, Kritina Holden, and Jill Butler is a must-have. Inside its pages, you'll learn how to make your designs work for you (and your clients) by reviewing many different concepts and practices, from a variety of industries and disciplines. 05. Illustration that Works $20.40/£26 They call it the 'everything you need to know' guide to the world of professional illustration, and I couldn't agree more. Greg Houston breaks down the technical aspects of illustration and design in this 200-plus page book. In addition, there are several assignments for you to try, and 400 examples for you to follow. 06. Creative Illustration $29/£27 Another remarkable book is Creative Illustration by Andrew Loomis. In fact, if you can only have one book on your shelf, this should be the one – especially if you're serious about a professional illustration career. Loomis breaks this book into seven sections: Line, Tone, Color, Telling the Story, Creating Ideas, Fields of Illustration, and Experimenting and Studies. Although some of the illustrations are a bit outdated, the lessons are timeless. The best of YouTube YouTube is often overlooked as a 'serious' learning platform. And while some of the content isn't great, there are tons of useful resources out there. In fact, there's so much stuff for illustrators that it was difficult for me to pick my top three – so I picked my top four instead. 07. Draw with Jazza Free One of my favourite YouTube channels is Draw with Jazza. Run by Josiah Brooks, Draw with Jazza is filled with a little bit of everything: reviews, tutorials, unboxings and more. If you're looking for an all-round good channel, this is your best bet. I had an opportunity to interview Josiah on Roundabout: Creative Chaos (listen here). 08. Will Terrell Free Will Terrell's channel is another great resource for illustrators. He offers tips, advice, tutorials and interviews. He also uploads a lot of speed-sketching videos, which are fun to watch. 09. Brandon Green Free Although the number of new videos has slowed a little, the existing content on this channel is more than enough. Brandon Green's artistic technique and teaching style will keep you coming back for more. 10. Will Terry Free Last, but certainly not least, is Will Terry. You probably recognise his name from the Society of Visual Storytelling, above. On his YouTube channel, Terry gives advice to illustrators about business, marketing, and professional practices. There's a lot of encouragement and anecdotes, and the occasional interview. Related articles: 13 imaginative web comics to inspire you 10 great new tools for illustrators this September How to use digital tools to create a hand-drawn look View the full article

JavaScript is a fantastic, flexible web design tool, as our top examples of JavaScript article shows. But even with the biggest of tools, there's always more to learn and discover. Here are 12 questions (and answers) about JavaScript that have left many developers stumped – even experienced JavaScript coders. On this page we run through common questions and answers, including those often trotted out in job interviews. On the next page, we take a more in-depth look at two more complex areas: How to use JavaScript to improve site performance, and how to future-proof JavaScript code. 01. What is prototypical inheritance and how useful is it? In JavaScript, almost everything is an object. Every object has a prototype, from which it inherits values and behaviours. If an object doesn't include a property that's being requested, JS will look for it inside its prototype instead. It carries on up the chain of prototypes until it finds a match, or returns an error. This is useful when making objects that share the same values and operations. By having these live on a prototype, only one copy of them needs to exist, making projects memory efficient. Prototypes can be added to objects on creation using Object.create(), or after with Object.setPrototypeOf(). ES2015 has a 'class' keyword that, when used with 'extends', will use that value as its prototype. 02. How can JavaScript be used to improve accessibility on the web? It is common for modern web accessibility tools to be able to handle JavaScript and dynamic content. It can be used to help these technologies as long as it is used as an enhancement rather than required to function. A common way to assist users is to provide useful focus management. A calendar, for example, should be able to cycle through days using the arrow keys, with up and down keys skipping a week at a time. It is just a case of listening for keyboard events while focus is within that component. Important data changing as a result of JavaScript, for example form feedback, should also be announced for screen readers. Often this is achieved by marking up a container as a live region. 03. What is event bubbling and how is it different to event capturing? Event delegation is a technique that uses event bubbling to its advantage. By adding a listener to a parent element, developers are alerted to events for any of its childrenBoth event capturing and bubbling are both part of a process called 'event propagation', where browsers respond to events happening on the page. Older browsers used to do one or the other, but nowadays they all do both. The first phase – the capturing phase – occurs as soon as an event happens. It starts at the topmost level, which is either 'document' or 'window' depending on the event. From there it goes through <html> and whatever lives inside it until it reaches the element the event occurred within. The second phase – the bubbling phase – then happens. It repeats the process but in reverse, beginning with the element the event was triggered by and 'bubbling' to the topmost <html> element. When adding event listeners, this is the default. 04. How does event delegation improve code on sites with lots of interactive elements? Websites often have lots of dynamic content regularly changing on the page. If these elements need to be interactive, these would need some kind of event listener picking up those interactions. If each element required its own listener, this would clutter up code and increase what the browser needs to keep track of. Event delegation is a technique that uses event bubbling to its advantage. By adding a listener to a parent element, developers are alerted to events for any of its children. Inside the event callback, the original target of that event will always be the 'target', which can be used to decide what to do next. For example, a data attribute could hold an ID to reference an object property. 05. What are closures and how can they be useful in organising code? Functions in JavaScript use what is called the 'lexical environment', meaning it has access to variables defined outside, but those defined inside can only be accessed within. Calling outer() will show 'I love Web Designer!', but if 'shout' or 'x' are referenced outside of outer(), both will be undefined. A closure is a combination of a function alongside its lexical environment. In this case, the closure is the 'outer' function. These are useful when creating multiple components, as anything declared inside will not affect others. They can be used to create private functions and variables in a similar way to other object-oriented languages like Python. The module pattern uses closures extensively to provide structured ways for modules to interact. 06. What does 'use strict' mean at the top of a block of code? ES5 introduced an optional variant of JavaScript called 'strict mode'. In strict mode, quirks of earlier versions would throw errors rather than result in unintended behaviour. Above we are accessing a variable that doesn't exist. Outside of strict mode, this would instead add myVar to the global scope, which if we were not careful could completely overwrite functionality defined earlier in the script. In strict mode, this throws an error and halts any destruction. ES2015 modules are in strict mode by default, but in closures created with functions, 'use strict' can be applied at a function level as well as an entire file. 07. What does the term 'hoisting' mean in reference to JavaScript? JavaScript is unique in that it does not need compiling before being distributed. A browser will compile scripts as it finds them and make notes of any functions and variables that are declared within. The browser then makes a second pass to execute the code, knowing where these functions and variables apply. As a block is executed, its function and variable declarations are 'hoisted' to the top of the block. In this example, we are able to use the 'welcome' function as it is hoisted up to the top of the script. 08. What is the difference between an arrow function and a regular function? ES2015 provided lots of changes and one to make an quick impact was arrow functions. The key difference, despite being shorter to write, is that arrow functions do not create their own value for 'this'. They will instead use the value of the enclosing block. In the above example, this would log out 1, 2, 3, etc once every second. With a regular function, this.x would be undefined, so it would log NaN. The body of an arrow function is assumed to be the return value from it. This makes them useful for promises, where values are passed through. Regular functions must explicitly return a value, or will return undefined. 09. Where should I use the 'let' and 'const' keywords instead of 'var'? Another fundamental change with ES2015 was the introduction of 'let' and 'const' as alternative ways to define variables. Variables declared in this way are limited to the block they were defined in. This provides more certainty that values created inside different blocks won't interfere with code outside. If the value of the variable will not change, use 'const' instead of 'let'. Errors are thrown when attempting to redefine a constant. Objects and array variables can still change internally, but are not completely replaced. Both 'let' and 'const' do not get hoisted like 'var', so cannot be referenced before they are initialised. Between the start of the block and the initialisation is known as the 'temporal dead zone' and can often be a source of confusion. 10. What is functional programming and how is it different? It is an alternative way of creating programs by passing application state exclusively through functions. By avoiding side effects, it's possible to develop code that's easy to understand. Traditionally, JavaScript projects are built with an object-oriented structure. Information about the current state of the program is held within objects, which get updated as the page changes. Functional programming provides a different way of thinking. While languages like F# have used it for a while now, ES2015 brought important methods to JavaScript that open this up to the web. All work must be done inside 'pure' functions. These are functions that are not affected by any data outside the scope of that function. In other words, if the same values are supplied to the function, the same result will always be returned. This also means that there can be no shared state between functions. Any state within an application that needs to be used should be passed as a parameter to a function, rather than accessed directly from it. Finally, code should avoid changing values after they are made. For example, each change of an object should return a copy of that object with the value changed. This is to avoid side effects, which can cause bugs and make code harder to test. Next page: How can I use JS to improve the performance of my site? and How can I future-proof my JavaScript code? 11. How can I use JS to improve the performance of my site? At a time where the majority of web browsing is done on a phone or a tablet, performance is critical. Not everybody has the latest device, and each delay and stutter could cost a customer. Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to use JavaScript to stop this happening. Keep it passive Jagged scrolling is a clear sign something is up. In some cases, the browser is being forced to wait because of listeners applied to the page. Events such as 'wheel' or 'touchmove' are able to cancel scrolling, so the page has to wait until the event has completed before the default scrolling behaviour can begin. This can cause jerky and inconsistent scrolling, which makes for a poor user experience. To get around this, pass an object as the third parameter when adding an event listener. By marking the event as passive, the browser can assume scrolling will not be affected, so it can start immediately. This third parameter replaces the 'useCapture' option in older browsers, so it is important to use feature detection when making use of this type of listener. To intentionally disable scrolling, applying 'touch-action: none' in CSS will help in more browsers. Throttling events Events like scrolling and resizing fire as quickly as they can to make sure whatever is listening can stay up to date. If something resource intensive is happening on each event, this can quickly grind a page to a halt. Debouncing is a technique that throttles how often the callback to one of these events is called. The implementation of a debounce function and how often the function gets called will vary by project, but reducing the events to five times a second, for example, will see an instant improvement on the page. Focus on the viewport A common use of the scroll event is to detect when an element comes into view on the page. Even with debouncing, calling getBoundingClientRect() requires the browser to reanalyse the layout of the entire page. There is a new browser API called IntersectionObserver, which reports on the visibility of observed elements by calling a function whenever they enter or exit the viewport. For infinite scrolling sites, this can be used as a flag to remove or recycle older views. IntersectionObserver is available in all the latest browsers except Safari. It's worth using this API and falling back to older techniques, as the difference is vastly noticeable. Separate expensive work When working with large datasets or processing big files such as images, JavaScript can quickly lock up the browser window. All the work is getting performed on a single thread, so if that thread is busy the interface cannot update. If you know a process is going to take a long time to run, it is a good idea to put it inside a web worker. These are scripts that run on a separate thread, which leaves the user interface running smoothly. Scripts can talk to each other through a special message method. Web workers don’t have access to the DOM and some properties on the window object, so these messages can be used to pass the necessary information. 12. How can I future-proof my JavaScript code? One of JavaScript's core principles is that it always tries to avoid breaking changes where possible. The vast majority of code written today will still function a decade later, even in this ever-changing industry. Just because a block of code runs, however, does not mean it's future-proof. Will your codebase still make sense a few years later? Avoid spaghetti code When first creating a project, it can be tempting to write everything together. While that makes it explicit what each block of code is doing, it also means all behaviour is coupled together as well. If another area of the project needs that functionality, it will either be copied or rewritten. If bugs are found or a new feature is added, each version will need updating individually, which can be a time-consuming process. By keeping code modular, functionality can be included where it's needed. Once it's been written, any changes are instantly available. Techniques such as the module pattern can be implemented without affecting the rest of the project, which makes them easier to implement. Be framework agnostic Many modern frameworks, like React or Polymer, encourage developers to keep things modular through the creation of components. Each has its own way of communicating between other parts of the project. What happens when the next best framework arrives? Switching – or even just updating – frameworks can be a laborious task. Finding new ways for these old components to work together can eat up precious time. Where possible, use native JavaScript features to achieve results. This way, when changing frameworks these points of friction are minimised. For example, use objects to handle data manipulation before it gets handed to a component. This also helps when writing universal JavaScript. By avoiding using browser-based APIs where possible, code can be reused both in the browser and on the server, inside Node. Clean up Once modules are written, keep them clean. Anybody reading through them should understand its functionality to speed up debugging. Self-documenting code is a powerful tool to future-proof your code. Using descriptive names for variables in iterators, for example, can be clearer to read than generic names like 'i'. Most importantly, be consistent. By sticking to a uniform style, all code becomes readable. Use a style guide to define how code should look and use tools like ESLint to enforce it. Work at scale Being readable also extends to project structure. Without one, things can get overwhelming very quickly. When first starting out, having files in one directory keeps things simple. When scripts import modules, there is no confusion as to where they are located. As projects age, large collections of files can get lost in the masses. Keep a structure that scales well, such as storing all modules that deal with users in a 'users' directory. Ultimately, the best structure will depend on the project. For a single-page app, keeping model, view and controller logic separate is a must. Keep things testable Periodically run tests with tools like Jest to ensure all is working wellFrameworks like React encourage creating small, reusable components. Even with a scalable project structure, it can be hard to be sure they all still work correctly. By writing tests, projects can be deployed with confidence. Unit tests will work at a module level. Tools like Mocha and Jest let developers define an expected output for a given input. Periodically running these tests can make sure there are no side effects. Modules need to be written in a way that means they can be tested in isolation. This means having as few external dependencies as possible and not relying on global state. There's far more to project testing, such as integration and functional testing. These should cover as much of a project as possible to keep code working long into the future. Language of tomorrow Make sure your code works in older browsers by using a transpiler like BabelThe best way to future-proof code, however, is by writing it in the syntax of the future. While this might sound like a step into the unknown, there are tools that make it as easy as possible. Babel is a transpiler, which is a tool that converts one form of JavaScript to another. This is used to turn modern code into formats older browsers and environments can understand. ES2015 brought lots to JavaScript that can help write clean code, such as arrow functions, promises and native modules. The latest standard – ES2017 – brings even more convenience through async functions Given the right presets, Babel can help convert all these into code to use today. Eventually, projects will be able to skip the transpilation step altogether. But for now, they are a must to keep code future-proofed. This article originally appeared in Web Designer issue 265. Buy it here. Related articles: 20 JavaScript tools to blow your mind 10 really useful responsive web design tutorials Get started with web accessibility View the full article

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