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Black Friday 2017 is just around the corner – and with it thousands of Black Friday deals for savvy designers, illustrators and artists. But bagging the best bargain isn’t easy when new offers are thrown into the mix and snapped up every minute. So how can you get your hands on the best Black Friday offers for creatives this year? The short answer is to bookmark this page: we’ll be updating it with the best creative bargains as they’re announced. From workstations to graphics tablets, 4k monitors, speakers, headphones, cameras and more – through the best art pencils, pens and paints - we’ll curate the hottest Black Friday 2017 deals and deliver them to you right here. Whether you’re a freelancer, in-house designer, studio owner or student, we’re here to help you make huge savings on creative kit. And you don’t have to wait until the biggest shopping day of the year. We’ve rounded up the biggest retailers in the UK and US below, some of whom are already rolling out the sorts of deals we can look forward to seeing more of on Black Friday 2017. Black Friday 2017: quick links Black Friday UK UK: Amazon Black Friday UK: John Lewis Black Friday UK: GAME Black Friday UK: Currys Black Friday UK: Argos Black Friday UK: Tesco Direct Black Friday UK: eBay Black Friday Black Friday US US: Amazon Black Friday US: Walmart Black Friday When is Black Friday 2017? This year, Black Friday 2017 falls on 24 November. Marking the start of the Christmas shopping season, the bargain bonanza is always the day after Thanksgiving in the US – and it’s always followed by Cyber Monday (this year on 27 November). More recently, the event has appeared closer to a Black November, with retailers increasingly look to beat the competition by releasing early deals. Last year, Black Friday 2016 broke records with $3.34 billion spent online. And if you include the shopping done on Thanksgiving day, the total rises to $5.27 billion. This November, you can expect all the main retailers – such as Amazon, Walmart, Argos, John Lewis, Currys and ASOS to be running deals across every range of products, and that includes top kit for creatives. So what can we expect? The best Black Friday deals of 2017 Well, we can virtually certainly guarantee that Amazon's own line of products – including the Echo and Echo Dot speakers, Fire stick, Fire tablets and Kindle e-Readers will get a discount. Mobile phone Black Friday deals - Black Friday is a fantastic time of year to buy a new phone, especially if you're going with a contract. Our sister site TechRadar says that all the best prices on the best phones appear in November, with the best deals going live on Black Friday itself. Of course, Black Friday is also a good day to pick up SIM only deals. Keep your eyes on Mobiles.co.uk, Mobile Phones Direct and Carphone Warehouse for brilliant deals. Tablet Black Friday deals - iPads, Android tablets and graphics tablets are popular items on Black Friday. Amazon offered some big discounts on select Wacom and Bamboo gear for its #ShopTheFuture event a few weeks ago, and we'd expect to see a flurry of tablets on sale from everyone from John Lewis to Currys and Argos this year. 4K TV Black Friday deals - 4K TVs sell en masse during Black Friday, and we predict you'll be able to both pick up outrageously cheap TVs from smaller brands as well as bag a weighty discounts on better TVs from more prominent brands. If you're in the market for a 4k TV Black Friday deal, keep your eye on Currys, Argos, Amazon, AO.com and John Lewis. View the full article

Black Friday might be the biggest shopping day of the year, but if you're looking the best Amazon deals, then don't forget Cyber Monday 2017 – which this year falls on 27 November. Once again, we'll be rounding up the best Amazon Cyber Monday deals of 2017 for designers, illustrators and artists right here – and starting from now. Rounding off a long weekend of shopping deals, Cyber Monday is a chance for budget-conscious creatives to grab a real bargain. And where better to shop for these deals than Amazon? With a range of products in one place, each competitively priced to give you the best value for money, Amazon is the place to be for designers looking to snap up a discount. Just as with Black Friday, though, remember that Amazon doesn't reveal how much stock it has of each item. So if you find something you need, you'll need to be prepared to purchase it there and then – or risk missing out. How to grab an Amazon Cyber Monday bargain If you're after an Amazon Cyber Monday 2017 deal, be sure to bookmark this page and refer back to it on the day itself. We'll be updating it with all the best deals for designers to snap up. It's also a good idea to sign up to an Amazon Prime subscription. That's because when you sign up to Amazon Prime there's a fair chance that you'll be given a sneak preview as to what's on offer, meaning that you'll gain an edge over other shoppers. Not only that, but some deals are only available to Prime members, or exclusive to Prime members for a certain amount of time. Start your FREE 30-day Amazon Prime trial today: UK Start your FREE 30-day Amazon Prime trial today: US An Amazon Prime membership will set you back £79/$99 a year, but if you're lucky you could save that much money on deals alone. Plus you'll have access to Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Music, and other offers that crop up throughout the year. The best Amazon Cyber Monday deals The question on everyone's lips though is just what will be on offer for designers and illustrators by the time Cyber Monday 2017 rolls around? Based on the last few years, we can make some educated guesses... Graphics tablets Cyber Monday dealsChances are, Amazon is likely to slash prices on tablets on Cyber Monday. Take last year for example, where you could pick up an Amazon Fire HD 10 for just £152 (knocked down from £169.99). Another good offer our sister site TechRadar spotted was an It UK 10.1-inch Android tablet, down to just £79.99 from £325. That's a whopping saving of £245. We can almost certainly guarantee that Amazon's products – including the Echo and Echo Dot speakers, Fire stick, Fire tablets and Kindle e-Readers will get a discount too. Phone Cyber Monday dealsAfter a new phone? This could be the time to get one. Last year Amazon offered the likes of the Sony Xperia X for just £319.99, reduced from an original price of £499.99. Camera Cyber Monday dealsAgain, if last year is any indicator of what to expect from Amazon's Cyber Monday deals in 2017, there could be some tasty camera deals ahead. Last year you could have scooped up a cheap Canon EOS M3 if you were fast for £412, compared to its regular price of £479.99. Related articles: The best Amazon Black Friday deals 2017 The best laptops for graphic design 2017 The best drawing and graphics tablets View the full article

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Colour theory is a central and often overlooked area of design. On a simple level, the colours on the warm side of the spectrum – such as red and yellow – are bold, uplifting and energetic, while their cooler counterparts, blue and green, exude calmness and feel more reserved. This is particularly relevant when it comes to branding: on an emotional level, in terms of how consumers feel when they look at it; but also on a practical level, in terms of market standout. For a company to effectively 'own' a colour in its sector can provide an enormous competitive advantage, achieving instant recognition - in some cases even without a logo, or even a mention of its name. That's the power of colour, done right. Get Adobe Creative CloudOf course, owning an entire colour isn't easy, and it certainly goes way beyond the logo design: skillful planning and execution is needed across all elements of the brand and its advertising. Depending on the popularity and market saturation of a particular colour, we could be talking as specific as an officially registered Pantone shade (Cadbury 2685C, anyone?), or as general as being the only brand in competitive set to use that colour. With this in mind, we've explored how different brands around the world have staked their respective claims to 10 colours – in some cases with considerable success. Red This is a notoriously difficult colour to own in any sector, especially in its primary form. It's the colour of anger and danger, but also warmth and passion. And since it's also scientifically proven to increase your heart rate and raise your blood pressure, it's a bold choice to use it extensively. 01. Coca-Cola Coke has made red its signature colourTwo 'red' brands in particular stand out in their sectors – although the first is perhaps the world's most instantly recognised brand in any sector. Red is linked so inextricably with Coca-Cola that popular legend tells it rebadged Santa Claus to match (sadly, this is an urban myth). Recent, more minimalist packaging and advertising has pared right back to that primary red, with the customary flourish of white. 02. Target Target battles Wal-Mart's trademark blue by owning the colour redMeanwhile, America's number-two supermarket chain takes on the ubiquitous blue of its rival Wal-Mart with an ocean of red across its stores, logo, advertising and beyond. Target's shade of red is a registered trademark; Communist grocery shop owners beware. 03. Vodafone The colouring of Vodafone's logo is designed to signify communication and sophisticationDesigned in 1997 by Saatchi & Saatchi, Vodafone's logo features a distinctive speech mark symbolising conversation and speech communication, while the red stands for sound, talking and passion. It's set against a silver backdrop representing sophistication and perfection. In the new Brandz Global Brand Ranking, Vodafone is listed as the UK's most valuable brand, worth $36 billion. Orange Bright, fun and friendly, orange has a playful, childlike appeal and three very different brands claim ownership of it in their respective sectors. 04. Orange Mobile phone company Orange has taken the colour and run with itThere's no better place to start than the brand that's actually named after this colour. Few telecommunications companies would be foolish enough to try and out-orange Orange. 05. Home Depot Home Depot blankets everything it does with orangeIn the US comes a retail chain that's taken to blanketing its stores with a single colour: Home Depot has trademarked orange for use on advertising, lettering or any other signage in its sector, tying things up pretty neatly. 06. easyGroup EasyJet splashes orange everywhere it canAnd then, of course, there's everyone's favourite budget service provider, easyGroup – another ocean of orange, spanning everything from the original low-cost airline to car rental, finance, hotels and more. It's also the only contender to have tried to out-orange Orange: anyone remember easyMobile? Next page: yellow and green... Yellow Positive, sunny and optimistic, yellow is energetic and eye-catching – and particularly effective for point-of-sale messaging, as it's proven to catch the eye quicker than any other colour. 07. Veuve Clicquot Champagne brand Veuve Clicquot adds punch to its packaging with yellowYellow provides standout for premium champagne brand Veuve Clicquot – cutting through a sea of green, gold and cream with a punchy shot of bright yellow. 08. Caterpillar Caterpillar vehicles are instantly recognisable by their colourMeanwhile, in a sector that couldn't be more different, construction equipment manufacturer Caterpillar has a very distinctive, trademarked shade of yellow connected to its brand – featured in the triangle on its logo, and also on the liveries of its vehicles. Of course, in the field the colour is invariably faded by constant weathering on construction sites, so it's rare to find a perfect match. 09. JCB Yellow, of course, is an excellently eye-catching colour for potentially dangerous heavy machinery, so it's no surprise that it's also used by Britain's J.C. Bamford, better known as JCB. Green Green is an emotionally positive colour, signifying growth and rebirth and, of course, nature. It represents stability and endurance, but it also prosperity and abundance, and taken to the extreme it can be a colour of wealth and luxury; a real mix of meanings. 10. John Deere Deere has used green successfully to distinguish itselfJoining Caterpillar and JCB in the large-scale vehicle corner is farm machinery firm John Deere, whose iconic bright green-painted tractors (with a touch of yellow) are instantly recognisable – especially when you're stuck behind one on a country lane. 11. Harrods Harrods opts for a darker green that's associated with wealth and privilegeAt the other end of the market, rich, dark green has associations with wealth and prestige – so it's no surprise that luxury department store Harrods has chosen it as a key part of its branding scheme. From bags and signage to all manner of own-branded products, the shade exudes class and sophistication. 12. Starbucks The green Starbucks logo is a reference to the University of San FranciscoStarbucks started life in 1972 with a brown logo – appropriate enough considering the coffee beans that it originally sold before introducing the crazy concept of selling actual cups of coffee – then in 1987 the colour of its stylised woodcut of a siren was changed to green. The reason? It's a reference to the University of San Francisco, where all three founders were educated. Next page: blue, purple and brown... Blue Blue is a cool, clear colour which has a trustworthy, dependable feel, and is often the colour of choice for financial institutions as a result – notably Barclays. 13. NHS Britain's National Health Service uses a dependable blue to enagage its usersIn the UK, the National Health Service uses a distinctive shade of blue that takes advantage of its cool, reassuring and secure characteristics. 14. Tiffany & Co Tiffany has trademarked its own shade of 'robin's egg' blueLike red, of course, blue is used so broadly in different kinds of branding that standout in a particular sector is difficult: Tiffany's solves this problem with its own iconic shade of 'robin's egg' blue, trademarked as Tiffany Blue and ubiquitous on everything from jewellery boxes to shopping bags to advertising. 15. Facebook The logo's changed over the years but Facebook retains its blue colouringOriginally designed by Cuban Council in 2006, the Facebook logo has been tweaked over the years – most recently in 2013 when it pulled the 'f' down to the edge of the box, and lost the pale blue line running beneath it – but has retained its blue colour, which Mark Zuckerberg originally chose based on his colour blindness. Purple Pale lavender has a nostalgic, sentimental feel, whereas richer, darker purple has a sophisticated tone often linked with royalty. 16. Cadbury's Cadbury's has made Pantone 2685C inseperable from its brandingPurple's the most recognisable association is with Cadbury's chocolate: Pantone 2685C is officially Cadbury Purple. Purple and Cadbury's have been happy bedfellows since 1914, and woe betide any brand who tries to lay claim to it: Nestlé tried and failed last year, and Cadbury's won the right to exclusive use for chocolate bar and drink packaging. The association is so deeply ingrained that its advertising can be confident enough to remove mention of the brand altogether, as in Fallon's Black Pencil-winning Gorilla spot. Brown Earthy, simple and evocative of honesty and simplicity, brown (as well as green) is often used by organic companies to emphasise their links to the soil – although outside of this sector its largely avoided in a branding context due to potential negative connotations with 'dirt', although this of course depends on the shade chosen. The fact that brown hides dirt can be twisted to a company's advantage – one reason for Pullman railway coaches to have developed their distinctive shade. 17. UPS UPS uses brown to evoke feelings of simplicity and honestyAnd it was Pullman Brown that the United States Postal Service plumped for in 1916, for a combination of practical reasons and the fact that the colour was perceived as the "epitome of luxury" at the time. It would become an inseparable part of UPS' branding, even becoming shorthand for the company itself, as in its former slogan: 'What can Brown do for you?' The colour has become shorthand for the company itself ('What can Brown do for you?')Next page: pink, black and white... Pink The level of intensity with which pink is used makes a big difference to its impact. Paler shades are often have 'girly' associations, while dusty pinks have a sentimental tone – both uses are relatively clichéd and absolutely everywhere, so standout with that goal in mind is next to impossible. 18. T-Mobile T-Mobile uses pink to grab attentionVibrant, hot pinks have a youthful energy and sense of fun that lends itself well to trendy, inexpensive products for young women or girls – but they're also increasingly used in other sectors where a punch of bright colour is needed. T-Mobile's eye-catching magenta has been registered since 2000, and like Orange, is splashed liberally across its stores and branding. Lastminute.com uses a similar punchy shade. T-Mobile's eye-catching shade has been registered since 2000Black Okay, so most brands use black in their branding some capacity – but used as the primary brand colour, it has a bold, powerful, classic effect that feels confident and sophisticated for more expensive products. 19. Hotel Chocolat Hotel Chocolat coats its stores, packaging and branding with blackOnce such example is premium British confectionery company Hotel Chocolat, which coats its stores, packaging and branding with black like the darkest of dark chocolate. 20. Guinness Guinness ads make great place of the drink's black colourOf course, when the colour of your product is one of its most distinctive characteristics it makes sense to shout about it in your branding: nowhere is this truer than The Black Stuff. Guinness invites revellers to 'paint the town black' on St Patrick's Day, and the Irish icon makes liberal use of black and white in its multi-award-winning advertising, including its iconic surfer ad. White Simplicity and purity are the overwhelming associations with white in branding, and its brightness immediately catches the eye when used in signage. Baby and healthcare products regularly make use of it, and as a result, standout is tricky. 21. Apple Apple uses white to evoke feelings of purity and perfectionWhere white is far from ubiquitous, however, is in the technology and computing sectors: here, Cupertino's finest has it all tied up. Whether it's the soothing simplicity of its packaging, the simple purity of its logo (which has long since ditched its rainbow stripes) or the fact that iPhones and iPads are available in white, Apple's use of white is nothing short of iconic. The silhouette ads with the white headphones say it all. The brand's use of white has become iconicRelated articles: Designers react to the Mozilla rebrand 7 stunning design studio logos to inspire you Behind the scenes of Camden Market's brand identity View the full article

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The fine art of book cover design is a tricky one to master. Consider: when the graphics on the packaging of Heinz baked beans are changed, or the typography is modified on the wrappers for Kit Kats, the alterations are barely noticeable to the untrained eye. The design of household brands is tampered with as little as possible. 26 books every graphic designer should readAn even more stringent, no-tampering rule is applied to album covers. No record label would dare think about changing the covers of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Dark Side of the Moon or Nevermind. It appears that the packaging design of baked beans, chocolate bars and pop music is treated with more reverence than the jackets of literary fiction. Literature is universally accepted as high art, which might lead us to think that the covers of literary classics are free from the need for frequent stylistic updates. Not so. It is common practice amongst publishers to update the covers of the classics almost constantly, in much the same way that Nike updates its trainers. One of Suzanne Dean’s collaborations with Julian Barnes (left); David Pearson's 1984 cover (right)Book cover design challenges Sinem Erkas has been designing book jackets for eight years, and her typographic covers for F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novels are a lesson in putting a fresh spin on a classic text. “At the time, Fitzgerald’s stories were out of copyright, so loads of publishers were republishing his books, and I imagined many of them would end up as pastiches. I wanted to avoid that, so instead took the opportunity to draw inspiration from beautiful Art Deco typography and the Jazz Age, but making my own custom typefaces that felt contemporary and hinted at Art Deco rather than looking like they were from the 1920s. There was no budget for finishes, so we decided to stick to a monotone colour palette and uncoated stock.” The challenge of designing a new take on a ubiquitous text is good news for designers. And even if designing a cover for a new edition of On the Road may not be as financially rewarding as tweaking the Kit Kat logotype, I know which I’d rather do. F. Scott Fitzgerald series By Sinem ErkasDesigning book covers is in one way like designing album covers: most people do it for love rather than reward. I spoke to some book cover designers to find out more about working in the field. Why be a book cover designer? David Pearson is one of the UK’s leading book jacket designers. He studied at Central Saint Martins, and after a period working as a text designer at Penguin, he now runs his own studio. “My inclination to overthink, fuss and fiddle could only be accommodated by the relatively slow-moving nature of publishing,” he says. “Working within constraints – be they because of brief or budget – also seems to speak to my nature.” Pearson’s career in publishing began while he was at university. “I was fortunate to be asked by my tutor, Phil Baines, to lay out a Phaidon book. Part of the job was to present our ongoing work to the great Alan Fletcher – at that time, creative director of Phaidon – for his feedback.” Later, during his time setting the type for the interiors of Penguin books, Pearson was to discover that he was working in what he describes as, “a nice, sedate job.” There was room to focus on the detail and lose yourself in the book. Plus: “Nobody really had an opinion on your work, unless you did it wrong.” But this all changed when Pearson began to design book covers. Jamie Keenan’s typographic illustration for this Franz Kafka cover (left); David Pearson’s design of The Communist Manifesto (right)In contemporary publishing, the cover is subjected to the same intense scrutiny as any consumer product. It’s also the case that many authors care deeply about the covers of their books. In his acceptance speech on receiving the 2011 Man Booker Prize for his book, The Sense of an Ending, the novelist Julian Barnes paid generous tribute to the book’s cover designer, Suzanne Dean. He said: “Those of you who’ve seen my book – whatever you may think of its contents – will probably agree that it is a beautiful object. And if the physical book, as we’ve come to call it, is to resist the challenge of the e-book, it has to look like something worth buying and worth keeping.” Not only must a book cover attract attention by reflecting the content, it must do this online, in bookshops and as an e-book. It must also satisfy the demands of publisher, author and designer – not to mention the book buyer. This is quite a lot to demand of a few square centimetres of card. Next page: Do you need to read the book to design a great cover? To read or not to read? Erkas stumbled into cover design after a “frustrating job as a junior designer working in corporate branding”. Does she always read the book before designing the cover? “Ideally I would read the whole book, if the deadline lets me,” she says. “What I sometimes like to do is read the book only halfway, or three quarters of the way through, before I start sketching some ideas, and then I'll finish reading it before I complete my first round of roughs.” For Pearson, reading the text first is desirable, but not always possible. “Ideally, you would read the book – key themes and ideas present themselves so readily that way – but it’s important to remember that the book isn’t always written by the time a designer is summoned,” he explains. “Often we receive only the vague promise of a book, with design work regularly taking place even before a title is settled on, which is one of the disadvantages of the cover having to be produced so far in advance. In this instance, I would look to speak to the book’s editor or, better still, the author, to try and build a sense of the book’s tone and temper.” Éditions Zulma By David PearsonThe covers for Éditions Zulma presented Pearson with a particular problem. “It’s important to point out that I’m not a French speaker, and as a result I have to lean on some incredibly visually literate editors who convey the essence of the books to me,” he says. “This process [of discussing books] plugs everyone into the design process and makes us feel collectively responsible for the outcome. It also ensures that I don’t shoulder all of the blame when the books fail to sell!” Pearson adds that the French book market is less visually aggressive than in the UK, which allows him to create more quietly suggestive covers. When designing a cover for a fiction title, Faber & Faber in-house designer Eleanor Crow, insists that reading the text is always essential. “I would find it impossible to get the tone of the writing, and a sense of the readership, without it,” she claims. “Also, small details and less obvious, but still significant, strands in the novel might lend themselves to a cover.” Jim Stoddart at Penguin Press also advocates a close reading of the text. But he adds a caveat. “With new books, the ideal set-up is to be given a finished manuscript 12 months before publication, which allows three months to read, digest, come up with ideas, create visuals, get approval for one chosen route, and complete final artwork. However, it would also be wrong to design a cover that only makes sense once you’ve read the book. The people we are aiming to appeal to are those that haven’t read the book, that may be browsing in a bookshop and literally know nothing about the book – you may have only two or three seconds to grab their interest before their eyes drift to the next book.” Next page: Design considerations for shelf appeal and online thumbnail Books as merchandise As with any commercial project, the merchandising of books is paramount. Although bookshops were widely tipped to be on the way to oblivion a few years ago, they are making a comeback, and regardless, book covers are designed to have shelf appeal, even if the ‘shelf’ is a page on Amazon. For Pearson, being aware of related titles is becoming ever more important, since books are often grouped this way in bookshops. “Knowing what you are siding with – or indeed kicking against – can really help get the design process moving,” he says. “Time-honoured classics are invariably sat alongside alternative editions of the very same book. This can present some exciting possibilities, since your own edition can do something the others are not prepared to, making them look plain by comparison.” You can even remove key content from your own design since it will be ‘filled in’ by those around it, Pearson adds. Everyone is keen for something visually arresting, rather than giving away every last plot detail on the cover David Pearson While many designers complain about the restrictions imposed by retail conventions, Crow strikes a more upbeat note. “It’s quite liberating now,” she notes, “as there has been a great deal more press coverage for book covers than in the past. Everyone is keen for something visually arresting, rather than giving away every last plot detail on the cover.” This means that covers can be more reductive, and smarter, than in the recent past, Crow continues. “Retailers are keen for things that will look striking in the window, as well as be legible in a tiny thumbnail online.” Penguin Modern Classics By Jim StoddartIn developing an update of the Penguin Modern Classics series, Stoddart and his team worked through 100 book covers, a job that involved new picture research as well as new imagery. “I’ve really enjoyed consolidating the covers for John Updike’s Rabbit series by reviving iconic Penguin covers,” he says. “In fact, the 1960s Rabbit, Run cover featured an illustration by Milton Glaser, which we’ve put back on the cover. We also asked Milton Glaser (now aged 88) to do a fresh illustration for the last in the Rabbit series, which he was kind enough to do for us, completing the circle 57 years later,” he explains. Next page: Creative media ideas for book shelf appeal Illustration, typography or photography? Looking at current book designs, it’s hard not to conclude that illustration is enjoying a fertile period. Coralie Bickford-Smith is widely celebrated for her illustrated covers, which use naturalistic patterns and motifs. When asked whether she thinks her work is representative of a preference amongst book buyers for illustrated covers, she says, “It is more likely a trend that is coming from the number of illustrated covers coming out of the publishing houses that end up adorning the bookshops, rather than the book buyers making a deliberate aesthetic choice.” Bickforth-Smith adds that the use of photography and illustration on book covers seem to go in cycles of popularity. Although she has previously used photography in her cover designs, Bickford-Smith isn’t keen on doing so. “A shoot is usually over in a day, and the results are final, bar some great Photoshop work,” she says. “I like to work slower than that. I like time to consider the idea. I need to stare at rough work a lot. I really think it’s a personal thing. Also, given how I’m obsessed with pattern, right now illustration is a perfect way for me to express those ideas visually.” The Fox and the Star, written and illustrated by Coralie Bickford-Smith, who also designed Penguin’s Clothbound Classics seriesFor Pearson, the choice is easy: “I cannot illustrate covers – I have to rope in others to do that – and I’m terrified of photography – cropping other people’s art to fit a cover shape makes me feel sick. That leaves typography, and I tend to lean on it for everything. Using lettering in place of representational imagery can also help to activate reader interpretation – I think we enjoy working for answers.” Pearson adds that typography also presents a lovely challenge for a designer – to sum up an entire book using such limited graphic means. “I think typographic covers are great for being timeless, not revealing too much, and they work particularly well if the title is just brilliant,” says Erkas. “Illustrated covers are great for capturing feelings that photography can’t. And photographic covers are great for showing something real, but can also be dreamy, abstract and illustrative.” Books online and e-Books Just as record cover designers had to adjust to the loss of the 12-inch square album cover, replaced by the reduced canvas of the CD, book jacket designers are learning to adapt to the e-book format. But what is the role of a cover in publishing e-books? In Pearson’s opinion, “beyond working as a thumbnail at the point of sale in the online shop”, there is no role for a cover in electronic format. “When the e-book is purchased and installed, there seems no good reason for a cover image at all, especially if it takes up more memory than the book itself,” he argues. Crow takes a similarly stringent line. “I have never read an e-book. I read manuscripts on an iPad, but a paperback isn’t much heavier than an e-book reader, and I prefer real pages. Our covers are used to sell e-books online in any case. It would be less interesting to buy a book from a list of titles without some visual trigger to hint at the contents,” she says. An Eleanor Crow’s cover design for Faber & Faber (left); Design by Emily Mahon, art director at Doubleday (right)For Stoddart, the need for a book to have an online presence is factored into his thinking from the start. “One recent project I’ve been very excited about is an update to the Penguin Modern Classics series, initiated with a casual discussion about whether we could make [the series] more visible as online thumbnails." "This is a contentious issue – many people will argue that more and more books are bought online and their visibility at a small size is fundamental. Yet books listed on websites are usually accompanied by text, a reiteration of title and author, and a bucket of metadata.” To find a solution, Stoddart turned to colour. “A recent update of the Modern Classics template uses Penguin ‘eau-de-nil’ – a muted light turquoise which has evolved from other parts of Penguin’s history. This eau-de-nil is a beautiful colour that works well in the flesh and online. I’ve moved it onto the spines (which were an all too crisp white) and the back covers, and have used it as a brand note on the front cover titling.” It’s flashes of creativity like this that keep the field exciting. “If all bookshops ended up having to stock books with giant titles and images, the world may as well be over,” Stoddart concludes. This article originally appeared in Computer Arts magazine issue 270. Buy it here. Related articles: How to design the perfect book cover 10 great uses of type on book covers How to design a book cover in InDesign View the full article

The release of RealFlow | Cinema 4D last year marked the first time Next Limit’s fluid simulation engine had been available directly within a host app. However, with a high price tag, limited functionality and rather buggy v1.0 release, it’s fair to say it wasn’t the easiest of starts. Cinema 4D tutorials: 34 projects to up your 3D skillsWith RealFlow | Cinema 4D version 2.0, though, Next Limit has really raised its game. The plug-in is still limited to medium and small-scale simulations – no Hybrido or RealWave – although in fairness, it isn’t designed for that purpose; that’s what the standalone app is for. But you do now get the bulk of Real Flow’s toolset right inside Cinema 4D. The Caronte physics engine is also absent, but then C4D has its own implementation of Bullet. New technologies RealFlow | Cinema 4D is structured like X-Particles, with a series of nodes in the Object Manager, and initial set up is pretty straightforward. Add a Scene, add an Emitter, press Play. The particles react with any C4D mesh, once you’ve added the appropriate RF tag, and then you can cache the simulation, mesh the particles and render. This release sticks more or less to the same principle, but adds a raft of new technologies under the hood. You now get a much wider range of simulation types, from granular materials to viscous fluids, while also adding the ability to use the particle system to deform geometry, creating elasticated and soft body effects. And, importantly, it now lets you combine different fluid types within the same simulation, enabling you to mix oil and water or wash a pile of sand away. Creating granular simulations takes time and patience. It takes a while to figure out what the different values do and you can still get unexpected (or unrealistic) resultsThe biggest issue with RealFlow | Cinema 4D is really learning the multitude of controls and variables, and knowing which to use to make sure your simulation looks the way you want it to. Certainly, at first, you can find yourself endlessly tweaking values, trying to balance speed, resolution, time steps, cell size, w mesh density etc, to get the fluids acting correctly and your meshes looking good. It can be frustrating at times, and takes a lot of trial and error to get the result you’re after. But once you get your head round the options and learn the correct workflow, the plug-in is capable of producing excellent results, relatively quickly, depending on your system. There are a lot of learning materials available from Next Limit’s website to get you up to speed, but we wish there were some demo scenes to show off the features and take apart. This sequence shows how you can use the particle system in collision with a surface to deform an otherwise solid objectIn use we only came across a few hurdles, one of which is the Mesher’s occasional habit of not Auto-Building meshes on playback, when you’re just previewing your sim or don’t want to spend time caching it. Also, sometimes meshes don’t render to the Picture Viewer, despite having cached the particles. You’re often forced to do a preview render straight to screen to see the mesh – or cache the whole simulation. RealFlow | Cinema 4D features New viscous, viscoelastic and granular materials Elastic and rigid body simulations Multiple fluid interactions Force daemons use native C4D falloffs Object deformation with Particle Skinner The granular simulations are great, but limited by C4D’s ability to handle tens (or preferably hundreds) of thousands of objects. So while you can create some amazing simulations, it takes time and patience to get anything meaningful out the other end. Hopefully, future versions will solve some of these issues. In terms of functionality, this new version of RealFlow | Cinema 4D is leagues ahead of the original, and the only barrier to entry is pricing. It’s steep for new buyers, and owners of version 1.0 don’t get much of a discount either (it’s €420 plus taxes at the time of writing). But at half the price of the full RealFlow, while not exactly a bargain, it’s still a very useful addition to Cinema 4D’s growing armoury. This article originally appeared in 3D World magazine issue 266. Buy it here. Related articles: 30 free 3D models Review: Cinema 4D R18 How to get started with Cinema 4D View the full article

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During the Virus Bulletin closing keynote, Brian Honan urged the security industry to share more, victim-shame less and work harder to establish trust. View the full article

Freelancers in just about every field love the freedom that comes with their career choice but hate the paperwork and extra time it takes to manage everything. And Co helps wrangle the business side of the freelance life, and you can get a lifetime membership to the Graphite Plan on sale now for 95% off the full retail price. Being your own boss is great until it comes to performing all the administrative tasks that you need to do. And Co helps freelancers finally get a handle on the biggest hassles presented by this career path. With this deal you'll get an app that helps you keep track of every aspect of your freelance career, plus access to a real human representative who can help you streamline the entire process – from sending invoices to accepting payments and preparing to file taxes. You can get lifetime access to the And Co Graphite Plan on sale now for just $39.99 (approx £30)! That's a saving of 95% off the full retail price for an essential tool that will make your freelance career operate smoothly, so grab this deal today. Creative Bloq deals This great deal comes courtesy of the Creative Bloq Deals store – a creative marketplace that's dedicated to ensuring you save money on the items that improve your design life. We all like a special offer or two, particularly with creative tools and design assets often being eye-wateringly expensive. That's why the Creative Bloq Deals store is committed to bringing you useful deals, freebies and giveaways on design assets (logos, templates, icons, fonts, vectors and more), tutorials, e-learning, inspirational items, hardware and more. Every day of the working week we feature a new offer, freebie or contest – if you miss one, you can easily find past deals posts on the Deals Staff author page or Offer tag page. Plus, you can get in touch with any feedback at: deals@creativebloq.com Related articles: The 30 best iPhone apps for designers 4 ways to cash in as a freelancer 20 top tools for freelancers View the full article

Sketchable is a painting app for Windows 10. It enables you to paint large strokes on large images with no lag. Images are created in 'Journals', of which you can create any number at any size. It's like having multiple sketchbooks always open. This sophisticated app has a large set of features usually found only in expensive desktop programs. A few of the more obvious features found in the app are layer blending modes, customisable tools, importable brushes and paper textures, and more. 6 best digital art tools of 2017 so farThere are some features that aren't as obvious at first glance. One such gem is the ability to paint using Stencils. These give you the ability to constrain your brush stroke to a variety of different shapes. Each shape can be transformed, moved, scaled and rotated. Once you've tried painting with stencils, they will become integral to your work flow. 01. Get a stencil Find the stencil option in the FrisketsOpen the Explore the Masking, Snapping, and Symmetry options (Friskets) located on the left side of the Sketchable workspace. The icon looks like a triangle overlapping a ruler. A panel opens with Symmetry, Mask, Stencil, and Grid options. Choose Stencil. 02. Transform your stencil Use the control points to transform the default stencilAnother panel opens showing Stencil options. Turn the Eye icon on so that the Stencil is visible. It will be a blue colour. The default Stencil is a line with control points at the top, middle and bottom. You can click the control points to transform the stencil. 03. Paint precisely Now you can paint a stroke that's constrained to your stencilClick the Shape Selection icon and select a different shape. The Stencil updates to the chosen shape. Click the Stencil Gestures (padlock icon), choose a brush, and now you're able to paint a precise stroke that's constrained to your chosen Stencil. This article originally appeared in ImagineFX issue 151; buy it here! Related articles: 10 digital artists you need to know about Create a painterly feel in your digital art How to paint convincing reflections View the full article

The events circuit is pretty full these days, with attendees knowing pretty much what to expect from any given conference. However, there is a handful of events that are breaking the traditional barriers of the stage, where a speaker will talk at a group, not with them. View conference, in Torino, Italy is one of these; recognising that in our ever more engaged world, having an expert talk through a slideshow isn't enough. With this in mind, Maria Elena Gutierrez, the organiser, has put a large emphasis on attendees getting up close and personal with the experts, speakers and tutors. You will find the event has a range of hands on workshops and mixers, where you can rub shoulders with your heroes, network to land your dream job, or simply to learn a few tips and tricks to improve your skills. That doesn't mean there's a lack of cutting-edge content, though. You'll find all manner of discussions and talks on the latest developments in VFX, games and VR, the latter of which has a special focus this year. There will be Paul Debevec's insights into how the future of VR and digital humans might work, Boabab Studio's Eric Darnell will be talking about narrative storytelling in VR, an area that still needs a lot of development, to define the syntax and help directors, as well as viewers, understand the best way to move the plot forward. There will also be talks on the latest films, from Guardians of the Galaxy 2, War for Planet of the Apes and many more. If you are looking to make a career change or move, then head to the job fair, for meetings, advice and to talk to the recruiters. All in all, the 18th annual View Conference is set to be the biggest and best yet. Related articles: Start your career in games Immerse yourself in VR podcasts What to see at Siggraph 2017 View the full article

So, you want to do something a little different this year and design a t-shirt – nice one. But, before you get started, there's a few things you need to consider. Contrary to what a lot of people seem to believe, the design process isn’t something that just anyone can dive into and immerse themselves in. It’s something that requires knowledge and planning. Foresight. Caution. It’s one of the reasons you see so many terrible T-shirts on the market – plenty of folks don’t understand this, and instead blunder their way into making a shirt that misses every single mark. You need to make sure you aren’t one of them. We've already covered some top tips for better t-shirt design, and we've also got some brilliant Illustrator tutorials to help you out, but before you get started, you should really ask yourself these questions... 50 amazing vector art tutorials01. Why am I designing this? Are you trying to promote awareness of a brand? Working to launch a clothing line? Just want to put together an awesome shirt to share with the public? You need to have some idea of your core message in mind before you design, as people with different goals are going to end up creating very different shirts. 02. Who am I designing this for? Your audience is every bit as important as the core message/purpose of your shirt. Something designed for 14-year-old kids, for example, is generally going to look very different from a shirt made for twenty-somethings. Focus on the audience whose attention you want to grab, and design with them in mind. Services like Blue Cotton allow the design of custom screen printed t-shirts in a special design studio03. Is there a market for my design? Here’s the most important question – and probably the most difficult to answer, as it’ll require some pretty extensive market research. You’ve got your audience well in mind, but are you certain they’ll be interested in what you’ve got to offer? Can you say beyond a shadow of a doubt that you’ll be filling a niche that hasn’t already been filled by a competitor? 04. Do I have the necessary expertise for this project? What sort of design experience do you have? Are you confident in your ability to put together a T-shirt that’s both aesthetically appealing and suited to your purpose? There’s no shame in bringing in an external designer if you’re uncertain you can make it on your own – as a matter of fact, I’d honestly recommend calling on an expert. 05. How will I handle production? Last but certainly not least, once you’ve got the design all figured out and finalised, how will you market it? How will you deliver it to your audience? Will it be in a physical, brick-and-mortar storefront, available as a prize at an event, or available to order at an online store? In the case of the latter two, how are you going to deliver it? More importantly, what sort of price point are you going to offer? What materials will you use? These are all questions that you need to answer before you even think about designing a shirt – but once you’ve answered them, you’re good to go! Lead image courtesy of HypeForType. Related articles: Spinning tops: where art meets engineering 20 stylish custom playing cards Creating new and innovative products: 4 expert tips View the full article

The macOS Photos app began life as iPhoto: a consumer app for managing digital photographs, with a few basic photo editing tools bolted on. As of macOS High Sierra, the Photos app has come of age, with powerful new editing features that make it worth another look – even if you’re a seasoned pro. The 5 best laptops for photo editingIs Photos for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Mac powerful to the point where you should delete your prized copy of Photoshop CC? Of course not. But when you need to make some quick adjustments, and fancy doing so with a user-friendly – yet surprisingly powerful – toolset, Apple’s Photos app is all you need. Get Adobe Creative CloudIn this guide we show you what you can do with Apple's Photos app and how to use Photos for Mac and iOS devices for quick and easy photo editing. 01. Quickly filter images Quickly get to edited images by filtering your library It’s worth remembering that Photos for Mac can store any flat bitmap – not just photos. So you can use it to stash screenshots, bits of research grabbed from the internet, and even animated GIFs. In all cases, you can use Get Info (Cmd/Ctrl+I) and assign descriptions and keywords to items so they’re easier to find later. The new sidebar provides single-click access to key content and media types (favourites, people, screenshots, animated content and so on). Each feed also includes a Showing menu, which defaults to All Photos. Click it and you can filter the current view by favourites, edited images, photos, videos, or keyword (or a combination thereof). 02. Edit your photos The revamped editor in Photos is far more usable and efficient Images selected in the library can be flagged as favourites or rotated by clicking the relevant toolbar button, or by using options/shortcuts in the Image menu. Hit Return and load the editing view. This differs radically from the macOS Sierra version of Photos, which required you to manually load sets of adjustment tools. Now, they’re all immediately accessible in the Adjust tab, housed in a scrolling pane. 03. Crop and rotate If all you want to do is crop photos, you don’t need another app Select the Crop tab to make quick adjustments to your image’s orientation. Use the drag handles for manual adjustment, and two-finger swipe your trackpad to adjust the rotation value. In the sidebar, horizontally flip an image by clicking the Flip icon. Expand the Aspect menu to access alternate cropping options beyond Freeform. When selecting an aspect that crops your image, click-drag or two-finger swipe to adjust your image’s position within the crop. 95 top Photoshop tutorials04. Make adjustments Grainy, moody black and white, by way of a click and a couple of drags When using the Light, Color, and Black & White adjustment tools in Photos, you’ve three approaches. Click Auto and the Photos app does what it thinks works best – and this is often a good starting point. You can then/alternatively drag the vertical bar left and right to change the strength and nature of the adjustment. You can drill down further, too. Click the triangle next to Options for sliders that enable you to fine-tune many aspects of these adjustment types, such as Saturation, Contrast and Cast for Color. 05. Edit levels and curves The new Curves tool is an excellent addition to Photos The Levels tool enables you to adjust an image’s black point, shadows, mid-tones, highlights, and white point. Using the tool’s pop-up menu, you can switch between Luminance or RGB values. Along with making changes to the image as a whole, you can individually adjust the Red, Green and Blue channels. Note that each drag handle moves individually; hold Option/Alt to move both at once. The Curves tool is new to Photos on macOS High Sierra, and works similarly to the one found in Photoshop. You can use the eyedropper tools to set white, grey and black points, manually adjust the curve and add new points, and target individual channels by selecting them from the RGB menu. 06. Use selective colour You can shift red to yellow by using Selective Color Another new tool in Photos on macOS High Sierra, Selective Color enables you to adjust the appearance of a particular hue. Either select one of the six displayed, or choose a custom hue with the eyedropper. Then use the Hue, Saturation, and Luminance sliders to make your changes, and Range to determine what colour range the effect should target. Compared to Photoshop, the Selective Color tool in Apple's Photos app is arguably faster and more usable. However, it’s restricted to a single colour in any one picture. It's good, then, for removing a cast but not so great for several required bouts of fine-tuning. 07. Work with effects in Photos The filter selection in Photos is small but tasteful Explore the Adjust sidebar to find more tools. Photos' Retouch tool works in a similar way to Photoshop’s Cloning tool, albeit without the ability to adjust the brush type – only its size. The Red-eye, White Balance, Noise Reduction, Sharpen and Vignette tools all do what you’d expect – either through Photos automating the application process or you manually fiddling with sliders. The Photos app also has a small selection of filters in its Filters tab. As of macOS High Sierra, the app’s ditched aping film, and instead offers three variants each on the Vivid, Dramatic, and Black and White filters. 08. Compare, share and revert photos You can send images to external apps for major edits All edits made within the Photos app are non-destructive. On making an edit, you’ll see an A/B button at the top-left of the window, which can be used to flip between your edit and the original shot. A Revert to Original button is adjacent; when clicked, this reverts your image to how it was when it was first imported. In the Adjust tab, you can toggle individual adjustments by turning the blue ticks on and off. You can use external apps to edit your images if Photos doesn’t meet your needs. In the library view, go to Image > Edit With and choose an editor. When you’re done, the edited image will be pulled back into Photos, and you’ll still be able to revert the image should you need to. (That said, this feature is new, so consider working with duplicates: Image > Duplicate or cmd+D makes a copy of a selected image.) 09. Use Photos on iPad On iPad, Photos is far more basic than the Mac app On iPad or iPad Pro, the Photos app is basic, its editing view resembling the older version of the Mac app. It’s centred on quick fixes, cropping, and light/colour/black and white adjustments. Should you use iCloud Photo Library, images and edits alike are synced across your devices, which is handy when making quick changes on iPad and then fine-tuning them on your desktop or laptop. But if you hanker for more power when on the move, consider Snapseed or Lightroom, or even full-fledged Photoshop equivalent Affinity Photo. 10. Use Photos on iPhone The Loop animation also automatically stabilises and crops your Live Photo Even the biggest iPhone isn’t geared towards photo editing. However, on the smaller screen, the stripped-back Photos app makes some sense. On iOS 11, you can also, when browsing Live Photos, flick up any snap and switch its animation/render type. Alternatives are endless loop/bounce animations, and a faked long exposure based on the video component of the Live Photo. For something beefier, again consider Snapseed and Lightroom for iPhone. It’s also worth checking out Pixelmator, which provides Photoshop-like tools in the palm of your hand. Related articles: 10 creative free iPhone apps for designers 10 ways to improve your photography skills 6 great video editing apps for mobile View the full article

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You're reading The Design Side Of Conversion Rate Optimization, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! Conversions drive the web but most designers don’t think like this. Whenever you write an article and someone finds it in Google, their click is a conversion onto your site. If they keep reading and sign up for your newsletter that’s another conversion based on different goals. Web design is about usability but it’s also about KPIs and user […] View the full article

The human figure is one of the most challenging subjects for an artist to draw. After all, we're very familiar with how a human body looks: our eyes easily pick up if an arm looks too long here, or a leg seems too short there. But perhaps one of the most tricky parts of human body to illustrate are the hands. 10 steps to improve your figure drawingThanks to their bone structure and flexibility, there's a lot to consider – and get wrong – when drawing hands. Not only that, but hands communicate a lot of character; plus they have to stay in proportion with the rest of the body. It's no wonder so many illustrators dread drawing them. Comic artist and teacher PJ Holden has summed up the frustration of drawing hands with a witty comic that he shared on Twitter – which you can read below. Carefully, carefully... argh, time to start againHolden has tapped into a feeling a lot of artists can relate to with his witty comic. After taking a first pass at drawing a hand, his comic character tries to refine it and achieve perfection, only to be left with something that looks worse than what he started with. It's enough to make you snap your pencil in half. So what can you do if, like Holt, you're a frustrated artist who wants to improve your hand drawing skills? Well, you could take a look at our how to draw hands guide by artist Brynn Metheney for starters. The secret to hand illustration is breaking them down into componentsIn this brilliant seven-step tutorial, Metheney walks through the anatomy of a hand and shows you how to build it up in 3D. By the time you've finished, you'll have a greater understanding of how hands work and how the bones, tendons and muscles all move together. Related articles: How to draw a face Get better at figure drawing Drawing techniques: 7 fundamentals of pencil drawing View the full article

Every summer in the UK, thousands of graphic design students graduate and start looking for jobs. It’s a massively competitive market, so if a student wants to get the best job, they need to stand out from the crowd. The best laptops for graphic design 2017This need for graduates to rise above the pack brings about an exciting challenge for educators, and we are constantly trying to find the best way to help our students. My most successful graduates have not always been the most technically accomplished. But they have been ambitious, able to pitch, eager to talk about their work, and with a design portfolio full of great ideas. A sense of ironic fun pervades Alexis Facca's portfolio InDesign is useless if you don’t have a good understanding of grids, typography and visual composition While I understand software skills are necessary, and the industry corroborates this, it’s important that educators prioritise ideas, a thorough knowledge of the principles of design and a good sense of how to conduct research. If you understand the principles of design, it should be easy to problem-solve a piece of software. Get Adobe Creative CloudFor example, InDesign CC is a pretty intuitive piece of kit, but it’s useless if you don’t have a good understanding of grid theory, typography and visual composition. To gain knowledge of such principles, you don’t need software, just an inquisitive mind and some time to do a bit of reading. Additionally, the skills learned through this problem-solving can also be applied to other creative tasks, such as responding to a brief. Once you have a concept and know what you need to achieve, that is the time to pick up the right tool – this may be software, or something else. Software problems The focus too many students have as they start graphic design degrees is to learn as much as possible about the associated software package. And while I would not discourage this, it needs to be just one part of a course’s focus. I ask students if they would prefer to spend three years learning something that might be completely overhauled in a month – or worse still, become redundant (think of the decline in the use of Flash). Or would they rather focus on ideas, and knowledge that never dates? With software, you never know what changes are around the cornerI’ve worked with students who have spent inordinate amounts of time working through tutorials to give typography a wood effect in Photoshop, and then give it realistic lighting and shadows to make it look ‘real’. Instead, I would propose spending 20 minutes in a woodwork studio and 20 more in a photography studio. Not only is the photographic approach quicker, but it will stand out more in a portfolio and show a greater sense of adventure and better problem-solving. If your projects are limited by the possibilities of the software you are using, the outcomes will never be innovative. Far too many portfolios look like a series of technical exercises, and this is missing the one thing the industry needs above anything else: great, innovative thinkers full of ideas. A seismic shift So, where does this idea that graphic design can be broken down into several easy-to-learn components come from? From the earliest years in education, students are sold the notion of building blocks to success. If they can learn the right answers, they will pass the test and proceed. However, in the design industry, there is no right answer – just the one you have the confidence to pitch. It’s a seismic shift for some students, but educators need to encourage their cohorts to embrace not knowing answers immediately, and then show them how to problem-solve. But how does an educator teach students the skills necessary to thrive in design, such as adaptability, resilience, efficiency and innovation? Educators need to encourage their cohorts to embrace not knowing answers immediately, and then show them how to problem-solve I would suggest that right from the first year, students should pitch, present and be encouraged to talk about their work as much as possible. Educators need to offer students as much access to the industry and live clients as possible. Real-world experience will help sharpen and focus a student’s ambitions, and meeting a cross-section of the industry will help them find the roles they want to apply for later. Many students are not aware that graphic design employment goes further than the person sitting on a Mac using Photoshop; they do not know about copywriters, strategists or account managers. While I do believe that graphic design courses should demonstrate the basics of each major software package (alongside offering inductions to Fab Labs, photography, sound recording, amongst other things), students can only innovate and show real ambition when they apply the skills they’ve learnt to solve real-world problems. This article originally appeared in Computer Arts magazine issue 270. Buy it here. Related articles: How to become a junior designer How to get into design without a degree 4 first-class ways to make your design education count View the full article

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There was once a time when, to be taken seriously as a creative agency, you had to be based in a capital city – ideally London, Paris, Berlin or New York. But in these digital days, it’s now perfectly possible to do quality work with big, global clients wherever you feel happiest and most comfortable. And with rents sky high in London, what UK-based designer wouldn’t want to branch out geographically? With your physical location now less important, the ‘shopfront’ of your business falls more and more to your portfolio website. We've already looked at the 7 best London agency websites of 2017 and 7 best New York agency websites of 2017, but these agencies, all based in Greater Manchester, England, have made their sites work brilliantly in attracting attention and new clients. And we can all learn something from what they’ve put together... 01. Music There’s a unique and original design sensibility to Music’s website Music is an award-winning branding and communications agency based on Lever Street, central Manchester. Launched in 2007, its clients include Nike, Triumph, The Brit Awards, NHS, Polaroid and Brew Dog. “We won’t follow due process or take the road well trodden,” it promises. “We won’t hide behind the agency/client divide and we won’t create work we’re not proud of.” And the design of its website provides evidence that these are not mere words, but a real philosophy that infuses its designs. We particularly love the confident, full-screen carousel that greets you on arrival; the day-glo rainbow coloured list that pops up on clicking the hamburger icon; and the artful, confident typography that finds the sweet spot between cocky and professional. 02. BGN New agency BGN’s site is beautifully put togetherFounded just this year, BGN is a strategic, brand-led agency based in Charlotte Street, central Manchester. It’s a small but perfectly formed team of six people, with 46 years of creative agency experience among them (plus, somewhat unusually, Business and Psychology degrees). Their clients to date include Brand Attic, Forse Cycling, Capo Juices and The Moorings. Their portfolio website is beautifully put together, with confident use of all-caps titles and an inspired palette of pale pink-on-black that really shouldn’t work but somehow does. As a new company, it’s a nice touch that they also list the clients they’ve worked with individually over the years, quickly conveying the depth of experience amongst them. And we love how clicking ‘Say Hi’ produces not the boring contact form you expect, but a lively looking conversational interface; a sign that these old dogs are still alive to new tricks. 03. WDC WDC Creative’s website draws on its interior design smartsWDC Creative is a boutique creative design studio specialising in commercial and retail interiors and graphic design. Founded in 2001, it’s based in Hilton Street in central Manchester with a client list including the likes of Asics, Godiva, Chelsea FC and P&O Ferries. Specialising as it does in interiors, you’d expect the design elements of WDC’s website to be perfectly balanced, with generous use of white space… and you won’t be disappointed. This elegant layout brings together some enticing photography with a lovely selection of fonts to produce a visual experience not unlike leafing through a high-end magazine. There’s a fascinating blog, too, with posts on topics such as ‘What Makes a Good Office Design?’ and ‘What Can Environmental Graphic Design Do for You?’ 04. AHOY AHOY makes clever use of geometric line drawings to draw everything togetherAHOY is an integrated branding agency offering brand strategy, ecommerce and digital marketing. Launched in 2008, it’s based in Heaton Moore, Stockport, Greater Manchester, and with clients including the likes of Greene King Beer, Barburrito, Pizza Hut, Lancashire Farm and Neighbourhood. AHOY’s slick website does an excellent job at presenting its extensive portfolio of work, usefully enabling you to filter projects by type or industry. Visually, a collection of geometric shapes, often subtly animated, brings it all together and provides a delightful visual consistency. And we love how, instead of containing a lot of waffle and jargon, the ‘About’ page gets straight on with introducing you to the members of the team. It’s a nice touch that gets to the heart of the matter of why a client might choose to work with them. 05. Flow Creative Flow Creative’s site presents a lot of images and information in a laid-back, easy to navigate wayFlow Creative is design-led production company made up of a small team of designers, illustrators, animators and directors. Founded in 2016, it's based in Lever Street, central Manchester (a few doors down from Music) and its clients include the BBC, Porsche, JD Sports, Apple, Manchester United and GlaxoSmithKline. There’s a beautiful sense of, er, flow to its website, which packs a ton of information and images into a one-page site that’s quick and easy to navigate around. Using icons to identify the multitude of services it offers is a genius move, as a plain list would have just become a blur of unwieldy text. The portfolio itself is nicely categorised into seven clear and understandable categories, making it easy to find what you’re looking for. Oh, and boy do we love that logo. 06. Instruct Studio Instruct’s website ditches visual trickery for good, solid designInstruct Studio is a multi-disciplinary communications studio working within the architectural, media and cultural sector. Founded in 2009, it’s based in Stevenson Square in central Manchester's Northern Quarter (just around the corner from Music and Flow Creative). Current clients include Bench, British Cycling, The National Football Museum, Manchester Airport Group and Universal Pictures. The studio’s homepage goes for a bold and colourful image grid, with minimal text, that seems perfectly positioned for the Instagram era. Across the rest of the site, there are no clever tricks or animations, but with original and inspired typography, powerful images and an artful, elegant layout, who needs them? 07. Tile Creative Tile Creative’s site is businesslike yet infused with a subtle sense of the dynamicTile Creative is a design studio specialising in strategy-led creative work across brand projects requiring elements of print, digital, moving image and physical design. Founded in 2012, it’s another one based in Lever Street, central Manchester (that street really is a hub of creativity) and its clients include Adidas, TalkTalk, Ryder Cup and SpaceZero. Its website is businesslike: with no overblown effects to distract you, you can get on with just finding the information you need quickly. That said, there are some little transitions and animation going on as you peruse the site that add a subtle sense of verve and dynamism to proceedings. That, along with the fun and friendly typography and bright and cheerful colours, make this a website that’s a delight to explore. Liked this? Then check out these related articles: 6 famous agency websites and what they can teach us 10 great uses of imagery on agency websites 5 uses for stock images you might not have thought of View the full article

You're reading How to Speed up the Design to Development Handoff: Use Justinmind, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! Looking for a tool that designers and developers can agree on? Justinmind is made for web and mobile app prototypes and Hi-Fi website wireframes. It has all the capabilities expected in prototyping tools such as resizing, drag and drop placement, formatting and more. In addition, it features a lot of goodies including widget libraries, reusable […] View the full article

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If you're busy working from home or in the office and want a quick break, reading a comic is a great way to get some much-needed downtime and inspiration – and web comics are free and easily accessible. Some of the world's most well-known fictional characters were born through the medium of comics. The likes of Batman, Superman and Spider-Man have all won the hearts of successive generations of readers – to such an extent that, despite the rise of the internet, the printed comic industry is still booming. Best free WordPress themesThat doesn't mean the web is irrelevant to comics, though – far from it. Indeed, it's given birth to an array of inspirational online-only creations that have transported the medium into the modern age. Here, we pick 21 of our favourite web comics... 01. Webcomic Name Alex Norris' Webcomic Name is an actual good thing that happened in 2016The first and the newest web comic on this list, Webcomic Name first appeared in July 2016 and swiftly became a firm favourite. It's the work of UK-based artist Alex Norris and it never fails to amuse us with its excellently naive artwork, blobby characters and simple jokes, usually topped off with Webcomic Name's staple 'oh no' punchline. It shouldn't really work but it very much does, every single time. 100 amazing Adobe Illustrator tutorials02. Achewood There's so much brilliance to Achewood, especially Speaker SneakersFrom one of the newest to a venerable classic. Chris Onstad's Achewood first appeared in 2001 and focuses on the strange lives of a thoroughly diverse cast of stuffed toys, pets and robots. Absurd by nature and often thoroughly surreal, Achewood's simple artwork belies its complex storylines and often glorious use of the English language. There's a huge archive to work through; Onstad helpfully provides links to the big Achewood story arcs, but we'd honestly advise you to start at the beginning and just go with the flow. 03. Bird Boy Hellboy creator, Mike Magnola, is a fan of Bird BoyAnne Szabla's Bird Boy follows the story of Bali, a 10-year-old Nuru boy who is keen to prove his worth to his tribe. After being banned from the ceremony that would make him an adult, he stumbles upon a legendary weapon and must flee across a dangerous land of gods, men and beasts to prevent it falling into the wrong hands. The story was picked up by Darkhorse comics and has been compiled into graphic novels Bird Boy Volume 1: The Sword of Mali Mani and Bird Boy Volume 2: The Liminal Wood. With a thumbs up from Mike Mignola, it's definitely worth checking out. 04. Hark! A Vagrant Kate Beaton uses her comic to remind us of women's forgotten historyCanadian comic artist, Kate Beaton, blended her expertise in history and anthropology with a talent for visual storytelling to give us this popular webcomic. Kate started the web strip during her breaks from her day job and they were surprisingly all created in MS Paint (I know right?!) Her simple, whimsical style, caricaturing Western historical figures from James Joyce to Ada Lovelace make Hark! A Vagrant a particular favourite of ours, and won the artist multiple awards. Step Aside, Pops, a collection of her Hark! A Vagrant comics, topped The New York Times graphic novel bestseller list in October 2015 and in the same year, a poll ranked Beaton 14th among the top all-time female comics artists. 05. Necropolis Within a month of the comics online release, Image were already in talks to publish a print editionWritten and drawn by Jake Wyatt with a helping hand from Kathryn Wyatt, this ongoing fantasy web comic is the tale of one girl's quest for revenge. Updated every Wednesday, the duo have been painstakingly developing the story and stunning visuals for over a year. It is yet to be revealed when the comic will conclude, but there are already plans to release a graphic novel with none other than Image, when it finally finds its ending. 06. The Sad Ghost Club The Sad Ghost Club was created to be an outlet for anyone who's ever felt aloneRun by Lize Meddings and Laura Jayne Cox, The Sad Ghost Club is a web comic with a cult following. "The Sad Ghost Club is a club for anyone who’s ever felt sad or lost," they explain in their manifesto. "It's the club for those who don’t feel like they're part of any other club; we love creating comics and zines to highlight the issues that a lot of ghosties go through." Branching out into tote bags, beanies, tee-shirts, badges and more, the duo have come a long way with their tales of a lonely little ghost. Meddings' and Cox's approach ensures you'll be smiling through each story, knowing you're not alone in the world after all. 07. Oglaf Oglaf isn't for the faint hearted – this is one of the tamer offeringsCreated by Trudy Cooper and Doug Bayne, Oglaf is often a very NSFW web comic centred on a medieval fantasy realm which is decidedly sexual in nature. Not for the faint-hearted, Cooper and Bayne bring their world to life through hilarious short stories and inspirational illustrations – just don't let your boss catch you reading it. 08. The Order of the Stick You'll love The Order of the Stick if you're into medieval shenanigansIf you've embarked on role-playing games or dipped your toes into the world of medieval fantasy stories, you'll know that people tend to take both very seriously. The Order of the Stick is a web comic that pokes fun at the subjects with a unique flair. Created by Rich Burlew, the artist brings the stick figure into the modern age. 09. Botched Spot Smack down! James Hornsby pokes fun at professional wrestlingArtist and writer James Hornsby has been parodying and lampooning professional wrestling culture with his hilarious Botched Spot ever since 2008. Creating his own characters including Olav Orlav and Rad Bad DeBone, this is one of those web comics that anyone can enjoy - whether you like wrestling or not. 10. Deathbulge Deathbulge hosts an array of hilarious heavy metal charactersDeathbulge was initially a comic series about a death metal band, but illustrator and writer Dan came to believe that was too limiting, so decided to draw whatever he felt like. It seems his change in direction worked, as the web comic has become a firm favourite among web comic fans. With out a new issue every Monday, there's always something fresh. 11. Bad Machinery Bad Machinery channels the wit and charm of our favourite '90s girl DariaBad Machinery, by John Allison, tells the stories of six young sleuths - three boys and three girls - attending Griswalds Grammar School in Keane End, Tackleford. An inventive web comic with colourful illustrations and witty dialogue that MTV favourite Daria would be proud of. 12. You're All Just Jealous of My Jetpack Tom Gauld's hilariously witty comic strips have made him a favourite among fansTom Gauld is a hero of sorts among the illustrator and comic-loving crowd. Based in London, not only does he draw a regular cartoon for the Guardian newspaper, he's also created a number of comic books. Although You're All Just Jealous of My Jetpack is indeed, a printed publication, you can sample its delights on his Tumblr. 13. Sketchbook Diaries Gemma Correll charts her 'mostly boring' life in her daily diariesGemma Correll describes herself as a cartoonist, writer, illustrator and all-round small person. It's arguable whether her sketchbook diaries technically count as a web comic, but they're so charming that we just had to include them here. Charting her 'mostly boring' life, cute illustrations teamed with refreshingly honest observations make for some delightful reading. Related articles: How to draw and paint - 100 pro tips and tutorials 7 key typographic trends in Marvel movie logos How to create a comic page View the full article

London's Science Museum has revealed its new look courtesy of top branding agency North Design – much to the annoyance of the team behind the museum's previous award-winning identity, Johnson Banks, which took to Twitter to voice its opinions. The rebrand was announced on the Science Museum's Twitter page this week, complete with an eight-second animation that showed off its new typographic logo. Typography is the centrepiece of the rebrand, with 'Science Museum' now spelt out in an all-caps, sans-serif font that becomes thinner and thinner as the letters go on. This echoes the gradient shading and colour palette that accompanies the redesign. How to choose the right typeface for a brandThe agency behind the rebrand, North Design, has been remarkably low-key about the rebrand so far. There's no mention (at the time of writing) of the work on its website, and the museum itself hasn't further explained the thinking behind the new identity. What we do know is that the rebrand covers the brick and mortar museum itself, plus the Science Museum website and social media platforms. And while the typography thins out in the name of the museum, this distinctive typographical quirk is saved only for one headline on the Science Museum's site. Perhaps this is for the best: if you were to type a sentence with that font it would vanish before you finished. Controversial rebrand The rebrand includes a new look for the Science Museum websiteSo why has the Science Museum rebranded? The old identity by Johnson Banks – with its angular font, which looked like it needed decoding – won a D&AD award in 2011, the year after it launched. Today, it’s firmly entrenched as a design favourite in the public eye. There are some similarities: Johnson Banks' branding for the Science Museum was also typographically playful, for example. Blocky and laid out in rows and columns, the logo took its cue from code and digital typefaces. The Science Museum's previous branding by Johnson Banks features a distinctive, angular typeface"It takes a little bit of working out, but ‘decoding and sharing’ seemed an apt analogy for the museum itself," Johnson Banks explained on its website. "It also provided [the Science Museum] with what they’ve never had – a unique wordmark to identify themselves which could be literally ‘stamped’ onto everything they do, and an immediate solution to their brand architecture issues, which were solved virtually overnight." There's no information currently available about North Design's brief. But one thing’s for sure: Johnson Banks isn’t impressed. So far, Johnson Banks' negative reaction to the new Science Museum identity hasn't quite hit Spiekermann levels of backlash, but it has invited other designers to weigh in with their opinions on the rebrand. The general consensus within the Twitter design community seems to side with Johnson Banks. But that's not surprising: we're hardwired to resist change. And sadly we see this initial knee-jerk reaction time and time again with rebrands. We're more interested in how opinions will sit in a few months' time, when the public have had time to digest the new design – and when we have more information on the brief given to North Design. North Design is remaining tight-lipped in the midst of all this drama. So we won't be seeing a bitter back and forth Twitter spat between Johnson Banks with the Science Museum caught in the middle. It's a family institution after all, won't somebody think of the children? Related articles: Have designers become lazy? 6 embarrassing examples of bad kerning 10 top tips for kerning type View the full article