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Cursive fonts, or script fonts, are especially prevalent on the web, as they're often representational of handwriting (although not always), so with a little knowledge of how to scan and map artwork into font-generating software, it's relatively easy to create your own cursive fonts. 50 great free handwriting fontsBut when it comes to the overabundance of free design resources on the web – especially free fonts – it can be tricky to find the diamonds in the rough. With this in mind we've selected a handful of brilliant cursive fonts. They're all free to use commercially – not just in personal projects. These tributes to the agonisingly long calligraphy classes you resented at school all have at least some degree of type-hinting and/or kerning applied by the type designer. 01. La Sonnambula The opera-inspired La Sonnambula is dripping with eleganceDesigned by Fernando Haro, a freelance graphic designer and webmaster who describes himself as an eclectic typographer, La Sonnambula is a handwritten and extended font that's made with calligraphic texts and elegant titles in mind. It's named after an opera by Vincenzo Bellini, performed by Maria Callas in Milan in 1957, and despite its venerable inspiration it's bang up to date, even including a Bitcoin symbol. 02. Lily of the Valley Lily of the Valley is a script font with some lovely decorative touchesGregory Medina – AKA dcoxy – does a great line in fonts that are free for personal use, and Lily of the Valley is just one of his wide range of attractive script fonts. Fun and quirky with some adorable flourishes on many of the letterforms, it features a full set of lower and upper case characters, plus accents and symbols. For numbers and extra weights, contact Medina to buy a licence for the full version. 03. The Woodlands The Woodlands is free for both personal and commercial useThis beautiful design, The Woodlands, is by designer Jeremy Vessey. "It has a modern calligraphy aesthetic that is extremely popular," Vessey comments on Behance. "The Woodlands was created to give designers a free alternative, which will help you achieve that lettering feel we all love." The Woodlands is free for both personal and commercial use. 04. Noelan Add some charm to your designs with Noelan typefaceFree cursive font Noelan comes from the team at Pixel Surplus. Free for both personal and commercial use, Noelan is a clean and modern design, and includes many alternates and international characters for easy mixing and matching. 05. King Basil Create eye-catching designs with free cursive font King BasilFee cursive font King Basil is one of many beautiful type designs from Missy Meyer and Mats-Peter Forss. Available at no charge for both personal and commercial use, King Basil is great for a variety of print and digital projects, including stationery, posters, logo designs and more. 06. Milkshake Thick, substantial script font Milkshake was created by typographer Laura WorthingtonTypographer Laura Worthington is behind thick, substantial script font Milkshake. Available over on Fair Goods, Worthington comments: "As I went through the design and development phase, I was really drawn to how round and thick it was turning out and I liked this look – it makes it a sturdy font, capable of holding up against busy backgrounds and bold enough for headlines or titling treatments." 07. Variane Script A classic all-American script font, perfect for branding, advertisements and website headersCreated by Boy Moch Tomi, this stunning script font harks back to the good ol' days of classic design and marked his first attempt at creating script fonts. He says, "I am very interested in the script because of its complexity and only a few of them are free to use. I hope that these fonts will be useful for everyone!" The modern take on classic cursive is reminiscent of early 20th century American signage and can instantly give your brand a splash of vintage charm. 08. Lavanderia Working as a script font, Lavanderia will really work well as a heading typeCreated by designer James Edmondson, Lavaderia is a charming font that takes influence from the Laundromat windows of San Francisco's Mission District. It comes in a range of open type features and three weights. Working as a script font, Lavanderia will really work well as a heading type as well as being able to slot nicely into the set body text. 09. Fabfelt Script After a script font with a hint of retro? Try Fabfelt...French graphic designer Fabien Despinoy is the creative behind Fabfelt, a free script font with an industrial feel. "I tried to design a handwritten typeface without graininess, which is natural and a little retro," he comments. 10. Debby Debby is a warm brush font that works well on greeting cardsNot strictly cursive but this hand-drawn brush type will add a natural touch to your designs. It's ideal for anything from wedding invitations, poster and logos to greeting cards and more, thanks to its irregular, bouncing characters that add a personal feel. 11. Black Jack This sophisticated type design was created by Ronna Penner of TypadelicThis sophisticated Black Jack type design was created by Ronna Penner of Typadelic. Although this cursive font is only available in one style, Black Jack is made up of 177 characters, including a full set of upper and lower case letters and numbers. 12. Allura Allura is the script format of the Allura Pro familyA stylised, yet legible font, Allura is the script format of the Allura Pro family. Designed by Rob Leuschke, Allura is a great cursive font option for use on invitations and as a display typeface. 13. Dancing Script Dancing Script is a typeface with plenty of bounceA casual but lively cursive font, Dancing Script was designed by Pablo Impallari. The letters bounce and change slightly and capital letters are big and go below the baseline. Referencing popular scripts from the 50s, Dancing Script is great for creating a friendly, informal look. 14. Anke Calligraphic FG Regular First among cursive fonts, Anke Arnold's design has a set of 100+ kerning pairs built inOne of the best open source script fonts, this was originally designed by Anke Arnold of www.anke-art.de, but has been extended to include international characters by Fontgrube Media Design. It's only available in TrueType, rather than OpenType, but does have a set of over 100 kerning pairs built in, offering an approximation of the benefits of OpenType. And of course, it's free to use commercially. 15. Oleo Script Oleo Script is flowy yet legibleDesigners Soytutype describe Oleo Script as being a flowly yet legible, non-connected script typeface. One of our favourite cursive fonts, it's a great option for use as a display typeface, and is available via Google Webfonts in two different weights: regular and bold, as well as in a 'Swash Caps' variant for both weights. 16. Honey Script Honey Script is beautifully whimsicalThis beautifully whimsical script font was designed by Dieter Steffmann, a trained typesetter turned amateur designer. His work is distributed freely via approved websites as part of his philosophy that fonts are a part of cultural heritage. We love the simple hand-drawn appearance of the lines in this cursive font. 17. Marketing Script Marketing Script feels perfectly spaced and balancedThis is another of Dieter Steffmann's fonts, demonstrating his versatility as a type designer. What sets the Marketing Script font apart is its flowing, connected characters which feel perfectly spaced and balanced. Available in three different styles, including a shadow form, this is one of our favourite cursive fonts. 18. Pacifico Regular Don't be fooled by this heavy-handed example - Pacifico Regular is a great cursive fontThis lovely clean cursive font has been designed by Vernon Adams of newtypography.co.uk, and has been featured in adverts for butter spreads amongst others! It's also available within Google's Web Fonts collection, for use online. 19. Little Days Little Days invokes a sense of childhoodLittle Days is a cute cursive font designed by West Wind Fonts. You can see some of their other work at their website. This script font isn't designed for serious use, but invokes a sense of childish naivety that makes it appealing. 20. Aguafina Script Regular Aguafina Script Regular is economical in its use of letterformsThis eye-catching and elegant from Sudtipos offers a set of clean lines that manage to flow without expanding to fill every bit of space. It's economical with its use of the letterforms, reducing the capital A to a simple up/down stroke with a stylish flick. This is one of those cursive fonts that's great for bold headlines. 21. Freebooter Script Freebooter Script features bold swishes and trillsCreated by Canadian designer Graham Meade, Freebooter is a superbly extravagant cursive font that bursts out of its lines with bold swishes and trills. This is a nice alternative to scenarios where you might fall back to Chopin or Edwardian Script, but want something a little more characterful. 22. Wisdom Script Wisdom Script is great for headlinesA brilliant retro-style script font that feels at home in a headline or display, this was created by James Edmondson (who also made Lavaderia, earlier in our list) while a student at California College of the Arts in San Francisco. We particularly like the nod towards a musical treble clef within the letter S. Free for personal use, this particular script font will cost you a small fee of $30 if you'd like to use it in a professional capacity. 23. 5th Grade Cursive A fancy font, 5th Grade Cursive is great for any retro-style designs5th Grade Cursive is one of many handwritten fonts created by type designer Lee Batchelor. A fancy cursive font, the design has a retro look and feel to it, making it perfect for all your vintage designs. Batchelor's design also makes use of OpenType features to make it appear all the more natural. 24. Christopher Hand Create the appearance of effortless scrawl with this cursive fontThis handwritten cursive font by El Stinger isn't the most technically competent in our list, but we love the ease of the letterforms and the honesty of the designer's notes. You may find yourself doing a little bit more work than usual to kern pairs together, but the end result will make it worthwhile: an appearance of effortless scrawl. 25. League Script Designed by Haley Fiege, it includes ligatures and will act as the framework for future script designsBrought to you by The League of Moveable Type comes League Script. A gorgeous rendition of teenage girl's endless diary entries, League Script offers a sweet alternative to boring body text. Designed by Haley Fiege, it includes ligatures and will act as the framework for future script designs. Its popularity is apparent; having been downloaded over 216,400 times. How will you use it? 26. Grand Hotel Grand Hotel is a throwback to the 1930s, and has serious retro charmDesigned by Brian J Bonislawsky and Jim Lyles for Astigmatic, this font takes its inspiration from the title screen of the 1937 film Cafe Metropole starring Tyrone Power. It has a classic weight and subtlety that make you think of artisan signage and craft, but its cursive lowercase lends itself to a host of different uses. Related articles: 4 modern brands flying the flag for script fonts 10 different fonts to give your projects a unique edge 50 best free fonts for designers View the full article

The latest issue of 3D World is out now, and it's packed with 44 pages of 3D and VFX tips and tutorials, tool tests and pro insights. Not only does the new issue of 3D World reveal the secrets behind Weta's War for the Planet of the Apes movie VFX, but we also bring you a tutorial on creating your own simian masterpiece, answer your CG questions in our Q&A section, review the latest gear and offer you a free Nuke facial tracking video course! Buy 3D World Issue 225 online now Sculpt a monkey in the new issue of 3D WorldLearn how to create your very own simian renders, with our step-by-step tutorial, where you will discover how to complete everything from initial modelling, through sculpting, to final compositing. Creating Tethered worlds for PS4 Get some top tips on world building for gamesPlus in this practical feature you will see how the team put together this gorgeously rich gaming environment, for Tethered, using both ZBrush and UnrealEngine. Click here to subscribe to 3D World Related articles: 5 new 3D portfolios for 2017 you must check out Top new tools for 3D artists this July How videogame graphics and movie VFX are converging View the full article

These design interview tips will help you stand out from the crowdWhether we're absolute beginners or seasoned professionals, we're all striving for that ultimate dream design job. The design job interview process can often seem an intimidating maze of challenges that can put you off applying in the first place, but that should never put you off pursuing your design ambitions. If you've got the skills, and the right attitude, you deserve that job – so let us walk you through some simple but effective tips to both landing that design job interview and sailing through it to get the job... Getting the interview 01. Don't be shy These days, not every job is advertised in a newspaper or on a website. You have to keep your ear close to the ground. As freelance web designer Jack Osbourne explains: "It's important to make as many connections as possible. Online communities such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook will help you interact with other designers while sites such as Digg and Design Float can provide you with free marketing and help to get your work 'out there'. "Posting links to your social network profiles also helps you make connections with people, who until now will have been nameless and unknown. When networking, the golden rule is this: don't be shy!" 02. Don't wait for vacancies to appear There doesn't need to be an actual job vacancy. If your experience and skillset will help a studio or agency win business, improve its offering or bring an innovative approach to the table, then it will try to make a space for you. Added value cannot be underestimated. Creative agencies are busy places, so if your details hit the right screen at the right time, you could make someone's life easier and bag your dream job interview. 03. Get involved Creative studios are usually very social and like to share their successes. Follow their blogs and tweets, and make insightful comments by way of an introduction. Before your design interview don't just randomly try to link with people you don't know on LinkedIn; join one of their groups and interact first. 04. Get the knowledge One of the advantages of working within the creative industry is that we are at the bleeding edge of innovation. There are lots of really good sites that can keep you up to date with what's new and what's yet to be new, all providing as much or as little info as you require. Passing the interview 05. Be punctual It may sound obvious, but arriving late to a job interview creates a bad impression, and feeble excuses about late-running trains or traffic congestion just won't impress anybody. Clear enough time in your schedule that you'll be there in good time and without sweat pouring off you. 06. Do your research This is the most obvious thing to do when preparing for a design interview, but is all too often forgotten. If your excuse is you 'didn't have time' then you don't want the job enough and your prospective employer will know straight away. Take a close look at the company's site and search the creative press for stories about them. 07. Don't be modest "One of the most common mistakes in interviews is when a graduate plays down their work" says D&AD judge Ben Casey. "Practise your presentation and don't say 'this is only'... It's hard if you're nervous, but when you've spent weeks on a piece of work you must present it in a positive light." 08. Dress the part How you present yourself is very important. A good rule of thumb is to dress smart-casual. Wear clothes you are comfortable in: this will also help portray your confidence in a design interview scenario. If you're meeting a creative, don't wear a suit because they won't be. But turning up in shorts and flip-flops for client-side interviews will speed your exit out the door. 09. Sell your skills appropriately Studios are always looking for people who can add something new to their business, but not at the expense of what they actually want you to do. So don't blurt out your skills with, say, augmented reality apps, before you have given them confidence in your ability to do the specific job you're interviewing for. Instead, portray these additional skills as a good way to add value to the business in future. 10. Remember your resumé and portfolio Just because the company interviewing you has already seen your resumé, don't assume that part of the application process is over. You may well be asked to talk through your resumé in the interview, so make sure you bring a number of copies in a presentable form, and familiarise yourself with what you say you've done and what you're able to do. And you will almost certainly be asked to talk through your portfolio, so the same goes for that. Preparing your resumé 11. What to include Start with a mission statement that captures who you are, and really sell yourself. Name-check clients and brands you've worked with in your design interview, and always list your employment in reverse order, current job first. Don't say: "I work well individually, or in a team" – everyone does, it's not a unique skill. 12. Don't just have one resumé Creative and digital job titles are invariably ambiguous – as are creatives' abilities. If you can comfortably do three different jobs, then create three different resumés, making sure that each one plays to your relevant strengths. Just remember which one you used to apply for which job – and bring the appropriate one to the interview! 13. Avoid the novelty option Jason Arber of Pixelsurgeon has had his fair share of novelty resumés. "I've had resumés written on scrunched up paper; arriving in the form of a jigsaw; and playing cards. I've had giant resumé posters, inflatable resumés and resumés crafted using delicate and complex paper engineering. "Obviously these resumés stick in the mind, but they also seem like novelty resumés, too, so if you choose to go down this route, it's a calculated risk. On the one hand you might appear like a creative thinker, on the other it might seem pretentious and excessive. It depends on the recipient." Preparing your portfolio 14. Print or digital? Jon Schindehette, art director at Wizards of the Coast, says: "The truth is, you must have both a digital and a printed portfolio. The latter can be a basic mailer or brochure of your work. As far as an online portfolio goes, a bespoke site is always best – but that doesn't necessarily mean coding from scratch. All art directors will agree, though, that you have to follow the Keep it Simple, Stupid formula with your online portfolio, because if it's not simple in its navigation and design, you'll be the one who looks stupid. Oh, and never use Facebook photos to showcase your work: it screams 'amateur'!" 15. Show your best work Make sure you have a dozen good projects, but always have the strongest three or four in your mind so that you can confidently talk through them if time is short. 16. Empathise with your client Ben Cox, head of the Central Illustration Agency, reveals what it takes to create a cracking portfolio. "The trick is to empathise with the client at all times. If you were an art director in need of an illustration in a hurry, would your portfolio or site deliver an inspiring and accurate view of your visual language within the first few pages or clicks? "Would that impression then last throughout if the client decided to spend more time exploring your work? Excite them, yes, but make their job as easy as possible." 17. Quality, not quantity Although the amount of work included in your portfolio will vary from person to person, that doesn't mean you should cram it full with the kitchen sink. "The thing is, a portfolio is simply a vehicle to show off your talent and attitude," says creative director John McFaul. "Don't stuff it with fluff and crap to make up the numbers – we can see through all that." 18. Tailor your examples This is a debatable point, with some illustration agents advising against tailoring your portfolio to a particular project pitch or job application, and prospective employers concurring – but tailoring is advisable. The 'no' camp suggests they want to see your 'whole character' through different styles and projects. But if a subset of your work is wholly irrelevant, or even poor by comparison, do you really want to be judged by it? If in doubt leave it out. 19. Showcase your personality Ensure your personality shines through in the interview and your portfolio. Lawrence Zeegen, design guru and lecturer at the University of Brighton, explains: "The best portfolios are expressions of the owner's personality, both as a creative designer and – equally important – as a person with opinions, a point of view, a stand-point and a life outside of design. "The most effective portfolios are those that take the viewer on a journey – tell a story, inspire, impress and innovate. These portfolios are rare, of course, but they are in a place that the most ambitious should aspire to reach." 20. Set yourself briefs Worried you don't have enough work to present? Want to showcase examples that are specific to the agency? Ben Cox, MD at Central Illustration Agency suggests setting yourself briefs. "If you see an advert or book jacket that strikes you with either its high or low design quality, commission yourself to produce your own version of it, and then include it in your portfolio. You can even layout the body copy to further demonstrate how your self-initiated images can be used in a commercial context." Related articles: 50 brilliant design portfolios to inspire you 15 free resume templates 6 terrifying job interview questions tamed View the full article

A limited number of Generate London flash sale tickets have been released, with a massive 50 per cent off for today (Thursday, 10 August) only. The fifth annual Generate London is jam-packed with tips and advice about the key techniques in web and frontend development today. It will present 16 highly practical and inspirational talks – see the full schedule here – from the brightest minds in the industry, including Seb Lee-Delisle, Zell Liew, Aaron Gustafson and Léonie Watson, with take-aways that can be put into action straight away when you return to the office. Topics covered include web animations, adaptive interfaces, prototyping, performance, UX strategy, accessibility, conversational design, and much more. We'll also have a full day of in-depth workshops to help you hone your practical skills this year. There are four great sessions to choose from: Building scalable responsive components with Zell Liew Running design and content sprints with Steve Fisher Mastering user experience strategy with Jaime Levy Concept, create, and sell! with Anton & Irene. And today you can get 50% off two-day conference passes as well as the conference and workshop bundles! If you buy the latter during the flash sale today, you’ll be spending just £297.50, which is almost £100 cheaper than a standard conference pass alone! But hurry – there’s only a limited number of tickets available, and the sale ends at midnight BST. How to get the discount To snap up one of these special price tickets, head over to the Generate London site. Generate London conference will take place on 20-22 September 2017, with the full-day workshops preceding the conference on 20 September, both at the iconic Royal Institution, London. View the full article

You're reading 15 TED Talks Every Web Designer Should Watch, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! Design inspiration can come from almost anywhere. TED Talks can be one of those sources of inspiration with graphic and web designers from all over the world sharing their wins and fails, experiences and stories. Video talks can last anywhere from a couple of minutes to an hour and topics are wide-ranging. If you need […] View the full article

SAP released 19 patches on Tuesday, including a trio of vulnerabilities marked high severity in its business management software. View the full article

An unnamed firm is paying up to $250,000 for vulnerabilities related to its virtualization platform. View the full article

Mozilla fixed three critical vulnerabilities and made Flash click-to-activate by default when it released Firefox 55 on Tuesday View the full article

Jim Carrey is famous to millions of people around the world thanks to his lead roles in films such as Dumb and Dumber, The Mask, and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. However it might comes as a surprise to learn that besides being a talented funny man, Carrey is also a prolific and soulful artist. In the short film Jim Carrey: I Needed Color, viewers get a chance to explore this rarely seen artistic side. Reflecting on love, heartbreak, and his childhood, Carrey offers a candid insight into how he works and why he thinks art is valuable. It's fascinating to watch a celebrity like Carrey talking so openly and eloquently about intimate subjects. Stuffed with ideas and soundbites that are sure to resonate with other artists, Jim Carrey: I Needed Color is sure to make you revaluate the star. Watch it below. Related articles: Surreal installation turns architecture into art The Art of Loish Doodle art: 52 great examples View the full article

The life of a freelancer is filled with more work and admin than a lot of employed people realise. There's the taxes to take care of, long hours toiling away alone, invoices to chase up, and that's without taking the actual work into consideration. To give freelancers a feeling of validation, Brooklyn-based illustrator Jeremy Nguyen has created a bright and fun set of achievement stickers. Covering work tasks such as reading contracts and Skype sessions, this funny set also reminds freelancers to take care of themselves with stickers for going outside and sleeping. Nguyen's work has been featured in The New Yorker numerous times, and his new sticker set is the latest to be featured on the hallowed site. There's no sign of whether you can actually buy these stickers and start slapping them onto your phone, laptop or forehead, but seeing as they've proved so popular among freelancers, surely it's only a matter of time until their available to order. Explore the full collection of stickers by clicking left to right in the gallery below. [Via The New Yorker] Related articles: 25 tips for staying sane as a freelancer How to overcome freelance hurdles Funny comic reveals the dilemmas of life as a freelancer View the full article

Whether you’re just starting out or you’re 20 years deep, running a creative freelance business isn't easy. It takes time, dedication and resources. But luckily, there are a few things you can do to make things a little easier, without breaking your budget. In this article, we’ll run down our top tips to help you to take charge of different parts of your freelance business, with suggested resources or tools to help with each aspect. For a more comprehensive list, check out our run down of 20 top tools for freelancers. 01. Keep track of your projects Trello helps you juggle multiple projects at onceAs a freelancer, it's not uncommon to work on more than one project at once. With tools such as Trello and Asana, you can keep track of everything in one place using boards, lists and cards. Trello is a free online collaboration tool that allows you to add multiple users, all of whom can track changes in real-time. You can add images and files, set due dates and keep things organised and colour-coded. There's even a mobile companion app for when you're on the go! 02. Manage your money Wave apps are a (mostly) free way to manage your moneyKeeping tabs on your money is another key part of running a successful freelancing business. Using tools such as Wave and Xero, you'll be able to do just that. And most of the Wave apps are free, including features to help with accounting, invoicing, personal finance and tracking receipts. And if you need to add payroll and credit card payments, there's a paid option for that. 03. Value your time properly This tracker shows you what's eating up too much of your timeAs a freelancer, time is just as important as money, so time trackers such as Toggl and Harvest are ideal. Toggl is an online service that helps you manage and track your time. With a few simple clicks, you'll be able to split your time between different projects and track exactly which tasks take the most time to complete. You'll also be able to share professional-looking reports with your clients. 04. Get the word out Set up a website to help people find youYou can have the best product or service on the planet, but if nobody knows about it, it'll never sell. One of the best ways to advertise what you do is by having a website. With a website, people can find out what you offer, and more importantly, how to contact you. WordPress is a great platform for this, and there are plenty of WordPress tutorials to help you get up and running. Alternatively, take look at out roundup of the best free blogging platforms and also consider setting up Facebook Pages for business. 05. Connect with the community A newsletter is a good way to connect with your communityOnce you have your website up and running, it's time to start a newsletter. With a service like MailChimp, you can easily create professional-looking newsletters that you'll be able to plug in to your new WordPress site. Newsletters are a great way to let your clients know what you're working on next, as well as advertising any news or public appearances. Another way to get your news out there, perhaps on a more ad hoc basis, is to start a blog. 06. Stay in sync Sync your calendars and share your files with Google's G SuiteScheduling and document sharing between multiple clients and collaborators can be a headache for freelancers. But it's easy when you use the suite of tools provided by Google's G Suite. Not only can you use Google to keep track of your important calendar events and reminders , but you'll be able to collaborate and share documents with your clients and other team members. Google also recently announced its new cloud storage app, which offers a quick, speedy and free way to back up your files – although Dropbox is of course another trusty solution for cloud storage. 07. Find new work There are many services to help you find freelance gigsWhen it feels like you're rushed off your feet with current jobs, it can be hard to find the time to tout for new work. But if you don't, you could end up with uncomfortably long gaps between paying gigs. Although there's a small monthly fee to use it, FlexJobs is one of the better sites for finding guaranteed, legitimate freelance work. With a variety of different job categories to explore, you're likely to find something to match your needs. And because FlexJobs acts as an aggregator, you won't need to spend hours online searching every corner of the web. Indeed is another popular site for freelancers. 08. Take time for yourself This app is sure to liven up your exercise breakFreelancers tend to work long hours, but it's important to take frequent breaks in order to recharge your internal battery. For many, exercise is the first choice. However, just walking about gets boring. If you're looking to liven up your break time, have a look at Zombies, Run!, an exercise app that adds mild zombie threat to your exercise routine. Read more: 25 tips for staying sane as a freelancer 9 brilliant freelance portfolios for 2017 Funny comic reveals the dilemmas of life as a freelancer View the full article

There's no doubt the Apple Pencil is an impressive design tool, but to make the most of it you need the right iPad Pro apps; ones that truly take advantage of its power and flexibility. Happily, as this list shows, there is already a strong roster of iPad Pro apps from companies big and small, which really let the Pencil shine. All you have to supply is talent! (And a Pencil. And an iPad Pro.) 01. Adobe Comp CC Create production-ready layouts as smoothly and easily as drawing on paper Requirements: iOS 9.0 or laterThe Adobe Comp CC iPad pro app is a revelation, and makes the process of wireframing or mocking up designs a cinch. The idea is that rather than pulling out your notebook and drawing dumb rectangles for pictures or a few horizontal lines to indicate where text would go in a layout, with a few simple and intuitive sketched shapes you can actually start building those layouts for real – and then pass them into InDesign, Illustrator or Photoshop. It's worth familiarising yourself with all the different gestures for aligning, grouping and so on so you can work quickly and efficiently. You could do all this with just your finger, but using the Pencil feels delightfully like drawing in a notebook with a magical pencil, where birds you draw come to life and fly off the page. Draw a rectangle, slash it with a diagonal cross and it becomes an image box that you can populate with assets from, say, your Creative Cloud Library. Draw a box and scrub a few horizontal lines in it, and boom, it's a text box, which you can style manually (there's also a handy, quick slider control for point size) or apply styles to from your CC Libraries. Rough squares snap to perfect geometric shapes. It's fast, fluid and easy, and while sure, pro designers are likely to work from these wireframes like they would with one drawn in ink in a Moleskine – that is, merely referring to it but building from scratch, rather than importing it from Comp – but it can still be a boon to your productivity to be able to quickly mock up your designs using real live assets and styles. 02. Procreate Procreate is the king of natural media apps on the iPad Requirements: iOS 10.0 or laterThis is the king of natural media apps on the iPad, and it is completely transformed with the addition of the Pencil. Sure, you can use your finger with it, a simple stylus, or even one of the increasingly complicated and expensive third-party styluses from the likes of Adonit, but none of these give you the fluidity and analogue-like experience that the Pencil does. In part this is down to the Pencil's fine tip, in part the low latency and double-speed sampling rate, and in part because the palm rejection is nearly flawless. But all that technical stuff just fades away into the background when you're faced with the joy of sketching with a 6B pencil, turning it flat to block in big areas of shade, or mucking about with paints. Yes, unquestionably Painter on a PC is capable of some more advanced natural media types – Procreate's watercolours, in particular, pale in comparison – but overall this is a wonderful app that really comes to life when you use it with a Pencil. 03. Adobe Photoshop Sketch Sketch comes with some lovely natural media types built in Requirements: iOS 9.0 or laterProcreate may be the king of natural media apps on the iPad, but if so Adobe is like a deposed ancien régime monarch, plotting, in its exile, to win back its crown. And Sketch is genuinely really good, with not only some lovely natural media types built-in (and the option of adding more brushes via Capture CC), but also some features that might quickly endear it to you. For starters, it can push layered PSDs directly to Photoshop on your Mac or PC, and you can add either a flat grid or even a configurable 3D plane grid to the background, plus preset geometric shapes, to help keep you on the straight and narrow. When you want to go on the wide and sinuous, there are French curves that you can trace against. But that would be for naught if the natural media tools themselves were rubbish, but in fact they're generally very nice. Pay attention specifically to the watercolour tool, which has colours bleed into one another in a most pleasing manner. What's even nicer is that you can tap an icon – which looks like fan blades – to 'dry' the paint so that new colours added on top don't bleed, giving you some terrific flexibility. The tools are Pencil-aware, so react wonderfully to pressure and tilt differences. 04. Pixelmator iPad Pro app Pixelmator makes the most of the Apple Pencil's features Requirements: iOS 9.1 or laterWe could have recommended Adobe Photoshop Mix here in place of this stalwart iOS bitmap editor – and certainly, the former's (bafflingly ropey) cut-out tools, layers, and paintable filters are generally quite nice – but Pixelmator just feels like the more mature and useful app. As well as offering some (frankly a little underwhelming) natural media drawing tools that work with the Pencil, it gives you the ability to tweak the colours either by applying Instagram-style filters, or with sliders for brightness, contrast, saturation, RGB and white balance – or indeed by tweaking the curves. But the pairing of Pixelmator and the Pencil really shine if you want to do some touch-ups or object isolation. The touch-up controls – repair, dodge, burn, sharpen, saturate and more – are easy to apply with the Pencil especially given its precision. When painting out backgrounds this precision, plus the various different eraser types available, are hugely welcome. If we've one criticism it's that we'd like the option of pressure-sensitivity to affect the size of an eraser rather than its opacity, but nevertheless this is the closest thing you're going to find to Photoshop on the iPad – and the Pencil just makes it better. Next page: four more great iPad apps for Apple Pencil... 05. Paper Requirements: iOS 8.0 or laterWe'd love to be able to recommend Noteshelf here, which is overall a richer notebook app (albeit one that's not quite as pretty or simple) but although it has recently added support for the Pencil, it's very basic – there's no tilt- or pressure-sensitivity. Happily, though, Paper is easy to love. At first glance it might look like a reasonably simple drawing and diagramming tool – and on one level, for sure, that's what it is – but there are some smarts here. They are frustratingly difficult to discover, but again it's worth poking around the support files online to understand how the apparently simple tools can be used to create graphs, org charts and Venn diagrams, can easily duplicate shapes, link shapes with lines (with optional arrows at one or both ends) and much more. Paper doesn't demand the kind of precision you get from the Pencil, but it's certainly welcome, and the slightly, delightfully cartoonish media work great with its sensors. 06. Evernote Evernote is a rich, capable iPad Pro app Requirements: iOS 9.3 or laterAh, Evernote. Now, this definitely isn't for everyone. For some, this uber-notebook has become an indispensable place for gathering websites, sketches, notes, to-do lists and more – the detritus of modern life as well as inspiration and creative work – but for others it's just a bit baffling and never quite clicks. It's definitely rich and capable, though, and the ability to record audio – during a briefing meeting, say, while you sketch ideas for a client – using its simple but effective drawing tools is great (though this isn't the only app to offer that, of course). It's pleasing how the eraser tool creates nicely rounded ends to the ink strokes rather than just slicing them into sharp points. Using the Pencil rather than a dumb stylus or your finger gives you a more expressive line since it's pressure sensitive, but more importantly the palm rejection means that you can lean your hand on the screen like you would with paper, and Evernote won't get confused and make marks where your hand is resting. 07. LiquidText This PDF document reader lets you annotate and excerpt texts Requirements: iOS 10.0 or laterEven without a Pencil this is a handy tool for reading and annotating PDFs, Word and PowerPoint documents, and web pages. It's designed to support 'active reading', so as you're reading you can be highlighting and snipping out sections to refer to later, collapsing sections of a document down so you can refer to disparate bits of it at once, and more. Add in the Pencil, though, and it becomes even faster to use, and it's a great example of how the Pencil's pressure- and tilt-sensitivity can be used not just to mimic real-world drawing tools. Dragging the Pencil over text instantly selects it (rather than having to tap-and-wait with your finger), pressing harder selects any part of the document as an image, and dragging across text with the Pencil held at a flattened angle selects and highlights it. Smart. Pencil support is also coming to the (actually pretty good) Microsoft Office apps, though at time of writing, the update hasn't hit yet. 08. uMake This 3D drawing app makes great use of the Apple Pencil Requirements: iOS 9.3 or laterWe'll come clean: despite its assurances that it 'empowers anyone to create 3D designs easily and intuitively' we don't have the chops to produce anything remotely impressive in this 3D drawing app, but we can nevertheless see that it makes great use of the Pencil. The idea is that you can sketch in 2D – optionally making use of smart symmetry controls – and then extrude your designs or even draw entirely in 3D space, connecting points on different planes. Even if you're a bit clumsy and jittery, your lines are smoothed into flowing curves, and with practice we can see that it would be possible to create some elegant, organic forms at speed – and the precision of the Pencil's tip will make this whole process simpler than with any other stylus. It might get frustrating for highly technical engineering work, but you can always use it as a tool for getting an initial concept down before exporting to IGES or OBJ files so you can work it up in other apps. Related articles: 10 things nobody tells you about going freelance The 10 best iPad apps for pro designers Apple iPad Pro hands-on review View the full article

Node.js continues to be one of the most popular server-side frameworks available, through a combination of its lightweight efficiency, support for the 'JavaScript everywhere' paradigm, and comprehensive package support. Since its introduction in 2009, Node has been through a number of major releases, including most recently version 8.0. This release dropped at the end of May and will enter LTS (long-term support, indicating a more stable version ready for enterprise adoption) in October. There's a lot going on in the latest release, and it's worth a look at some of the highlights. 01. V8 5.8 Node is built upon Google's Chrome V8 JavaScript engine (V8 is the name of the engine, not the version number), and Node 8.0 includes V8 5.8. This ships with significant improvements in performance and APIs, and establishes forward compatibility for Node 8.0 with future versions of V8. This is significant enough that the team behind Node actually chose to postpone the launch of 8.0 from April to better accommodate it. 02. Faster npm If you're using Node, you'll be intimately familiar with npm, and Node 8.0 now includes the latest stable release, npm 5.0.0. This update includes significant speed-up of common tasks such as package installation, and several changes to improve consistency and avoid corruption. This means that npm is now more reliable and faster than ever. And if you've ever missed out '--save' while installing modules, you'll be relieved to hear that new installs are now saved by default. 03. Better Buffer security One of the more straightforward changes introduced in Node 8.0 is a security improvement to buffers. In prior versions, 'new Buffer(num)' did not initialise memory space with zeros. This was done for performance reasons; however, it meant that a new Buffer could contain sensitive information, leading to security issues. Now, a new Buffer will automatically be filled with zeroes. This may seem minor, but could have performance implications which should be considered. Ultimately, Buffer(num) has been deprecated for some time, so it's probably best to move away from it. 04. util.promisify() An interesting addition to Node 8.0's libraries is the 'util.promisify()' function, which has many Node developers excited. It's widely acknowledged that promises offer an improvement over callback-based asynchronous code. util.promisify() gives us an easy way to wrap callback-based functions to return promises. This can be particularly useful for codebases and libraries with large numbers of callbacks, where refactoring code to use promises would be cumbersome and time-consuming. Previously it was common to use Bluebird.js or similar libraries to do this, but it's now a core Node function. 05. async and await Another step forward for asynchronous code is the addition of the async and await keywords. These have actually been available in Node since version 7.6.0. However, 8.0 is the first version with them which will enter LTS, which is likely to mean a significant uptake in enterprise adoption. async functions provide an alternative to callbacks and promises (they're actually built on top of promises), which provides a cleaner syntax. 06. N-API An experimental feature, the Node.js API (N-API) has been added in Node 8.0 to improve support for native modules. Native modules are written in C or C++, and loaded into Node.js as if they were a regular Node module. These are useful where performance is critical, or for hooking into low-level APIs or existing C or C++ libraries. However, historically this has created a maintenance burden as the underlying V8 and Node core interfaces upon which native modules depend were not guaranteed to be stable, meaning native modules often needed updates to support new Node releases. N-API offers a set of stable, abstracted interfaces available as C APIs, maintained as part of Node itself. Being experimental, it does not yet provide full coverage of all V8 features, but this should improve in future. 07. Fixes and improvements In addition to these new features and a few smaller ones, there are a number of stability improvements and fixes included in the new release. For example, console.log() and other similar methods are now safer than previous versions, as situations where they could cause the application to crash have been resolved. The Node team have also begun the process of assigning static error codes to all errors Node generates, which are easily queried in the documentation and guaranteed not to change even if the associated message does. 08. What's next? Beyond version 8.0, Node.js continues to improve and evolve. It usually sees two major releases per year, and the next, Node 9.0, is due for release in October. The Node team typically only move even-numbered versions to LTS status, and LTS for Node 10.0 is not scheduled until October 2018. Once versions reach LTS status, they are actively maintained for a period of 18 months, after which they move into a 12-month maintenance status (during which only critical bugs and security issues are patched). As a result, Node is likely to remain both popular and a safe choice for the foreseeable future, and Node 8.0 itself is expected to have a three-year shelf life from now. This article originally appeared in Web Designer issue 263; buy it here! Related articles: 20 Node.js modules you need to know 20 JavaScript tools to blow your mind Master Node.js for designers View the full article

Every designer requires a little inspiration as they work. The next time you’re stuck on a project, dip into the library of assets and vectors from StockUnlimited. You can get a three-year subscription to this vast design library for just $39.99 (approx £32)! The design library assembled by StockUnlimited is like nothing you've seen before. This massive collection of over 600,000 professionally crafted design resources is ready and waiting to be used in any project you can imagine. Download as many assets as you'd like, as there are no royalties to worry about. Make use of them however you'd like, whether it’s for personal or commercial use. A three-year subscription to StockUnlimited usually costs $684, but you can get full access for just $39.99 (approx £32)! That’s a saving of 94 per cent on a must-have subscription for any designer, so grab this deal today! View the full article

Singapore-based freelance web designer and developer Zell Liew shares everything he's learned about frontend development on his blog, so that others can benefit from him banging his head against the wall. It's no wonder his easy-to-follow tutorials and confidence-boosting articles are immensely popular. We caught up with him for a chat ahead of his Generate London talk and workshop on building scalable responsive components. Here, Liew tells us a little about being self-taught, time management, and what to expect from his Generate sessions. Favourite frontend skills You help people learn a lot of different frontend development skills including CSS, JavaScript, responsive design and web typography. What are you most passionate about? Zell Liew: That's a hard question. When I first began, I was mostly passionate about CSS. As I got better, responsive design, typography, JavaScript and even automating workflows came into play. Not having a degree may actually be an advantage I don't have one thing that I'm most passionate about. I'm passionate about all of these topics, which is why I've dug into them and learned as much as possible myself. Once I've learned enough, I step out of my comfort zone and begin teaching them. 9 of the best resources for learning HTML and CSSAdvantages of teaching yourself There’s a lot of talk in the web industry about whether you need a degree. What lessons have you learned from teaching yourself? ZL: A degree certainly helps, but you can learn well even without a degree. The number of experts without degrees in our industry suggests that degrees aren't prerequisites to becoming good at coding. The most important lesson I've learned about not having a degree is to believe in yourself when you're learning. I've had many instances where I don't, and that slowed me down drastically. The second thing is that not having a degree may actually be an advantage. Since you got to learn everything yourself, you need to think deep about processes and theories to internalise them. Eventually, it'll lead to remembering the things you've learned and being able to think creatively when you face problems. At Generate London, Liew will dive into building responsive scalable components On your site you say that you constantly reinvent your techniques as new technology appears. How do you do that, and how do you decide what to learn? ZL: I watch out for what people are saying, especially the experts in the web field. Then, whenever I begin a new project, I tweak my processes to include what I've learned from these people. When I do so, I always make it a point to modify the techniques to suit my style. Sometimes, my modifications were horrible. But sometimes, I think that helps me even more. The key thing here is that by modifying what I've learned, I effectively made it my own, which helps me gain a deeper understanding of the original knowledge. As for deciding what to learn, I go with what I feel most inclined to at the moment. When I first started, it was Photoshop because I wanted to learn how to design. Then, it became HTML and CSS because I wanted to show my creations. Then, it became Wordpress because I wanted to build a blog. (Wow, that was four years ago!). I still follow the same method now. Staying productive You’re incredibly prolific and juggle writing articles (and books) for your blog and other publishers, creating courses and free libraries, as well as consulting. How do you manage your time? ZL: I can't remember where I heard this, but there's a saying that goes 'it's not about time management; it's about energy management.' Why do I bring this up? Well, there was a time when I tried to work from the minute I woke up to the minute I slept, resulting in 14-hour work days. It was horrible. I felt so drained that I couldn't get anything done. I was also perpetually stressed and pissed off. Don't be like me then. Now, I manage my time and energy a little better. I work for 1.5 hours and take a 30-minute break between each work session. This allows me to recover from the intensity I put in when I work. Liew recommends following the advice in these booksIf you want to become more productive with the same amount of time spent, I suggest you read these two books: First, Deep Work by Cal Newport. This book suggests you should break up your schedule into "deep hours" where you focus hard on getting things done, and "shallow hours", where you tackle emails and other tasks that require a lot of context switching. I find this approach helps me manage my mind space. Second, The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. In this book, Steven shows you how to tackle the resistance and dread you feel when you try doing work that's important to you. Although he talks about writing, you don't need to be a writer to benefit from it. Once you're done with these books, get to work. Plan a schedule and keep to it. What’s your favourite JavaScript hack right now and why? ZL: I don't have any favourite JavaScript hacks in my dictionary, unfortunately. Each piece of code needs to be used in a specific situation before it performs amazingly. If you're talking about my favourite line of JavaScript code, that has to be console.log(). It's a lifesaver for debugging. Liew loves helping people learn solid frontend development skills (this photo and the main image are from Zell's workshop at Fronteers last year)Building scalable website components What’s the biggest challenge of building maintainable and scalable websites? ZL: Most people would think the biggest challenge is to write scalable HTML and CSS code. While good frontend code has its challenges, I believe the hardest part is communication between stakeholders, designers and developers. Everyone has to work together in a team to pull off a scalable and maintainable website. It's not just the job of the frontend person. What can people expect to take away from your talk and workshop at Generate London? ZL: The focus for my talk and workshop at Generate is about building responsive scalable components – the key to good frontend code. You'll walk away with know-how on the following: 1. You'll know how to name your components 2. You'll know what architecture to use 3. You'll understand the difference between modularity and scalability and how to code them up 4. You'll know how to write mobile-first responsive code that's easy to maintain. Other Generate London workshops on 20 September feature Steve Fisher on running design and content sprints, Anton & Irene on idea generation and the selling of the idea, and Jaime Levy on user experience strategy. The conference will also cover adaptive interfaces, web animations, performance, accessibility, prototyping, chatbots, better teamwork, and much more. During Generate London's 24-hour flash sale tomorrow (10 August) you can save almost £300 per ticket! But hurry – tickets are limited and will be available at the special price from midnight tonight (BST). Also, don't miss issue 298 of net magazine, which will feature an in-depth interview with Zell Liew. Related articles: An introduction to frontend testing 9 of the best resources for learning HTML and CSS 8 tips to ace tech job interviews View the full article

If there’s one type of company that needs to get its business card designs right, it’s a design agency. Its whole reason for existence is to create great designs, so if it can’t do that with its own business cards, it’s bound to raise eyebrows. The agencies featured on this list have created top-class designs for their business cards, ranging from the elegant to the quirky (though not as quirky as these innovative business card designs). Most were designed in-house, though the last two called in the expertise of outsiders. We hope you like them too, and that they help to inspire your own business card projects. 01. Ink Digital Ink Digital prints the same business card for each staff member, then gives them individual stickers to complete the designInk Digital, an award-winning digital agency based in Yorkshire, England and Melbourne, Australia, has come up with an innovative way to reduce costs, waste and print runs. It printed the same charmingly upbeat business card for all members of staff, and then printed separate stickers for each individual, which included their headshot and contact details, to be fixed onto their own cards. 02. Made Brave MadeBrave’s foil-printed business cards are a feast for the eyesMadeBrave is an agency in Glasgow, Scotland, that focuses on branding, design, digital and social. It describes these black and white business cards with painted edges as “like beautiful black and teal sandwiches”, and who are we to disagree? They were designed in-house and printed with matte white foil on both sides. 03. Mediendesignwerk Mediendesignwerk’s business cards fuse luxurious materials with sophisticated printing techniquesMediendesignwerk is a creative design agency based in Bavaria, Germany. What it describes as its ‘look-alike-letterpress business cards’ were printed by Druckkultur Späthling on extra-thick 600gsm Gmund Cotton paper. Two-colour offset printing was employed, with blind embossing for the background ‘M’ pattern. 04. L'Atelier Irradie This French agency’s business cards make inventive use of colour gradientsL'Atelier Irradié is a multidisciplinary creative studio founded in Paris in 2016 by brothers Alain and Laurent Vonck. 'Irradié' basically translates as 'irradiated', or to radiate light, making the metallic, jewel-toned gradients of these business cards tie in with the concept beautifully. On the other side, there’s no ink at all: the contact details are simply imprinted on the white card. 05. Aurora Aurora’s stunning cards showcase the kind of client work it's known forAurora is a creative studio founded by Lize-Marie Dreyer in 2015 and based in Cape Town, South Africa. These beautifully illustrated business cards represent the kind of work it does perfectly. They were designed in-house and feature gold embossed detailing. 06. CP+B CP+B reflects its love of the analogue with this business card, which doubles as a stencilFounded in Miami, Florida, in 1988 by the late Sam Crispin, Crispin Porter + Bogusky (CP+B) is a large agency with offices around the globe. Its designers are strong believers in the notion that all ideas should start on paper, without the influence of computer software. So associate design director Scott Pridgen came up with the idea of creating a business card that acts as a stencil. The card is made of thin plastic and features a selection of laser-cut icons including Hermy, the firm’s elephant mascot. 07. Nymbl Nymbl’s two-colour cards make an instant impactNymbl is a moving image production studio based in Bristol, England, that specialises in 3D animation and virtual reality (formerly called FA Digital Productions). Feeling its branding was letting it down – and lacking the in-house print design expertise of the previous agencies in our list – it turned to a local agency, Big Fan, to come up with a new name, website and branding. As part of that effort came these cool cards, with an eye-catching two-colour palette, and two punched-out dots; one representing work, the other play. 08. Curious Space Curious Space’s business card design conveys the concept behind the agency perfectlyCurious Space is a Brighton, England-based design studio that specialises in the creation of immersive spaces for for museums, galleries and the stage. This inventive business card was created by London design director Mark Bloom, aka Mash Creative, as part of an identity design in collaboration with Andy Cooke. It was printed in fluorescent and grey ink with a blind debossed grid pattern to the logo on the reverse side. You can see more images of the business cards at printer Freestyle Print's website. View the full article

You're reading CaptainForm – A Hero Form Builder, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! CaptainForm is a five-star WordPress plugin that takes form building to another level. Forms were never a top priority for CMS developers. Basic functionality exists in most content management systems, however, implementation is limited. Other than basic subscription or contact forms, you are limited in what you can do with built-in functionality. Even the almighty […] View the full article

Microsoft patched 25 critical vulnerabilities, including a remote code execution bug in Windows Search. View the full article

You're reading How to Upload Themes and Plugins on WordPress.com, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! WordPress announced the implementation of long-waited functionality to upload and use themes and plugins to WordPress.com. If you download or purchase a WordPress theme or plugin, you can upload it to your WordPress.com website. People love WordPress because it’s absolutely customizable. With support for plugins and third-party themes, WordPress.com business customers may be able to connect […] View the full article

Adobe today pushed out its first Flash Player update since announcing it would end-of-life the software in 2020. View the full article

If you’re in search of some fresh and inspiring reading material to take on holiday this year (or to read in office with a coffee if you're not going away), then look no further than these gorgeous magazines. Large-scale commercial magazine publishing houses may be under pressure from every angle these days, but the independent design magazine scene has never been so exciting, with new titles launching regularly on every esoteric topic you can think of. We’ve gathered a sterling selection of magazine recommendations from those in the know. So here are nine magazines for you to check out while the sun is still shining... 01. Special Request Special Request is a new broad culture journal, currently on issue 2“It is too simple a thing to look at one part of a culture... culture is the combination of many different things working in concert.” This is the mantra by which the beautifully produced journal Special Request operates. Its lofty ambition is to explore “the entire human experience piece by piece... subjecting it to sometimes forensic, sometimes scathing, sometimes interesting analysis from the world’s finest minds.” Jeremy Leslie, founder of magCulture, is a fan, and recommends the newly-released second issue, which celebrates the golden age of television across 124 pages of 120gsm offset stock, finished off with a gold-foiled 400gsm cover. Leslie picks out some personal highlights from the issue: “Antoine de Caunes recalls Eurotrash, Ben Loory and Haruki Murakami offer some new fiction, and the visual highlight is Alex de Mora and Marisha Green’s still-life tribute to Beavis and Butthead,” he says. “It closes with an image of an old-fashioned cathode ray television set, floating away against a 70s New York skyline.” 02. Berlin Quarterly European title Berlin Quarterly combines in-depth reportage, literature and visual cultureCalling itself a “European review of long form journalism, literature and the arts”, Berlin Quarterly is a fascinating blend of in-depth reportage, literature and visual culture that Steve Watson, creator of indie mag subscription service Stack, firmly recommends. “It’s a heady mix of essays, fiction, poetry, photography and artwork,” Watson enthuses. “Based out of the German capital, it wears that city’s bohemian reputation on its sleeve.” It's definitely worth slipping into the suitcase for when you fancy getting stuck into some meatier content. 03. The Plant The Plant is produced in Barcelona twice a yearAccording to its creators, The Plant magazine delivers content by plant lovers, for plant lovers, in a “simple, personal and cozy way”. It’s currently on its 11th issue, Leslie recommends taking a look. “Horticulture is just a starting point for this magazine, now a mainstay of the indie scene,” he explains. “Ryan Lowry’s opening photographs of the landscape, cacti and fences of the US-Mexico border set a manifesto-like tone that continues throughout issue 11. Mercedes Villalba looks at the resilience of nature, and Lindsay Sekulowicz examines Amazonian artefacts to learn how humankind has always cultivated nature.” “Against all this, a guide to growing Aloe Vera may seem prosaic – but this element remains a key part of the magazine,” adds Leslie. The Plant’s team describes itself as “a curious observer of ordinary plants and other greenery”, and this simple love for natural life shines through on every page. 04. Racquet Racquet says it's about tennis, but it covers so much more, so beautifullyRather like The Plant, Racquet is “one of those indie titles that purports to be about one thing (in this case, tennis) but in fact uses that as a prism through which to explore all sorts of things. You’re never quite sure what you’re going to turn the page and read about,” says Rob Alderson, former editor-in-chief of Printed Pages, who now heads up WeTransfer’s editorial division, This Works. A quarterly title that celebrates the art, ideas, style and culture that surround tennis, Racquet “fondly remembers the swashbuckling sport of the tennis boom of the 1970s and ’80s” and aspires to “restore some of that swagger to today’s game.” “It looks and feels beautiful – as a lot of indie titles do – but the writing is exquisite and it’s edited really well too, which makes for a perfect print experience,” adds Alderson. 05. Shelf Heroes Each copy of Self Heroes issue F includes a free Fifth Element woven patch, three postcards and a stickerA wonderfully simple editorial premise lies at the heart of the intermittently printed fanzine Shelf Heroes, the magazine “created by people who love cinema.” It’s working its way through the alphabet, and celebrating a diverse batch of films that start with each letter: “Some great, some not so great.” Issue one, as you might expect, was A – with films including Alien, Apocalypse Now, Avatar and American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt. “Shelf Heroes has now reached the letter ‘F’ – and I can’t wait to dive into Festen, First Blood, Fargo and Four Weddings,” chuckles Watson. 06. The Happy Reader The Happy Reader is a book-loving collaboration between Penguin Classics and Fantastic ManA collaboration between Penguin Classics and Fantastic Man, The Happy Reader is a ‘virtual book club’. It's now on its ninth instalment, which includes a focus on Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. “This classic is contextualised by musician Andy Partridge writing about sailor’s songs, a visual taxonomy of messaging flags, and a treasure hunt – although the prize has just been won,” reveals Leslie. “It’s all fronted with a lengthy interview with model/actress/bookshop owner Lily Cole, all beautifully presented as ever.” Clearly The Happy Reader is worth a look this summer, as Watson picked it out as well. “I can’t think of better beach reading,” he grins. 07. Pit Pit is a new magazine for BBQ aficionadosNothing says summer like a sizzling barbecue, and Pit magazine has capitalised on our enduring passion for cooking outdoors over a open flame with an artisan publication like no other. According to the team, it’s all about “the smell of smoke in the air, the singed hairs on your fingers and the pink ring on a rack of ribs you cooked at the end of your garden.” But within that overarching topic, the magazine delves into global cultures: “From the American BBQ to the Polynesian Imu fire pits, Jamaican jerk drums and mackerel grills lining the shores of the glittering Bosphorus in Istanbul.” Pit plans to release three issues during the (hopefully) warm months of the year, with the second due out in August. “I’m really hoping I can get hold of it in time for the holidays, to give us some inspiration over the coals,” says Watson. 08. Real Review Real Review issue 4 reviews everything from the EU flag to Japanese boyfriends for hireThe quarterly flagship publication of the Real Foundation, Real Review was named Launch of the Year at the 2016 Stack Awards. Since then, according to Watson, it has gone from strength to strength. “Its roots are in architecture, but this ingenious review ranges far and wide to challenge the way we see the world,” he explains. Leslie is also an advocate, drawing attention to the title’s unique format: square, with a vertical fold. “Real Review deserves praise too for its editorial design and content,” argues Leslie. “It examines contemporary life with a spare and intelligent vocabulary that both tests and thrills. Content and form that should be at utter variance somehow complement each other perfectly.” 09. mono.kultur Each issue of mono.kultur is dedicated to one artist from various fieldsAlso hailing from Berlin, quarterly A5 title mono.kultur focuses on art and culture, or more specifically the creative minds who make the most exciting music, film, literature and visual art happen. One at a time. Each issue features just a single interviewee, carefully selected and beautifully designed. Its online description is a paragon of German efficiency: “Questions and answers. Conversations with the interesting few. In full length and depth, extensive and unfiltered.” The current issue, 43, is dedicated to artist/musician Fatima Al Qadiri, and it’s Leslie’s final pick. “The presentation is smart but simple, with text and photography clearly defined and separate,” he begins. “The exciting part is the additional images, printed on a special acetate substrate called Stafix – static electricity makes these ‘stick’ to the pages of the magazine, allowing the reader to peel off and replace images over other images.” What better way to spend your summer? To explore the indie mag scene in more depth, magCulture will be running its fifth-annual ModMag conference in London on 2 November, an event that never fails to inspire. Related articles: The 20 best magazine covers of 2016 5 things every creative needs to know about print design 30 beautiful examples of paper art View the full article

Prototyping is perhaps one of the most important parts of the web design process. By building a website prototype we can test ideas with users, we can be wrong, we can learn, but most importantly we can do this quickly. But choosing the right prototyping tool can make or break the outcome. 10 top prototyping toolsWhen picking a prototyping tool, be sure to ask yourself these three questions: 01. What do you want to learn from your prototype? If you want complex features in your prototype, use something like AxureWant to test if you have the flow through a process right? Look at tools like InVision or Marvel. Want to know if users can complete an online form usefully? You’ll need tools like Axure or a real coded prototype. 3 top ways to build a website prototype02. What resources do you have to build a prototype? Use a tool like Marvel if you need to get things done quicklyIf time’s short, explore quick paper prototypes (you can use InVision or Marvel to turn these into clickable prototypes). Have a bigger team, and dev skills? There’s nothing better than a coded prototype, as the code can go towards the final product. 10 top prototyping tools03. How will you test? InVision makes it easy to test and incorporate user feedbackAre you testing with real users? Are there technical constraints with the test? How will you record the test or collect feedback? And what will you do with the prototype? All these decisions will help you choose the right tool. This article originally appeared in net magazine issue 294. Buy it here! Related articles: All you need to know about mockups, wireframes, and prototypes 10 top prototyping tools Rapid prototyping using Photoshop CC View the full article

Remember Frozen? If you were a sentient human in 2013, chances are the fantasy film's musical number Let It Go popped into your head when you saw this article. So it makes sense that the Disney Theatrical Productions have adapted Frozen into a Broadway musical, set for release next spring. To promote the movie, a new poster was in order. Organising one fell to Andrew Flatt, Disney Theatrical's senior vice president for strategy, marketing and revenue. Frozen's tale of the newly crowned Queen Elsa struggling with her magical ice-controlling powers is a story seared into the memories of children and patient parents around the world, so it makes sense that the poster needed to focus on these elements. Flatt also wanted to stick to a recognisable ice-cold colour palette. The chosen design emerged from among several submissions by advertising agency Serino Coyne and was created by Olly Moss, a British artist based in Winchester, England. It features a stylised snowflake that incorporates the main characters through a clever use of negative space, which many observers might not notice immediately. Olly Moss is well known for creating alternative posters for old moviesOver 100 poster concepts were submitted by Serino Coyne, which have been generously shared with comments by Flatt. They provide a fascinating insight into how big companies sift through potential designs. Explore these potential posters in the gallery below by clicking left to right. Each caption sums up Flatt's feedback. Related articles: Negative space: 18 brilliant examples How iconic fantasy film posters were made How to animate the Disney way View the full article

Google's August Android Security Bulletin featured patches for nearly a dozen remote code execution bugs impacting Google's Pixel and Nexus handsets. View the full article

Smartphones have made it easy to snap photos and apply filters, but it's still hard to beat a photo captured on a powerful DSLR camera. Go beyond point and click to capture images you could never imagine on a phone. Get the DSLR Photography Course Bundle for 93% off the retail price! The DSLR Photography Course Bundle offers two in-depth courses that will teach you how to get started with your camera, then how to master the advanced tricks to capture incredible photos. Using a DSLR is an entirely different experience than using compact cameras or smartphones, but once you understand it, you’ll be able to take photos you'd never see on a smartphone. The over 10 hours of content in these courses will help you make the transformation. You can get the DSLR Photography Course Bundle on sale right now for 93% off. That’s an amazing saving on a course bundle that usually costs $394, and is too good of an offer to pass up if you want to master the art of photography! View the full article