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Superhero logos are surely a dream brief for any designer: create a badge to be emblazoned large on the chest of a courageous crime-fighter. Dream up a brand to truly strike fear into the heart of villainous wrong-doers. And design a marque to spruce up any secret hideout to make it the envy of fellow superheroes the world over. 25 logo design tips from the expertsUnfortunately, it’s not the kind of brief that comes along too often in real life, so most of us must be content with cladding fictional superheroes from page and screen. But even fictional superheroes can teach us a thing or two about great branding. Read on to discover the art, craft and history behind seven of the most iconic, memorable superhero logos sported by the world’s greatest crime-fighters – and what branding and logo tips you can learn from them... 01. Superman Superman was the first superhero logo to be officially trademarkedThe original superhero, DC Comics’ Superman made his debut comic appearance in 1938, sporting a distinctive ’S’ logo created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. At that point it resembled a simple red-and-yellow police badge, or shield, but after various iterations the creators settled on a large ’S’ inside an inverted pentagon. Its primary red and yellow palette is bright, strong and confident, but the colours can also be seen to represent the character’s backstory: Roa, the sun of Superman’s home planet Krypton, is red; while Earth’s yellow sun gives him his power. The logo’s bold, masculine ‘diamond’ form – especially when emblazoned across a muscular torso – also conveys courage, strength and durability. In 1945 it was the first superhero logo to be officially trademarked, kicking off a lucrative market for merchandising and licensing – notably T-shirts. This trend was later followed by Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Spider-Man and more. Superman: The Movie elaborated the ’S’ into a coat of arms, or family crest - and according to 2013’s Man of Steel, it is not in fact a letter at all, but the Kryptonian symbol for ‘hope’. 02. Captain America Captain America's iconic shield was originally triangularCaptain America may be an enhanced supersoldier, but unlike Superman, he is very much from Earth. And his unconditional love of his country of origin makes the colour palette of his logo, and associated costume, something of a no-brainer. His iconic vibranium shield was originally triangular, but after complaints from rival comic book publisher MLJ about the character’s similarity to its own creation The Shield, it evolved into its current distinctive circular form. The red, white and blue concentric circles that adorn it symbolise infinity, power and energy, while the central star gives the all-American hero a patriotic flourish; a nod to the star-spangled banner, while maintaining its own identity. While his own emblem stands alone, ‘Cap’ also has the honour of leading The Avengers, which – rather like fellow Marvel superhero team the X-Men – also sports its own stylish logo. The idea to blend the ‘A’ with a dynamic arrow symbol originally came from Marvel letterer Gaspar Saladino, and was first seen in 1972. 03. Wonder Woman Prolific designer Milton Glaser turned his hand to Wonder Woman's superhero logoWhen Wonder Woman made her comic book debut in 1941, her associated emblem was an eagle, while her name was only crudely sketched in open script on the cover. It was only in the 1980s, when DC invested heavily in its superhero trio of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, that the Amazonian warrior acquired a distinctive superhero logo of her own. As a fairly generic symbol of the USA, the eagle wasn’t easily trademarked and licensed in the way that Superman and Batman could be. Given that the character hailed from the mythological island of Themyscira, the US associations – so fitting for Captain America – were also rather confusing by comparison. Having also worked on a revised Superman logo, legendary designer Milton Glaser was drafted in by DC to help solve both of these issues, combining the two Ws with a stylised wing motif that celebrates the heroine’s ability to fly, with a subtle nod to the original eagle emblem. 04. Batman Click on the arrows icon in the top-right to see a larger version of the evolution of Batman's logoAs with fellow DC superhero stablemate Superman, Batman’s logo emphasises his muscular physique, the oval form stretched across his chest. But his emblem also has a practical function: as a silhouette on a giant searchlight, the bat signal can summon him from any corner of Gotham. It also features in many of his tools and weapons, such as the Batarang and Batbelt. While the distinctive bat has always been the central focus, the shape and form of Batman’s logo has undergone significant changes over the decades. It has shifted personalities from its comic book origins in the 1940s, through the lycra-clad camp of the 1960s TV series, to Frank Miller’s dark 1980s graphic novels – and latterly a canon of major movies, which have ranged from gritty psychological thrillers to wise-cracking action romps. Ultimately, successful branding is about understanding your target market. Unlike Superman’s powerful and uplifting logo, which inspires awe, hope and pride in the general public, Batman’s symbol is often presented as dark, moody, mysterious and threatening – designed to strike fear into the hearts of criminals. 05. The Punisher This superhero logo has gained real-world notoriety that far transcends the comic book characterWhen it comes to antiheroes, it doesn’t get much darker than Marvel’s The Punisher. His menacing white skull logo, looming out of the darkness, is the last thing his enemies tend to see before being blown to pieces by the violent vigilante. Besides the intimidation factor, The Punisher’s logo also has a practical function: to draw fire away from his vulnerable areas and towards his heavily armoured chest. In terms of his backstory, the skull harks back to the Vietnam war, where the character uses it to taunt his capturers. Comic artist John Romita Sr later developed it into a more prominent symbol. In more recent years, the skull has attracted cult appeal in certain parts of the US Armed Forces, particularly the Navy SEALs and 24th Infantry. It featured on unofficial unit patches and was spray painted onto buildings, vehicles and equipment in Iraq and Afghanistan – gaining real-world notoriety that far transcends the comic book character himself. 06. Spider-Man Like many great logos, Spiderman's logo has evolved over timeOne of Marvel’s most-loved creations, Spider-Man – like Batman – has a superhero logo that’s evolved significantly over the decades, without losing its crucial association with the creature that inspired his name (and in Spider-Man’s case, gave him his powers). When the character first appeared in the Amazing Fantasy comic, his spider badge had a round, cartoony body, echoed by the relatively handmade-looking costume. The size and shape of the symbol has changed dramatically since, developing longer legs and a sleeker, edgier body. Some of these logo evolutions have been storyline-based, such as when Peter Parker bonds with the Symbiote to create the distinctive black version of his suit. This versatility, particularly when it comes to movie adaptations, helps keep the character fresh and relevant. 07. The Green Lantern The Green Lantern logo shows that simple is memorableTechnically, DC’s Green Lantern Corps constitute a whole army of galactic peacekeepers, rather than a single superhero – bound together not just by their ability to weaponise their incredible willpower, but by a shared brand identity and colour scheme. One of the simplest superhero symbols in this list, the Green Lantern logo is not only a stylised version of the lantern itself, but can also be seen as a graphic representation of that all-important willpower quality – the central circle, symbolising the superhero’s ‘power ring’, looks to be forcing two rigid lines apart. The Green Lantern logo is also joined by six other Lantern Corps symbols covering the rest of the colour spectrum, representing Greed, Rage, Fear, Compassion, Love and Hope, as well as black and white to represent Life and Death, respectively. The seven lanterns are violet/love, indigo/compassion, blue/hope, green/willpower, yellow/fear, orange/avarice and red/rageIt’s a complex branding hierarchy that only more committed comic fans will fully appreciate, but the original Green Lantern superhero logo proves that it’s often the simplest forms that are the most memorable. You might like these related articles: 10 commandments of logo design 10 ways to find logo design inspiration Key typographic trends in Marvel movie logos View the full article

Knowing how to code can be an incredibly valuable skill. This is your opportunity to learn how. Take a hands-on crash course in the art of code with the Complete Web Developer Course, on sale now for just $14.99 (approx £11)! When you understand how to work with coding languages, you can create just about anything. It’s time to expand your opportunities and improve your resume with the Complete Web Development Course. Work your way through the fundamentals of web development by building 14 websites from scratch. You'll learn how to make the most of programming languages like HTML, CSS, JavaScript and jQuery along the way. The Complete Web Developer Course usually retails for $199, but you can save 92% off that price right now. That means you pay just $14.99 (approx £11) for a course that could launch your next career, so grab it today! View the full article

However experienced and knowledgeable you get, you never stop learning – and great tutorials can teach you how to take advantage of new technologies, features, tools and techniques. You don’t want to end up missing out on a new trick that could save you time and energy, and help improve your design work. Here we round up the best graphic design tutorials to hit the web this year so far. We've split the list up into Illustrator tutorials, Photoshop tutorials, InDesign tutorials and tutorials for other software, to help you find what you're looking for. Enjoy! First up, it's the Illustrator tutorials. Despite the increasing rivalry from apps like Affinity Designer and Sketch, Adobe Illustrator continues to be the standard tool of choice for graphic designers and studios everywhere. Here are six of the best Illustrator tutorials we’ve spotted this year so far. 01. How to create a geometric pattern Learn to create a geometric pattern with this step-by-step guideIn this concise but incisive tutorial, Chris Spooner of Spoon Graphics demonstrates how to create a vector geometric pattern. You can either follow his step-by-step guide to create the same pattern, or remix the artwork to create your own. 02. Master dynamic gradients This 16-step tutorial demonstrates how simple shapes can be combined to create something magicalSoft gradients are a great way to build depth and beauty into your vector graphics. In this 16-step tutorial, Russian artist Alexandra Zutto walks you through the creation of a stunning owl image, which she creates through a slow and careful process of layering and building up small segments. 03. How to optimise and export SVGs Ensure your images work well on the web by following this SVG tutorialIn today’s multimedia world, when you create an SVG image in Illustrator, even if it’s intended for print, it’s important to make sure that it’s optimised for use on the web as well. In this Illustrator tutorial, Ivaylo Gerchev explains how to build fundamental SVG optimisation concepts into your creation process. 04. How to create digital particle waves Use Illustrator’s Blend tool to create this stunning effectAdobe Illustrator is commonly used to create abstract wave graphics, but here Chris Spooner explains how to use the Blend tool to create sci-fi-inspired digital particle waves. He uses Illustrator for the initial effect, then shows you how to move your pattern to Photoshop to add some extra colour enhancements. 05. How to design graphic figures Learn the fundamentals of designing graphic figures from expert Ben O’BrienIn this 10-step tutorial, illustrator Ben O’Brien walks you through the process of designing graphic figures that can fit into a scene effortlessly, paying close attention to body language, physical proportions and positioning different parts of the body. 06. How to create an editable retro text style Create editable yet attractive text using Illustrator’s Appearance panelHere Chris Spooner shows you how to use fills and strokes within Illustrator’s Appearance panel to create permanently set graphic text that is editable. The result is a set of trendy, retro-style letters with a faux 3D appearance. Next page: Great new Photoshop tutorials Adobe’s Photoshop has become so ubiquitous that in recent years it’s become a verb as well as a noun, and is now synonymous in the public consciousness with any form of image editing. It’s still the go-to software for design professionals, so here are six of the latest and greatest Photoshop tutorials to hit the web. 07. How to make quick selections Luke O’Neill explains three ways to make selections in PhotoshopA lot of the day-to-day work of a design studio focuses around cut-outs and masks, so it’s a skill that every designer must master. In this tutorial, Luke O’Neill outlines three basic techniques for creating selections, and also investigates the layer mask options and how you can use them to create cool effects. 08. How to make an animated GIF Monika Zagrobelna walks you through the creation of a GIFCreating an animated GIF in Photoshop is surprisingly straightforward. In this beginner-level Photoshop tutorial, Monika Zagrobelna teaches you everything you need to know, as she walks you through the creation of a GIF based on a wolf with glowing eyes. 09. How to create a repeating pattern Learn to construct a repeating pattern in PhotoshopThis tutorial by Christopher Phin explains how to create a single 'tile' in Photoshop and then use it to build up a repeating pattern, which can use to fill as big or as small an area as you like. He uses the example of a black and yellow 'warning' pattern to demonstrate the technique. 10. How to create a quick and easy duotone text effect Create a duotone text effect in this short, step-based tutorialDuotone text is one of the big design trends of the moment. In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to use a texture image, a gradient map, some adjustment layers and filters to create a duotone text effect in five short steps. 11. How to create an endless picture within a picture illusion Capture people’s attention by learning this eye-catching techniqueThe ‘picture within a picture’ concept is an optical illusion that can’t help but catch the viewer’s eye. This tutorial by Melody Nieves explains how to use simple photo manipulation techniques to create the effect. 12. How to create a vintage film title text effect Using Photoshop’s 3D capabilities to create a cool text effectThis tutorial by Chris Spooner demonstrates how to use the film title styles of old black-and-white movies from the 30s and 40s to inspire your retro text designs. It makes use of the 3D feature in Photoshop CS6 and Photoshop CC to provide sophisticated lighting and shading to the letterforms. Next page: Great tutorials for InDesign, Affinity Designer, After Effects and other software InDesign tutorials Among Adobe’s tools, Photoshop and Illustrator get most of the glory, but the old desktop publishing warhorse that is InDesign remains key to a lot of design tasks. Here are four great InDesign tutorials that have surfaced in 2017 so far. 13. How to design a book cover with InDesign Laura Hawk explains how to create a book cover in this 11-step tutorialHere, Laura Hawk explains 11 steps you need to follow to ensure a perfect book cover in Adobe InDesign. This comprehensive tutorial covers everything from setting up your template, setting up the bleed and arranging the cover panels to adding the barcode and flowing in the copy. 14. Create mixed inks with InDesign Expand your ink options with this tutorial from Jo GulliverIn this tutorial Jo Gulliver, senior art editor on our sister magazines, explains how to create ink swatches and groups in Adobe InDesign. This will enable you to create the maximum number of colours with a limited number of inks, without increasing the separations used for printing. 15. How to design a typographical poster using InDesign Learn to create a type-based poster with this InDesign tutorialWant to design an impactful event poster in InDesign? Then follow this tutorial from Jo Gulliver, which walks you through the process of creating a typographical poster, showing you how to apply a document grid, and how to create and edit typography. 16. Create special print finishes in InDesign If you really want to transform your print project, you need to investigate special print finishes. In this guide, Jo Gulliver explains the processes she uses when creating artwork in InDesign for special finishes such as varnishes, foil blocking, embossing and die cutting. 17. How to add video to interactive PDFs in InDesign Yes, you can add videos to PDFs; here’s howEveryone knows about PDFs, but you may not be aware how far the format has advanced in recent years. It’s now possible to embed videos in PDFs, and this tutorial by Pariah Burke explains exactly how to go about it. Tutorials for other software Here are three other top tutorials that don’t involve Photoshop, Illustrator or InDesign but nonetheless offer a great grounding in their respective subjects. We hope you find them as rewarding as we did. 18. How to create a retro logo with Affinity Designer Learn how to make a logo using this popular Illustrator alternativeSubscription-free and with some powerful capabilities, Affinity Designer is an increasingly popular alternative to Adobe Illustrator. In this Affinity tutorial, Simon Middleweek explains how to use its gradients and layer effects to create an 80s-style logotype. 19. How to create your own font Discover how to design a font, from start to finishIn this intermediate level tutorial, Yulia Sokolova explains the process of creating her first font, Bananito, from start to finish. This covers everything from drawing the initial design, transferring the drawing to the computer, and turning it into a font using software such as FontLab or Glyphs. 20. Mock up AR graphics with After Effects Create AR-style graphics in AE by following this tutorialAs a graphic designer, creating augmented reality (AR) experiences may be a little outside your technical competence. But you may well be asked to, for example, design a pitch video to show what an app with AR capabilities could look like. After Effects has some powerful tools to help you create these kinds of graphics, and in this tutorial, Laura Hawk explains how to use them. View the full article

You're reading How to Move a WordPress Website from HTTP to HTTPS/SSL, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! Google announced that it has started using HTTPS as a ranking signal. And that has implications for your site and whether it uses an HTTP or HTTPS protocol. For now, it’s only a very lightweight signal affecting fewer than 1 percent of global search queries, and carrying less weight than other signals (such as high-quality […] View the full article

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Cisco fixed two high severity vulnerabilities in two products this week that could have let an attacker trigger a denial of service condition or bypass local authentication. View the full article

Google is doing some incredibly creative things with artificial intelligence at the moment. We've already drawn your attention to AutoDraw, its online app that can turn your doodle art into crisp images. And there's Quick, Draw!, a high-speed Pictionary-style game that not only tries to guess what you're drawing, but also uses your scribbles to improve the effectiveness of AutoDraw. Do a bad drawing or just a random doodle...Now someone's used Google's technology to create a delightful piece of online doodling fun. Inspired by his two-year-old daughter's love of drawing – which she calls "no-ni no-ni", Google UX engineer Jongmin Kim has made NONI NONI, a website that turns your doodles into 3D structures made up of colourful balls. ...and NONI NONI guesses what it is and makes a 3D imageSimply scrawl a shape or a letter, and NONI NONI uses Google's machine learning tools to guess what it is, and then takes illustrations from AutoDraw, and also from artist Sanghee Cho, that it then turns into colourful 3D visualisations. It makes multiple suggestions, so you can choose your favourites. You can spin around and zoom in and out of the finished results either using the mouse wheel or two fingers on a touchscreen. You can then clear the image and start again either by holding down your mouse button for a couple of seconds, or by shaking your device, Etch a Sketch-style. It can even do letters, tooIt's perfect for kids (and we've had quite a bit of fun with it as well), and it's all done in HTML5 with SVG, WebGL and the Canvas element. You should definitely take a look at the site's About page, too, as it features a lovely psychedelic animated backdrop that we could watch for ages. Related articles: Amazing AI turns doodles into fine art The 40 best Google Doodle designs Doodle art: 52 great examples View the full article

The designs that have had an impact on me are very different projects, but the common element among them is a sense of wit, playfulness and thoughtfulness. Classics such as FedEx, V&A, Pirelli slippers, i-D magazine covers, the Mexican 1968 Summer Olympics, Tate, Shelter, the Tusk Conservation Awards and MIT Media Lab all give a sense that the designer has gone beyond the conventional answer to find something extra. They’ve injected joy into the work, and the viewer gets some of that joy at the other end, even years later. They’ve all had an impact on me, on the world of design, and on the wider world. Otherwise why would so many still be around? For me, that’s what it means to truly make an impact. When it comes to executing that in your own work, there’s never an easy answer – but there are plenty of questions. These are the questions I ask myself in my own work, and when judging others' for awards. Does it work? i-D magazine’s cheeky ‘winking face’ logoThis is the big one. I love judging work. It’s like being back at college with that terrifying tutor, except the terrifying tutor is now the voice inside my head. We do it every day in the studio. Every idea goes on the wall and we interrogate it. Pull it apart, question it and tease out its merits and faults. Could it work better? Is there something worth developing? Sometimes it feels like the work is questioning you. It sits there asking: ‘Am I good enough?’ Does it really work? FedEx, by Landor Associates, complete with ‘hidden’ arrowIt’s easy to deceive yourself. You have an idea you love, but a small voice (maybe that tutor again) says there’s a problem. You try to ignore it, talk yourself round – you can be so persuasive – but the voice insists. And you have to listen. It’s what pushes you to do better work. When you get there, it’s worth it. The joy you feel at that moment is the joy I want to feel when I see the piece of work. Great work isn’t fragile, it’s robust, and it can handle any amount of interrogation. The more you look for potential weakness, the more you find strength. Does it cut through? An application of johnson banks’ Shelter logo, which subtly turns the ‘h’ into a houseVisual clutter has a numbing effect – we’re assaulted by it every day, and we develop an immunity to it. Creative work needs to cut through. That takes wit. Work needs to engage the mind as well as the eye. I ask myself: Does it move me? Does it make me think? Is it meaningful? Is it joyful? Is it beautifully done? Alan Fletcher’s iconic V&A marque bears testament to the power of reductionThe craft of a piece of work is always as important as the idea. Has it been done beautifully? Is it executed with care and attention? Does it look good? It doesn’t always have to look conventionally beautiful, but it has to be beautifully considered. Does it have a life? Geometric letterforms based on African patterns reveal the 'Tusk' logoLogos and marks are as important as ever – social media icons have become such a powerful shorthand for brands. But good design work needs to do more than sit neatly in a corner. It needs come to life. A brilliant identity should have joy at every turn, and playfulness at every point. It should take on a life of its own. It’s not about sticking logos on things; it’s about those small touches in application that people then notice, appreciate and love. Does it do the impossible? The playful Mexican 1968 Summer OlympicsI want to see work that is thoughtful, engaging, beautiful, playful, impactful, surprising, startling, challenging, rewarding and meaningful. That’s a lot to ask, but it’s what makes it worthwhile – for the designer, the client, and especially the audience. And it is possible – just look at the projects I've mentioned here. I hope there will be some more to add to my list soon. This article was originally published in Computer Arts issue 266. Buy it here. Related articles: How to challenge brand stereotypes The designer’s guide to using colour in branding 25 logo design tips from the experts View the full article

It's now easier than ever to use platforms such as WordPress and Tumblr to create a highly effective and professional design portfolio page, which is easy to edit and navigate as you please, similarly to the way you would a blog page. You certainly don't need to be a web design wizard to create a decent looking portfolio site these days. There are a number of handy WordPress tutorials and elegantly designed portfolio WordPress themes out there to get you started on showcasing your work the best way possible. Here we've picked 21 of the best quality WordPress portfolio themes around. Let us know how you get on with them via Facebook or Twitter! Please note, as professional quality themes, these are paid options. For free WordPress themes, read our Best free WordPress themes post. 01. North North boasts 14 pre-built layouts for you to work withA totally responsive and parallax single-page WordPress theme, North is built with creative studios and agencies in mind, and comes in 14 ready-made flavours to suit whatever work you particularly want to show off. It also makes it easy to create your own custom layout, and there's even an installation screencast available to view that will help you get set up. 02. Twin Twin's dynamic grid widths will show off your imagery to great effectDesigned for creative and photographers, Twin uses jQuery Masonry layout for dynamic grid widths that really give you the opportunity to show off your work to best effect. It's responsive and retina-ready with eight custom post formats to play with, as well as six custom widgets and all the social sharing features you're likely to need. 03. Assemble Assemble's Masonry-style layoutKeep your options open with Assemble, a theme that gives you a choice of 18 homepage layouts for your portfolio. Once you've picked the general style of layout for your images, it can be customised down to the finest detail including hover types, spacing and slider style. 04. BePortfolio Get your Behance portfolio on your own site in a matter of minutesIf you've already published your work on Behance and want your own portfolio site as well, this theme enables you to import everything to your WordPress site using the BeDojo plugin. It also works as a normal theme - you don't have to have a Behance portfolio. 05. Reel Story Using video to draw the viewer inOpening with an impactful video is a good way to capture the viewer's attention, and this video portfolio template lets you do just that. It's set up so that the demo content is automatically installed so you can use it as a base for your own site. 06. Stag Stag lets you build minimal sites with sophisticated featuresIf you can't decide whether you want something minimal or versatile for your portfolio site, Stag gives you the best of both worlds. It's powered by Visual Composer, making it simple to build great-looking pages, but if you want features such as parallax backgrounds and animated content they're easy to implement. 07. Vong Vong is a CSS3-powered theme suitable for freelancers and agenciesResponsive, retina-ready and intuitive, Vong is a modern minimalist portfolio theme suitable for both freelancers and agencies. Powered by CSS3, it features three portfolio sizes and a fully responsive lightbox, as well as WooCommerce support and it'll even let you use HTML5 video as a page header background. 08. Flights Flights is a visually rich theme with plenty of optionsBuilt to meet the needs of creative photographers and illustrators, Flights is an elegant and responsive WordPress portfolio theme with a focus on imagery and colours, with four portfolio page templates and plenty of filtering, animation and scrolling options. 09. Alpha If you need a fast and customisable mobile first theme, check out AlphaFor a responsive mobile first theme that's highly customisable and blazing fast, look no further than Alpha. It comes with an attention-grabbing, custom-built portfolio slider that works well with both scroll and touch interaction, it uses AJAX to load portfolio projects with impressive effects, and its drag-and-drop composer means you can quickly build great-looking pages. 10. Hind Hind is crammed with options and has its own support team to help you outIf you want to get your portfolio site up and running in minutes but don't want to compromise on choice, then take a look at Hind. It comes with 14 read-made homepages and over 20 header styles, 11 pre-made sliders, plus an assortment of layout variations and animations and much more besides. And if you run into difficulties, there's a dedicated support team to help you out. 11. BigBang BigBang makes it easy to control the appearance of your responsive siteThe BigBang WordPress theme offers a very original editing system, working with various shaped preview thumbnails and a clean and clear layout, enabling you to control the appearance, columns, font and size easily. A great way to create a responsive WordPress portfolio site to showcase your work. Next page: 10 more excellent WordPress themes 12. Nemesis Clean Design Nemesis Clean Design does exactly what it says on the tinThis portfolio WordPress theme is specifically aimed at designers and creatives looking to expose their work. Nemesis Clean Design has a multi-functional layout that allows multiple page editing and run across the whole digital platform, allowing you to view it on iPhone/iPad devices without any modifications. 13. Media Book Media Book gives your imagery a luxurious feelMedia Book offers a perfect and refreshing WordPress theme that would work particularly well with photography and very visual imagery, giving you a professional and luxurious feel to your work. 14. Hipster Hipster is so laid back, it's laid outAs the name suggests, Hipster offers a modern and relaxed alternative to an overformal portfolio site, with multi-functional pages that will allow viewers to engage and interact with the content - perfect for studios and collectives. Its many editing features allow you to personalise the content to best suit the nature of your work, again viewable on a range of different digital platforms. 15. MiniPress Let your work do the talking with this simple black and white themeMiniPress offers a simple but classy black and white layout to give your work a glossy finish. This theme is functional on many platforms and easily accessible. 16. Pen & Paper Pen & Paper offers a refined and traditional look but with modern touchesPen & Paper offers a more classical and refined layout for your WordPress portfolio, with a more traditional look, yet interactive and user friendly, adapting to a modern context. 17. SimplyInfinite SimplyInfinte is smooth and clean with flexible editing optionsThe SimplyInfinite WordPress theme offers a very smooth and clean layout, giving flexible editing options as well as pages to spread out and distribute your content within. 18. Rhea Rhea is a clean and structured layout for illustrators and artistsRhea is another great clean and structured layout, perfect for illustrators and visual artists. This WordPress theme is fast and smooth, allowing your work to be put forward in a user-friendly fashion. 19. Retro Retro lets you build web pages like you used to get in the 1950sThis WordPress theme offers an alternative design for your portfolio site, with a retro inspired layout, easy editing options and multiple page facilities, with built in options including contact forms and Nivo sliders. 20. Incorn Incorn boasts plenty of image, audio and video featuresIncorn has a stylish layout, offering up to 20 pages of content made very easy to navigate and interact with. The clean and modern design of this WordPress theme is easy to customise and edit. With built-in image, audio and video friendly facilities, it's easily connected to social networks. 21. Haze Haze is beuatiful and stylish with great navigations optionsHaze is a beautiful and stylish portfolio WordPress theme that offers a full screen slider welcome page and easy to use navigation options: perfect for creatives and visual imagery. This is an updated and expanded version of an article previously published on Creative Bloq. Related articles: 25 brilliant WordPress tutorials 10 great WordPress plugins for designers The 34 best free WordPress themes View the full article

Japanese graphics tablet specialist Wacom has teamed up with Drink and Draw Berlin to give creatives the chance to win an exclusive masterclass with famous illustrators, animators and concept and comic artists. Taking place on 31 August at Umspannwerk Alexanderplatz in Berlin, Germany, the Wacom Masterclass Competition is a fantastic opportunity to learn new skills, network with other artists, and even win the new Wacom Intuos Pro. Entrants have a choice of which masterclass they would like to sit in on, with the options including illustration with Josan Gonzalez, concept art with Adrian Wilkins, comic art with Goran Sudzuka and 2D animation with Raman Djafari. 8 inspiring digital art portfolios and why they work The new Wacom Intuos Pro could be yoursThe Wacom Masterclass Competition is already up and running, but you've got until Friday 18 August at 23:59:59 CEST to enter. To be in with a chance of winning, simply like the official Wacom Europe Facebook page and choose one of the four masterclass themes. Then submit an artwork relevant to that theme on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #WacomMasterclass and a hashtag of the relevant theme (such as #illustration, # comic #conceptart or #2Danimation). You'll also need to email your artwork with the subject line 'Wacom Masterclass Competition 2017' to contest@wacom.com. Five winning artworks will be selected by a panel of three people from the Wacom marketing team and the folks behind Drink and Draw. For full competition details, head over to the Wacom competition page. Related articles: Wacom's new Cintiq has the biggest screen yet 8 inspiring digital art portfolios and why they work 6 best digital art tools of 2017 so far View the full article

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Design skills can be put to use in many different ways. Whether you want to build apps and websites as a hobby or turn it into your profession, the Learn to Design Bundle can teach you everything you need to know. Get it on sale right now for just $29 (approx £23). There is a lot going on behind the scenes of your favourite apps and websites. If you want to understand how these services work and tinker with the inner workings of them, you need the Learn to Design Bundle. It's packed with more than 57 hours of lessons and nine unique courses designed to teach you everything from the fundamentals of UX and UI to the coding languages like HTML5 and CSS3 that make the web and mobile apps run. The courses of the Learn to Design Bundle usually retail for $1,209. You can save a huge 97% off that price right now. That means you pay just $29 (approx £23). It’s a great price to get your start as an expert designer, so grab it today! View the full article

Creative side projects can offer all sorts of benefits, one of them being the chance to make a little extra money by selling your designs online. But how do you go about turning your ideas into products you can sell – physical or digital? Where are the best places to sell your work online? And how much should you charge? Whether you want to set up your own bespoke ecommerce site, or let a company take the hassle out of it for you, there’s a plethora of options to get going. With these options, you can get your work in the hands of other designers, make a few fans on the way and even get some more commissions. Why you should make time for creative side projectsHow much should you charge? Deciding on pricing is of course an issue when selling your designs online. You want to make some cash, but you don't want to price yourself out of your customers’ reach. “It really depends on the complexity of the project,” says freelance motion designer Thomas Davis. “I try to think about how my products could save people time or help them with their projects and what that is worth. "Ultimately, though, I think it comes down to how much I'd be willing to pay for it myself if it were on sale elsewhere.” With that in mind, let's look at some ways to sell your work online. Sell through an established store Society6 takes care of the logistics – just upload your designs and name a priceSociety6 The most common things that designers sell are prints. Perhaps the easiest way – and a way to tap into an already thriving community – is to use a service such as Society6. This site has actually moved from predominantly prints to pretty much anything you can imagine – tapestries, iPhone cases... you name it. Simply sign up, verify your identity by making a one-time payment of $1 via PayPal and upload your work to sell it as a print... or whatever you like. Check out the help on the site for the required resolution for different products – and the royalties you’ll received for the different kinds. The great thing about selling prints here is that you determine your price – and you’ll be paid the profit made. You can set up an artist shop for free on ThreadlessThreadless Over the years, Threadless has gone from T-shirts to prints, home furnishings and more. And whereas it used to be competition-based, you can now set up an artist shop for free and upload your work to be printed on all manner of products. And the great thing about Threadless is there’s no minimum order size – and everything is printed as a custom one-off product. You can see the kind of profit you’re likely to make on Threadless’s selling page. Others There’s a myriad of other options for selling, including Gumroad for digital products – explained further down the page – and Etsy. Etsy lets you determine your price, but you will be lumped in with lots of craft-based products. Set up a bespoke store on your site Mike Harrison set up the custom Rudoji store using Big CartelBig Cartel But if you’re more interested in bringing visitors to your own site, there are a number of options that enable you to quickly add a shop. One of the most popular is Big Cartel. If you’re selling five products or fewer, the service is free, and it enables you to easily build your shop into your site, offering different design themes ready to go. One designer who recently set up a Big Cartel site is Mike Harrison – who wanted to design and sell products based around his ‘Rudoji’ project, an ongoing collection of ‘rude emojis’. “I used Bigcartel as a base for the shop,” says Harrison. “It felt like the most 'plug and play' shop system out there, which was quick and easy to set up. I customised it heavily, though, from one of the base themes using HTML/CSS. There was a lot of trial and error with the customisation parts that I did myself.” Awesome Merchandise produce Harrison's products for his online shopThere are a number of pricing options depending on how many products you want to sell. Bear in mind that this is purely an e-commerce solution – Big Cartel won’t print or mail out orders for you, so you’ll need to do that on your own. To actually get his products made, Harrison went to Awesome Merchandise, based in Leeds, UK. “They offer all kinds of products you can customise and so were a great find. They're also good value and the production quality is decent,” says the designer. Harrison got all of the products printed before the shop went live and gets more made as they go out of stock, taking some of the hassle out of having his own store. Gumroad has plenty of options for selling digital productsGumroad Freelance motion designer Thomas Davis used a different platform to sell his digital products – Gumroad. Davis embedded the Gumroad store in his own site, but you can also sell your products directly through Gumroad. “If you're looking to sell digital products it has all sorts of tools built in like serial numbers for each sale, ‘pay what you like’ pricing for products, offer codes, and an email option to send updates to customers, everything you need really!" says Davis. Davis set up Loop to sell After Effects packs – everything from glitchy titles to cool effects and presets – that he started making in downtime between projects. Gumroad gives designers the option of selling on their site or embedding its platform into your own site“I design and build all sorts of projects that I think other motion designers will find useful, as well as writing blog posts and tutorials to help new designers learn more about the world of motion design,” says Davis. On Gumroad's capabilities, he says, "The actual checkout experience is one of the slickest I've seen." Squarespace Squarespace is another service that enables you to design your entire ecommerce site and sell your work directly from there. It also offers marketing services such as reminder emails to customers who have left things in their shopping cart. Shopify Shopify is another ecommerce site hosting and site building service with plenty of theme customisation options. It also offers blogging capabilities and a gift card facility. More options Whatever shopfront or selling solution you use, creating bespoke products to sell can be a fantastic way to raise your profile and get your work on walls, chests, furniture and more. If you want to browse more options, check out our 14 great places to sell your design work online post. You might also like these articles: Why you should make time for creative side projects 14 great places to sell your design work online 20 top tools for freelancers View the full article

Two IP cameras sold by Loftek and VStartcam are leaving over 1.3 million users open to 21 vulnerabilities that range from a lack of HTTPS encryption to bugs that open users up to cross-site request forgery attacks. View the full article

Over the past few years, it’s been interesting to watch web layouts take centre stage within the world of CSS. The main catalyst for this coming to the forefront is a better understanding by everyone of the importance of the user experience and content flow of any responsive website. Or maybe we’re in a post-float development world. First with Flexbox and most recently with CSS Grid layout options, our choices and abilities for thoughtful layouts are expanding greatly. Can I Use CSS Grid Layout has up-to-date info regarding browser adoption ratesWe’re still in the early days of Grid’s adoption in browsers. Visit caniuse.com/#feat=css-grid for some interesting numbers and notes around the current adoption. It is currently supported on the WebKit Nightly if prefixed with -webkitand it looks like non-mobile browsers such as IE, Edge, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Opera will all have partial to full support in their next release. My hope is that relatively soon, the global support percentage will have gone up significantly from the current 6.28 per cent. See Chris House’s A Complete Guide To Grid for a comprehensive introductionThere are some helpful resources around CSS Grid. Luckily, css-tricks.com/snippets/css/complete-guide-grid has a complete guide, written and updated by Chris House. Rachel Andrew’s interactive examples of Grid Layout are a handy learning toolAlso, for the more visually inclined, Rachel Andrew has done a phenomenal job collecting all resources around grid, with blog updates and, best of all, examples of common UI patterns. These resources should have you up and running in supporting browsers in no time. This article was originally published in net magazine issue 293. Buy it here. Related articles: CSS tricks to revolutionise your layouts 5 tips for super-fast CSS Understanding the CSS display property View the full article

A portfolio website is an ideal way to get your name out there, show people your work and get feedback on your designs. It’s a virtual necessity if you’re looking for a job, seeking freelance work or hunting for creative collaborators. The world’s most famous designers aren’t usually seeking any of these things, so it’s perhaps surprising that so many of them continue to maintain an online portfolio. But many still do, and there’s a lot they can teach us. In this post we’ve gathered together the portfolios of 10 of our favourite famous designers living today. But if there’s a famous designer’s portfolio you feel we should have included, please let us know on Facebook or Twitter. 6 famous agency websites and what they can teach us01. Susan Kare Icons for the Apple Macintosh operating system by Susan KareEven if you haven’t heard of Susan Kare (and if you haven't, maybe you should read our 25 names every graphic designer should know post), you've probably spend a lot of your life staring at her work. That’s because she created many of the iconic interface elements for the Apple Macintosh in the 1980s, including the Trash Can, the Lasso and the Happy and Sad Macs. She's also the creator of font families such as Chicago, Monaco and Geneva, and has designed thousands of icons for a range of global brands. It’s unusual to see a portfolio so dedicated to the creation of icons, so it’s a great resource for designers looking for inspiration. Careful examination of the designs on display – including work for Apple, Facebook, Microsoft and Paypal – will help you get your head exactly what makes a world class icon. Kare believes good icons should be as efficient and easily comprehended as a road sign, free of any extraneous details that could confuse users. Her portfolio helps to show you just what that looks like in practice. 02. Peter Saville Peter Saville’s iconic cover for Joy Division’s 1980 seven-inch, Love Will Tear Us ApartPeter Saville is an English art director and graphic designer best known for the many record sleeves he designed for Factory Records, while serving as its art director in the 1980s. In 2004 he consulted as creative director of the City of Manchester, and in 2010 designed the home shirt for English football team. His portfolio site includes carefully catalogued representations of his works for sleeves, covers or packages, stretching from 1978 to 2016. Influenced by neo-classicism and architectural post-modernism, his work has been described by The Guardian as combining "an unerring elegance with a remarkable ability to identify images that epitomise the moment". In a digital age, when the physical album cover barely exists any more, Saville’s extensive portfolio shines a light on a time when design, art and music were intertwined, and each discipline was truly pushing boundaries. Anyone who wants to rise above dull competency as a designer and create something truly groundbreaking would do well to check it out. 03. April Greiman Greiman’s show California’s Designing Women, 1896-1986One of the first designers to embrace computer technology, Greiman is widely credited, along with early collaborator Jayme Odgers, with establishing the ‘New Wave’ design style in the US during the 1970s and 1980s. The recipient of a Gold Medal for lifetime achievement from the American Institute of Graphic Arts, nowadays Greiman heads up LA design consultancy Made in Space and continues to craft exciting, original art. Greiman’s transmedia projects have been lovingly photographed and showcased on her arresting portfolio site, which itself boasts an innovative, eye-catching look. A lot of this is pretty ‘out there’, and light years from the day-to-day work of most designers. But that’s kind of the point; reminding us just how boundless and imaginative art and design is, and inspiring us to open up our imagination to new possibilities. 04. Chip Kidd Chip Kidd’s portfolio includes more than 300 of his best cover designsChip Kidd is an American graphic designer who’s best known for his innovative book jacket designs. His own first novel, The Cheese Monkeys, was a bestseller and his most recent book, Go: A Kidd’s Guide to Graphic Design, is the first book to teach graphic design to children. He’s also the recipient of the National Design Award for Communications, and his TED Talk has been viewed more than 1.3 million times. Kidd’s portfolio brings together more than 300 of his best cover designs in an easy-to-access format. Combining inventive use of typography with evocative imagery in a way that feels instantly contemporary, each works brilliantly in encouraging readers to reach for the shelves and get nose-deep into a novel. Whether you’re designing a book cover, or any kind of design that aims to grab attention, there’s a lot you can learn by examining this master’s work. 05. Kate Moross Kate Moross’ bright and colourful style is showcased throughout a generous selection of workAward-winning illustrator, art director, and designer Kate Moross is known for her love for colourful and energetic squiggles. Since 2008 she’s applied her unique style her to music videos, textiles, identities, murals, fashion and magazine covers. Most recently her company, Studio Moross, created the visuals for the boyband One Direction’s tour. Moross’s portfolio site features a generous selection of her bright and colourful work, divided into the following categories: Typography, Geometric, Moving Image, Editorial Products, Collaborations, Posters and Flyers Advertising. While her style has been much copied (and nobody will thank you for thoughtlessly aping it), there’s a lot you can learn here about use of colour, taking an imaginative approach to lettering, and adding a sense of vibrancy to your designs. Just be aware you may need sunglasses... 06. James Victore Department of Probate Poster by James VictoreJames Victore is an Brooklyn-based art director, designer, and author whose work has twice been exhibited at The Museum of Modern Art. Describing himself as “a designer for brave clients”, he runs an independent design studio, is an author and filmmaker, and shares his love of design through lectures, workshops, and writings. Victore has chosen a Behance page rather than a bespoke website to showcase his designs, but who cares? It’s the work that counts, and there’s a great selection of it here, including editorial designs, lettering, illustration and more. Our chief takeaway from these projects: how a sense of irrelevance and rule-breaking, when used thoughtfully and intuitively, can help your work stand out and make the world beat a path to your door. Or, to put it more simply, you need to understand the rules to break them. 07. Debbie Millman Millman’s cover design for Print Magazine’s Regional Design AnnualNamed “one of the most influential designers working today” by Graphic Design USA, Debbie Millman is also an author, educator, strategist and host of the podcast Design Matters. Having worked with more than 200 of the world’s largest brands, she’s also a frequent speaker on design and branding, and President Emeritus of AIGA. All of these various roles and others are serviced by her website, which includes a portfolio element featuring examples of her lettering and illustration work. This is fairly minimal and only features small grabs; clicking them doesn’t produce larger versions but instead transfers you to the publication itself. But we still thought it worth including on this list, because even a tiny selection of Millman’s work will evoke more creative inspiration and ideas than most designers’ more extensive portfolios. 08. Stanley Donwood Santa Monica, 2003 by Stanley DonwoodEnglish graphic designer, artist and writer Stanley Donwood is best known for designing Radiohead’s album cover art and posters since 1994. In 2002, he won a Grammy for Best Recording Package, for his work on the special edition of Radiohead’s album Amnesiac. The ‘Selected Works’ section of his website may only include 12 examples of his work, but they’re all completely stunning, and give an instant idea of what Donwood is about. In doing so, they provide an important lesson to the designer trying to pack too many pieces into their own portfolio: how less can very much be more. 09. Jon Burgerman Burgerman makes every piece distinctive, but easily identifiable by his signature styleBritish-born, New York-based graphic designer and artist Jon Burgerman is famed for his doodle art style and fusion of fine art, pop culture and street art. Having collaborated with many big brands (even creating a special sick bag for Virgin Atlantic), his award-winning work is included in the public collections of London's Victoria and Albert Museum and Science Museum. While Burgerman’s site is more like a Tumblr-style blog than an organised portfolio, it does provide an easy way for visitors to filter entries and find what they’re looking for, via the categories Events, Video, Commercial, Misc, Interactive, Press and Artwork. And the wide range of work on offer conveys an important lesson in how to keep your style your own, across a range of media, while still serving the client and making each piece distinctive and unique. 10. Jessica Hische Hische’s cover design for a book by Dave EggersAn American designer, illustrator, and typographer living and working in Brooklyn, Jessica Hische is known for her personal projects, such as Daily Drop Cap, as well as client work for big brands such as AIGA, American Express, Penguin, Victoria’s Secret and Wired. She’s also produced a number of commercial and proprietary typefaces. Gorgeously art-directed, with (no surprise) a sophisticated use of typography and an elegant layout, Hische’s online portfolio divides her work neatly into different categories: advertising, books and film, editorial, identity and miscellany. With books and prints to sell on her site too, she’s put maximum effort into presenting her work in the most beautiful light, and it stands as an inspiration for anyone wishing to do the same. View the full article

You're reading What Typography Means in Email & How to Choose the Best Fonts, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! The thumb rule for marketing anything is to package it in a visually appealing way. Shapes, images, colors and appropriate typography come together to draw viewers’ attention to your product. In this article, we shall be focussing on the impact that typography in your email has on the overall user experience and how to choose […] View the full article

IBM fixed a cross-site scripting vulnerability in its Worklight and MobileFirst products that could have let an attacker steal sensitive information. View the full article

Every artist deserves to upgrade the tools of their craft every now and then. With the Corel Painter 2018 Upgrade Bundle, you can take your art to the next level with the latest and greatest tools for artists. Get this collection of apps on sale for 52% off the retail price! At the centre of the Corel Painter Upgrade 2018 Bundle is Corel Painter, one of the most powerful apps for digital artists. You don't have to own a previous version of the app to grab the Upgrade Bundle, as you'll score the full version of the app. Pair it with the powerful photo touchup app AfterShot 3 and the collection of custom brushes offered by ParticleShop and you'll be able to create without limitations. The Corel Painter 2018 Upgrade Bundle usually retails for $518, but you can save 52% off that price. That means you'll pay just $249 (approx. £188) for a bundle that will breathe new life into your artwork, so grab this deal today! View the full article

Even at the best of times, Twitter can be a difficult place. If you're not scrolling through tacky, promoted ads telling you how to check whether you had PPI, your echo chamber's being intruded by timeline contrarians. The experience is set to get worse, with certain users being greeted with a nasty design-related surprise today as they fired up the social media platform to find that its font had changed. The redesign, which has been silently rolling out since yesterday evening, appears to be targeted at desktop versions of Twitter. It sees the relatively familiar Helvetica Neue getting bumped in favour of Segoe, a font used on the Xbox 360 dashboard, as well as the logos for Microsoft, Windows and Office. Given that this is the change no Twitter user asked for (seriously, just let us edit Tweets – this could turn the platform's fortunes around), the decision to tweak the font hasn't gone down well. Plenty of users vented their fury in 140 characters, with many levelling their rage at the diminutive size of the font. All this rage might not be futile screaming into the void, though. In 2014 Twitter tried to switch to Gotham, claiming that it was "elegant and direct, stylish but not exclusive." The sales talk didn't win over users though, and four months later they reverted to Helvetica. Related articles: Twitter gets a new minimal look 50 design agencies to follow on Twitter How Twitter's former principal designer is redesigning the design process View the full article

Unless you’ve been hiding under the rock, you've probably heard the word 'blockchain' being thrown around recently. It seems to be one of the buzzwords of the year. And despite the fact we're frequently told it's going to be a game-changer, not many people seem to know what blockchain is. This guide is here to help. In it, I’ll explain everything about blockchain – what it is, how it works, and why it's taking the world by storm – all in plain English. Why do we need blockchain? In essence, Blockchain is a decentralised database (or ledger) that records information in a way that it is permanent and public. To explain how blockchain works, I'll use an example. Imagine you want to send some money to your friend, how would you do it? You would reach out to your bank manager and tell them to transfer money from your account to your friend’s. When you pay money into a friend's account, the bank simply makes an entry in a register When we tell them to do this, all they do is make an entry in a register. It would look something like the image above. Once the entry has been made in the register, you can call your friend and tell them the money is in their account. Note: We are not talking of computers just to avoid complexity. If you prefer, think of this register as just another database. Once a note has been made of the transfer, you can tell your friendWhat just happened? Did just one entry in a register transfer the money? Yes. All we need to move money around the world is to enter the information into a register. However, the entry needs to be made in someone else’s register; and that’s the problem. What if your bank manager makes a mistake when writing down the transaction? What if the bank manager purposefully miswrites the transaction to favour your friend? What if the bank manager runs away with the register? Smart people among us started asking an important question: how can we avoid third parties, like banks, and still maintain the register? The solution is blockchain. How does blockchain work? We now know that blockchain is just another way to maintain a register – nothing more than that. Imagine there are 10 individuals who want to stop using banks. On mutual agreement, they have details of each other’s accounts all the time – without knowing the other’s identity. Imagine these 10 people want to stop using banks altogether01. The empty folder To start with, everyone has an empty folder. As we progress, each of these 10 individuals will add pages to their folder. This collection of pages will form the register that tracks the transactions. 02. Making a transfer Everyone in the network sits with a blank page and a pen in their hands. Everyone is ready to write any transaction that occurs within the system. Suppose #2 wants to send $10 to #9. To make the transaction, #2 shouts and tells everyone, 'I want to transfer $10 to #9. Everyone, please make a note.' #2 wants to transfer some funds to #9Everyone checks whether #2 has enough balance to transfer $10 to #9. If she does, everyone then makes a note of the transaction on their blank page. 03. Tracking transactions Everyone makes a note of the transactionTransactions keep happening within the network and everyone keeps writing them down on until their page gets filled. When that happens, everyone has to put the page away in their folders, bring out a new page and start the whole process again. The magic of blockchain lies when the page has to be put away in the folder. 04. Starting a new page The deal is that when the page goes in the folder, everyone’s version of page must look same and it must not be modified ever in the future. To accomplish this, we will seal the contents of the page. How to we seal a page? We seal the page using something called a hash function. Think of hash function as a magic machine that takes some data from left and outputs some gibberish-looking data on the right. A hash function takes in data and outputs what looks like gibberishThe important thing about these machines is that they make it very difficult to reverse this process. In other words, given an output, the only way to figure out the input is to try every possible option until you hit on the right one. So let's say I ask you the following question: What should I send from the left side of the machine such that I get an output that starts with three leading zeroes (e.g. 000ab or 00098)? Because reversing the process is impossible, we’ll have to try every number in the universe until we get the output with the desired constraints – three leading zeroes. This feature comes in handy when sealing the page. Now imagine I gave you two boxes. The first box contains the number 20893. I ask you: Can you figure out a number that when added to the number in the first box and fed into the machine will give us a code that starts with three leading zeroes? Let's say we have part of the inputAfter trying every number, we might stumble upon the number – say 21191 – we were looking for. In this case, the number 21191 becomes the seal for the number 20893. If we write 20893 on a page and put a seal labeled 21191 on the page, the page is sealed. If anyone ever has to verify the authenticity of the page, they could simply add the two numbers and feed the answer to the machine. If the output has three leading zeroes, the contents are still authentic. We can use this information to verify the page is still authenticTo seal a page containing a list of transactions, we need to figure out a number that when appended to the list of transactions and fed to the machine gives a code that starts with three leading zeroes on the right. The seal code needs to be combined with the list of transactionsNow that we know about sealing the page, we will go back to the time when we had finished writing the last transaction on the page, and we ran out of space to write more. How do we establish the sealing number? As soon as everyone runs out of room on the page to write further transactions, they calculate the sealing number for the page so it can be tucked away in the folder. Everyone in the network does the calculation. The first one in the network to figure out the sealing number announces it to everyone else. Everyone tries to figure out the sealing numberImmediately on hearing the sealing number, everyone checks if it yields the required output or not. If it does, everyone seals their page with this number and puts it away in their folder. But what if for someone, say #7, the sealing number that's announced doesn’t yield the required output? In that case, he would have to discard his version of the page, copy the page again from someone else, and then put it away in his folder. Now, everyone is using the same version of the page. You might ask me now: Why does everyone spend time doing the calculation when they know that someone else will calculate and announce it to them? Why not just wait for the announcement? Great question. The person who does the calculation first is rewarded with some free cryptocurrency – say bitcoins. That’s how bitcoin came into existence. What happens now? Once everyone has tucked away the page in their folders, they bring out a new blank page and repeat the whole process all over again, and so on, forever. Think of a single page as a block of transactions and the folder as the chain of pages ('blocks'), therefore, turning it into a blockchain. And that, my friends, is how blockchain works. You can check out a more in-depth look at what blockchain is here. Read more: 9 of the best resources for learning HTML and CSS CSS tricks to revolutionise your layouts 18 great parallax scrolling websites View the full article

This week saw British artist Alex Chinneck complete his first permanent piece of art on the side of a new London office development. Titled 'Six pins and half a dozen needles', the monumental installation is made of 4,000 10-tonne bricks that look as though they're being ripped apart. Positioned on an office in Hammersmith, London, 'Six pins and half a dozen needles' has been designed to fit into the building's existing brickwork. It's the latest in Chinneck's body of surreal work, with previous pieces including an upside-down pylon, brick work that appears to curve into the ground like a piece of paper, and a disused building with identical smashed windows. 27 world famous buildings to inspire youIn a statement, Chinneck explained that the work was conceived to engage people in a fun and uplifting way. ”Although we use real brick, it was designed with a cartoon-like quality to give the sculpture an endearing artifice and playful personality,” he said. The rip that tears through the building was designed to look like a page being ripped from a book. To get the right look, Chinneck spent months scanning in torn sheets of paper to create the design digitally. Over the next 14 months, Chinneck worked with engineers, steelworkers and brick-makers to turn the concept into a 12-metre high reality. Explore 'Six pins and half a dozen needles' by clicking left to right in the gallery below, or see it for real by visiting 77 Fulham Palace Road, London. Related articles: 30 mind-bending trompe l'oeil illusions 7 stunning laser-cut sculptures Stunning sculptures create art from DNA View the full article

What makes a great logo design for a band? A clever concept and the ability to become just as iconic as the music is a good start, but originality is just as important. From hard rock to pop, we've picked some of our favourite band logo designs – including some old favourites as well as some newcomers. Be inspired by these beautiful band logos, all of which boast stand-out quality. 01. The Monkees The classic Monkees logo still looks good, 50 years laterInfamously manufactured for TV, The Monkees still had a bunch of great tunes – thanks to a roster of top songwriters and session musicians – and a fantastic guitar-shaped logo, conceived by the show's publicity man and drawn for $75 by Nick LoBianco. It's stood the test of time, still looking fresh on the cover of 2016's Good Times, the band's first album in 20 years. 02. Unkle Graffiti artist Futura 2000 helped define much of Unkle's visual identityAmerican graffiti artist Futura 2000 (now known as plain Futura) had form as an illustrator and graphic designer for music, most notably for his work on The Clash's Combat Rock. But it was his work for James Lavelle's Mo' Wax records that really launched his design career, and which also led to him creating the logo and other imagery for Lavelle's Unkle project. The two scratchy, pointy-headed alien figures are a perfect match for the first Unkle album, Psyence Fiction. 03. Adam and the Ants Danny Kleinman went on to create the title sequences for James Bond filmsAdam Ant, with his background of art school and the DIY punk ethos, always had a keen interest in getting his band's image right. From his early punk singles, for which he drew the cover artwork himself, through to his later chart toppers, he'd mastermind powerful, eye-catching looks, and this Adam and the Ants logo, designed by Danny Kleinman and known as the Warrior Ant, is a corker. 04. The Doors The reflective "o" of The Doors' typography remains iconicSimple and iconic. This bold, geometric design with the tiny, psychedelic and italicised 'THE' is perhaps one of the most recognised band logotypes in the world. Perfectly summing up the trippy, hippie counter-culture of the late 60's, The Doors didn't need a symbol or an image. Their typographic design remains just as fresh to new eyes today as it did to the kids of the swinging sixties. 05. Dream Theater Dream Theater kept hold of their majesty logo, even with a new vocalist and band nameProgressive metal band, Dream Theater's "majesty symbol" is a reimagining of Mary, Queen of Scots' mark. Designed by former vocalist, Charlie Dominici, when the band was still known as Majesty (hence the symbol's title) the band kept the logo and it has gone on to feature on nearly every single Dream Theater release. 06. The Dead Kennedys An iconic punk symbol that is as easily graffitied as an anarchy signDesigned by artist Winston Smith, the Dead Kennedys DK logo is a perfect example of simple, easily immitatable graphic design. A clever way of achieving a 70's shaped viral campaign, singer Jello Biafra is quoted as saying, "I wanted to make sure it was something simple and easy to spray-paint so people would graffiti it all over the place." After showing it to Smith, he "came back with a bunch of designs that had the circle and slightly 3D-looking letters and he had ones with different patterns behind it. I liked the one with bricks, but ultimately I thought simple red behind it was the boldest and the best." 07. Gorillaz Gorillaz are virtual, and arguably the entire band is a logo for their creators' projectThis entire band is arguably a logo, a brand and no doubt a great achievement in design. However, the graffiti-styled typeface is a recognisable testiment to how simply you can sum up your band, just by picking the right font. This typographic post-apocalyptic street art homage encapsulates the political aesthetics that Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett were so keen to capture. 08. Nirvana The Nirvana logo is easily one of the most recognisable in the music industryOne of the most recognisable logos in music history, the Nirvana logo design has been a common sight T-shirts for over two decades. Featuring an Onyx typeface and a smiley face – said to be inspired by a strip club in Seattle – the juxtaposing colours make this an iconic band logo design. 09. Weezer The logo design was created by the band's drummerDesigned by the band's drummer Patrick Wilsen in 1993, the Weezer logo was originally in lower case. The 'flying W' used the Futura Medium font before a few alterations were made. Fans are known to recreate this logo design at shows using hand signals, proving its worth and success in creating a brand for the band. 10. Jurassic 5 The band logo perfectly encorporates the 'J' and '5' into the designPerfectly encorporating both the 'J' and the '5' to portray Jurassic 5, this is an epic hip-hop logo that allows the design to be featured on a range of records thanks to its circular design. Designed by band member Charlie "Chali 2na" Stewart, it's been produced in a wide range of colours for much of the band's merchandise and remains a strong contender as one of the best band logos. 11. Public Image Ltd Dennis Morris created the logo for the band back in 1979Renowned photographer Dennis Morris was responsible for the design of Public Image Ltd's logo. Known for photographing The Sex Pistols and Bob Marley, Morris created this band logo design back in 1979. He also produced the iconic Metal Box packaging for the band, which is still regarded as one of the best album artworks of all time. 12. The KLF Perfectly shaped for vinyl, this is the perfect logo for the acid house groupSituationist pranksters and acid house pioneers, the KLF also had a razor-sharp eye for iconography, which manifested itself in their record covers, their videos, their legendary Top of the Pops performances and, of course, their logos. Their pyramid blaster logo, perfectly shaped for vinyl, is a masterpiece; naturally, both Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty of the KLF now work as artists. 13. Metallica The Metallica logo showcases everything that a metal logo should beCreated by Turner Duckworth, the famous Metallica logo got a redesign back in 2008. Based on the band's original version from 1981, Duckworth also designed the identity and packaging for the band's album 'Death Magnetic'. Like countless other metal bands, Metallica's own take on the metal aesthetic is something that their fans cherish; whether it be a tattoo or scrawled on school books. 14. Sunn A member of Sunn is responsible for the band's art directionAs one half of the seismic drone-rock band Sunn, not only does Stephen O'Malley help to make some fantastic music – he also oversees the design and art direction of their releases. The visual is an important component to Sunn's music and Stephen has certainly triumphed with this long-standing, striking logo. 15. Kavinsky Kavinsky is known for his electro 80s-inspired musicMaking music reminscient of 80s film soundtracks, French producer Vincent Belorgey – quite aptly – appeared on the opening credits for Nicolas Winding Refn’s movie 'Drive'. It's easy to see why then, that his logo also evokes the sense of 80s movies; with it's retro-like font, it's the perfect accompianment to his music. 16. Foo Fighters Another instantly recognisable band logo from The Foo FightersAnother perfect example of a band logo that has proved popular with fan's tattoos, The Foo Fighters logo comprises of a circle motif containing two interlocking 'Fs' and the band's name in a slightly rounded and compact typeface. This is among the most popular and instantly recognisable logos in rock music. 17. The Ramones A longtime friend of the band designed the iconic logoThe Ramones' logo was designed by New York City artist Arturo Vega, a longtime friend who lived with several members of the band. It's proof that when you get a band logo right, it can go on to become one of the most iconic brands in the world. Basing it on The Presidential Seal, Vega wanted the design to portray an 'All-American Band’. 18. The XX The logo was created by one-time art student and band member Romy Madley CroftThis is a relatively new kid on the block, but boy, does it work. Bursting onto the music scene in 2009 with their self-titled debut album, the black and white 'X' across the front sleeve was just as eye-catching as the music was enticing. This latest variation of the logo was designed by band member Romy Madley Croft; a one-time art student who used oil imagery to create the affect within the letter. This band logo is a perfect example branding that will continue to work through each album release. 19. Black Flag The logo was designed by Raymond Pettibon, who also came up with the band's nameThis has to be one of the most iconic band logos of all time. Created for Black Flag by guitarist and chief songwriter Greg Ginn's brother Raymond Pettibon, he once stated in an interview that the black flag design was designed to represent anarchy. The four black bars combined with the bold typography make for a solid band logo. 20. Run DMC The infamous logo is one of the only band logos to feature on a pair of Adidas sneakersRun DMC broke barriers in music, which almost everyone in music today benefits from. Their logo is still one of the most prolific to ever grace the music industry and continues to adorn the chests and feet of hip-hop lovers across the globe. The solid typography and three-part colour scheme makes it infinitely timeless and it's also one of the only band logos to feature on a pair of Adidas sneakers. 21. Nine Inch Nails The typography is said to be inspired by a Talking Heads album coverDesigned by frontman Trent Reznor and Gary Talpas, the Nine Inch Nails logo is simplicity at its best. Featuring the letters set inside a thick border, the black and white creation first appeared on the band's debut album 'Down in it,' which was released in 1989. It's said to be inspired by Tibor Kalman's typography on the Talking Heads album 'Remain in Light.' 22. Daft Punk Daft Punk use some punky influence for their logo designEvoking an extremely 'punky' look, the electronic duo produced one of the most well-known logos within the dance music scene. Designed by band member Guillaume Emmanuel "Guy-Manuel" de Homem-Christo, the logo ties in with the stand-out ethos of the pair. Using bold colours and textures, Daft Punk's visuals are just as important as their tunes. 23. Public Enemy It was announced today that the group are to be inducted into the Rock & Roll hall of fameAnother hip-hop gem in our list, this logo for Public Enemy was designed by Chuck D back in 1986. It was tightened up ahead of the release of 'Yo! Bum Rush The Show' in 1987 by New York artist Eric Haze. Many claim the target to be a state trooper but it is in fact a silhouette of a B-boy. It was also announced in 2013 that the group are the newest addition to the Rock & Roll hall of fame, which made the Creative Bloq team very happy indeed. 24. The Streets The gritty typography effortlessly complements the lighter imageIt may not be as iconic as our other inclusions but we just had to feature this logo from British group The Streets. Evoking the exact feel and message of their debut album 'Original Pirate Material,' the gritty typography effortlessly compliments the lighter image. There's been a few variations throughout their career but we love this original design. 25. Rolling Stones The logo is said to be influenced by Mick Jagger's huge lipsHow could we not include this infamous logo from the rock legends themselves, The Rolling Stones? Created by John Pasche in 1971, the designer is said to have been influenced by Mick Jaggers appearance for the logo, stating that his lips were the first thing you noticed about him. The eye-popping offering has continued to work well for the band, who have been working in music for over 50 years. 26. Wu-Tang Clan By sticking with their original band logo, the group are instantly recognisableThe Wu-Tang 'W' is one of the most distinguishable logos in hip-hop culture, with its members adorning the 'W' on everything from clothing to chains, but it is most prominent on dozens of their album covers. Created by DJ and producer Mathematics, the band have stuck by the original design throughout their expansive career. 27. Yes A logo that perfectly sums up the 1970's music sceneEnglish artist and graphic designer Roger Dean created this iconic, bubbly logo, which first debuted on the band's 1972 LP 'Close to the Edge.' He also crafted Yes' album artwork and stage shows; solidifying the band's brand throughout the ages. It has had a variant of colours but that never makes the typography any less engaging. This is a logo that perfectly sums up the 1970s. 28. Buzzcocks Malcolm went on to work with the band for several years after designing the logo in 1977An simple yet instantly recognisable band logo, this one was created by Malcolm Garrett in early 1977. He went on to work with the band for several years throughout their career, creating visuals for promotional material. The fast, edgy and disjointed typography is the perfect personification of one of the greatest British bands. 29. Aphex Twin Paul 'Terratag' Nicholson was working with alien 'vibes' at the time of this logo creationFirst appearing on the 1992 release of 'Xylem Tube,' Richard D. James aka Aphex Twin has continued to use the logo throughout his impressive career. Designed by Paul 'Terratag' Nicholson, the logo evokes an unsettling yet beauitful image that wholly coinsides with the impeccable music of Aphex Twin. 30. Death From Above 1979 There's no need for a name with this bold band logo designAn eye-popping and graphic design delight, this logo for Death From Above 1979 has graced the covers, stage shows, banners and posters for the noise rock duo since the beginning of their career. The bold choice of colour makes it a logo with a difference, with no need for a name as the logo is instantly recognisable. 31. Justice Choosing such a universal image for your band's logo is a dangerous path!Choosing to use such a universal symbol as your band's logo is a dangerous path. However, this creation for French electronic duo Justice just seems to work. Band member Gaspard Augé once stated that the influence for the decision was 'that a music venue is like a church in that everyone is gathering together and focusing on one point.' The logo has adorned the band's live shows and album covers, becoming almost as synonymous as their songs. 32. Radiohead The logo was created for the release of Kid ARadiohead haven't really had a regular band logo throughout their career but this is one that truly stands out (and adorns many a fan's body.) Designed by artist Stanley Donwood and Thom Yorke, the 'modified bear' was created for the release of Kid A. The name of the bear either ironically or purposely contributes to the influx of modern art without meaning, without complexity, and without use. If Radiohead's career is anything to go by, we're guessing it's on the ironic side of things. 33. Devin Townsend Project Less is more with this band logo designA simple, typography-based logo design, this creation for the Devin Townsend Project combines the three initials of the band's name in two swoops. Suggested by one of our Twitter followers, it was designed by Travis Smith and show us that sometimes less is more when it comes to band logos. 34. Outkast The band refer to their logo in their song 'Morris Brown'The final hip-hop logo in our list, this creation for the duo evokes the fun aspect of their music. Featuring graffiti-like font complete with a crest and crown, the pair even comment on the logo during their song 'Morris Brown,' stating "OutKast royalty by design of logo. Wanna count it out loud?" 35. Misfits This is a band logo that has stood the test of timeThe Misfits' skull logo first appeared on the 'Horror Business' single, based on a poster for The Crimson Ghost. It proved so popular, that the image quickly became the mascot for the band and has been used frequently on the band's releases and merchandise ever since. An instantly recognisable piece of pop culture, this logo has certainly stood the test of time. Related articles: 25 logo design tips from the experts The 20 best music videos of 2016 How to challenge brand stereotypes View the full article

Notoriously fast-paced, the video games industry is in a state of constant flux. As games companies and artists continue their search for new ways to entertain audiences and further charm existing players, so too does new technology continue to reshape existing workflows. 20 best designs in video gamesOne games company that’s currently at the forefront of many a would-be game artist’s mind is Cloud Imperium Games (CIG), best known for its record-shattering crowdfunded title Star Citizen. Developed in CryEngine, Star Citizen combines classic space sim gameplay with Hollywood-calibre visuals, and has, so far, raised over $155 million from passionate fans. It's an extremely high-profile project – but CIG’s beginning was on a much smaller scale. Founded in Austin in 2012 by the creator of best-selling Wing Commander and Freelancer series Chris Roberts, Cloud Imperium Games started life with a staff of just eight. Now spread over five studios – LA, Austin, Wilmslow, Derby and Frankfurt – CIG has over 400 employees. Working tirelessly to develop the content and technology needed to nail down the scope of a game whose budget and ambition is always growing, the CIG team in Europe, under Foundry 42, is also developing the mission-driven, single-player campaign Squadron 42, which is set in Star Citizen’s first-person universe. Performance issues “This is the most challenging company I’ve worked for in terms of quantity of content and quality of art we’re trying to hit,” says Squadron 42 art director Paul Jones, who has over 20 years’ experience in the industry, including seven years at Epic Games. To successfully manage the quality and quantity of work needed for this epic project, the CIG team has had to develop several efficient new workflows. “Throwing million poly ships around just doesn’t happen any more,” Jones says. “We’re still dealing with a game engine and we’ve still got various performance issues to worry about. So, we’ve had to come up with workarounds that allow us to create good-looking art with quite simple geometry.” In a time-saving measure, the team sometimes takes the baking process out of its workflowThe man behind some of those workarounds is CIG’s vehicle art director Nathan Dearsley. Having worked for Crytek for approximately seven years previously, Nathan was already very familiar with CryEngine’s technology. “I was working at Creative Assembly when I watched Chris Roberts do a big Star Citizen reveal at GDC,” Dearsley says. “Within about 20 seconds of him putting it on the screen I just knew it was CryEngine – it has a very distinct rendering style that I recognised immediately.” Pipeline solutions Liking what he saw, Dearsley reached out to the CIG team and, soon after, made the move across from Creative Assembly. Confident in his abilities with CryEngine, Dearsley quickly offered new workflow solutions to the CIG team to help optimise the Star Citizen pipeline without compromising quality. “When I joined CIG, they’d made two ships and had some small environments – the project had to start somewhere,” he says. “Although the ships looked promising they were expensive in the engine. Then I came in and said, ‘Let’s try to do it this way’.“ “Workflows are different in different game engines, but I’d just integrated several art techniques and pipeline work into Alien Isolation workflows at Creative Assembly that would certainly help Star Citizen. Both were sci-fi titles, both had a hard-edged aesthetic at the time, so I’d be a fool not to try. The team model everything, meaning costs would soon rise without clever pipeline solutions“We model everything,” Dearsley says. “When you do this, costs can rise very fast, especially if you’re after a baked look with nice soft edges, but can’t afford a unique map per asset (we have tens of thousands of assets). A lot of people go on about triangle count in game engines, which actually isn’t as important as your vertex count, as these suck memory.” “Because we use a weighted normal approach, we can, in essence, have one smoothing group on assets in most cases. So as long as we keep UV shells to a minimum, vertex costs become no more expensive than splitting your smoothing groups, yet you get lovely filleted corners and edges for free!” Reusing as much as possible Not only does this workflow save the team money, it also cuts production time significantly. “If you were to develop this game in a more traditional sense, where you go down the route of baking everything, it wouldn’t be a very flexible workflow for this project,” Dearsley explains. “You can certainly get some amazing results from it, but we needed things that we can iterate on and mass produce very quickly because of the diverse scale of models and the organic approach we have in making the whole universe. So, the feelers were put out for that and a lot of people were afraid of change but we stuck with it and it paid off.“ Developed in CryEngine, Star Citizen combines space sim gameplay with glossy visuals“It means that we can mass produce stuff to a really good quality, efficiently, by not using bakes all the time. We’re reusing as much as we possibly can, which obviously helps with production time and frees up more creative time for my team as well as promoting visual consistency – something that’s very important. “When you take the process of baking out of the chain, that’s a huge time-saver for the whole project. Because we have the vertex data there, and because we can have more vertices, essentially, we have more information in the mesh so we can do much more with blend shading, large scale ambient occlusion, vertex tinting and so on. Making this commitment at the very beginning of the art pipeline chain pretty much defines and carries through the whole process.” Related articles: How to press start on your game art career How to land your dream job in video games How to design a spaceship View the full article

Award-winning animator Chris Gannon will reveal at Generate London how he creates his web animations Chris Gannon is an award-winning interactive designer, programmer and web animator who has created interactive animated SVG projects for some of the biggest tech players, including the BBC, Google, Microsoft and Amazon. Gannon will speak at Generate London on 21 September, where he will dissect some of this work, share his processes and explore the tools he uses to build them. As a little teaser, here he talks us through some of his best animations. 01. Desk Fan This animation is now part of Twitter's official GIF app.SVG has its limitations, and sometimes it's just not possible to do what I need. Desk Fan is one of my first 3D models in Cinema 4D (actually there were lots before that, but it's the first model I was willing to share). I went through several tutorials to work out how to create various bits like the blades and the mesh and the wind physics. Cinema 4D has a renderer called Sketch and Toon that outputs flat colours, and as you might imagine it's my favourite output style. This is one of my most popular animations and now part of Twitter's official GIF app. 02. Download Dot Bounce Loaders are the perfect place to cram as much in as possible.I made this in the first few months of learning SVG animation. GreenSock had released DrawSVGPlugin (an amazing and flexible plugin) and I wanted to practice, so I used it for pretty much every animated element. I love to cram as much as possible into a short space of time, and loaders are just the perfect place to do that. I wanted to make sure it wasn't just eye candy and that it was also useful, so I created an animation object/wrapper with an API that exposed start, pause, reset and percent/progress methods. This was the first time I'd done this and now it's something I do for all my clients to give them more control over their animations. 03. Fire Loader Gannon used the GreenSock plugin CustomEase for this animation.This animation was inspired by a much simpler version on Dribbble. In fact, the very first version of this was just a few simple squares moving upwards on a loop. A second iteration was by another designer who rebounded it, making it look more like fire. Finally I rebounded that rebound by refining the motion and adding sparks and making it interactive. I made this around the time that GreenSock released a plugin called CustomEase (and CustomBounce) and I was itching to give it a whirl. CustomEase, as you probably guessed, lets you create custom ease shapes (how things slow down or speed up) that you can create either by drawing them or by using existing Bezier path data. If you look closely, you can see the sparks flying up into the sky, then double back on themselves in a loop, then continue upwards. This gave the sparks a much more natural movement. 04. Goo Bubble This goo bubble takes the goo effect further...Around the time I made this, the goo effect was making the rounds and was becoming more popular (initially brought to our collective attentions by Lucas Bebber on Codrops). I wanted to take it further by animating a liquid and using that liquid as the main body for the gooey drips. It's actually fairly straightforward to do. First of all, you apply a blur filter to a container, which creates a feathered edge on all the graphics inside. And because they're blurred, their edges fade to transparent. Next, apply a ColorMatrix to boost the opacity of all of those faded edges back up to full opacity. This means that when two blurred elements touch, their edges overlap. And because those edges have had their transparency boosted back to full, they join together creating the appearance of liquid. To further 'sell' the scene, I added two offset wave motions to mask the 'liquid', added a gradient to that and finally bubbles that jumped and popped. Recently Xavier Cazalot made a tool that enables you to choose your own colours, so you can have your own custom goo bubble. 05. Interactive Eggsercise With a little work, Gannon output this After Effects animation as an animated SVGThis was originally a straight-up character animation I made in After Effects using RubberHose for the limbs. It had nothing to do with the web. Later on, however, the SVG export tool Bodymovin added support for RubberHose. This meant that, with a little extra work to remove unsupported features, I could output the animation as an animated SVG. Furthermore, it meant I could add interactivity to it by adding in a class name (in After Effects) and overlaying a slider controlled by GreenSock that controlled the Bodymovin playback speed. This was really a test to see what was possible. 06. Jump Loader Jump Loader was an experiment in creativity.Back in 2015 I was asked to write an article on SVG animation for Codrops and create several accompanying SVG animations. Jump Loader was one of them, but it was a much simpler version built in pure SVG and GreenSock. I've recently had an extended creative block so I decided to revisit some old work (something I rarely do) and remake it with different tools. I used After Effects and Bodymovin to move it on a bit by adding some physics-based splash particles created in Newton 2. I see this as an exploration into a possible way of getting my mojo back. It sort of worked. 07. LEGO Loader This animation takes LEGO into the digital realm.Across the creative industries, the phrase 'stick to what you know' is a mantra if you want to create something that resonates with others. We're a family of LEGO fans – impossible vehicles or improbable structures regularly appear on the kitchen table – so LEGO is rarely far from my mind. With this animation I just wanted to bring it from the analogue space into my digital realm for a moment. This is one of three or four web animations I made that all incorporated new tools I'm learning, such as Newton 2. 08. Light Speed Gannon mulled over this idea for a while before he attempted it.This is a simulation of traffic lights on a long shutter speed at night. I had a few cracks at doing it in pure SVG but I just couldn't achieve the perspective look I wanted. And until we can have nice things like variable stroke width in SVG, then animations like this just won't be worth the hassle. I did manage to fudge it with constant width strokes animated under a mask made of paths that went from thin to thick, but frankly it looked rubbish and there was a Z depth issue. So I hopped into Cinema 4D, and within a few hours I had the main light effect done. Sadly the bit that took the longest was modelling the street lamp, because my modelling skills and sense of 3D proportion back when I made this were practically non-existent. I have licensed this GIF commercially a fair bit, often to companies wanting to represent data or bandwidth. Who knew. 09. Lottie Logo Gannon recreated this After effects animation using pure SVG and GreenSock. The original Lottie animation is by Salih Abdul-Karim, and was done in After Effects and output using Lottie, a real-time rendering engine for iOS and Android based on the Bodymovin codebase. This was before I had tried Bodymovin, and there was talk at the time that animations as complicated as this could only be done in After Effects. I recreated it using pure SVG and GreenSock for two reasons. Firstly because I loved it and wanted to challenge myself to recreate it as accurately as possible. And secondly because I wanted to disprove the myth that pure SVG animation is too complex or difficult to get results like this. 10. SVG Radio Splat Life is better with radio splats.Another animation that uses the classic goo effect, in this one I wanted to use it in a different, interactive way – something with a bit more control and direction. I love UI work and making fun interactions like this is a lifelong mission. Normal radio buttons are just boring, so I decided that life is better with radio splats. Around this time, one of the questions I was asked most often was how to create this goo effect, so I incorporated the technique into something interactive and posted it as a tutorial on my YouTube channel. It's currently my most popular video: If you liked this article, don't miss Chris Gannon live at Generate London on 21 September. The two-day conference features 16 sessions covering adaptive interfaces, web performance, prototyping, accessibility, conversational design, UX strategy, building responsive, reusable components, and much more. There are also four workshops to choose from, and if you buy a bundle ticket, you'll save £95. Related articles: How to create storyboards for web animations 5 steps for mastering web animation The pro's guide to UI design View the full article