Rss Bot

Traditionally, if you needed extra screen real estate – whether for work or play – you’d have to research the best monitors and buy an extra display or two. These days, ultrawide monitors are increasingly commonplace. And while the move to bigger screens has been partly driven by gamers, creative pros have much to benefit from the wealth of tech these huge screens offer. So what's the best ultrawide monitor, and how do you pick the right one? Well, size is a consideration, of course – most of the ultrawide monitors in this roundup are 34 inches. Make sure you have enough desk space before investing in your chosen model. You also need to think about connectivity (most of these screens feature both HDMI and DisplayPort) and what PC or Mac you’ll be using to drive the display. You’ll want either dedicated Nvidia or AMD graphics, or you’ll need to have Intel-based graphics from the last few years – we’d suggest HD Graphics 3000 or later, or Intel Iris Pro. And you’ll need to make sure you have the latest drivers installed. The best computer for graphic design The best computers for video editing In terms of resolution, look for WQHD (Wide Quad High Definition) – which gives you a pixel count of 2,560 x 1,440 – and a wide aspect ratio of 21:9. Meanwhile, another handy feature to check for is whether the display can also do picture in-picture or side-by-side, so you can connect up a couple of sources (like two computers, or a computer and tablet) to the same display. Finally, flat or curved? We believe a flat screen is still better for design work, but increasingly the market for large widescreen monitors has moved towards curved displays. Certainly on a flat 34-inch display the sides can feel a little distant. A curved screen will also slightly reduce the amount of side-to-side movement you have to do with your head. If you opt for one, remember to ensure you set up the monitor at an appropriate distance and height from your sitting position. Here are the best ultrawide monitors you can buy right now. The best ultrawide monitors in 2018 Our top choice for the best ultrawide monitor overall, the Dell Ultrasharp U3415W monitor has wide appeal. It delivers impressive image quality with rich, near-perfect colours, high contrast, WQHD resolution (3,440 x 1,440) and a cinematic aspect ratio of 21:9. Dell’s design ethos has changed dramatically over the years, and the world’s third-largest PC manufacture now makes some pretty desirable gear. Alongside its excellent XPS devices, the firm has carved a great reputation for its displays, thanks to their winning combination of excellent panels and competitive pricing – and for us, the U3415W takes the crown. Sure, this isn’t the best-looking widescreen monitor you’ll find on the market, but it’s still elegant, and makes for a fantastic display for the money. There’s picture-in-picture and dual input support, while USB upstream 3.0 ports in the display mean you can use a keyboard and mouse or other peripherals with more than one computer or other device. Throw in its premium build quality and fantastic out-of-box accuracy, and the Dell Ultrasharp U3415W is easily out top choice for best ultra-wide monitor for creative pros. Designed for gaming, the LG 34UC79G is a well-priced ultrawide monitor with DisplayPort plus dual HDMI. There is a potential downside: at 2560x1080, it doesn’t have as high a resolution as more expensive options – LG instead opted for native 144Hz performance. However, we’d choose colour accuracy, contrast and motion blur reduction over a high pixel count – and in most of those areas the LG 34UC79G delivers. It has a great contrast ratio and black levels, alongside vibrant colours, but it does require some calibration for maximum accuracy. The monitor also features a couple of technologies designed to improve gaming performance, including AMD FreeSync (50-144Hz range) to reduce stuttering and motion blur. There’s a fast 1ms response time, too. A cheaper 29-inch version is also available. Curved screens aren’t for everybody, but the Samsung CF791 ultrawide monitor has a sleek design with minimal bezels on three sides and the curve isn’t so exaggerated that you’ll feel cocooned. It will, however, mean a much more immersive experience and if that’s what you’re after for your design work, then look no further – this is also probably the best ultrawide monitor for video editing you can get too. Thanks to its Quantum Dot screen tech, after some calibration the Samsung CF791 delivers rich, sharp and very accurate colours, alongside a stellar contrast ratio. This screen also has some technologies – such as a fast refresh rate and AMD’s FreeSync – that will appeal to gamers. It doesn’t, however, have a response time that’s as good as the LG above (4ms instead of 1ms). Picture-in-picture is supported, or you can view two inputs side-by-side. Need even more screen real estate? The Dell U3818DW is a huge, curved, 37.5-inch display – and at not far off a metre, it's the biggest ultrawide monitor we’ve got for you in this buying guide. As you would expect, it costs more than the 34-inch options here, but Dell's not just upped the physical size of the screen – there’s a bump in resolution, too, with 3,840 x 1,600 WQHD+. Picture-in-picture and dual input is supported, while there’s DisplayPort and dual HDMI inputs. USB-C is also supported, too, for easier connectivity to new Macs, while there are also two upstream and four downstream ports for connecting peripherals to more than one PC or Mac. If you need an even larger screen, this is one of the best ultrawide monitors you can consider. Although the Acer Predator X34P is aimed at gamers, this 34-incher will have wide appeal because it has a more striking design than many of the others out there. Again the screen is gently curved, with accurate colours and good contrast after calibration, and there’s HDMI and DisplayPort support. Boasting Nvidia G-Sync and a 120Hz refresh rate, there are few audiences that the Predator won’t satisfy, although, of course, gaming is its primary use. The disadvantage is that it isn’t cheap, which makes it hard to justify over several of the other, better priced options here. Featuring Nvidia G-Sync for stutter-free gaming, The AOC Agon AG352UCG is our gaming choice if you’re not prepared to put up with the lower resolution of the LG above (and you can stump up the extra cash for this model). Again this display is gently curved and there are also a couple of AOC technologies to improve gaming colours and shadows. The stand is height-adjustable, too. The rear of he screen features a striking ‘winged’ design so won’t be for everybody. It’s a little bit of an odd combination since the front of the display is rather utilitarian in appearance. There are a few options at the lower end of the scale, though it's harder to find screens that we’d recommend. This LG 25UM58 model is a lot smaller than other other options, at 25-inches, and features a lower resolution than many. But if an ultrawide monitor is what you want, you might be pulled in by the low price point because this display has been available for a couple of years now. A 29-inch version is also available from some sellers, although we think you’d be better off upgrading to one of the 34-inch models here, if you’re considering that size. Related articles: View the full article

One of the single best features of CSS processors is variables. Having the ability to declare once and reuse the variable across your project should not be optional in any system. 5 hot new CSS features and how to use them Using a preprocessor like Sass (find out more in our article on what is Sass?) gives you at least one extra build step, which can be a pain if you just want to build a thing fast. CSS has come a long way since the dark days of table hacks, so let's look into one of the most useful aspects: custom properties. We'll start with a simple example. The :root pseudo selector targets the highest-level parent element in the DOM, giving all elements access to --color-red. Yes, CSS variables definition should start with --, and you can access them anywhere with var(). Well, anywhere that is cascaded under our :root selector. With var() you can also define a fallback value, which will be used if the given variable is unreachable or non-existent With var() you can also define a fallback value, which will be used if the given variable is unreachable or non-existent for the class. Values are inherited from the DOM, which means you can make them more specific. Every var(--color) is red, except every var(--color) under site-navigation. Generally speaking it's not an ideal practice to overwrite a value that is already defined but there are cases in which a scoped value is still the most adequate solution. These are the basics but you can do so much more. A useful example for responsive web design is changing layout based on viewport size. Under 640px the media query triggers, changing the flex direction to column on site-navigation class, making its content vertical (column) instead of the default horizontal (row). In this example, because of the default variable given to site-navigation, you don't even need the initial :root definition of --flex-layout; instead it will actually go straight to row. Under 640px the media query triggers, changing the flex direction to column and making the content vertical instead of horizontal This is cool but it's not all fun and games just yet. For instance, since the media query is not an element, the breakpoint value cannot come from a custom property. Although CSS Working Group has a draft of using env() for queries, vendor implementation and proper support is probably years away from where things are today. That's okay. We will stick to what we have now. One more advanced use case for a custom property is switching themes. You can define a base theme, build your website around it and just switch it out, with the browser doing the heavy lifting. And it's not even that heavy. Essentially, think of it being along the lines of Twitter's Night Mode, but without you actually switching the CSS (I see you). Input colour's picked value replaces the document's --color value, making the change without a hitch. You can play with blend modes, alpha channel colours or pngs – endless possibilities and fun. You can build your website around a base theme and just switch it out, with the browser doing the heavy lifting Now with your future-proof CSS in place, which doesn't depend on any third-party developer and uses only custom properties, there is a good chance you are covered and ready to kick-start production. But what if you want something other than variables in your code, let's say CSS modules? As of today, for existing CSS features like modules or nesting, you couldn't spare the extra build step any longer, but you can implement it with the sweet promise of not having to rewrite code when vendors catch up with the spec. Instead of refactoring your CSS every time you want to improve your output, you should write your code in a specification aligned that way in the first place. This is the main difference between pre- and post-processors. A preprocessor actually writes the CSS for you (basically, from a text file), while a post-processor aligns your already valid CSS for more browser support, the latter giving you more flexibility in the process. Using the native method always beats the workaround, and having the working knowledge of future technologies is the best position you can be in when learning CSS. This article was originally published in issue 306 of net, the world's best-selling magazine for web designers and developers. Subscribe to net here. Related articles: 5 tips for super-fast CSS Understanding the CSS display property CSS tricks to revolutionise your web layouts View the full article

Thanks to its creative opportunities and booming economic success, the gaming industry is a popular route for 3D artists looking for work. However, just like any successful sector, getting your foot in the door is easier said than done. Studying portfolio examples is a great way to learn how to present your work to potential clients, but we went one step further and asked Airship Images producer Declan Paul for his advice on how you should showcase your projects. Check out his tips below. Push start on your 3D video game career 01. Art first What employers want to see first and foremost is your art. Make sure your work is the main attraction and that navigating your portfolio is as straightforward as possible. Remember, you need to win someone over within the first few seconds they look. Use ArtStation to create an effective and easy-to-use portfolio site. 02. Quality over quantity Airship Images worked on various character assets for Star Wars Battlefront II One or two great projects is infinitely better than multiple mediocre ones. When you’re putting together your portfolio be sure to include only your best work. Don’t become too attached to old projects, be objective and if you need help ask other artists for their opinions. Keep in mind that you are only as strong as your weakest project. 03. Fundamentals are key Employers are looking at your portfolio and assessing how well you grasp the fundamentals (e.g. perspective, light, anatomy and composition). Having a solid understanding of these is vital and will shine through in your work. 04. Take your art through the pipeline Airship Images has worked on a range of AAA titles It’s important to have projects where you take an asset through the full pipeline. A portfolio consisting of only sculpts will not give us enough confidence that you’ll be able to handle the rest of the work you’ll encounter if hired. 05. State position you intend to fill Make sure you state the position you are hoping to fill on your website; there’s no need to write ‘student’, ‘student artist’ or ‘aspiring’. ‘Character Artist – Seeking Work’ is a better choice and looks far more professional. 06. Be careful when adding group work At Airship we prefer to see personal work as opposed to group work as often it can be difficult to determine exactly what you contributed. If you’re including group work in your portfolio, make sure it’s clearly labelled and you include breakdown shots to show what you worked on. 07. Be consistent Consistency throughout your portfolio is generally preferred, as it makes you look more professional from the offset. This ranges from having the same page layout for each project to the same image layout for each breakdown. This article originally appeared in issue 236 of 3D World, the world's leading magazine for 3D artists. Buy issue 236 or subscribe here. Related articles: Perfect your animation portfolio with these tips 8 inspiring digital art portfolios and why they work Create an atmospheric game environment View the full article

If you're looking to launch a career in web design, you've come to the right place. Pay What You Want: Learn to Web Design will teach you how to break into the field, with 75 hours of comprehensive training. Take a beginner's course in Adobe Photoshop, so you can start producing professional-looking photos, learn how to build responsive and engaging websites with Bootstrap, use HTML and CSS to practise designing your very own site and discover how to build great interfaces with jQuery UI. Get the Pay What You Want: Learn to Web Design bundle for whatever price you want to pay. Related articles: The web designer's guide to Flexbox An essential guide to web design etiquette The best colour tools for web designers View the full article

Good visual design is becoming easier and easier to come by. It's getting harder to tell who's got real design chops, and who just has access to really nice website templates or UI kits. This means that in order to create an impactful user experience, you need to go above and beyond what people are expecting. Some of the most memorable touches are the small ones. Think of MailChimp's famous 'monkey hand high five' that shows up when you hit Send on your campaign. Instead of a general success message, as you might expect, they dug a little deeper, and worked their brand into the experience. We won't be animating any monkey paws here, but we will make a colourful loading animation that's easy to customise with your own brand colours and logo. You can see InVision's example below: Here's one we made earlier We'll use After Effects to create the loading animation sequence, and then bring our exported video file into Photoshop and turn it into a lightweight GIF that can be launched anywhere you need an animated loading element. Before you dive in, you'll need to pick out four brand colours and have a small, single-colour, transparent version of your logo handy. If you've been meaning to learn After Effects, this is a perfect opportunity for you to jump in, create something uniquely yours, and learn some great basic techniques in the process. Watch this exclusive screencast, or follow the steps below to create your loading animation. 01. Create a new sequence Create a new sequence, setting the width and height to 120 pixels Open up After Effects and press cmd+N to create a new sequence. Since our video is going to be a square, instead of the standard 16:9 aspect ratio, change the width and height to 120px in the composition settings and click OK. The recommended final output of our GIF will be 60px, but we want to be able to account for Retina screens, too. 02. Sort out your workspaces Set your workspace to Standard so we're all working on the same layout Before we continue, let's make sure our After Effects workspaces are the same. In your top menu, go to Window > Workspace > Standard. This way, when I say "Click that thing at the bottom right of your screen" it will actually be at the bottom right of your screen. 03. Make some shapes Draw some shapes to form the basis of the animation Now let's create a handful of square shapes that will become our animated blocks of colour. Click on your sequence (the black square in the middle of the screen), press Q, then Shift+click and drag a square on screen so the edges extend just outside the edges of the composition. It's good practice to centre the shape perfectly on screen. In the Align panel at the bottom-right, click Horizontal Center Alignment and Vertical Center Alignment. 04. Add colour Adjust the fill colour of your shape While your shape is still selected, click the Fill colour option at the top of your screen and enter one of your primary brand colours as a hex or RGB value. You can also use the eyedropper tool to sample colours from anywhere else on screen, including colours outside of the After Effects window, which is helpful. 05. Duplicate your layers Save time by simply dupilicating your layers Along the bottom of your screen you'll see a timeline with a single layer named 'Shape Layer 1'. Select it by clicking on the name or the blue bar in the timeline, and press ctrl/cmd+D four times to duplicate it. You should end up with five identical layers in your timeline. These will be entitled Shape Layer 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. 06. Use anchor points Change the location of the anchor points on each of your shapes Each shape is going to animate in from a different side of the screen. To make that easy, we'll change the location of our anchor points ahead of time. Select Shape Layer 2 and press Y to bring up the Anchor Point tool. Then click on your anchor point (it looks like crosshairs somewhere inside your shape) and drag it to the bottom edge of your square. Repeat on layers 3-5, placing each anchor point on a different edge than the last. You don't need to do anything to Shape Layer 1. 07. Stagger the timing Stagger the timing of your layers so they animate in sequence Now it's time to stagger the timing of our shapes in the timeline. Press V to switch to your selection tool, and in your timeline shift+click the blue bars for layers 3-5 and drag them to the right, spacing each out by one second. They should begin at the 1, 2, and 3 second marks in your timeline. If your timeline is too zoomed out, hold down alt and scroll down – this action will zoom you in and out of your timeline. 08. Add more colours Change the fill colours of your other layers to match your brand's palette Individually select shapes 2-4 and change their fill colour like you did back in step 4. You can drag your playhead (the vertical red progress line) over the shape you're editing to see your changes take place. We'll leave Shape Layers 1 and 5 the same colour, because we'll be creating a loop that starts and ends on the same colour. If that doesn't make sense right now, don't worry – it will. 09. Do a first preview Hit the spacebar to preview It's time to preview your handiwork so far. Press the spacebar and watch the colours change on screen. Hit spacebar again to stop it (or esc if this doesn't work). 10. Create a keyframe It's time to create your first keyframe! Click and drag your playhead back to the beginning of your timeline. Select Shape Layer 2, then press S on your keyboard to bring up the scale options for that shape. Now click the stopwatch icon next to Scale, turn off the link icon next to the scale percentages, and drag the second value down to 0%. A small diamond will show up on your timeline at your playhead's current location. Congratulations, you just created a keyframe! 11. Make another keyframe Tell you what, let's add another keyframe Drag the playhead up to 1 second and set your shape's value back to 100 per cent. Another keyframe should show up in your timeline at the playhead. Drag the playhead back to the beginning of your timeline and press spacebar to preview your animation. You should see the shape scale up and cover Shape Layer 1. 12. Make more keyframes Keyframes all round! Repeat those steps again on Shape Layers 3-5, each time starting your animation at the beginning of the layer's blue bar, which we staggered by 1 second earlier on. When you're done, the first keyframe of each layer should line up with the last keyframe of the layer below it. 13. Preview again Preview again and see everything coming together When you've finished adding your keyframes, preview your work. You should see different shapes sliding in on top of each other from different angles. If that's the case, move your playhead to 4 seconds and hit N. This will mark the end of your animation, and loop your preview when you hit spacebar again. If Shape Layer 1 and Shape Layer 5 are the same colour, it should form a seamless loop. 14. Adjust the easing Tweak your framerate velocity to make your animation slow down at the end It's almost time to add your logo, but not quite. The animation right now is probably looking a little linear (read: boring) – let's liven it up by changing the easing. While holding the shift key, select the final keyframe of each layer, and right-click on one. Choose Keyframe velocity, then set the incoming velocity to 100 per cent and leave Dimension X and Y alone. Click OK and preview again. You'll notice the animations slow down at the very end, creating a more dynamic feel. 15. Add a logo Add your logo on top of the animation Now we're ready to add your logo on top of the animation. In the project panel at the left of your screen, double-click the empty area below Comp 1 and import your image file (it's best if it's a transparent image format, like a PNG or EPS.) Then drag it into the beginning of your timeline, making it the topmost layer. You can hit S again to scale your logo up or down, and use the Align panel again to place it dead centre in the composition. 16. Preview and export Preview your animation then export it When you're happy with the size and placement of your logo, click play again and make sure everything still looks good. If it does, it's time to export your video. Go to File>Export>Add To Render Queue, then set your render settings to Best, output module to Lossless, and choose where to put your video file by clicking the file name in the Output To area. 17. Go to Photoshop Converting video to GIF is an easy job in Photoshop Now it's time to boot up Photoshop and convert our video to an animated GIF. In Photoshop, go to File>Import>Video Frames to Layers and select your video file. On the following prompt you have the option of adjusting a number of import settings for you video. However, since this animation is so short, we'll just click OK. 18. Check it's all good Preview your animation again before exporting it as a GIF To make sure nothing looks funky with your GIF in Photoshop, go to Window>Timeline to bring up the timeline, and click the play button in the bottom left-hand corner. Playback may not be at 100% speed, so don't worry too much if it seems slow. You just want to make sure everything has come through OK and that it all seems smooth and seamless when looping. 19. Export your GIF Save your animation, selecting 'forever' as your loop setting To save your GIF, press ctrl/cmd+alt+shift+S to bring up the Save for Web window. At the very top, select GIF as the file type and in the preset drop-down above that, choose GIF 128 No Dither. Near the bottom of the window you can adjust the image size down to 60px for final output. Make sure the animation looping settings are set to Forever, because much like diamonds, a GIF is forever (or at least it should be, anyway). 20. You're all done! The animation is complete and ready for use Congratulations! You now have a handmade, branded GIF that you can implement on your website or app, use to add realistic 'loading' states to your prototypes, or put up on Dribble or Behance for all the world to see. This article originally appeared in net, the world's leading magazine for web designers and developers. Subscribe here. Read more: 10 amazing After Effects plugins How to create an animated typing effect 5 tips for super-fast CSS View the full article

Until now, formalised health data has been inaccessible to consumers, stored on hospital computers or retained by third-party companies to be sold on to large pharmaceutical conglomerates. However, new products and services are signalling times of change by giving users immediate access and ownership of their own personal medical information. For The Future Laboratory's recent Health & Wellness Futures Forum, we created Bio Tracker, a speculative platform that enables people to explore the future of democratised data ownership, where consumers, not pharmaceutical companies, are in charge of their health data. Sign up to the Computer Arts newsletter In the near future, consumers could manage their health data through platforms like Bio Tracker, which would allow them to review which companies have access to their clinical records, and also select which information to exchange for brand partnerships and exclusive product rewards. From occasional users hoping to claim product discounts to sharing enthusiasts selling their data in exchange for universal basic income, the emergence of data tracking and trading services will give rise to completely new consumer behaviours and desires. The Bio Tracker concept is based on innovations emerging at the intersection of healthcare and technology. An early example of this is a new feature in the Apple Health app that will aggregate medical data from participating hospitals and clinics, as well as from the iPhone, giving users immediate access for the ultimate convenience. Digital health platforms like Bio Tracker will allow users to trade data with carefully selected brands, exchanging the information for exclusive insights and rewards Blockchain technology is taking this one step further by providing new opportunities for peer-to-peer services that not only enable people to take control of their own health-related data, but monetise it too. CoverUS’s blockchain-based data marketplace allows consumers to generate a biometric revenue stream by populating their digital wallet with information from an electronic health record (EHR). The brand pays for the data collected through the fixed-price cryptocurrency CoverCoin, which, in the future, the company hopes users will be able to spend on services such as gym membership. In the near future, you may have more say in who has access to your health data than ever before Citizen Health is a healthcare community built on the Ethereum blockchain that aims to eradicate the health insurance model. Billed as a ‘decentralised Amazon for surgeries, treatments and other healthcare needs’, the brand also aims to monetarily incentivise people to lead healthier lifestyles by collating data from popular health and fitness trackers, using its algorithm to calculate changes in the user’s health score over time. It awards Medit tokens, which can be exchanged for exclusive rewards. With such significant consumer shifts already happening, it’s only a matter of time before we each have our own unique Bio Trackers. The big question is, how will you trade your personal health data? This article was originally published in issue 283 of Computer Arts, which is out now – buy it here. Read more from The Future Laboratory here and subscribe to Computer Arts here. Read more: The future of branded cities The ultimate guide to design trends How to future-proof yourself as a designer View the full article

Creating a new brand can seem like a daunting task. How do you represent yourself and services to your target audience in the right way? There are many things to consider, from picking a colour scheme and logo design to nailing your style guide and tagline. But don’t worry, creating a winning brand isn’t nearly as scary as it sounds. Let’s talk about a few simple but powerful factors that will help you wrap everything up: logo design, brand style guide and imagery. Design a logo with personality A vital part of a company’s marketing efforts, a quality logo can go a long way towards building brand loyalty and recognition. The best time to start thinking about a logo that successfully represents your brand is after you’ve decided which adjectives or attributes best describe the concept you’ve created. Think about your brand promise and the unique characteristics of your product to help give it personality. Once all of these aspects are finalised, you can get cracking on the fun part - designing your logo. Need some help? Why not consider teaming up with a designer, or using an online logo maker to help shape your ideas? Your brand’s logo should be aligned with your brand values and communicate its personality, so you may find your design goes through various iterations before you’re completely happy with it. If you need a starting point, there are tons of logo templates over at Placeit, which you can experiment with. Create a style guide Another important step to creating a winning brand is a style guide - a document that contains all the ground rules about how your brand should look in visual media. This includes guidelines for proper logo usage; typography hierarchy and use on presentations, letters, and other official statements. The core colour palette and complementary colours, imagery style and often brand narrative and tone are included also. Taking the time to create a brand style guide will ensure your brand’s visual consistency and professionalism in all internal and external communication channels. Implementing brand guidelines makes it easier to maintain the quality and integrity of your brand’s image. Need some help getting started? Get expert advice in our post on how to create a style guide. Use images that pack a punch Imagery is part of a brand identity that can often go overlooked. But using images that resonate with your target audience and stand out is key. There are many ways of building up your own library of assets, including hiring a photographer. But that’s one way to quickly rack up a hefty bill. To save yourself some time and money, why not create them yourself? After all, being creative is what you do best, right? And if you need a hand sorting your images for social media, there are dedicated social media image makers that have you covered. You can also use these handy mockups by Placeit, which make creating the perfect images to promote your product a cinch. Customisable and available in a wide variety of stages and moods, going from devices to apparel, you’re sure to find one in-keeping with your style guide. No design software required, simply browse the gallery, find the mockups that best suit your brand, upload your assets, pick your brand’s colors, and create your images hassle-free. Try Placeit’s Unlimited Subscription and access its full library of mockups and design templates to enhance your presentations and brand image while saving precious time. All for just $29 a month! View the full article

A remote, unauthenticated attacker could execute arbitrary commands on systems with the privileges of the Ghostscript code. View the full article

With an OS design based on a verified microkernel, researchers contend almost all Linux OS flaws could be mitigated to less than critical severity. View the full article

Good news for fans of Monument Valley: the phenomenally successful iPhone and iPad game by ustwo games is set to make the leap from mobiles to movie theatres as it was announced today that a live action/CGI hybrid film has been given the green light. Picked up by Paramount Pictures and Weed Road Pictures, the project is due to be directed by Patrick Osborne. If the movie can match the stunning, Escher-like visuals that the two games in the series are known for, then cinema-goers are in for a treat. Rumours of a Monument Valley film had been circling the internet for some time, and the team behind the games were only too happy to confirm via a tweet earlier today. The games, which ustwo games describes as "a surreal exploration through fantastical architecture and impossible geometry" see players guide characters through ever-shifting landscapes and outsmart crow people adversaries. A creative and commercial success, the Monument Valley games have been downloaded millions of times worldwide and the first instalment scooped both the Apple Design Award and the Apple iPad Game of the Year in 2014. Add two BAFTAs, and it's no surprise that Monument Valley will soon be coming to a cinema near you. "Monument Valley is a one of a kind experience, at once small in its meditative, simple gameplay, as well as enormous in its sense of history," Osborne told Deadline. "I'm privileged to be handed the reins to Ida’s mysterious kingdom, to play in her world of impossible architecture where seeing things differently is everything. I am thrilled to bring this unique world to theatres with the talented storytellers of Paramount and Weed Road." "It's been four years since we launched the first Monument Valley and have been waiting for the perfect opportunity to take our world of beauty and impossibility into cinema," added head of ustwo games, Dan Gray. "We’re incredibly happy that we’ve found the perfect creative partners in Paramount, Weed Road and Patrick Osborne to champion this concept forward into another medium." Related articles: The making of Monument Valley Monument Valley is an Escher-inspired iOS treat Monument Valley 2 is here... and it’s beautiful View the full article

Stay on target with these Stormtrooper model tips With all the characters to choose from in the Star Wars saga, selecting the aim-challenged stormtroopers to render as a piece of 3D art is a left-field choice, but artist Juan Martin Garcia Forn has his reasons. "Stormtroopers are formidably introduced in A New Hope, but progressively start losing credibility as they're blasted by our heroes, and stoned by a pack of Ewoks in the last film. People nowadays make jokes about their aiming skills, so it came to mind that The Force Awakens will remind the world how fearless and precise these troopers are intended to be," Garcia Forn explains. "I tried to merge my favourite films with a sport I love: paintball – hence the action pose, running through blasters, and shooting from the sights. But really the main reason is that my lovely girlfriend gifted me an awesome thermo flask of the First Order's stormtrooper." The 10 best 3D movies of 2018 Star Wars remains an inspiration for the flask-loving artist. Garcia Forn says the film franchise is still such a big influence on art because of the people involved in making the series what it is. "People like Ralph McQuarrie, George Lucas, Irvin Kershner, and everyone else involved in the making of Star Wars have brought us a new form of culture, that will never be forgotten. I think that from design to storytelling, Star Wars is there to tell us artists that our dreams can come true, with a little imagination and a lot of hard work – to not be afraid of our ideas because our art can influence history itself." For this project, Garcia Forn reveals planning the composition ahead of beginning the modelling, and rendering proved the most challenging aspect, partly because the paintball-influenced pose restricted how he needed to work. "Since I had a very clear idea of how the final image should look, the lighting and camera angles had to be planned before the execution. Everything was then pretty easy thanks to KeyShot's very friendly interface." For once, the Empire/The First Order's biggest joke appears as the heroic fighting force that once blitzed the galaxy far, far away. Now, keep reading to gain some insights into Garcia Forn's creative process… 01. Model from reference Juan Martin Garcia Forn found the helmet the hardest part to model Finding references at the time of modelling was difficult. I had to mostly rely on photos from toys, and armour from conventions. The first part I modelled was the helmet. It was the trickiest because I wanted it to have as clean a topology as possible, hence why I used Maya. I started with the nose part as it gave me a nice spatial guide for the rest of the helmet. Inner extrusions were especially helpful to maintain proper edge flow. 02. Draw topology in ZBrush Aren't you a little short for a Stormtrooper? For bigger armour parts, such as the chest area, I used the topology tools within ZBrush. I picked a base mesh for guidance: Nick Zuccarello's human male from ZBrush tools. I created a ZSphere and bound the mesh to the ZSphere for rigging. The Edit Topology function was used to draw the topology over the base mesh, and once I was happy I created an adaptive skin. 03. Work on edge flow Garcia Forn only modelled one side of the stormtrooper's armour I took a lot of care on the edge flow as it was key for keeping the armour smooth and even. Also, if needed, it makes it useful for rigging and different types of animation. Only one side of the armour from the limbs was modelled; it was then mirrored to quickly get the other side, since it's symmetrical. 04. Model the gun This detailed gun was made up of dozens of different parts I chose Maya to model the rifle because it has a very specific design, and the program's orthographic views and easy polygon modelling system gave me a very satisfactory result. The final model was then imported to ZBrush so that I could add small details, such as screws with an IMM brush. It has 42 separate pieces in total. 05. Use ZBrush for detail Garcia Forn used DragRect stroke to create precise armour Alpha images were created in Photoshop to make it easier to import into ZBrush, where I could begin adding extra detail to the armour. I used the Standard brush set on negative, with DragRect stroke for more precision. 06. Pose your character The Stormtrooper model was posed without a rig The character was posed in ZBrush without the need for a rig, simply by using the Transpose Master plug-in. Using this plugin enabled me to pose all the subdivided tools in their lowest division, without losing any details in the final pose. 07. Use KeyShot for rendering Multiple render passes built a strong custom image Rendering in KeyShot is very easy and intuitive, I just had to choose the materials from the library and do a few tweaks. Render passes helped me build a stronger, more custom image. I did a raw render, an ambient occlusion pass, a rim light pass, a second rim light pass to be used as the light emitted by the blasters, and a clown pass to generate a mask in Photoshop. 08. Composite the final image The composition was the most important part of the image Compositing and final effects were done in Photoshop with matte painting and hand-painted details. The most important thing was composition; for the image to have a lot of action, I based composition upon triangles and colour gradients. This article originally appeared in 3D World, the world's leading magazine for CG artists. Subscribe here. Read more: 27 free 3D models How to illustrate a Star Wars-themed environment Stunning trailer shows what Star Wars might have been View the full article

The two vulnerabilities are critical remote code execution flaws that exist in Adobe Photoshop CC. View the full article

There are many aspects of lighting that you need to consider in order to convey form. One very useful fundamental is the terminator line. Draw a figure in under five minutes The terminator line is the transition zone between the areas of light and shadow. The darker part of the shadow will begin directly after the terminator line ends. It will appear as a dark gradating band until it meets a secondary light source. The secondary light source, in this instance, will be a bounce light. A bounce light occurs when your main (key) light hits another surface and bounces back upon the subject. If you want to learn how to draw people, this is a common lighting choice for figure drawing as it defines form clearly. If your key light is softer, the terminator line will become more gradual. Surface textures will also become more visible in this area. Textures often lose their visibility in the shadows but become more defined on well-lit surfaces. Textures at the mid-value range, such as the terminator, will often be strongest. Adding a darker band to the highlight edge separates lighting clearly and conveys a better sense of form and solidity. From a personal point of view, I also find it aesthetically pleasing! 01. Add a terminator line A terminator line appears between two meeting sources of light Commonly seen in figure drawing, the terminator is useful to build forms quickly. The terminator line is the dark band that appears between two meeting sources of light. After roughly sketching in the outline and silhouette of my figure, I add the terminator line to separate the main light source and the area of shadow. I often use this approach because it's so quick and time-efficient. 02. Add parallel lines Block in shadows and background with thick parallel hatching With the terminator in place, I can now block in the shadow area and, here, the background too, using thick parallel hatching lines. Separating the light and shadow in this simple way helps define shape and imply forms quickly. Filling in the background also gives me the opportunity to lose edges in the shadows and pull focus back into important areas. 03. Refine and add details Use cross-hatching to add texture to your character Now that the lighting has been defined on my figure, I can begin refining values and adding any smaller details. Keeping bounce light in mind, most of the shadow values don't go darker than the terminator. Using a blending stump I can easily smooth gradients and soften forms. Using cross-hatching I add texture to the character and break up any unnecessary empty spaces. This article originally appeared in Paint & Draw magazine. Related articles: How to choose the right drawing tools 10 expert tips for charcoal drawing Pencil drawing in 6 simple steps View the full article

You might get most of your work done on the desktop, but if you need to get stuff done when you're out and about then a decently-specced laptop is a must, and this XPS from Dell hits all the right notes. Not only that, during the Amazon Bank Holiday sale you can get it for just £1,049, saving you £231 on the standard price. Get a free 30-day trial of Amazon Prime See more Amazon Bank Holiday sale deals Dell's XPS 15 is a 15.6-inch laptop with all the power you need for most design tasks, suitable for everything from basic Photoshop work to more demanding 3D and video projects. It's powered by an Intel Core i5-7300HQ processor, backed up by 8GB RAM, and it comes with not only a 1TB hard disk, but also a 128GB SSD that means it'll start up in seconds. Its real strength, though, lies in its NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 GPU with 4GB of GDDR5 memory, giving you all the graphics horsepower you need for more heavyweight design work on the go. And when you need to transfer your latest designs over to your main desktop machine, its Thunderbolt 3 port means you can boot your files across at up to eight times the transfer speed of USB 3.0 Perfect for work and for downtime, the XPS 15 looks the part, too. It boasts a super-thin form factor, and its virtually borderless infinity edge display means you get a lot of screen without all the bezel. And if this all sounds too good to miss, don't hang about; the discount's only available until 8.00am on 30th August. View the full article

Ray Wong started his creative career as a web developer. Self taught, for a time Wong worked at a small web design agency, where he was very much left to his own devices and unable to fully understand or explain his creative choices. In order to gain understanding and new skills, Wong enrolled at Shillington – and it was here that he fell in love with graphic design. Having graduated in December last year, graphic designer Wong now works at Oink Creative in London. Here he talks about life at Shillington and offers advice to design students hoping to get the most out of their time in the classroom. For the full interview, head over to the Shillington blog. What attracted you to Shillington? And why the jump from web to graphic design? I was lucky to pick up a few skills on my own whilst working at a small web design agency prior to Shillington. But there were no designers above me, so I had to become sufficient at creating visuals, and I wasn't confident in being able to explain design choices, let alone understand them properly. I knew I wanted to boost my skills and to expand my creative capabilities, which is when I found out about Shillington. This was a fully immersive, get-you-out-of-your-comfort-zone sort of thing. And when I finally started the course, everything was so hands-on; it was brilliant. It wasn’t until a few weeks in that I realised that how much I loved graphic design in general, and wanted to be able to do much more. I still love web design, but I’ve now also discovered a passion for print design and editorial, packaging, branding and strategy. Shillington dipped my toes into absolutely everything, and I knew I wanted a continuation of that once I’d finished the course. One of Wong's student projects at Shillington – to design a book cover for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer Do you think Shillington fully prepared you for working in a real design agency? The work that we do at Oink is incredibly varied, so no two days are exactly the same. I’ve had the fortunate opportunity to work on branding pitches, as well as creating conceptual visuals for movie posters, vinyl sleeves, and a little bit of everything in between. Being able to think on my feet, adapt to every brief, and ultimately be open to learning and trying new things has been essential. What was your overall experience of Shillington? Shillington was actually quite transformative for me, which is something that I hadn’t initially expected at all. I think so many of the best experiences I had at Shillington were due to the people involved; the teachers who went above and beyond typical responsibilities, their passion and enthusiastic drive which then bled over to the students. Read Ray Wong's full interview over on the Shillington blog. View the full article

If you're on the hunt for a lightweight, powerful tablet PC, your search could be over. With its excellent battery life and superb screen, the Microsoft Surface Pro is popular with digital creatives for a reason. And at the knock-down prices it's more tempting than ever. Grab it as part of the Amazon bank holiday sale until 11:59 BST on 29 August. The best laptops for graphic design in 2018 Artists who need to work digitally on the move, with the option to switch to a conventional laptop setup, have already been heaping glowing praise on the Microsoft Surface Pro. These models boast 2.5 times more performance than the Surface Pro 3, as well as 13.5 hours of video playback. On top of this, the Surface Pro 12.3-inch has 3:2 aspect ratio, a 5.0MP front-facing camera and a TPM chip for enterprise security. With a tilt for artistic shading and increased sensitivity, digital creatives can bring their visions to life more easily than before. There's also some brilliant offers to be had on Microsoft's touchscreen Surface laptop. But be quick, these deals are on for a limited time only and we don't expect any of them to hang around for long. Get a free 30-day trial of Amazon Prime See more Amazon Bank Holiday sale deals The best Amazon bank holiday sale Microsoft Surface deals View the full article

There are thousands of typefaces out there, with more being released all the time. And with free fonts increasing in quality as well as quantity over recent years, the choice can be overwhelming for a designer. If you can afford one, bespoke branded typefaces are also becoming increasingly popular. They help give brands a unique and distinctive personality that cuts through the noise, and conveys just the right tone of voice. If not, with the right amount of research and due diligence, you'll be able to find a typeface that suits your needs. Despite the proliferation of typefaces on the market, however, a noble few have stood the test of time for decades, even centuries, to remain in-demand and relevant amid a sea of young pretenders. So read on for our guide to five classic fonts that are still not showing their age, and why they could be right for your next project... 01. Futura Designed by Paul Renner and released in 1927, Futura can be seen as the grandfather of geometric sans-serifs – a flavour that is very much of the moment, following a wave of minimalist rebrands for the likes of Google, Mastercard and Spotify over the last decade. Futura itself has been used by a dizzying array of brands, including Alfa Romeo, Cisco, Domino's Pizza, Gillette and more. Futura may have passed the grand old age of 90, but the iconic typeface's popularity has shown little sign of waning. With the spirit of the Bauhaus at heart, its design is based on simple geometric shapes – circles in particular – and exudes efficiency, purity and modernity to this day. Its strokes are smooth, even and low-contrast, and the typeface as a whole – despite being progressive at the time, flying in the face of its grotesque counterparts – is timeless enough to be as relevant and usable in 2018 as it was in 1927. 02. Caslon Caslon makes the 91-year-old Futura look like a scrappy upstart. The name references William Caslon, an engraver of 'punches' – or master templates used to create the moulds for metal type – who lived from 1692–1766. Although it comes in several different varieties and modern revivals, the typeface known as Caslon retains the organic, Old Style look and feel that he established in the 18th century. Like Futura, Caslon was ahead of its time – in London, at least – drawing on imported Dutch Baroque typefaces for inspiration. Known for timeless elegance and effortless readability across large passages of text, the Caslon typeface family briefly fell out of popularity during the early 19th century, but recovered and now lends 300 years of gravitas to books, journal articles, encyclopedias and more. 03. Garamond Another popular typeface for setting large passages of text in books, Garamond's heritage makes even the three-century-old Caslon look like a young whippersnapper. Like William Caslon, Parisian engraver Claude Garamond created punches for metal type, and first crafted the typeface that bears his name in the 16th century. Its history can be traced back even further to 1495: the design follows the Old Style serif model originally established by Venetian printer Aldus Manutius, and designed by punchcutter Francesco Griffo. Both Garamond and Caslon maintain a natural, almost handwritten look and feel, but with a strong and timeless structure. Many modern revivals of the typeface are inspired by the work of Garamond and his contemporaries in the early-modern French typography scene, such as Jean Jannon – and the family remains a viable choice for setting long-form text. 04. Clarendon Slab serifs became particularly popular in British lettering, printing and signage during the early 19th century, so Clarendon was riding the wave of this trend on its release in 1845. Its original design was engraved by punch-cutter Benjamin Fox and credited to Robert Besley, a partner in the type foundry Thorowgood and Co. Clarendon's popularity was such that its look and feel was widely imitated by other foundries – both at the time, and in the latter half of the 20th century – effectively spawning a sub-genre of type design in its own right. Although the many different varieties of Clarendon have their own idiosyncrasies, the common factors are bold, solid letterforms with a relatively uniform stroke weight and bracketed, slightly tapered slab serifs. The typeface is popular to this day for display use, particularly for letterpress and woodblock printing work. 05. Akzidenz Grotesk Love it or hate it, Helvetica has become the typeface that defined an entire generation of graphic designers that embraced mid-20th century Swiss design principles, otherwise known as the International Typographic Style. But Helvetica follows in the footsteps of Akzidenz Grotesk, the sans-serif family originally released by the Berlin-based Berthold Type Foundry. Released in 1898, almost 50 years before Helvetica, Akzidenz Grotesk was part of a wave of overtly 'commercial' typefaces, intended for use in advertising and promotional materials to communicate, persuade and ultimately sell, rather than to decorate, or make reading easier. Following the grotesque sans-serif tradition that Futura bucked against with its geometric approach, Akzidenz Grotesk became one of the leading exponents of late-19th century German typography. Simple, bold and neutral, and yet clearly distinct from its more widespread descendent Helvetica in characters such as 'Q', 'R' and 'J', it remains a classic sans-serif option 120 years on. Related articles: 5 types of font and what to use them for 5 ways to pick the perfect app font Pick the right font for your social campaigns View the full article

Missed out on a cheap laptop on Amazon Prime Day? Can't wait until Black Friday? Don't panic, because Amazon has some great deals lined up for the August Bank Holiday, and we've dug out the best laptop bargains you can get your hands on. Whether you're after something lightweight so you can do a bit of logo design on the go, or a more powerful machine suited to creating 3D art, we've found a saving for you here. So read on to find some unmissable laptop bargains! The best Amazon bank holiday sale laptop deals Get a free 30-day trial of Amazon Prime See more Amazon Bank Holiday sale deals View the full article

For a great all-round camera, the Canon EOS M3 compact is a fantastic option. And at the moment it's more appealing than ever, at just £349, down 23% from the usual price of £453.74. This Amazon Bank Holiday sale offer is available until 11.59pm on 4 September, so move quickly to make the most of it! If you'd like to take your photography skills a step further than fiddling around with camera phone filters, but don't want to lug around a heavy camera or spend a lot on a DSLR, then the Canon EOS M3 should be right up your street. As a Compact System Camera, it's somewhere between a compact camera and a DSLR – it small and easy to transport, takes incredible photos, and you can buy over 70 extra lenses for it, just like you would with a full DSLR. However, there's no need to worry about lenses straight away, as this camera comes with 18-55m f/3.5-5.6 lens. The Canon EOS M3's 24.2MP DSLR-type sensor means you can quickly take professional-looking photos, as well as shoot HD video, and its Creative Assist mode, which gives you touch-screen control over camera settings, helps you get the best shot everytime. It also tells you how to implement your favourite settings using traditional manual settings, if you'd like to experiment further. Like all Amazon Bank Holiday Sale deals, this is a limited offer so grab it while you can, we don't expect these cheap cameras to be around for long. View the full article

Today marks the start of Amazon's biggest ever August bank holiday sale event; eight days of great savings on everything designers and artists might need. The event will run all the way until 23:59 BST on Wednesday 29 August, although some lightning deals will expire before then. There are some really great deals to be had, but they're sure to sell out super-quick, so grab them while you can. We'll bring you all the best Amazon bank holiday sale deals for designers, artists and creatives right here on this page. And we'll be adding more deals as they come in over the next week so make sure to check back for the latest savings. You can also use the jump links on the right to bag yourself a bargain. Are you an Amazon Prime member? If not, make sure to sign up to a free Amazon Prime 30-day trial and get an exclusive 30-minute early access period to all the best deals. The best laptop and tablet deals The best Amazon bank holiday sale camera deals The best Amazon bank holiday sale Wacom deals The best Amazon bank holiday sale headphone deals The best Amazon bank holiday sale monitor deals View the full article

Attackers can abuse URL requests processed by an email program for Mac to steal files from the victim -- sometimes without user interaction. View the full article

An unpatched buffer overflow flaw allows remote attackers to completely take over the device and enter the home network. View the full article

You're reading 10 Distinctive Features of Japanese-Style Web Design, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! Many of Japan’s distinctive features can also be found in websites from that country, including unique vision, a high-tech vibe and a fondness for nature. These details are the root of the philosophy of Japanese website design. We’ve collected 10 … View the full article

Although there are plenty of pre-made free textures around, if you want a specific material to use in your 3D art, it isn't that difficult to make your own. In this article, I'll show you how to create a simple leather material (shown above) using Substance Designer. You can watch a time-lapse of my process below, or read on for a step-by-step guide. When you have to create materials using nodes, like you can do in Substance Designer, Blender and other software, my pro tip is to keep a clean work environment in order to have control over all the elements of the material. So try to avoid overlapping elements and so on. 01. Add nodes For this type of material, select the Physically Based (Metallic/Roughness) Graph Template and delete the Metallic output, since it isn’t necessary here. Now add these nodes from the Substance Designer library: the Cells 3 and BnW Spots 1 noises (these two are the main elements of the material), the Height to Normal World Units filter, four Levels filters, a Blend filter and, last but not least, the Gradient Map filter. 02. Link the elements Now we can start to link these elements. Start by placing the Cells 3 at the beginning of the graph with the BnW Spots 1. These two generators will be linked to the first two Levels filters, and linked together with the Blend filter. Link the Levels filter of the Cells 3 generator to the Height to Normal World Units filter, the third Levels filter and the fourth Levels filter. The Height to Normal World Units filter will be linked to the Normal output, the third Levels to the Roughness output and the fourth to the Height output. Finally, connect the Blend filter with the Gradient Map, and this one directly to the Base Color output. 03. Adjust parameters Once you've finished linking every element of the scene, it's time to fix some of the parameters. In particular we need to fix the first two Levels filters of the substance: the first is linked to the Cells 3 generator and must be adjusted in order to increase the brightness of the texture, and the second generator (linked to the BnW Spots 1 noises) must be adjusted in order to decrease the contrast of the texture. For the other parameters of the Levels filters choose arbitrarily – but as always I suggest you don’t exaggerate. The latest element to fix is the Gradient Map. This filter is probably one of the most important; in fact it can help to give colour to the material. For this project I created a shade of red, but this element, like the others, can be changed as you prefer. This article was originally published in 3D World, the world's best-selling magazine for CG artists. Buy issue 236 or subscribe. Read more: Create a tiles material in Substance Designer Substance Designer 5.5 review Creating convincing 3D materials View the full article

Take any creative field and you'll find well-known influencers who are responsible for leading the way, either with new interpretations, technical approaches or ideas. This is true whether you're looking at David Bailey in the photography world, or Tracey Emin in fine art. It comes about because some practitioners define a movement or technique, either inventing it, championing it, or otherwise leading a charge towards it. 10 steps to an engaging user experience Of course, the world of web design is no different. We've got our own champions and leaders, some of which are responsible for creating new web design tools, although it's surprisingly difficult to pick just a few names every web designer should know. Luckily, we live in an age of democratised sharing, with the likes of Facebook and Twitter making it easy to keep up to date with both current and future movers and shakers, so watch these fourteen and see who they recommend! A quick note of caution before we upset anyone, these names aren't ranked or in any specific order. If we've missed someone you think should be in our list, let us know. 01. Sara Soueidan Twitter: @SaraSoueidan A Lebanon-based frontend UI developer and author, Sara has worked with clients across the globe including Netflix, The Royal Schiphol Group, Smashing Magazine and more. She runs workshops and helps companies and agencies build clean frontend foundations for websites and applications, with a strong focus on progressive enhancement, performance and accessibility. 02. Abby Covert Twitter: @Abby_the_IA Abby Covert is a senior staff information architect at Etsy and specialises in delivering collaborative information architecture processes, as well as teaching those that she works with along the way. Speaking and writing under the pseudonym Abby the IA, she focuses on sharing information architecture content with those working within the design and technology communities, and is co-founder of World IA Day. She's also the author of How to Make Sense of Any Mess, a book about information architecture for everybody. 03. Ethan Marcotte Twitter: @beep If there's one man in the web industry who probably doesn't need an introduction, it's Ethan Marcotte. One of the web's best-known designers, Marcotte is a regular and popular speaker on the conference circuit and, in his own words, the one who "started that whole 'responsive web design' thing". 04. Chris Coyier Twitter: @chriscoyier A world-known CSS expert and HTML guru, Chris Coyier writes one of the most popular CSS blogs on the web, CSS-Tricks. Throughout his career, Chris has published many tutorials, websites, and scripts to help designers improve their skills. A co-founder of CodePen, Chris can also be found at web design and development podcast ShopTalk. 05. Karen McGrane Twitter: @karenmcgrane UX expert Karen McGrane motto is simple - 'On a good day, I make the web more awesome. On a bad day, I make it suck less'. A content strategist and user experience designer, McGrane has over 15 years experience of making big, complicated websites. Currently managing partner of Bond Art + Science, she is also the author of Content Strategy for Mobile. 06. Dan Cederholm Twitter: @simplebits Dan Cederholm is the author of five web design books covering everything from standards-based code approaches to Sass. As well as writing, Cederholm is a practising web designer, and a popular speaker. Alongside Rich Thornett, Cederholm is a co-founder of the popular dribbble.com show-and-tell website that allows designers to upload micro-shots of their work in progress. 07. Sarah Parmenter Twitter: @sazzy User interface designer Sarah Parmenter specialises in design for the web, iPhone and iPad. Owner of design studio You Know Who and co-host of the Happy Monday podcast, Parmenter can often be found travelling the world to speak at the world's leading web design conferences. Her client list includes Blackberry, News International, STV and The National Breast Cancer Foundation of America. 08. Dave Shea Twitter: @mezzoblue Dave Shea is most famous for his CSS Zen Garden project, which helped spearhead the move from table-based web design layout to CSS-based layouts. The website became very popular, both helping to push the boundaries of what designs could be achieved with CSS alone, and also encouraging web designers the world over to adopt the approach. 09. Jeffrey Zeldman Twitter: @zeldman Jeffrey Zeldman is perhaps the best known of all the people featured in our list. He's the author of a must-have book, Designing with Web Standards, publisher of books via A Book Apart, and is the driving force behind the immensely popular industry leading online journal, A List Apart. Zeldman is also the founder of Happy Cog studios, a US-based consultancy with clients including MTV, Ben & Jerry's and Stanford University. 10. Rachel Andrew Twitter: @rachelandrew Rachel is a web developer, speaker and prolific writer. Her books include titles for SitePoint, Apress and Five Simple Steps, covering the likes of PHP web development, CSS3 Layout Modules and Adobe's Dreamweaver web design tool. Aside from her speaking and writing, Rachel is the Managing Director of edgeofmyseat.com, a web development consultancy known for its Perch CMS app. 11. Simon Collison Twitter: @colly Simon Collison is a designer, speaker and author. Having worked in a variety of situations throughout his career, Collison shares his knowledge on web design via books and conferences. He's also a proud partner with Fictive Kin, and organises the annual New Adventures in Web Design event in his hometown of Nottingham. 12. Veerle Pieters Twitter: @vpieters Veerle Pieters is a hugely talented graphic designer from Belgium, best known for both her work through Duoh!, the agency she co-founded with Geert Leyseele, and her blog at veerle.duoh.com where she shares insights and tutorials. She's also an author and speaker, and has worked on some high profile projects including the GUI for ExpressionEngine. 13. Cameron Moll Twitter: @cameronmoll Cameron Moll is a well-known designer who speaks regularly at web design conferences across the world. As well as the Authentic Jobs website, which Moll is responsible for, he's collaborated on books with the likes of Andy Budd and Simon Collison. As well as his speaking and books, Moll is well known for a series of typographical posters rendered with letterpress, which are well worth a look! Related articles: 29 Chrome extensions for web designers 35 brilliantly designed 404 error pages What is Sass? View the full article